photo by Donya Fronk during interview with Elizabeth Upton

John Major Jenkins is an independent researcher who has devoted himself to reconstructing ancient Mayan cosmology and philosophy. Since 1986, John has traveled to Mexico and Central America seven times. In 1990 he helped build a school in San Pedro, near Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. In 1994 he delivered relief supplies to a Quiché Maya community in the Western highlands of Guatemala. Since beginning his odyssey of research and discovery with the Maya, John has authored dozens of articles and many books, including:

  • Journey to the Mayan Underworld (Four Ahau Press, Boulder, CO: 1989)
  • Mirror in the Sky (Four Ahau Press, 1991)
  • Tzolkin: Visionary Perspectives and Calendar Studies (Borderland Sciences Research Foundation, Garberville, CA: 1992/1994)
  • Mayan Sacred Science (Four Ahau Press, Boulder, CO: 1994)
  • Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 (Bear & Company, Santa Fe, NM: 1998)

His 2002 book, Galactic Alignment: The Transformation of Consciousness According to Mayan, Egyptian, and Vedic Traditions was released with Inner Traditions International (Rochester, VT) in August 2002. 

His new book, co-authored with Marty Matz, is called Pyramid of Fire and was released in November 2004.

He also facilitated the translation of The Key to the Kalevala by Pekka Ervast, editing and writing the introduction for it. This classic text on Finnish mythology was published with Blue Dolphin Publishers in 1999. In 1995 John was appointed literary executor for Eino Friberg, Finnish-American poet and translator of The Kalevala, the national epic of the Finnish people.

As a visiting scholar, Jenkins has taught classes at The Institute of Maya Studies in Miami, The Maya Calendar Congress in Mexico, The Esalen Institute, Naropa University and many other venues both nationally and abroad. He has been interviewed on numerous radio and television shows, including the Art Bell show, the Laura Lee show, Dr. Patricia Hill's The Changing Paradigm, and has appeared in documentaries on Native American prophecy and the millennium such as The Fifth Gate (Milton Media, Denmark) and Earth Under Fire (Conscious Wave Video).  

In October of 2000, the Discovery Channel featured John's work on two episodes of the "Places of Mystery" series, which continue to be broadcast regularly on the Travel Channel. John will appear in a documentary on the Maya that will be broadcast on the History Channel in March 2006. John's careful scholarship and cutting-edge insights into why the Maya chose 2012 to end a great World Age cycle have been endorsed by the most progressive thinkers of our day.

Partial bibliography

Family Histories:

My Dad's book about his father
Pharamond
Fornjot, King of Finland

Four Rivers Flowing

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