Crosses of Palenque

Leading from Mythology behind tomb lid of Pakal Votan

cross designs from the Tablets from the Temple of the Foliated cross,
the Cross and also the Sun, in Palenque

The Sanctuary tablet from Temple of the Cross.

Plaster cast of inscribed wall panel, the Sanctuary tablet from Temple of the Cross, 
Palenque, first slab is a plastercast, the second is of an original slab in the National 

Museum In The City of Mexico, the third is a original slabe in the Natrional 

Museum, , Washington, USA. (source:wikimedia )

drawing of the wall panel above from Temple of the Cross

1. "The central icon at the portal of each of the three temples in the Group of the Cross specified the nature of the cosmic power and community responsibility 
   
   that defined kingship for that temple. At the portal of the Temple of the Cross, 
   we see a variant of the World Tree. This cross-shaped Tree, with the Serpent 
   Bar of kingship entwined in its branches and the Celestial Bird standing on 
   its crown, was the central axis of the cosmos [the Milky Way galaxy]. Along
   
   
     this axis rose and descended the souls of the dead and the gods called from the 
   Otherworld by the vision rite to talk to human beings. It was the path the Cosmic
    Monster took as the sun and Venus moved through its body on their daily journeys.
   
   
   The king himself was the worldly manifestation of this axis, and this emphasized 
   his role as the source of magical power. He was not only the primary practitioner 
   of the rituals that contacted the Otherworld: he was the pathway itself. In this
     portal the dead Pacal gives his son a scepter in the form of the monster that rests 
   at the base of the World Tree--the same sun-marked monster that bore Pacal 
   to Xibalba. Chan-Bahlum wields a disembodied head as an instrument of power, 
   as had the Early Classic kings of Tikal and other kings before him."
   
   
   Linda Schele and David Freidel, A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the 
   ANcient  Maya, p. 242-3" (source:mayaruins.com)

The Central Tablet from the Temple of the Foliated Cross

Tablet from the temple of the Foliated cross (source: http://learningobjects.wesleyan.edu/)

drawing of the Central Tablet from the Temple of the Foliated Cross.
(source:learningobjects.wesleyan.edu/)

1. Graham Hancock: "In a mural in the temple of the Foliated Cross at the Mayan site of Palenque in Mexico's Chiapas province,  we see the Milky Way represented by a maize tree rising from 'the place of creation near Orion'.
   The Milky Way is blanked by two figures - the spirit of the Lord Pacal,  the deceased former ruler of Palenque and his son and successor Chan-bahlum, who are shown in shamanic communion with one another. As the father scends to the heavens,  the son is transformed from 'the status of heir apparent into King'
   At the same time it is understood that the deeds and rituals performed by the son are essential if the father's hoped for rebirth amongst the stars is to be achieved.
   Indeed  the whole point of message of the mural - a message that has been described by David Friedel Linda Shele and Joyce Parker as 'central mystery of Maya religion' (Supernatural by Graham Hancock, p645-646. Quotes taken from (Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman's Path by David Freidel, Linda Schele & Joy Parker. New York: William Morrow, 1994,)
   
   
   The tablet of the sun at the Temple of the Sun

The tablet of the sun at the Temple of the Sun,.(source www.flickr.com/photos/jim-sf/)

Primopredaja vlasti, Palenque, Chiapas, Meksiko 

(source : http://www.alternativnahistorija.com)

Drawing of The tablet of the sun at the Temple of the Sun, Palenque,
by Linda Schele