You're listening to Mystery of 2012, a Sounds True Podcast.

A Sounds True Podcast. episode number 7 the mystery of 2012 Carl on Carl on shifting through the

underworlds. This week I dialogue with scientist

Carl Johann Callamon about his unique take on the significance of the Mayan calendar.

He shares with us some of the key stories of his view, including the nine galactic

underworlds and the all-important tree of life.

Carl, I'm curious a little bit about your background. You're Swedish, is that correct?

Yes. Born and raised in Stockholm.

How did you become interested in the Mayan calendar?

Well, I'm a scientist by training and it was a point I was a graduate student at the University of Stockholm and felt that I needed a break from all the test tubes and stuff that I was working with.

And some bulletin board, there was this advertisement where it said, go to Mexico and stay in a Mexican family and learn Spanish.

And I thought, well, that might be a great break and getting away and this is now almost 30 years ago so it was a time

when it's still at least from a European perspective was quite exotic to go to Mexico.

There were no charter flights or anything like that.

And so I went there like an adventure just to see what

will happen and so forth. And unbeknownst to myself I landed

in Mexico City on the D'Ad Los Muelas, which is pretty much now, in other words, the day of the dead, all Saints Day, and you know, immediately

came into this very, very colorful culture with the ancient roots and skeletons hanging from the light poles and

bribing policemen and very rapidly I took an interest in what this culture was about and after a while

I also took a third-class train down to Merida the Yokatan Peninsula and the more I got down there I must say the more I fell in love with the Mayan people with all the natives and I've been very interested in history and so I was

interested in these cultures that emerged in the in the new world and there was sort of a dilemma here that

why was it that these essentially have been developing at about the same time as the, I mean within

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