For the ancient Maya, cracked mirrors were a path to the world beyond

MAY 2, 2024
by James L. Fitzsimmons, The Conversation



1 / 1The Maya used mirrors as channels for supernatural communication. In this image, a supernatural creature speaks into a cracked, black mirror. Credit: K2929 from the Justin Kerr Maya archive, Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, D.C., CC BY-SA

Some people fear that breaking a mirror can lead to seven years of misfortune. The history of this superstition may go back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who ascribed mysterious powers to reflected images.

As a scholar of the Indigenous religions of the Americas, I know that the ancient Maya had a different take on cracked mirrors. During the first millennium C.E., the Maya used such mirrors—in cities from southern Mexico to western Honduras—as channels for supernatural communication rather than as cosmetic accessories.

Mirrors and magic
Rather than being made of glass, most ancient Maya mirrors were dark pieces of polished iron ore, glued together as mosaics on a piece of slate or wood. Maya nobles wore mirrors on their backs, displayed them on thrones and set them inside tombs.

Using hallucinogens, these nobles stared at their reflections, seeking mystical experiences. The cracks between the pieces resulted in fractured, distorted reflections—through which it was believed that people could talk to divine beings. The nobles hoped to find wisdom in the lands beyond mirrors, which they associated with gods, ancestors and other spirits.

Artists often portrayed these spirits as fantastic beasts and chimeras in paintings and sculptures. Sometimes, they portrayed nobles talking to the chimeras; at other times, they represented these beings as brokers for conversations with ancestors and gods.

More:
https://phys.org/news/2024-05-ancient-maya-mirrors-path-world.html