MAX

The Texas
Crystal Skull

(This image was scanned from
an original photograph sold by
JoAnn and Carl Parks)

"MAX", The Texas Crystal Skull
( Keeper: JoAnn Parks, Houston, TX, July, 1995 )

The largest ancient crystal skull at the present time is known as "Max", the Texas Crystal Skull. I had my first opportunity to see "Max" in February, 1988, when it was on display at the Whole Life Expo in Los Angeles. Since that time, "Max" and his keeper, JoAnn Parks, have traveled all over the United States, providing others an opportunity to experience this ancient artifact. Recently, Mrs. Parks and "Max" came to visit our home town of Chicago, and was very well received. Mrs. Parks told me during our phone conversation that she is receiving many invitations to bring "Max" to various cities throughout the country. In addition, while she was recently in Miami, doing a presentation at a local museum, some professional technicians took a holographic image of "Max", which should be available to the public at some future time. Mrs. Parks is also working on a new book that will share more information about the history of "Max", what type of experiences people have had in the presence of "Max" and research that has been performed upon this crystal skull. We strongly recommend to our readers, if you have an opportunity to experience "Max", you don't want to miss out.

If a person wishes to contact Mrs. Parks, to find out the schedule of events related to "MAX" and in which cities he will be available to be seen and experienced, she can be contacted at:

The Texas Crystal Skull, Attn: JoAnn Parks, P.O. Box 751261, Houston, TX 77275-1261; (713)991-4545

Enjoy and discover the mysteries surrounding "Max" ............... Joshua

MAX, the Crystal Skull

By Debbie Smoker, R.Ht.
(June/July 95 issue, New Avenues)

Believed to be between 5,000 and 36,000 years old, Max is known to be one of the 13 ancient crystal skulls of the world. Interestingly, they were all found in Central America and Mexico. Much research is currently being done on the skulls. However, their origin is still a baffling mystery. They seem to defy logic. Everything that is known about lapidary work indicates that the skulls should have been shattered fractured, or fallen apart when carved.

Many People have profound visions and psychic experiences when viewing the skulls. Some believe that the skulls are intricate computers, possibly brought before from other planets, and hold knowledge about the origin of our race and the planet Earth.

Max was given to JoAnn and Carl Parks by a Tibetan red hat lama named Norbu Chen. I recently spoke with JoAnn about Max and I was impressed with her integrity. It struck me immediately that she is not out for personal attention or sensationalism. She is a kind woman with a great sense of humor, who had the courage to do what the Universe has asked of her. This is what she told me:

Debbie: How do you know Norbu Chen?

JoAnn: We met Norbu through our family medical doctor in 1973. At the time, we really didn't know who he was or what be did Norbu needed some work done on his home, so our doctor recommended my husband who is in the custom furniture manufacturing business. After working on his house for about two months, my husband picked up a magazine and saw Norbus' picture in it with an article titled Norbu Chen, Tibetan Healer. We were amazed! I then asked my husband to introduce me to Norbu because our daughter was dying of bone cancer and the doctors had only given her three months to live. When I met Norbu and touched his hand, I knew instinctively that there was something extraordinary about this man. I learned that he had been back in the United States for some time practicing his ancient Tibetan healing methods. I asked all about his work. He told me that be needed someone to answer phones and to tell his patients how to prepare their bodies to the healing energies that would go to the acupuncture points and meridian points of the body. Without really realizing what the next seven years had in store for me, I offered to help him. Norbu did work with my daughter and she lived three more years, far longer than the three months we had been told to expect. All I knew was that he was helping people and that's what mattered.

Debbie: I think it was obvious that you were destined to meet.

JoAnn: Well I hadn't even been into metaphysics, didn't work with crystals, and never heard of crystal skulls. It was like walking out of a closet into a whole new world. Norbu had an office in the same building as our family doctor. He had to use a lot of strong mind power and breath probe. He completely immerses into our being in the healing proms. But be had to make a lot of loud noises. This disturbed people in other offices, so Norbu built a room onto his home and moved his office there.

I was totally unprepared for what I saw the first time I walked in. From floor to ceiling, the room was entirely red. Norbu now wore red and black robes rather than conventional clothing, and I wondered what I had gotten myself into He then showed my hus- band and I his altar which held several ancient artifacts on it, including a 400 year old trumpet and the crystal skull which were gifted to him by the Guatemalan shamans in Central America. He never did tell me much about the skull.

Norbu founded the Chakpori Ling Healing Foundation in Texas. I witnessed many miracles there and was eventually allowed to go down and watch some of the healing ceremonies. I didn't realize at the time that this was a very, great honor. I remember that one of the Tibetan lamas was always fixing me Tibetan hamburgers, and those were some spicy meatballs!

I never read anything about the crystal skull, but the monks talked to it and chanted to it in Tibetan and claimed they communicated with it. They would tap into the energy of the skull and run it through the meridian of the patients' body to assist their healings. So they used it as their spiritual and healing tool.

My husband and I were very close to Norbu and before he died, Norbu told us nothing about the skull except that it was a rare and special crystal and that only a few of them exist in the world today. He said, "Take this, and one of these days you will know what it is for and about."

Well we didn't know, but we brought it home and put it in a box in the closet for seven years, from 1980 to 1987. During this time it would come to me in dreams. It told me it was looking for a man and I should find him. I couldn't believe it, but suddenly found myself standing in the closet and talking to a rock. I fondly said, "Wait a minute! I don't want anything to do with you ." We argued for seven years. He said, "You will be talking to hundreds of people about me. I'm very important to mankind. You've got to find this man for me. By the way, my name isn't The Skull. My name is Max."

So here I am, standing in the closet talking to a rock and telling him that I'd help find this man. (She laughs) So in June of 1987, I was watching a local TV show about UFOs. And there was a picture of the famous Mitchell-Hedges skull. Until then I hadn't realized there were more skulls. So I called the TV station and told them I had a skull. They were very skeptical but eventually came out to see it. They were flabbergasted. From there I went to the Houston Museum where I learned of several other skulls, one in a museum in France, one in London England, and some are in private collections. I learned that Max is the only skull currently allowed to be researched and to go to sacred ceremonies or be looked at and touched. He goes to many, many ceremonies, including the Activation Ceremony, (Editor's Note: Special Ceremony that was conducted with healer - Star Johnsen in the past, view this page for more information) which is the aligment of his energy field with various vortexes and grids around the U.S. He's in healing ceremonies.

He is also involved in Native Indian ceremonies. At Mary Thunder's Ranch, Max goes to the Sweat Lodge, Medicine Wheel, and Sacred Pipe Ceremonies. Mary is Cherokee and Souix.

Debbie: I didn't realize that Native American culture would relate to something like that.

JoAnn: Absolutely. They know about the skulls. Grandma Tywiah Nitsch, a well-known Seneca Indian, loves Max and has six Wolfsong Gatherings going (gatherings of peace). Max was in Wolfsong Two. I have a video that was filmed down there, called Max, the Crystal Skull It shows Max in ceremony, and shows many of the Mayan, Aztec and Peruvian elders and Celtic and Aborigines from all over the world talking about Max and what he means. They believe they will all come back together again some day. They don't pray to it. They just honor it, pay tribute to it. They revere it as a communication device.

Debbie: So what do they think the skulls are, energies or connections with Beings of other places?

JoAnn: Well, yes. There are many theories. Although used in Mayan ceremonies, they are not believed to have been created by the Mayans. Max has met with psychics and gurus, metaphyscians, shamans, lawyers, Indian Chiefs, parapsychology researchers, and UFO investigators. People come ftom all over the world. They come here thinking that either he is extraterrestrial, brought here by visitors of a distant star system and he's programmed like a computer. He carries ancient knowledge from his past. Perhaps the rock has picked up some sound and vibration and images occuring around it and it has programmed it and it's in there. Various people sit there and get visions and images off of it. Others believe it's an Atlantian crystal - that it came from both places.

Debbie: Did anyone ever ask MAX directly, 'Where did you come from?"

JoAnn: He says he comes from both places. He comes from Pleiades and from Atlantis. He is a gift to mankind. He's here as a teacher, and as a tool, to bring people together as a Oneness. He's also here for mankind's spiritual growth. He seems to open up an energy in the mind that is there, but just needs a little push. People pick up visions of the past, of other planets, and some are creatively inspired. They feel healing. Max is a personal experiece.

Debbie: What kind of experiences do you have with Max?

JoAnn: Mainly through dreams. I'll even have UFO dreams where they'll talk to me and tell me things. It doesn't dominate my life. I keep my feet on the ground. I keep an open mind and an open heart and that's how we want people to view Max. It's only been in the last few hundred years that the skull has been used as a symbd of evil. In ancient history the skull was used as a symbol of knowledge.

Debbie: How did you finally meet F.R. 'Nick Nocerino?

JoAnn: I called museums, TV stations, etc. searching for information on anyone who knew anything about the skulls until finally someone gave me his name. He told me he had known about the skull and been searching for it since 1949. Max said 'This is the man!' Nick brought some documentation, and from there it has been a learning process. Nick was able to identify Max in two ways, the first by his documented skill in psychometry, and the second by information that he was given in 1947 by a shaman in Central America when he was working for the Government. I keep in touch with Nick regularly.

I've written a book on the history of Max which is, as of yet, untitled. It's just now going to the publishers, so it will be a while yet before it is out. Max is the largest of all the skulls, weighing 18 pounds.

Debbie: What did you do for a living before all this started?

JoAnn: Absolutely nothing. I was just a regular little housewife, cleaned my home. I did the books for our family business and raised my two children. I was raised in the typical southern Lutheran Church but I keep an open mind. Your truths are your truths and mine are mine. Each carries his own truth. You don't have to believe and like everything you see, but if you don't examine other peoples' truths then you have nothing to compare your own to.

Debbie: Thank you so much. I'm looking forward to meeting you in June. Anything else you would like to add?

JoAnn: Right now our plans are just to continue to allow Max to continue to be a joy and inspiration to many thousands of people to come. Maxwill be waiting to meet you.

Debbie Smoker is a Certified Hypnotherapist. In addition to her work at the Hypnosis Wellness Cen- ter in Janesville, WI, Debbie does Intuitive Readings and conducts workshops on Meditation and Dream Analysis through her busi- ness, Positive Vibrations. She is cur- rendtly working on a book on spiriual lessons she learned while living in Jamaica. Debbie lives in Janesville, Wisconsin and can be contacted by phone at (608)752-2604.

Some interesting information which has been discovered about Max, during its research: Max is at least 10,000 years old or older (generally 36,000 years is attributed to its age). Max was probably carved from a piece of quartz that was at least 40 or 50 pounds. If the skull had been hand rubbed down to 18 lbs., it is estimated that it took 200 or 250 years (etc) to do. This is because it is not believed that the Mayans really created the skulls nor was it hand rubbed down in Mrs Parks' opinion. Max was found in a tomb in Guatemala between 1924 and 1926.

From the scooped out indentation underneath Max, it is speculated that this was an altar skull, where it may have been worshipped as a God. The major inclusions found within "Max" travel all the way down the inside part of the skull. The creators of "Max" carved right into these inclusions. Due to the depth of the inclusions most experts (crystal carvers, geologist, gemologists) all believe that no diamond-tipped tools could have been use to shape "Max" (if such tools even existed at the time of "Max's" creation).

Just as with other crystal skulls, Mrs. Parks believe that "MAX" is like a computer and has the ability to record and replay events that occur in its presence.

"Max" and JoAnn Parks are now traveling all over the United States. Generally, when JoAnn works alone, she will offer a lecture and a hands-on workshop as well as private sessions with "MAX". If you would be interested to setup a private appointment with "Max" or to sponsor a weekend event including "Max" and Joann, please feel free to write or call:

The Texas Crystal Skull, Attn: JoAnn Parks, P.O. Box 751261, Houston, TX 77275-1261; (713)991-4545

Through Mrs. Parks, you can also obtain her booklet, The Story of Max, The Texas Crystal Skull or she has available a video tape entitled MAX, The 36,000 Year Old Crystal Skull: The Oldest Peace Elder at Wolf Song II produced by Blue Star Productions. This is a wonderful tape where "Max" is part of this sacred gathering of International Indigenous Elders for World Peace, held in 1992. Mrs. Parks also offers some black and white photographs of "MAX", various small contemporary carved crystal skulls from Brazil who stay with "MAX" and carry his energies and various other related informational videos.

rshapiro@interaccess.com