May 23 - Whose 2012 Is It, Anyway?/‏

Dear Friends,

Paste/click the links if you don't receive the images/can't access the links.

http://www.atitlansol.com/Theories-2012-Mayan-Calendar/index.html

Part II;

http://www.atitlansol.com/Theories-2012-Mayan-Calendar/whose2012IsItAnyway-Mayan-calendars-LongCount-part2.html

Calleman Wrong About End Date of Mayan Long Count Calendar

http://www.atitlansol.com/Theories-2012-Mayan-Calendar/why-calleman-wrong-end-date-long-count-mayan-calendar.html


Be Well.

David

Whose 2012 Is It, Anyway?

What happens at the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012? That depends on whose theories, research, documentation, assumptions and conclusions you read.

In this series, we examine theories of the leading 2012 researchers and experts, related prophecies of the Maya and other ancient civilizations about the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar in 2012, and some of the most remarkable mushroom- and DMT-induced 2012 fantasies, at least one backed up with real charts.

Find out everything you wanted to know about 2012 and the end of the Maya calendar were too busy worrying about the end of the world to ask—all on the pages of this very Web site.

Top 2012 Theories, End of Mayan Long Count Calendar and 2012 Theory

The top six theorists—who don't even agree on the exact date or even the year that the Mayan Long Count calendar begins or ends—are John Major Jenkins, Carl Johan Calleman, Graham Hancock, Terence McKenna, Jose Arguelles, Daniel Pinchbeck. (Actually, ht last three guys don't really count.) They have all written books and appear in videos and DVD's about 2012 and various aspects of Mayan cosmology, the many Mesoamerian calendars, Maya history and culture.

Unfortunately, some of these researchers are apparent nut cases who conducted their research by eating psychedelic mushrooms or channeling the spirit of some ancient Mayan priest-king, or even Kukulkan himself. Others have done field work at Maya sites in Mexico and Guatemala, investigated astronomical tie-ins with the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar, and avoided the channeling and mind-altering substances.

(This is not to suggest that knowledge, wisdom and perspective cannot be obtained by utilizing the appropriate sacred herbs and substances in the right circumstances—only that if interviewing a talking mushroom or channeling anyone from any place or time is the basis of your theory for 2012 or any other topic, that you are better off not telling the world your source. If that is the case, tell them you got your information from a very scientific time wave chart or by some other more logical and scientific method.)

End of the World or into the 5th World?

They all concur that whatever happens at the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar will lead to a new world—perhaps the fifth world according to the Maya and other MesoAmericca cultures. Some indicate that Kukulkan (Quetzalcoatl in Mexico) will return, others that earthquakes will destroy the world.

This series of articles surveys the leading theories, exploring where they agree and disagree. It examines the Monument 6 hieroglyphs at Tortuguero, the only stela ever found that describes what will happen on December 21, 2012, whose Long Count date is 4 Ahau 3 Kankin. We will also delve into the Mayan Books of Chilam Balam and the 13-Katun Prophecies from Yucatan, Mexico.

Mayan Prophecies about 2012

Prophecies of contemporary Maya daykeepers and shamans in Guatemala concerning the end of the Long Count calendar will be taken into consideration. And finally, a summary will reveal what is most likely to happen and why on that date as well as in the few years before the end date.

Where to Be in 2012: Locations of Key Events Related to End of Mayan Calendar

The top travel destinations and tours related to 2012 and the end of the Mayan calendar are published for the first time anywhere. Learn where to be in Mexico and Guatemala on certain Mayan calendar-related dates. This information also covers archaeological and sacred sites in San Salvador, Belize and Honduras, and unveils the places to be in North and South America as well as the rest of the planet. Key 2012-related dates leading to the end of the Long Count will soon be listed here.

Shay Addams
Lake Atitlan, Guatemala
8 B'atz 9 Pax 2010

The End of the World?

The most dire predictions of planet Earth’s fate on or around the end (actually completion) of the Mayan Long Count calendar on December 21, 2001, are:

1. The Earth’s magnetic poles will reverse, possibly due to the sunspot cycle and giant solar flares. Key data in Cotterell and Geryl's theory have been refuted by Geoff Stray.
2. The planet’s crust will shift, causing floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. (Graham Hancock and assorted Hancock wanna-bes.)
3. Earth will go through a 60-70 hours of total darkness, which could be caused by ash from one or more major volcanic eruptions or by solar flares that knock out electrical grids and communications around the world. (Contemporary Maya shamans 2012 prediction and spiritual guides)
4. A series of volcanoes and earthquakes will destroy civilization. (Various and sundry sources) These have already begun, by the way. Note that the original print edition of the column was published in Guatemala weeks before the big eruption in Iceland.
5. Everyone on Earth will undergo a transformation in consciousness that will lead to a New Age of universal consciousness. (John Major Jenkins, Barbara Hand Clow, Daniel Pinchbeck, Carl Calleman, too many others to mention)
6. The Feathered Serpent god (Kukulkan to the Maya, Quetzalcoatl to the Aztecs) will return. (Daniel Pinchbeck, Jose Arguelles, others)
7. Bolon and the Gods of Nine will return (Monument 6 at Tortugueros, Mexico; Books of Chilam Balam from Yucatan; Carl Calleman, others)
8. Time will come to an end (McKenna, Calleman)

There are many other 2012 theories out there. For the most objective and well-researched survey of 2012 books and theories, pick up a copy of 2012: Castastrophe or Awakening?.

Several of the sources of theories mentioned above are apparent nut cases who "researched" the subject by channeling Quetzalcoatl, interviewing talking mushrooms, or eating handfuls of psychedelics and staring at a pat of melting butter. But even they concur with the others that whatever happens will lead to a new world--the fifth world according to the Maya and other Mesoamerican cultures. And even the flakiest book about 2012 theory contains at least part of the puzzle that other miss.

Galactic Alignment, Too

These predictions got a credibility boost with the recent discovery that about the time the Long Count ends, our Solar System, along with the December solstice sun, will align with a huge black hole in the dark rift at the center of the Milky Way. The sun, in fact, is in that same area of the heavens on the Winter solstice every year. And it aligns with the galactic plane annually.

What happens only every 26,125 years is the simultaneouls alignment of our solar system with the darkrift, which the Maya called the "dark road" to Xibalba, the underworld.

Why the Long Count Was Invented

John Major Jenkins argues that the Maya invented the Long Count to point at this date and so warn people of the future (that would be us) of the end of the calendar and beginning of the new age. Others, Calleman specifically, say there is no evidence that the Maya knew of precession or the Solar System’s alignment with the center of the Milky Way.

Calleman says the Long Count really ends October 28, 2011, more than a year before the date almost universally accepted. It turns out that he is wrong, as can be seen on Why Calleman is Wrong about Long Count End Date.

This page was posted on 3 K'at 2010.

Calleman Wrong About End Date of Mayan Long Count Calendar

In his first book, Carl Calleman concludes that the Mayan Long Count calendar ends on October 28, 2011, and not on December 21, 2012, the generally accepted date. Both this conclusion and assumption upon which it is based are, however, erroneous.

Calleman contends that the 2012 date, 4 Ahau in the long count, is wrong because it is not harmonically synchronized with the tzolkin, which ends on 13 Ahau. He incorrectly assumes that the only way the two can be synchronized is if they both end on the same day.

Calleman falsely concludes: "If the 260-day tzolkin count s a true temporal microcosm, a true overtone of the vibrations of the World Tree generating the Great Cycle, the Great Cycle would have to begin on the same day, 13 Ahau, as a tzolkin round does." (Solving the Greatest Mystery of Our Time: The Mayan Calendar, 237).

True, the Long Count and tzolkin calendars should be harmonically synchronized because the Long Count is composed of 260 katuns, making it a large-scale version of the 260 day tzolkin.

Nevertheless, his assumption that the only way the two calendars can be synchronized is by ending on the same tzolkin day, according to Calleman, 13 Ahau rather than 4 Ahau.

The Burner Day Cycles and 4 Ahau

What Calleman overlooked are the 65-day cycles of the tzolkin known as the Day Burner cycles. The tzolkin’s 260 days are divided into four cycles of 65 days each. The first Burner Day is 4 Ahau, which puts the first day of the Long Count in agreement with the tzolkin.

The Burner Days were among the most important cycles of the tzolkin. Across MesoAmericca, the Maya began preparing for the celebration of each 20 days in advance. On the Burner Day, a huge bonfire was built. Fire-walking and other ceremonies took place. (In some parts of Central America, the Maya still observe these ceremonies).

Then they spent the 20 days following the Burner Day in what Bruce Scofield calls “re-acclimation to ‘regular life’.” (How to Practice Mayan Astrology, 2007, page 90) In each of the four Burner Day cycles, therefore, they devoted 41 days to celebrating that cycle. In the four annual cycles, they spent 164 days—almost 40% of their entire lives—in preparing for and celebrating the process, which underscores the significance of Burner Days such as the first one each year, 4 Ahau.

More proof Calleman is Wrong about 2011

Another proof that Calleman is wrong when he says the Long Count must end on the same end date as the tzolkin—but the tzolkin is a circle, and a circle has no objective beginning or end. (Though this observation was arrived at independently, it turns out that John Major Jenkins made the same argument in an online debate on Dire Gnosis in 2001.)

A start and end date may be assigned on a subjective basis for practical purposes, as various ancient did and contemporary Maya continue to do: the Yucatecan Maya in Mexico started their tzolkin on 1 Imix (Imox in Quiche); the Quiche in Guatemala, on 8 B'atz (Chuen in Yucatecan). Reference from contemporary Mayan Spiritual Guides in Guatemala: First Day of Quiche Tzolkin.

It might be argued that if the tzolkin has no true start or end dates, then how can 4 Ahau be considered the first of the four burner days? Easy: Ahau represents the sun, which logically manifested before the serpent, dog and eagle, the other three burner days.

Conclusion: Calleman Wrong About 2011 End Date for Maya Long Count Calendar

The Long Count’s beginning date of August 11, B.C., its end date of December 21, 2012 A.D., the tzolkin’s end date for the Yucatecan Maya, and the first Burner Day of each tzolkin are all 4 Ahau, which makes the Long Count harmonically synchronized with the tzolkin as Calleman correctly states is should be—though not in the way that Calleman deduced.

There are more problems with his thought processes regarding this subject and others, but this alone is sufficient to disprove his assertion that the Long Count ends in 2011. This does not mean that all of Calleman’s assumptions, speculations and conclusions are wrong, but it does cast a growing shadow of doubt on them. We’ll consider these in a future column in this series, Whose 2012 Is It, Anyway?.

Shay Addams
Lake Atitlan, Guatemala
4 Ahau 18 Pax 2010