2012: The Mayan Prophecy Explained
"Although many movies and books claim to show what the Mayan's predict will happen in 2012, the ancient Maya say surprisingly little about what will actually occur at the end of the calendar. In this guide, we will look at the katun prophecies and what they reveal.
The Mayan Prophecy in a Nutshell
There are two sides to this coin. On the one hand, we're going through a difficult time leading into 2012. These difficulties are the result of our own disharmony of spirit. Governments and religions will let us down and lead us astray. Resources will be scarce and people will be afraid. Natural disasters will increase through the period and the age will end with destruction by fire.
On the other hand, Kukulkan returns representing a rising of consciousness. People are reunited with the wisdom of the past as a new age unfolds. Not only does Kukulkan return but Mayan masters and initiates also return to help spread the wisdom of the Maya. People are drawn to the temples and ruins to remember the past age of knowledge. it's a time for recording and writing things down.
As we return to lost wisdom, we also return to living with the natural cycles represented by the calendars. People begin to elevate their own consciousness through the evolution of the energy centers in the body. We write the next phase of earth, the next age, together as people from all places unite.
The Present Katun
it's believed by those who follow the 2012 end date that this katun began on April 6, 1993, and ends with the Long Count/creation age on December 21, 2012. This katun warns of scarcity of resource, food shortages, and many people dying. It also talks of 'remembering (old) knowledge and writing it down.'
The Mayans predicted the coming of the Spanish to Maya lands, stating that their knowledge would have to retreat before the advent of the 'wooden cross,' but would resurrect again at the end of the calendar. The Chilam Balam states that Kukulkan (Quetzalcoatl) returns during this period to establish the new world and guide the way. The Maya believed in reincarnation and talk of the return of the Mayan masters prior to 2012. The Chilam Balam writer says: 'My part is to interpret to you, your part, later, as well as my own, is to be born again.' The purpose of coming back during the end times is to spread the wisdom and knowledge of the Maya, to ease the time of the purification, and to open the door to the transformation.
End of the World, 2012—2032
The Chilam Balam states: 'This is a time of total collapse where everything is lost. It is the time of the judgment of God. There will be epidemics and plagues and then famine. Governments will be lost to foreigners; wise men, and prophets will be lost.'
The katuns have a number of prophecies relating to the 'end of the world,' which comes at the completion of the Great Cycles. A katun lasts for 20 years, so a katun prediction covers the entire 20-year period.
The katuns refer to this time as the final days of misfortune at the end of the Long Count calendar. They predict earth changes in the form of storms, earthquakes, famine, and pestilence. In this time people lose confidence in religion, priests, government, and officials. In fact even the omens that connect the Maya to the gods are questioned. The omens themselves are said to be broken by the dishonor prevalent in the times.
In The Book of the Jaguar Priest, Maud Worcester Makemson translates from the Chilam Balam the actual events of the end times. From the sound of it, the Sacred Tree of Life itself falls. The days turn upside down, stones fall from the sky, and fire consumes everything. Many think this description sounds a lot like a massive super volcano and a magnetic pole shift where the earth actually turns onto a new axis. The description of the Sacred Tree of Life falling might describe the Milky Way changing position in the sky.
After speaking of great destruction and disillusionment, the Chilam Balam ends by saying, 'These are the words which must be spoken: the prophecies are a solemn trust from ancient times. They are the first news of events and a valuable warning of things to come.'
After 2012
What happens to the calendars if we have moved into the sixth age? Does the katun cycle just roll over and reset like your car's odometer? This is how it worked in the past, but the sixth age is unknown. If the katuns do just roll over, here is the next in the cycle.
Katun 11 is the first katun and therefore always opens the new cycles. This was the katun that brought Spanish rule to the Yucatan. It predicts the end of traditional rule and the arrival of foreigners that invade and disperse the population. It also predicts scarcity of resources and food.
But again, there are two sides to the coin. Even as the katun talks of difficulty and death, it also predicts great opportunity. it's a time when gifts are given by the gods. In fact, the gods actually come to visit, bringing enlightenment. They talk of life after death. The destruction is spoken of as purification: cleansing the old before creation of the new. The Chilam Balam claims that after the time of trial and tears the 'divisions in the earth will be one; one Ahau in the heavens, one Ahau in the earth as the ancient prophecies say.' This seems to be the Mayan version of 's above, so below.' After this time of travail the Golden Age of the Maya begins.
Looking at the traditions and history of the Maya may give some insights into what's to come. The general Maya tradition believes that cycles of any length end with purification, followed by renewal. With 2012 prophesied to be the end of a cycle, the Maya seem to point to us being in for a rough ride—but who knows what the future will bring? In the meantime, carpe diem!"
Synthia Andrews and Colin Andrews, The Complete Idiot's Guide to 2012
(Web. http://idiotsguides.com/ December 14, 2012)
"The Mayan's interpretation of history is embedded in their calendar, completed by priest-astronomers in the year 1479 and carved into the Aztec-Mayan sunstone. The Mayan calendar details long passages of time, including mathematical calculations so accurate that modern astronomers are at a loss to understand how a traditional people could arrive at them (for example, the calculation of the length of the Earth's revolution within a thousandth of a decimal point).
The most famous calculation is encoded in the so-called long count. The 'Age of Jaguar', the thirteenth baktun of 144,000 days, will come to an end on the 21st of December 2012. That will mark the end of the Fourth Sun (also known as the Fourth World) and the end—and at the same time the beginning—of the Mayan calendar. This transformative date is written as 13.0.0.0.0 in long count notation, which is the same as the notation for the first day in the calendar.
December 21, 2012 marks the end of the long count in the Mayan calendar (and thus also the end and rebirth of the calendar), but not the end of the world. Carlos Barrios, a Guatemalan historian and anthropologist who became a Mayan Ajq'ij ceremonial priest and spiritual guide, is currently the most authentic spokesperson for the Mayan elders. He is definite on the question regarding the end of the world.
Other people write about prophecy in the name of the Maya. They say that the world will end on December 21, 2012. The Mayan elders are angry with this. The world will not end. It will be transformed.
Everything will change: December 21, 2012 will be a date of rebirth, the beginning of the World of the Fifth Sun. The nature of that world is not determined in advance, but the Mayan system suggests that it may be the beginning of a new cycle of Ages, starting with the Golden Age. It is likely to mark a fundamental shift in human culture and consciousness.”
2013: The Beginning is Here
Jim Young, John Hunt Publishing (Jan 16 2011) pp. 17-18
