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[[Category:History of astrology]]
[[Category:History of astrology]]
2012 Doomsday prediction
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The Orion Nebula, as captured by the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes using false-color imaging. Patrick Geryl's Orion Prophecy is among the many books that suggest the Earth is on the verge of an apocalypse. (Photo credit: NASA.)The 2012 Doomsday Prediction is a cultural phenomenon consisting of present-day speculation about imminent cataclysmic events which contends that an apocalyptic event will occur in the year 2012. This idea has been disseminated by numerous books, internet sites and documentaries airing on the History Channel since 2006. The forecast is based primarily on a claimed end date of the 5,125-year Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, which is December 21, 2012, and incorporates warnings from climate experts and other environmental scientists that the Earth has reached a "tipping point" that could generate mass extinctions, as well as interpretations of assorted legends, scriptures and prophecies.

In addition, some proponents of the doomsday premise claim ancient Mayan astronomers were aware of a rare alignment of the Earth, Sun and center of the Milky Way on the December solstice in 2012. According to this claim, the alignment is tied to the precession of the equinoxes and signals a transition from one world age to another. These proponents further claim that during this time, the planet and its inhabitants will undergo a physical and/or spiritual transformation, hence the reason the Mayan calendar ends on this date.[1]

While scientists generally concur that the earth's climate is approaching a period of instability, academics dispute the apocalyptic interpretation of the Long Count calendar end-date and the precession-alignment claim. Those versed in the study of classical Mayan civilization insist the date 12/21/2012 simply marks a resetting of the calendar to Baktun 13.0.0.0.0.[2]

Skeptics note that predictions of the imminent end of the world have a very long history, with literally hundreds of documented examples, some associated with religious prophecies, others with astronomical events such as comets or eclipses, and others with calendar events such as the millenium.[3] In every one of these cases, the predicted dates have passed, without noticeable result.[4]

Contents [hide]
1 December 21, 2012
2 Prophecies
3 Scientific forecasts
4 Precession-alignment theory
5 Criticism
6 Dissemination
7 Notes
8 See also
9 External links


[edit] December 21, 2012
The significance of this date in Mayanism stems from the ending of the current baktun cycle of the Maya calendar in 2012, which many believe will create a global "consciousness shift" and the beginning of a new age. Speculation about this date can be traced to the first edition of The Maya (1966) by Michael D. Coe, in which he suggested the date of December 24, 2011, as one on which the Maya believed "Armageddon would overtake the degenerate peoples of the world and all creation."[5] This date became the subject of speculation by Frank Waters, who devotes two chapters to its interpretation, including discussion of an astrological chart for this date and its association with Hopi prophecies in Mexico Mystique (1975). The significance of the year 2012 (but not a specific day) was mentioned briefly by José Argüelles in The Transformative Vision (1975).[6]

Waters' book inspired further speculation by John Major Jenkins in the mid-1980s, including revision of the date to one corresponding with the winter solstice in 2012. Interpretations of the date became the subject of further speculation by José Argüelles in The Mayan Factor (1987), promoted at the 1987 Harmonic Convergence. It received further elaboration in the Novelty theory of Terence McKenna. The supposed prediction of an astronomical conjunction of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy with the winter solstice Sun on December 21, 2012, referred to by John Major Jenkins in Galactic Alignment as having been predicted by the ancient Maya and others, is a much-anticipated event in Mayanism. Although Jenkins suggests that ancient Maya knowledge of this event was based on observations of the "dark rift" in the Milky Way as seen from Earth, others see it as evidence of knowledge imparted via ancient contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. The relevance of modern "dark rift" observations to Pre-Columbian and traditional Maya beliefs is strongly debated, and academic archaeologists reject all theories regarding extraterrestrial contact, but it is clear that the promotion of Mayanism through interest in 2012 is contributing to the evolution of religious syncretism in contemporary Maya communities. Psychonaut author Daniel Pinchbeck popularized New Age concepts about this date, linking it to beliefs about crop circles, alien abduction, and personal revelations based on the use of entheogens and mediumship in his 2006 book 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl [7].


[edit] Prophecies
The History Channel in its coverage of the 2012 Doomsday Prediction cites a number of prophecies that may relate to the present day.[8] For example, in the 1940s members of the Hopi tribe warned that of a series of global catastrophes would strike after nine omens were realized. A third world war, geologic upheaval, hotter temperatures, drought and famine would all contribute to the collapse of civilization. This prediction was integrated into an older legend and is today known as the Hopi Prophecy. Among the omens that presage the final days are a "spider web crisscrossing the earth" and a "blue star".

"And this is the Ninth and Last Sign: You will hear of a dwelling-place in the heavens, above the earth, that shall fall with a great crash. It will appear as a blue star. Very soon after this, the ceremonies of my people will cease. These are the Signs that great destruction is coming. The world shall rock to and fro. The white man will battle against other people in other lands -- with those who possessed the first light of wisdom. There will be many columns of smoke and fire such as White Feather has seen the white man make in the deserts not far from here. Only those which come will cause disease and a great dying. Many of my people, understanding the prophecies, shall be safe. Those who stay and live in the places of my people also shall be safe. Then there will be much to rebuild. And soon -- very soon afterward -- Pahana will return. He shall bring with him the dawn of the Fifth World. He shall plant the seeds of his wisdom in their hearts. Even now the seeds are being planted. These shall smooth the way to the Emergence into the Fifth World."[9]

In South America, a small community of Q'ero Indians has also predicted the end of the fourth world. These reclusive descendents of the Inca were discovered by anthropologist Alberto Villoldoin in Cuzco, Peru, in 1949. They believe the world is approaching the time of a universal "mastay", or gathering. As in the case of the Hopi prophecy, geologic disturbances will precede the reintegration of cultures dispersed around "the four directions".[10]

Other prophecies considered by doomsday proponents to be relevant to modern times include:

The Book of Revelation, by John of Patmos.
The Sibylline Books.
The Quatrains and the Lost Book of Nostradamus.
The Prophecy of the Popes, by Saint Malachy.
Terrence Mckenna's Timewave Zero interpretation of the I Ching.
Two Medieval prophets dramatized in the History Channel program 2012: End of Days are Mother Shipton (a.k.a. Ursula Southeil) and Myrddin Wyllt. Both envisioned an apocalypse during the era of modern technological society. However, the authorship of both prophecies is disputed by scholars.

In The Orion Prophecy (2001), Patrick Geryl and Gino Ratinckx allege that descendents of the utopian civilization Atlantis settled along the Nile following the end of the last major ice age. These Atlanteans survived a catastrophic flood and later encoded a warning about a 2012 apocalypse in hieroglyphs. According to Geryl and Ratinckx, this prophecy can be found inside the Sphinx, the pyramids at Giza and the zodiacs in the Greco-Roman Dendera temple. The authors cite a rare translation of the Egyptian Book of the Dead by the French mathematician Albert Slosman, as well as Slosman’s book Le Grand Cataclysme (1976), as sources.[11]However, Plato dated the destruction of his Atlantis to around 9000 B.C., nearly 6,000 years before the establishment of Egypt.[12]In addition, no definitive archaeological evidence of Atlantis has ever been uncovered. [13]


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Revision as of 02:23, 2 March 2009

The galactic alignment can refer to several different astronomical and astrological phenomena. According to Raymond Mardyks, the galactic alignment was composed of the thirteen equinoxes and solstices between Septembers 1998 and 2001 (note: 9:11 Event). This is only one of several factors contributing to the astrology of 2012.

One common, simple-minded misunderstanding regarding the galactic alignment refers to an alignment between the December solstice sun with the equator of our galaxy, the Milky Way. The galactic equator is a reference line that describes 0 degrees longitude and 0 degrees latitude, and acts as a divisional line between the northern and southern hemispheres of the observed Milky Way. The alignment occurs as a result of the precession of the equinoxes. Precession is caused by the earth wobbling very slowly on its axis and shifts the position of the equinoxes and solstices one degree every 71.5 years. Because the sun is one-half of a degree wide, it will take the December solstice sun 36 years to precess through the galactic equator. The galactic equator passed exactly through the solstitial points of the ecliptic in May 1998. [1]

References

  1. ^ Meeus, Jean (1997). "Ecliptic and galactic equator". Mathematical Astronomy Morsels. Richmod, Va: Willmann-Bell. pp. 301–303. ISBN 9780943396514. OCLC 36126686. The exact time of coincidence is May 1998.

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