As the magic date of Dec.21, 2012 approaches, there has been a tremendous upsurge in the number of books on the subject (my own search on amazon revealed some 94,000 plus entries). Many of them spell out apocalyptic prospects for humanity in the few years to come, in effect, amplifying the already dominant 'victim' vibration in our troposphere.
This book is not like that. Refreshingly original, it re-creates some age old methods of creating a new space within ourselves with which to go out and meet the coming changes with welcoming hearts, instead of fear and foreboding. The way there, according to the author, is, in short, the quite simple, (or complex) prescription of acknowledging and accepting our own shadowy and unloved selves, and allowing them to operate in concert with our total persona as a whole.
However, this book is not a how-to-manual. Rich in allegorical content, it uses the imagery of archetypal energies to depict, among other themes, the journey of soul through the twelve signs of the zodiac into a recognition of its own light. Especially evocative, is the imagery associated with the comparison of the heart of the Galactic Center with the Great Mother, whence the expansive white area of stars, represent her pregnant womb and the Dark Rift between, her birth cleft or vagina.
Another appealing symbol that has been invoked, and one that to me, resonates particularly strongly, is that of Kali, the Hindu goddess of Death and Regeneration, also referred to by Paramahamsa Yogananda as 'Divine Mother'. As the energies of our sun align with those of the Galactic Center, it is, (according to the author) as if we die to our old selves when we get sucked into the 'black hole' of Kali's womb, and emerge on the other side, via a 'white hole' renewed and rejuvenated in entirety.
The author begins by exploring the physical phenomena associated with this 26,000 year alignment of our sun with the Galactic Center. She then takes up the connection of the same with the Mayan Calendar, where the magic date of Dec. 21, 2012 marks the end of their fourth world and the beginning of their fifth, simultaneously heralding the end of humanity as we know it today. "..the earth and its inhabitants are entering a new world era, ruled by the element of ether....
Ether is considered to be the fifth element and the synthesis of the four other elements, earth, air, fire and water. In the past, the driving force for reality creation, have been our emotions (linked to water) and our beliefs and reasons (linked to air). Now at the dawn of a new age of compassion, harmony and interrelatedness, we are connecting to the unity or Christ grid....which reflects the element of ether". Our challenge, according to the author, in the years to come, is "to allow the birth of a new consciousness that reflects the element of ether, the element of the fifth sun, and within which, a fusion of polarities takes place", obviating the need for separation into the opposites of good or bad, light and dark and so on.
After going through the above introduction to the coming changes after 2012 to humanity as we know it, the author takes us on a search for clues in mythology and ancient history on how to deal with times of global chaos and transformation. Her findings and discoveries in this particular quest, form the major subject matter of this book.
Recurring themes and images that occur in the text quite often, are the Crone, Kali, Isis, Osiris and Horus, Persephone and Demeter and, of course, the twelve archetypal images of the Zodiac (several chapters are devoted to this particular journey of soul) to name only a few. The alchemy of transformation through descent into our unconscious and owning our shadow is discussed in detail. Issues around acceptance, death and rebirth, in particular, are also investigated from several angles in the analysis. Some of the stories and deductions were strongly reminiscent (at least for me) of similar material in the bestseller 'Women who run with the Wolves' by Clarissa Pinkola Estes.
The final exhortation in this book is given by the Great Mother to the author in answer to a question posed by the latter, "What words of advice do you offer as we approach 2012 and beyond?". The answer provided is as follows,"Still your mind and center in your heart. Now through waves of love, connect to the hearts of your cells, organs...Finally, extend your energy towards the stars through the embodiment of love for yourself". Truly a fine way to welcome Dec 21, 2012, don't you think?
Read this book if you can, it could open you up to interesting possibilities, and, at the very least, mitigate your fears around the 2012 issue, at least a little.
Graham Hancock is the author of the major international bestsellers 'The Sign and The Seal,' 'Fingerprints of the Gods,' 'Supernatural' and 'Heaven's Mirror.' His books have sold more than five million copies worldwide and have been translated into 27 languages. His public lectures and TV appearances, including the three-hour series 'Quest For The Lost Civilisation,' have put his ideas before audiences of tens of millions.
He has become recognized as an unconventional thinker who raises legitimate questions about humanity's history and prehistory and offers an increasingly popular challenge to the entrenched views of orthodox scholars.
John Major Jenkins is an independent researcher who has devoted himself to reconstructing ancient Mayan cosmology and philosophy. Since 1986, John has traveled to Mexico and Central America seven times. In 1990 he helped build a school in San Pedro, near Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. In 1994 he delivered relief supplies to a Quiché Maya community in the Western highlands of Guatemala. Since beginning his odyssey of research and discovery with the Maya, John has authored dozens of articles and many books, including 'Maya Cosmogenesis 2012' (1998) and 'Galactic Alignment: The Transformation of Consciousness According to Mayan, Egyptian, and Vedic Traditions' (2002).
Author Daniel Pinchbeck was a founder of the 1990s literary magazine Open City and has written for many publications, including Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone. In 1994, he was chosen by The New York Times Magazine as one of Thirty Under Thirty destined to change our culture.
His latest book, '2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl,' is a literary and metaphysical epic that binds together the cosmological phenomena of our time to support the contention of the Mayan calendar that the year 2012 portends an unprecedented global shift.
Pinchbeck lives in New York s East Village, where he is editorial director of Reality Sandwich. He is co-creator of the animation project, PostModern Times.
Alberto Villoldo, PhD, is a medical anthropologist who has spent the last 25 years investigating the healing practices of the shamans of the Amazon and the Andes. He is the founder of the Four Winds Society, an organization dedicated to the bridging of ancient shamanic traditions with modern medicine and psychology.
He is the author of over 10 books, including 'Shaman, Healer, Sage'; 'Mending the Past and Healing the Future with Soul Retrieval'; 'The Four Insights'; 'Yoga, Power and Spirit' and 'Courageous Dreaming.' He makes available a complex body of shamanic knowledge in an elegant and accessible manner.
Lawrence E. Joseph was formerly the chairman of an advanced plasma physics research and development company in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As a writer Joseph has written for, among other publications, The New York Times, Salon.com, Family Circle, Audubon, Art News, Discover and Diversion.
He is the author of several books including 'Gaia: The Growth of an Idea' (1990) and 'Apocalypse 2012' (2007), a New York Times bestseller. He is currently writing a follow up entitled '2012: The Aftermath.'
Anthony F. Aveni is the Russell B. Colgate Professor of Astronomy and Anthropology, serving appointments in both Departments of Physics and Astronomy and Sociology and Anthropology at Colgate University, where he has taught since 1963. Dr. Aveni helped develop the field of archaeoastronomy and now is considered one of the founders of Mesoamerican Archaeoastronomy, in particular for his research in the astronomical history of the Maya Indians of ancient Mexico. Dr. Aveni is a lecturer, speaker, and editor/author of over two dozen books on ancient astronomy.
Product Description
December 21, 2012: the end date of the sophisticated Long Count Calendar created by the ancient Maya in central America. Countless books and websites, magazine articles and newspaper headlines debate its meaning, with enthusiasts in two camps: those forecasting apocalypse the end of time and those who see a coming renewal, a rebirth of consciousness.
Adding fuel to the debate, some scientists see the increasing number of natural disasters in recent years as evidence of a catastrophic climax of events in 2012. How much of what we re hearing is science and how much is superstition? In this film the leading researchers, writers and scientists in the field tell us exactly what this date means to them, why it s important, and what we should expect.
Featured in the film are Graham Hancock, John Major Jenkins, Daniel Pinchbeck, Alberto Villoldo, Anthony Aveni, Robert Bauval, Jim Marrs, Walter Cruttenden, Lawrence E. Joseph, Douglas Rushkoff, John Anthony West and Benito Vegas Duran.
This is a preview of a Disinformation original documentary film, "2012: Science or Superstition" featuring John Major Jenkins, Daniel Pinchbeck, Alberto Villoldo, Robert Bauval, Jim Marrs and Graham Hancock to debut on December 21st, the winter solstice 2008 and the date exactly four years before the end of the Mayan Calendar.
Interest in the Mayan Long Count Calendar and 2012 end-of-the-world prophecies is increasing rapidly with about four years left to the target date of December 21, 2012 (or thereabouts).
A significant number of new books, as well as reprints of older ones, on the topic of 2012 are being published, some becoming legitimate bestsellers, including: Apocalypse 2012: A Scientific Investigation into Civilization's End by Lawrence E. Joseph; Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 by John Major Jenkins; and 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl by Daniel Pinchbeck.
On the fiction front, Whitley Strieber's latest novel, 2012: The War for Souls, is slated to be a Michael Bay-produced (and possibly directed) film at Warner Bros. Pictures.
An increasing number of mainstream publications are writing about 2012. The New York Times Magazine ran a feature on the topic, focusing on John Major Jenkins, in its July 1, 2007 edition; USA Today published an article entitled "Does Maya calendar predict 2012 apocalypse?" on March 28, 2007; and Publishers Weekly ran a story about the large number of new books on the topic on March 26, 2007. A second PW story ran in the September 3, 2007 edition with a quote from a well-known editor saying that 2012 "has practically become its own category" of books; and proving that the trend is only strengthening, a year later the September 22, 2008 issue of PW in its cover story stated "publishers agree that New Age readers can't get enough prophetic 2012 literature," and "sales on this topic have been through the roof."
Perhaps most significantly from a mainstream awareness perspective, Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, Day After Tomorrow, 10,000 BC) is directing a new tent-pole film for Sony Pictures entitled 2012. It is set for wide theatrical release in July, 2009.
The Disinformation Company specializes in publishing articles on topics surfacing in the culture on its popular website at www.disinfo.com and publishes books by authors writing in this and related fields. (For instance, Disinformation author Graham Hancock's bestselling book Fingerprints of the Gods was one of the first to focus on the Mayan calendar and its end date in 2012, and will be one of the bases for the Roland Emmerich movie.) Of course, in addition to its publishing division, The Disinformation Company also produces and distributes documentary films.
Producer Gary Baddeley recognized that interest in 2012 was on a fast track into the zeitgeist in 2007 and initiated the process of planning and producing 2012: Science Or Superstition with director Nimrod Erez. The Disinformation team, including co-producer Ralph Bernardo, contacted and arranged interviews with multiple experts, often obtaining speedy access due to more than ten years of working with them or colleagues in their fields.
Interviews were conducted in New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Palenque and also shot on location in Mexico and Egypt. Co-producer Bernardo worked with NASA to obtain illuminating footage of our solar system and galaxy and was able to locate leading astronomy professor Anthony Aveni, a cornerstone of the film's balanced approach. Director Nimrod Erez worked closely with animators to illustrate the sometimes complicated concepts discussed in the film, allowing the viewer to see visually, the hard to grasp phenomenon of precession.
In accord with the Disinformation style of documentary film making and publishing, the producers attempted to highlight multiple views of the subject matter and to interview experts who address the issues from varying and sometimes conflicting perspectives. The goal was to present the viewer with a balanced look at the 2012 phenomenon, allowing him or her to form an independent opinion on the debate about what the December 21, 2012 date means to all of us.
When you google 2012 you see a lot of sites in the search results which speak about the significance of the year 2012. There is a whole lot of information out there about 2012 which generates primarily 2 kinds of responses among the masses, those of fear and paranoia thanks to unawareness of the sign of the times and those of love for the big change coming our way ! Like everything else there are only 2 emotional choices in life as of today ... those of love and those of fear ! We always have a choice to transcend repeating patterns with a little conscious awareness of our thoughts and our feelings which are of a higher vibrational energy of compassion from the lower fear based vibrations.
Here's a nice write up by John Major Jenkins Author of the Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 ...
How Not to Make a 2012 Documentary
John Major Jenkins. July 28, 2006.
On Thursday, August 3rd, The History Channel will air “Decoding the Past: Mayan Doomsday Prophecy”, at 9 pm ET/PT. http://www.historychannel.com/ (click on "Thursday" and "Decoding the Past" series). Also listed on the IMDb film website: http://indie.imdb.com/title/tt0815143/
The press release write-up on the History Channel’s website reads as follows:
The world is coming to an end on December 21, 2012 ! The ancient Maya made this stunning prediction more than 2,000 years ago. We'll peel back the layers of mystery and examine in detail how the Maya calculated the exact date of doomsday. Journey back to the ancient city of Chichen Itza, the hub of Maya civilization deep in the heart of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, to uncover the truth about this prophecy. The Maya were legendary astronomers and timekeepers--their calendar is more accurate than our own.
By tracking the stars and planets they assigned great meaning to astronomical phenomena and made extraordinary predictions based on them--many of which have come true. Could their doomsday prophecy be one of them? In insightful interviews archaeologists, astrologers, and historians speculate on the meaning of the 2012 prophecy. Their answers are as intriguing as the questions.
Sounds like a fairly non-biased survey of ideas, theories, and scholarship. Well, it’s not. It’s 45 minutes of unabashed doomsday hype and the worst kind of inane sensationalism. The History Channel educates us only in how NOT to make a documentary about 2012. I speak from the vantage of someone who was consulted on the script content.
In addition, as a researcher into Maya cosmology and the Mesoamerican calendar systems, I was also interviewed for the documentary and appear in several segments. In fact, my pioneering work was supposed to be featured. However, the original concept for the presentation morphed through a series of executive edits to result in the error-riddled and flagrant attempt at fear-mongering and sensationalism that you can view on August 3. I’m always interested in clarity in examining how these things happen, so will share the background to the production of the documentary.
Last summer, I was contacted by the segment producer and asked if I wanted to be interviewed for the program. I discussed with him what they wanted to do. He said that their initial contact, who contributed formative ideas for the script, was a novelist named Steve Alten. He was the author of a book called Domain. This book liberally drew ideas and original research from my 1998 book Maya Cosmogenesis 2012, and combined it with science fiction and the space alien thesis of Von Daniken to offer a heady stew of fast-paced sci-fi adventure.
Alten has written other best selling books, choosing scary subjects like ancient sea monsters. The end of the world in 2012 must have proven irresistible to him, and Domain was followed by two sequels.
Alten wrote an initial two-page treatment for the History Channel’s segment producer, and it oozed with doomsday. My work, on the other hand, examines the early Maya site of Izapa, as the likely locus of the origin of the Long Count calendar (the 2012 calendar). The monuments of Izapa are thus viable sources of information on the original formulation of “the 2012 prophecy.” I also have investigated the symbolism of the Maya ballgame and the Hero Twin Creation Myth to propose a new interpretation of the Maya World Age doctrine being based in astronomy.
In brief, all evidence points to a repeating sequence of World Ages. To the extent that 2012 is the end of a World Age, the idea of a definite apocalypse and cataclysm is simply short-sighted. Instead, for the Maya, period endings great and small were always met with expectations of renewal and rituals to facilitate transformation.
The producers seemed to take my perspective to heart. They decided that a point-counterpoint presentation would be the way to do it, a dialogue between the doomsday and renewal perspectives. With the inclusion of archaeologist Dr. Arlen Chase, as a moderate grounding voice, the documentary proceeded as a non-biased presentation of different perspectives on 2012, and the viewer would be left to decide for themselves what they believed.
In the run-up to the filming trip to Chichen Itza in September 2005, I was emailed many times for various facts and figures, and directions to resources. Many of the facts I offered were not included in the final cut, or were used in service to the doomsday perspective. Dr. Cobos in Mexico and astrologer Bruce Scofield were also brought in to interview.
As many readers may know, my unique thesis about 2012 is that the ancient Maya intended that date to target a rare astronomical alignment within the precession of the equinoxes. The December solstice sun shifts along the constellations very slowly, and for thousands of years it has been proceeding backwards through the sidereal constellations of Aquarius, Capricorn, and into Sagittarius.
The Milky Way crosses through the zodiac in early Sagittarius, forming the Maya Sacred Tree or “crossroads” in the sky. At some point in time, an era defined by the alignment of the December solstice sun and the Milky Way will occur. It is an astronomical fact that this alignment of the solstice sun and the Milky Way occurs in the years around 2012, and my theory begins with this clue to examine how the astronomical features involved in this “galactic alignment” are central to various Mesoamerican institutions, including the ballgame and the Hero Twin Creation Myth.
Envisioning and understanding the galactic alignment has often been a point of confusion, even though it can be illustrated easily with 3-D graphics. I emphasized to the producers that it would be important to illustrate this alignment clearly, and after the interviews in Mexico I made my own little videotape for them, with me explaining with flip charts, precisely how the calendar and the galactic alignment could be illustrated with great effect.
I was particularly pointed about this, because in the summer of 2000 the Discovery Channel featured my work in their “Places of Mystery” series, and they used a very substandard still graphic to illustrate the galactic alignment. The producers agreed that a brief CGI segment to help viewers instantly grasp what precession and the galactic alignment are would be critically important.
As it turned out, I was told that the History Channel decided to excise their completed graphic from the final cut, in favor of a completely misleading picture of the earth undulating within an amorphous blob of spaghetti-like strings which gives no sense of precessional movement or the solstice sun aligning with the Milky Way, as viewed from earth. Unfortunately, this grave error proves to be only the tip of the iceberg.
In 45 minutes of airtime, the words “doomsday” and “annihilation” are repeated dozens and dozens of times. The narrator associates my galactic alignment thesis with doomsday several times. A brief 3-second clip in which I mention hurricanes and tornadoes was taken out of context. Much of the relevant explanations and material that I offered was disregarded and not included.
The sections on the mythology, ballgame, and the galactic alignment that they tried to include were handled ineptly, with the exception of my summary of the Hero Twin myth. My innovative work on the Pyramid of Kukulcan — a primary focus in the documentary — was completely neglected. German scholar Ernst Förstemann was mispronounced “Fosterman.” And the list of factual errors goes on and on.
What should be most apparent to any viewer is that the unambiguous message is: Doomsday 2012! What happened to the non-biased 50/50 split between the doomsday and renewal perspectives? That was what was presented to me as the framework a year ago. What happened? Sleaze, hype and sensationalism happened. For this to happen under the auspices of the History Channel is disappointing, to say the least.
Once again, even allegedly reputable documentary media outlets are hungry to have their way with the 2012 topic, to the continuing detriment of clarity and discernment. The History Channel’s documentary is a classic example of how NOT to make a 2012 documentary. And the onus of responsibility is placed squarely in their office, because the segment producers at MatchFrame 1080 had to abide by the editorial mandates of the HC execs, each time demanding that it be dumbed down, dumbed down. And hyped up, hyped up. This even got to the point where, just a short time ago, the title was revised to “Mayan Doomsday Prophecy.”
Where’s the non-bias in that? Strangely, the press-release, pasted above, is carefully crafted to give a sense that the documentary is indeed un-biased. So they want to have their cake and blow it up, too. Viewers expecting something new and interesting will be sorely disappointed. It’s the same old hype and disinformation that under-informed and sensationalized media sources have been shoveling out for decades.
One thing that the media execs at HC don’t seem to understand is that clichés and stereotypes don’t sell, and the public doesn’t buy them. Does Mr. Whipple sell toilet paper anymore? No. If making it sensational is really about a bottom-line profit motive, then the HC should take a clue from marketing & advertising gurus, who know that you can’t keep using the same selling gimmick year after year. Doomsday is an old, old, marketing gimmick.
The consuming public is too wily for that, and will quickly flip the channel. What needs to take place is a negating of the clichés and stereotypes. And in many instances the antithesis happens to be the truer position. One annoying cliché is “the Maya disappeared.” No they didn’t — there are still millions of pure-blood Maya living in the Guatemalan highlands.
Who dictates that the public will find this uninteresting? Or another malapropism: "Quetzalcoatl was a tall, bearded white guy." Give me a break. Another cliché reveals modern values misapplied to ancient Maya calendar science: “The Maya calendar was extremely accurate.” Well, perhaps, but that misses the whole point of the Mesoamerican calendar being designed as a holistic system of nested cycles that harmoniously embrace the commensuration of planetary and eclipse cycles. It’s not about precise accuracy, it’s about comprehensive comprehension.
The Mesoamerican calendar embraces not only different astronomical cycles, but different dimensions of human experience, from human biology to agriculture to astronomy. THAT is the wonder and miracle of Maya time philosophy. Mere accuracy is an irrelevant offshoot of the grand cosmovision attained by the Maya. To drool over the observation that the calendar is “accurate” is like saying that The Glorious and Radiant All-Compassionate Mother of the Gods is “cute.” No, it’s worse than that—it’s like saying she has a nice ass.
We must raise the bar in how Maya traditions are presented, and in how cutting-edge research is treated. In regards to the Maya, the media hasn’t progressed at all since Leonard Nimoy’s “In Search Of…” circa 1972. As far as I can tell, it’s not all still a mystery. Answers are being found; solutions and theories are being offered. And the History Channel has done a great disservice to the evolving discussion.
In the end, they aggressively emphasized the doomsday perspective of Steve Alten, a novelist who cherry-picked a few odd tidbits of superficial horror. The HC prioritized the doomsday perspective of a novelist whose goal was to entertain and make money, and neglected or misrepresented facts and careful research. If this is the kind of hype that is going to inform the public as we get closer to 2012, then we are in trouble. The problem is not with the viewing public, it's with the clueless producers.
For an example of a forthcoming documentary on 2012 that DOES raise the bar, produced independently without the benefit of $350,000 worth of wasted corporate funding, see http://www.2012theodyssey.com/
I will also be discussing the Hysteria Channel’s debacle on the night of August 3, after it airs, on Mitch Battros’s Earth Changes TV internet radio program: http://www.earthchangestv.com/.
Here's a part of the history channel video discussed above by John Jenkins ! He is right, it's all doomsday, annihilation, dark underworld ... :)
