We last discussed the fact that the Maya had amassed the history of their civilization their books. We will now talk about what happened to these books.
The Maya and their predecessors like the Olmec and Teotihuacán also had a long history of gathering and preserving knowledge, going back more than a couple of thousand years before they first came into contact with Europeans in the early 1500s. In addition to being the keepers of knowledge passed down from their ancestors and predecessors, they shared information with other indigenous North American civilizations occupied the region we call Mesoamerica (central Mexico to Central America) such as the Aztec, Toltec, Zapotec, etc.
The Maya, like the Aztecs, created tens of thousands of books that today we call codices. Each codex was a work of art, manufactured from excellent paper obtained from the bark of a fig tree and processed into good paper. Their paper was of better quality and lasted longer than the papyrus developed in Egypt and favored by the Romans. Their scribes created books that could be read much the same as our own books are read today.
We don’t know how many of these books were made, but we do know that European priests soon after the conquest destroyed all that they could find, many thousands of them. Unfortunately, the ones the Maya were able to hid were put into caves and perished over the centuries in the wet climate.
Incredibly, of the perhaps tens of thousands of books written, only three codices (and a fragment of a fourth) exist today.
Unfortunately for the indigenous civilizations of Mesoamerica, they would have fared better had they been more advanced in weaponry than astronomy and literature.
This burning of the written record of the Maya, Aztec and other Mesoamerica cultures was the destruction of the entire history and science of a great civilization. It has been compared to the accidental destruction of the Ancient Library of Alexandria by Julius Caesar two thousand years ago.
Just as the Alexandria Library was the storehouse of much of the knowledge of the ancient Mediterranean world—the products of the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and others—the destruction of the books of the Mesoamerica civilizations was the lost of a vast and irreplaceable record of thousands of years of science and history.
The destruction of the Mesoamerican books was an even greater blow than that of the Alexandria library because in the case of the latter, the records kept by Mediterranean civilizations like the Greeks and Romans survived independently of the library because there was no concerted effort by an enemy to totally wipe out all traces of the cultures that created them. The equivalent to what the Spanish did to the Maya would have been for the conquering Romans to have destroyed all Greek culture and history, including its temples like the Parthenon, and have used the Sphinx and great pyramids for building materials after the conquest of Egypt.
What type of historical and scientific information would the Maya have recorded in the thousands of codices? Because the Maya are so similar to other ancient cultures that we are familiar with, we can assume that they recorded a wide range of information, including historical, religious, astronomical, legends, wars, the lives of royalty—in other words, just about everything of importance that happened, including information about the 2012 phenomena.
We can also infer that they recorded the tales that came down to them from the earliest time human beings were on the American continent, a history going back 25,000 years. These process would be no different than other ancient civilizations recorded their “prehistory” occurrences that had an historical basis but were passed down over the eons by campfire storytellers such as those that preserved Homer’s tales of the Greeks before the stories were put into writing.
While the Maya’s history and science recorded history in books did not survive the almost total European annihilation of their culture, some record of a 2012 nature did survive and we will discuss that in our next blog.
In regard to the question of whether a written record was left of a potential 2012 event, we’ll discover that the answer is yes.
My friend and co-author, Junius Podrug, contributed this blog.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Friday, November 27, 2009
Is there historical and scientific evidence supporting a theory that the Maya had knowledge of a significant 2012 event?
Some people question whether the Maya actually knew something was going to happen on Winter Solstice, December 21, 2012. They point to a lack of specific mention in their writings and scientific confirmation. These naysayers are wrong on both counts.
The next series of blogs will discuss the historical and scientific basis of what I will call for convenience sake, the “Maya 2012 End Time Prophecy.” The conclusions reached after research and analysis surprised even me. I’ll start with this question: Did the Maya leave a written record revealing that a cosmic event will occur on December 21, 2012?
We need to first discuss why the Maya calendar date that equates to our date of December 21, 2012 has become a matter of concern as the date approached.
Basically, the Maya believed that the world around them suffered catastrophic events four times in the past and that the fifth such event would occur on the Winter Solstice, 2012 date. Rather incredibly, the events that they believed caused global annihilation in the past roughly mirror Biblical disasters such as the Flood and the cataclysmic destruction of ancient cities by fire from the sky and eruptions of the earth.
We also know from geological evidence that life on our planet was almost completely wiped out a number of times before recorded history. These events, such as mega volcanoes and asteroid and comet strikes, including ones the Maya would have knowledge of, will be discussed later.
It needs to be emphasized again that the Maya were a highly advanced and literate culture. This has to be important to keep in mind because there is misconception that began immediately after the conquest by Europeans that the Aztecs, Maya and other peoples of Mesoamerica were savages. That concept arose to justify the destruction, looting and rape of their entire civilization—behind it was Spanish lust for treasure and religious zealots.
The fact they practiced human sacrifice was perhaps the most serious charge, ignoring the fact that many pagan European cultures did the same and the Romans in fact kicked their form of human sacrifice up to a high level by pitting untrained, ill-equipped people against savage beasts and professional warriors.
One way to judge the state of a culture is by looking at how complex their language was. Like the Egyptians, the Maya had a well developed written language based on hieroglyphics, a system of mathematics and were perhaps the finest astronomers of the ancient world, surpassing cultures such as the ancient Greeks, Persians, and Chinese who made studies of the sky.
The Maya produced tens of thousands of books, a recorded history of their entire civilization. What happened to these books and from clues left behind what I believe the books contained, will be discussed in the next blog.
The above is my co-author’s response to my original blog, which now follows:
Did the Maya have a serious scientific reason for their belief in a 2012 apocalypse?
The date they picked for their apocalypse is December 21, 2012. At that time our planet, moon and solar system will align with the heart of the galactic plane, in which scientists now know a supermassive black hole resides. The Maya viewed that black abyss—which they called “the Dark Rift”—as a kind of hell world, out of which the Black Tezcatlipoca would unleash the dark demons of everlasting night, which would then descend on the earth and annihilate humankind. This alignment only occurs once every 26,000 years, which closely approximates the combined duration of the five Mayan “Sun Ages.” I say “approximates” because the precise length of each of those “Sun Ages” is not known. They come to around 5200 years each, which would equal 26,000 years. In other words, the first “Sun Age” would have roughly coincided with the earth’s last alignment with the galaxy’s core. On 12/21/2012 at 11:11 PM Universal Time earth will experience its first galactic alignment in that 26,000 period. The Maya believed that date marks the end of the Fifth Sun Age.
They Maya also seemed to know—for reasons that are still unclear—that the Milky Way galaxy was a spiraling disk and that we orbited along its edge. We know this because the Mayan glyph for our Milky Way—which they sometimes called “The Tree of Life”—is a spinning disk.
I’m not suggesting the Maya viewed the universe exactly as we do or that they had our mathematical and the scientific sophistication—only that their vision of the 2012 apocalypse was based on closely studied astronomical observations and mathematical calculations as well as mystical divination.
I’ve done a lot of national radio and some TV for this book, and many people ask if extraterrestrial beings gave the Maya these unique insights. My answer is somewhat oblique. In the end the Maya could not have inferred these insights into our galaxy from their mathematics, science or from direct observation, and these insights imbued their hieroglyphic language, their religion and their life. They weren’t irrelevant, ephemeral observations. It seems to me they gained them either through a kind of preternatural revelation unimaginable to us or someone told them. I do not see a third alternative. I wish someone would come up with one.
I also do not see how we can dismiss out of hand their End-Time prophecy, if we cannot explain how they arrived their other uncanny perceptions about the nature of our galaxy.
The next series of blogs will discuss the historical and scientific basis of what I will call for convenience sake, the “Maya 2012 End Time Prophecy.” The conclusions reached after research and analysis surprised even me. I’ll start with this question: Did the Maya leave a written record revealing that a cosmic event will occur on December 21, 2012?
We need to first discuss why the Maya calendar date that equates to our date of December 21, 2012 has become a matter of concern as the date approached.
Basically, the Maya believed that the world around them suffered catastrophic events four times in the past and that the fifth such event would occur on the Winter Solstice, 2012 date. Rather incredibly, the events that they believed caused global annihilation in the past roughly mirror Biblical disasters such as the Flood and the cataclysmic destruction of ancient cities by fire from the sky and eruptions of the earth.
We also know from geological evidence that life on our planet was almost completely wiped out a number of times before recorded history. These events, such as mega volcanoes and asteroid and comet strikes, including ones the Maya would have knowledge of, will be discussed later.
It needs to be emphasized again that the Maya were a highly advanced and literate culture. This has to be important to keep in mind because there is misconception that began immediately after the conquest by Europeans that the Aztecs, Maya and other peoples of Mesoamerica were savages. That concept arose to justify the destruction, looting and rape of their entire civilization—behind it was Spanish lust for treasure and religious zealots.
The fact they practiced human sacrifice was perhaps the most serious charge, ignoring the fact that many pagan European cultures did the same and the Romans in fact kicked their form of human sacrifice up to a high level by pitting untrained, ill-equipped people against savage beasts and professional warriors.
One way to judge the state of a culture is by looking at how complex their language was. Like the Egyptians, the Maya had a well developed written language based on hieroglyphics, a system of mathematics and were perhaps the finest astronomers of the ancient world, surpassing cultures such as the ancient Greeks, Persians, and Chinese who made studies of the sky.
The Maya produced tens of thousands of books, a recorded history of their entire civilization. What happened to these books and from clues left behind what I believe the books contained, will be discussed in the next blog.
The above is my co-author’s response to my original blog, which now follows:
Did the Maya have a serious scientific reason for their belief in a 2012 apocalypse?
The date they picked for their apocalypse is December 21, 2012. At that time our planet, moon and solar system will align with the heart of the galactic plane, in which scientists now know a supermassive black hole resides. The Maya viewed that black abyss—which they called “the Dark Rift”—as a kind of hell world, out of which the Black Tezcatlipoca would unleash the dark demons of everlasting night, which would then descend on the earth and annihilate humankind. This alignment only occurs once every 26,000 years, which closely approximates the combined duration of the five Mayan “Sun Ages.” I say “approximates” because the precise length of each of those “Sun Ages” is not known. They come to around 5200 years each, which would equal 26,000 years. In other words, the first “Sun Age” would have roughly coincided with the earth’s last alignment with the galaxy’s core. On 12/21/2012 at 11:11 PM Universal Time earth will experience its first galactic alignment in that 26,000 period. The Maya believed that date marks the end of the Fifth Sun Age.
They Maya also seemed to know—for reasons that are still unclear—that the Milky Way galaxy was a spiraling disk and that we orbited along its edge. We know this because the Mayan glyph for our Milky Way—which they sometimes called “The Tree of Life”—is a spinning disk.
I’m not suggesting the Maya viewed the universe exactly as we do or that they had our mathematical and the scientific sophistication—only that their vision of the 2012 apocalypse was based on closely studied astronomical observations and mathematical calculations as well as mystical divination.
I’ve done a lot of national radio and some TV for this book, and many people ask if extraterrestrial beings gave the Maya these unique insights. My answer is somewhat oblique. In the end the Maya could not have inferred these insights into our galaxy from their mathematics, science or from direct observation, and these insights imbued their hieroglyphic language, their religion and their life. They weren’t irrelevant, ephemeral observations. It seems to me they gained them either through a kind of preternatural revelation unimaginable to us or someone told them. I do not see a third alternative. I wish someone would come up with one.
I also do not see how we can dismiss out of hand their End-Time prophecy, if we cannot explain how they arrived their other uncanny perceptions about the nature of our galaxy.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
If, for argument’s sake, these prophesies are wrong, are we wrong to brood about the world’s end?
Quite the contrary. As we have just observed, Planet Earth lives in a shooting gallery, its interior is a species-killing bomb waiting to detonate and humanity itself is capable of species-wide annihilation, including self-annihilation. We have enough nuclear weapons to destroy ourselves many times over, and the genetically-engineered plague viruses could also end civilization as we know it. We can never spend too much time planning for catastrophe-prevention and consequence-management.
Robert Heinlein said that “earth is too small and fragile a basket for humanity to put all its eggs in.” Many scientists have argued that for humanity to survive the next millennium, we must spread our species into space—onto other planets.
If nothing else, the Mayan prophesy of 2012 should be viewed as a profoundly important wake-up call, the ultimate cautionary tale.
Robert Heinlein said that “earth is too small and fragile a basket for humanity to put all its eggs in.” Many scientists have argued that for humanity to survive the next millennium, we must spread our species into space—onto other planets.
If nothing else, the Mayan prophesy of 2012 should be viewed as a profoundly important wake-up call, the ultimate cautionary tale.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
What could the Maya have known that we don’t?
The answer to that question goes back to the basic premise of how our universe operates:
Everything operates in a circle.
What goes around, comes around.
Which means that whatever they saw . . .
Will return!
-- Could the Mayans have discerned the nature of our 12/21/2012 cataclysm?
They could have conceivably witnessed a passing asteroid, whose approach we’re ignorant of, and surmised it would return and visit its violence on the earth on . . . 12/21/2012.
-- How would the Maya have viewed such a celestial visitor?
They say all celestial objects as gods, none of whom were benign in their attitudes toward humankind. Quetzalcoatl was viewed as the friendliest, but he was defeated and displaced in the heavens by a black god of the death and the everlasting night,Tezcatlipoca. The Maya believed that when the 2012 Long-Count Calendar ran out, Tezcatlipoca would smash the heavenly gates, that he and his infernal legions would scorch the Underworld Road which leads via the constellation, Sagittarius, and scourge the earth—and their final scorching scourge would be our Last Day, the One World’s Last Day . . . 12/21/2012.
Everything operates in a circle.
What goes around, comes around.
Which means that whatever they saw . . .
Will return!
-- Could the Mayans have discerned the nature of our 12/21/2012 cataclysm?
They could have conceivably witnessed a passing asteroid, whose approach we’re ignorant of, and surmised it would return and visit its violence on the earth on . . . 12/21/2012.
-- How would the Maya have viewed such a celestial visitor?
They say all celestial objects as gods, none of whom were benign in their attitudes toward humankind. Quetzalcoatl was viewed as the friendliest, but he was defeated and displaced in the heavens by a black god of the death and the everlasting night,Tezcatlipoca. The Maya believed that when the 2012 Long-Count Calendar ran out, Tezcatlipoca would smash the heavenly gates, that he and his infernal legions would scorch the Underworld Road which leads via the constellation, Sagittarius, and scourge the earth—and their final scorching scourge would be our Last Day, the One World’s Last Day . . . 12/21/2012.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
How knowledgeable were the Maya and their sister cultures?
The ancient Mesoamerica Maya-Azteca cultures were more advanced in the science of astronomy than their contemporaries in Europe and Asia. They even took astronomy into consideration how they laid out the core of their cities, placing buildings not just taking into consideration the four cardinal directions but placing obser
vatories strategically to study the sky.
No other ancient society recorded as accurate observations of celestial phenomena as the Maya (and later the Azteca) did, and they measured time with obsessively elaborate precision. Their Long-Count Calendar, which predicts our world will come to an end on 2012, was infinitely more advanced than anything the Old World had when Cortez conquered the Aztecs militarily in the 16th century.
-- Did their astronomical observations have a practical purpose?
In some regards, they did. In ancient times, the sky was an integral part of daily life – people looked to the sky not just to see whether they needed an umbrella, but for guidance on how to cross a sea, the route caravans took, when crops were to be planted and harvested, and even to predict future events.
vatories strategically to study the sky.
No other ancient society recorded as accurate observations of celestial phenomena as the Maya (and later the Azteca) did, and they measured time with obsessively elaborate precision. Their Long-Count Calendar, which predicts our world will come to an end on 2012, was infinitely more advanced than anything the Old World had when Cortez conquered the Aztecs militarily in the 16th century.
-- Did their astronomical observations have a practical purpose?
In some regards, they did. In ancient times, the sky was an integral part of daily life – people looked to the sky not just to see whether they needed an umbrella, but for guidance on how to cross a sea, the route caravans took, when crops were to be planted and harvested, and even to predict future events.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Is humankind more vulnerable to mass extinction that species from earlier periods?
Humanity is far more vulnerable to extinction events. In the past, life on the planet only had to worry about natural disasters. But when the dinosaurs passed, the mammals were able to rise, chief among them homo sapiens – a life form clever enough to be able to engineer its own mass extinction through nuclear weapons, chemically-induced climate change and genetically-engineered pandemics.
We must fear ourselves even more than natural catastrophes.
-- What do the Maya and the Toltecs in APOCALYPSE 2012 have to teach us about coping with global catastrophe?
The Maya faced and went through almost everything that our world is experiencing today, including religiously-motivated wars, climate change which produced the sorts of drought-driven food and water scarcity which now plagues Asia and Africa, particularly India. They faced internecine class conflict fueled by escalating inequities between the ruling and the laboring classes.
They faced the same tensions that many theocratic nations face today—the eternal conflict between science and religion. As drought ravaged their croplands, their religious/political leaders demanded not technological advances and organized efforts to improve food production and alleviate water scarcity but massive sacrifices of blood and treasure consecrated to their sky gods, including en masse human sacrifices. If the Mayans and their sister civilizations had put that effort into additional aqueducts, new irrigation systems and crop diversification, they might not have gone under. Instead they cut out hearts and hacked off heads.
We must fear ourselves even more than natural catastrophes.
-- What do the Maya and the Toltecs in APOCALYPSE 2012 have to teach us about coping with global catastrophe?
The Maya faced and went through almost everything that our world is experiencing today, including religiously-motivated wars, climate change which produced the sorts of drought-driven food and water scarcity which now plagues Asia and Africa, particularly India. They faced internecine class conflict fueled by escalating inequities between the ruling and the laboring classes.
They faced the same tensions that many theocratic nations face today—the eternal conflict between science and religion. As drought ravaged their croplands, their religious/political leaders demanded not technological advances and organized efforts to improve food production and alleviate water scarcity but massive sacrifices of blood and treasure consecrated to their sky gods, including en masse human sacrifices. If the Mayans and their sister civilizations had put that effort into additional aqueducts, new irrigation systems and crop diversification, they might not have gone under. Instead they cut out hearts and hacked off heads.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Sites near Chichen Itza and Tulum.
Hi Craig:
You asked about sites near Chichen Itza and Tulum. Coba is also in the area of Chichen and Tulum. It is not a postcard picture perfect site like Chichen, but it not only has the tallest pyramid in the Yucatan, its architectural style is much more Mayan than Chichen, which has a Toltec appearance.
Thanks,
Bob Gleason
You asked about sites near Chichen Itza and Tulum. Coba is also in the area of Chichen and Tulum. It is not a postcard picture perfect site like Chichen, but it not only has the tallest pyramid in the Yucatan, its architectural style is much more Mayan than Chichen, which has a Toltec appearance.
Thanks,
Bob Gleason
Monday, September 21, 2009
Do all the natural apocalyptic threats emanate out of the heavens?
--
Many of them do. Not only comets and asteroids threaten humankind but apocalyptic solar storms in our own sun could end civilization as could a nearby star turning supernova. A major collision with black hole—such as the one at our galaxy’s core—could prove lethal for life on earth . . . particularly if that collision involved another black hole.
Some of humanity’s worst threats, however, come from the earth’s bowels, where many mythologies have believed hell resides. It turns out those mythologies were right. Supervolcanos—whose colossal calderas are measured in terms of square miles, sometimes tens of square miles—are scattered around the earth, and their explosive potential is earth-shattering. One supervolcano in Lake Toba, Indonesia detonated 74,000 years ago. Blanketing the earth in ash and flaming ember, it destroyed 90 percent of homo sapiens. The rest found themselves in a world of sunless blackened skies, the air choked with drifting volcanic debris. They must have truly thought they were in hell—and they were.
Most are under or near the sea, but one landlocked supervolcano is in America’s Yellowstone Park and is due to detonate every 600,000 years. The last time it blew was 640,000 years ago, so it’s 40,000 years overdue—and it’s making its impatience known. Groaning, sobbing, roaring, occasionally erupting, the pressure inside its magma chamber has increased dangerously during the last decade—to unprecedented levels. Eventually its chamber-roof will detonate, and the volcanic mountain will again blow apart with the force and velocity of a crashing asteroid and 100,000 thermonuclear bombs. Melting, demolishing and devouring the surrounding mountains, the explosion will expand its already massive cauldron-shaped volcanic crater, currently 34 by 45 miles. This vast depression is called “the Yellowstone Caldera”—or by tourists, “Yellowstone Park.”
The last time the Yellowstone supervolcano blew, it ejected 1,000 cubic kilometers of flaming hell into the atmosphere, which, coming down, buried North America in two meters of smoldering debris. That detonation had also effectively exterminated many of the world’s life forms and plunged the planet into black, volcanic winter . . .
-- Can we do anything to mitigate supervolcano disasters?
Some scientists believe sophisticated slant-drilling could syphon off the caldera’s pressure. Testing that thesis would require a lot of work, and money however. So far, we have no workable computer models.
Many of them do. Not only comets and asteroids threaten humankind but apocalyptic solar storms in our own sun could end civilization as could a nearby star turning supernova. A major collision with black hole—such as the one at our galaxy’s core—could prove lethal for life on earth . . . particularly if that collision involved another black hole.
Some of humanity’s worst threats, however, come from the earth’s bowels, where many mythologies have believed hell resides. It turns out those mythologies were right. Supervolcanos—whose colossal calderas are measured in terms of square miles, sometimes tens of square miles—are scattered around the earth, and their explosive potential is earth-shattering. One supervolcano in Lake Toba, Indonesia detonated 74,000 years ago. Blanketing the earth in ash and flaming ember, it destroyed 90 percent of homo sapiens. The rest found themselves in a world of sunless blackened skies, the air choked with drifting volcanic debris. They must have truly thought they were in hell—and they were.
Most are under or near the sea, but one landlocked supervolcano is in America’s Yellowstone Park and is due to detonate every 600,000 years. The last time it blew was 640,000 years ago, so it’s 40,000 years overdue—and it’s making its impatience known. Groaning, sobbing, roaring, occasionally erupting, the pressure inside its magma chamber has increased dangerously during the last decade—to unprecedented levels. Eventually its chamber-roof will detonate, and the volcanic mountain will again blow apart with the force and velocity of a crashing asteroid and 100,000 thermonuclear bombs. Melting, demolishing and devouring the surrounding mountains, the explosion will expand its already massive cauldron-shaped volcanic crater, currently 34 by 45 miles. This vast depression is called “the Yellowstone Caldera”—or by tourists, “Yellowstone Park.”
The last time the Yellowstone supervolcano blew, it ejected 1,000 cubic kilometers of flaming hell into the atmosphere, which, coming down, buried North America in two meters of smoldering debris. That detonation had also effectively exterminated many of the world’s life forms and plunged the planet into black, volcanic winter . . .
-- Can we do anything to mitigate supervolcano disasters?
Some scientists believe sophisticated slant-drilling could syphon off the caldera’s pressure. Testing that thesis would require a lot of work, and money however. So far, we have no workable computer models.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Should we worry about global annihilation on 2012 for scientific reasons?
Yes, because it’s happened before. Science has identified 20 times during which earthly life has faced a “mass extinction event” caused by a natural phenomena. On some occasions over 90 percent of the life forms on the planet was wiped out.
Extinction of one life form to make room for the next is the way life has evolved on Earth. For instance, the dinosaurs’ extinction made possible the emergence and eventual domination of mammals . . . none of which is all that comforting if yours is the species facing extermination.
-- Does the fact it happened in the past mean it will happen again?
Absolutely – because many threats are cyclical in nature: Asteroid strikes, rise of poisonous atmospheric gases such as methane, geological upheavals such as super-volcanic detonations, ice ages and other radical climate changes are all events that occur in cycles.
It’s been said that life is a circle – and in many respects the universe operates that way. A good example of that is the near-miss asteroid on March 3, 2009. This chunk of speeding space rock was the size of the one that destroyed 800 square miles of Siberian forest in the early 1900s. This one swept “darn close,” as a JPL scientist put it. If it had hit a major metro area like New York or L.A., millions would have died.
The most frightening thing is that we only had about two days notice when it suddenly appeared closer to earth (about 48,000 miles) then most of our satellites . . . and it is coming back for another shot at us.
Five years ago a major asteroid missed the earth by only 4,000 miles, and we had only 19 hours warning.
In 2036 a massive planet-killing asteroid is estimated to have 1 in 5500 in hitting us. Given the scope and duration of its orbit, that impact is “too close to call.”
In 2013 the US will have a chance to approach the asteroid and attach a transponder to it, after which we could monitor its 2036 approach with scientific precision. We would have to begin that mission immediately, which no one is doing. The US seems indifferent to a potential extinction event 27 years from now.
Something even bigger could be coming at us and we are unable to spot it because space objects are tracked as they race across the line of sight – ones that come directly at us are not seen until they are almost on top of us.
Extinction of one life form to make room for the next is the way life has evolved on Earth. For instance, the dinosaurs’ extinction made possible the emergence and eventual domination of mammals . . . none of which is all that comforting if yours is the species facing extermination.
-- Does the fact it happened in the past mean it will happen again?
Absolutely – because many threats are cyclical in nature: Asteroid strikes, rise of poisonous atmospheric gases such as methane, geological upheavals such as super-volcanic detonations, ice ages and other radical climate changes are all events that occur in cycles.
It’s been said that life is a circle – and in many respects the universe operates that way. A good example of that is the near-miss asteroid on March 3, 2009. This chunk of speeding space rock was the size of the one that destroyed 800 square miles of Siberian forest in the early 1900s. This one swept “darn close,” as a JPL scientist put it. If it had hit a major metro area like New York or L.A., millions would have died.
The most frightening thing is that we only had about two days notice when it suddenly appeared closer to earth (about 48,000 miles) then most of our satellites . . . and it is coming back for another shot at us.
Five years ago a major asteroid missed the earth by only 4,000 miles, and we had only 19 hours warning.
In 2036 a massive planet-killing asteroid is estimated to have 1 in 5500 in hitting us. Given the scope and duration of its orbit, that impact is “too close to call.”
In 2013 the US will have a chance to approach the asteroid and attach a transponder to it, after which we could monitor its 2036 approach with scientific precision. We would have to begin that mission immediately, which no one is doing. The US seems indifferent to a potential extinction event 27 years from now.
Something even bigger could be coming at us and we are unable to spot it because space objects are tracked as they race across the line of sight – ones that come directly at us are not seen until they are almost on top of us.
Monday, August 24, 2009
You learned in the earlier blog how to find the right author’s agent for that manuscript you want to submit. How do you contact that person?
I will return to 2012 in my next blog. Now I must answer some queries on how to get published.
My earlier blog—posted a couple of blogs ago—told you how to find the right agent and publisher. It also explained why finding an agent is important. Go to that blog and re-read it. After you’ve learned how to locate the agent’s name and that of the publisher, you need to contact them. Go online and google the agent’s name. Google the agent’s website, and it will contain all your information. If you don’t find it, google the agent’s name and profession. Maybe their name isn’t mentioned in the name of the agency. Many of the big multi-media agencies don’t mention the name of the agent.
A non-Internet venue? Go to your library and look the agent up in the Literary Marketplace (LMP). If you can’t locate their agency, look for their name in the index. Or look in the library’s copy of The Writer’s Market. They will have an agent section and an index. Look for other publishing reference books as well.
Many agents are in New York, so you could go online and look them up in the New York online phone directory. Or you could telephone New York City information.
These agents are business people. They do not conceal their addresses and phone numbers. You should find their addresses and phone numbers at the very least, perhaps even their email addresses. If you call the agent’s switchboard, they may well give you his or her email address as well.
If you absolutely could not find the agent’s name, I mentioned in the previous blog how to learn the name of the author’s editor. You could write the editor of the successful author you most closely resemble at his or her publishing company and ask for the agent’s name. You could then look them up.
Next we’ll discuss how to meet the successful author you most resemble and how to recruit that author in your quest for your perfect agent.
My earlier blog—posted a couple of blogs ago—told you how to find the right agent and publisher. It also explained why finding an agent is important. Go to that blog and re-read it. After you’ve learned how to locate the agent’s name and that of the publisher, you need to contact them. Go online and google the agent’s name. Google the agent’s website, and it will contain all your information. If you don’t find it, google the agent’s name and profession. Maybe their name isn’t mentioned in the name of the agency. Many of the big multi-media agencies don’t mention the name of the agent.
A non-Internet venue? Go to your library and look the agent up in the Literary Marketplace (LMP). If you can’t locate their agency, look for their name in the index. Or look in the library’s copy of The Writer’s Market. They will have an agent section and an index. Look for other publishing reference books as well.
Many agents are in New York, so you could go online and look them up in the New York online phone directory. Or you could telephone New York City information.
These agents are business people. They do not conceal their addresses and phone numbers. You should find their addresses and phone numbers at the very least, perhaps even their email addresses. If you call the agent’s switchboard, they may well give you his or her email address as well.
If you absolutely could not find the agent’s name, I mentioned in the previous blog how to learn the name of the author’s editor. You could write the editor of the successful author you most closely resemble at his or her publishing company and ask for the agent’s name. You could then look them up.
Next we’ll discuss how to meet the successful author you most resemble and how to recruit that author in your quest for your perfect agent.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
How do we know that the earth and solar system align with galaxy’s center on 12/21/09?
Charles, this blog is in response to your question:
John Major Jenkins, the author of COSMOGENESIS 2012, is the first authority to propound the “Galactic Alignment” thesis. He argues that such an alignment will occur on 12/21/09, that the alignment only happens every 26,000 years and that it occurs within a 36-year 1980-2016 alignment “zone.” One of his sources is the astronomer, Jean Meeus. Jenkins has written:
It is an astronomical FACT the position of the December solstice sun will be aligning with the galactic equator in the years around 2012. Specifically, following calculaitons by astronomer Jean Meeus (Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, 1997:216), and considering that the sun itself is one-half of a degree wide, we can speak of an alignment "zone", 1980-2016 AD.
John Major Jenkins, the author of COSMOGENESIS 2012, is the first authority to propound the “Galactic Alignment” thesis. He argues that such an alignment will occur on 12/21/09, that the alignment only happens every 26,000 years and that it occurs within a 36-year 1980-2016 alignment “zone.” One of his sources is the astronomer, Jean Meeus. Jenkins has written:
It is an astronomical FACT the position of the December solstice sun will be aligning with the galactic equator in the years around 2012. Specifically, following calculaitons by astronomer Jean Meeus (Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, 1997:216), and considering that the sun itself is one-half of a degree wide, we can speak of an alignment "zone", 1980-2016 AD.
Secondarily, the alignment of the December solstice sun with the Milky Way's equator happens to occur in that part of the Milky Way that houses the "nuclear bulge" of our galaxy's center. Our Milky Way is saucer shaped, and to naked-eye watchers the Milky Way appears wider between Sagittarius and Scorpio. That "nuclear bulge" is, visually, where the galactic center is located. It is where the December solstice sun is aligning. Thus follows the factually true statement about the sun, on the solstice, aligning with the center of the Milky Way galaxy. It is more precise, however, to speak of the alignment in terms of the galactic equator, as that affords a precise mid-line of the band of the Milky Way with which the solstice-galaxy alignment can be measured--as Jean Meeus did. Thus, the alignment "zone": 1980-2016 AD.
http://www.mayastudies.org/2012page2.pdf
Jenkins expands further on his alignment thesis:
The Galactic Alignment is the alignment of the December solstice sun with the Galactic equator. This alignment occurs as a result of the precession 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 precise alignment of the solstice point (the precise center-point of the body of the sun earth) with the Galactic equator was calculated to occur in 1998 (Jean Meeus, Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, 1997).
Thus, the Galactic Alignment “zone” is 1998+/- 18 years= 1980-2016. This is the “era—2012.”
This Galactic Alignment occurs only once every 26,000 years, and was what the ancient Maya were pointing to with the 2012 end-date of their Long Count calendar.
http://alignment2012.com/whatisga.htm
I’ve seen attempted refutations of Jenkins position on the Internet but was never able to verify the evidence or confirm the writer’s credentials. Since I’m an editor at Tor/Forge Books however and we publish a lot of science-oriented books, I’ve gotten to know some highly reputable astrophysicist-authors over the years—some of them quite distinguished in that field. I’ve questioned a few of them on Jenkins’ thesis, but I’ve never gotten a definitive answer—especially on the second part which states that the alignment only occurs every 26,000 years. Since his thesis has floated around for over a decade, and I haven’t seen a detailed rebuttal, I’ve tended give Jenkins the benefit of the doubt.
Nonetheless, I’ve re-approached one of these distinguished scientist-authors and will report on what I hear. He has to resources to come up with a definitive answer.
Perhaps someone out there has an iron-clad refutation of Jenkins’ thesis, but if they have, I haven’t seen it, which does not mean such a refutation does not exist. It only means I haven’t seen it.
Some scientist may also have proven Jenkins’ thesis to be indisputably correct. I haven’t sent there work either.
Even if astronomers definitively refuted Jenkins’ thesis, however, that refutation would in no way undermine the Mayan’s incomprehensible astronomical achievements. For instance, they understood long, long ago that our galaxy was a spinning disk. They believed it so deeply and pervasively that they imbedded their belief into their very language: Their Hunab Ku galactic glyph which depicts the Milky Way—which they called “The Tree of Life,” among other things—as a spinning disk. They could not have inferred that insight from their math, science or direct observation. That revelation seems to me an accomplishment of a transcendent order. If, on top of that belief, they also divined insights as arcane as Jenkins’ Galactic Alignment thesis, their astronomical knowledge is even more miraculous. On the other hand, were Jenkins’ thesis proven erroneous after all these years, I would in no way hold that against the Mayans. They were preternaturally gifted astronomers.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Did the ancient Maya achieve their astronomical insights through “remote viewing”?
Several people—including Judith, Mattie and Henry—have raised some interesting issues which I will address at the end of this blog. In the meantime, however, JTCapa has suggested that the Maya might have achieved some of their spectacular insights through “remote viewing.” Thanks, JT. That’s a very significant observation.
In fact, I should have thought that one up. I’m a full-time book editor in my so-called real life, and I once signed up a book on remote viewing. I know the phenomenon exists, and, yes, JT, I think the Maya, Toltecs, et. Al. probably used it.
One way to describe remote viewing is that the observer stares at some imperceptible object or event and that his or her astral spirit leaves the body and goes to that phenomenon and observes it, while the spirit is outside the viewer’s corporeal self. Some remote viewers have gazed on distant phenomena or on concealed objects in this manner.
I have experienced remote viewing myself. I went to seminar conducted by the writer and retired military officer, Paul Smith, who conducted remote viewing study programs for both the military and the CIA. At the seminar he ran slides which documented amazing examples of successful remote viewing. One such example involved the remote viewing of an attack on a US naval vessel which occurred a few days later, just as the remote viewer predicted and depicted.
A former US Defense Secretary told me people were in awe of the results the military’s remote viewing program produced.
After the seminar Paul Smith handed out paper and pencil stubs. He had four opaque envelopes, one of which contained a photograph no one in the audience had seen. Approximately 30 people were in attendance. Even though I’ve been accused of having psychic abilities in the past, I wasn’t going to even consider trying the exercise. Among other things I draw badly. Almost as soon as Paul handed me the pencil stub and paper, I began drawing without even thinking. I had no idea what I’d drawn. When Paul opened the envelope and showed us the photo, I was the only one in the audience who’d drawn it.
I signed the author up for a book, based on his experiences with the military’s remote viewing program. Paul Smith’s book was titled READING THE ENEMY’S MIND.
As for my own alleged psychic prowess, I refuse to gamble because I win with frightening frequency—so much so it genuinely scares me. (My refusal to gamble infuriates my friends who would like to bet with me and always try to nag me into gambling with them.) I’m also considered a shockingly perceptive tarot card reader. The host of a psychic TV program once offered me a regular tarot-reading spot on her show, which I declined on the grounds that I was too busy. The truth is I don’t read tarot for money. I don’t know what happens when I read the cards, but I see taking money for the readings them as bad karma . . . at least for me. I can’t comment on other people’s karma.
My mother claimed I was born under “the sign of the apocalypse.” The night she gave me birth, she’d asked my father to take her dancing. A warm summer night, he took her to an outdoor dance place overlooking Lake Michigan. She danced, drank and smoked—as pregnant women often did in those days—then broke her water on the dance floor.
My father took her to the hospital, and she said she had a long, difficult delivery—until 2:00 AM, that is, when the city was hit by a hurricane of walnut-size hailstones. They hammered the town like shrapnel, breaking windows and streetlights all over Michigan City, Indiana, including some of the hospital windows. This holocaust of hailstones was so frightening my mother said I burst out of her like the ET monster, which exploded out of the guy’s chest in the movie, ALIEN.
I have a town newspaper documenting that disaster.
I guess my interest in 2012 comes naturally. As my mother said, I was born under “the sign of the apocalypse.”
Thanks, JTCapa, for your remarks about remote viewing. I know a fair amount about the subject, have experienced it myself, and should have had that insight. Anyone interested in the subject should get Paul Smith’s READING THE ENEMY’S MIND.
Judith also emailed me privately, raising that eternal question, “What should we think?” I will address that question in some detail down the road. The short answer is that our species is notoriously self-destructive—and no more so when facing the specter of possible extinction. Life on earth has endured over twenty extinction events, will do so again, and we’re looking several in the obsidian eye right now. We have to face up to that fact and determine what we can do to confront these cataclysms. Many of these apocalyptic catastrophes are preventable. Instead of facing up to these threats, however, humanity blithely ignores them. In fact, we invent new ways of annihilating ourselves, thus exacerbating the threat of global extirpation.
The threat of being exterminated on 2012 however could have one positive consequence. It has the potential to “wonderfully concentrate the mind”, and if it does, maybe we will start to evaluate those extinction threats and devise ways of countering them. In other words, Judith, your question is simple but transcendently important.
By the way, could you please email me the title of your own book? It sounds fascinating.
Henry, regarding your question about Celtic influences in Mayan culture, I’d recommend you contact randyeickhoff.com and discuss the subject with him. He’s a genuine Irish scholar who has translated most of THE TAIN for me—Ireland’s ILIAD and ODYESSY. (He also translated THE ODYSSEY for me as well.) Your insights will fascinate him, and he knows far more about the Celts than I do.
Mattie, don’t ask me why Indiana University referred to my undergraduate degree as an AB instead of a BA, but they did. I often hear the degree described a BA myself. In Latin, however, it’s called an “artium baccalaureus,” so perhaps AB is more literal. However, a Bachelor of Science is BS, and I hear an AB more often called a BA.
In fact, I should have thought that one up. I’m a full-time book editor in my so-called real life, and I once signed up a book on remote viewing. I know the phenomenon exists, and, yes, JT, I think the Maya, Toltecs, et. Al. probably used it.
One way to describe remote viewing is that the observer stares at some imperceptible object or event and that his or her astral spirit leaves the body and goes to that phenomenon and observes it, while the spirit is outside the viewer’s corporeal self. Some remote viewers have gazed on distant phenomena or on concealed objects in this manner.
I have experienced remote viewing myself. I went to seminar conducted by the writer and retired military officer, Paul Smith, who conducted remote viewing study programs for both the military and the CIA. At the seminar he ran slides which documented amazing examples of successful remote viewing. One such example involved the remote viewing of an attack on a US naval vessel which occurred a few days later, just as the remote viewer predicted and depicted.
A former US Defense Secretary told me people were in awe of the results the military’s remote viewing program produced.
After the seminar Paul Smith handed out paper and pencil stubs. He had four opaque envelopes, one of which contained a photograph no one in the audience had seen. Approximately 30 people were in attendance. Even though I’ve been accused of having psychic abilities in the past, I wasn’t going to even consider trying the exercise. Among other things I draw badly. Almost as soon as Paul handed me the pencil stub and paper, I began drawing without even thinking. I had no idea what I’d drawn. When Paul opened the envelope and showed us the photo, I was the only one in the audience who’d drawn it.
I signed the author up for a book, based on his experiences with the military’s remote viewing program. Paul Smith’s book was titled READING THE ENEMY’S MIND.
As for my own alleged psychic prowess, I refuse to gamble because I win with frightening frequency—so much so it genuinely scares me. (My refusal to gamble infuriates my friends who would like to bet with me and always try to nag me into gambling with them.) I’m also considered a shockingly perceptive tarot card reader. The host of a psychic TV program once offered me a regular tarot-reading spot on her show, which I declined on the grounds that I was too busy. The truth is I don’t read tarot for money. I don’t know what happens when I read the cards, but I see taking money for the readings them as bad karma . . . at least for me. I can’t comment on other people’s karma.
My mother claimed I was born under “the sign of the apocalypse.” The night she gave me birth, she’d asked my father to take her dancing. A warm summer night, he took her to an outdoor dance place overlooking Lake Michigan. She danced, drank and smoked—as pregnant women often did in those days—then broke her water on the dance floor.
My father took her to the hospital, and she said she had a long, difficult delivery—until 2:00 AM, that is, when the city was hit by a hurricane of walnut-size hailstones. They hammered the town like shrapnel, breaking windows and streetlights all over Michigan City, Indiana, including some of the hospital windows. This holocaust of hailstones was so frightening my mother said I burst out of her like the ET monster, which exploded out of the guy’s chest in the movie, ALIEN.
I have a town newspaper documenting that disaster.
I guess my interest in 2012 comes naturally. As my mother said, I was born under “the sign of the apocalypse.”
Thanks, JTCapa, for your remarks about remote viewing. I know a fair amount about the subject, have experienced it myself, and should have had that insight. Anyone interested in the subject should get Paul Smith’s READING THE ENEMY’S MIND.
Judith also emailed me privately, raising that eternal question, “What should we think?” I will address that question in some detail down the road. The short answer is that our species is notoriously self-destructive—and no more so when facing the specter of possible extinction. Life on earth has endured over twenty extinction events, will do so again, and we’re looking several in the obsidian eye right now. We have to face up to that fact and determine what we can do to confront these cataclysms. Many of these apocalyptic catastrophes are preventable. Instead of facing up to these threats, however, humanity blithely ignores them. In fact, we invent new ways of annihilating ourselves, thus exacerbating the threat of global extirpation.
The threat of being exterminated on 2012 however could have one positive consequence. It has the potential to “wonderfully concentrate the mind”, and if it does, maybe we will start to evaluate those extinction threats and devise ways of countering them. In other words, Judith, your question is simple but transcendently important.
By the way, could you please email me the title of your own book? It sounds fascinating.
Henry, regarding your question about Celtic influences in Mayan culture, I’d recommend you contact randyeickhoff.com and discuss the subject with him. He’s a genuine Irish scholar who has translated most of THE TAIN for me—Ireland’s ILIAD and ODYESSY. (He also translated THE ODYSSEY for me as well.) Your insights will fascinate him, and he knows far more about the Celts than I do.
Mattie, don’t ask me why Indiana University referred to my undergraduate degree as an AB instead of a BA, but they did. I often hear the degree described a BA myself. In Latin, however, it’s called an “artium baccalaureus,” so perhaps AB is more literal. However, a Bachelor of Science is BS, and I hear an AB more often called a BA.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
My next blog will concern 2012, including issues raised by JTCapa, Judith, HM, et.al. But now I'll answer some publishing queries.
My next blog will concern 2012 and will take up concerns raised on this site, including some interesting issues brought up by Judith, JTCapa and a very interesting Celtic-Mayan connection alluded to by HM. Since I am a book editor, however, I get and will respond to occasional publishing queries such as . . . How do I find a publisher for my book?
Rule #1: Work your butt off to find a literary agent who appreciates what you’re writing. I try to look at all the unsolicited, unagented manuscripts (mss), which are addressed to me by name, but I don’t give them the same attention I give to those which agents send me, particularly agents who know me and understand what I tend to publish.
Agents fill a number of irreplaceable functions, which include channeling projects toward the right editors who will understand how to publish those submissions. If those agents didn’t cherry-pick their clients’ mss and channel those submissions to the right editors, editors would be overwhelmed by mss, which weren’t suitable to their houses and their book-buying markets. The lives of most commercial editors would be impossibly difficult and the quality of their published books would suffer immeasurably. Moreover, agents, like writers, perform this function for free. They don’t get paid unless they sell the book. They typically get a 15% commission on that sale. Like writers, agents live their lives on spec. They thrive or die with their writers’ successes and failures. If writers are the heroes of the book publishing business, agents are the unsung heroes of the book trade.
How do I find the agent, who’s right for me?
You want an agent who knows how to sell your kind of book, right? Well, who are the successful writers you most resemble—and don’t say Shakespeare. I mean real, live successful authors. Go to a really big super-bookstore with a coffee shop and grab some paperbacks of your favorite successful writers whom you most resemble. (The Barnes & Noble superstores always seem to have a Starbucks as well as a vast selections of authors.) Take the paperbacks to the bookstore coffee shop, order a cup of coffee, and read the dedication and acknowledgement pages of those paperbacks. Nine times out of ten, that writer whom you most resemble will mention his or her agent and editor in the dedication or the acknowledgements. (The dedications are listed in the front of the book; the acknowledgements are often listed in the back.) You will learn both the name of the agent and editor, and since your work resembles that of that author, you immediately have the names of two people who know how to sell your kind of book. If you absolutely strike out with an agent, you know an editor who appreciates what you’re trying to achieve.
Begin your pitch letter to the agent by describing how much you resemble his or her beloved writer. If you get turned down, write the agent back and ask them to recommend an agent who would understand your work.
How do I know whether that writer whom I resemble is successful?
Okay, you’re in that book store coffee shop. You have a lot of paperbacks. Some of the front covers probably say that that particular title is a New York Times Bestseller. Voila, you’ve found a successful writer whom the agent can use as a marketing comparison when he or she submits your book. You obviously want to use that same marketing comparison when you approach the agent with your pitch letter.
On my next publishing blog, we will discuss how to contact that agent.
Rule #1: Work your butt off to find a literary agent who appreciates what you’re writing. I try to look at all the unsolicited, unagented manuscripts (mss), which are addressed to me by name, but I don’t give them the same attention I give to those which agents send me, particularly agents who know me and understand what I tend to publish.
Agents fill a number of irreplaceable functions, which include channeling projects toward the right editors who will understand how to publish those submissions. If those agents didn’t cherry-pick their clients’ mss and channel those submissions to the right editors, editors would be overwhelmed by mss, which weren’t suitable to their houses and their book-buying markets. The lives of most commercial editors would be impossibly difficult and the quality of their published books would suffer immeasurably. Moreover, agents, like writers, perform this function for free. They don’t get paid unless they sell the book. They typically get a 15% commission on that sale. Like writers, agents live their lives on spec. They thrive or die with their writers’ successes and failures. If writers are the heroes of the book publishing business, agents are the unsung heroes of the book trade.
How do I find the agent, who’s right for me?
You want an agent who knows how to sell your kind of book, right? Well, who are the successful writers you most resemble—and don’t say Shakespeare. I mean real, live successful authors. Go to a really big super-bookstore with a coffee shop and grab some paperbacks of your favorite successful writers whom you most resemble. (The Barnes & Noble superstores always seem to have a Starbucks as well as a vast selections of authors.) Take the paperbacks to the bookstore coffee shop, order a cup of coffee, and read the dedication and acknowledgement pages of those paperbacks. Nine times out of ten, that writer whom you most resemble will mention his or her agent and editor in the dedication or the acknowledgements. (The dedications are listed in the front of the book; the acknowledgements are often listed in the back.) You will learn both the name of the agent and editor, and since your work resembles that of that author, you immediately have the names of two people who know how to sell your kind of book. If you absolutely strike out with an agent, you know an editor who appreciates what you’re trying to achieve.
Begin your pitch letter to the agent by describing how much you resemble his or her beloved writer. If you get turned down, write the agent back and ask them to recommend an agent who would understand your work.
How do I know whether that writer whom I resemble is successful?
Okay, you’re in that book store coffee shop. You have a lot of paperbacks. Some of the front covers probably say that that particular title is a New York Times Bestseller. Voila, you’ve found a successful writer whom the agent can use as a marketing comparison when he or she submits your book. You obviously want to use that same marketing comparison when you approach the agent with your pitch letter.
On my next publishing blog, we will discuss how to contact that agent.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Some New Age pundits argue that the Maya did not necessarily believe the world would end violently on 2012? Do they have a point?
The Mayan religion does not support that belief. The previous four “Sun Ages” did not go gentle according to their prophetic books, the Popul Vuh and the Chilam Balam. Contrary to today’s New Age Transformationalists, none of the previous ages ended in a spiritual renaissance. There is no reason to assume the Long Count Calendar #5 and the fifth age, which it encompasses, will be the exception and will not remain true to form and will not end catastrophically. The last day of Calendar #5 ends on 11:11 Universal Time at 12/21/2012, and the Maya have no additional days to follow it. The famous pre-Aztec Sun Stone depicts all the ages, and its last Sun Age is the fifth nor did the Maya have a sixth Long Count Calendar. The New Age Transformationalists notwithstanding, the Maya of old did not view that date as the dawn of a new age
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Do any other religions predict the world will end on 2012?
--
The BAGAVAD GITA’s author, Lord Krishna, died on 2/18/3102 which is close to the year our Fifth Sun Age commenced. The Hindus believe that with Krishna’s death the world began a new earthly cycle, “the Kali Yuga,” which they think of as “the Degenerate Age.” The Hindu mystic, scholar and religious leader, Sri Kalki Bhagavan, has told his million-plus followers that he is the Kalki Messiah, the 10th and final avatar of Vishna and that our “Degenerate Age” will end on 2012. He ties his calculations to the next Transit of Venus, which occurs on 2012.
Quetzalcoatl’s followers coincidentally associated Quetzalcoatl with Venus, viewing him as its earthly avatar.
Michael Drosnin—author of the bestselling THE BIBLE CODE—says that “equidistant letter sequences in [the Hebrew version of] Genesis” reveal that the earth will be destroyed in 2012, conceivably by comets. His predictions are based on the calculations of three eminent Israeli mathematicians.
Rabbi Vitzhak Kaduri, a renown Israeli Kabbalistic elder and scholar, claims that the Hebrew messiah has incarnated himself in Israel and will emerge shortly. If so, the Hebrew Apocalypse could well occur on 2012 . . . according to Rabbi Kaduri.
Iran’s firebrand political leader, President Ahmadinejad, says the arrival of the Shiite’s Mahdi-Messiah is also imminent. He could well arrive in time to disrupt the 2012 presidential elections.
The belief in a returning messiah is not only central to the Hindu, Christian, Muslim and Hebrew religions apocalypse, many Maya have held that Quetzalcoatl will return for their 2012 apocalypse. His ability to counter that catastrophe however is problematic.
The BAGAVAD GITA’s author, Lord Krishna, died on 2/18/3102 which is close to the year our Fifth Sun Age commenced. The Hindus believe that with Krishna’s death the world began a new earthly cycle, “the Kali Yuga,” which they think of as “the Degenerate Age.” The Hindu mystic, scholar and religious leader, Sri Kalki Bhagavan, has told his million-plus followers that he is the Kalki Messiah, the 10th and final avatar of Vishna and that our “Degenerate Age” will end on 2012. He ties his calculations to the next Transit of Venus, which occurs on 2012.
Quetzalcoatl’s followers coincidentally associated Quetzalcoatl with Venus, viewing him as its earthly avatar.
Michael Drosnin—author of the bestselling THE BIBLE CODE—says that “equidistant letter sequences in [the Hebrew version of] Genesis” reveal that the earth will be destroyed in 2012, conceivably by comets. His predictions are based on the calculations of three eminent Israeli mathematicians.
Rabbi Vitzhak Kaduri, a renown Israeli Kabbalistic elder and scholar, claims that the Hebrew messiah has incarnated himself in Israel and will emerge shortly. If so, the Hebrew Apocalypse could well occur on 2012 . . . according to Rabbi Kaduri.
Iran’s firebrand political leader, President Ahmadinejad, says the arrival of the Shiite’s Mahdi-Messiah is also imminent. He could well arrive in time to disrupt the 2012 presidential elections.
The belief in a returning messiah is not only central to the Hindu, Christian, Muslim and Hebrew religions apocalypse, many Maya have held that Quetzalcoatl will return for their 2012 apocalypse. His ability to counter that catastrophe however is problematic.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Did the Maya have a serious scientific reason for their belief in a 2012 apocalypse?
-- Did the Maya have a serious scientific reason for their belief in a 2012 apocalypse?
The date they picked for their apocalypse is December 21, 2012. At that time our planet, moon and solar system will align with the heart of the galactic plane, in which scientists now know a supermassive black hole resides. The Maya viewed that black abyss—which they called “the Dark Rift”—as a kind of hell world, out of which the Black Tezcatlipoca would unleash the dark demons of everlasting night, which would then descend on the earth and annihilate humankind. This alignment only occurs once every 26,000 years, which closely approximates the combined duration of the five Mayan “Sun Ages.” I say “approximates” because the precise length of each of those “Sun Ages” is not known. They come to around 5200 years each, which would equal 26,000 years. In other words, the first “Sun Age” would have roughly coincided with the earth’s last alignment with the galaxy’s core. On 12/21/2012 at 11:11 PM Universal Time earth will experience its first galactic alignment in that 26,000 period. The Maya believed that date marks the end of the Fifth Sun Age.
They Maya also seemed to know—for reasons that are still unclear—that the Milky Way galaxy was a spiraling disk and that we orbited along its edge. We know this because the Mayan glyph for our Milky Way—which they sometimes called “The Tree of Life”—is a spinning disk.
I’m not suggesting the Maya viewed the universe exactly as we do or that they had our mathematical and the scientific sophistication—only that their vision of the 2012 apocalypse was based on closely studied astronomical observations and mathematical calculations as well as mystical divination.
I’ve done a lot of national radio and some TV for this book, and many people ask if extraterrestrial beings gave the Maya these unique insights. My answer is somewhat oblique. In the end the Maya could not have inferred these insights into our galaxy from their mathematics, science or from direct observation, and these insights imbued their hieroglyphic language, their religion and their life. They weren’t irrelevant, ephemeral observations. It seems to me they gained them either through a kind of preternatural revelation unimaginable to us or someone told them. I do not see a third alternative. I wish someone would come up with one.
I also do not see how we can dismiss out of hand their End-Time prophecy, if we cannot explain how they arrived their other uncanny perceptions about the nature of our galaxy.
The date they picked for their apocalypse is December 21, 2012. At that time our planet, moon and solar system will align with the heart of the galactic plane, in which scientists now know a supermassive black hole resides. The Maya viewed that black abyss—which they called “the Dark Rift”—as a kind of hell world, out of which the Black Tezcatlipoca would unleash the dark demons of everlasting night, which would then descend on the earth and annihilate humankind. This alignment only occurs once every 26,000 years, which closely approximates the combined duration of the five Mayan “Sun Ages.” I say “approximates” because the precise length of each of those “Sun Ages” is not known. They come to around 5200 years each, which would equal 26,000 years. In other words, the first “Sun Age” would have roughly coincided with the earth’s last alignment with the galaxy’s core. On 12/21/2012 at 11:11 PM Universal Time earth will experience its first galactic alignment in that 26,000 period. The Maya believed that date marks the end of the Fifth Sun Age.
They Maya also seemed to know—for reasons that are still unclear—that the Milky Way galaxy was a spiraling disk and that we orbited along its edge. We know this because the Mayan glyph for our Milky Way—which they sometimes called “The Tree of Life”—is a spinning disk.
I’m not suggesting the Maya viewed the universe exactly as we do or that they had our mathematical and the scientific sophistication—only that their vision of the 2012 apocalypse was based on closely studied astronomical observations and mathematical calculations as well as mystical divination.
I’ve done a lot of national radio and some TV for this book, and many people ask if extraterrestrial beings gave the Maya these unique insights. My answer is somewhat oblique. In the end the Maya could not have inferred these insights into our galaxy from their mathematics, science or from direct observation, and these insights imbued their hieroglyphic language, their religion and their life. They weren’t irrelevant, ephemeral observations. It seems to me they gained them either through a kind of preternatural revelation unimaginable to us or someone told them. I do not see a third alternative. I wish someone would come up with one.
I also do not see how we can dismiss out of hand their End-Time prophecy, if we cannot explain how they arrived their other uncanny perceptions about the nature of our galaxy.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Are there any similarities between Christianity and the Mayan religion?
-- Are there any other similarities between Christianity and the Mayan religion?
Alejandro Murgula in “Why Not Teach Maya Creation Story, Too?” argues: “Some of the Popul Vuh will resonate deeply with those familiar with the Bible. A tremendous flood washes away an early race of humans; there is an overarching trinity of life, death and resurrection; good and evil are powerful forces, and man is central to creation.”
In some respects the creation myth in the Popul Vuh—one of the most important Mayan religious texts—resembles that of Genesis. The earth is engulfed by silence and the dark. Only God and his subordinate deities possess light. They decide they need a world of trees, plants, animals—all lead by humanity. They struggle to find the right building material for the first man and woman. They settle on white and yellow corn, and the first man and woman emerge out of the first dawn.
In Genesis too God brings Light and creates the world, molding Adam out of dust, clay and God’s divine breath. Eve, God forms out of Adam’s rib. Humanity is to be the master of that newly invented world.
Then, of course, many Christian and Jewish sects that believe the Maya and other native Americans are in fact a Lost Tribe of Israel.
Some scholars argue that one reason Mexico’s native population adopted Christianity with so much passion and commitment was that the native religion and Christianity had much in common. Among other things, the Maya practiced human sacrifice, and many of them viewed Christ’s death in that light, honoring his immolation in their Fiesta of the Dead.
Alejandro Murgula in “Why Not Teach Maya Creation Story, Too?” argues: “Some of the Popul Vuh will resonate deeply with those familiar with the Bible. A tremendous flood washes away an early race of humans; there is an overarching trinity of life, death and resurrection; good and evil are powerful forces, and man is central to creation.”
In some respects the creation myth in the Popul Vuh—one of the most important Mayan religious texts—resembles that of Genesis. The earth is engulfed by silence and the dark. Only God and his subordinate deities possess light. They decide they need a world of trees, plants, animals—all lead by humanity. They struggle to find the right building material for the first man and woman. They settle on white and yellow corn, and the first man and woman emerge out of the first dawn.
In Genesis too God brings Light and creates the world, molding Adam out of dust, clay and God’s divine breath. Eve, God forms out of Adam’s rib. Humanity is to be the master of that newly invented world.
Then, of course, many Christian and Jewish sects that believe the Maya and other native Americans are in fact a Lost Tribe of Israel.
Some scholars argue that one reason Mexico’s native population adopted Christianity with so much passion and commitment was that the native religion and Christianity had much in common. Among other things, the Maya practiced human sacrifice, and many of them viewed Christ’s death in that light, honoring his immolation in their Fiesta of the Dead.
Friday, June 19, 2009
What did the astronomers of the Maya/Aztec see?
A young Aztec-Mayan slave tells us the story: Gifted in math and astronomy, Coyotl rises to king’s counselor in Tula, a golden city of milk and honey ruled by the brilliant god-king, Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent of lore. Gathering artists, scientists and craftsmen, this legendary ruler builds a city and commissions an astrological study of the night sky that will awe and confound scientists a thousand years later.
The Maya astronomers were the best in the ancient world – the studies of the Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians and Chinese paled in comparison. And the Maya saw something. And knew it would come back. They put the secret in a Codex.
A team of modern scientists struggling to decipher the Codex realize their own age mirrors Tula’s. Can they crack the 2012 code and save their world from Tula’s deadly fate?
Are the Mayan 2012 Apocalypse and the Christian Apocalypse of Revelation one and the same? Do they share common elements?
The two cataclysms share many common elements, and their End-Time predictions arguably fall on the same year, 2012.
Revelation prophesies that the central battle of the Christian Apocalypse will be fought in the Holy Land on the Plains of Armageddon—where many past wars have been waged—and will then engulf the world. Revelation’s thousand-year countdown to Armageddon, however, does not begin until “the Angel” casts “Satan” into the bottomless pit, where he is then contained for 1,000 years. If the Christian Apocalypse were to commence on 2012—the date when the Mayan Apocalypse is to due to destroy us—what would have happened in 1012 to commence the 1,000-year countdown of Revelation?
Many Christians have viewed 1000 C.E. as marking the beginning of the Millenarian countdown. It was a time of famines so terrible they were called apocalyptic portents, when a new star was spotted in the heavens (the Supernova of 1006), followed in 1009 by a “rain of blood” when the sun turned red and failed to shine for three days. Unprecedented plagues broke out, and by the 1012 the Abbey of St-Vaast was having his apocalyptic visions of the End Time.
The most telling apocalyptic cataclysm came in 1012 when the satanically militant Muslim ruler, Egypt’s Caliph Al Hakim destroyed the holiest ediface in Christendom, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Erected by Constantine, it reputedly occupied Golgotha, the Hill of Skulls, the site of Christ’s crucifixion. The church’s worshippers believed it even encompassed the ground and sepulcher where Christ was originally buried.
This mad, millenarian, Islamist ruler—who mysteriously vanished into the desert after desecrating Christian holy places—has long been identified with the 1000 year countdown. Al Hakim’s atrocities, which culminated in 1012, eventually sparked the Crusades . . . which would go on for a thousand years and which, some would argue, are still fought today. Many people believe that this war with militant Islam will be waged on the Plains of Armageddon and consume the nations of earth in a global Armageddon.
Proponents of this interpretation sometimes point out another potentially history shaping event: the next US presidential election takes place on 2012.
What other common elements do the Maya Apocalypse and that of Revelation share besides a similar time-line?
There are striking similarities between the apocalyptic Four Horsemen and the Four Apocalyptic Gods of the Maya. In Revelation the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are responsible for humanity’s annihilation. The White Horseman brings Pestilence, the Red Horseman War, the Black Horseman Famine and the Pale Horseman Death. The Pale Horseman unleashes the forces of hell. These horsemen each emerge from one of the four cardinal directions.
The Maya too have four supernatural beings—in their case deities—who will participate in humanity’s apocalyptic end. While they have also shared to varying degrees in the creation of the four previous “Sun Ages” and in our own fifth era, they are inherently violent, perpetually vindictive and will on 2012 destroy our world just as they helped to obliterate the four previous Ages of Humanity. The four apocalyptic Mayan gods, just like the Four Horsemen, are identified by “colors” and come from the “four cardinal directions.” The Blue Huitzilopochtli, the god of war, comes out of the south. The Red Xipe Totec, the god of gold, farming and spring, comes out of the west bringing famine. The Black Tezcatlipoca—the god of night, deceit, sorcery, hurricanes, discord and strife—presides over the north. The Black Tezcatlipoca will unleash the dark demons of the Mayan hell which on 12/21/2012 will traverse the Underworld Road, exit the Dark Rift of the Milky Way, overwhelm the earth and exterminate humankind.
The only god, who is at all friendly to humanity, is the White Quetzalcoatl, who is the god of light, mercy, wind and fire. He will probably not be of much help though. The Black Tezcatlipoca defeated him once before, ejecting him from his privileged position in the night sky, where he had reigned amid the stars. He has subsequently roamed the earth, sometimes serving as humanity’s patron deity.
Quetzalcoatl is ambivalent toward us however. One thousand years ago, he incarnated a Toltec emperor and brought humanity science, compassion and enlightenment as well as outlawing war and human sacrifice. The priests whipped up the multitudes, which rose up against him, and Quetzalcoatl—the so-called god-king—went into exile.
Having been betrayed by humanity 1,000 years ago, there is no evidence he will attempt a rescue on 2012
In his compassion and his ultimate sacrifice for humanity, he is viewed by many Maya as authentically Christ-like.
A young Aztec-Mayan slave tells us the story: Gifted in math and astronomy, Coyotl rises to king’s counselor in Tula, a golden city of milk and honey ruled by the brilliant god-king, Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent of lore. Gathering artists, scientists and craftsmen, this legendary ruler builds a city and commissions an astrological study of the night sky that will awe and confound scientists a thousand years later.
The Maya astronomers were the best in the ancient world – the studies of the Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians and Chinese paled in comparison. And the Maya saw something. And knew it would come back. They put the secret in a Codex.
A team of modern scientists struggling to decipher the Codex realize their own age mirrors Tula’s. Can they crack the 2012 code and save their world from Tula’s deadly fate?
Are the Mayan 2012 Apocalypse and the Christian Apocalypse of Revelation one and the same? Do they share common elements?
The two cataclysms share many common elements, and their End-Time predictions arguably fall on the same year, 2012.
Revelation prophesies that the central battle of the Christian Apocalypse will be fought in the Holy Land on the Plains of Armageddon—where many past wars have been waged—and will then engulf the world. Revelation’s thousand-year countdown to Armageddon, however, does not begin until “the Angel” casts “Satan” into the bottomless pit, where he is then contained for 1,000 years. If the Christian Apocalypse were to commence on 2012—the date when the Mayan Apocalypse is to due to destroy us—what would have happened in 1012 to commence the 1,000-year countdown of Revelation?
Many Christians have viewed 1000 C.E. as marking the beginning of the Millenarian countdown. It was a time of famines so terrible they were called apocalyptic portents, when a new star was spotted in the heavens (the Supernova of 1006), followed in 1009 by a “rain of blood” when the sun turned red and failed to shine for three days. Unprecedented plagues broke out, and by the 1012 the Abbey of St-Vaast was having his apocalyptic visions of the End Time.
The most telling apocalyptic cataclysm came in 1012 when the satanically militant Muslim ruler, Egypt’s Caliph Al Hakim destroyed the holiest ediface in Christendom, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Erected by Constantine, it reputedly occupied Golgotha, the Hill of Skulls, the site of Christ’s crucifixion. The church’s worshippers believed it even encompassed the ground and sepulcher where Christ was originally buried.
This mad, millenarian, Islamist ruler—who mysteriously vanished into the desert after desecrating Christian holy places—has long been identified with the 1000 year countdown. Al Hakim’s atrocities, which culminated in 1012, eventually sparked the Crusades . . . which would go on for a thousand years and which, some would argue, are still fought today. Many people believe that this war with militant Islam will be waged on the Plains of Armageddon and consume the nations of earth in a global Armageddon.
Proponents of this interpretation sometimes point out another potentially history shaping event: the next US presidential election takes place on 2012.
What other common elements do the Maya Apocalypse and that of Revelation share besides a similar time-line?
There are striking similarities between the apocalyptic Four Horsemen and the Four Apocalyptic Gods of the Maya. In Revelation the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are responsible for humanity’s annihilation. The White Horseman brings Pestilence, the Red Horseman War, the Black Horseman Famine and the Pale Horseman Death. The Pale Horseman unleashes the forces of hell. These horsemen each emerge from one of the four cardinal directions.
The Maya too have four supernatural beings—in their case deities—who will participate in humanity’s apocalyptic end. While they have also shared to varying degrees in the creation of the four previous “Sun Ages” and in our own fifth era, they are inherently violent, perpetually vindictive and will on 2012 destroy our world just as they helped to obliterate the four previous Ages of Humanity. The four apocalyptic Mayan gods, just like the Four Horsemen, are identified by “colors” and come from the “four cardinal directions.” The Blue Huitzilopochtli, the god of war, comes out of the south. The Red Xipe Totec, the god of gold, farming and spring, comes out of the west bringing famine. The Black Tezcatlipoca—the god of night, deceit, sorcery, hurricanes, discord and strife—presides over the north. The Black Tezcatlipoca will unleash the dark demons of the Mayan hell which on 12/21/2012 will traverse the Underworld Road, exit the Dark Rift of the Milky Way, overwhelm the earth and exterminate humankind.
The only god, who is at all friendly to humanity, is the White Quetzalcoatl, who is the god of light, mercy, wind and fire. He will probably not be of much help though. The Black Tezcatlipoca defeated him once before, ejecting him from his privileged position in the night sky, where he had reigned amid the stars. He has subsequently roamed the earth, sometimes serving as humanity’s patron deity.
Quetzalcoatl is ambivalent toward us however. One thousand years ago, he incarnated a Toltec emperor and brought humanity science, compassion and enlightenment as well as outlawing war and human sacrifice. The priests whipped up the multitudes, which rose up against him, and Quetzalcoatl—the so-called god-king—went into exile.
Having been betrayed by humanity 1,000 years ago, there is no evidence he will attempt a rescue on 2012
In his compassion and his ultimate sacrifice for humanity, he is viewed by many Maya as authentically Christ-like.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
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