2012 and Other Predictions

      There are many predictions and prophecies that involve disasters, cataclysm and doomsday, especially regarding the year 2012. Most of the hype about 2012 stems from the Mayan calendar.

The Mayan Calendar

     Much of the information about the Mayan calendar and predictions related to it is debatable, because it is subject to interpretation. For a start, there is not just one Mayan calendar. There are over 20 of them! Secondly, they do not relate directly to our Western Gregorian calendar. The main Mayan calendar that the 2012 hype is linked to is called the Long Count calendar, and it doesn't work in normal 365-day years. Instead of using a base-10 scheme like Western numbering, its days were counted in a modified base-20 scheme. It is made up of 20-day "months" (called winals). 18 winals make one tun (360 days, not 365). 20 tuns are known as a k'atun. 20 k'atuns make a b'ak'tun (394.3 years). They then multiply a b'ak'tun by 13 to get a "World Age" (about 5128 yrs). It is a b'ak'tun plus this long cycle of a "World Age" that is coming to an end. The exact end date is up to interpretation. One well-known writer on the subject, Carl Calleman, calculated the date as October 28, 2011. But the most popular date of course is December 21, 2012.

Not the End of the World

     Much like our Western calendar that has no real ending, most scholars agree that when this long Mayan cycle ends, a new one will just carry on. There is no hard evidence that the end of the current "World Age" is a doomsday prediction. John Major Jenkins says that in Mayan mythology there have been 4 previous "World Ages" and that this 5th World Age is the culmination of the previous 4, and the end of a 25,644-year cycle. There is a certain amount of destruction at the end of each "World Age", followed by the emergence of a new kind of human being. But most scholars say that there is no end of world predictions related to the Mayan calendar, and that the doomsday hype is just an opportunity for some to cash in. Many present-day Mayans look towards the end of this cycle as an opportunity to leave behind that which is undesirable and look forward to a new and better cycle.

Other Predictions and Prophesies

     The theme of a cycle ending now with possible upheaval is not unique to the Maya. In astronomy and astrology, due to a slight wobble in the Earth's axis as it spins, the Sun's spring equinox position appears to recede backward by one constellation every 2,150 years. This backward movement is called the precession of the equinoxes, and this precession is currently moving from the constellation of Pisces to Aquarius. That is why we are at the so-called dawning of the Age of Aquarius. Over the course of 25,800 years, the Sun completes a full 360-degree backward circuit through the zodiac. This is very similar to the 25,644 year cycle of the Maya. Many in the New Age movement believe that the end of Pisces is also the end of a 25,800-year cycle. This is a time of returning "karma" of this long cycle, where "earth changes" are apparently possible, as a clean-up action before the dawning of the new 25,800-year cycle, beginning with the Age of Aquarius.

     There are also predictions about the nearby passage of a very large comet known as Nibiru, Planet-X or the 12th Planet, which could also cause natural disasters. There are many other prophecies related to disasters and wars, like prophecies in the Bible, George Washington's vision, Nostradamus' prophecies and those given during the Marian apparitions by the Virgin Mary, especially at Fatima. There are the "3 days of darkness" prophesied by many Christians, including Padre Pio.

     The thing about religious prophecies of bad events is that they are meant to fail. They are a warning that if people continue on their present path of bad choices and actions, then certain bad things will happen. But, if people change their ways, which is what we all hope, then they automatically change their destiny and the bad things will be mitigated.

Conclusion

     But whether you believe in prophecies and predictions or not, it is in any case good common sense to be prepared for just the normal natural disasters that already occur on earth. So if a prophecy happens to come true, you're prepared anyway.