Exploring 2012 Themes

by Dorene A. Carrel

We are now past the Winter Solstice and it is only six short years until December 21, 2012, the year the Mayan Calendar is said to come to an end. I have been quite intrigued with what the various prophecies have said about the year 2012. The ideas around this period also interest me because of my long-term study of astrology. Astrology can be described as a study of time that is based on the relationships of planetary cycles, with each cycle having its own unique characteristics. Both astrology and the Mayan Calendar view time as cyclical in nature, as opposed to the more linear view of time that our current civilization has adopted.
What do scholars have to say about this 2012 end time? In Maya Cosmogenesis 2012, John Major Jenkins writes about a rare alignment of the December solstice sun with the Galactic Center in 2012. Jenkins further develops his theories in a more recent book called Galactic Alignment. Will Hart has written an intriguing article called “2012: End of the 5th Sun.” It can be found on Geoff Stray’s website, which is www.diagnosis2012.co.uk. In this article, Hart expounds on the relationships between the many cycles occurring during this 2012 period. According to Hart, the year 2012 signals the completion of the Mayan Long Count Calendar, begun in 3114 BC, along with the end of the 5th Sun. Hart said that 2012 also coincides with the next solar sunspot maximum. This means we are going to enter the flip side of a new 13,000-year cycle with an overheated earth resulting in increased earth changes and erratic weather patterns.
Author Steve Alten concurs with Hart that the Mayan Calendar has five great cycles, with the current one being the fifth cycle. His research, based on the Dresden Codex, finds that the previous four cycles have all ended in cataclysms and that our fifth cycle is expected to end in a great flood. He claims that the Mayan Calendar is based on science and has been proven by past events.
Some scholars, such as Bruce Scofield, take a more discerning approach and view the significance of the year 2012 as arbitrary. In a recent article in the Mountain Astrologer, Scofield said he believes that the winter solstice sun is actually closest to the galactic center in 2219 (in his footnotes). Scofield argues that the Maya had longer periods of time than the Long Count and concludes that therefore they must have expected time to continue. He astutely suggests that no matter what cycle we follow our consciousness will have to change if we are to survive.
According to Scofield and others, it is the specific alignment with the dark band of the Milky Way galaxy that will occur in 2012. He said the Maya called this place the origin point of creation and the pathway to the gods who dwelled in the underworld called Xibalba. William Henry, investigative mythologist and author, puts forth the idea of a serpent rope that will descend from this galactic center opening and the partaking of a substance called cosmic sap. He proposes that we may then be able to ascend and become star walkers.
One of the most intriguing possibilities put forth by one author, Carl Calleman, is the end of time as we know it. Another scholar, Jose Arguelles, has said it will be the end of history. It is hard for me (and likely others) to imagine how we can live continuously in the present without any reference to the past or the future. However, just because our limited minds can not conceive of this, it does not mean it would be impossible.
In a recent interview, Arguelles said he believes the Mayans were time travelers. He thinks they purposely shut down their civilization at a certain time and disappeared through time travel. This sounds both plausible and intriguing to me. But where did they go -- to another dimension or another universe perhaps?
Our changing orientation towards time is likely one of the outstanding themes of 2012 (at least for me) that could be due for a total transformation. And that transformation could start in the next 1-2 years with the alignment of Pluto with the Galactic Center, which first occurred on December 29, 2006 and will again occur during the latter half of 2007. Pluto is the planet of birth/death and total transformation on all levels. Pluto also rules the cataclysms that the Mayan Calendar seems to suggest are coming our way. Will our current life choices determine the outcome of this transformation?
How would we live our lives if we viewed time like the Mayans, as cyclical, instead of linear? Perhaps we would live our lives more by synchronicity and intuition rather than following the current world’s expectations. It is also prophesied that the world power center will move from the west to the east. Eastern countries put a higher value on the right brain (intuition) over the left brain (mental) functions.
I will conclude these opening ideas/remarks about 2012 themes with the hope they will inspire others to share what ideas are important for them about 2012. I’d like to hear comments from others who have read the sources I have cited in this article.

A New Name for the Library

Welcome to the Seattle Metaphysical Library blog. This is a way we can discuss things that take up too much time in our bi-weekly staff meetings, and also that have a wider interest than just the volunteer.

One thing we have been talking about since the library's near-death experience in the summer of 2005 is renaming the library.

The library was originally called the Seattle Metaphysical Library before it incorporated as the AS-YOU-LIKE-IT Library in the early 1960s. When the Board changed its name back to the old original name a couple of years ago, many people thought that was a significant improvement.

But the discussion centers around whether we want to use the word "Metaphysical". It has connotations of looking-backward and high-status arrogance of the European aristocracy. The reason we like having "Metaphysics" in our name is that metaphysics can be stretched to include just about everything we are dealing with. Dictionary.com has a definition of "Metaphysics" as

The branch of philosophy that examines the nature of reality, including

the relationship between mind and matter, substance and attribute,

fact and value.

When we are talking about metaphysics, we are talking about the fundamental nature of Reality, of what we are as human beings, of how we, as humans, affect and are affected by the world around us. This affect is not limited to a narrow, Newtonian view, but encompasses how our world view affects us and our lives.

We want to understand, at a deep, fundamental level, what affects our world view, and our view of ourselves, because we understand that our assumptions affect what we see, and what we see affects what we get.

We understand, at a deep level, that there is a mysterious connection between what we think, and what we see, and what we get. This is not a simplistic "You create your own reality" pablum handed out like candy by so many New Age hucksters, as if the kids being hacked up in Africa created that reality for themselves.

Nor is it a comforting view of Karma, in which bad things happen to bad people, good things happen to good people, and we deserve everything we get, as a reward or punishment for behavior in previous lives. That is a nice, reassuring philosophy for the well-off and comfortable, but there is no reason to believe it is tue. A variation on the Law of Karma is that when we see something bad we can say, "Wow. That person must have been really bad in a previous lifetime, to deserve to be treated like that today!" I see the Law of Karma as having a high correlation with a stratified society, and people being complacent about extreme differences.

I find it distressing when I hear people use that as a rationale for inactivity. But, on the other hand, it is to important to live honorably and to develop a high sense of ethics - that something happens to people when they are always trying to get the edge on others. Something happens to us when we decide that we have a life of sufficiency, that we don't have to always be in a hard-scrabble sitation - even if we are in a situation of extremely low income. We know the importance of our thoughts, and our vision.

Clarity of vision and intent allows our creative intelligence can come up with better actions. So- back to our name. We want the Library to be more of a resource center, to be a place that people can have small group meetings, meet others of similiar interests, provide a space set aside for people to develop and hone their intent to widen their vision of possibilities.

We don't want the main focus to be on the books themselves, but, rather, on the community of high-energy people consciously striving to create a better world for themselves, their friends and family, and the community at large.

Welcome to the Seattle Metaphysical Library blog.

This blog allows us to discuss things that take up too much time in our bi-weekly staff meetings, and also that have a wider interest than just the volunteer librarians.

The library itself is in downtown Ballard, and you can see the address, open hours, and booklist on our website, www.SeattleMetaphysicalLibrary.org.

This blogsite is intended to talk about issues in the library, especially the vision of what it could be, as well as a way for people to discuss the subjects in the library with others of similiar interests.