The Maya inherited their basic calendrical information from the Olmecs who developed the Long Count between 500 and 200 BC. But as a matter of fact, there are several other independent sources that also mark 2012, as conspicuous time.

- In the 1920s, a Seneca medicine man called Moses Shongo predicted that thre would be a 25-year Earth purification leading up to 2012.

- In the 1950s, a Native American called Reuben Silverbird had an out-of-body experience in which he predicted a rebirth experience in 2012.

- In the 1970s, the Chinese oracle, the I Ching, was found by Terence McKenna to encode a fractal time wave that terminates late in 2012.

- In the 1980s, the Paqos, who are priests of the Q'ero tribe living in the Andes in Peru, announced that their Pachakuti formula - the overturning of spacetime - would start in 1990 and last 22 years. Thus 2012 would bring the start of a Golden Age called Taripay Pacha, when the upper world, lower world and everyday world will unite.

All these other sources knew nothing of the Maya Long Count, so what can it all mean?

All these have produced a certainty in some experiencers that 2012 is a time of special significance. Recent research by Dr. Rick Strassman suggests that all these experiences are caused by a very similar neuro=chemical to that which the Maya shamans ingested to go into trance.

The trance and altered states seem to give access to a global megamind - the developing consciousness of the Earth. Earth's population is reaching a critical number, at which the components of the system start to work together like human neurons in a global brain. The Long Count calendar that the Olmec and Maya used has now been shown to track a cycle known as Precession, and the 13-baktun cycle ends when the winter solstice sun conjuncts the galactic equator, close to galactic center. This is known as Galactic Alignment.

The 13-bakton cycle is one eighth of Earth's "variation of axis tilt" cycle and the baktun itself is the same as the rotational period of the Earth's core. This suggests a possibility of geomagnetic reversal. Other scientists have recently reported that human biochemstry and psychic ability is affected by Earth's orientation to the stars, and galactic center in particular.

So this Galactic Alignment process could indicate a time-window that will see the first examples of an altered humanity - some think that we can expect an increased telepathic ability, as seems to be the case with the "psychic children". If a geomagnetic reversal is involved, or an electro-magnetic pulse wave, there is a possibility that the functioning of electronic devices would be compromised, and some say that humans would lose their memory, thus ending all conflict, since the reason for fighting would be forgotten.

Others think that it could trigger mass out-of-body experiences, or the rise of Kundalini - the fire serpent of Hindu lore that lies dormant at the base of the spine, and can, under special circumstances, rise of the spine to the brain, when ego is annihilated and enlightenment is achieved. This interpretation is reinforced by the lost Aztec codex, The Pyramid of Fire, (see John Major Jenkins' book of this name), in which the feathered serpent god, Quetzalcoatl-Kukulcan is revealed to be the same as Kundalini, and is directly connected with 2012.

There have been many speculations and theories about what 2012 may bring, and these can be generally grouped into the subheadings of catastrophic or ecstatic.

All these theories are analysed in the book, 'Beyond 2012: Catastrophe or Ecstasy'.

Geoff Stray

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