2012 End of the World Predictions: Doomsday 2012?

Doomsday, the End of the World, Armageddon … dates already predicted throughout history as being likely to bring our world to a sudden end have past and gone. Many prophecies proved wrong for the fact that we're still here!

Some for instance predicted 1910 when the Earth passed through the tail of Halley's Comet as the time when life as we know it, would end. Others interpreted the prophesies of Nostradamus as meaning the seventh month of 1999 would bring his vision of Armageddon.

Then there was the Y2K Bug when many people expected a computer 'millennium' bug in the year 2000 to bring about global catastrophe.

But so far the end of the world has failed to arrive as scheduled! So what is it about the current Doomsday prediction that might make it any different? Did a highly intellectual ancient race, the Maya really prophesise the end of the world or could it be a modern-day interpretation on why the Mayan 25,562 year "Long Count" calendar ends on 21^st December 2012?

The difference between this current prophesy and earlier ones is that there will actually be an extraordinary event happening in the skies at the winter solstice. For the first time in around 26,000 years, the Sun will be perfectly aligned with the centre of the Milky Way sitting at the exact spot on the heavenly crossroads between the galactic equinox and the Milky Way.

Did the Maya know this? Some believe this intelligent race predicted a 'pole shift' would occur on 21:12:2012 having, thousands of years ago, calculated the above celestial event. Others believe it's a coincidence that the end of the Long Count calendar occurs at the same time.

The Maya had a number of calendars using different dating systems, including the solar calendar, known as the Haab which, like our yearly calendars lasted 365 days and the religious calendar consisting of 260 days based on twenty 13 day months. Another calendar, the Long Count was based on a recurring time period of 1872000 days or approximately 5125.36 years within one galactic day of 25,652 years. The Great Cycle is in its final days, coming to an end at 11:11 am Universal time on the 21^st of the twelfth month of the year 2012.

So, this Mayan calendar ends on the 21^st December, 2012 but despite in-depth research into their systems of calculation, it is said that nowhere in any of the translations of the Maya calendars, beliefs and prophecies does the date 21^st December take on special significance.

What the Maya believe in is 'cycles' and just as our yearly calendar ends on 31^st December to start again on 1^st January of the next year, the end of the Long Count calendar does not mark the end of the world but the close of one cycle, ready for another to begin.

If anything, the 21^st December 2012 will, according to Mayan prophesy, mark the end of the dark cycle and the start of the Cycle of Light: an era of new philosophies that incorporate a blending of beliefs from different races as all living beings on earth will eventually ascend to a higher level of consciousness. During the Cycle of Light we are more likely to see a more harmonious unification of man, the Earth and the Cosmos.

The new cycle may bring a greater respect for our planet, a deeper awareness of spirituality and our interconnectedness bringing a more unified planet in the future. But nothing will happen instantly. Remember, the cycle of the calendar that is now about to end consisted of 25,652 years!

So will the winter solstice of 2012 mark Doomsday? No, the world will not come to an end. Life will go on as we know it but it would be nice to think that there will be a shift in consciousness and higher levels of spirituality that would eventually bring peace to the world.