What Will Happen in 2012?

What happens on December 21, 2012 is anybody's guess.  To some, nothing will occur.  The day will come and go and December 22, 2012 will appear with the morning sun.  Others believe December 21, 2012 will bring on an apocalypse.  What form will it take and what method of destruction will appear to end all time and space depends on which element of impending doom you choose.  There's talk about planetary alignment in 2012, a mysterious Planet X or "Nibiru" that will come close enough to earth to cause unheard of gravitational pulls, and even a collapse of the earth's magnetic field.  The year 2012 may also bring on an upside down reversal of the earth's poles - commonly called polar shift.  Some feel the end of days will come on December 21, 2012 in form of blaring solar flares.  Add to these a conglomeration of the 2012 comet, Timewave Zero, and the impending 2012 asteroid, and you have plenty of doomsday scenarios to choose from.

Which doomsday event will occur in 2012?  Your guess is as good as mine.  But, perhaps the best question to ask is what started all this talk about the end of the world in 2012?  Though several cultures have "predicted" the final days of mankind, the latest round of destruction all leads to the pre-Columbian Mayan calendar, which has an end date of December 21, 2012 or December 23, 2012.  The exact date depends on which method of deciphering the Mayan calendar you believe.  Most think it is December 21, 2012.

Why the Maya?

Although there are many descendents of the pre-Columbian Maya alive and well living primarily in the Guatemalan highlands, most of the Mayan peoples and their culture were wiped out during the Spanish Inquisition.  Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortez (right) set sail for the Yucatan (home of the Mayan Indians) in the year 1519 with 600 men and 20 horses.  The Maya welcome him with open arms.  But, Cortez soon conquered the Mayans, destroying their people and culture, while Mayan leader Montezuma stood by.  Cortez' focus was to spread Christianity and deliver a Western civilization. 

While most Mayan treasures, books, and art were destroyed by Bishop Diego De Landa, archeologists recently recovered three codices written by the Mayans.  Also discovered was an important book called the Popol Vuh (essentially a Mayan bible). It was written in Spanish by a Mayan Indian shortly after the Inquisition - perhaps one individual's attempt to secure the culture for future generations.  In the Popol Vuh is a story about Mayan creation, known as the Mayan Creation Myth.  Legends of the Mayan elders are also included.  The creation story has provided great insight into early Mayan beliefs.

Written, of course in Mayan, no one understood what it actually stated until well into the 20th century.  Sort of a "Rosetta Stone", the Mayan codices, Popol Vuh, temple inscriptions, and calendars were deciphered.

The best known calendar is the Mayan Long Count.  The Long Count calendar reveals the Great Year of 5,125 years, one of five Great Years in the Mayan precession cycle of roughly 25,920 years.  According to researchers, we now (2009) are in the year 5,123 of the last Great Year, or 25,917 years into the precession cycle.

The Mayan Long Count calendar started in the year 3114 BC and will end 5,125 years later, on December 21, 2012.  Lord Pacal, a Mayan Prophet (603 - 683 AD), said the date December 21, 2012 will be the end of time.  More clearly, he stated it will not be the end of the world, but rather a widespread change in human consciousness.  A birth of a "oneness" consciousness will occur throughout mankind.

In short order, the Mayans believe the earth has been through four Great Years, with each being created and destroyed bringing on a new world, or "Sun" each time.  The last one happened in the year 3114 BC.  That would essentially infer that the first creation happened about 25,920 years ago (when we reach 2012), or the year 23,908 BC (25,920 - 2012).  The next one happens in the year 2012.  Remember, though it has been 1 or 2 thousand years since the Mayan flourished, these pre-Columbian Maya lived during this last, fifth Great Year, as we are living in it today.

There are many other cultures which deliver mention of end of days.  But, the mysterious, often misunderstood early Mayan Codices seem to be the prominent leaders of the subject.

So, as for the question, "What will happen in 2012?", we'll have to wait and see.  It could realm as a year of world wide destruction, or it could simply be another day in time that comes and goes as usual.  There is no absolute answer - only predictions based upon interpretations of the Maya Codices.