Saturday, December 21, 2012 is the Winter Solstice and the day the Mayan long count calendar ends. We have been waiting for this day for many years, some anticipating the end of the world, some expecting the beginning of an new age. I’m very excited about the opportunity this event brings and I plan to spend Dec. 21 and 22 in meditation, prayer, and celebration. Many people are saying that this event (the combination of the Winter Solstice, Mayan calendar rolling over, and the galactic alignment) bodes great things. It seems to me as if the frequency of the planet is getting higher and moving faster. Ideas and events are happening more quickly. I think there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that we are creating ecological disasters and our communities are threatened by chaos. There is a sense of anticipation and an urgency, as if NOW! is the time to take the actions we have previously only thought about. Now is the time to take the leap of faith and now is the time to bring your full resources on healing the planet and helping in the transformation of humanity. This does feel like a make or break time in our history, and it is important to see clearly the challenges that we face and to find the solutions.

THE MAYAN CALENDAR

From what I have read from Mayan scholars and Mayan teachers, there is no reason to think that this ending cycle which occurs on 12.21.12 means the end of the world. Like our own calendar did in in 12.31.1999, the Mayan calendar reaches a point of ending and begins a new cycle. Just like our Y2K confusion over what would happen when the digits turned to 2000, this Mayan count is also creating confusion. It is the close of one cycle and the beginning of another, a new World Age. There is only one Mayan writing that mentions 12.21.12, and it does not mention an apocalyptic event. And there are many writings that mention dates past 12.21.12. Many cultures have myths of different Ages. Researchers have looked to Mayan myths to provide an understanding of what the Mayans thought about the end of this Age. These myths point to the belief that at the end of one Age, another Age begins that provides humanity with an opportunity for transformation and rebirth. I believe that anything that changes on our planet will be because we make it change. And I believe in the transformational power of both symbol and ritual. So I am fully participating in the symbol of 12.21.12 and the ritual of a rebirth for humanity. Because it is by our own actions, and only our actions, that change occurs. Check out the www.birth2012.com information.

THE GALACTIC ALIGNMENT

The 12.21.12 date has been linked by some to an alignment of our Sun to the Galactic Center on this Winter Solstice. This alignment is being discussed as a rare event that occurs only once every 26,000 years. A rare 26,000 year alignment on the same day as the end of the Mayan calendar would definitely up the ante of that event. For this reason I think its important to try to figure out exactly what such an alignment is and what it means. On the left is a drawing of our spiral shaped Milky Way Galaxy. Our solar system revolves around the center of the galaxy, known as the Galactic Center, in much the same way as the Earth revolves around the Sun.

This image is of the side view of the Milky Way. The horizontal line across the diagram of the galaxy is called the Galactic Equator, and the bulge in the middle is the Galactic Center. The diagonal line moving from lower left to upper right illustrates the ecliptic, the tract of the apparent position of our Sun (and planets) as it slowly moves towards the Galactic Equator and Galactic Center, a movement caused by the Procession of the Equinoxes. You can see where the Sun’s position was in the period of 1000 BC,  where it is now in the period around 2012, and where it will be at a period 3000 years in the future, around 5000. This intersection between the ecliptic and the Galactic Equator, this point where the two lines cross, is what is being referred to as the Galactic Alignment. You can see that there is an intersection, an alignment, between the Sun on the ecliptic and the Galactic Equator around 2012. The ecliptic never exactly crosses the Galactic Center, which does not lie on the Galactic Equator, but it comes really close! But this alignment does not happen only on the date of December 21, 2012. Actually this alignment takes place over a period of years, from about 1978 to 2019, with the year 1998 its closest point. But the Mayans did not have the telescopes we have now, and to the naked eye, this alignment could look exact.

To me, the extended period of the Galactic Alignment, as opposed to it happening only December 21st, 2012, points to the fact that this transformational period of new birth we are experiencing is not going to happen on a single day. It has been gestating for years, and will continue to unfold for years more. I think it is significant that the Galactic Alignment is happening during this place and time in our history. And I think the ending of the Mayan cycle is significant as well, and that together they point to an important period in our history. But the end of the Mayan calendar on 12.21.12 and the Galactic Alignment do not intersect on exactly at 12.21.12 as a grand finale to some glorious end. They point to the very difficult challenges of our time, of our Era, and encourage us to take the challenging, even disastrous events of our world seriously, as the make or break situations for humanity that they are. 12.21.12 can be the impetus to take actions that can begin to remedy the troubles of our world in order to bring about the new Age of transformation the Mayan calendar promises.

PARADIGM SHIFT

But we can take one day to join together and direct the high frequency of energy that we get from the universe and each other and use it to fuel the transformation. I have concluded that end of the Mayan cycle in 2012 and the Galactic alignment of our Era, opens up the possibility of a transformational shift during this time. This shift will not be forced on anyone, nor denied to anyone. It can be understood and accessed through any religious symbol system, be it Mayan, Christian, Hopi, Astrological, and others.  This shift will be a Paradigm Shift. A Paradigm Shift occurs when there is a such a fundamental change in the way that we view the world that life can never go back and be the same again. The Internet is an example of a paradigm shift. The Copernican solar system, which moved us from an Earth to Sun-centered Solar System, is a paradigm shift. This Paradigm Shift will occur in our understanding of both Space and Time. The Paradigm Shift in Space is about expanding our understanding our place in the universe from being part of a Solar System to being part of a Galaxy. Instead of orienting to the Sun as the center of our universe, we will begin to see the Galactic Center as our point of orientation. We will also have a Paradigm Shift in Time. We will no longer see ourselves as limited single-life beings, but rather as multi-dimensional beings who have lived many prior live-times and who live on multiple dimensions and transverse many worlds, whether we call these worlds shamanic, dream-time, fairy world, or imaginary.