Carol Chapman | Carol Chapman

The Galactic Alignment and 2012

The sun precesses through the Galactic equator

The sun, on the December solstice, will take 36 years to precess through the Galactic equator

I am surprised that the actual Galactic Alignment of the sun with the Galactic Equator on the winter solstice occurred in 1998. That’s 13 years ago. According to the John Major Jenkins article accompanying the image on the left, What is the Galactic Alignment?, the great Galactic Alignment is occurring in the “era-2012.” Furthermore, according to the image at the left, our sun will be on the verge of leaving the alignment with the Galactic Center in 2012. By the word-of-mouth and media buzz, it seemed as if the sun would be perfectly lined up with the Galactic Center on the 2012 winter solstice. As I understand John Major Jenkins’ article, the sun will be long past the perfect alignment with the Galaxy’s center in 2012.

Conflicting online information on 2012 and the Chilam Balam

I am trying to make sense of all the information on the 2012 prediction … and there is TONS of information on the topic, many of it conflicting. No sooner do I rejoice becasue I have found what appears to be a genuine Mayan prophecy on the end of the world 2012 in the Books of Chilam Balam (see The Short Count and the Books of Chilam Balam — Guide to 2012) than I become confused when I read a Wikipedia article (the 2012 Phenomenon), which doesn’t seem to have anything on Chilam Balam and 2012 even though a Google search lists Wikipedia’s 2012 Phenomenon first for my “Chilam Balam 2012” search.

During my 2009 visit to Yucatan, I videotaped a Maya man who talked about the Books of Chilam Balam as being very important to him. His mother tongue is Mayan, his second language is Spanish. He reads the Chilam Balam. If I remember correctly, when I asked him if there was a 2012 end of the world prediction in the Chilam Balam, he said that there was no specific date … if my memory is correct. I’m going to have to take a look a my video footage of that interview. Maybe I can get some clarity on the Chilam Balam since there seems to be conflicting views on the internet as concerns the Chilam Balam and any 2012 prophecy contained within it.

Do you have any information on the Books of Chilam Balam and the 2012 end of the world prophecies?

The Books of Chilam Balam were written in Latin script but sound out Mayan words

The Books of Chilam Balam where written in the Yucatecan Mayan language but using Latin script. The books were written in the 1700s and include prophecies about the end of the world, some believe associated with 2012.

In the Mayan language, Chilam means a priest that makes prophecies. Balam means jaguar and is a common name among the Maya.

Chilam Balam contains a 2012 end of the world prophecy!

A 2012 end of the world prophecy in the Maya’s Chilam Balam, the prophecies of the Jaguar Priesthood:

“In the final days of misfortune, in the final days of tying up the bundle of the thirteen (baktuns) on 4 Ahau, then the end of the world shall come and the katun of our fathers will ascend on high.” — The Book of Chilam Balam of Tizimin (Makemson)

Wow! If that isn’t an end of the world prophecy, I don’t know what is!

This is also from the online article, The Short Count and the Books of Chilam Balam. The article is by Mark Heley. According to the article, the prophecy is for the calendar cycle beginning on December 21, 2012.

Chilam Balam on the end of the world and 2012

Although the 2012 prophecy on Tortuguero’s Monument 6 does not seem to foretell an end ofthe world, the Chilam Balam does. Here’s a quote from the Chilam Balam from the online article entitled, The Short Count and the Books of Chilam Balam:

“These valleys of the earth shall come to an end. For those katuns there shall be no priests, and no one who believes in his government without having doubts.” — The Book of Chilam Balam of Tizimin

Maya relinquished the use of their Long Count Calendar due to the influence of the Itza and Mexica

I had heard that the Maya had lost not only their written language but also their connection with the Long Count Calendar long before the arrival of the Spanish. However, until I saw the online article, “The Short Count and Chilam Balam,” I had not known the story of when or why. Here’s an excerpt explaining that the loss of the Long Count Calendar occurred when the Itza and Mexica influences predominated in Yucatan around AD 1000:

When the Itzá and Mexica influences became dominant in the Yucatán around A.D. 1000, the keeping of the Long Count, which had already started to fall out of usage, went into serious decline. This was largely because the Itzá only used the fifty-two-year–based calendar round. In a compromise between the different cultures of the two calendars, it was the distinctively Mayan Long Count that lost out.
The Short Count and Chilam Balam

The Long Count Calendar is the calendar that modern-day archaeologists can now read, which has led to the ability to read the 2012 prediction.

Mayan Long Count Calendar date is far beyond 2012

I am delighted to discover a corroboration of a Mayan Long Count Calendar date recorded on a tall stone slab called a stele. This date is on a particular stele called Stele One at the Mayan ruin in Coba. While videotaping footage for the Yucatan Travel Movie, we spent considerable time filming Stele One, and trying to get it right, whether the date on it was 4.1 billion, billion, billion years into the future or 4.1 billion, billion, billion, billion years into the future (3 or 4 billion years). The following excerpt from Wikipedia’s 2012 Phenomenon article states definitively that it was actually 41 octillion years in the future, or perhaps, an equal distance of time into the past. Ho hm, these confusing Mayan glyphs! Anyway, I am delighted to discover that we at least got the stele right, and the 4.1 (or 41) of the date correct.

Another example is Stele 1 at Coba, which gives a date of 13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.0.0.0.0, or twenty units above the b’ak’tun, placing it either 4.134105 × 1028 (41 octillion) years in the future,[26] or an equal distance in the past.[38] This date is 3 quintillion times the age of the universe as determined by cosmologists.
~ 2012 Phenomenon

Stele One also has a date on it that alludes to December 21, 2012.

From the pen of Dr. David Stuart on the Tortuguero Monument 6 2012 “prophecy”

On September 30th, I published a post on this blog in which I quoted a translation of the 2012 prophecy by famed Maya scholar Dr. David Stuart. He’s the one who spent considerable time in his childhood living in Maya ruins with his archaeologist parents and is fluent in the modern Mayan language, or so I’ve read. Or, maybe I saw it on public television. In any case, here is an update of Dr. Stuart’s most recent understanding of the meaning of the Maya glyphs on Monument 6 in the Tortuguero ruins that refer to the December 21, 2012 date. I just learned that Dr. Stuart has a WordPress blog called Maya Decipherment: A Weblog on Ancient Maya Script. This has to be a great website full of fantastic and unique information on the Maya and 2012. The following quote is excerpted from his October 4th, 2011 blog post:

In other words, the mention of 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ahaw 3 K’ank’in on Tortuguero Monument 6 is an isolated chronological anchor within a larger narrative, projected into the future in order to make a rhetorical point about the nature of the main historical event. The last few glyphs of the text, rather than being wedded to the 13.0.0.0.0 section, should be viewed instead as comprising a record of a contemporary episode — the building dedication — that’s the discursive focus of the entire inscription.

Maya Decipherment

The Baktun in the Mayan Long Count Calendar

Here’s a link to an article I found helpful and clear in describing the Long Count Calendar. It’s called Calendars & the Long Count System. I like that this website has a nifty little chart that starts with the day, called a “Kin,” in Mayan to the “Baktun,” which is approximately 395 years.

The December 21, 2012 date represents 13 Baktuns in the Mayan Long Count Calendar. I will be discussing the Mayan 2012 prediction during my talk, Do Mayan Shamans believe the world will end in 2012? on Wednesday, October 26th, at Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The event is sponsored by the Edgar Cayce Forum.

What does 4 Ahaw mean? It is part of the Mayan Year 2012 prophecy

OK, so we know that 4 Ahaw is part of the Mayan calendar called the Tzolk’in. What is the Tzolk’in?

An online Wikipedia article entitled Tzolk’in describes the Tzolk’in as:

The tzolk’in, the basic cycle of the Maya calendar, is a pre-eminent component in the society and rituals of the ancient and the modern Maya. The tzolk’in is still in use by several Maya communities in the Guatemalan highlands.

The article goes on to say that “Ahaw” (also spelled Ahau in English) means, “lord, ruler, sun.”

I will be discussing the Mayan 2012 prediction during my talk, Do Mayan Shamans believe the world will end in 2012? on Wednesday, October 26th, at Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The event is sponsored by the Edgar Cayce Forum.