Archive for the ‘2012’ Category

Posted on January 15, 2012 - by admin

13 questions about the Maya and 2012

Excellent, comprehensive article about the 2012 phenomenon on the blog site of Psychology Today.

Is it really time for the Apocalypse?

Since the whole ‘2012 doomsday’ idea is a mythology based on a simple calendar date, the really interesting aspects have always been the psychological ones.

This article tackles the background of the Maya and the Long Count Calendar, as we do on this website. It also looks into the origins of the 2012 mythology. Highly recommended!

Posted on December 1, 2011 - by admin

A second reference to 2012 in Mayan inscriptions? (Answer: probably not)

A bit of extra excitement for the world of Mayan scholarship and 2012-watchers: from the blog of Johan Normark, a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Historical Studies at University of Gothenburg.

“Yesterday the news spread around the 2012 world that there is another ancient Maya inscription that mentions December 21, 2012 on the so called Comalcalco bricks. For example, Rob Bast wrote an entry called Dec 21, 2012: Second Mayan reference.”

Normark goes on to explain why a) this isn’t actually the significant ’second reference’ that it seems to be and b) even if so, big deal! It would make only two references in the Mayan canon (admittedly somewhat minimal after the efforts of Diego de Landa), to the supposed cataclysm of 2012. (which should surely merit a bit more prominence, if it was indeed an over-arching prediction of doom!)

My advice to people who want to be fascinated with the 2012 apocalypse and lost Mayan documents with ancient prophecies?

Stick to fiction! There’s plenty of choice. For readers aged 12+ with an interest fact-blended with action-packed, time-travelling fantasy and manuscript hunting, best-selling series The Joshua Files begins with INVISIBLE CITY, which has been translated into 17 languages.

“This series is destined to be a hit. Not only is the non-stop action enthralling, but the many mysteries and unanswered questions will have the reader begging for the rest of the series.” Library Media Connection

“An exciting adventure and coming-of-age story with plot twists and cliffhanger chapter endings that will keep you up all night to finish .” San Jose Mercury News

The Joshua Files - Invisible City on Amazon.com

The Joshua Files - Invisible City on Amazon.co.uk

Posted on November 10, 2009 - by admin

2012 debunkery - it’s just a story!

Well, every reputable scientific agency is producing information on why the 2012 ‘threat’ is not real. So much choice of 2012 debunkery!

I’ve picked National Geographic’s recent article about 2012, which similarly to our mayan2012kids own page about 2012 theories (only much more emphatically), it goes through the various - ahem - theories. Nat Geo admirably refutes each one, which is good, saves me the time.

If you’re worried about 2012, read the National Geo article. It’s good and concise.

What seems to be more of an interesting question is that NASA and National Geographic are even bothering to take time time to engage with this as a serious Thing.

As someone who thinks that the 2012 threat is suitable only for fiction, (much like the wicked witch and her gingerbread cottage, Voldemort, his Death-Eaters and the Priory of Sion), it’s quite baffling to me that serious, proper people like NASA and FAMSI etc need to actually dispute this.

What’s next - a sober article in Nature about how vampirism doesn’t exist? (And I mean an article. News and Views doesn’t count, they put any old gossip in that.)

What a credulous bunch we all must be. Not you, reader. If you’re a young person reading this because The Joshua Files made you anxious, be assured that the threat of 2012 is no more real than vampires, werewolves and wicked witches. It’s the stuff of nightmares and stories.

But you knew that already, didn’t you? Whatever thrills you enjoy from a bit of fictional threat, deep down you have Common Sense.

Everyone else, shame on you! How could the ancient Mayans possibly know the date of the end? Unless, like in The Joshua Files, (SPOILER ALERT - highlight the following text!) they had time travel…

I don’t know about you, but I’d need more than the possibility of t(spoiler) -ime travel to persuade me to lose a night’s sleep thinking that the world is going to end. I would need cast iron proof of t(spoiler) ime travel and a LOT more.

All the same I’m still going to enjoy seeing 2012 - Emmerich’s apocalyptic vision of mayhem. Some people like movies about virus-infected, flesh-eating zombies taking over a ravaged planet; I enjoy doomy eschatological fantasy.

Because I know it isn’t real…

Posted on October 16, 2009 - by admin

FAMSI - What the Ancient Maya Tell Us About 2012

That terrific resource for all things ancient and MesoAmerican, the Website of the Federation f0r the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc, has published an excellent paper by MarK Van Stone about What the Ancient Maya Tell Us About 2012. And it’s not the end of the world…

Here’s a quote:

First, let me affirm that the year 2012 does hold particular significance in Mayan scholarship. Those of us who study the ancient and modern Maya — anthropologists, archaeologists, art historians, linguists, historians, amateurs, collectors — have been anticipating the end of the Maya Great Cycle for some time. We write it 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ajaw 3 K’ank’in. We have known for half a century that this date probably correlates to December 21 (or December 23) in the year 2012 in the Gregorian calendar.

If you’re interested in 2012-ology, I can highly recommend this well-argued, comprehensive document.

Posted on October 15, 2009 - by admin

2012 is not the end of the world, Mayan elder insists

At least one Mayan elder is getting fed up of all the 2012 talk…Apolinario Chile Pixtun insists that 2012 is not the end of the world.

Here’s a quote from the 2012 article in The Telegraph:

But most archaeologists, astronomers and Mayans say the only thing likely to hit Earth is a meteor shower of New Age philosophy, pop astronomy, internet doomsday rumours and TV specials such as one on the History Channel which mixes “predictions” from Nostradamus and the Mayans and asks: “Is 2012 the year the cosmic clock finally winds down to zero days, zero hope?”

Right on. Plus, hopefully readers will also be enjoying the fictitious adventures of young Josh Garcia as he and his friends fight to stave off 2012 catastrophe.

Posted on October 12, 2009 - by admin

Q&A about 2012 from a leading Mayanist

That genius Mayanist, David Stuart has written a terrific summary of what the Maya actually wrote about 2012 (not much!) and where the whole hoo-hah originated.

Here’s a quote:

Does the Maya calendar end in 2012?

No it doesn’t. What will happen is a recurrence, an anniversary of sorts, of a key mythological date in the distant past. …(snip) In fact, the numerology of the calendar demands that there will be other similar recurrences of this same date in the far distant future, on a scale of octillions of years. The scale of Maya time reckoning dwarfs anything in our own cosmology by many orders of magnitude.

Read the whole Q&A about 2012 article.

Posted on October 6, 2009 - by admin

A Mayan priest debunks 2012 prophecy

Interviewed by About.com, a Mayan priest tells interviewer:

“Nothing is going to happen in 2012.  There is no Mayan prophecy about 2012.   In addition to the Chol Qij the Mayans have various other calendar counts of lesser mantic importance.  One of these is the Long Count, which is a continuous count in days since August 9th, 3114 BCE.  The Long Count will reset to zero-zero-zero-zero-zero on December 21, 2012.   But this is just a major calendar change – their equivalent of Y2K – with no more spiritual significance than the change of millenium had for us.   This 2012 thing is being touted by some non-Mayans as a kind of New Age version of the Rapture:  a miraculous transformation of human consciousness which sweeps humanity up into the clouds to escape the coming tribulation.  But things don’t happen that way in real life.  If there is a fundamental transformation in human consciousness, the way it will probably occur is that the environment and civilization will deteriorate over the next few decades.  And then people will draw together and open their hearts to one another, as they do in the face of any natural catastrophe such as an earthquake or flood.  When people lose their faith in the system and start listening to their own hearts is when the system will change.”

Posted on September 15, 2009 - by admin

Skeptic.com - promoting science and critical thinking

The current issue of The Skeptic examines the 2012 question in “A NASA Scientist Answers the Top 20 Questions About 2012” by David Morrison