2012 And All That – Part Five
When the comet returned after a lapse of fifty-two years to once again destroy the Mayan cities, the Long Count calendar of the Maya ceased to have any relevance in day-to-day society. That is because, as a result of these two close encounters with the giant comet, the earth had changed its axis and had moved into a new orbit around the Sun. The old solar year of 360 days (Tun) on which the Long Count calendar had been based, was now replaced by a new solar year called the Haab.
As explained in the previous instalment, the Maya adopted a unique 52 year cycle of time that has become known as the “Calendar Round”. When this new system was first adopted, the Maya fully expected that their cities would be wiped out by the return of this comet every 52 years. Even when they found out that the comet was no longer a threat, they still continued to adhere to their 52 year cycle, and it remained in use right up to the arrival of the Spanish conquerors in 1519 AD.
So those Western writers and other prognotiscators who have attached a special significance to the year 2012, believing it to be a date that has prophetic meaning to the Maya, have fallen into the same trap that has ensnared the whole of modern science. The scientists of today have disregarded the written testimony of ancient societies, preferring to believe instead that the solar system has remained unchanged since its formation many billions of years ago.
But because the length of our year has changed, the Long Count calendar of the Maya now has an inherent discrepancy of five-and-a quarter days in every solar year. And any calendar that has a built-in error of over 52 days in every decade has clearly lost its ability to predict anything of significance in the future. And unfortunately, those authors who have incorporated the year 2012 into their apocalyptic predictions, have merely compounded the errors of others and added to the confusion of everyone.
These writers might have spared themselves, and their readers, this confusion had they conducted more rigorous research, and investigated what ancient cultures actually had to say on the subject. And what these ancient societies recorded was that the earth had undergone numerous cataclysms in the past, and had changed its orbit, as well as its axis, many times. These stories can be found among the writings of all ancient peoples.
As Plato recorded in his essay Timaeus, the renowned Athenian statesman Solon (638-558 BC) visited Egypt. While he was there he was confronted by an elderly priest who said to him: “Oh Solon, Solon, you Greeks are all children, and there is no such thing as an old Greek. You are all young in mind. You have no belief rooted in old tradition and no knowledge hoary with age. And the reason is this.”
“There have been and will be many different calamities to destroy mankind, the greatest of them by fire and water, lesser ones by countless other means. Your own story of how Phaeton, child of the sun, harnessed his father’s chariot, but was unable to guide it along his father’s course and so burnt up things on earth and was himself destroyed by a thunderbolt, is a mythical version of the truth that there is at long intervals a variation in the course of the heavenly bodies and a consequent widespread destruction by fire of things on the earth.”
Another famous Greek, this time Herodotus (484-425 BC), who has been called the “Father of History” because he was the first Greek historian to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy, and then reduce them to a written narrative, also had an opportunity to visit Egypt. In his Second Book of History, Herodotus referred to his own meeting with various Egyptian priests, and recorded his conversation with them. As he wrote:
“The priests asserted that within historical ages and since Egypt became a kingdom, four times in this period (so they told me) the sun rose contrary to his wont; twice he rose where he now sets, and twice he set where he now rises.” Obviously, such an event would cause catastrophic effects throughout the earth. Commenting on this Plato wrote in his book Politicus: “There is at that time great destruction of animals in general, and only a small part of the human race survives”.
Early scholars of Mexican hieroglyphics noted that the Sun (Tonatiuh) was considered to have four motions. “The sun that moves towards the east, contrary to the present sun, is called by the Indians Teotl Lexco. The people of Mexico symbolized the changing directon of the sun’s movement as a heavenly ball game, accompanied by upheavals and earthquakes on the earth.” (Seler: Gesammelte Abhandlungen)
As we shall see in the next instalment, different nations had differing traditions about past world ages. Each of these ages was associated with a particular “sun”, since the sun charted a different course across the heavens in each succeeding age. And as has happened in the past, so these nations believe that similar events will occur in the future.
And we shall see how the prophecies of the Maya pose a modern warning to the world.
