The Astrology of 2012
photo manipulation by Vandelay Design.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that popular mythology says that the Mayan long count calendar will end on December 21, 2012 and therefore the world will probably end too.
Many cultures break the aeons of time into smaller and more manageable cycles. The ancient Hindus described these cycles as Yugas, of which there are four, each with its own qualities. We are currently in the Kali Yuga which began somewhere around 3102 bce, and which will last for another 400,000 years or so. The current Mayan calendar period of 5126 years, or B’ak’tun, began in 3114 bce. The synchronicity of these beginning dates is especially interesting when we consider that this is around the time of the surge of more sophisticated civilizations around the world. But the Mayans believed there were 20 B’ak’tun cycles, so we have a ways to go before the entire cycle ends according to the Mayans. That date is the end of the 20th B’ak’tun, which occurs on October 12, 4772.
At any rate, the 13th B’ak’tun is set to end in December of 2012 and then resets itself to the 14th B’ak’tun. The commonly used date of December 21, corresponding to the Winter Solstice, is somewhat coincidental and depends upon the correlations used to adapt the Mayan calendar to the Western calendar. Some scholars believe that the 13th B’ak’tun will end on December 20th and the 14th will begin on December 21. Some New Agers want the end of the calendar to coincide 12/12/12 for the numerological effect.
I am often asked what the astrological correlations are between the Mayan calendar and our Western astrology, and the answer is truly – there are none. While we […]