It’s very clear that the Maya chose to end their thirteen Baktun cycle on December 21, 2012—it’s an intentional placement. The reason has to do with the rare astronomical phenomenon when the December solstice sun comes into alignment with the Dark Rift in the Milky Way. The Dark Rift, as the Maya called it, is a band of interstellar dust which runs along the center of the Milky Way. There’s a whole complex of meanings that are attributed to the dark rift but the main meaning that it has is that it was a place of rebirth—it’s the birthplace of the Great Mother, the galaxy, the Milky Way.
So why do we care about what the ancient Mayans thought about what will happen in 2012? Because in the past, their calendars accurately predicted a wide range of natural cycles, such as solar eclipses and the movement of planets over thousands of years. The Mayan Calendar is a fascinating system of timekeeping, it is the single most accurate system of timekeeping known to human kind until the twentieth century. The Maya calculated the length of the solar year unto within a few hundredths of a percentage point of what we know it to be today—with all of our satellites and telescopes and computers.
So just what will happen when we get to this world age on December 21, 2012. Were the Maya trying to send us a message? And if so, what was that message?
