December 21, 2012

The significance of this date in Mayanism stems from the ending of the current baktun cycle of the Maya calendar in 2012, which many believe will create a global "consciousness shift" and the beginning of a new age. This concept was introduced by New Age spiritual leader José Argüelles in his book The Mayan Factor (1987) and promoted at the 1987 Harmonic Convergence. The astronomical conjunction of the black hole at the center of the galaxy with the winter solstice Sun on December 21, 2012, referred to by John Major Jenkins in Galactic Alignment as having been predicted by the ancient Maya and others, is a much-anticipated event in Mayanism. Although Jenkins suggests that ancient Maya knowledge of this event was based on observations of the "dark rift" in the Milky Way as seen from Earth, others see it as evidence of knowledge imparted via ancient contact with extraterrestrial intelligence (ancient astronaut theories). The relevance of modern "dark rift" observations to Pre-Columbian and traditional Maya beliefs is strongly debated, and academic archaeologists reject all theories regarding extraterrestrial contact, but it is clear that the promotion of Mayanism through interest in 2012 is contributing to the evolution of religious syncretism in contemporary Maya communities.

 From Wikipedia.org - 5/2/2008

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