It is like a large check mark on the calendar, a pointer aimed at 13.0.0.0.0, the "End Date" of the Mayan Long Count Calendar. From the Mayan point of view, this is the "End of Days." It is so significant that the calendar just comes to a stop. It is like having an alarm set when it's time to take your medicine. This date is also December 21, 2012, the day of the Winter Solstice. But what is this check mark trying to tell us. What medicine are we suppose to remember to take?  The Mayan calendar was started in 3113 BC. But, most of the documents that could tell us what this calendar was for were destroyed long ago. In Mesoamerica, South America and on Easter Island, zealot priests destroyed almost all the written documents. Before that the library at Alexandria in Egypt was distorted by fire, several times. Almost all ancient history books in China were destroyed on the order of a dying emperor.  Someone does not seem to want us to know where we come from or where we are going.

Yet not all was lost. Writings on stone, lost to the world when the past was being destroyed, have since been found. In Mesopotamia were found thousands of clay tablets. On these tablets is the description of a society in which the government, economy and religion was controlled by one organization. This organization is a family of fallen gods . In Mesoamerica, the writings are on the temples, altars and other stone structures. Even better, in Mesoamerica, there still live the descendants of these ancient people. There are those that still follow the ancient ways.

So here we are. Someone put this big check mark on the calendar. If there was a note telling us what the mark is for, it was destroyed with most of the history of the ancient world. So what is one to do? Look for clues.

It is December 14 of the year 1603 and the Sun rises into the morning sky as Venus comes out from behind the Sun. Both are near the center of the Milky Way, near where the ecliptic and the galactic equator cross. The Maya put much importance on this celestial crossing. It appears on the sarcophagus lid at Palenque. A baktun from now the winter solstice Sun will stand on this galactic crossing, an event that happens once every 25,920 years. This is the event that the check mark on the calendar seems to point to. But why is this of any importance?

Venus does an interesting dance with the Sun as they twirl their way across the sky. Venus rushes past the Sun as it moves into the morning sky. Over the next 589 days Venus first rises above the Sun. It then pauses for a bit and slowly follows the Sun. It then passes behind the Sun and moves into the evening sky. Venus climes high into the evening sky as is follows the Sun to the horizon each night. After hanging above the Sun for a bit Venus plunges back into the morning sky. Venus and the Sun do this dance almost exactly five times in eight years. Venus passes across the face of the Sun on a longer cycle. There are two transits eight years apart every 113.5 and 129.5 years alternately . We are now, as we approach the "End of Days," in a time of these transits; 12.19.11.6.2, June 8, 2004 and 12.19.19.8.1, June 5, 2012.

The Maya followed the movements of Venus with great care. Many ancient societies build great stone observatories to keep track of what the sky was doing. These great civil engineering projects were very expensive for the people that built them. Knowing the sky must have been very important to them. Ancient documents advise us to look for "Signs in the Sky." Should not the sky be as important to us? This may be where we find the message that tells us what the mark on the calendar is for.

Above the Sun and Venus on this December day in 1603 are Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn as well as a red super giant star named Anteres. In the west Orion and Sirius have slipped below the horizon. These are be the lead players in a celestial drama. The constellations of the Zodiac are the stage setting. We are invited to a performance of the "Theater of Millions of Years."

In just 409 years these players will act in another chapter of this drama, a wedding procession to announce the beginning of a new age.

Any claim such as this deserves to be verified. To this end, I went looking for the times of the solstices. An on-line almanac gave solstices for the years 2000 and 2001. Using Red Shift 4 the distance from the sun, at the time of the solstice, to the cross was measured. This first pass, done too quickly, seemed to show the distance diminishing between these two years. Encouraged, a new search was launched for more data on the winter solstice. The years 1992 through 2005 were found on an astrology page. 

Editorial Note: It turns out that Red Shift 4 has a wandering galactic equator and center. The galactic equator and center are as fixed as the stars. All references to the galactic equator and center in the first edition of this document are meaningless. That is, the arguments justifying the story based on the conjunctions are not valid. In that these errors pointed to parts of the story that might have otherwise have been missed, there is meaning in the meaningless. After some testing it has been found that Red Shift and Starry Night agree nicely on the positioning of the stars and planets.

Where is the Center of the Galaxy?

It is said that there is a black hole at the center of the galaxy. We, on the other hand, are out toward the edge of the visible galaxy. It is estimated that we revolve around the center of the galaxy once in about two-hundred million years. There is so much galaxy between us and the center that it can not be seen. To the right is an image from the web site of the Astronomy Program, Department of Physics and Astronomy of The University of Alabama. This site explains the sky in the direction of the galactic center.

The World Cross or World Tree is where the ecliptic, the path of the Sun in the sky, and the galactic equator cross near the center of the galaxy. This Tree is seen in Mayan art, most famously, on the sarcophagus lid at Palenque. This tree is in the background, behind the goddess, in Card Number XVII of the Tarot, The Star.

The lower image to the right is a Starry Night rendering of the sky in the vicinity of this cross. The labeling and placement of the galactic center are my own. The placement of the galactic equator is part of the Starry Night program. It seems to agree with the University information.

I have recently read that the figure in the trunk of the tree on the Palenque lid is a Mayan water goddess rather than the tomb's occupant, Pascal. The World Tree is also the Tree of Life and as we look at the galactic center we are looking in the direction of life in the galaxy. Each star in this mist of billions of stars is home to billions of individuals like ourselves. This is a galaxy teaming with life.

There is no reasion to believe that modern atronomy knows more about the geometry of the Galaxy than did the Maya of old, I am just more accustom to it.. And counting years in the stories of millennia is akin to measuring with a micrometer, marking with a crayon and cutting with a chain saw. The stage is set. The play is now.

Now that we have a stable galactic equator in the Starry Night astronomy program, what can we tell about the conjunction with the winter solstice. Using solstice information for the years 1992 to 2020 from the US Naval Observatory the distance of the winter solstice and the World Tree was measured. The years 1992 through 2000 and 2012 are shown in the table to the right. It is 1997 that the conjunction is the closest. But in a 25,920 year cycle we can certainly say we are in the era of this conjunction. There is a one hundred and forty year period centered on 1997 that the Sun crosses the galactic equator on the day of the solstice.

It is said by some that Jesus of Nazareth was really born in 4 BC. If this is the case 1997 would be the first year of the third millennium after the birth of Jesus.

The Sky on December 21, 2012

The check mark is on the calendar and we are asked to look for "Signs in the Sky." So, what does the sky look like on December 21 2012?

Before the what can be answered the where must be found. When I was first starting the research on this "End of Days" my astronomy program was Red Shift 4. By default, Red Shift was set to show the sky at my residence. So my first look at the sky on this wondrous morning was from The City of the Sacrament.

At the solstice, Saturn is just above the horizon. By five thirty Venus is on the horizon and the Sun is on the cross. Although the exact center of the Sun is not on the exact point of crossing of the galactic equator and the ecliptic, this intersection is behind the disk if the Sun. To the left of the Sun is the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula is below. I wonder if the people that live there call it that. The Sun, Venus and the Cross are strong Mayan symbology. As the morning progresses the sky begins to lighten Venus fades. The Maya used this heliacal rising to keep track of the Venus cycles.

But what is all this Mayan symbology doing almost three thousand miles from the Mayan homeland. From my atlas I got the coordinates of the Yucatan and entered them into the Red Shift location window. The Sun and Venus are well above the horizon. This is no good. This great Mayan event can't even be seen from the Mayan homeland. On the other hand, these ancient gods were all over the planet. And there must be many mythologies involved in this story. After all, this story is for all of us.

It is at the confluence of the River of the Sacrament and the River of the Land of Milk and Honey that this conjunction is first seen. Only from here does Venus rise so the line of observation is looking across the Mayan homeland in the Yucatan. About seven minuets later, on the other side of the world, in bright sunlight, with the Sun following Venus to the horizon, this conjunction is gone.

In the west Sirius and Orion, two key Egyptian icons are setting, passing into the Underworld.

It is the morning of 13.0.0.0.0, what else could this day possibly bring us? 

In the British Museum is a small clay tablet, BM 86378. This tablet is a star list written in cuneiform by an ancient scribe. One star is listed as a giant star at the edge of the Vela constellation. In that there is no such star there now, this must have been a temporary star.

There is at this location a pulsar, PSR 0833-45, near the constellation Vela in the southern sky. A Pulsar is one object that can be left after a star explodes. Estimates of the age of this pulsar allow it to be as young as 10,000 years. This would be about the time Jericho was established, well within the time frame for a Sumerian scribe to list the supernova in his star list. It is said that this star will shine again. Another supernova?

Just a little over six degrees below and rising with Venus on December 21, 2012 is Antares, a red super giant just 604 light years away. If this star were to supernova as it came up with Venus, it would be as though a new Sun had been born. The Sun God would have a Twin.

In the first quarter of 2001, the Sun switched magnetic poles. This occurs every eleven years. Prior to this the Sun's north magnetic pole was at the north rotational pole. Now the Sun's north magnetic pole is at its south pole. Since opposite poles attract, the magnetic poles of the Earth and Sun are now at their most stable.

Just about the time of 2012 Winter Solstice, the Sun's poles will switch back. During this switch there will be a tendency for the Sun's magnetic field to pull the Earth's field with it. 

If the Earth's magnetic poles switch, this would put stress on the planet aggravating earthquakes and volcanos, not to mention destruction of the electrical power distribution grid. And, if the switch happens fast enough don't ever expect your computer to work again. But if you have old tube type equipment, keep it. It should survive just fine. It will work if you can find electricity.

In the mountains that surround the valley are great timbers and fine stone for the building of temples. The valley will provide food for the staff of a large temple complex.

From the City of the Sacrament, flowing first south and then west, the River of the Sacrament will carry many large boats. This river empties into a sheltered bay.

Sitting on a blunt peninsula, surrounded on two sides by the river delta and the bay, stands Devil Mountain as though this was all an arrowhead pointing the way.

From the point of view of the Sumer described by Zecharia Sitchin, this mountain would serve as a beacon for a spaceport as did Mount Ararat in ancient Mesopotamia.

The only down side to this valley is an infestation of sentient simians. Civilized Man, acting a very uncivilized tenant, has trashed much of it. But, the extra Sun for a few months will heat up the oceans and bring more rain. The rain will flush out the delta and heal the damage to dead have done.

And there are still sufficient timbers to get the temple complex started. There are stones in the mountains to the east that, if lifted as a single piece and set in place at the confluence of the two rivers, would make a great temple platform.
 

Looking Across the Maya