Intro by Laura Lee
Jenkins believes that the Mayan Long Count End Date of December  21^st,  2012  A.D. marks a rare astronomical alignment of our solar system to the Galactic Center, and its powerful energetic emanations. This alignment, determined by precession, happens when the winter solstice sun conjuncts the crossing point of Milky Way and ecliptic in Sagittarius. This alignment, he points out, is on a larger scale than the sort astrologers usually deal with. This one involves Earth’s orientation to "the larger glactic frame of time as defined by the Milky Way." This takes place once every 26,000 years, and for the ancient Maya this event and it’s backdrop was entrenched in cosmological and mythical meaning as well, which we’ll explore. Jenkins new book is Maya Cosmogenesis 2012. The Maya prophesied this era as one of global transformation and consciousness evolution, as the Maya Great Cycle of Creation, a period of 5,125 years, comes to its conclusion.

Overview by John Major Jenkins
The Long Count end date on December  21st,  2012  A.D. highlights an astronomical alignment determined by precession. The  alignment occurs when the winter solstice sun conjuncts the crossing point of Milky Way and ecliptic in Sagittarius. This crossing point is where the "dark rift" in the Milky Way is, which was known to the ancient Maya as xibalba be (the Road to the Underworld) or simply "the Black Road." Linda Schele identifies the nearby crossing point of Milky Way and ecliptic as  the Mayan  Sacred Tree, and the modern Quiche call that spot  "Crossroads."

From here, we bring in more mythology. Recognizing that Mayan myth derives to a large degree from sky observations, we can be comfortable with looking for an astronomical counterpart to practically any iconographic image we examine. I propose that the deity who manifests through the winter solstice sun is First Father, otherwise known as the Maize God or One Hunaphu (the Hero Twins' father). This figure is also related to Hunrakan (the "One Leg"  god who destroyed a previous world age by flood) and Hunab Ku, the Yucatecan "giver of movement and measure." The One Ahau Sacred Day of Venus is a calendric manifestation of the same figure, and as a possible directional year-bearer, I will argue that 1 Ahau corresponds to the winter solstice quarter. First Father, Seven Macaw, the Road to Xibalba and the Hero Twins are all players in the Popol Vuh story of the creation of this present World Age, and the demise of the last. In sum, the Popol Vuh mythic complex contains mythological descriptions of the  astronomical process which culminates on the Long Count end date. In a way reminscent of the Maya practice of "end naming," a literal reading of many Mayan Creation monuments indicates that Creation occurs on the tzolkin date 4 Ahau, when 13 baktuns are completed. Birth happens at the end of a process or time cycle.

The earliest version of the Popol Vuh Creation story is found at Izapa. Analysis of Izapa's orientations, calendrics, monuments and historical context reveals additional support for the thesis. Most striking is the mythic scene on Izapa Stela 11, and  its orientation toward the winter solstice rising point of the sun. Stela 11 incorporates all the prominent motifs found in Izapan art, and by itself clearly encodes the astronomical meaning of the Long Count end date.

Now Available:
Galactic Alignment: The Transformation of Consciousness According to Mayan, Egyptian, and Vedic Traditions

Book Description (from the publisher)
Explores the central role played by the galaxy in both ancient and modern times in the transformation of the human spirit.
* Extends Jenkins' groundbreaking research in Maya Cosmogenesis 2012.
* Reveals how the coming Galactic Alignment of era-2012 promises a renewal of human consciousness.
* Uncovers the galactic vision of Mayan, Egyptian, Greek, and Vedic cosmologies.

The Galactic Alignment is a rare astronomical event that brings the solstice sun into alignment with the center of the Milky Way galaxy every 12,960 years. Building on the discoveries of his book Maya Cosmogenesis 2012, Jenkins demonstrates that the end-date of 2012 does not signal the end of time but rather the beginning of a new stage in the development of human consciousness. He recovers a striking common thread that connects the ancient cosmological insights of the Maya not only to Egyptian thought and Vedic philosophy but also to the diversity of humankind's metaphysical traditions ranging from Celtic sacred topography and Medieval alchemy to the Kabbalah and Islamic astrology. His work presents us with a groundbreaking synthesis of lost wisdom once common to ancient cosmologies that will help us understand the significance of this transformative cosmic milestone.

Book Description (from the author)
Galactic Alignment: The Lost Knowledge of the Ancients is an adventure of ideas on the cutting edge of new paradigm thinking. After summarizing my recent book, Maya Cosmogenesis 2012, I pose the questions: Did other ancient civilizations know, as the Maya did, about the Galactic Center? Did they know about our impending alignment to it, as encoded into the 2012 end-date of the Maya calendar? If so, what did these other traditions have to say about it?

And so we embark on a round-the-world journey, exploring sacred topography in Greece and England, esoteric astronomy in Homer's Iliad, the symbolism of obelisks in France, alchemy, kabbalah, Gothic architecture, Islamic astrology, Egypt's wonders, and finally arrive in ancient Vedic India to examine the doctrine of the Yugas (World Ages) as found in the Laws of Manu. In all of these traditions, I identify important concepts, some buried but others overt, of a widespread recognition that alignments to the galaxy do periodically occur and that these alignments offer spiritual renewal for humanity.

Always wanting to identify the precedent for my new interpretations in the works of others, to show the continuity and development of my reconstruction work, I explore the Traditionalist school, including the writings of esteemed scholar Ananda Coomaraswamy and symbolist philosopher Renù Guùnon. These writers pioneered the resurrection of the Primordial Tradition, or perennial philosophy, made popular by Aldous Huxley and Huston Smith, and a major idea in this school is that the current cycle of history is ending amidst a proliferation of inverted spiritual values and rampant materialism, we are approaching the end of Kali Yuga. In the Vedic doctrine of World Ages, Kali Yuga is the final age, the age of greatest spiritual darkness, and its end signals the shift to a new World Age. I identify the galactic alignment of era-2012 as the key to the timing of this transition, anchoring the Vedic Yuga doctrine to a real astronomical event.

Finally, a model of how the cycles of time map onto the globe and manifest as a westward flow of civilization is discussed, bringing us to explore esoteric mysteries in the Americas, including the ley-line grid over the early Maya site of Izapa,the site that invented the Long Count calendar that gives us the famous 2012 end-date. Designed as a challenging and intriguing read, Galactic Alignment: The Lost Knowledge of thea Ancients is intended to present cutting-edge ideas in a clear and thoughtful way, bringing the discourse on human transformation and esoteric history into the realm of credible common sense.

August 24, 2001
John Major Jenkins

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