The “Galactic Alignment” of John Major Jenkins and “Era-2012”
It is very important for me to point out that
in the mid-1990s, John Major Jenkins became the first person to link the restart date of the Maya calendar to an astronomical event driven by precession and he refers to this event as the “galactic alignment.” John is well aware of the Maya’s metaphor of the dark rift as the birth canal and he clearly sees the sun’s presence in the dark rift as a rebirth. But there is something astronomers call the galactic equator that is very near the middle of the dark rift and this is what John focused on, perhaps because its exact location is precisely defined by astronomers.
Professional astronomers have verified that at the precise moment of the winter solstice, the center of the disk of the sun was closest to the galactic equator in 1998. John noticed that
this lineup of the earth, the sun and the galactic equator would occur repeatedly in the years around 1998 with only slight variation from one year to the next. Because of this, John decided to pick a range of 36 years that he centered around 1998 and he refers to these years as the “alignment zone” or “era-2012.” During these years, the disk of the sun, as seen from earth, will be touching the galactic equator at the moment of the winter solstice. John's zone goes from 1980 to 2016 and it obvious includes 2012. In his view, this zone is the intended target of the Maya calendar.
I have tremendous respect for John personally and I like much of his work. While he most certainly discovered how the calendar is linked to the astronomy, I do not find this zone approach to be very satisfying. When I first read John's work in 2008,
I seriously doubted that the Maya missed their intended target by 14 years, even though that is still a very small error. With so much precision being demonstrated by the creators of the calendar,
it just seemed unlikely that they missed the year they wanted and yet they still hit the solstice exactly. I felt there must be something special about the exact day of the winter solstice of 2012; both the day and the year are the focus. This is why I went further with my own original research and thinking and
I came to the conclusion that both the triple rebirth of the sun and the unique configuration of the sacred tree flying through the sky over the Maya was the target of the calendar. John's approach leads to 1998; my approach leads to 2012. (For more details, see:
2012: Why the Galactic Alignment Is Not It.)
Both the restart date and the place where the calendar was created are important.
We cannot ignore that this is a Maya calendar, not a global calendar. The people in the southern hemisphere will have a summer solstice, not a winter solstice so the triple rebirth metaphor will not exist for them since the summer solstice is not thought of as a rebirth. But this was not a problem for the Maya since the Maya lived in the northern hemisphere were only concerned with what they will see from their point of view.
My approach focuses on the center of the dark rift, not the galactic equator, although again, these two things are very close to each other. But more importantly, my view focuses on what will happen on that day over the Maya, not what will happen over a long period of time for people all around the world. Also, please
consider the fact that no one can ever look up into the sky and see the galactic equator for it is as invisible as the equator of the earth. Both equators are precisely located by scientists yet both are just imaginary lines. It is important to note that
the Maya could look up into the sky without a telescope and frequently see the stunning center region of the Milky Way with the dark rift and this makes this astronomy useful for their metaphorical folklore. And it is also important to note that before dawn and after sunset, they will be able to see significant parts of the sacred tree on that special day in 2012. I think that what the Maya could see with their eyes is an essential point in understanding 2012. The idea that the Maya restart their calendar because of the combination of the triple rebirth of the sun and this special configuration of the sacred tree is to the best of my knowledge, original with me. While other people are aware of the solar rebirths and the sacred tree in general, to my knowledge no one has connected them to 2012 like I have.
Re: what if the whole '2012' things are not *real* and just a mere wishful-thinking?
.
Re: what if the whole '2012' things are not *real* and just a mere wishful-thinking?
Bookmarks