Making Sense of Mayan 2012 Prophecy

Through centuries long observation of the skies and carefully calculated mathematical algorithm, December 21, 2012 is the day the Mayans marked as the end of the current Long Count Cycle.

The current cycle is the fourth of five cycles that make up the Grand Cycle. Hence, once the fourth cycle ends, the fifth cycle begins.

Consequently, December 21, 2012 is NOT the end of the Mayan calendar as many would put it. Just the end of one of its cycles.

At the end of the current cycle, a few things are predicted. Of course, they're all theories. And the majority of these predictions are doomsday scenarios.

The ancient Mayans see this day as a "cleaning of the slate" to start fresh for the next cycle. Perhaps it is no coincidence that December 21, 2012 is a solstice day, an event observed by many cultures from the past and present as the ending of a season and the beginning of the next season.

Let's start with the fun stuff -- Armageddon.

Our interpretation of Mayan beliefs is not clear on what will happen on the day of December 21, 2012. But there are many interesting predictions and they are not necessarily exclusive of each other. Meaning that one catastrophe may cause others to occur, such as earthquakes causing tsunamis:

• magnetic pole reversal
• massive solar flare
• comet-Earth collision
• super volcanoes
  

There are also non-destructive theories on what will happen based on Mayan beliefs and practices. But they are more abstract.

According to Mayan beliefs, Quetzalcoatal, the supreme Mayan god, will return to establish the next world. During this time, there will be a rising human consciousness. We will be more attune with each other and to nature's cycles. We will also have more energy awareness.

What do these mean? To me, a fan of Stargate SG-1, this theory sounds a lot like "ascension." In the sci-fi TV series, "ascension" is when the Ancients, an advanced fictional race of humans, left this universe for the next and became metaphysical beings.

What's north is south and what's south is north. Up is now down and down is up. Not a hard concept to understand. Pole reversal is when the geomagnetic orientation of the North Pole switches to that of the South Pole and vice versa. When that happens, the needle on a compass will point down rather than up.

Apparently, magnetic pole reversals naturally occur in earth's long timeline, on the average of every 250,000 years. And a reversal has not occured in over 700,000 years. However, some scientists believe that we're in the middle of such a reversal right now.

Pole Reversal Effects: So what if it happens?

1) Navigational instruments -- Transportation system relying on compasses will be heavily affected by a polar reversal. Airplanes and boats will have trouble maneuvering and may have to be shutdown until a solution is found. This will effectively stop commerce that we take for granted.

2) Migratory animals -- Ever wonder how birds, sea turtles, fish, and other migratory animals navigate around the world?

We, humans, get around by complex technologies such as airplanes and ships.  These scientific wonders have sophisticated man-made navigational systems for travelling.  Such systems are even available for personal use, such as Google maps and GPS devices in smartphones like the Blackberry Tour.

Though scientists are not clear yet on exactly how migratory animals "instinctively" find their way to their seasonal destination, some scientists theorize that these animals use the Earth's magnetic field. If that is true and a polar reversal occurs, then migratory animals who rely on the magnetic field to travel will be disoriented. Thus, we will be seeing birds and turtles in places where we don't normally see them. Though not necessarily a bad thing, directional disorientation has been theorized as a reason why we find healthy whales dying on beaches.

Update 8/21/2010: Dozens of beached whales die on a New Zealand shore.

Have you seen the 2009 movie, Knowing, starring Nicolas Cage and Rose Byrne?

Spoiler ahead: In Knowing, the world ends when a wave of intense solar flares scorches everything on Earth. It's a doomsday movie and only a handful of children have been pre-selected by angels to start over in another planet. Perhaps the beginning of the fifth cycle from the Mayan Long Count Calendar ...

In 2012, NASA is predicting a solar maximum that we haven't seen since 1958. Solar maxiums on the surface of the Sun drive solar flares outward to the rest of the solar system, including Earth. They are a regularly occuring natural phenomenon.

2012 Solar Maximum - Highest Intensity in 50 years

What's important is that the 2012 solar maximum intensity (Examiner.com) is expected to be the highest in 50 years. The solar maximum in 1958, though very intense, did not affect us as much back then because our technology did not rely so much on electricity and magnetic signals.

Unlike today ... wireless Internet and cell phones anyone?

In fact, it doesn't have to be wireless to be affected. Modern day electric grids have risen exponentially in the past 50 years to power-up industrialized cities. But they have not been insulated properly from intense solar flares (see Examiner.com article).

Anything from banking, online shopping, satellites, telecom, etc. will be disrupted. For how long? Who knows. Imagine if your paycheck is received through direct deposit. Or if your business is to sell online like Amazon or eBay. What if airports are shutdown and no airplane can fly?

I suppose that the disruption of commerce would not be so bad because it means that the world is continuing. But go see Knowing. It's actually a pretty good movie. Also read this article on UniverseToday.com, titled "2012: No Killer Solar Flare."

Update 8/3/2010: Nasa scientists are expecting a "solar tsunami" to hit Earth. From the article, the scientists believe that "Earth will be hit with unprecedented levels of magnetic energy from solar flares after the Sun wakes 'from a deep slumber' sometime around 2013." (source: Telegraph.co.uk)

Update 12/30/2010: More upcoming "Solar Max" in 2011 forecasted by NASA scientists.

Not so much a Mayan 2012 prophecy, but still a popular prediction is a comet hitting the Earth to doom us all. There's an entire website around this subject: 2012-comet.com. But let's make this simple and lump planets, asteroids, and other large heavenly bodies hitting the Earth to end all life in this particular section.

Science has backed this possibility by a popular theory attributing the demise of the dinosaurs from an asteroid hitting the Earth. Also, as recently as 1994, scientists have observed Jupiter being hit by a comet in a spectacular display of cosmic power. So planets being hit by extraterrestial objects do happen. And they happen all the time.

According to 2012-comet.com, the theory of the world ending through a comet-Earth collision actually comes from the Bible codes. Wormwood is how the Bible refers to the life-ending comet.

Often described as 1000 times more powerful than a regular volcano (think Mount St. Helen but a thousand times stronger), super volcanoes are naturally occuring phenomenons that can destroy life as we know it. They are formed differently from a regular volcano in that super volcanoes are formed as a depression on the landscape called a caldera. While normal volcanoes bulge outward forming mountains or hill regions.

The best known super volcano today is in Yellowstone Park in Wyoming, a very popular recreational park known for Old Faithful Geyser. Around 2-3 million visitors come to Yellowstone annually for camping, hiking, skiing, and animal watching. I've seen documentaries indicating that Yellowstone is the best place in the US to safely observe wolves in the wild.

But underneath the flora and fauna is an immense red hot reservoir of magma around 30 miles long, 20 miles wide, and 6 miles deep. A Yellowstone eruption will implicate the world. The immediate states adjacent to it will be devasted by molten lava, magma, and earthquakes. The rest of the world will suffer from ash cloud that could block the sun for years. It will be like the nuclear winter that was often talked about if nuclear war was to happen.

Some Mayan 2012 prophecy theorists believe that if Yellowstone was to erupt, it will do so because of the solar flare that's expected on December 21, 2012. The Yellowstone volcano has been building up to erupt and the added energy of an intense solar flare onto the Earth will push the supervolcano over the tipping point.

Have you watched the news lately?  Hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes.  It seems like the end of the world is here.

In my corner of the globe, Southern California, earthquakes occur often. We are still waiting for "the Big One". The one that will sink major coastal cities, such as San Diego and San Francisco, underwater.

The question to think about is whether or not the recent major earthquakes, hurricanes, and volcanic eruptions have anything to do with the Mayan 2012 prediction.

Here is a quick list of the major natural disasters from the 80s, 90s, and today. It is a fluid list and not complete by any means. But I'll be changing and adding to it as time goes by. If I miss anything, please say so in the comments.

1980

• Mt. St. Helens eruption. Killed 57 and caused a few billions of dollars in damages. The volcano is also showing recent signs of activity.

• Southern Italy earthquake. Killed over 3,000 partly because it happened during early evening masses when people were sitting in church buildings that collapsed.

1983

• Hurricane Alicia hits Texas. Category 3 hurricane that's been the worst in Texas history to date. Killed 21 people and caused billions of dollars in damages.

1985

• Nevado del Ruiz volcanic eruption in Columbia killed 23,000.
• Mexico City earthquake. Estimated 10,000 deaths from a 8.1 magnitude earthquake.
  

1986

• El Salvador earthquake. Around 1,500 deaths from a 5.7 magnitude quake.

1987

• Whittier earthquake. Eight deaths attributed to the 5.9 magnitude earthquake and hundreds of millions of dollars in properties destroyed. I personally remember this earthquake and witness the destruction in the Whittier area since I grew up in the vicinity.

1988

• Armenia earthquake. Estimated 25,000 deaths from a 6.9 magnitude quake.

• Hurricane Gilbert hits several countries in the Atlantic Basin. Category 5 hurricane killing 341 and causing billions of dollars in damages.

1989

• San Francisco earthquake. 63 people died from a 6.9 magnitude earthquake that collapsed freeways on top of each other and damaged thousands of buildings in the dense metropolitan. The low casualty was attributed to residents leaving work early to watch the World Series.

1990

• Philippines earthquake. Magnitude of 7.7 earthquake killed 1,621.

• Iran earthquake. 7.4 magnitude earthquake resulted in 50,000 deaths.

1991

• Northen India earthquake. 6.8 magnitude earthquake with 2,000 deaths.

• Mt. Pinatubo eruption. A slumbering volcano in the Philippines erupted and killed 847 people and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.

• Sierra Madre California earthquake. 5.8 magnitude earthquake with epicenter in a mountain range of California. This one is really close to where I live.

1992

• Indonesia earthquake. 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed 2,519.

• Hurricane Andrew struck in the Bahamas, Florida, Louisiana, and other southern parts of the United States. Category 5 hurricane causing $25 billion dollars in damages in the United States and causing 26 deaths.

• Hurricane Iniki hitting Hawaii. Category 4 hurricane considered to be the most damaging to hit the Hawaiian islands.

1994

• Kuril Islands earthquake. 8.3 magnitude earthquake killing 11.

• Hurricanes Emilia, Gilma, and John. Category 5 hurricanes that struck the Pacific Ocean doing minimal damage (at least as compared to the Atlantic hurricanes).

• Northridge, California earthquake. 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck the northern Los Angeles area resulting in 57 deaths and $20 billions of structural damage. This is another one I remember.

1995

• Kobe, Japan earthquake. Magnitude 6.9 earthquake killed 5,530.

1997

• Hurricanes Linda and Guillermo. Category 5 hurricanes that struck the Pacific basin.

1998

• Afghanistan earthquake. 6.6 magnitude earthquake resulting in 4,000 deaths.

• Hurricane Mitch over the Carribean. Category 5 hurricane that resulted in 11,000 deaths.

1999

• Turkey earthquake. 7.6 magnitude earthquake killing 17,118.

2001

• India earthquake. 7.7 magnitude killing 20,023.

2002

• Mt. Nyiragongo eruption. A very active volcano that errupted at least 34 times since 1884. The latest eruption resulted in an estimated 147 deaths.

• Hurricanes Kenna, Hernan, and Elida. Category 5 hurricanes that struck Mexico, California, and other southern areas of the United States.

2003

• Iran earthquake. Magnitude 6.6 earthquake killing 31,000.

2004

• Off West Coast of Northern Sumatra earthquake. 9.1 magnitude earthquake underwater causing global tsunamis and killing 227,898 worldwide.

• Hurricane Ivan struck from as far south as Venezuela, Jamaica, Cuba, Alabama, Florida, and southern United States. Category 5 hurricane that caused billions of dollars in damages and causing 91 deaths.

2005

• Pakistan earthquake. Magnitude 7.6 earthquake killing 80,361.

• Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana and adjacent states. The most devastating category 5 hurricane that flooded the city of New Orleans, caused well over $80 billion dollars in damages, and killing 1,836. In this season, there were four other major hurricanes that struck the area:Dennis, Emily, Rita, and Wilma.

2006

• Indonesia earthquake. 6.3 magnitude earthquake killed 5,749.

2007

• Hurricane Dean and Felix. Category 5 hurricanes that struck the Carribeans, Central America, and northern portion of South America.

2008

• China earthquake. 7.9 magnitude earthquake that killed 87,587 people.

2009

• Indonesia earthquake. 7.5 magnitude earthquake resulting in 1,117 deaths.

2010

• Haiti earthquake. 7.0 magnitude earthquake killed 22,570.

• Chile earthquake. 8.8 magnitude quake off the shore of Chile resulting in 521 deaths.

• Eyjafjallajokull eruption. Iceland volcano that disrupted airline flights.

Source: Data from above are from USGS, except where links are provided.