Prophecies from Nostradamus, the Hopi Indians of North America, and the Maya of Central America are believed to be linked with this date. And these prophecies are being interpreted in such a way that it might be wise to find somewhere deep underground to hole up for on that very day!

Doomsday theories abound in historical literature. Indeed, in fringe religious cults, the notion of a doomsday event seems to be a cornerstone of the belief systems. Even in mainstream faiths, an end to the current system of things, or humanity’s continued progression on the planet, is seen as inevitable.

In fact, most world religions, when thoroughly researched, show some form of acknowledgment of a previous reset to life on Earth: the Great Flood, or something like it. The idea that the elements were used to selectively start again on the planet is one which, if we think about it, is not completely unreasonable.

Most scientists would agree that the dinosaurs were wiped out in some sort of (comparatively fast) fashion. Was this an impact from a celestial body, such as a comet or meteorite of vast size? Or perhaps extreme volcanic activity, or a flood of some measure?

Theories about an end to life on the planet, or a substantial wiping out of most of the Earth’s population, will include these plus other doomsday scenarios. Of note, too should be man-made disasters, such as the eventualities of global warming, thermonuclear war, or overpopulation, starvation, and a breakdown of public law and order.

But what about the possibility (however remote), of alien lifeforms deciding to invade the planet, or at least show up on the lawn of the White House, as it were? Scientists this week have managed to discover tens of planets orbiting neighboring star systems which, they concede, could support life in ideal ways like our own planetary home. And this, they say, is merely the start to what they will find. To think that we are alone in the universe now, is seemingly less likely than the opposite.

Were aliens of some intelligence to make themselves known to us, without any doubt whatsoever would certainly be a life-altering effect. Religious belief systems without the capacity to cater for life other than our own might be thrown into turmoil. And given the inevitable abandonment of hope in organised faiths, would this lead to a time of disorder and anarchy on Earth?

All of these possibilities, and in fact many others, could be responsible for ratifying the prophetic words of the Maya, the Hopi, and Nostradamus.

Is it so unreasonable to think that life will end at some point on this planet? Whether that is in the next 2.5 years or so, or several millenia, is an outcome of such importance that we can no longer choose to ignore its potential.

December 21st, 2012 has loomed large on the calendar ever since believers in Mayan, Hopi, and Nostradamus prophecies have identified that day as one of rare, and possibly catastrophic, significance. At its most mundane, the day will mark the Winter Solstice that year in the Northern Hemisphere; or otherwise seen as the shortest day and the turning point towards Springtime. It is also a mere 4 days before the Christian holiday of Christmas.

The 2012 phenomenon is one which is gradually scooping up believers like a collossal tidal wave. Movies have been made recently, but in the past ten years it is the books of researchers such as John Major Jenkins that have begun to gather the attention of those with more than a casual eye on the future of the human race and planet Earth.

Jenkins asserts that the Mayans believed that the coming end to the 13th era, or b’ak’tun, on their Long Count Calendar is one of extreme significance for not only them, but the world’s population. He puts forward the notion that a galactic alignment between the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy, our Sun, and the Earth, was foreseen by them to be a harbinger of a climactic event, one in which the very future of the planet would be undermined.

The Hopi Indians of North America, too, have prophecies of a coming end to life as we know it, and the similarities of many observations of theirs seem startlingly close to our time now. War machines, famine, and most spectularly of all, a web covering the Earth which allows human thoughts to fly through the air in an instant.

And finally Nostradamus and his Lost Book, discovered recently, has been interpreted to contain signposts to the galactic alignment on December 21st 2012.

If all of these prophetic sources actually are telling us of an impending life-changing event in 2012, then the implications are profound for us. However, if this date is being conveniently inserted into the analysis, similar to knowing a formula’s result but not knowing the variables, then this pours cold water on any assumptions being made.

Regardless, there will be many who watch the date with extreme interest. As with the Y2K bug and the pessimistic outlook before that, will people overreact to, or actually be prepared for, what ends up happening?

Will this day pass us by uneventfully, save for the naysayers sniggering at those who fully believed something would happen?

Or will December 21st 2012 herald a new dawn for man or a sunset for the human race?

In this work, we find a series of cryptic and colourful illustrations, each one giving us visual clues as to what the artist intended to convey. To the lay man, a casual glance shows no information whatsoever, and in fact a confusing scene reminiscent of early art on tarot cards. However, if we have an idea of what each facet in the scene is representative of, then we can knit together the pictures into a fabric of prophecy.

Interpretations of the drawings and what they mean are less than in agreement, but it is clear that universal themes interlace through each one. If we look at each, then we see time and again crescent moons, a spoked wheel, the sun, the pope, royalty, and the tree of life. Each of these symbols appear in multiple depictions in the lost book.

It is said that the spoked wheel is a clue to the time period in which the drawings refer. And that time period is now, when we move into the so-called Age of Aquarius. How do we get this from the spoked wheel? Well, if you were a prophet, and were trying to warn people in a particular time period that bad things were going to happen, what reference point would you choose for revealing this to them in a coded way?

Nostradamus was a physician, but he was also a keen astronomer and astrologer. It is possible that he chose a celestial alignment as the only clue to the time period of which he was seeing. This celestial alignment, researchers believe, is the one where the Divine Cross (or galactic alignment of the centre of the galaxy with the celestial equator) comes to intersect the mundane planetary alignment of the angles between equinox and solstice. It features in many of the drawings as an eight spoked wheel in the heavens: possibly a clever, coded dating of the time to which the drawing refers. In alluding to the time period this way, Nostradamus would know that only those most learned, and perhaps able to keep and disseminate cleverly the secret prophecy he was making, would have access to this vital aspect.

If we are to accept that Nostradamus was telling us in this book of a coming catastrophic event now, in our time period, then what exactly does he appear to be warning us of? In his other prophetic works, Nostradamus talks of the Anti-Christ, and of a coming judgement of fire on the earth. In this work too, we see a clear theme of religious persecution and intolerance, and the fires of war and of calamity. Whether this is a symbolic end of life on Earth, or a literal one, is yet to be seen.

What is deeply interesting, nonetheless, is how this particular foretelling of the future appears to intersect with the very time period that other soothsayers have identified for their doomsday prophecies, such as the Maya.

Certainly, if you look at the Maya as a culture that has survived until the present day, the belief system they have is that there will be many events which occur after the reset of their famous calendar. It has often been said that much of the prophecies and doomsday talk attributed to the Maya, is in fact a conglomeration of ideas and assumptions which are not their own, but which are based upon the bedrock of the Mayan calendar and their advanced astronomical prowess.

So given that we must assume certain things about the 2012 doomsday idea and the Mayan calendar link to it, what actually are the facts? For one, the calendar is definitely due to reset at some point, but some researchers believe this will only be at the end of the 20th b’ak’tun and not the 13th. This would mean something like another 2000 years to wait for those keen to see if the Maya are right!

In addition, the accuracy of the date of 21st December 2012 attributed to the Maya and those prophecies of Nostradamus amongst others, can be called into question. In what is surely a convenience, the date does appear to pop up a number of times in various prophetic works, but is this because of a human propensity to match the most convenient thing to something else? The phrase “self-fulfilling prophecy” seems appropriate, in that researchers may borrow the date from the work of another, and make the interpretations of the prophecy fit!

Lastly, there appears to be overwhelming evidence that points us down the path of 2012 representing the most likely date for an end of the world scenario. However, if we actually look at many of the works, such as those by the Maya, the Hopi and Nostradamus, we certainly see that the overriding feeling is that of change, not of destruction. In a similar misinterpretation to the meaning of the Death card in tarot, the fact that a global change may occur, does not automatically mean that life as we know it will be wiped out. In fact, many believe that this change will conclude the current age of man in terms of spirituality, and herald the dawn of a new era of such things.

In effect, December 21st 2012 may be a date to look forward to, and not to dread!

But for you or I, the worry of these outcomes actually happening in our own, or our children’s, lifetimes is not something that normally plagues us. In fact, when scientists discuss the possibility of them, thousands or hundreds of thousands of years is typically the timespan involved.

Yet a particular date keeps circulating the web in connection with these horrific happenings, and refuses to go away. December 21st 2012. Why this particular day has come to be associated with disasters on a par with the end of the Dinosaurs, is because of the many doomsday prophecies which appear to show some connection with a time just 2 years away, amongst them, the Maya and Nostradamus.

But, assuming for a moment that these prophecies could be true, what end of the world scenarios could actually happen, and which are less likely? In the list that follows, we look at the likelihood of natural disasters, and those which are most certainly super-natural.

Magnetic Pole Reversal: This has been shown to have happened at various stages in the Earth’s past, but not in the past several thousand years in the modern age of mankind. Should it occur, the effects on all kinds of technology could be disastrous. Air traffic crashing into major metropolitan areas, ocean vessels becoming lost, even the basic supply of goods to the general populace would cause a knock-on effect which might escalate into global chaos. Scientists do tend to agree that geomagnetic reversal is overdue, but they are not talking about imminent possibility.

Mega Tsunamis: There are a number of recent studies which show that these giant tidal waves capable of wiping out many large coastal cities and, therefore, millions of people, are actually very likely given the effects of global warming and the harm man has caused to the environment. Just one hypothesis, that of a large shelf of ice or rock breaking away from a landmass, showed the likelihood of such a destructive event occurring.

Great Numbers of Earthquakes: If we take a look at figures showing recorded earthquakes above magnitude 4 in the past several hundred years, we can see that there appears to be an escalation occurring which is worrying. Just in the past 10 years alone, there seems to have been more earthquakes across the planet than in the previous 100 years put together. While this figure is dismissed as merely an ability now to locate more earthquakes as they happen than ever before, because of technology, there does appear to be more damage and life loss being caused by earthquakes than previously felt.

Super Volcanoes: It is not unrealistic to believe that just one super volcano occurring in a mainland highly populated area could cause the kind of devastation and dust cloud which might affect the world negatively for many months. The Krakatoa event of 1883, released energy of the scale of 13,000 times the Hiroshima atomic bomb. Had this happened in a major continental location, the world might have been irrevocably altered. Even Krakatoa itself erupting again in a similar or increased way could be devastating for the planet.

Solar Catastrophe: The Sun’s rays are lifegivers to the planet. But unchecked, they can completely wipe out life as we know it. It is agreed in scientific circles that at some point in many thousands of years from now, the Sun will begin to degrade and at that time the Earth will be at significant risk. But if something else was to cause our Sol to increase its heat output or solar flares by several orders of magnitude, we might find that living in caves won’t even save us!

Extra-terrestrial objects crashing into the planet: Comets and asteroids colliding with our home are the stuff of science fiction books and movies, but this is another outcome which scientists agree could have ended life on Earth millions of years ago, and which is overdue to happen again. Even a near-miss, where chunks of debris dragged behind by the celestial traveller break off and strike the planet, could cause massive devastation by itself.

Global Thermonuclear War: Finally, the threat of what seemed like an Armageddon for the Cold War period appears to have left us. But has it really? With global terrorism, and escalating tensions in the Middle East and the Far East, the threat of this is as real as it has ever been, despite us all thinking that nuclear weapons have mostly been disarmed.

Sadly, whether natural or man-made, the threats associated with 2012 are all  genuinely real and possible, however unlikely. As we count down to December 21st 2012, is it justifiable to dismiss the notion of doomsday as mere conjecture and New Age ramblings?

The Maya, a culture dating back thousands of years, are synonymous with advanced mathematics and astronomy. In fact, the Long Count Calendar, which they are credited as having perfected, is seen as a more advanced calendar even than the one we use today. It can also accurately predict the movement of celestial bodies, and therefore solar and lunar eclipses, hundreds of years in the future.

With that in mind, it makes sense to listen when Mayan history talks of a life-altering change which is now just a couple of years away for us. This is the assertion of John Major Jenkins, a researcher and author who in his works on the Maya, suggests that they predicted the coming precessional alignment, an event where the Earth, Sun, and black hole at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy, Sagittarius-A*, will align. This alignment, he says, could cause any number of catastrophic life-ending events on the planet.

Strongest of these claims is the possibility that such an alignment could in some way strengthen the Sun’s output, causing super-heating of the Earth or a shifting of the planet’s poles. Whichever is the case, it’s bad news for us!

If Jenkins’ ideas are dismissed as hype, the question still remains: did the Maya in fact predict that something would happen around December 21st 2012? Well there is certainly much to suggest that the end of the 13th b’ak’tun, or era, of their Long Count Calendar, an event which occurs once every 5 millenia or so, could herald a significant change for humanity.

However, the Mayan prophecy for 2012 should not be considered as only one that could be negative. In some quarters, it has been shown that the Maya as a culture continued to mark events that were expected to happen beyond the end of the 13th b’ak’tun. Surely if they believed that the human race would end on this date, that would be wasteful effort? Rather, it has been speculated that the Maya, as a spiritual people, saw 2012 as a gateway to transition in terms of human thought and consciousness.

Whether this change will be a positive one, of enlightenment or spiritual growth, or a deeply negative one, similar to a doomsday scenario, is yet to be seen.

This culture was the Maya of Central America. Yet at the time, the cornerstone of their advancements, the Long Count Calendar, was not fully recognised by the invaders in terms of its value. Instead, the conquistadores of Spain sought the gold and wealth that the Maya appeared to have, but in fact did not. However, the invaders, had they known of the Mayan talents for mathematics and astronomy at the time, may have sought to make greater use of these tools for their own ends.As a result, it is only in relatively recent times that the Mayan culture has been seen to be so advanced in mathematics and science.

It has been asserted by a number of historians researching the Mayan Long Count Calendar, that it would appear that the Winter Solstice of 2012 (Dec 21st), is a date of some significance to the Maya, since this is most likely the end time of their current iteration of the Long Count. It would at least tally with the 5,125 years or so of a 13th b’ak’tun, from the accepted date of the last Long Count “reset” in approximately 3100BC.

What occurs when the Long Count Calendar resets? As far as the Mayan Culture is concerned, perhaps nothing untoward, but to many scholars and researchers this occasion is certainly one that was accepted to issue in some kind of change or shift. Much like the New Year’s Eve celebrations of modern western nations, the Maya would indeed mark the occasion with expectation of the dawning of something new and fundamentally different from what had gone before.

It is worth noting that in the less enlightened times of the Maya, a celestial event such as a solar or lunar eclipse would have perhaps been seen as a sign from the gods. Therefore, to the Maya, an amazingly rare event such as the galactic alignment which many believe will occur in 2012, would be seen as something without precedent. Something perhaps to base their entire faith upon?

For example, what if New Year’s Eve was to coincide with a solar eclipse, then would we not perhaps see it as even more significant too, even in this modern age? This is the assumption to be made when we combine the Maya and the end of their highly advanced calendar.

December 21st 2012, therefore, is one date worth watching with interest!

Instead, we see that in history, there are many references to Doomsday and the end of the world. There is an almost morbid preoccupation with an end to life on this planet, perhaps sparked by religions almost universally acknowledging the need for the relevant deity or deities to reset the creation.

So assuming that an end of sorts will happen, it is certainly comforting that the prophecies of the likely outcome suggest it will be sudden. Almost all of them are seemingly fast-acting, catastrophic occurrences, and not a slow death as it were.

Amongst those predictions of the end of the world are: super volcanoes; solar storms; huge ice shelves melting causing widespread flooding; massive tsunami tidal waves; and a giant planetoid or meteor crashing into the Earth with the force of a thousand nuclear weapons.

In each case where a prophecy has been made, the expected outcome tends to suggest some kind of negative event, or at least a life-altering one. Many independent modern-day interpreters of ancient prophecies of the likes of Nostradamus, a Revelation to John, the Hopi Indians and the Oracles of the Ancient Mediterranean region, all seem to concur in terms of a heightening of bad events culminating in a single cataclysmic world-wide disaster.

So how do these “mega-catastrophes” come to be linked with the 2012 date? In most cases, there are pointers within the texts that when interpreted, appear to be impressive links to our modern day. Talks of global diseases, heightening wars, modern weaponry and machinery, including flying machines, or social changes such as equality amongst races and sexes. In addition, the elements feature extensively, such as flooding, fires and earthquakes, all of which have taken centre stage in the world’s news media in just the past few years.

It seems possible then that these prophetic sources all foresaw modern times in their vision. Times that are most accurately reflected as right now! But why 2012 specifically?

Well, some astronomers concur at least that in 2012, a rare cosmic event which places the Earth, the Sun, and the centre of the Milky Way galaxy in alignment will happen. And since this cosmic alignment, foreseen by the Maya a thousand years ago, is anticipated to be a harbinger of global change, most would believe that 21st December 2012 is the next most likely date for a Doomsday scenario.

Were the prophetic individuals and cultures of long ago correct? Is the world’s demise imminent?

Only time will tell.

In fact, if one were to look at 21st Century Mankind, and our present preoccupation with climate change and global warming, the extinction of species, and the fringe threat of thermonuclear war, it could be argued that we have finally acknowledged that the cause (and prevention) of such an eventuality rests solely with us.

However, if we are able to effect global change and stop such an outcome from occurring, it is still possible that life may end on this world and we will have had no chance of preventing it. I am, of course, referring to the intervention of an extra-terrestrial threat to our existence. Not little green men and a Hollywood-style invasion, though. I’m referring to a stellar event such as super-heating of the sun, or a massive celestial body crashing into the planet. It should be noted that modern science suggests that such things may have happened before, causing the dinosaurs to die out, for example.

Assuming that we accept that this sort of rare event is imminent or even overdue, can we say that it could occur within two or three years from now, as the prophecies seem to suggest?

Well, there is certainly nothing to suggest otherwise. Scientists are able to detect warning signs well in advance, but as has been posited by books and films in the past, would they really warn us beforehand? Would they risk sparking global chaos and disorder, or would they keep quiet, and seek to find answers to the phenomenon before reluctantly releasing the bad news when it was apparent that nothing could be done?

Whether ancient individuals like Nostradamus or past civilizations like the Mayans were able to accurately predict these eventualities or not can be brought into question and debated vigorously.

What is undeniable though, is that the doomsday scenario which is associated with 2012, is indeed possible. Large comets or huge asteroids crashing into the Earth, solar storms sending waves of super-heated death, or shifts on the planet’s surface and magnetic pole reversals are not necessarily the stuff of science fiction…

…and nor is the timeframe of 21st December 2012!

However, the clearest, and some say most undeniable tie-in of this date, is to the ancient culture of the Mayans from Central America. The Mayan people, even more than 1000 years ago, were impressively advanced in the fields of astronomy and time-keeping, to the point where the calendar they created and lived by is now seen to be superior to the one which we use daily in the 21st century. Indeed, their acumen in the field of astronomy even appears to suggest that they were aware of the presence of a black hole at the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy, Sagittarius-A*, which only recently has been proven to exist by modern science. Their calendar indeed, is so accurate, that it is said to be able to predict solar and lunar eclipses hundreds of years in the future.

Laying aside for now the intriguing question of how they could come to be so advanced in these fields, how does the Mayan Calendar arrive at this specific date of 21st December 2012? Well, the calendar they chiefly used was one which was linear, not cyclical, known as the Long Count.

The Long Count is assumed to have begun its current period around 3114 BC, and measures its time as comprised of 360 day years, or tuns. 20 tuns made a k’atun, and 20 k’atuns made a b’ak’tun of roughly 144,000 days. Many Mayan texts are interpreted to suggest that at the end of the thirteenth b’ak’tun, we will see a reset or significant change.

The “significant change”, or beginning of a new period, is alternately seen to be a negative or positive alteration of what we know of life and the planet now. Whichever is the case, the Mayan Calendar points to the end of the thirteenth b’ak’tun as falling on December 21st, 2012.

Will this date fall without incident? Or will we witness an incredible and life-changing event the likes of which have never been seen by modern man?

What is clear is that the Mayan Calendar is not alone in showing significance for this particular date in our immediate future, yet it remains a powerful sign from an astronomically advanced people, that something extraordinary may be about to occur.