Dispelling the myths about 2012© Maurice Cotterell, 2009
Dispelling the myths about 2012Part 1 Myth number 1; It is said that the Maya measured time using a ‘vigesimal numerical system’; The Maya used the following periods of time with which to measure time intervals; Kinchilitun Calabtun Pictun Baktun Katun Tun Uinal Kin 1,152,000,000 57,600,000 2,880,000 144,000 7,200 360 20 1 This is not a Vigesimal System. A Vigesimal system rises by factors of 20 A Vigesimal system looks like this; 1,280,000,000 64,000,000 3,200,000 160,000 8,000 400 20 1 Conclusion: The Maya did not use a Vigesimal system.
Myth number 2; The Maya ‘Long Count’ of 1,872,000 days (5,125.256674 years) is the ‘end of a Maya time cycle’ that began in 3114BC and will end on 21.12. 2012. 1,872,000 days = 13 periods of 144,000 days Kinchilitun Calabtun Pictun Baktun Katun Tun Uinal Kin 1,152,000,000 57,600,000 2,880,000 144,000 7,200 360 20 1 ? ? ? 13 0 0 0 0 But the definition of ‘cycle’ is ‘a complete series of events’. A complete series of events here could only transpire when all of the time periods (including those marked ‘?’) return to zero. The period 1,872,000 cannot therefore represent a cycle or the ‘end of a cycle’. At best it can only be considered to be 13/20ths of the Pictun, the next largest period. Conclusion; 1,872,000 cannot represent a ‘cycle’ of time and therefore cannot represent the end of a cycle of time.
Myth number 3; The period 1,872,000 is the ‘longest time interval’ found carved on a Maya monument and therefore represents the ‘end of time’ or the ‘end of the Maya Calendar’. This is not true. Other carved dates have been found that exceed 1,872,000, for example; On Stela N, at Copan, six periods, including the Pictun, have been found, showing a period of 42,908,400 days. On the west Panel at the Temple of Inscriptions, at Palenque, six (possibly seven) periods are found showing an interval of 455,393,401 days. On Stela 10, at Tikal, eight (possibly nine) periods are found showing a time interval of 1,841,639,800 days. Conclusion; The number 1,872,000 representing the date ? ? ? 13 0 0 0 0, is neither ‘the end of time’ nor the ‘end of the Maya Calendar’. The cycle of precession refers to the long-term wobble of the earth on its axis. As it wobbles it moves backwards through [relative to] the backdrop of stars known as the astronomical and astrological ‘zodiac’. But the Astrological zodiac, relative to the Earth’s movement through the heavens in one year, begins with the ‘first sign of the zodiac’, Aries, and ends on the last day of Pisces. The backwards precession cycle therefore moves from the last day of Pisces to the first day of Aries over 25,800 years. The Sun, therefore, sweeps through each sign of the zodiac every 2,150 years. We are soon to enter the zodiacal sign of Aquarius, although the exact date of entry is not known [estimates, from various researchers, range from AD2060 through to Conclusion; The precession cycle is not about to come to an end of a cycle. The most recent precession cycle began around 2,150 years ago as the Earth’s axis passed from Aries through Pisces. [1/12th of the precession cycle has already passed]. Myth number 5; The Earth’s precession cycle will cross the galactic equator at sunrise on 21st December 2012. The original proponent of this hypothesis, set-down in 1997, suggested that the Sunrise on 21st December 2012 will, as it drifts through the 25,800 year precession cycle, align with a ‘cloud of cosmic dust’ in the Milky Way. This entire concept is meaningless because the rising of the Sun must align with something in the heavens on any one day. Following ridicule of the claim, proponents searched long and hard for any astronomical evidence that may lend support. Shortly after, another researcher drew a line through the ecliptic of the Milky Way (which happened to also go through the cloud of ‘alignment dust’) claiming it to be the ‘the centre-line of the galactic ecliptic —the ‘galactic equator’—saying that the precession cycle would cut through the line in 1998. But, firstly, the line is merely a guess. It contains no mathematical support. In order to construct such a line the mass of every celestial body in the Milky Way (every star, every planet, every rock, every comet and every particle of cosmic dust) would need to be quantified by mass; each body would then need to be set down relative to every other; a linear regression of the data would need to be made and then a mass trend-line constructed. But such a task would be impossible to carry out. Moreover, the result of the centre-line guess showed that ‘galactic alignment’ would occur in 1998, not 2012. To overcome this 14-year discrepancy the 21.12.2012 alignment proponents introduced a margin of error saying that the Sun would take 36 years to cross the centre-line, representing ‘era-2012’, from 1980-2016. Hence, the ‘cloud of dust’ alignment hypothesis is irrational, the ‘centre-line of the galaxy’ hypothesis is non-quantifiable, and the alignment with the centre of the galaxy on 21.12.2012 has changed to sometime between ‘1980–2016’. Moreover, the entire notion fails because no physical ‘cycle’ of events has been shown to occur during the precession cycle [for example, one solar ‘cycle’ on Earth occurs as the earth revolves around the Sun once every year. As that happens the duration of daylight at specific latitudes varies, because the earth is tilted on its axis. The variations in daylight cause plant life to grow and die annually]. No scientific evidence of any ‘series of changes’ has been put forward by proponents of the ‘galactic cycle alignment hypothesis’. Conclusion; The galactic alignment hypothesis is without scientifically verifiable foundation. Myth Number 6; On the 21st December 2012 ‘Myth number 5’ (above) will usher in a new 25,800 year cycle of ‘consciousness’. No scientifically verifiable mechanism has been proven to substantiate this claim. Conclusion; the claim is without foundation. The claim is that the centre of our galaxy spews out dust periodically that covers the earth periodically, causing the onset of ice ages and mini ice-ages on earth. However, we know that the Sun’s neutral magnetic sheet reverses its magnetic field 5 times every 18,139 years. Conclusion; the claim is unproven. No scientifically verifiable mechanism has been put forward to support this hypothesis. Conclusion; the claim has not been verified. So what is the meaning of the 1,872,000 number, if any, and from what, or where, did the 21.12.2012 misunderstandings arise? The Book of Chilam [the Prophet] Balam [the Jaguar] of Chumayel [found in the town of Chumayel] was set down by the Maya prophet in around 1500–1520 and translated from the Maya language in 1931 by the American scholar Ralph Roys (University of Oklahoma Press, 1931…1937). (Note; the term Jaguar was used as a metaphor for the ‘golden sun with brown spots [sunspots])’. Page 134 gives the following prophecies; Unattainable is the bread in Katun 13 Ahau. The Sun shall be eclipsed. Double is the charge of the Katun: men without offspring, chiefs without successors. For five days the Sun shall be eclipsed, then it shall be seen again. This is the charge of Katun 13 Ahau’. But how are we to interpret the statement? (i) A Katun period is 7,200 days long. Does the statement mean Katun 13 Ahau? Or does it mean Katun13 Ahau? i.e. the last day called Ahau in Katun numbered 13 = 13 x 7,200 = 93,600 = 256.2628 years. ‘…the Katun is named for the day on which it ends’ Meaning that Katun 13 Ahau refers to (ii) ‘the last day of Katun 13’, i.e. the 93,600th day And goes on (p204) to list the dates of Katun 13 Ahau as; AD 511768 1024 1280 1536 the list can be continued by adding 256.2628 years to the accumulating figures; 1798 2054 Clearly, ‘… Double was not charge of any of these dates…men were not without offspring… chiefs were not without successors and the Sun was not eclipsed for 5 days in any of the years listed here. So here we have a contradiction. If we interpret the prophecies in Chilam Balam according to the 256-year dates given in Chilam Balam then the prophecies are clearly wrong, moreover, 2012 does not appear in the list. The 21.12.2012 doomsday proponents thus select the data that suits their purpose. They choose interpretation (i), the number 1,872,000, because it ends in 2012 but, at the same time, cite the prophecies of Chilam Balam that refer to (ii). A case, if ever there was one, of running with the fox and hunting with the hounds. And then, unable to show any scientific mechanism to substantiate the prophecies of Chilam Balam, they change the prophecies to suit themselves saying; ‘The Maya used a vigesimal system’. Not true. So why did the Maya use periods of time to measure time? Part 2The word Maya is found in ancient Indian Sanskrit and means ‘illusion’. The Maya of Central America appeared firstly in the stone-built city of Teotihuacan in around 100BC and died out (for the most part) in around AD700. It is clear that the leader of the Maya, Lord Pacal, was a supernatural being who set down his super-knowledge of science and spirituality in the treasures of the Maya; their stone carvings, jewellery, paintings, architecture and calendrical system. He was buried in his tomb in the Pyramid of Inscriptions at the Maya ceremonial centre in Palenque in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico in around AD700 aged around 42. His treasures reveal that; he was conceived through an immaculate conception; when he was born a bright star appeared in the sky; when he lived he performed miracles; and when he died he became the planet Venus, the brightest and purest source of light in the heavens, also referred to by ancient civilisations as the ‘twin-star’ because sometimes it can be seen in the morning, as the morning star, and (292 days later in its orbit around the Sun) in the evening, as the evening star. The last page of the Bible says this ‘I Jesus… am the root and offspring of David, and the bright and morning star [Venus; the bright evening star and the morning star]’ (Revelation 12:16). The stories in his treasures say that he was born before, as Lord Krishna, of the Hindu; Tutankhamun, of Egypt; Lord Buddha, of India; Chin Shi Huang Di, of China; Jesus, of Nazareth; Lord Pacal, of Mexico; and the Viracochas’, the legendary white Gods who walked the lands of Peru in ancient times performing miracles. Indeed, the name Pacal appears to derive etymologically from the Christian Catholic word Pascal (meaning Easter) that itself is derived from the word Passover (referring to the period during which Jesus was Crucified). This may sound extraordinary to the newcomer, but the stories, encoded using pictures and numbers, from so many different sources—stone carvings, jewellery, paintings, architecture and calendrical system—are unequivocal in the messages they convey suggesting that they were encoded by a sophisticated intelligence not of this world, one that can best be described as ‘miraculous’. We must keep this in mind when attempting to understand what the Maya were trying to convey through their astronomical observations of Venus and their choice of calendrical periods of time. Apart from the calendrical periods of time already mentioned, the Maya used a 260-day ceremonial ‘astrological calendar’ and revered a special ‘super-number’ of 1,366,560 days that they referred to as the ‘birth of Venus’. No orthodox researcher understands why the Maya calendar should have started on 10th August 3114BC—more than 3,000 years before The Maya monitored the heavens using visual observations of Venus, which takes 584 days to orbit the Sun once, when seen from earth. These endless cycles of time are well documented in one of the Maya bark books, The Dresden Codex, that lists their super number ‘the birth, [or rebirth] of Venus’ as 1,366,560 days (2,340 complete orbits of the planet Venus)—the closest they could get (using whole numbers of Venus revolutions) to the true computer-calculated figure of 1,366,040 days (3,740 years). Notwithstanding, the true (exact) figure is given by one of their treasures ‘the sun-shield of Monte Alban’, a mosaic jade disc pierced by 4 arrows that carries 85 golden loops of thread around the perimeter (metaphorical magnetic sunspot loops) and 11 golden pendants from below; 4 x 11 x 85 = 3,740 (years). Proving that the Maya were aware of the true (computer calculated) magnetic reversal period of 1,366,040 days. They were using an astronomical constant, the solar neutral sheet magnetic reversal period, to tell us about the rebirth of Venus—but only as a metaphor to explain that they were referring to the rebirth of Jesus—that Lord Pacal, the priest-king leader of the Maya at that time, was the reincarnation of Jesus on earth. To understand just what the Maya were trying to tell us with their cycles of time we have to recognise the importance of the 260-day astrological calendar period, the 1,366,560-day period (the Maya rebirth of Venus number) and keep in mind that Lord Pacal was the rebirth of Venus, the metaphorical rebirth of Jesus, predicted to occur 1,366,040 days after Venus was born on 10th August 3114BC, the start of their calendar. That this is so can be shown by examining some of the Maya treasures. The 5-tonne limestone lid that covers the sarcophagus of Lord Pacal, in the Pyramid of Inscriptions, at Palenque, is the ‘Rosetta-Stone’ of Maya carving. The information contained in the lid—more than 100 stories explaining the meaning of heaven, hell, purgatory life and death and the life and times of Lord Pacal—cannot be decoded without first finding two missing pieces of the lid. In the same way the Maya calendrical periods cannot be understood without first finding the two missing pieces, the numbers 260 and 1,366,560 (2,340 revolutions of Venus). We know this by analysing the Pyramid of Inscriptions. Before we see how this can be shown let’s return to the Maya number sequence and show that the Maya used a 360-degree based system, not a vigesimal system; Maya time periods 144,000 7,200 360 20 1 = 151,581 days divided by 360 = 400 20 1 .0555 .00277 = 421.0583 At first these seem absurd. Why would anyone base a calendar on time periods that produce 421.0583 periods of time? The answer to this is simple; the Maya wished to use a base 360 system because they were interested in the orbital cycles of Venus (measured in angular degrees). But why 421.0583? To understand this we need to visit the Pyramid of Inscriptions and count the steps of the front stairway. In The Supergods [Thorsons, London, 1997) I described how the front stairway comprises of 5 sections; the first (the lowest–ground floor) stairway contains 9 steps, the second 13 steps, the third 19 steps, the fourth 19 steps the fifth (the highest) 9 steps. This represents the date 9 19 19 13 9. Set down against Maya time periods looks like this; 144,000 7,200 360 20 1 9 + 19 + 19 + 13 + 9 = 1,439,909 days = 3,999.74222 cycles of 360 .7422 x 360 = 268.999 Here the Maya are telling us to ‘round-up’ the figure to 269. We know that the most important number for the Maya is their astrological calendar period of 260 days (the Sun’s equator revolves once every 26 days (on the surface of the Sun). 260 hence represents 10 revolutions of the Sun’s equator. The number 269 contains this important 260 day figure + 9. This tells us that if we wish to understand the treasures of the Pyramid of Inscriptions we need to keep in mind the numbers 260 and 9. In The Tutankhamun Prophecies (Headline Books Ltd., London, 1999) I showed how the Maya left behind a numerical matrix of clues inside the Pyramid of Inscriptions; for example, 3 clay plates were found in a stone chest together with 3 red shells; the tomb door had 3 sides; Lord Pacal carried 3 jade beads (one in each hand and one in his mouth) and he wore a 3-tiered jade necklace. There were 4 steps down into the tomb, the dead man wore 4 jade rings on his right hand and 4 jade rings on his left hand, 4 pairs of holes were drilled 1 1 1 1 1 144,000 7,200 360 260 20 [*Note; the single digit column (1) is necessarily displaced due to the insertion of the 260 day column. The accrued error due to the omission thus becomes the displaced 9 [1 x 9], explicitly reconciling the missing number 9 from the 260 + 9 stairway figure. Moreover, the number 9 was worshipped by the Maya as a holy number and represented the number of a ‘Supergod’, for example as the reincarnation of Christ. 999 is the corollary of the number 666, the number of the beast mentioned in Revelation, and the highest number before becoming 1 [1,000] with God]. This tells us that the man in the tomb, Lord Pacal was associated with the number 1,366,560 day period. Lord Pacal was ‘the rebirth of Venus’—the rebirth of Jesus. It tells us that the Maya used a 360-based calendar; that they understood the notion of 360 degrees to a circle (one orbit of Venus); that they understood the decimal point system (that 260 = 26 x 10) and that they understood the solar variables (the 26-day duration of rotation of the solar equator). How else could they convey this information to future peoples like ourselves. As the Bible says ‘knock and the door will be opened’ ‘ask and you shall receive’ (Mathew 7:7-8). He that searches for knowledge and wisdom shall be given knowledge and wisdom. The Popol Vuh, the 16th Century Maya holy book, begins and ends with the same statement Returning to the outer stairway instruction number of 3,999.74222. The decimal part (.7422 x 360 = 260 + 9) has been resolved and we now need to address the number 3,999; Using the same logic as before, we need to round up the number from 3,999 to 4,000. 4,000 x 360 = 1,440,000 = the sacred number of 144,000 (the number of those who will be saved when the world ends) x 10—telling us once again about the importance of the 144,000 and, at the same time, that that their sacred calendar of 260 days was 10 times bigger [longer] than the sacred 26-day solar rotation period and, again, that they used a decimal system. I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, [North, South, West and East] holding the four winds of the Earth, that the wind should not blow on the Earth, nor on the sea nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east having the seal of the living God: And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the Earth, and the sea, saying “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our god in their foreheads”. And I heard the number of them which were sealed; and there were sealed a hundred and forty four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel....’ (Revelation 7: 1-3). That this is the correct interpretation of the messages of the Maya is supported by other decoded treasures of the Maya; the 5-tonne sarcophagus lid, when decoded, shows a picture of Lord Pacal carrying the number 144,000 written on his forehead, but only when the [two parts of the] decoded picture[s] are set to 14.4 degrees (see the picture with your own eyes on www.MauriceCotterell.com). The decoded Mosaic Mask of Palenque shows pictures of Lord Pacal in his previous lives; The Mural of Bonampak shows that Lord Pacal’s mother conceived through an immaculate conception, carried ‘twins’ (the planet Venus) in her womb, gave birth in a stable and shows Lord Pacal with a cross made of two pieces of wood. The decoded Sun-shield of Monte-Alban tells the story of how Viracocha of Tiahuanaco, Bolivia, was the reincarnation of Jesus and reveals pictures of; God giving birth to Jesus, Jesus carrying the cross of Christianity across his forehead and Jesus dying on the cross and ascending to heaven. And it shows that those who live for the body, for physical pleasure, find only death and darkness, whereas the 144,000, find eternal life. Nowhere in the decoded treasures of the Maya does the date of 21.12.2012 take centre stage, nowhere is it given any special status. Finally, a few words on the topic of religion. Some observers have recently suggested that because the same ‘religious story’ appears so often throughout history, that the story itself must be a myth. Their reasoning goes like this; if you search the annals of history one particular story emerges time and time again over the past several thousand years: A man, known as ‘the son of God came into the world’ through an ‘immaculate conception’. When he was born a bright star was seen in the sky. He was known as ‘light’ or ‘the enlightened one’. During his life he performed miracles. He said he would return. When he died he ascended to heaven. Because the story appears so many times the ‘anti-religion proponents’ reason that the story must be myth, that he never actually lived and that he simply fills the need for an idealised figure of moral leadership in an otherwise immoral world. That is one interpretation, if you chose to exclude the evidence. But the evidence reveals the weakness in the argument. The fact is this, a man called Lord Pacal, who died in around AD740, fits this description perfectly. His bones were found in a pyramid in Palenque. The same goes for the bones of the legendary white Gods that walked the lands of Peru, in around AD300 and |