Is 2012 The End?
by Sam Geppi 
Article link - originally published by MSN , November 2009)

By now you have probably heard about the year 2012 and are wondering what all of the hype is about. There are people claiming it could be the end of the world and other crazy things. Now that Hollywood has made a movie about it (a sure sign of cultural legitimacy), it is time to investigate this further.

Let's start with the basic facts. According to ancient Mayan prophecy, on December 21, 2012, their calendar will end. This raises the questions, "How does a calendar end? Shouldn't one year just keep leading to the next year?" Well, according to the Mayan culture, it is not just a calendar that ends - an entire cycle of time is coming to an end.

The calendar they refer to is called the "Long Count" calendar and it is based on the real stuff - the Earth and the Galaxy we inhabit. As much as Hollywood and Western pop culture has turned 2012 into something ridiculous, underneath it all there are profound astronomical and astrological shifts happening.

Background
Essentially, there are two major shifts that happen each year as the Earth goes around the Sun. The first major shift occurs on the Solstice points: the first day of summer and the first day of winter. At precise moments on these days, the direction of the Sun appears to switch. For instance, on December 21 each year (the first day of winter) the Sun appears to be moving south to us who live above the equator. On that day there is the least amount of light in the Northern hemisphere. Then, in an instant, it switches and the Sun starts moving north. It is an instant polarity shift.

The other major shift occurs when the orbit of the Earth crosses the galactic plane of our Milky Way galaxy two times each year. Our solar system is inclined toward the galactic plane at 60 degrees. This means that the orbit of the Earth going around the Sun intersects the galactic plane two times each year. Half of the year it's north of the galactic plane, and half the year it's south of the galactic plane.

Visualize the galactic plane Milky Way Galaxy to be like an audio CD. If you were to make a notch in the CD and stick a dime in it, the dime would represent the Earth's orbit around the Sun and the CD would be the galactic plane.

Why does this matter?
The reason this matters is because the spiritual power of life on Earth emanates from the center of our galaxy. The orientation of our solar system to the galactic plane is exalted in all ancient spiritual traditions. These ancient mystics were tuned into a level of spiritual awareness that we are not tuned into now. For instance, they knew that our life on Earth comes from the Sun and the Moon. If it were not for the Sun and Moon there would be no life on Earth.

You are alive to read this because the Sun did not explode last night and the Moon did not fly out of its orbit. As soon as the Sun and Moon cease doing what they are doing, life on Earth as we know it is finished.

But the Sun and Moon creating life on Earth is just the beginning. Our spiritual power, and our level of intelligence, comes from our relationship to the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. What is happening now and being referred to as "2012" was astronomically calculated thousands of years ago. It was known that these times we are living in now would be advanced times (relative to the last several hundred years) of unprecedented change, due to the annual galactic alignment taking place on the same days as the solstices.

We have been within one degree (one day) of this galactic alignment for 70 years or so. For the last 70 years, the switch of polarity on the solstice points has taken place on the same day as the galactic alignment. December 21, 2012, is said to be the day - the exact moment - when these two events converge. These two events will only occur one moment every 26,000 years.

What does this mean to you?
The world is not going to end. There will be no "doomsday." But no one can deny the unprecedented shifts that are happening now. This is an age of accelerated progress, but it is also a time where darkness and ignorance are being transmuted into wisdom and light.

These times were also referred to in the ancient Indian/Yogic texts. We must evolve or the planet and human culture as we know it will be destroyed. We don't need any 2012 prophecy to tell us that, yet it does.

There are amazing opportunities for you to express your highest, spiritual Self during these times, but you have to be willing to let go of darkness and fear and embrace a new future of progress.

These are end times: the end of darkness, oppression, and fear on Earth. A new era of light awaits humanity.