In order to grasp the significance of the Mayan 2012 predictions, it might be helpful to understand the remarkable galactic alignments that will occur at that time.

The Milky Way showing the Galactic Equator

To start simply, the Milky Way, our galaxy, is shaped like a pancake which is 100,000 light years (6 trillion miles) across, with a large bulge at the center. We are located about halfway between the Galactic Center and the edge of the pancake. Above is a photo of the 200 to 400 billion stars that compose the Milky Way with the Galactic Equator (the axis of the pancake) marked. The great bulge can be seen to the right of the equator, about a third of the way up the photo. Just above the bulge, or if you look down from the space between the words “galactic” and “equator” in the title, you can see the dark space which is the Dark Rift (more about that in a moment).

The sun on the winter solstice in relation to the Galactic Equator.

This illustration shows the central bulge of the Milky Way known as Hunab-Kú to the Maya (the ‘god of the gods’), the Galactic Equator and its relation to the winter solstices of 3000 BC, 1500 BC and 2012 AD. For the 2012  alignment to occur, several complex alignments need coincide, which occur only once every 25,625 years.

That is what made this event so significant to the Maya. It marks the dawn of their “Great Galactic Day” which was chronicled in their “Long Count Calendar.” To the Maya, the resonance with Hunab-Kú designated quantum jumps at critical shift points in human evolution. The Dark Rift, by the way, was seen by the Maya as the mother womb, the origin of all life.

The Milky Way in relation to the winter solstice sunrise.

In this image the grey shape is the great mass – billions and billions of stars – comprising the central disk of the galaxy. This view illustrates the relationship of the Galactic Center (the bulge) of The Milky Way as it aligns with winter solstices (the alignment of the sun and the earth), from 6000 BC to 2012 AD. The Great Rift in the galaxy is the white space to the left of the bulge.

Christian astronomers also noted these special alignments, and labeled them “The Holy Cross.” The following illustration is a simplification of a set of complex relationships that comprise the cross.

The Holy Cross

The Earth is tilted in relation to its orbit around the sun. And the plane of our solar system is tilted 60° from the Galactic Equator (the axis of the pancake). All of this, as I have said, is coming into special alignment, but to try and explain it all gets too complicated to explain in this space. Let me just simply say that the Maya referred to this alignment as the Great Tree of Life. If you want to learn more about the astronomical alignments, go to: http://www.lunarplanner.com/siderealastrology.html. Nick Anthony Fiorenza has created remarkable illustrations that will take you through these alignments and lead you to an understanding of the astronomy behind the art of astrology:

I have written a (rather long) article about the Mayan predictions for 2012. You can find it at www.rossbishop.com.