I'd love to just post this and have everyone read it and feel fulfilled.

The Maya calendar is a system of distinct calendars and almanacs used by the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and by some modern Maya communities in highland Guatemala. These calendars can be synchronized and interlocked in many ways, their combinations giving rise to further, more extensive cycles.

The most important of these calendars is one with a period of 260 days. The Maya version is commonly known to scholars as the Tzolkin. The Tzolk'in is combined with another 365-day calendar (known as the Haab, or Haab' ), to form a synchronized cycle lasting for 52 Haabs, called the Calendar Round. Smaller cycles of 13 days (the trecena) and 20 days (the veintena) were important components of the Tzolk'in and Haab' cycles, respectively.

A different form of calendar was used to track longer periods of time, and for the inscription of calendar dates (i.e., identifying when one event occurred in relation to others). This form, known as the Long Count, is based upon the number of elapsed days since a mythological starting-point. According to the correlation between the Long Count and Western calendars accepted by the great majority of Maya researchers (known as the GMT correlation), this starting-point is equivalent to 11 August 3114 BCE in the proleptic Gregorian calendar or 6 September in the Julian calendar (−3113 astronomical)

Many Maya Long Count inscriptions are supplemented by what is known as the Lunar Series, another calendar form which provides information on the lunar phase and position of the Moon in a half-yearly cycle of lunations.

A 584-day Venus cycle was also maintained, which tracked the appearance and conjunctions of Venus as the morning and evening stars. Many events in this cycle were seen as being inauspicious and baleful, and occasionally warfare was timed to coincide with stages in this cycle.

Other, less-prevalent or poorly-understood cycles, combinations and calendar progressions were also tracked. An 819-day count is attested in a few inscriptions; repeating sets of 9- and 13-day intervals associated with different groups of deities, animals and other significant concepts are also known.

So that's everything you need to know about how the Mayan calendar works. Since we know where it begins, we can calculate where it ends. "The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar forms the basis for a New Age belief, first forecast by José Argüelles, that a cataclysm will take place on or about 21 December 2012, a forecast that mainstream Mayanist scholars consider a mis-interpretation." But here is a very important point, the one that I am trying to make:

"NOTE: The astronomer Philip Plait has stated very clearly that the Mayan calendar does not end in 2012 at all, that it is like the odometer on your car, as each section of the odometer reaches 9 and then clicks over to 0, the next number to it starts a new cycle, so that when all the numbers again reach 0 all the way across the odometer - the last number will change from 1 to 2 and the new cycle starts all over again."

That is exactly how the long count works. Now the new age folks who are looking at this calendar are thinking this: "And so, here we are - currently living the last 7 years of both a 5,125 year Creation Cycle, and the last 8 years of a 26,000 [year] Grand Cycle, the Precession of the Equinoxes. The coming end date of December 21, 2012 is also written as 13.0.0.0.0. in Mayan long count notation; just like the beginning date."

So really all of this depends on how spiritual you are. New agers who are astrologically dependent will say this: "On the winter solstice of 2012, the noonday Sun exactly conjuncts the crossing point of the sun's ecliptic with the galactic plane, while also closely conjuncting [with] the exact center of the galaxy." This is true, but does it mean anything? Will anything actually happen because of that, or is it just really neat?! In my opinion it's really neat, but probably won't amount to anything.

So don't worry because the "end" of the Mayan Calendar cycle we are currently experiencing is not the end of the world, it is the end of a cycle. Just like your dishwasher or washing machine, you just start it up again when it's done.

A lot of this Mayan end time stuff is scary and easy to make money from if you take the right angle. I know I've bought books about this just from interest and cool looking covers.

Please refrain from saying that I should have posted this on one of the existing Mayan 2012 threads. I felt that this was more of a LOOK here's the answer, shaddup already, thread. I didn't want to post the same post in three different threads, figured one thread was good.

I will love you forever if you make sure this is the last 2012 thread...

LOL!

Brilliant thread, i think all further Mayan 2012 doomsday threads should be closed and redirected here....

Any chance of getting this set as a sticky?

That makes things happier.

I agree and have thought this ever since watching zietgeist.

Yo.

I wish! I wish! I wish!.....(opens eyes) Nope I see more in the future. The Mayan calendar told me so.

YOU HEAR THAT U DAMNED 2012 TOPIC STARTERS ITS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD SO STOP MAKING THEM
whew
FINALLY
an end to all those ignorant ppl who believe any doomsday story they hear

Be careful who you name call. Aren't you a believer?You seem to be from many of your posts. Thats a bit like the pot calling the kettle black.

Ha!

On another note, I could only wish this was the last thread.

I agree..... it is NOT the end of the world. It is a Change. I have a few theories ~ it is like the mileage on a car... with the numbers reaching the maximum and then turning over to "0". About 10 years ago I had 2 visions... the first one came to me in large black letters "NO TIME"... the second vision was time spelled backwards in large black letters again.... EMIT.
My second theory is that there is going to be a HUGE SHIFT in REALITY. (of which I am concerned ~ I think it will be frighting for most to 'Feel' the paradym shift and not know how to 'function' in an altered state of reality.......

I always thaught that the last 2012 thread would be on january 1st 2013 and say 'wow, nothing happened'

I agree, Promethius, I whole heartedly agree.