December 21, 2012: Mayan Wake-Up Call?

Should we be frightened as we move toward December 21, 2012? Some say the Maya Calendar predicts that life as we know it will cease to exist. Others argue that there will be a profound shift in consciousness and anyone who makes it to a higher level will flourish, while those who don’t will perish.

Scholars, however, say both are a misinterpretation of the ancient Maya texts. They argue that there is no simple way of equating Mayan time to the modern Western calendar. And even if one phase of the Maya calendar does end, then another will start.

So why all the disaster theories?

Humankind since time immemorial has predicted the end of the world, which will be followed by a golden age for the chosen few. In other words: apocalypse first and then paradise.

It’s in the Bible in Revelations, the last great battle of the End of Times. It has been a firmly held view of several suicidal modern cults who have faced the day when the world would irrevocably end, and then (some) lived to feel foolish about it. Others tragically died needlessly because of it. It has also been a recurring prediction through the centuries -- all of which obviously never happened, and life on Earth continues.

So the world ending is a sort of archetype, a recurring myth that has existed in virtually all cultures throughout history. The Maya Calendar has become just another peg to hang our primitive fears on.

Behind the doomsday predictions lies a search for deeper meaning. Most people perceive their everyday lives as dull and unimportant in a world that is disorganized, unfair and to some degree evil. Blowing the world to smithereens is, in a perverse way, a comforting fantasy. It hints at an empowerment that would clear the decks of the badness, and allow room for more goodness.

But, obviously, fantasy is not reality. Reality says you make life better by chipping away, day by day, slow and steady. Dramatic transformations are projected fantasies that don’t happen -- or at least haven’t happened yet!

What does astrology say about the potential apocalypse? For one thing, the cosmos clearly indicated that 2011 was going to be a more difficult year than 2012. The July 2011 Cancer Solar Eclipse had peculiarly stressed aspects to Pluto, Uranus and Saturn, and the disruptive global events -- political strife, economic chaos -- unfolded.

Admittedly, the revolutionary Uranus-square-Pluto is drawing closer together in 2012. But that dynamic was there in the mid-1960s as well. So, while life is in a state of upheaval, we have lived through this kind of turbulence before, and we can survive it again.

The astrological chart for December 12, 2012 has a Sun-Pluto-square-Moon-Uranus, which indicates a rather bleak mood. But there’s also a light-hearted, compassionate Venus-in-flamboyant-Sagittarius opposition, a hopeful Jupiter-in-Gemini square, and a spiritual Neptune in Pisces -- which portends that it won’t be all doom, gloom and misery.

The Solar Eclipse in Scorpio in November 2012 will oversee December events, and has no aspects to the New Moon. This suggests that nothing major will occur. There is admittedly a risky Uranus-square-Mars-and-Pluto, which could provoke some upheavals in the days following the eclipse -- but not into December.

So while life in the final months of 2012 may be full of intense change, the cosmos (and years of faulty doomsday predictions) indicate that nothing will occur that we haven’t seen before -- such as an apocalypse!