When Did The Maya Expect The End?

Ancient Future Cosmology, Prophecy and Revelation: Galactic Maya and Multidimensional Consciousness by Itzadragon

Everyone remembers the intensity of internet doom in the runup to the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar on December 21, 2012.  But did the ancient Maya ever believe there was a prophecy about the end of the present world linked to the end date on that calendar?

Yes and no.  They did not expect "the end" in 2012, but they did expect that date to mark the beginning of a window of opportunity for prophetic end time events to be fulfilled: in "the beginning of the 21st century."

That statement reminds me of another author’s comments on the Mayan Pyramid of Kukulkan at Chichen Itza: “Kukulkan’s pyramid is a precessional clock with its alarm set for the twenty-first century,” which John Major Jenkins wrote in Maya Cosmogenesis 2012.

The end of the 5125 year Mayan Long Count on December 21, 2012 obviously means the ancient Maya attributed some prophetic importance to a new time frame beginning on that date. Scholars know that artwork shown in the Dresden Codex of the Mayan Popul Vuh shows a special planetary arrangement at the time of the end of the world. This somewhat rare alignment did not occur in 2012 but it will next be in effect in December 2019.  As J. Kukla puts it: "the world famous Dresden Codex of which last page shows us how will look like the skies at the 'END OF OUR WORLD' which perfectly fit the skies at December 2019!"

At several web sites we can read that Mayan elders consider the focus on 2012 a misunderstanding of “their end date” – and that we only have a focus on “December 2012 FROM THOSE WHO HAVE SPOKEN FOR US. Therefore: We, the Mayans, and in accordance with our calculations, it is our wish that the dates to be considered for the completion of this cycle & the start of the new cycle be the ones signaled in the Mayan Calendar: – OXLAJUJ (13) KEME = COMPLETING this CYCLE of TIME in: 2019.” (http://www.mayabaktun.com/prophecies_eng.html and http://2012forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12389 )

I suggest that the seven years between the end of the Long Count in 2012 and the planetary alignment they expect to see at the time of the end of the world, which next occurs in December 2019 - may correspond to the Bible’s final seven years, as I explained in detail in:

End Times and 2019: The End of the Mayan Calendar and the Countdown to Judgment Day

One great web site debunking the significance of the December 21, 2012 date points out that: "To see the slight movement of the sun at these three year intervals, click back and forth through the last three slides a few times. You will notice that the sun has been in virtually the same spot every Dec. 21st for many years. In fact, the sun has already crossed the Galactic Equator in 1999. The edge of the sun first touched that Equator in the early 1980’s, and will be in  contact with it each 21st of December until about 2019."

It is the very fact that this is the last year in which the sun touches the galactic plane that matters, for the symbolism in Maya ritual is the ball passing through the ball hoop in the game ballcourt - when is finally passes through the hoop (the sun passing the galactic plane at the galactic center) - game over, and death for the ball players - us.