The Mayan Apocalypse (8 page)

“That sounds scientific. I avoided science classes.”

“I'm no scientist either,” Lisa said, “so I have to break it down into simple terms. A processional cycle is the amount of time it takes for
the earth to complete one full ‘wobble.' You know the earth turns on its axis, but what some don't know is that as the earth rotates, it wobbles very slightly. If you imagine a pole extending through Earth's axis, then the end of pole would inscribe a small circle in the sky called the ‘procession.' Earth wobbles one degree every seventy-two years. It takes about 25,800 years to make a full circle. This is very close to the Mayan grand cycle.”

“So the 2012 date marks the end of the…”

“Fifth cycle. Five cycles of 5160 years. And to make matters even more interesting, the end of the fifth cycle coincides with the great ‘galactic alignment,' in which the sun and the earth align with the galactic equator that bisects the black hole at the center of the Milky Way—something that occurs once every twenty-six thousand years. Around December 21, 2012, the earth will make this alignment just as it finishes one complete wobble.”

“And that's supposed to bring about the end of the world? A wobble?” Garrett frowned. “What's supposed to happen?”

Lisa shrugged. “Recorded history goes back only about six thousand years, so there are no records of what happened the last time the earth completed a wobble.”

“And you believe this, um, stuff?”

“Did I say that, newbie? Since you've been assigned to me, you need this info. Since I have to work with someone, then I might as well work with someone who is up to speed.”

“I'm always up to speed.”

“Sure you are. Let's just test that, shall we? What is the significant fault in the wobble argument?”

“That it's untrue?”

“No sir, not even close. The fact that the earth wobbles and the length of time it takes to do so are both scientifically established.”

“Okay, I give up.”

“It's arbitrary. True, the length of time to complete a wobble matches the Mayan long cycle, but that doesn't mean the two are related.”

“So that could be a coincidence.”

Lisa nodded. “Yes.”

“Unless the Mayans knew things we don't.” He sat back in his chair.

“Do you think they did?”

He shrugged. “What do I know? I'm just trying to drink all this in.”

“Okay, drink this in: At the winter solstice for the Northern Hemisphere, the sun and the earth will line up with the galactic center of the Milky Way. We will cross the threshold of the Milky Way's equator in 2012. When that happens, we will begin a new 5125-year world age and also a new 26,000-year processional cycle.” She tapped a few more keys. “Mayan cosmology predicts five cycles, each lasting 5125 years. According to the contemporary mythology, each previous cycle allegedly ended in destruction. Of course—”

“We have only six thousand years of history, so we don't know if that's true.”

Lisa grinned. “You have been listening. The fifth cycle is set to end on December 21, 2012—and not just the end of the one cycle but two. Two interlinked cycles of time: the 5125-year great world cycle ends, as does the greater 26,000-year processional cycle.”

“A double whammy.”

Lisa paused. “Um, sure, a double whammy. An alignment like this won't occur again for another 26,000 years. The big question is this: What does it mean?”

“If the Mayans were so advanced, then why didn't they just write all this down instead of leaving future generations to guess about their calendars?”

“They did have a highly developed writing system and kept detailed records of religious and historical events, but very little of it remains. Almost all of their writing is lost to history. Spanish conquistadors invaded Mesoamerica in the 1500s. Their—behavior—led to documents being lost or destroyed. Only three books and a fragment of a fourth remain. They are known as the Dresden, Madrid, Paris,
and Grolier Codices. The best of these is the Dresden Codex. It's an eleventh-century mind picture book, seventy-four pages long, and was made of a material from fig tree bark. It is nearly twenty feet long, covered with paintings of the Mayan gods. The book was written in Mayan hieroglyphics. It provides invaluable information about Mayan culture. The book is shrouded in mystery.”

“I like mystery.”

“Then you'll like this. A common theory about the Dresden Codex is that it was taken from the Mayan temple and observatory at Chichen Itza by the Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortes and delivered to Emperor Charles V sometime around 1520. It's called the Dresden Codex—officially
Codex Dresdensis
—and it gets its name from the place where it resides today: the Royal Library in Dresden, Germany. The director of the Royal Library of Dresden purchased the codex in 1739 from a collection in Vienna and donated it to the library in 1744. How the codex made its way to Austria is anyone's guess. Most likely the King of Spain sent it there. At that time, he was also the king of Austria.”

“So what is the book about? I'm assuming it's something more than a cookbook.”

Lisa sighed and closed her eyes. She opened them again, choosing to ignore Garrett's flippant remark. “The Dresden Codex is an astronomy book. It contains numerous astronomical calculations and eclipse-prediction tables. It focuses specifically on Venus.”

“Venus?”

“Venus represented their god of war, and they believed its cycles could be used to predict the outcome of war. Due to its predictive nature, some consult the codex to discover important clues about the end of the world and any relation it has to the 2012 end date.

“The last page of the codex shows a great flood. Some assume it predicts a worldwide flood, but that's far from certain.”

“A flood like Noah's?”

“Perhaps. Others believe the Mayans taught the world will be destroyed by fire.”

“Fire? Flood? Which is it?”

“I don't think it's any of those things. I just want you to see that there is a lot of disagreement among the doomsayers.”

“Go back to the Milky Way thing again. Why is that so important to the Mayans?”

“They believed the center of the galaxy was the womb of the world—the place where stars are born. What's amazing is that modern science has discovered that there is a black hole at the center of the galaxy where all the stars in the Milky Way were born. An ancient Mayan symbol portrays the center of the Milky Way as a turning disc. It's eerily accurate. They came to these astronomical conclusions without the help of high-speed computers and complex software.

“On December 21, 2012, according to disaster theorists, the sun will eclipse the center of the galaxy, interrupting energy flow from the galactic center to our planet. Many think that will hasten the end of the world.”

“And I just thought these guys built some interesting buildings and performed human sacrifices.”

Lisa agreed. “I'm still stunned by their astronomical sophistication and their obsession with time. The buildings you admire were positioned to align with the heavens. That includes all major buildings and even their houses, which they carefully positioned so the corners of the structure aligned with cardinal compass directions. Windows were situated to allow the sun to shine on specific objects at certain times.”

Lisa brought up a photo on her laptop. “Did you know the Mayan pyramids are older than those in Egypt?”

“No way.”

“Yes way. To put it in historical perspective, the Mayans constructed the pyramid at Cuicuilco, Mexico, in 2750
B.C.
That's about the same time as the building of Stonehenge in England. Egyptians erected the Great Pyramid about two hundred years later—in 2560
B.C.
It's fascinating that all these mysterious stone structures came to be around the same time and in such diverse places.”

“And all this has led to the doom boom.” Garrett smiled.

“Doom boom?”

“Yeah. Movies, books, articles, conferences, everyone is talking about this. It seems like the world loves the idea of its own demise.”

“Doom boom.” Lisa chuckled. “I like that. You're right. People can't seem to get enough of this. I can understand why Christians look forward to the return of Christ. That makes sense. Who wouldn't want that to happen soon, but the end of life on the planet?”

“Maybe people are tired of life.”

Lisa frowned. “I'm not. I've compiled the various end-of-the-world scenarios.”

“I figured you had.”

“You want to hear this, or do you want to take over the obit desk?”

“I'm all ears.” Garrett folded his hands in front of him like a grade school student.

“Okay. While there are those who think December 21, 2012, will usher in rainbows and happiness, the majority of 2012ers see apocalypse.”

“Like Earth has an expiration date.”

“Exactly. Some think a huge cloud of electromagnetic particles will be released into space, taking out all our satellites. Whammo, end of communication. Others predict massive earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.”

“Volcanoes like the one that just blew its top in Mexico.”

“Yes, but bigger. Are you familiar with the Yellowstone caldera?”

“A little.”

Lisa studied Garrett for a moment.

“Okay, I heard something about it but wasn't really listening.”

“Beneath Yellowstone National Park is a volcanic caldera some think is nearing eruption. Many call it a supervolcano because of its potential to cause more damage than a regular volcano. I've read studies that say an eruption could be devastating and impact most of the United States. Scientists, however, have been monitoring things there for a long time. It's unlikely that it will blow any time soon.”

“Didn't they say that about the Mexico volcano?”

“Yes, they did.”

Garrett seemed pleased. “Well, there you go.”

“No, there
you
go. I'm moving on. Others have predicted drastic weather changes that will leave much of the United States and Europe in a new Ice Age. Add to that tsunamis that destroy and contaminate food and water supplies—not to mention the devastation of harbors and ships. That would affect food imports and exports, especially in many foreign countries.

“Imagine the devastation should an earthquake destroy a nuclear plant,” Lisa continued. “Can you fathom the consequences if solar activity takes down our power grid? Magnetic storms would make air travel impossible and hamper or destroy communications. Some areas might lose access to health services. Some predict the arrival of the new Dark Ages.”

“But these are all ideas of crazy people—right?”

“Not all of it.” Lisa stood and stretched her back. “Here are some sobering thoughts. The year 2012 will be a peak year for sun cycles. That means more solar flares. NASA predicts the most intense sunspot activity since 1958. They also predict that the planetary tidal force—that is, the impact of our planet on the sun—is also expected to peak in 2012.”

She sat again and leaned back in the chair. “The National Academy of Sciences—NAS for short—issued a study about the possible impact of a solar storm.”

“Do I want to know?”

“If you're going to be a reporter, then you must know. Facing the unpleasant is something every reporter does on a regular basis. If you want to avoid the ugly, then go start a blog.”

“I can take it. Give it to me.”

“The sun goes through an eleven-year cycle. Nothing new there, but it reaches its peak activity in 2012. The NAS created a worst-case scenario that goes like this: The active phase of the sun's cycle can emit powerful solar magnetic storms that are capable of frying
electric transformers. Many experts are expecting a sunspot megacycle in 2012 that could produce a ‘Katrina from outer space.' If a sun storm cooks the US electric grid and satellites, then the resulting devastation would be Katrina times ten. Everything from sewage systems to Wall Street banks would be affected, paralyzing the United States and other highly developed nations for months and maybe even years.”

Lisa took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then she continued. “Experts say that such a solar storm could cause serious electrical damage. Power failure would be massive in the United States—let alone the world. Such a catastrophe would devastate our natural resources, seriously affecting worldwide communication, medical care, and transportation. The economy would suffer dramatically, and we would need a long time—maybe months—to recover.”

“But how likely is that?”

“A colossal solar storm struck the United States in 1859 long before satellites and in-home electricity were developed. It shorted out telegraph wires in the United States and Europe.”

“But 1859 was a long time ago.”

“Not that it matters, but some storms have affected North America more recently. In 1989, the sun unleashed a tempest that knocked out power to all of Québec, Canada. A remarkable 2003 solar rampage, which included ten major solar flares over a two-week period, knocked out Earth-orbiting satellites and crippled an instrument aboard the Mars orbiter.”

“It all seems a tad wacky to me.” Garrett drummed his fingers on the table.

“Bored?” Lisa motioned to Garrett's restless fingers.

“Me?” He looked down. “No. Sorry. I do that when I think.”

“Check this out: A man named Percival Lowell thought for a long time that a ninth planet beyond Neptune was part of our solar system— this was known as the Planet X hypothesis. But after discovering Pluto, astronomers soon discovered a
tenth
planet. There are those who say this is the planet Nibiru, spoken of by ancient Sumerian
astronomers five thousand years ago. The official name of the planet is 2003 UB313—you might have heard that it was recently called Eris.”