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Monthly Archives: December 2011
The Big Question: What’s so 2012 about 2012?
Dear Friend and Reader:
It was someone named Jose Arguelles who popularized 2012 as the time we would take what he called the leap beyond technology. Arguelles was not the first to point out the significance of 2012 — though he was talking about it as early as the mid-1970s. Frank Waters (in his Hopi prophecies) also mentioned it in 1975, as did Terence McKenna in Invisible Landscape. Astrologer A.T. Mann briefly mentioned it in his 1986 book The Divine Plot: Astrology, Reincarnation, Cosmology and History.
Jose Arguelles at the Babaji Ashram, Cisternino, Italy 2009. Jose is the one who introduced the world to the idea of 2012. He died earlier this year. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Yet it was Arguelles’ facilitation (or more accurately co-facilitation) of the Harmonic Convergence in 1987 that got the cultural meme of 2012 (and the Mayan long count) going. The Convergence was based on the idea that the 13th baktun of the Mayan long count calendar would be ending on the winter solstice of 2012, and that it was time to start preparing ourselves for whatever that transition meant. How long is long? A baktun is 144,000 days; 13 baktuns add up to about 1.8 million days, or 5,125 years, which is one-fifth of a full precessional cycle (that is, the cycle of all 12 ‘ages’ in Western astrology).
Did the Harmonic Convergence work? I say yes — so far, the world has not been destroyed by nuclear war.
Despite that barely-noticed good news, over the past 25 years, predictions of both doomsday and spontaneous enlightenment have flooded New Age literature and bled into mainstream thought, though in all of that time, none of it has struck me as particularly meaningful. Said another way, I’ve hardly ever heard a 2012 narrative I could even vaguely relate to. Pretty much everyone knows that 2012 is an important date in the Mayan calendar, but hardly anyone can tell you what it ‘means’ without drifting into speculation.
Our sin-obsessed Christian culture, clouded by truly horrid visions from The Book of Revelation (sometimes called The Apocalypse of John) — the last book of the New Testament — always seems to be waiting on doomsday. However, Judgment Day is our shit — not that of the ancient Mayans.
The Harmonic Convergence of Aug. 16-17, 1987 was a global meditation for peace. I took part in that major event as part of a spiritual community, and it had nothing to do with the ‘end of the world’ or doomsday. To the contrary, we had our minds on getting the world out of the mess that it was in — not into a bigger one. In recent years, Mayan scholars and Mayan leaders have objected to the obsession with gloom and cataclysm.
“For the ancient Maya, it was a huge celebration to make it to the end of a whole cycle,” says Sandra Noble, executive director of the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies in Crystal River, Florida. To render Dec. 21, 2012 as a doomsday event or moment of cosmic shifting, she says, is “a complete fabrication and a chance for a lot of people to cash in.”
In the next section, read about the top five aspects of 2012 — which I also cover in an audio presentation linked on the top right of the page frame.
Posted in 2012 Diary, Featured Articles
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Viewing the Venus Transit of the Sun in June 2012
See more photos at this page on Anthony’s website.
Hey Eric,
It is absolutely critical and vital that readers view the event using protective filters which specifically let 0.001% of the light pass through (ie. ND 5). A very common source for imagers is Baader’s solar material which is available very cheap (ex. an A4 size sheet costs no more than $20 and will cover lots and lots of mini-filters for a pair of binoculars). Also, one can find paper glasses (literally) and where the “lenses” have such a filter themselves. Quite often magazines will include such a pair as a gimmick when such an event approaches so as to sell issues.
Venus transit of the Sun in June, 2004, photographed in Athens. Photo by Anthony Ayiomamitis.
People also use welder’s glass (#14) and/or exposed film negatives. Personally I would NOT go this route (!) and simply stick with proper solar filters when viewing the sun and/or the transit.
Now, with respect to viewing locations, we have a double-edged sword. The southern hemisphere is favored since it will allow one to observe the complete transit from start to finish. However, June 6th is in the heart of winter, which raises immediate questions and doubts about the weather. Also, the transit will be occurring at relatively low altitudes – using Sydney, Australia, as an example, the transit will start with the Sun just over 10 degrees altitude, peak three hours later at just over 32 degrees altitude and complete with the Sun declining and just under 26 degrees altitude. Things are much better in Hawaii where the transit begins midday with the Sun overhead (around 83.5 degrees altitude), but the Sun will continue to lose altitude as the transit is taking place with egress having the Sun around 14 degrees altitude.
The other side of the coin is the Northern Hemisphere where June is in the heart of summer and the weather has a significantly better chance in doing us a favor. However, the only glitch is that one will catch the transit in progress while the Sun is rising in the morning. Western Europe and further east has the luck in being privy to catching the transit for a second time in eight years, and albeit it will be a partial transit since it will already be in progress when Sol is rising.
Photo: A. Ayiomamitis.
For me personally, I plan to remain in Greece for the transit itself due to exceptional weather prospects we have locally, and the fact I will be able to throw good equipment at the transit without having concerns and problems traveling with it (luggage and weight restrictions with airlines, possible damage to the equipment etc).
If you can live with the transit in progress when the Sun is rising with the huge bonus being the excellent weather prospects, then western Europe, the middle East and Asia are your desired destinations. If you would like to observe the complete event while rolling the dice with the weather prospects, then Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii are your best bets. Of course, you can delay matters as much as possible to see what the latest weather predictions are for Australia/New Zealand/Hawaii and then proceed accordingly where you catch a last-minute flight to Australia/New Zealand/Hawaii if it seems the weather will comply, OR consider western Europe, the middle East or Asia if the weather is bad for the former and favorable for the latter. The west coast of the US is also at play but I suspect it will be during sunset and I must check for you to confirm since I am only guessing.
Give me a few minutes to locate for you a map for the transit showing where in the world it is viewable in its entirety and where it is partial (sunrise or sunset).
AA.
For a low-res and hi-res global map, please see http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/transit/venus/Map2012-1.GIF and http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/transit/venus/Map2012-2.GIF respectively.
With the Baader filter I mention, here is how things look to the naked eye when filtered properly:
(1) http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-Sat-Trans-2010-05-25.htm (in the presence of very thin clouds)
(2) http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-Solar-Sunspots-2007-06-03.htm (no clouds present) (3) http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-Planet-Ven-Tr2004.htm (2004 event using a small telescope with proper filtering)
Posted in 2012 Resources Area
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The Most Important Year of Your Life
Dear Friend and Reader,
There has never been a year in your life, nor will there ever be, like the one we’re approaching. Twenty-twelve will arrive with many life-changing events, and the astrology deserves all the attention we both can give it. For the past several months I have been doing precisely that, developing the 2012 annual readings of Planet Waves — the long-anticipated Revolution. Revelation. Reality Check. Included for each sign is an extended audio reading and a substantial written interpretation for your Sun, Moon or rising sign.
Photo by Elizabeth Joyce.
As I’m sure you’re overwhelmingly aware, we are deep into a phase of heightened and accelerated change. The much-fabled 2012 transition is now here. It doesn’t matter whether 2012 has a Mayan calendar root, whether it involves Uranus square Pluto or the extremely rare Venus event in June: the magnitude of this astrology and how it will influence us cannot be overstated. My annual edition breaks it down into three basic experiences for each of the 12 signs and rising signs:
Revelation. That means discovery. Material and information we were not expecting will come to the surface, at times rapidly. We will make discoveries about ourselves, our relationships and our society. Key decision points await you, but at this time so early in the process, it may be difficult to see what those decisions will be about. Here is where astrology can help provide a glance around the corner.
Revolution. We all talk about change. So many of us have been committed to inner growth and healing and outer social progress — going back years or even decades. You may have discovered that major changes are rarely possible. Yet the times, the causes and the conditions are all coming together this year. This is a time of revolutions — they’re not only possible but inevitable. The question is, what does this mean for you?
Reality Check. There will be more reality coming at us than most people have the stomach for. Yet when there is so much power in the air, one needs to check and balance oneself to keep on track. You’ll need to stay grounded, and have clear agreements with yourself about what matters the most. You will need to penetrate the layers of illusion that have delayed you or taken you off track. Things are moving so fast we need to do this on a constant basis.
In the 2012 annual edition, I provide you with the tools to work with all three factors.
Posted in 2012 Diary
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