by Robert J. Gilbert Ph.D.

We have received many questions about the upcoming “End Date” of the Mayan Calendar on December 21st 2012 (the Winter Solstice), now just a few weeks away.

In response to many requests, we are offering this public article on a few key aspects of the current time cycle: essential things that you need to know now, and indications of some of the deeper aspects we will explore in our online course on the topic.

Given the tremendous amount of misunderstanding of this event -- including its larger spiritual context and the opportunities it opens up for us at this time -- the Vesica Institute will be offering an in-depth internet class clarifying this topic.  Because of the importance of this work, this is the first internet class we have ever offered, so that people anywhere in the world can attend.  The course starts on December 1, however persons can join the class anytime in the month of the December and watch the recorded videos (although we strongly recommend joining it on December 1 if at all possible.)

Please feel free to share the article below with anyone you feel would benefit from it, with a link to the Vesica website at www.vesica.org.

1.  December 21, 2012 is not the end of the world. It is the beginning of another great cycle.

There have been numerous sensationalistic - and factually inaccurate - predictions that the end of the Mayan Calendar in Dec. 2012 means the end of the world.  This is actually not part of any classical understanding of the calendar, it is entirely a modern invention.

In reality, the Mayan calendar cycle that ends in 2012 is the end of a major cycle, which fits within the larger context of time cycles known to another Mesoamerican culture - the Aztecs.  The end of the Mayan Calendar on Dec. 21, 2012 is the shifting point away from the great cycle known as the Fifth “Sun” ( a “Sun” is a long time period in which human consciousness evolves to a new level, and during which specific challenges arise which are linked to this evolution.)  The Mexica (Aztec) calendar continues on for at least another two great Sun cycles, meaning over 10,000 years remaining within the next two cycles.

The famous Aztec “Sunstone” time marker portrays the Fifth Sun age, the one ending now, by their seventeenth day-sign "Ollin", which means "movement" or "earthquake".  A major volcanic fault line runs through Central Mexico, with the active volcano Popocatepetl over Mexico City creating earthquakes in that region.  This is connected to the understanding that the end of the Fifth Age (the “Sun of Movement”) will involve Earth changes and earthquakes over the entire planet, which we can expect to continue for some time and need to prepared for.  (There are important esoteric methods to test for instabilities in the Earth and to balance them before major destructive events occur, as will be discussed in the Vesica online seminar.)

The end of the Fifth Sun has both potential difficult and beneficial aspects.  The difficult aspect is the “Sun of Destruction” aspect linked to the Earth changes mentioned above.  This not only brings destructive nature events as the Sun heats up the Earth, but also catalyzes personal crises as instabilities within our own psyches are activated and play out in our lives.

The beneficial aspect is the “Sun of Life Energy” which activates our taking up a path of conscious (and intense) personal transformation, as many of us are now engaged in and are already experiencing.

Which of these two aspects we primarily experience will depend on the path we choose to walk - we can either choose and embrace a path of conscious spiritual development, or if we avoid our path of spiritual transformation we will then have external things we depend on stripped away, in order to propel us towards the spiritual path we are avoiding.

We are currently in the time period moving from the Fifth to the Sixth sun.  According to modern Mexica (Aztec) sources (see Sergio Magana “2012-2021: The Dawn of the Sixth Sun”), the energy of the Sixth Sun entered in 1991 when the Fifth sun was still dominant, and the Sixth sun energy gathered strength in 2003.  On the Mayan Calendar end date of Winter Solstice on 21 December 2012, the two energies will be equal; from that time forward the Fifth Sun energy will fade and the Sixth Sun energies will increase, so that by 2021 the Sixth Sun energies will be the major influence.

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