Introduction

December 21, 2012: the end date of the sophisticated Long Count Calendar created by the ancient Maya in Central America. Countless books and websites, magazine articles and newspaper headlines debate its meaning, with enthusiasts in two camps: those forecasting apocalypse — the end of time — and those who see a coming renewal, a rebirth of consciousness.

Adding fuel to the debate, some scientists see the increasing number of natural disasters in recent years as evidence of a catastrophic climax of events in 2012.

Will the world really change forever on this date, the end of a 5,125-year calendar last used over a thousand years ago?

Certainly Hollywood would like you to think so. Indeed, a not-so-small industry has arisen around the date, hawking everything from t-shirts to teleseminars and survival supplies.

How much of what we’re hearing is science and how much is superstition?

In 2007 we started making a documentary film to answer precisely these questions, avoiding the hype from the likes of the History Channel and the Hollywood studios.

Two years later we felt we had a truly compelling film, in which the leading researchers, writers and scientists in the field tell us exactly what this date means to them, why it’s important, and what we should expect.

Featured in the film are Graham Hancock, John Major Jenkins, Daniel Pinchbeck, Alberto Villoldo, Anthony Aveni, Robert Bauval, Jim Marrs, Walter Cruttenden, Lawrence E. Joseph, Alonso Mendez, Douglas Rushkoff, John Anthony West and Benito Vegas Duran.

In the course of researching the 2012 phenomenon, we realized that despite the seemingly endless supply of books relating to the topic, none truly captured the broad spectrum of opinion, debate, research and myth regarding the most compelling “end times” prediction of the 21st century.

We asked author Alexandra Bruce to build on the film and create what we believe is a truly insightful, detailed analysis of everything 2012. As she writes in the book,

“The 2012 meme has evolved beyond any debates about the relevance of the Maya Long Count calendar to the lives of contemporary human beings. 2012 is about us on planet Earth at this time.”

Please check out the movie and the book and let us know what you think. Did we interview the right people? Did we cover all the important issues? Did we strike the right balance? We’d love to hear how we could do it better next time, if there is a next time … spacer



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  • Eric

    I think it might have made a bit more sense to have this DVD to come out in 2012. Looking at DVDs released so far in 2012 www.filmcrave.com/dvd_n... it is kind of clear that not much is being said so far about this year.

  • Kit Quiton

    Many people still believe that 2012 will be the end of the world...how about you? What if it doesn't end this year? What will you be doing to succeed in 2012? Read Michael Drew's article here...  dld.bz/readyfor2012

  • Survive

    Hello, I am an upstart survivalist website looking for the best advice, tips, techniques etc. I really like your site. Would you take a look at my site and let me know if you would like to contribute anything or if you think I need to add gear to better our chances. I do not know if anything will happen but I do know storms are rough, food is short and population is up. We could link together to boost your books and my products and hope. If you have video on youtube I could also help you there with popularity boosts. My website is www.beyondfema.comThanks, We just really want all sides of this to chime in. No matter what, information is a good thing. Rick
    www.beyondfema.com

  • Tom Findlay

    To Gary Baddeley ...

    I read your invitation at the end of the Foreword to this book (2012 Science or
    Superstition) where you invited feedback – I will be specific with mine.

    I was quite excited when I accidentally came across Alexandra Bruce's book on
    the net.  This find being due to the result of a robot search I have set
    up for any new mention of 'Electric Universe'.  I downloaded the book,
    which I was very grateful to be allowed to do for free, with the intention of
    reviewing it fully, but first I wanted to check out the mention of the EU that
    had been detected.  I found this on page 143 and started reading, then quickly
    became somewhat disappointed.  Accordingly,
    I hope my finds so far are not an indication of what I might find in the rest
    of the book.

    I am an active proponent of the EU model and am currently writing a beginner's
    book on that subject area that takes in summary form, the theories involved right
    through from fundamental principles to the model's ability to address the
    actual origins of our earth and our solar system.  I will use just this activity
    of mine as my credentials for making the observations that follow.

    I found that pages 143 and 144 are the only locations where mention of the EU is
    made.  It is the text I found there and the associated references that I
    wish to comment to you about.

    I quote: "The fundamental assertion
    of Hannes Alfvén, one of the theory’s main

    proponents, is that electromagnetic forces are equal in importance with

    gravitation on the largest scales."  This is misleading and inaccurate.
     Misleading because it suggests a
    subjective inaccuracy that introduces the notion of scale where it does not have direct relevance, and inaccurate because the forces are most definitely not equal.  Further, this is not as it might be taken, a
    quote of Alfvén's.  I invite you to look
    some details up in this respect ... i.e. … the electromagnetic force is
    fundamentally 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times more
    powerful than that of gravity - i.e. 10^39 times stronger or one thousand,
    billion, billion, billion, billion times stronger.  Alfvén was always
    extremely careful with what he said.

    Also, Alfvén's Nobel Prize was specifically for his work on
    megnetohydrodynamics (MHD) so it is misleading to imply that it was awarded for work on
    the comparison of electromagnetism and gravity.

    The book goes on to mention on page 144 the anomalous temperature profile of
    the Sun – this also being fundamental to EU theory.  I quote: “An unsolved problem in classical physics is
    an explanation of why the Sun’s surface temperature is 6,000 K, yet high above
    the surface in the corona, the temperatures range around 2,000,000 K, seemingly in violation
    of the second law of thermodynamics.” 
    The second law has four qualitative statements associated with it, the
    text in the book relates to only one of these, so being as important as it is,
    it should be stated in that light.

     

    Across both pages 143 and 144 there are references … 126,
    127, 128 and 129 – three of these are inaccurate.  They may have had their URLs correct previously
    but now the URLs given should be stated as:

     

    126 – www.thunderbolts.info

    128 – www.thunderbolts.info

    129 – www.holoscience.com

    To Alexandra, personally ... I admire your bravery in tackling such a broad
    range of subjects that do indeed deserve linking and a story told about
    them.  However, and no offence intended, I do implore you to fully
    research your material before writing about these important subjects.  The Electric Universe is so important; we
    must get the message right.

     

    With respect …

  • Gregor

    Hello,

    The Maya elders have recently spoken regarding the rising fear around
    2012 and the events occuring in the world now. The elders spoke up to
    warn humanity and to clear misconceptions, being spread mostly by
    non-Mayan self-proclaimed gurus and likes. Many of them do this for
    their own personal gain, to exploit the name of the Maya or to spread
    fear that the world is going to end in 2012. The Maya did not predict
    that. Still, in words of Don Alejandro, elected leader of National
    Council of Elders Mayas, Xinca and Garifuna, we are entering times of
    great pain if we don't immediately restore the balance to our planet
    (www.shiftoftheages.com/....

    The Mayan elders also partnered with the California Company, Positive
    Purpose Productions, to deliver the message of the Maya to
    the world as part of the Shift of the Ages film project. Shift of the
    Ages will be their first official discourse to the world. The importance
    of the project is even greater as most of the Mayan wisdom in written
    form was destroyed during centuries of foreign domination which began
    with the inqusition thus making the Shift of the Ages film one of the
    very few documents about this wonderful and enigmatic culture. The film
    is planned to be released in early 2012, premiering at festivals, with
    the mission to bring an empowering vision to the global audience. In
    order to complete the final phase of the film and deliver the true
    message of the Maya, we kindly ask for your support in our ongoing
    crowdfunding campaign ( kck.st/e7rTce ).

    On behalf of the Maya we humbly thank you for your support. In case of any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

    All the best,

    Gregor, Shift of the Ages

  • whitters

    I'm personally of the opinion that the guy who created the physical calendar in question just got tired of working and didn't pick it back up. Nobody really has a need for a few thousand years of future dates, especially when only eighty or so will be relevant for you; why worry about it when you're set for a hundred generations?

    Besides, as someone once pointed out to me, our calendars end every year, but the world's still in existence -- and doesn't seem to be much more enlightened, for that matter.

  • Ali Adams

    2012: Where is safe?

    Evidence for 31 events from January to November 2012 each lasting 4 days along 31 latitudes.

    ----------------------------------------------------1) Prime numbers are the corner stone of public key cryptography used for secret writings and secure communication over the Internet.

    2) The Quran, which literally means "The Readable", is readable despite being encrypted using primalogy (assigning prime values to the Arabic alphabet letters).

    3) Chapter #1 The Opener is The Key to decoding The Message in The Quran. It consists of exactly 7 verses, 29 words and 139 letters. All are prime numbers with prime digit sums too (7 = 7, 2+9 = 11, 1+3+9 = 13) called additive prime numbers. What's more, 729139 and 139297 are also additive prime numbers (7+2+9+1+3+9 = 31).

    4) Chapter #55 The Merciful has 31 repetitions of an exact verse (فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ) at positions: 13, 18, 21, 23, 25, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 45, 47, 49, 51, 53, 55, 57, 59, 61, 63, 65, 67, 69, 71, 73, 75, 77.

    5) The sum of these 31 positions is 1433. A prime number with a prime digit sum (1+4+3+3 = 11) too.

    6) The current Islamic year is 1432 AH (in 2011 AD).

    7) Islamic years have either 354 or 355 days. Next Islamic year 1433 AH is to have 355 days.

    8) Chapter #55 The Merciful has 355 words.

    9) The above sum of the repeated verse positions (1433) thus points to the Islamic year 1433 AH and every word in chapter #55 points to a day in 1433 AH.

    10) The repeated verse consists of 4 words and is repeated 31 times. That implies there would be 31 events each lasting 4 days.

    11) In 4 days, any external event would sweep the Earth along a single latitude 4 times.

    12) The 31 event latitudes are the same as the repeated verse positions (13...77) since they sit exactly in the middle of the range of latitudes (0˚...90˚). From 0 to 13 is 13 and from 77 to 90 is 13 too.

    14) A latitude is about 110km wide so not all places within a danger latitude would be destroyed. Places of worship regardless of religion flavor most likely will be spared to show that we all worship the same ONE GOD, The Creator and Sustainer of all worlds!

    15) The survivors would unite and submit to the Will of GOD and start rebuilding Earth with total love and selflessness guided by the Final Testament, The Quran.
    PRINT TABLE IN CASE WE LOSE THE GRID-----------------------------------        (God Permitting) -----------------------------------2012 Event Latitudes and Dates-----------------------------------13˚ 2012-01-07 ― 2012-01-1016˚ 2012-01-22 ― 2012-01-2518˚ 2012-01-30 ― 2012-02-0221˚ 2012-02-10 ― 2012-02-1323˚ 2012-02-18 ― 2012-02-2125˚ 2012-02-28 ― 2012-03-0228˚ 2012-03-13 ― 2012-03-1630˚ 2012-03-27 ― 2012-03-3032˚ 2012-04-04 ― 2012-04-0734˚ 2012-04-24 ― 2012-04-2736˚ 2012-05-06 ― 2012-05-0938˚ 2012-05-16 ― 2012-05-1940˚ 2012-05-28 ― 2012-05-3142˚ 2012-06-07 ― 2012-06-1045˚ 2012-06-22 ― 2012-06-2547˚ 2012-07-01 ― 2012-07-0449˚ 2012-07-07 ― 2012-07-1051˚ 2012-07-14 ― 2012-07-1753˚ 2012-07-23 ― 2012-07-2655˚ 2012-08-05 ― 2012-08-0857˚ 2012-08-18 ― 2012-08-2159˚ 2012-08-25 ― 2012-08-2861˚ 2012-09-03 ― 2012-09-0663˚ 2012-09-10 ― 2012-09-1365˚ 2012-09-15 ― 2012-09-1867˚ 2012-09-22 ― 2012-09-2569˚ 2012-09-30 ― 2012-10-0371˚ 2012-10-07 ― 2012-10-1073˚ 2012-10-15 ― 2012-10-1875˚ 2012-10-25 ― 2012-10-2877˚ 2012-11-04 ― 2012-11-07-----------------------------------−89/+67 days due to calendar errors.

    More free useful information at www.heliwave.com including free book, presentation, and software to check the danger level of your own city.

    Be a guiding light, spread the message now especially to people near latitude 13˚ (12.5˚ ― 13.5˚).

    And GOD knows better and controls everything in real-time.

    Ali AdamsGod > infinitywww.heliwave.com---------------------------------------------------- 

  • Ali Adams

    Peace to all,

    Please check this new evidence from the Islamic holy book "The Quran" which clearly points to 31 events from Jan to Nov 2012 each lasting 4 days.

    Here is the link: www.heliwave.com

    Please don't ignore and I am available for discussion/interview anytime.

    Thank you,

    Ali Adams
    God > infinity

  • Deekoo

    Were any of the scientists interpreting "the increasing number of natural disasters in recent years as evidence of a catastrophic climax of events in 2012." able to keep a straight face while doing so?

    The end of the long count calendar is no different than the change from 1999 to 19100 was, and a planet massive enough to cause meaningful perturbations to Earth in 2012 should already be perturbing the positions of other planets in their orbits. Personally, I would worry more about preparing for the day when R'lyeh rises from the murky depths and Cthulhu's spawn once more walk among humanity.

  • Niveavanessa85

    I own the book and it is a life changing piece of property. There is alot of information( I'm talkin''bout some real s--t).Discussing my readings with my 'people' was one thing, but actually taking in what you read and literally doing something for our world is something else. It is up to us to actually take the first step, or like it was for me, making sure I stood up tall before I could even begin to think about taking a breath to help me take that first step...I hope you catch my drift. We live in a mavelous and beautiful world and we must be at peace with the world. We must not let the world give for no reason. Let's appreciate and thank the world. It is our world and we must change in order to let 'our world' live. the world must live to give us life!- nivea vanessa

  • Jrayski

    I am a bit dissapointed that no one mentions the real 2012 (the atrological date) has already happened on 23 XII 2007. That is because of a five year mistake in the calendar we use (the mayan calendar was more exact) because when moving the churche's capitol from Rome to Vatican ( during pope's John the !st rule) they skipped a couple thousand of those special years (every four years that february differs one day)

  • Nik Warrensson

    The whole idea is stupid crap and I'll be reminding people on 23 December 2012 of the silly nonsense that they talked about 2012.

    On the 22 December 2012 I'll be sitting outside in the New Zealand summer sun laughing at the gullible fools that were taken in by this load of utter tripe.

  • Anti-christ

    The clue is in the title: Science or Superstition.
    But there’s not much sign of science here.
    Science is based on empirical evidence, but most people seem to ignore this when expounding their beliefs.

    I challenge anybody to present evidence of the existence of this so called Planet X.
    Yes, I know the conspiracy theorists will say that all evidence of Niburu has been hushed up by the New World Order, Illuminati, Freemasons, or Girl Scouts. But there are enough amateur astronomers out there with increasingly better and more affordable equipment, and all with access to the web, yet still no hard proof of this mysterious planet.
    And bear in mind that a 10 year old girl only recently found a supernova 240 million light years away. Or is everybody with a telescope in on the conspiracy?
    Google Planet X or Nibiru and all you get are New Age and Paranormal sites
    claiming its existence as ”accepted science”. But I’ve not found a single scientific site confirming that.
    One author quoting other authors unsupported statements does not constitute accepted science.
    A translation of a 2500 year old text is just that, a translation. Nothing more, nothing less. It doesn’t make the contents of that translation a fact even if the translation is word and concept perfect; therefore any supposition based on that flawed “accepted science” is likely to be even more severely flawed.

    Then there are the solar flares. The resultant radiation won’t be any worse than the Solar Max of 1958, so why would it affect human consciousness now?
    And what the hell is human consciousness anyhow? And why would it be affected by solar radiation?

    And disasters have always happened and always will. That doesn’t signify the end of the world. Sure, there may be more man made disasters due to increased global commercial exploitation, but there’s no evidence of an increase in natural disasters.
    Just over a generation ago a major earthquake on the other side of the world might get a 2 inch column in a national paper a couple of days later, making it seem pretty abstract. Whereas today someone with a cell phone is always there, so we get to see it on CNN before the dust settles, and on live full screen HD the tragedy is so much more tangible.
    Not so much a case of more disasters, just better reported disasters perhaps?

    Belief is not fact people. Belief doesn’t require logic, whereas science demands it.

  • Aastha Tandon

    it was really intresting 2 know dat much about 2012 thanxx 4 d post

  • Big Softy

    The Mayans knew enough to predict the end of the world, but not enough to predict the arrival of the conquistadors.
    Yeah, right.
    It'll be fun hearing all the pathetic excuses in 2013 from Shaman et al explaining how our world, and the Sirians, was only saved by intervention from the Divine Golden Unicorn and his Omnipotent Jism or some other such bullshine.

  • Thecalling418

    Dear Human Family: If we write-in Aleister Crowley as president in 2012 in the US (or anywhere there is democracy), we inevitably raise the consciousness of the masses merely by bringing the attention of the people to the "Word of the Law" of this Aeon, "THELEMA", a Greek word that means "will"; it signifies the law of the present age "DO WHAT THOU WILT SHALL BE THE WHOLE OF THE LAW", the nature of which law is further expressed as: "Love is the law, love under will". Beets the hell out of electing some douch-bag puppet of the slave-gods and their barbaric agenda, if you ask me. . . Check out www.ac2012.com for more info. This is not a fucking joke, it is the potential means of an ACTUAL revolution. 93s!

  • Sir Ewok

    He's been dead since 1947, but then, so was George W Bush .

  • AleisterCrowley2012

    As long as the world is ending in December 2012, why not elect Aleister Crowley that November to be President of the U.S.?

    Check out the website: ac2012.com

  • Nik Warrensson

    Because Aleister Crowley died 1 December 1947 it makes it quite difficult to elect him to any position at all.

  • Aleister Crowley 2012

    Even dead, he's a better choice than any of the current contenders! Check out the link above where the reasons for this are explained with great humor and fun!

  • Shpoongled

    I hope Saddam will walk the earth again?

  • Sir Ewok

    So do I and I hope he stops at your house first....... Brains! Me still Hungry!

  • austintexasresident

    saw the film on netflix. loved it!! it truly gave a lot of different perspectives. thanks for putting that together. :D

  • Redaction

    There is no doubt that Graham Hancock has developed what is a kind of cognitive disorder, another 'doomsday scenario' based on ancient calendars and prophesies.
    Niels Bohr's adage applies to this kind of delusional mindset: "Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future."
    Hancock's book 'Fingerprints of the Gods' (the title aptly summarizes his theory) has many flaws, both as to false premises and lack of logical thinking. According to him, the earth is supposedly about to develop such a huge mass of ice at the poles that its outer layer will 'slip' round and cause a catastrophe and reorientation of the poles. This is amateur science indeed, besides which the ice at both poles is decreasing!

  • Dan Mac

    The Mayans had science. But no one who translates their calendar ending to "The End Time" has science. With that said, there are interesting prophesies from the far reaches of the world that seem to point to a time that looks a lot like now. Of course, by now none should need ancient prophecies to predict we are on the threshold of momentous transformation. Just just look to the sky. Look anywhere. Listen. Feel. Sniff the air. Prepare. We are going with the Mayans.

  • Nik Warrensson

    "Prepare. We are going with the Mayans."

    Why didn't the 'Mayans' predict their own culture's demise?

  • Garnetgirl04

    i'm doing a project on this topic and whether or not it's true. ill check out the movie and the book and comment back on what i think.

  • Alexandra Bruce

    Dear Garnet Girl, please by all means do so and comment when you're done. I think you'll find that the topic is more than an "it" because it touches on virtually everything.

  • Earthcat

    Why no Carl Calleman. These things always suffer when Carl is not present.

  • Shaman

    Sorry to be away so long. Just wanted to clarify the puzzle. The geomantic dots were in a pie slice shape (triangle. There were 3 rows. Row 1 was 4 dots. Row 2 was 3 dots and row 3 was 2 dots. The dots adding up to 432. The circle representing the universe or solar system or perhaps houses and astrology. The number 432 can mean many different things including perfect harmonics of sound at 432hz. A reference to the many meanings of 432 www.carnaval.com/432/ The square root of the speed of light The 9:00 position is the time it occurs in correlation to the 9:00 position of the zodiac house or longitude or latitude. This also is the end time of the age of Pisces and the beginning of the age of Aquarius.

  • shadowalker

    dear shaman,
    just wanted to point you to another website discussing the meanings of 432 and 2012 together, along with many other associations. it is www.greatdreams.com/432...

  • Nwtracker

    I refuse to stop driving my car because the odometer is going to turn over. The knowledge that nothing is owned, but only borrowed is pretty plain. Anyone who reads this is only a visitor, to the website, to the planet and universe.

    Just enjoy, don't add to the tummult, and smile. I t will add to your face value.

  • Adk

    NATURE IS GOD

    I strongly feel nothing but the nature is controlling all the events around us. It gives clues to us, which we can only understand or sometimes others by

    deep pshychic abilities. It is important to look into nature and the event at that particular moment to understand its cause and effect. This has been

    realized by many in past and they gave it a name superstition because they were not able to find a link between the objects and the cause but can see only

    the effects.

    Example: If a person think that wearing blue t-shirt will help to win competition then it is the natures way of telling him and giving him clue of upcoming

    event and once he has control to understand it then his confidence will rise and he will definitely win. Nature gives clues to us according to our

    subconscious mind understanding..for example 13 is considered unlucky by few and not by others..so nature signals 13 as bad only to those, who believes at

    their subconscious level it as bad.

    superstitions is the way nature reads your subconscious mind and gives you signals to perform a certain act which may be illogical for others but it only

    makes sense to you. This shows a person's more control over understanding his talks at conscious and subconscious levels with nature.

    This cannot be measured that in what kind of people superstitions are foud more but it comes true more to the people, whom nature wants to protect and save

    more from a hazardous event. So as i saide nature is GOD, it will try to protect you in some way and it will interact with your subconscious level and gives

    you signals which you and you may only understand and are illogical for others.

    A person is always very confident when he doesn't understand the nature's role in his life and more in unawareness form but as he started realizing nature's

    role and impact on him, his confidence gets converted into a faith on some supernatiral powers and that' why we see more wiser people in chirches, temples

    and mosques than immature people. A person become superstitions by more awareness of self and nature.

    Again a person's thinking of lucky and unlucky is made by nature as i said nature supports few to reach their goals and not all. It doesnot mean that nature

    descriminates but it means that it supports the event and not the person but we take as that person is lucky and others are unlcucky but the truth is, it is

    the event which important and lucky or unlucky and not the person. For example, if a person wins a race and other person loses it that means that, at the

    particular event that is the only thing which is beneficial from all aspects of natures calculation.

    You have a pupose for yourself and nature has a purpose for you, when both the purpose matches we call ourselves lucky and if not unlucky but the truth is we

    are lucky all the times because natures peupose is more important and for more benefits and is always supersedes our own purpose.

    Nature calculates the event based on time and therefore time plays a very very crucial role. Therefore it is said if your time has not come, you will not die

    but if it has come, noone can stop you from dying. This effect of has also been realized in all religions and in history. So here i am bound to say that time

    is more powerful than nature(god) because is the time which nature reads and cause an effect on you and on an event. Many times man has tried to read this

    time accurately but is no easy game and once mastered can beat nature.

    More than self affirmation, it is important to try to read your subconscious mind at all levels to understand is functioning and is correlation with the

    nature for happy and peaceful life. Therefor many people remain happy in all obstacles because they understand natures cause and effect.

    write to www.adkmarketing.com for all your queries if you find the above post helpful.

  • Sir Ewok

    There is no God and wearing 'Lucky' pants may have a psychological boost, but otherwise does no good at all. Nature is an unfeeling force that makes things grow or wither and die. God, Gaia or any other twaddle has no place in a modern world. If there wa such a thing/person as God and he is supposed to be out Father, then he is the epitome of the absent parent. Who would allow their children to play with matches (nuclear weapons) or fight each other in bloody wars (sibling rivalry). A good (God) parent should love & nurture His/Her children & not leave them to run wild.....

  • Danie Tanaka the PixieNixie

    I just realized that in 2012: Science or Superstition the web bot predicted a "major global coastal event" and think how odd that the oil spill has most definitely been that event. Hm. Its just another weird happening in life I suppose!

  • World Space Organization

    Any of us would be delusional to suggest that there won't be disaster happening in the near future. The sun has entered a new stormy stage, says NASA, and global warming, a possible meteorite or planet x passing, and the precession of the equinoxes and galactic alignment may tip the scale. A Crust displacement theory is p

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