“Prophecies” & Profits
Unfortunately for both the New Agers and the doomsayers the facts don't actually support their claims. Most claims regarding 2012 stem from Morley's interpretation of the Dresden Codex and Coe's comments regarding. However, as was mentioned above, there is actually no date that corresponds to the last page of the Codex, which is the one that contains the “prophecy.” As the Dresden Codex dealt primarily with agriculture it is more likely that this page depicts an event that has already occurred, or possibly even seasonal flooding. However, even if it is supposed to depict a future event, there is no way to know whether or not it is connected to the 13th baktun.
The other major source for claims surrounding 2012 is the Popol Vuh. As I stated previously this was from the post-Colonial period. This is a major factor as Mayan beliefs began to drastically change after the arrival of the Spanish. This is most apparent in the Chilam Balam books, which were used to convert the Maya to Christianity. The Chilam Balam are also well known for their prophecies, such as the arrival of the white man, but they have clearly been influenced by Christian beliefs and do not reflect traditional Maya cosmology. I say this because the belief in multiple worlds does not seem to exist among the Maya prior to the Popol Vuh (Normark, 2010). For example, on Coba Stela 1, the date of the creation of the universe is placed at 13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.0.0.0.0, which is several trillion years before the start of the Long Count and it makes no reference to different worlds. Furthermore, we can see from the use of Difference Numbers that the Maya never expected the Long Count to end. We have certain inscriptions that extend past a piktun (20 baktun) and correspond to dates thousands of years in the future.
This brings us to claims from actual Maya regarding their “prophecies.” First is Hunbatz Men. When he began to support Arguelles' work it seemed to add a shot of credibility to the field. Unfortunately for Arguelles Hunbatz Men was a Yucatec Mayan. To most this statement won't mean anything, but it is very important when considering the claims of Aguelles and Hunbatz Men. Most people assume the Long Count was in widespread use throughout the Mayan empire. This isn't true though. It was only in use by Mayans in Central America, primarily Guatemala. As a Yucatec Mayan Hunbatz Men would have no tradition of the Long Count and thus no prophecies associated with it. We also run into problems with Don Alejandro. Prior to a 1998 trip by Ian Lungold to visit Don Alejandro he made no claims regarding 2012. However, on this trip Lungold read Don Alejandro excerpts from Jenkins' Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 book. Following this even is when Don Alejandro began making “prophecies” the quoted almost word for word from Jenkins' book. These two events then set a precedence where a 2012 “researcher” would visit a Mayan elder and tell them about either their work or the work of someone else. The elder would then start making “prophecies” incorporating what they were told and then other “researchers” would quote them saying that these were Mayan beliefs. This has led to a lot of missourced claims and a complete fabrication of Mayan cosmology (Normark, 2011; Jenkins, 2009).
If we then look at the claims of celestial alignments, it becomes quickly apparent that there aren't any on December 21, 2012. First we'll look at the claims of planetary alignments. Much like the claims surrounding Elenin there have been claims that a planetary alignment on the 13th baktun will cause mass devastation. However, there are no planetary alignments that occur on that date (Morrison, 2010). To further show how ridiculous this claim is, there were multi-planet alignments that occurred in 2000 and 2010 with nothing happening (Cessna, 2009b). Next there's Jenkins' claim about an alignment with the galactic center. While one could argue that the Sun will be aligned with the galactic center on that date one could also say that it was there last year, and the year before, and the year before that, etc. It takes the Sun 36 years to stop being aligned with the galactic center and in fact it was best aligned in 1998 (Meeus, 1997). The final celestial alignment claim is that the solar system with pass through the galactic plane on this date. Once again this just isn't true. First, it takes thousands of years for the solar system to pass through the galactic plane and it can't be traced to a single day. Second, all research indicates that we passed through the galactic plane three million years ago. This means that it will be millions of more years before the solar system passes through the galactic center again (Bahcall & Bahcall, 1985).
