by Gary Daniels
In November 2007 another asteroid named 2007 VK187 was also discovered to be on a collision course with Earth with a possible impact date on June 3, 2048. In January 2011 yet another asteroid named 2011 AG5 was found to be on a possible collision course with earth. Its expected impact date is February 5, 2040. Thus a total of three asteroids have a chance of slamming into earth during the 2032-2052 katun period. Worse still, what if the unthinkable happened and they all impacted earth during this time period?
The effects of an Apophis impact alone would be profound. According to astronomers Victor Clube and Bill Napier in the book Cosmic Winter, such an event would throw Earth into a global winter no matter where it struck and devastate thousands of square kilometers. But projected impact locations for 99942 Apophis include both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has noted if the asteroid struck the Pacific it would create megatsunamis that would vaporize the entire west coast of North America.[28] If it struck the Atlantic Ocean, the mega tsunami would wipe out the entire east coast of the U.S. as well as the coastal areas in West Africa, South America, and Western Europe. The mega tsunami would travel miles inland destroying everything in its path then washing everything out to sea. Future archaeologists would find little to prove a civilization ever existed in these locations. As scientist Mike Baillie noted:
“If Apophis hits the earth the impact will be in the 3000-megaton class. It is entirely reasonable to state that such an impact, taking place anywhere on the planet, would collapse our current civilization and return the survivors, metaphorically speaking, to the Dark Ages (it is believed that in such an event globalised institutions, such as the financial and insurance markets would collapse, bringing down the entire interconnected monetary, trade and transport systems).”[29]
Possible impact locations of asteroid Apophis in 2036
Combined with the financial collapse and Peak Oil, could the world much less America survive such a series of catastrophes? It would tax the world's resources in the best of times yet in the midst of a collapsing global financial system it seems improbable the world could pull itself back together. This could be a perfect storm of catastrophes that the developed world would be hard pressed to survive.
Yet the undeveloped world would actually fare better though not by much. Tribal communities around the globe who are already self-sufficient and not dependent on technology or global trade would feel little impact from the financial meltdown in the developed world. They would still herd their cattle and goats, grow their crops, gather their firewood and live their lives unaware that the world outside their small village had ceased to exist. The climate downturn would impact their ability to grow crops and may impact the food supply for their herds but they would still be able to hunt and gather.
Humans have survived such instances of cosmic catastrophe before. As Plato noted in his Timaeus and Critias:
“There have been, and will be again, many destructions of mankind arising out of many causes; the greatest have been brought about by the agencies of fire and water, and other lesser ones by innumerable other causes.
There is a story, which even you have preserved, that once upon a time Phaethon, the son of Helios, having yoked the steeds in his father’s chariot, because he was not able to drive them in the path of his father, burnt up all that was upon the earth, and was himself destroyed by a thunderbolt. Now this has the form of a myth, but really signifies a declination of the bodies moving in the heavens around the earth, and a great conflagration of things upon the earth, which recurs after long intervals;...
Whereas just when you and other nations are beginning to be provided with letters and the other requisites of civilized life, after the usual interval, the stream from heaven, like a pestilence, comes pouring down, and leaves only those of you who are destitute of letters and education; and so you have to begin all over again like children, and know nothing of what happened in ancient times...”
It should be remembered that Plato wrote this over 2500 years ago around 300 BC. It should also be remembered that modern science didn't accept the fact that rocks fell from the sky until the 1800s. Furthermore, it was not until the 20th century that we discovered that these rocks could wipe out life on earth and that they impacted Earth at seemingly regular intervals. Thus how did Plato arrive at the same exact conclusions 2500 years before modern science? The only way is if his account was based on actual records from similar catastrophes in the past, which is exactly what he claimed. Plato stated his knowledge of these events came from records kept by priests in Egypt.
Just as the Plato story describes, western civilization has just acquired the requisites of civilized life and now possibly faces the stream from heaven that will pour down and end it all and only those “who are destitute of letters and education,” i.e, those living in tribal villages unconnected with the modern world will survive with only vague ideas about life outside their village. Thus only legends and myths will survive about our civilization and, as human nature seems to dictate, these legends and myths will be discounted as superstitious nonsense by the most educated of some future civilization until they, too, come face to face with a similar catastrophe.
Or perhaps the world will combine its resources and launch some means to deflect the asteroid from its current Earth-crossing orbit. And if successful, perhaps this near-death experience will have profound effects on civilization and help us to see how fragile civilization and life are...and how special too. Such awareness would certainly lead to greater cooperation among the nations, ushering in a whole new era in civilization. For a time at least.
This concludes my interpretation of some of the Mayan prophecies as recorded in their prophetic books of Chilam Balam. But these are not the only prophecies associated with 2012. In fact, one final Mayan prophecy discovered by archaeologists carved into a monument at the Tortuguero site in Mexico specifically mentions the date December 21, 2012 and events expected to happen on or near this date. And the predictions are not good for civilization, as we know it. But before we can properly decode and understand this prophecy we must first dive deeper into Mayan religion and mythology to build a solid base of knowledge from which to interpret this ancient text.
III. Beyond 2012
7. Quest for the Truth about 2012 and BeyondAs mentioned in Part 1, chapter 3, “Predictions for Katun 4 Ahau (1993-2012),” in August 2004 a new green comet was discovered and named Comet Machholz. Astronomers calculated the orbital period of comet Machholz as 12,500 years meaning the last time it had visited Earth was in 10,500 BC. At that time geologists have noted Earth experienced a series of unimaginable catastrophes that included a great worldwide flood from glacial melt water, extensive continent-wide forest fires, a mass extinction that killed off the mammoths, mastodons and other Ice Age mega-fauna, the disappearance of North America’s stone age inhabitants known as the Clovis Culture, and the end of a period of rapid global warming and the return of Ice Age conditions that would last a thousand years.
Coincidentally, since the return and discovery of Comet Machholz in August 2004 Earth has experienced some of the most severe storms and earthquakes in recorded history. Some of the most severe space weather including the most powerful solar flares and gamma ray bursts in recorded history also occurred since 2004. That year also had the most naked-eye visible comets ever recorded[30] which suggests an increase in the amount of space debris entering the solar system thereby increasing the odds of an impact with Earth. It was also in 2004 that NASA scientists discovered the asteroid Apophis was on a collision course with Earth.[31]
Climate scientists have predicted that due to global warming these severe weather events will only get worse in the future. Space weather scientists say the sun appears to have entered a new period of increased activity. Geologists have noted there has been an increase in major earthquakes along the Pacific Plate since 2004 and they also expect more of the same in the future.[32]
Is this all a coinci
dence or are these events part of a natural, predictable cycle that happens every 12,500 years and just so happens to correspond with the orbit of Comet Machholz? Were the ancient Maya aware of this cycle and did they encode it in their myths about the return of Kukulkan, a green sky serpent that devours humans, as a warning and a visible sign post in the heavens to alert when the next age of catastrophes would begin?
Does the calendar date of December 21, 2012, mark the end of our rather quiet and peaceful epoch and the beginning of a new age of catastrophes similar to those that befell Earth in 10,500 BC? Mayan predictions do not end in 2012. As noted in Part 1, chapter 5, “Predictions for Katun 13 Ahau (2032-2052),” their most dire predictions for civilization were reserved for the years 2032-2052 which eerily correspond with NASA estimates that the asteroid Apophis has a chance of hitting Earth on Friday, April 13, 2037 and the asteroid 2011 AG5 could hit in 2040.
Finally, did other ancient civilizations such as the Greeks and Egyptians also encode this information into their myths and monuments to not only warn of the impending catastrophes but also show how to survive them? Is this the reason all the great pyramids on Earth seem to be constructed over tunnels and caves and all the ancient myths recall that the survivors of the last catastrophes emerged from caves and the underworld? Could this also be why Russia is currently building an underground city the size of Washington, DC under the Ural Mountains?[33]
These are the topics that will be explored in Part 2: The Return of Kukulkan. This section will be a search for the truth about 2012 that travels around the world and back through time to uncover the scientific truths behind some of mankind’s most ancient myths.
Once again, like an ancient Mayan priest (or modern scientist), I will explore what happened in the past to better understand what may happen in the future. Using concepts from the fields of geomythology, catastrophism and neocatastrophism, I will decode the ancient myths of the Maya and others to see what they may really be trying to tell us about events in our past and hence, about similar events in our future. My findings will be backed up with hard scientific data from fields including geology, archaeology, climate science, space science, genetics, and more.
These chapters are not meant to be the definitive interpretation of these ancient myths. They are simply meant to open the reader’s mind to the possibilities that these myths are not “mythical” and perhaps encode real information about the past. Much of the strangeness of these myths simply evaporates when one can compare their details with actual events. It is at that point that they stop sounding like superstitious nonsense and start to sound like accurate eyewitness accounts of real events.
Far from being an act of “doom and gloom” scare-mongering, decoding these myths actually provides “awareness and hope.” Awareness of the fact that unimaginable catastrophes have happened in our past that could happen again in our future and hope because these myths reveal that not only are these catastrophes survivable but they give clues about how people survived.
The fact is each and every one of us is descended from ancestors who survived all of these unimaginable catastrophes throughout earth’s history. The DNA inside of you right now came from your ancestors who survived droughts, plagues, famines, wars, floods, impact events and more. You are already one of the lucky ones, one of the survivors. Whatever the future has in store can be no worse than what your ancestors have already lived through and survived. Thus keep that in mind as you read the next few chapters.
8. Comet Machholz and the Return of KukulkanAs stated in their prophetic book Chilam Balam of Chumayel, the Maya predicted that between April 6, 1993, and December 21, 2012, (a period they named Katun 4 Ahau):
“The quetzal shall come, the green bird shall come…Kukulcan shall come with them for the second time…”
Kukulcan is the Mayan name for the Aztec deity Quetzalcoatl. Both Kukulcan and Quetzalcoatl mean “feathered serpent” in their respective languages. Astronomers William Napier and Victor Clube argued in their books The Cosmic Serpent and The Cosmic Winter that sky serpents, dragons and other such mythological beings were metaphors ancient astronomers used for comets. Is there any evidence that might support such an astronomical interpretation for Quetzalcoatl?
Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent, shown devouring a human victim.
Quetzalcoatl was associated with Venus, the brightest ‘star’ in the night sky, thus we know the Maya and Aztecs believed Quetzalcoatl was a ‘star.’ (Of course we know Venus is a planet, not a star, thus it is more accurate to say they believed Quetzalcoatl was a bright light in the sky.) Strangely, early Spanish chroniclers noted that these Mexican cultures referred to Venus as “la estrella que humeava” or “the star that smoked.”[34] Likewise, they referred to a comet as “a star that smoked.” Therefore we see Venus and thus Quetzalcoatl were, indeed, associated with comets.
The other descriptions of Quetzalcoatl were that he arrived from the east, was bearded and wore a long robe, eventually departed and promised to return in the future. Does any of this symbolism also relate to comets?
In Europe comets were often referred to as “bearded stars” and modern astronomers also use the term “bearded” in reference to comets:
“...when the comet is east of the sun, and moves from him, it is said to be bearded, because the light precedes it in the manner of a beard…”[35]
It was also common to describe comets and their long tails as stars wearing long robes. For instance, on a print by Friedrick Madeweis from 1681 that documented the path of Kirch’s Comet across the sky it included a reference to the “long trailing robe”[36] of its tail.
Friedrich Madeweis illustration of Comet Kirch with text noting its “long trailing robe.”
Could the image of beards and robes combined as an old bearded man wearing a long robe be a way ancient astronomers represented comets? This seems to be the case for Quetzalcoatl. Likewise, the other elements of this myth, i.e., rising in the east, departing and returning in the future are all consistent with the interpretation of Quetzalcoatl as a comet.
Quetzalcoatl is composed of two words: quetzal + coatl. Quetzal refers to feathers and coatl refers to a snake thus the traditional translation of Quetzalcoatl is “feathered serpent.”
Yet quetzal does not simply refer to any old feathers of any old bird. Quetzal refers specifically to the bright green tail feathers of the Resplendent Quetzal bird from southern Mexico. Of all the birds the Maya and Aztecs could have used to represent Quetzalcoatl, they chose the Resplendent Quetzal. Why?
The Resplendent Quetzal, known simply as the Quetzal to Mexican peoples, is known for its brilliant green feathers. More specifically, the Quetzal is known for its long green tail feathers. The tail feathers of the Quetzal are longer than the entire body length of the bird. A bird that flies across the sky with a really long tail is a logical choice if the Maya intended to represent a comet.
Resplendant Quetzal from southern Mexico ©Kenneth Lilly/Dorling Kindersley RF/Getty Images
The Chinese also likened a comet’s tail to that of a bird’s tail feathers. The Chinese referred to comets as “long-tailed pheasant stars”[37] since pheasants had very long tail feathers. Thus it is not completely unheard of for a culture to associate a bird’s long tail feathers with the tail of a comet.
Comets can also look like a feather. On June 2, 1858 Donati’s Comet was discovered by Italian astronomer Giovanni Donati.[38] Drawings and paintings of this comet all reveal a comet whose tail had a feather-like appearance.
Illustration of feather-like appearance of Donati’s Comet over Paris in 1858.
Was the color green another important reason the Mesoamerican cultures chose the Quetzal bird or was it chosen primarily for its long comet-like tail feathers and the color was incidental? Most of the images of Quetzalcoatl portray the deity as a green serpent. Even the Aztec calendar day sign coatl was depicted as a green snake in their religious picture book, the Codex Magliabechiano[39]. Thus the color green appears to
be an important aspect of Quetzalcoatl.
Coatl glyph from Codex Magliabechiano
What are the associations for the second part of the name: coatl? In the Aztec language coatl means snake or serpent. Snakes appear to only have a head and a long tail just like a comet. Interestingly, in the Mayan language the word for snake and sky are the same. Thus Kukulkan, the Mayan name for Quetzalcoatl, has the following associations: feathered, sky, serpent.
Yet, just as quetzal did not represent any old bird, coatl did not represent just any old snake. Specifically, it represented the rattlesnake. Why would Mesoamerican cultures choose a rattlesnake to symbolize a green comet?
The Maya had one asterism, or star group, which was associated with the rattles of a rattlesnake: the Pleiades[40]. Tzab-ek, the Mayan name for this asterism, meant “rattlesnake rattles star.” Rattlesnakes were often depicted throughout Mexico with four rattles, which likely corresponded to the four brightest stars of the Pleiades. The kan suffix in Kukulkan not only means “serpent” and “sky” but also “four” which further supports this idea. This symbolism suggests the green comet is therefore associated with the Pleiades.
In the period of Katun 4 Ahau (1993-2012) were there any green comets associated with the Pleiades? Since 1993 there have been three green comets but only one was associated with the Pleiades: Comet Machholz. Comet Machholz was first discovered in August 2004 and became naked eye visible in November of that year. It reached its brightest level on January 7, 2005. At this time it also made its closest approach to the Pleiades. In fact, the tail of the comet entered the Pleiades[41] thus giving this green sky serpent its rattles! The return of Kukulkan, the green cosmic rattlesnake, appears to have occurred just as the Mayan ‘prophecies’ predicted.[*]
