21 December 2012 — truth or fantasy?

Update: May 2022

As we reported in our article published nearly ten years ago (see below), the "pole shift in our collective consciousness" predicted to begin on 21 December 2012 by many New Age 'prophets', failed to materialise.

This is no surprise to us. What is surprising, though sadly not unexpected, is that as we update this article for the third time in May 2022, several more groups of lunatics are predicting that Jesus will return in 2030, 2033 or possibly 2040. When we previously revised this note in July 2017, it was confidently predicted that the 'Second Coming' would occur on 23 September 2017 when the Jewish New Year coincides with the entry of the Sun into the zodiacal sign of Libra. As we now know that didn't happen either.

Previous predictions were that 'Armageddon' would occur in 2020 and that 'Rapture' would definitely arrive in 2021. More failed prophecies. Never mind, better luck in 2026 when, we are confidently assured, the world will be destroyed by an asteroid. Even Christians have climbed onto this ever-popular bandwagon, some of whom are predicting a 'second coming' in that year. So take your pick, stock up on canned goods and find yourself a cosy cave or cellar! If only all the energy that is expended on this and similar past 'non-events' by millions throughout the world were directed into practising the simple message of "LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR" taught more than 2,000 years ago we would already be IN a 'Golden Age' and there would be no need for a 'second coming', Armageddon or 'Rapture'. Sadly, that message of Divine Love was, is, and always will be, beyond the comprehension of those who prefer fantasy to the simplicity of Truth.

Our original article, first published on 8 October 2012, follows below.

It is popularly claimed by many New Age followers that 21 December 2012 will trigger a "pole shift in our collective consciousness" and usher in a new "golden age" of "self-realisation", "Truth", "Unity Consciousness" and "Great Love."

This and many similar mysterious pronouncements by self-appointed "Mayan Elders", "Wisdom keepers", "Tibetan Masters" and other pretenders to spiritual knowledge and wisdom, are being swallowed wholesale by thousands of seekers despite the fact that there is no astronomical, historical or occult scientific evidence to support such claims. As we update this page on 21 November 2012—just a month before the predicted event, there are now more than a billion webpages devoted to this subject. Sadly, most of them simply repeat and re-hash the same misinformation, fantasies and scare-mongering. As we discuss elsewhere on this site, so very few who are interested in the 'occult' are seeking Truth. Most prefer fantasy and 'thrills', whatever form these may take, to the age-old Wisdom taught by such genuine Masters as Jesus, Buddha and Krishna.

It is for the very few who are sincerely seeking Truth that we have written this article on the 2012 phenomenon, in the hope that it may dispel the mass of misinformation now being spewed forth by every Tom, Dick and Sally, eager to hitch a ride on this non-event for their own questionable purposes. Let us look at the facts:

21 December 2012 merely marks the close of Baktun 13. A Baktun was one of several Maya time periods consisting of 144,000 days, or roughly 394 years. Moreover, several Maya texts refer to dates beyond Baktun 13. One of these is an inscription commissioned in the 7th century by King Pacal of Palenque which predicts that the anniversary of his accession would be celebrated on 15 October 4772 A.D. It seems rather disingenuous and pointless of the Maya to go to the trouble of recording a future event if the world were to end some 2,760 years before the predicted party!

The curator of Latin American Art and Archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, recently stated that "We have no record or knowledge that (the Maya) would think the world would come to an end in 2012". In 2007, Sandra Noble, the executive director of the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies made the same point rather more bluntly when she said "The 2012 phenomenon is a complete fabrication and a chance for a lot of people to cash in". Sadly, raising cash rather than 'consciousness' has always been the primary motivation of the multitude of self-appointed 'masters of the mysterious' who prey upon the gullibility of the untutored and inexperienced mystic. Or perhaps we should call them 'snake-oil salesmen and women', for they have more in common with these hucksters than many seekers realise and employ much the same methods.

Some of the more extreme advocates of the 2012 phenomenon also predict a catastrophic alignment of planets on 21 December. Yet no such alignment will occur as anyone can verify for themselves by consulting Raphael's Astronomical Ephemeris of the Planets Places for 2012. Truly, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and there are none so dangerous as those who use pseudo-science to construct elaborate fantasies with which to exploit the spiritual hunger of the uninstructed seeker.

Ancient Wisdom versus New Age fantasy

What do the Maya themselves say about this non-event? Nothing—nothing at all! There is no mention of it in any of the sacred books of the Quiché Maya, such as the Popol Vuh and the Book of Chilam Balam. Nor do the ancient Egyptian Pyramid texts and the Book of the Dead have anything to say about this supposed 'great planetary transformation.' You will not find a single reference to it in the writings of the ancient Chinese Sages whose astronomical observations and predictions go back more than 6,000 years. Nor do Lao Tzu, Confucius, Mencius, and other Chinese philosophers mention this supposed 'Divine Intervention'. The same is true of the Vedas and Upanishads of India. Plato and Socrates are strangely silent on this "once in a 26,000 year event", and Hermes, the thrice-great Egyptian Master, does not mention it at all. And so we could go on mentioning one historical source and True Sage after another—REAL 'Wisdom keepers' who understood the sublime Truths of Life—unlike the present generation of colourful charlatans whose half-baked New Age speculations would make the least of the students of these great philosophers blush with shame.

Mankind is not going to turn over a new spiritual leaf on 21 December 2012. Alien super-beings or Angels (take your pick) are not about to beam the chosen few to "paradise", nor is an invisible planet headed our way to play pinball with the earth and hurl it (and those of us who have not been chosen for 'Rapture') into a new orbit. Moreover, there is nothing new in any of these chimerical claims and fatuous fantasies. In 1990 the self-styled mouthpiece of the so-called 'Ascended Masters', Elizabeth Clare Prophet, predicted the world would be destroyed by nuclear war in 1990. In 1997 the deluded followers of one Marshall Applewhite committed mass suicide in Southern California in the belief that comet Hale-Bopp was the herald of a spacecraft that would waft them to a higher plane of existence. And who can forget the many thousands duped by Harold Camping only last year when this farcical fanatic predicted that the world would end on 21 October 2011? Truly, we live in an age when many seekers will believe almost anything, no matter how implausible or fantastic, provided it is dressed up in mystical language and sugared with promises of instant enlightenment and shortcuts to knowledge and what they think are 'occult powers'.

Cycles of Light and Darkness

Let us leave these purveyors of fantasy and turn to the Wisdom of ancient Egypt. In those days there were some truly enlightened men and women who knew the secret cycles of Light and Darkness which sweep across this sorely-troubled earth at the behest of the Creator of All. The Egyptian Masters wrote about four successive ages during which spirituality gradually DECLINES. This knowledge trickled down to Roman times, where we find the poet Ovid, writing about the four Ages of Gold, Silver, Brass and Iron. In the Vishnu Purana Ovid's age of iron is called the 'Kali Yug', or Black Age, which began in 3102 BC and will last for 432,000 years. In that book we may read: "In the Kali Age goodness and piety will decrease day by day...until the human race approaches its annihilation." Already, many of the predictions made in that book have come to pass, such as: "There will be kings of churlish spirit, violent tempers, ever addicted to falsehood and ruthless deeds; strangers to truth and mercy...(who) will inflict death upon women and children, and upon all the innocent of heart. They will lay the burden of unbearable taxes and confiscations upon their subjects—but their ministers will be exempt, and thrive for a while under their incompetent and ruthless masters."

You can read more about the Kali Yug in the True Gospel of Chrishna-Jeseus, published in full on this website. All this suggests that rather than being on the threshold of a new era of spiritual enlightenment, there are another 426,866 years to go before the full horrors of this cycle of test and trial come to an end! Are we not all familiar with the many devilish scientific discoveries for the destruction of human life, health and happiness that menace the world? Of the wars that rage incessantly across the globe, the grinding poverty of millions, the rampant materialism and consumerism, invasion of individual privacy, erosion of freedom, justice and the increasing totalitarianism of governments?

This is not to say that the Kali Yug or Black Age, is one long descent into darkness and chaos. Just as a miserable day may have its lighter moments, so too, do the great cycles of Light and Darkness have their peaks and troughs. We have only to think of the great outpouring of Divine genius in the works of such masters as Mozart, Beethoven, Milton, Dante and Shakespeare to see this. But not until the advent of the Krita Yuga, or cycle of Purity and Truth, will the longed-for "golden age" once again descend upon this sorely-troubled earth. Only then shall "...all the men of wisdom...behold again the glories of the earth—and turn their minds to Heaven!" as you may also read in The True Gospel of Chrishna-Jeseus mentioned above.

Spiritual Truths

Of course, each one of us is free to dismiss such evidence, discount the wisdom of the Ages, and swallow the fantasy of the modern prophets who confidently predict that 21 December 2012 will usher in a "pole shift in our collective consciousness". As if a magician of Cosmic proportions were to wave a magic wand and sweep away all greed, fear, selfishness, bigotry and ignorance at a stroke! Are we really so naive? Common sense should tell us that such a massive change in consciousness can only come about gradually. Instant enlightenment is the woolly-headed pipe dream of the spiritually inept and constitutionally lazy seeker who expects the great Truths of Life to fall into his or her lap like ripe plums. Others long to be rescued from the challenges of their earthly existence by alien supermen or 'Angel-Guides' who will magically waft them up to some New Age Paradise. Presumably leaving the rest of us to stew in our own wickedness due to our lack of faith in their mad fantasies. What a senseless and selfish farrago of utter nonsense such beliefs are, and yet MILLIONS cling to them with fanatical faith, though perhaps "stubbornness" would be a better word for such blind optimism.

Each one of us must purify our thoughts and acts by ourselves and through our own efforts; no one can do it for us, were he or she the greatest Master who ever blessed this earth with their Holy Presence. The True Teacher can instruct and guide us, but they cannot do our thinking and acting for us, nor can they walk one step of the path to the Light for us; it is our own feet which must walk the road to Liberation and no others. For, as we may read in The Book of Fo "...Neither in the highest heavens, nor in the earth...can the spirit (Higher Self in our terminology) escape the consequences of its acts. It cannot be forgiven. It must purify itself. It cannot be atoned for or redeemed; It must purify itself." By 'purify' is meant divesting ourselves of the wrong ideas and fantasies which we have discussed above and embracing the Spiritual Truths taught by the great Masters and Messengers of God.

Please do not misunderstand us. We have the greatest respect for those courageous individuals, who, each in their own way, are sincerely trying to raise up the thoughts of men and women from the blind materialism in which most are embedded. But these efforts MUST be based upon a true understanding of the spiritual Truths and occult scientific Facts taught by the great Masters of the past, and not upon the fantasies and idle speculations of would-be 'Ascended Masters', self-appointed prophets and New Age psychics. Otherwise one set of illusions are simply replaced by another set, and humanity does not need any further illusions.

Afterword

If you have learned something from this article you may also like Astral Conversations, a series of 12 articles in which two occult students meet in the astral world to discuss many different subjects, including magic, masters, false teachers, conspiracy theories, the illuminati, aliens, planet 'x', 'Ascension', 'Breatharianism' and 'DNA activation', consciousness, dreams, life after death, Tibetan magic, Shamans, drugs, channeling, Wicca, witchcraft, paganism, the tarot, fate versus free will, necromancy, heaven and hell, and much more. These articles are also available as a printed book.

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The True Teacher

The prevailing view among many seekers, particularly those who follow so-called "New Age" teachings, is that one can progress in occult and mystical studies without a true guide or genuine teacher.

This is one of those statements which contains some truth, but is neither universally true, nor applicable to all seekers. It is certainly possible to make considerable progress in occult studies and achieve a certain degree of enlightenment on one's own, but there comes a point for all students when further progress is impossible without guidance from a True Teacher or Master.

Those of you who have made a deep study of the teachings of the Masters and Initiates of the past, such as Jesus, Gautama Buddha, Pythagoras and Plato, will know that we state the truth. Those who have not studied in this way must take our word for this. If we do examine the lives of these great Sages of the past we shall find that in every case they had their Masters too. And we if trace this lineage back far enough we discover that the first Master was either God...or the devil! That is to say that every true Teacher receives their knowledge from either the Light OR the darkness. The one leading to liberation and illumination and the other to slavery and ignorance. Only such an illuminated Teacher can help the student to separate the true from the false in his studies and meditations, and the nearly-true from half-truths, for these are the most dangerous of all.

Many of you will be familiar with the following saying, often (wrongly) attributed to the Buddha:

"When the pupil is ready the Master will appear."

This saying is as old as man. We find variations of it in the teachings of Lao Tzu, in the Upanishads and in the Bible. But who knows what it really means? What is a 'Master', how can we recognise him or her and what does it mean to be 'ready'? We should say ready to be taught and ready to UNlearn, for the two do not necessarily go together. There are very many mystics who say they want to learn Truth, but when we examine their true desires we invariably find that what they really want is to have their pet fancies, speculations and fantasies confirmed, just as the misguided believers in the 2012 phenomenon would like the world to be magically transformed into a spiritual paradise.

So many seekers are unwilling to divest themselves of their preconceptions, speculations and misconceptions and embrace Truth. They are not 'ready', and we may say unworthy of contacting a True Teacher, for their minds are closed to the simplicity of Truth and Wisdom. An accurate and true portrait of just such a seeker is given in Zanoni—Edward Bulwer-Lytton's famous occult novel of the 19th Century. In it we may read exactly what happens to those who approach the occult with impure desires and minds cluttered with misconceptions of what they THINK is occult knowledge and power (see Letter from a Master to his pupil).

Only those who think more of their inner condition than of their earthly personalities can be said to be ready for the Master, whether this is a True Teacher, or the True Teachings. In The Golden Star we may read: "Ignorance; the dawn of reason; intellect; the dawn of real understanding, or initiation; and finally Wisdom; these are the five steps which raise the man from brute to spirit. There are many intermediate stages, such as fear, doubt, superstition, dogma, fanaticism; each and every one of which has to be fought and overcome before the Light is reached."

That Light is the Master and the Master is that Light, if he or she be a True Teacher of the Eternal Verities. For the unready that Light is darkness, nor would the arrival of a Master help them for they lack the higher awareness to recognise and know him.

We may sum up the qualifications needed to be 'ready' in the words of H. P. Blavatsky: "A clean life, an open mind, a pure heart, an eager intellect, an unveiled spiritual perception, brotherliness for one's co-disciple, a readiness to give and receive advice and instruction, a loyal sense of duty to the Teacher, a willing obedience to the behests of Truth, once we have placed our confidence in, and believe the Teacher to be in possession of it; a courageous endurance of personal injustice, a brave declaration of principles, a valiant defence of those who are unjustly attacked, and a constant eye to the ideal of human progress and perfection, as revealed to us by our Teacher. These are the golden steps by which the sincere seeker may climb to the Temple of Divine Wisdom."

Simple, isn't it? It is this very simplicity which is the great stumbling-block for so many seekers after 'Masters'. You can read more about real, genuine Masters in the commentary to our article about Tibetan Lamas: the cult of the Masters., in our occult studies in our article about The Occult Student and in a 'Letter from a Master to his pupil' which has been taken from Zanoni, an occult novel by Bulwer-Lytton.

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