Visiting the Yucatan changed my perspective on the near future, of what will happen in 2012.
Anouk in front of the Great Pyramid in Uxmal
The Maya Prophecy
We started our Maya adventure in Tulum where we visited the beautifully located Maya ruins, with ocean view. We stayed at Don Diego de la Selva where Charles took us cave diving and insisted that we passed by Coba before going to Chichen Itza via Valladolid. Charles: “Promise me to visit Coba, which is one of the least visited Maya ruins on the Yucatan Peninsula, but no less worth it. It is my personal favorite, if you are lucky, you will be alone there.”
So, of course we listened to Charles, took the car and headed inland. After several hours driving through a jungle-like environment, we arrive in Coba, where we are almost alone. We start walking into the forest, no idea where we are heading. The forest is getting thicker by the minute and after half an hour walking, we start seeing stones, more and more, until we are face-to-face with the tall Nohoch Mul. This 42 metre high pyramid is situated in the middle of the forest and from the top I enjoyed a view that stretches into the horizon.
We continued our forest hike and there we saw it: the Maya calendar, ending in December 2012. I got very curious as to where this is coming from and more even, where will it end?
Anouk in front of the stele showing the end of the calendar, or of all times?
It took another few hours before we arrived in Valladolid where Denis, the owner of Casa Hamaca, received us. I told him of my curiosity to find out more about the Maya Prophecy and before I knew it, he started talking…
Denis: “The Mayan history starts in Yucatan about 2600 BC. The Maya developed astronomy, calendrical systems and hieroglyphic writing. With their mathematic precision and experience in astronomy, they were astoundingly far ahead of other civilizations in their predictions of events which were to happen much later. The Mayans made significant discoveries in science, including the use of the zero in mathematics.
“Sounds like an interesting people, but what about the calendar?”
Denis continues: “The Mayan calendar begins around 3114 BC, before Maya culture existed, and could measure time well into the future. They wrote detailed histories and used their calendar to predict the future and astrological events.”
“Okay, okay, but where does the end of time come in?” I ask.
Denis: “Well, my friends, before we can go into that, you first have to go through a cleansing ritual, to make sure all evil spirits you might have taken with you, are gone. And I know just the place for it. Follow me.”
Off we go, to a village 20 minutes from Valladolid, and after we have bought some fresh eggs that we need for the ritual, one of the guys of the village brings us to the shaman, the Maya priest who will conduct the ritual. A very special experience which gave a new dimension to my understanding of and feeling with Maya culture.
After the ritual, we felt reborn and ready for our next lesson in Maya Prophecy teaching. The priest continued where Denis had left off:
“The Maya were a civilization which like other great ancient cultures possessed visionary and prophetic abilities. For example, the Maya said that we are currently headed towards the fourth destruction of the world, with it, humanity. According to the Mayan chronology, our present era began on the 12th of August 3114 BC and will end on the 22nd of December 2012 AD. At this time, the earth as we know it, will be destroyed by catastrophic earthquakes.”
After some nice and warm tea and some time to think about his words, the priest continued:
“The ancient Mayans, based on star charting, prophesied that December 22nd, 2012 would be the end of the world or some form of universal catastrophe. The Maya believe that the Sun is a god and the Milky Way is the gateway to the afterlife. Every so many years the Sun and the Milky Way intersect in a certain way. The next year this will occur according to the measurement of the Mayas, is AD 2012, and the last time it happened was on August 11th, 3114 BC. With Mayan mythology teaching that our sun is a god and the Milky Way is the gateway to life and death, the Mayans concluded that this intersection in the past must have been the moment of creation. Mayan hieroglyphs seem to indicate that they believed the next intersection in 2012 would be some sort of end and a new beginning of a cycle.”
Wow, I say, this is interesting and scary at the same time. “Muchas gracias, señor”, we say while we are leaving the premises.
We thank Denis for his hospitality and head for Chichen Itza, where we have arranged a meeting with Rodrigo, also a Maya Priest. I can’t wait to talk to him and see what he thinks we can best do to survive the end of 2012. We meet him at the Hacienda Chichen, a place where the archaeologists of the early 20th century used to stay while exploring the Maya ruins.
Before anything, he wants to conduct a ritual with us, to transfer positive energy to us, in order for us to share it with the world around us. This will be crucial the more we approach the end of 2012.
The transmission of positive powers to share with the world around us
“Rodrigo, first of all, thank you very much for inviting us to this ritual, that was a very special experience and I am honored that we could be part of it. I have a question for you. Do you think that the end of 2012 means that we are looking at a new beginning of a cycle or the end of the world?”
Rodrigo thinks for a while and then starts: “Well, I think it will be a new beginning, a new consciousness. The world as it is today is too crowded, too many things are being taken for granted. There is too much ego, greed, people are too selfish, this can’t go on forever. So to my opinion, after December 22nd 2012, the world will change for a great deal, and it can only be for the better. People who are open minded, loving and conscious about the impact they have on the planet and on other people, they will know how to behave and find their place in the new world. The rest will have a hard time adjusting to the new ‘laws’.”
I look at him with respect and say: “Thanks a lot for your sharing your vision with us. We are definitely going to share this vision and your story with people around us and spread the positive energy that we have received in the ritual. Thank you also for the blessed stones, they will keep us company during our future travels. Muchas gracias a usted, hasta luego.”
The blessed stones that will join us on our travels around the world
With all this new knowledge and energy collected, we continue our road to Uxmal and the Ruta Puuc, curious to find out what will be waiting for us there….
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Founder CoolBrands Women and Brand Anthropologist - Anouk Pappers 
I really wonder what will happen with the 2012 mayan prediction, will the world end in 2012?