The Astrology of 2012

A cosmic call to action

by Rick Levine

Dec. 21, 2012 has been on the radar of people across countless cultures, religions and sciences for years now. Marking the end of the ancient Mayan calendar, some have assumed this date will bring the literal end of days. But there's good news: the world will not really end in 2012. Nonetheless, the controversy surrounding this date has a lot to teach us about the current nature of our world, and the important role each and every one of us plays in forming a better future.

Though 2012 will not actually bring the end of days, you don't need to be an astrologer to see how quickly things are changing in our world. Civilization as we know it seems to be in a precarious situation, with growing political unrest and financial stresses warning us that we are repeating epic mistakes from our own cultural history. For example, we have just witnessed the sharpest economic downturn since the Great Depression. Differences in political ideologies and spiritual beliefs continue to fuel increasingly destructive wars. Environmental threats make our water and food supplies more and more scarce; meanwhile, we are powering our world with a diminishing reserve of oil and others resources. So it's no surprise that so many people are predicting that the fabric of our entire society is dangerously at risk.

But if you look to the skies, you'll see there's nothing to fear come Dec. 21, 2012.

Astrologers watch the cycles of the Sun, Moon and planets to understand the changing nature of time and to put these shifts into historical perspective. For example, we had a dose of culture-wide panic at the threshold of this century. The start of the year 2000 -- or "Y2K" -- was touted as an apocalyptic date, but astrologers could see then that there were no planetary alignments significant enough to warrant this kind of fear.

2012 is different -- there are significant astrological factors that indicate these are truly significant times. But let's clear one thing up right away: there won't be a cataclysmic event on Dec. 21, 2012. It's been claimed that on this first day of winter, the Sun will line up perfectly with the center of the Milky Way galaxy and that this will confirm the ancient Mayan prophecies. In other words, many claim that the Sun's change of position will mark the end of time. But there is a scientific problem with this reasoning: the Sun's alignment to the galactic center on the Winter Solstice moves at the rate of one degree every 72 years! Therefore, this cosmic event is so slow-moving that it lasts more than a decade, not just one day.

As astrologers track the cycles of planets, they pay special attention to the monthly flow of New Moons and Full Moons. This is how they are able predict the impact these movements will have on the personal and emotional cycles of our daily lives. Meanwhile, astrologers also track the activities of the slower-moving outer planets (the ones with the longest orbits), which create their own rhythms and are more closely related to large historical cycles.

The Astrology of 2012: A Cosmic Call to Action -- Continued »