Product Description

Join Adrian Gilbert on an exciting look at the Mayan Calendar and the many mysteries it holds. Discover why the year 2012 is predicted to be a year of exciting and extreme changes and the reasonings behind these changes. Learn why and how the ancient Maya, a people of exceptional astronomical skill and understanding, invented a calendar so accurate that it ends exactly when the Sun enters a specific portion of the Milky Way as it rises on the Winter Solstice, December 22, in the year 2012, marking the shift to a new age. Look at the possibility that we are, according to those ancient people, actually living through the end times."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #629914 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 330 pages

About the Author
Adrian Gilbert is the co author, with Robert Bauval, of The Orion Mystery and the author of several other international bestsellers, including Magi: The Quest for a Secret Tradition. His latest book Signs in the Sky was published by A.R.E. Press in the Summer of 2005. A documentary on his work for this book is being planned. He lives in England with his wife and daughter.

Customer Reviews

Diappointing
The review of the archaeology is good, as far as it goes. Ditto to much of what "customer" said above, regarding the sketchy prophetic content and the gloom-and-doom element. With all due respect to the strong technical content, the gee-whiz references to Cayce seem almost pasted in, in deference to the publisher. What is most disappointing is the lack of even a passing reference to David Wilcock (see his e-book The Divine Cosmos). Considering that this would throw light on the otherwise vague referenes to a stargate event, and would bring a more positive aspect to the prophecies, this is almost puzzling. I say almost, because David has discussed his encounter with A.R.E. in the 90s in some detail. He was regarded first as a curiousity because of his striking physical resemblance to Cayce right down to bone structure. (The natal charts of the two have a one-in-a-million resemblance as well.) He came to be regarded as an embarassment to the Cayce family and the A.R.E. leadership because of his earlier drug use and a general sense of culture clash. He has done some revisionism on the earth changes prophesies of his (alleged) former incarnation, in which he says Cayce's source later in life was a trickster entity, hence the unfulfilled cataclisms that were supposed to happen by now. Another good supplemental source would have been William Henry. Adrian Gilbert seems most at home in the technical material, the astronomical and archaeological analysis. On the subject of prophecy he writes like a stranger in a strange land.

Mark It on your Calendar!
Gilbert's book covers Mayan archeology a lot and talks about the year 2012 sometimes. Finding out the significance of Mayan writings, symbols, and calendars is like a giant intellectual puzzle which scholars try to figure out. Gilbert makes scholarship look like the most noble and exciting calling on earth as he tells of all the scholars who have made sacrifices to find out the truth about the Mayans, including one nobleman who ended up in debtor's prison, but managed to publish valuable books on Mayanology.

Gilbert's account of the history of Mayan archeology is mostly straightforward, except for a few new age twists. He keeps exploring taboo questions that orthodox academics reject such as "Was there an Atlantis? What did the psychic Edgar Cayce say about Atlantis? What will become of us on December 22, 2012? Will we experience a catastrophe or a transformation or both? Was there contact between the Americas and the rest of the world before 1492?" Sometimes he sounds silly when we mentions that the people studying Mayanology today may have been Mayan priests in their past lives. But he comes to no sensational conclusions in the end, such as whether we will all be levitating after 2012. He does advise that we store up 2 years worth of food for any catastrophes that might happen.

Gilbert talks about the Mayans and Aztecs and their obsession with the stars, astronomy, and calendars, despite being cruel and barbaric societies in other respects. At one time, scholars believed that the Mayans were peaceful philosophers, but now they are leaning toward the evidence that shows that they practiced human sacrifice. The Mexicans don't like this interpretation of history though. (You can find the same sort of denial in Europe with the fact that the Druids practiced human sacrifice.)

Before the Spanish arrived with their oppressive rule, the Indians were oppressing themselves by warfare and capturing enemies to serve up their beating hearts to the angry gods so that the world would not end, according to their beliefs. The Indians actually welcomed Spanish rule over Mayan and Aztec rule. The Spanish Christians promptly put a stop to human sacrifice and destroyed most of the books and monuments of the Indian religion. A few monuments and documents have survived and now scholars are trying to see if there is something valuable to be learned from this religion. --Strangely, even Christianity features a human sacrifice to end all sacrifices. The blood and flesh of Christ are consumed metaphorically during communion, which is a really weird ritual when you think about it.

A Disappointment
I was disappointed in this book. By the title I had anticipated a book discussing at length the end date of the Mayan calender in 2012, giving differing viewpoints and speculations. What I got was a history lessen about the Mayans and Aztecs. There is only one chapter devoted to discussion of the 2012 at all...at the end of the book. Two-thirds of the way, the book gets into discussion about Atlantis, Egypt, aliens from outer space, and in such rambling tones that it completely removes all veracity from the book. The book ended on a doom-and-gloom, the-sky-is-falling note. Though the history is interesting (if you can believe the author's research after his segue from that topic into the whole Atlantis, alien, Egypt stuff, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone wanting to read about 21 December 2012.