| Proponents of cosmophobia claim a wide variety of "Galactic Alignments". We give you the background to see what's wrong with each. |
It's AWESOME! But it's so complicated, I can't understand it.
There are three main reasons why the Galactic Alignment is confusing. As we'll now see, explanations of the Alignment use terminology inconsistently, have inadequate diagrams, and attempt to "explain" alignments that don't occur as claimed.
Inconsistent use (or knowing misuse) of terminology
For example, the same term "Galactic Alignment" is used for several different phenomena. Some of the "Alignments" were supposed to occur on 21 December 2012, exclusively (i.e., on the Northern Hemisphere Winter Solstice). Others supposedly occur over a period of years, or even decades. To make matters worse, many authors do not realize that the Galactic Equator is not the same thing as the Galactic Plane.
Diagrams that are incomprehensible unless the reader has some background in astronomy
Although there's nothing difficult about the claimed Alignments, they can't be understood from just a few diagrams. Good astronomical photos are needed, along with animations that show how the position of the Sun during Solstice day changes from year to year. That's why we've prepared the series of videos Clearing Up the Skies of 2012 and The 2012 Winter Solstice Sunrise as Seen from Izapa, with special attention to the causes and effects of precession.
Long-winded "explanations" of erroneous claims
To date, every claim that's been brought to our attention has been either erroneous, or made without supporting evidence. Some of the claimed Alignments will never occur. Those claimed to occur only on a specific date actually occur in many other years as well. This is something often omitted by those who claim that a certain type of Galactic Alignment is an "astronomical fact".1 Such alignments are actually "astronomical half-truths".
Examination of commonly-mentioned alignments
We'll examine five of the most frequently-mentioned "Alignments":
- Solstice sun with the geometric center of the galaxy
- Black hole in the center of the galaxy with the sun and earth
- Solstice sun with the Dark Rift
- Passage of solar system through the galactic plane.
- Galactic Equator vs Plane
There are two "Alignments" that will not be examined here. The first cannot be examined, because its originator has never identified what will be "aligned". That Alignment is the famous one John Major Jenkins mentions here:
[ca. 1994] I studied star charts and proved to myself that, yes, despite it never making the morning newspaper headlines, a very rare alignment in the precessional cycle will occur on the December solstice of A.D. 2012—the end-date of the Maya calendar! Precession brings one of the seasonal quarters (either the March equinox, the June solstice, the September equinox, or the December solstice) into alignment with the Milky Way once every 6,450 years. However, the alignment of 2012 occurs only once every 25,800 years!2
To our knowledge, in the 12 years since he published that statement, Jenkins has never been able to identify the once-in-25,800-years Alignment that he claimed to have found in star charts, ca. 1994. We take that as showing that his claim is erroneous.
The second "Alignment" that will not be discussed here is also from John Major Jenkins:
Naturally enough, with their uncorrupted intelligence intact, [the Maya] suspected that the world would go through a transformation when the solar and the galactic planes aligned. They devised their Long Count calendar to target when the cosmic alignment would maximize, and that time is AD 2012.3
This "Alignment" is analyzed in this video, which shows Jenkins' description of it to be either meaningless, or demonstrably false.
So what’s the harm in what Jenkins says about the “Galactic Alignment”?
Some debunkers of “2012” see Jenkins as essentially harmless, or even as a quasi-ally, because he says there’s no evidence that the Maya predicted an apocalypse for 2012. As we’ve shown, that characterization of Jenkins isn’t entirely accurate, and at least one Director of The Maya Conservancy (to which Jenkins is an Advisor), does promote such scenarios. In addition, Jenkins has said that the Maya only “suspected” that 2012 would be a time of transformation.4
This uncertainty about “what will happen in 2012” is made worse by Jenkins’ multiple, conflicting versions of the Galactic Alignment, which he nevertheless insists is an “astronomical fact”.
Put all of the above together, and we have an opening that doomsayers like Patrick Geryl and Ivan Stein (as well as their victims) can drive a truck through:
Jenkins is erudite and credible, and he says there will be a Galactic Alignment in 2012. He also says that it will have physical and spiritual effects that not even his godlike ancient Maya could predict with certainty. He gives no satisfactory reason for abandoning his earlier claims that the Maya foretold an apocalypse, and his friend Jim Reed at The Maya Conservancy has not abandoned them.
So why can’t Patrick Geryl be right?
To keep the Geryls and Steins from exploiting that opening, we state clearly that Jenkins' statements about the "Galactic Alignment" are based upon ignorance of what the "Galactic Equator" really is, combined with systematic misuse of astronomical terms and assertions that are variously half-truths, misrepresentations, and claims that are either meaningless or unexaminable.
Conclusion
The "Galactic Alignment" is confusing for several reasons. We give you the background necessary to understand each claimed Alignment, and show what's wrong with some of the most frequently-mentioned "Alignments".
