Release date: October 15, 2009.
478 pages, 26 photos & illustrations
2 appendices, end notes, biblio., index
Jeremy Tarcher / Penguin Books.
From the groundbreaking researcher who has guided the 2012 discussion for over two decades, now comes an epic exploration of the authentic origins and meaning of this portentious date. Surveying the roots of 2012 in Maya astronomy, prophecy, and metaphysical philosophy, The 2012 Story explores how this date has become a subject of mass fascination today—for popular writers, in the mass media, Hollywood, and among the Maya themselves.
In The 2012 Story discover:
- How the early Maya devised the calendar that gives us the cycle ending in 2012 and how it works.
- How the ancient calendar was rediscovered in modern times.
- How the 2012 idea has been interpreted—and misinterpreted—by professional scholars, spiritual impresarios, and popular culture.
- What key controversies and enigmas surround the concept.
- How we can cut through all the noise about 2012 and gain true wisdom from Maya teachings about our present moment in history.
About the Author:
John Major Jenkins is a pioneer of the modern 2012 movement. The author of nine previous books on the subject, he has worked to clarify misconceptions and is credited with showing how a rare "galactic alignment" underlies the 2012 cycle-ending date and is a concept deeply embedded within Maya traditions. As a visiting scholar, Jenkins has taught classes at The Institute of Maya Studies in Miami, The Esalen Institute, Naropa University, and many venues both nationally and abroad. He is the director of The Center for 2012 Studies and moderates the Update2012.com information portal. He lives in Colorado.
What they say:
"In the history of science, major breakthroughs and the most imaginative solutions of problems have often come from individuals passionately pursuing their interests outside of the official academic circles. The research of John Major Jenkins, a self-taught scholar who has explored for quarter of a century the mysteries of the Mesoamerican cultures, belongs to this category. His most recent book, The 2012 Story, is a fascinating journey through the history of the ancient Maya, their advanced mathematics and astronomy, ritual life, art, and mythology, with special emphasis on "the most intriguing date in history" —the winter solstice of 2012 that marks the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar. Combining impeccable scholarship with incisive critical intellect, the author dispels the misconceptions and sensational speculations associated with this date. His "galactic alignment theory," supported by recent research findings, offers a positive alternative to various doomsday scenarios by linking 2012 to the possibility of spiritual awakening and inner transformation of humanity—a shift from the old World Age to the next World Age."
—Stanislav Grof, M.D., author of Psychology of the Future, The Cosmic Game, and When the Impossible Happens.
"As much as Jenkins has made a place for himself in the 2012 discussion through his independent research on the Maya and precession, he has made an even greater impact by applying academic rigor to the theories of his contemporaries and exposing . . . their inconsistencies with established Mayanist scholarship."
—Benjamin Anastas, The New York Times Magazine.
"One of the most popular authors in the 2012 category," John Major Jenkins "helped usher in this craze."
—Lisa Miller, Newsweek.
"John Major Jenkins is the most global and erudite voice of a swelling chorus of Galactic Center theorists. By framing the subject in the context of the Primordial Tradition, he raises it to a new level of seriousness, and of reassurance."
—Joscelyn Godwin, author of The Golden Thread.
John's previous books include Journey to the Mayan Underworld (1989), Mirror in the Sky (1991), Tzolkin: Visionary Perspectives and Calendar Studies (1992/1994), 7 Wind: A Quiché Maya Count of Days (1993), Maya Sacred Science (1994), The Center of Maya Time (1995), Izapa Cosmos (1996), Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 (1998), Galactic Alignment (2002), Pyramid of Fire (w/ Marty Matz, 2004), Unlocking the Secrets of 2012 (3-CD audio, 2007).
A Guide to 2012, for the press and journalists
Order all my other books, DVDs
and CDs at Alignment2012.com
Alignment2012.com • The Center for 2012 Studies • Cosmogram Media • Update2012.com
Endorsements for John's work:
"In Maya Cosmogenesis 2012, author John Major Jenkins has combined his gift for incisive, mythic and symbolic interpretation with rigorous research, to reveal the Mayan calendar as a world cosmology and spiritual philosophy, firmly grounded in precise observations of celestial patterns and rhythms. According to Jenkins' in depth yet accessible and often poetic analysis, the Maya had reconciled a number of planetary and sidereal cycles to accurately define the passage of our earth and solar system, as it moves through millennia, in and out of alignment with the galactical core and equator. This vast, celestial conjunction, so central to the Mayan sages and astronomers, holds profound transformative implications for individuals and civilization today."
—Robert Lawlor, author of Sacred Geometry and Voices of the First Day, and co-translator of Schwaller de Lubicz's The Temple of Man.
"A revolutionary work of discovery and synthesis."
—Terence McKenna, from the Foreword to Maya Cosmogenesis 2012
"With his better than academic decoding of the mysterious Maya glyphs that incorporate both their colorful mythology and sophisticated astronomy, John Major Jenkins has validated that shamans, with their out-of-body clairvoyance, were responsible for the amazing accuracy of Mayan and other Mesoamerican calendar systems that cover thousands of years of earthly, planetary, and galactic motion. That Mayan deities represent astronomical bodies, as did the pantheons of Egypt and Mesopotamia, is equally validated by Jenkins. His emphasis on the famous Long Count calendar shows that when the rising sun on the December solstice of the year 2012 conjuncts with the Milky Way’s galactic center — or birth canal of the Great Mother of us all — a new age is expected, one in which humanity will mutate spiritually into a new relationship with space-time and the material universe."
—Peter Tompkins, author of Mysteries of the Mexican Pyramids and The Secret Life of Nature.
"Meticulously and exhaustively researched, carefully written, this book's patiently arrived at (but never jumped to) highly original conclusions have both the weight and the ring of that authority found only in the very best scholarship. Unlike other books devoted to decoding the Maya 'prophecies' it also has a potentially happy ending."
—John Anthony West, author of Serpent in the Sky
"The extensive research by John Major Jenkins into the Mayan mysteries is very impressive indeed, and his book will no doubt become a classic in this field of study. Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 is a must read for all those who feel that there is far more to our ancient past than meets the eye."
—Robert Bauval, co-author of The Orion Mystery and The Message of the Sphinx
Read more endorsements for the books of John Major Jenkins