The internet is abuzz with talk about the Mayan calendar which 'ends' tomorrow, even though it doesn't actually end at all. In an article posted on the ABC Action News website yesterday, Rosalind Joyce, a professor of anthropology at University of California, Berkeley and a leading scholar on the ancient culture of Central America, explained it well:
"The Mayan calendar is confusing to many", she said. "It counts long cycles of 144,000 days, with each cycle called a b'ak'tun, or baktun, and the Maya count back epochs over many cycles and then forward for thousands of years.
"The ancient Maya had a concept of long, continuous time on their calendar, but never an 'end time,' " Joyce said. "In their calendar this is now the 13th baktun, and it does end on Dec. 21 as the calendar says. But the cycle will then begin again as the 14th baktun, and there will always be another baktun.
"You can think of each cycle like a car's odometer. When it comes to an end, you just reset it," she said.
I think it's fascinating that this is the end of the 13th baktun, because there also happen to be thirteen cycles of the moon in a given year, and thirteen cards in each suit in a deck of cards, which can be used for some pretty amazing magic tricks that my thirteen-year-old son is now becoming pretty talented at. Coincidence? Mathematical calculation? Or magical mystery? I'm not entirely certain, and I sure don't believe the Earth is going to disappear tomorrow, but I do think that some pretty amazing changes are afoot.
The Mayans - a highly advanced Mesoamerican culture known for their innovation in art, architecture, math and astronomy - suggest that tomorrow, at the winter solstice (11:12am UTC/6:12amEST) is the end of a 144,000-day cycle. I'd say that's a pretty significant moment in time.
Know what else that means?
It means that as soon as that moment passes...we begin a brand-new era.
It's a time of expanding consciousness; a time of unification; a time of up-leveling our lives by evolving into the fullest expression of who we can be. It's a time of moving from surviving to thriving.
I think that's cause for celebration.
Last week I wrote about the best kind of gift you can give yourself, and given the momentous moment in time we're about to cross over, it seems just the right occasion to make some New Year's resolutions that really count.
How might you personally begin a brand new era this weekend?
After all, this opportunity only comes around every 144,000 days...