The following is the latest in our series of Shelf Talk columns. This one focuses on New Age titles and is by Susan L. Weis, proprietress, breathe books, Baltimore, Md., and a contributing writer for New Age Retailer.
Today, December 21, 2007, is the beginning of a five-year countdown to December 21, 2012, which is the end of the long count Mayan calendar. Why should a calendar created by a race who lived circa 100 CE to 800 CE matter to us today? The Mayans, according to many prolific scholars, flourished for a brief period of time, but managed to leave behind some of the most technology-savvy and sacred artifacts known to mankind.
Without going into dizzying detail, the Mayans, who lived in what is now southern Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, created a calendrical system that spanned 5,000 years--before and after their existence here. They left us with knowledge of accurate astronomical occurrences and prophecies both startling and true.
The mystery that we are pondering now is why their long-count calendar ends on what we know as December 21, 2012. What is clear--and undisputed by the New Age and scientific community--is that on that day the earth will complete a 26,000-year wobble in our galaxy. But what will then occur? Is the world over? Will we wobble out of our atmosphere? Why does the 5,000-year cycle simply end?
To find the answers to these questions and to understand the magnificent culture of the Maya better, dozens of books are being published, mostly by Inner Tradition's Bear & Co. imprint. Sounds True is also publishing some interesting titles, but it's Tarcher-Penguin who surprisingly released one of the most digestible and comprehensive titles last year, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl by Daniel Pinchbeck ($14.95, 9781585425921).
Pinchbeck, who appeared on the Colbert Report earlier this year (totally baffling Steven Colbert) is a New York writer who has written for such "straight" publications as the New York Times Magazine, Esquire, L.A. Weekly and Wired. His previous book, Breaking Open the Head (Broadway, $14.95, 9780767907439/0767907434), detailed his experiences with psychedelic drugs. The powerful visions he received led him to, well, break open his head and to enter other dimensions. His book 2012 is his attempt to try to make sense of the new levels of reality he was suddenly able to see.
I love this book because it's like a research paper interspersed with his rather dysfunctional life. He interviews or reviews the works of the major 2012 thinkers, as well as metaphysical writers, while weaving in his very personal stories of love, drugs, 9/11, crop circles, Shamanism, aliens and Burning Man experiences. What does all this have to do with 2012?
Like many of the other 2012 writers, Pinchbeck does not arrive at a definitive answer. Instead he describes a way of living that will make us more open to vibrational shifts that may occur over the next five years. The focus is on living in harmony with the earth and being open to change.
Most 2012 writers speak about a vibrational shift occurrng to the planet and emphasize that humans need to make this shift along with the earth. This means: be nice to each other, end war and conflict, embrace love, beauty and nature and open your heart. Sounds like the 1960s, right? Well, some people then were on to something . . .
When looking to stock your shelves with 2012 books, begin with the most celebrated Mayan scholar and creator of a new, more accurate calendar, Jose Arguelles. Time and Technosphere: the Law of Time in Human Affairs (Bear & Co., $20, 978187918991/1879181991/) is a daunting work but crucial in the understanding of the Mayan calendar. Its glossary is compulsory for delving further into the subject. You'll need to learn about the noosphere (earth's mental envelope or field) as well as other jargon (Tzolkin: sacred count; baktun: 394.52 years; geocosmic: holonomic perception of the unification of earth whole with the cosmic order).
Arguelles, who initiated the Harmonic Convergence in August 1987 (where were you?!) also penned The Mayan Factor: Path Beyond Technology (Bear & Co., $16, 9780939670382/0939680386), and he appears in the DVD from Sacred Mysteries, 2012, The Odyssey: Armageddon Is Not What it Used to Be ($24.95, 809573961097), a very good overview, which features notable authors, including John Major Jenkins.
Jenkins is probably the most accessible of the 2012 authors. As a young boy, he became fascinated with the Maya. His book Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 (Bear & Co., $20, 9781879181489) defines the Mayan World Ages--December 21, 2012 is the end of the fourth age, when, Jenkins proposes, a large chapter in human history will come to an end. (But don't worry--a new world will be born!) Through exhaustive study of Mayan artifacts and architecture, Jenkins pieces together their incredibly dense world and boils it down to the relevant, albeit scholarly, information we need to know.
Jenkins other works include Unlocking the Secrets of 2012 (CD from Sounds True, $24.95, 9781591796138/159179613X); Pyramid of Fire: The Lost Aztec Codex: Spiritual Ascent at the End of Time (Bear & Co., $14.95, 9781591430322/1591430321); and Galactic Alignment: The Transformation of Consciousness According to Mayan, Egyptian, and Vedic Traditions (Bear & Co., $18.95, 9781879181847/1879181843).
Also to be included in your 2012 collection is Barbara Hand Clow's The Mayan Code (Bear & Co., $18, 1591430704/9781591430704), a fascinating look at each "day" in the Mayan calendar and how history and the present time relate to the cycle.
Swedish author Carl Johan Calleman is another respected member of the gang of 2012 writers. The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Consciousness (Bear & Co., $18, 97815317430285/1591430283) is an in-depth look into their culture and how it relates to our world.
One of the few books that doesn't relate the most positive of experiences is Apocalypse 2012: A Scientific Investigation into Civilization's End by Lawrence E. Joseph (Morgan Road Books, $24.95, 9780767924474). This odd amalgamation of religion, science, speculation and humor is much different from the more high-tech, academic volumes mentioned above, but it's worth a look.
Perhaps the best place to start is the new Sounds True collection of 2012 writings, The Mystery of 2012: Predictions, Prophecies, and Possibilities ($22.95, 9781591796114/1591796113). Most of the writers mentioned here, as well as others, attempt to put it all together. If nothing else, you'll pick up some talking points (such as, it's not really the end of the world!) and you'll be introduced to the major themes of 2012 as the date approaches.
Did I mention how time is accelerating? See Clow and Pinchbeck for examples of time and population acceleration theories. This may all sound very much like science fiction--but that came from somewhere, didn't it? Sci-Fi meets end time and the results are mysterious but compelling. I recently had the opportunity to ask Deepak Chopra what he thought would happen on December 21, 2012. He smiled and thought for a moment and said, "Well, I guess it's what we'll make it."