Calendars have been measuring man's view of the passage of time for millennia. But have you ever wondered about who exactly decided from which date a calendar would start? Of the many in use to day, most seem to spawn from before the dawn of time, or close enough to it.  Nowadays we use the Gregorian calendar which is also the internationally accepted 'civil calendar'. This calendar however was initially created by that great historical figure, Julius Caesar (who incidentally named the 7th month after himself) which was later reformed by Pope Gregory XIII who, it seems, introduced to it the use of leap years. Having got that out of the way, I would like to mention a few of the other calendars that are still in use either by way of practice or religion.. They include the Hebrew calendar, the Byzantine, the Berber, the Islamic, Iranian, Thai Solar and the Mayan to name but a few. There are of course the more modern interpretations such as the Holocene calendar (measuring of the 'Human Era' or human civilization by adding 10.000 year to a set date e.g. 12009) and Unix Time though the mind boggles with that one – perhaps its the fore runner of 'Star dates?  Even though these measure the passage of years in parallel states, they are all counting down in their own way to the year 2012.

Why 2012?
Well according to the MAYAN calendar this particular year marks 'the end of time'. In our own calendar, this 'end of time' happens to fall on the 21st December - the Winter Solstice and at the time of 11:11.

What we have here, in other words, is a very special occasion. But is it the end of civilization as we know it in the destructive sense as some people would no doubt prefer to believe, or something far greater. The date '21-12 2012' is a unique day indeed according to many, as is the year itself. For starters - in the Gregorian calendar- 2012 (MMXII) will be a leap year starting on a Sunday...

Many believe that on the 21st December, a certain and significant alignment will occur. When the sun rises above the horizon on 21st December 2012, it will in fact 'rise' in the middle of the Milky Way Galaxy, thus causing an alignment between the earth, sun, and the galactic centre. It sounds pretty dramatic but in actuality there will be no harmful effects on the earth from radiation, gravitational forces or anything else like that. Others feel that an actual physical alignment of our entire solar system will occur with it's own horizontal plane and that of the of the Milky Way Galaxy becoming level on that day.

The solar system is moving around the centre of the galaxy every 225 million years (one cosmic year) or so, and while doing so is moving up and down in a cycle crossing the crossing the Milky Way's horizontal plane every 33 million years...

To add to the speculations there are also theories that a currently unknown planet, sometimes referred to as 'Planet X' or Nibiru (not dissimilar to the 'Nemesis/death star theory), which supposedly has an odd or eccentric orbit and returns to this (our) solar system only once in every 3600 years. Its alleged return in 2012 would certainly cause many problems (check out the movies on the theme of a 'new'/duplicate planet entering our solar system about now). This idea can be traced back to certain translations of Sumerian texts, which would tend to indicate that the Sumerians actually knew of no less than 12 planets... Of course these are only theories and those that have any credence don't seem to be able to cause any dramatic effects as we know them, which takes us back to the more 'spiritual' or esoteric aspects of the significance of 2012.

This year and its connection to that oh so familiar number sequence 11:11, is said to be a great year of spiritual transformation, giving rise to not the 'end of days' but the end of a cycle. Referring back to the Mayan Calendar which sparked all this off, many esoteric sources interpret the completion of the thirteenth B'ak'tun** (a B' ak'tun being 395 - 400 solar years) cycle in the Long Count of the Maya calendar to be falling on 20-12-2012 and as any good apocalypse will tell you, an apocalypse is all about revelation or where good ultimately triumphs over evil resulting in a reawakening, a new awareness and a rebirth which to the Mayans was a reason to celebrate.

The end of one cycle and beginning of an new one is often thought to mean there will be a major change in world order. This forthcoming event has certainly fevered imaginations from all corners and several authors have published works which claim that a major, world-changing event will take place in 2012. Could this even mean that in the London Olympics of 2012, 'Team GB' will win the most gold medals? We can only live in hope, which is what any new beginning is, in fact, all about.

When you put all this into perspective, or better still link it all together, it's hard to miss that we have some pretty major cosmic events happening or calculated to happen around us. Link this with the Mayan 'End of days' and the other interpretations of this significant time and what do you have? It leaves you with one thought... After all this, how can this be coincidence???

Whatever your thoughts are on this event, there does seem to be a growing spiritual awareness in the world building up and, perhaps on this day, a wake up call will occur, and it may even be at 11:11! Who knows? Maybe the world will 'suddenly' become a better place for all. Its worth hoping for.

See the quote below from  "Ascending Earth 2012 - Addressing Misperceptions of 2012"   ... and click on the text for the rest of it - there's a whole lotta stuff going on!

"The Ascending Earth - Mayan Calendar
The Mayan calendar is well-known to be the harbinger of the 2012 shift, being one of the most precise in depicting the movements of people, the Earth, and solar system, such as including eclipses far into the future. They calculated that we are ending a 26,000-year cycle on winter solstice, Dec. 21, 2012, with the little known help of future human visitors (also known by government insiders). The sun's conjunction with the Milky Way center and the ecliptic plane will form a cosmic cross and create a blast of profound energy – opening a natural Stargate or plasma vortex, and unraveling a serpent rope or passageway to a higher dimension".

**A baktun is a cycle of the ancient Maya Long Count Calendar (this is so called as it tends to count in a base of 20 where as we count in a base of 10 as a rule) that approximately equals a period of 395 - 400 solar years. The Classic period of Maya civilization occurred during the 8th and 9th baktuns of the current calendrical cycle. The current (13th) baktun will end, or be completed, on 13.0.0.0.0. The equivalent date in the Gregorian calendar being December 21, 2012. This also marks the beginning of the 14th baktun, or so some people would say.