2012 end of Mayan calendarWith all due respect to the late Sathya Sai Baba, who was a controversial guru beloved by many before he died this spring, this recent interview with him shows an exceptional ignorance about the cycles (and lack of them) that are tied into the 2012 phenomenon.  (For more details about 2012 please see this article.)

In this interview Sai Baba is quoted:

Well, in one way there are several prophecies that signal this date like a term or important conclusion in the history of humanity, but the most significant is the end of the Mayan calendar, which prophecy has been interpreted in different ways. The most negative ones think that during this year the world will end, but it will not be like that, it is known that during that year a new era will start, the Age of Aquarius.

This has to do with the rotation of the whole solar system (solar cycle) that goes passing through the different eras each one of them lasts 5125 years. The era in which we now are, called the Age of Pisces, started on the year 3113 B.C. and ends on 2012.

This is all kinds of incorrect.  The Great Ages last approximately 2160 years each (with Great Wheel of Ages taking approximately 25,920 years to complete.  We do now know exactly when the Aquarian Age begins but none of the theories use 2012 as the transition point.

The 5125 year cycle is the Mayan Long Count cycle, but that cycle is completely unrelated to the transition into the Age of Aquarius after 2160 years in the Piscean Age.

I report this not to be critical, but to continue to try to clear up so much of the confusion and illusion (Neptune in Pisces anyone?) over the whole 2012 phenomenon.  I personally believe that we are in the transition from the Piscean to the Aquarian Age – if you figure a 5% orb of influence for the Great Ages just as we use for planetary transits, that gives us a buffer zone of 108 years as we move into the Aquarian Age.  So I feel that we are beginning to experience the mutation and personal changes to help facilitate that evolution, especially in the children that are coming into the world now.

Still, maybe it’s just my Sun/Saturn conjunction but I feel it’s important to try to separate fact from fiction where 2012 is concerned.

More from Beliefnet and our partners