The New Galactic Cycle, a time of profound transition: the Galactic Equator, the 26,000 year Precessional Cycle, Winter Solstice 2012

Edited from 2012 - THE ASTRONOMY CONNECTION by RODERICK MARLING


The cyclic movements of Nature, the Sun, Moon, Planets and Stars, indicate a Natural Order to Reality, a living and intelligent Universe, a Cosmos of increasing complexity with repeating patterns and cycles enfolded within even larger cycles of order.

One of the most basic of these natural cycles is the rotation of the Earth on its axis. Because the Earth rotates one complete revolution every 24 hours we observe the reoccurring periods of day and night.

The Moon revolves around the Earth every 29.5 days, giving us the concept of the month as it appears in its different phases from New Moon to Full and once again back to New.

Then there is the observable cycle of the year, as the Earth dances around the Sun in an elliptical orbit taking 365.25 days to complete one revolution.

Every year, the Sun appears on the Spring Equinox or Winter Solstice at a specific place on the horizon signaling the New Year.

Over time, the Sun no longer appears in the same place it did just 70 years before, but moves one full degree (the equivalent to the diameter of the Sun - times two). This slow movement, called the Precession of the Equinox, causes the Equinox Sun to appear to slip backward against the backdrop of the stars.

Because the Earth is spinning, the forces of the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun, make the axis of the Earth wobble, shifting ever so slowly. Gradually the polar axis that was at one time aligned with a particular star begins to shift until it is aligned with another star.

Right now the Earth's axis at the North Pole points to the star Polaris – which appropriately we call the Pole Star.

But 5,000 years ago the north celestial pole aligned to the star called Alpha Draconis.

Eight thousand years in the future the pole star will be Vega.

This Precessional movement then is the same motion responsible for the shift of the location of the Equinoxes and the Solstices.

The ancient astronomers detected the long term Precessional motion of the Sun through the back drop of the constellations and calculated the length of this Cycle to around 25,600 to 26,000 years.

This means that the Sun that marks the Spring Equinox which now appears in front of the background of stars in the constellation of Pisces, in about 500 years will rise in the constellation of Aquarius. It will continue to shift backwards through the various constellations Capricorn, Sagittarius, etc., until in about 26,000 years it will arrive back to the exact same point in Pisces.

At one time many civilizations on Earth were aware of this natural cycle of the Earth and incorporated it into their cosmologies and concepts of Time in various ways.

Each one reflecting a slightly different interpretation and meaning, but in their different ways they all held the Precessional Cycle as involving nothing less than the Cosmic process of Life's evolution, subtly influencing all of Earth's Life Forms to move to higher levels of organization and complexity.

It came to symbolize the Spiritual Process of Unfolding Consciousness on our planet.

What is important here is that this belief was actually based on an observable astronomical cycle: every 72 years the Solstice and Equinox Sun appeared to move backward through the constellations one degree - as a hand on a clock indicating the hours of the day.

In this Cosmic Clock however, the hand or marker in motion is the specific location of the Equinox or Solstice Sunrise, while the face of the clock is represented by the relatively stationary constellations of the stars.

This Precessional Cycle became incorporated into the Mayan Cosmology and relates to their long count calendar and specifically to the year 2012.

In tradition, the Winter Solstice on December 21 was celebrated as the Sun's birthday. The sunrise on December 21 symbolizes the first sunrise, and the start of the New Year is a celebration of the beginning of Time.

Why the Winter Solstice in the year 2012 is so important?

In the Mayan long count calendar a cycle of 5,200 years ends on this date.

It also points to a rare astronomical alignment which only happens once every 26,000 years.

The auspicious year of 2012 indicated in the long count calendar illuminates the fact that the Precessional movement of the Winter Solstice Sun will gradually bring its position into alignment with the very center of our Galaxy.

For the Maya, this is like the last stroke of Midnight on New Year's Eve, only in 2012 the New Year is the New Galactic Year of 26,000 solar years.

The Galactic Clock will be at zero point and a New Precessional Cycle will begin.

What is so important about the Milky Way and why were the Maya even concerned with it?

Our planet, the Sun, and the entire solar system has its origins at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.

We also have recently found that our Galaxy is 70,000 light years in diameter, with most of its 400 billion stars concentrated in the great central bulge.

To the ancient Maya, the Milky Way Galaxy represented the Great Cosmic Mother from which all Life was birthed. The great central bulge at Her center was perceived as the Cosmic Womb.They saw our Galactic Mother stretching out across the night sky and recognized the place where we all had come from.

Within the central bulge there is what looks like a dark corridor, known as the dark rift. To the Maya it was referred to by many names but the most pertinent here is their reference to this area as the "birthing place".

Considering then the significance of the 2012 date in the Mayan calendar, it has been discovered that this year specifically points to a period of time when the December Solstice Sun aligns with and arises out from the backdrop of the dark rift, the "Galactic Birth Canal" in the central bulge.

It's as if the Sun is actually being birthed anew from the Galactic Womb.

The astronomical alignment of the Precessional Cycle of the Winter Solstice and Galactic Center represents the "Zero Point" on the Cosmic Clock, thus marking the beginning of the New Age in our evolutionary journey in consciousness.

It tells us that a New Sun is born, a New Year has dawned, a New Galactic Cycle has begun, and the transformation of our World is well underway.

The big secret in this particular story is that we need not wait for the Winter Solstice in the year 2012 to recognize that we are entering into this time of profound transition.

For according to the most recent astronomical calculations the Solstice Meridian actually coincided most precisely with the Galactic Equator between 1998 and 1999.

In 1998 the Winter Solstice Sun began to cross over the Galactic Equator. Considering that the Sun is so large (about one half a degree wide) and the motion is so slow, our Sun will not be completely across the Equator and fully into the new Galactic Hemisphere until 2018.

The Mayan 2012 date is simply an indicator to this 20-year period of transition, seen as the birthing process of the New Age and the beginning point of the New Precessional Cycle of 26,000 years.

Perhaps the greatest gift the Mayan culture has given our world is the Zero Point to the Precessional Cycle of 26,000 years.

Through the 2012 date in their calendar, they have indicated the importance of the Galactic Equator and its relevance to the Precessional Cycle, thus giving us the ability to now pinpoint the exact Time on our Galactic Clock.

Over the span of the 20 year transitional period as the Solstice Sun crosses the Galactic Equator and moves in to a new hemisphere, we will indeed witness the falling away of the old structures and the birthing of the new.