Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Someone at work told me that there’s a “2012 cult” in Asheville. I’m like – what’s a “2012 cult”? I went looking on the interwebs, and discovered there’s quite a lot of information out there regarding 2012 and some end-days-thinking. It’s somehow tied to the ancient Mayan calendar, which supposedly ends on Dec. 21, 2012, (12/21/12) or something like that.
I also read about a guy named George Noory, the host of a radio program that’s getting a lot of play. There’s also author Daniel Pinchbeck, who’s written a best-seller about 2012.
Here’s a NY Times snippet I found that includes both dudes:
When I reached Noory by phone at his program’s studio in California, he told me, “I’m a staunch believer that we are in an earth cycle.” As 2012 approaches, “Coast to Coast” has been devoting more and more programming to prophecies of doom and the signs and wonders that are thought to be harbingers of the coming end time: U.F.O. sightings, crop-circle formations, disappearing honeybees and flocks of migratory birds that fall from the sky. “There’s no question the planet is changing,” Noory said. “And the fact that the Mayans had an end date and their history talks of change, I find that fascinating.”
But it isn’t just on the lower frequencies, late at night, where people are waiting on the Mayan apocalypse. Daniel Pinchbeck, author of the alternative-culture best seller “2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl” — and a guest on “Coast to Coast AM” — has introduced a young and savvy audience to the school of millenarian thinking that has gathered around Mayan calendrics. To do so, he has employed viral marketing and a tireless schedule of public appearances at bookstores, art spaces, yoga studios and electronic-music festivals. When Pinchbeck appeared on “The Colbert Report” last December to promote his book, the host confronted him in front of a life-size manger scene: “You have been called a new Timothy Leary. Why do we need another one of those?”
So, I need to do some more research. Can anyone put me in touch with the Ashvegas contingent of the Mayan calendar folks, the twenty-twelvers? Leave me a note. Do think the world will come to an end in four years?
I also found this, from The Daily Planet here in Asheville:
WEAVERVILLE — Maya scholar George Stuart fielded questions covering a wide variety of topics — including whether the world will end in 2012 — following his presentation on “Mayan Culture: Then and Now” on May 13 at the Weaverville Library.
Regarding a question about the Mayan calendar, Stuart said, “They just had to have some way to keep count.” Two different calendars were used, including a 360-day one that was divided into 18 months of 20 days each and a short month with five days, and a 260-day version.
The Maya calendar, according to some (especially New Age) interpretations, says the world will end on Dec. 31, 2012, but Stuart said there are more than 50 different correlations between the Maya and Christian calendars.
“You hear all this talk that the end of the world is coming in 2012 — well, no!” Stuart asserted with a grin, triggering laughter from the crowd. After a pause, he smiled and added that he does plan to throw a party on that day — just in case.
Hey Ash ~ I had a conversation with Bryan @ Cornerstone Minerals about this 2012 stuff a week or two ago. He’s got info & has clearly been talking to other people who are into it.
~ Also ~ THANKS for the Dumpstafunk post. They ROCKED the house. I was working didn’t see the show but it echoed through the whole valley and sounded incredible. I wanna see them up close soon.
~ Peace ~ Jeff
George Noory is the conspiracy theory idiot so dumb some guy got him hook, line, and sinker using the plot of the Half Life games.
"I’m a governement employee..and now, my secret mesa laboratory has been overrun by aliens after our portal research went terribly wrong…"
The guy could not get enough of it. And by the end, the caller was just reading bits from the game’s instruction booklet, lol.
i’m surprised they didn’t make it easy by going with 12/12/12!
Skimming over the comments, I didn’t see anyone making the Crystal Skull connection. Yup, the latest Indy movie’s crystal skull is definitely tied into the 2012 Mayan long calendar and if all 13 skulls are somehow aligned at the proper time the end of the world will be averted.
While George Noory’s show (Coast To Coast AM on 570 WWNC) is one of my favorites; I have grown tired of the 2012 talk. I’d rather hear them talk about conspiracy theories and what-not. I came across this article the other day that really helps explain just what the Mayan calendar is and why there is no need to believe it’s an "end date".
http://www.universetoday.com/2008/05/19/no-doomsday-in-2012/
I spent a month in the city of Mérida on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula two summers ago. That place is entrenched in Mayan culture, with archaeological sites all over the place, Mayan villages surrounding the city, and many people in the city still using Mayan as their primary language. Funny thing, though: not a peep about 2012. No displays of books about 2012 in the bookstores, no people standing on the streetcorners warning people about impending doom, and the family I lived with never brought it up. The archaeologist who taught the class on Mayan history and culture that I took said the same thing George Stuart did: the calendar had to stop somewhere. That’s all it means. Still, the Mayan calendar is a fascinating subject, considering the amazing knowledge those people had (have) of astronomy. Books on Mayan culture by Michael Coe (available on Amazon) come highly recommended.
You might ask the folks at the Trinumeral festival.
Isn’t it handy that the Mayan calendar, completely different from our own, picked such a catchy date?
No, I do not. Paranoid people keep cherry picking doomsday scenarios and punting the dates down the line when that doom INEVITABLY does not arrive.
Interesting (2003)
http://www.abhota.info/
Here, at the end of the Long Count facts, is a link to the article on the guy who made the Mayan calendar stuff up:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_calendar#Long_Count
Another link on the calendar:
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4093