Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T16:49:15.990Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A critical history of 2012 mythology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2011

John W. Hoopes*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, 1415 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045, USA email: hoopes@ku.edu
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The notion that December 21, 2012 will bring physical catastrophes, a transformation of consciousness, or even a New Age is an unanticipated and unintentional consequence of early speculation by credentialed academic experts. It has grown as a result of its subsequent interpretation through the lens of speculative, counterculture metaphysics by individuals with both academic and non-academic backgrounds. This article provides a historical review of the most significant contributions to the emergence of the 2012 phenomenon.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2011

References

Academia de Historia y Geografía 1952, Colección de Documentos para la Historia de Costa Rica Relativos al Cuarto y Último Viaje de Cristóbal Colón, Imprenta y Librería Atenea, San José.Google Scholar
Argüelles, J. 1975, The Transformative Vision: Reflections on the Nature and History of Human Expression, Shambhala, New York.Google Scholar
Argüelles, J. 1987, The Mayan Factor: Path Beyond Technology, Bear & Co., Santa Fe NM.Google Scholar
Aveni, A. F. 2009, The End of Time: the Maya Mystery of 2012, University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Calleman, C. J. 2004, The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Consciousness, Bear & Co., Rochester VT.Google Scholar
Calleman, C. J. 2009, The Purposeful Universe: How Quantum Theory and Mayan Cosmology Explain the Origin and Evolution of Life, Bear & Co., Rochester VT.Google Scholar
Campion, N. 2008, The Dawn of Astrology: a Cultural History of Western Astrology, Continuum, London & New York.Google Scholar
Campion, N. 2009, History of Western Astrology. Volume II, the Medieval and Modern Worlds, Continuum, New York.Google Scholar
Coe, M. D. 1966, The Maya (1st edn), Praeger, New York.Google Scholar
Coe, M. D. 2011, The Maya (8th edn), Thames & Hudson, New York.Google Scholar
Columbus, C. & Rusconi, R. 1997, The Book of Prophecies edited by Christopher Columbus, Repertorium Columbianum 3, University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
De Mille, R. 1976, Castaneda's Journey: the Power and the Allegory, Capra Press, Santa Barbara.Google Scholar
De Santillana, G. & Von Dechend, H. 1969, Hamlet's Mill: an Essay on Myth and the Frame of Time, Gambit, Boston.Google Scholar
Dobkin de Rios, M. 1974, The influence of psychotropic flora and fauna on Maya religion. Current Anthropology 16 (2), 147164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donnelly, I. 1882, Atlantis: the Antediluvian World, Harper, New York.Google Scholar
Donnelly, I. 1883, Ragnarok: the Age of Fire and Gravel, D. Appleton & Co., New York.Google Scholar
Eliade, M. 1959, Cosmos and History: the Myth of the Eternal Return, Harper, New York.Google Scholar
Eliade, M. 1964, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.Google Scholar
Eliade, M. 1990, Journal I, 1945–1955, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Fikes, J. 1993, Carlos Castaneda: Academic Opportunism and the Psychedelic Sixties, Millennia Press, Victoria.Google Scholar
Förstemann, E. W. 1906, Commentary on the Maya manuscripts in the Royal Public Library of Dresden, Peabody Museum, Cambridge MA.Google Scholar
Freidel, D., Schele, L., & Parker, J. 1993, Maya Cosmos—Three Thousand Years on the Shaman's Path, Morrow & Co., New York.Google Scholar
Furst, P. T. 1972, Flesh of the Gods: the Ritual Use of Hallucinogens, Praeger, New York.Google Scholar
Furst, P. T. 1975, Shamanistic survivals in Mesoamerican religion. In Actas del XLI Congreso Internacional de Americanistas 41, Museo Nacional de Antropologa, Mexico City, pp. 149157.Google Scholar
Gladwell, M. 2000, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, Little, Brown & Co., Boston.Google Scholar
Goodman, J. T. 1897, Appendix: the Archaic Maya inscriptions. In Maudslay, A. P. (ed.), Biologia Centrali-Americana, Taylor & Francis, London.Google Scholar
Haggard, H. R. 1895, Heart of the World, Longmans, Green & Co., New York.Google Scholar
Hanegraaff, W. J. 2010, ‘And End History. And Go to the Stars’: Terence McKenna and 2012. In Cusack, C. M. & Hartney, C. (eds), Religion and Retributive Logic: Essays in Honour of Professor Garry W. Trompf, Brill, Boston, pp. 291312.Google Scholar
Jenkins, J. M. 1998, Maya Cosmogenesis 2012: the True Meaning of the Maya Calendar End-Date, Bear & Co., Santa Fe NM.Google Scholar
Jenkins, J. M. 2009, The 2012 Story: the Myths, Fallacies, and Truth Behind the Most Intriguing Date in History, Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, New York.Google Scholar
Joseph, L. E. 2007, Apocalypse 2012: a Scientific Investigation into Civilization's End, Morgan Road Books, New York.Google Scholar
McKenna, D. J. & McKenna, T. K. 1975, The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching, Seabury Press, New York.Google Scholar
Makemson, M. W. 1951, The Book of the Jaguar Priest, Schuman, New York.Google Scholar
Morison, S. E. 1942, Admiral of the Ocean Sea: a Life of Christopher Columbus, Little, Brown & Co., Boston.Google Scholar
Morley, S. G. 1915, An Introduction to the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphs, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 57, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Morley, S. G. 1946, The Ancient Maya, Stanford University Press, Palo Alto.Google Scholar
Morley, S. G. 1983, The Ancient Maya (4th edn), Stanford University Press, Stanford.Google Scholar
Osmanagich, S. 2005, The World of the Maya, Euphrates, Piscataway NJ.Google Scholar
Pankenier, D. W. 2009, The planetary portent of 1524 in China and Europe. Journal of World History 20 (3), 339375.Google Scholar
Pinchbeck, D. 2002, Breaking Open the Head: a Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism, Broadway Books, New York.Google Scholar
Pinchbeck, D. 2006, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, Jeremy P. Tacher/Penguin, New York.Google Scholar
Restall, M. & Solari, A. 2011, 2012 and the End of the World: the Western Roots of the Maya Apocalypse, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham MD.Google Scholar
Rudhyar, D. 1975, The Sun is Also a Star: the Galactic Dimension of Astrology, Dutton, New York.Google Scholar
Schele, L. & Freidel, D. A. 1990, A Forest of Kings: the Untold Story of the Ancient Maya, Morrow, New York.Google Scholar
Shearer, T. 1975, Beneath the Moon and Under the Sun: a Poetic Re-Appraisal of the Sacred Calendar and the Prophecies of Ancient Mexico, Sun Publishing Co., Albuquerque NM.Google Scholar
Sitler, R. 2006, The 2012 phenomenon: New Age appropriation of an ancient Maya calendar. Novo Religio 9 (3), 2438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sitler, R. 2010, The Living Maya: Ancient Wisdom in the Era of 2012, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Stray, G. 2009, Beyond 2012: Catastrophe or Awakening? A Complete Guide to End-of-Time Predictions, Bear & Company, Rochester VT.Google Scholar
Tozzer, A. M. 1941, Landa's Relación de las Cosas de Yucatan, a Translation, Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology 18, Peabody Museum, Cambridge MA.Google Scholar
Van Stone, M. 2010, 2012: Science and Prophecy of the Ancient Maya, Tlacaélel Press, Imperial Beach CA.Google Scholar
Von Däniken, E. 1969, Chariots of the Gods? Memories of the Future—Unsolved Mysteries of the Past, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Von Däniken, E. 2010, Twilight of the Gods: the Mayan Calendar and the Return of the Extra-terrestrials, New Page Books, Pompton Plains NJ.Google Scholar
Waters, F. 1975, Mexico Mystique: the Coming Sixth World of Consciousness, Sage Books, Chicago.Google Scholar