Many people, including Mayan researcher John Major Jenkins http://bit.ly/U5d3La, believe that the Mayan calendar date of December 21, 2012 is an important point in time when our solar system aligns in a special way with the Milky Way galaxy.

Munro Edmonson, American linguist and anthropologist had earlier theorized that the Maya based their calendar on observations of the Great Rift or Dark Rift, a band of dark dust clouds in the Milky Way, which, according to some scholars, the Maya called the Xibalba be or "Black Road". The Maya were aware of where the ecliptic (the plane of our solar system) intersected the Black Road (the plane of our galaxy) and gave this position in the sky a special significance in their cosmology.

To understand this alignment, remember that our solar system resides within the Orion arm of the Milky Way galaxy. As such, our sun and its solar system (including the earth and all of the other planets) orbit the center of our galaxy. I.e., imagine the Milky Way - a huge spiral with a black hole at the center - whirling and churning in space, and you will realize that the arms of our galaxy are moving ever so slowly around the center.

In addition, when you look up in the sky and see the Milky Way, you are looking at what's known as the galactic plane. The plane of our solar system intersects the galactic plane and a cross is formed in the sky with the Galactic Center on one side and the Galactic Edge on the other. This is known as the Galactic Cross or 'The Holy Cross' http://bit.ly/QRO40Y as described by Nick Anthony Fiorenza.

by Nick Anthony Fiorenza http://bit.ly/XZCkg6

Right now, the Solstices (December and June) are falling within the Galactic Cross. This is the galactic alignment everyone is talking about. The Solstices fall on these key points only once every 26,000 years. The ancients tracked this cycle closely because they knew that when the Solstice Sun rises on the Galactic Cross near Galactic Center we are at a massive turning of an age.

Many believe that the exact moment of this epochal alignment occurs on December 21, 2012. In actuality, the exact alignment has already occurred:

"Based on the calculations of astronomer Jean Muess, we entered the one degree zone in 1926 and will leave the one degree zone in 2070. He calculated the exact center point to be May, 1998 giving us a 144-year window. The central point of this window is from 1987 - 2016, covering a 36-year time when the Sun is squarely on the Galactic Cross. That means the current Venus transits are occurring in the closet points to the Galactic Alignment that are possible in the current 26,000-year cycle. Rare cycles are converging. We are NOT in ordinary times." - Cayelin Castell http://cayelincastell.com/  

The galactic alignment is of much, much larger proportions than the approximately 2,200-year cycle which describes our movement from the Age of Pisces into the Age of Aquarius. The Galactic Cross cycle spans 26,000 years (sometimes referred to as a Platonic Year); IT IS THE CULMINATION OF THE ENTIRE CYCLE OF ALL OF THE ZODIAC SIGNS MOVING IN AND OUT OF THEIR 2,200-YEAR CYCLES. It is a moment of returning to zero-point or beginning. And is a key cycle which describes human evolution:

"The 26,000-year cycle of the Turning of the Ages is the largest cycle the human senses can perceive. It is a subtle movement. They move one degree every 72 years against the backdrop of the stars, completing one entire cycle of the zodiac in 25,820 years. The December Solstice point has been, and still is in some cultures, the beginning and the ending of a calendar. In May 1998 scientists pinpointed that the Winter Solstice point in the sky (for the only time in 25,820 years) formed an exact alignment with the place in the sky where the Milky Way intersects the solar system in the direction of Galactic Center. This exact alignment dramatically heralds the end and the beginning of a 26,000 year cycle." - Daniel Giamario and Cayelin Castell, The Shamanic Astrology Handbook, p. 6

So we have already lived through - in our lifetime (May of 1998) - a very powerful moment indicating the shifting of the Ages. We experienced and are still experiencing what it is like to be on earth during the alignment of the Winter Solstice with the Galactic Equator. 

Because this galactic alignment is so HUGE, every December Solstice is especially resonant and powerful for our times:

Each Winter Solstice from around 1973 to 2023 holds the energy of what some say December 21, 2012 holds. - Barbara Hand Clow

Dec 21, 2012 is no more significant astrologically than the Solstices of 1962 - 2034. - Cayelin Castell

To read more about the December Solstice - the all-important indicator of the Turning of the Ages - check out my previous newsletters here: http://conta.cc/RrT4eg  and http://conta.cc/g4H01B