Understanding the Maya's Triple Rebirth Metaphor of 2012

Understanding the Maya's Triple Rebirth Metaphor of 2012
By Thomas Razzeto

Books by Thomas Razzeto

Mystical 2012: Did the Maya Shamans Discover a Mystical View of Reality?

Introduction

It is a scientific fact that the astronomy that will unfold in the sky on the precise day of the winter solstice of 2012 will place the sun in front of the dark rift, as seen from earth. While this essay will not focus on the astronomy, I do want to present one important picture so that you will quickly understand what I mean by “the triple rebirth of the sun.” Don’t worry about the astronomy being too hard to understand; this is more like art than astronomy! You can do this! (See picture below.)

In my essay “Why the Maya Picked 2012” [essay or video], I show that this astronomy can be used as an excellent foundation for the metaphor of rebirth since the dark rift was seen by the Maya as the birth canal of the mother of creation. In that essay, I explain the triple rebirth of the sun as follows:

1) The daily rebirth of the sun at sunrise
2) The yearly rebirth of the sun on the day of the winter solstice
3) The yearly rebirth of the sun on the day when it is in the middle of the dark rift

I call these three rebirths:

1) The daily rebirth
2) The solstice rebirth
3) The galactic rebirth

A triple rebirth of the sun happens when all three rebirth occur on the same day.

Here is what it will look like on that special day:

[Here are two astronomical notes for those who are so inclined: First, the dark rift is a swath visible to the naked eye in the band of stars made by our Milky Way galaxy. While the sun will be in front of the dark rift, it will “look” like it will be “in” it so that is how I often state it. But don't get the wrong idea! The sun will not be engulfed in darkness! These stars will simply provide the very distant background for the sun. For more information, see my essay, “How Did the Maya Know Which Stars Were Near the Sun?”

The second note is this: the solstice rebirth occurs every tropical year and the galactic rebirth occurs every sidereal year. Yes, astronomers have two different types of years! A sidereal year is about 20 minutes longer than a tropical year and this difference is caused by the very slow wobble of the earth, which is called precession. It is this wobble that brings the solstice rebirth and the galactic rebirth together onto the same day in the years around 2012. Yes, this happens in many years in the time around 2012. Eventually the day of the winter solstice will occur before the day in which the sun goes in front of the middle of the dark rift. 26,000 years from now, they will come together again.]