Customer Reviews

Galactic Alignment: The Transformation of Consciousness According to Mayan, Egyptian, and Vedic Traditions

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The book is about the coming changes to our consciousness in the next age.The author's theory is that the stories through the ages about the end of the world are not what is really going to happen,but that we will change as a species,on a mental level.Every 26,000 years our sun is in alignment with the very center of our galaxy.the center of the galaxy is connected to everything that revolves around it.For a long time our world has been in a down cycle,very low consciousness,greed,anger materialism.There was a time (our golden age)when we were in a up cycle,when our world/consciousness was connected to this nucleus/life force.The book goes into detail about astrological alignments and the old religions that new about this connection to our consciousness.This knowledge has trickled down to our times through things like the occult and meditation teachings,but has become distorted.It made me think about why it seems that the world is going crazy(lots of medicated people out there!),and that this is part of the effect before the 2012/new age changing.It might also explain why more and more people are experiencing paranormal stuff and becoming more spiritual,and the tensions for war are also building.It got me to read some more books on this subject.Instead of doom and gloom about coming earth changes the author's theory gives us some light at the end of the tunnel.

John Major Jenkins has done a huge amount of research, reading and thinking about the meaning of the Mayan Long Count end date of 2012. Whether His conclusions make sense to you depends on your belief system and your frame of reference.

It is difficult to evaluate a lot of his conjecture about ancient civilizations and what their icons, symbols, and writing might have meant in regard to the 2012 date. To Jenkins, it clearly means the alignment of the Winter Solstice meridian with the plane of the Galactic Center, which is happening now, in our own era. Although the Mayans chose to end their count on December 21, 2012 (by our calendar), the actual alignment happens over a period of time. Many experts think a better date would have been 1998 or 1999. If the alignment is the reason for the end date, and if the alignment happens over some years of time, that seems to indicate the date does not signify an apocalyptic event, as many think. Jenkins speculates that the "end time" is really a period of rising awareness, a time when our very consciousness can shift to a new level.

As I read of the many "sacred alignments" on earth, important ancient cities and markers that line up in geometric fashion, I was reminded of another book I recently finished, Henry Lincoln's book, The Holy Place, about the area around Rennes-le-Chateau France. Lincoln identified many geometric alignments that he felt were beyond chance. But Jenkins raises the intriguing idea that these alignments on earth -- which mirror the occult dictum of "as above, so below" -- may not have been deliberate, but may be an unconscious response to some type of energy from space, or some dimension beyond our senses.

Is the Galactic Center the source of wisdom, of spirituality? Has our evolution seen sudden jumps because of this energy, and are we getting more of it now that our solar system is lined up with the Galactic center? These seem strange questions to those of us living in modern urban areas where we cannot even see the Milky Way at night. It is always a rare and beautiful night for me whenever I can see stars because, living in the Detroit area, we have way too much light pollution and poor quality of air to see the kind of panorama of lights the ancients must have seen. Jenkins makes the point that the Milky Way, our galaxy, is very visible from the high areas of South America.

I thought large parts of the book were tedious, as the text went over numerous examples, quoted the author's favorite writers, and expounded on astronomical lore that was too obscure to evaluate. If you have no acquaintance with the Precession of the Equinoxes, then a lot of the material here will be hard to follow. I recommend Graham Hancock's book, Fingerprint of the Gods, as a good introduction to the concepts of Precession and how the numbers are encoded in ancient legends, writings, and monuments.

The most interesting part of Galactic Alignment was near the end where we get the author's ideas. But here he diminishes what are fascinating speculations by too much sermonizing. If you don't believe in an unseen spiritual world or believe you have a spiritual body that continues to exist when your body dies, then the author's remarks will sound like so much hocum. Since I happen to share the author's beliefs, I did find his comments worthwhile. But I have to wonder: If this is a period when we have the opportunity to open ourselves to higher levels of enlightenment, are we doing that? There certainly has been a lot of interest in spiritual topics and re-examination of ancient beliefs. People are studying the Kabbala, embracing New Age ideas, meditating, learning about charkas and natural healing... but we also just re-elected George W. Bush. The conservatives and fundamentalists are also strong and religious differences around the world are bringing us wars and division. You could certainly build a case that none of this shows a human race becoming more spiritual or more enlightened.

Anyone who has read Hamlet's Mill, knows that knowledge of the precession of the equinoxes goes back into the mists of time, and has been encoded into mythology worldwide. Jenkins shows that, more than this, the ancients knew that there are certain times during the cycle of precession, when the earth-sun-galaxy relationship allows the influx of some kind of energy that triggers a transformational leap in mankind. There are 2 crossing points of the Galactic meridian, (centre-line of the Milky Way), and the ecliptic (path of sun and planets across the sky), or equally, the zodiac which lies behind the ecliptic. These crossing-points were known as "Gates" by the ancients. These celestial gates were described by Macrobius as the gates of Capricorn and Cancer, and were seen as doorways through which the soul descends to be reborn on earth and ascends following physical death.

In Joscelyn Godwin's book, Mystery Religions, the gate of reincarnation is called the Silver Gate, while the gate of ascension is called the Golden Gate, but he says that the Silver Gate is the way of reincarnation, while the Golden Gate is the Way of the Gods and leads "beyond the circle of Necessity, ie to release from the round of birth and death. These are the two routes from which the soul can exit from the world at death, and the Capricorn gate is the one through which the gods descend to earth."

It is clear from both Hamlet's Mill and from Jenkins' Galactic Alignment, that these gates don't actually lie in Cancer and Capricorn, but the neighbouring constellations of Gemini and Sagittarius. The Golden Gate lies at Galactic Center in Sagittarius, and the Silver Gate lies at Galactic Anti-Center in Gemini (see items 47 and 48). Following the work of Oliver Reiser, Jenkins makes a convincing case that the alignment of the Solstice Sun with the Galactic meridian, (close to Galactic center) which is flagged by the end of the 13-Baktun Cycle in 2012, marks the time-window when the divine influences descend;

"Precession changes our angular orientation to the larger magnetic field of the galaxy in which we are embedded. during regularly occurring eras in the precessional cycle, as indicated by the solstice-galaxy alignments (probably the equinox-galaxy alignments, too), the earth's protective magnetic shield becomes unstable and oscillates. Without a complete field reversal being required, this oscillation allows greater amounts of mutational rays to strike the surface of the earth. While this may result in mutations and a greater chance for "evolution", of greater significance is the possible transformative effect on human consciousness during alignment eras, when human beings are exposed to higher doses of high-frequency radiation."

Jenkins refers to Swami Sri Yukteswar's study of the Vedic Yuga system, (that may have originated as long ago as 7000 BC), and shows how that system is also flagging the galactic alignment. He concludes that there is a Galactic Chakra system, with the base chakra at Galactic Center, and the crown chakra in the direction of the Galactic Anti-center. Earth is at the level of the fifth (throat) chakra, evolving towards the sixth (ajna or third eye):

"The as yet unspoken message in this survey is that the galactic alignment opens a channel for the kundalini shakti to flow through the earth, cleanse (it) us, and excite it (us) into a higher level of being."

Like Hamlet's Mill, Galactic Alignment will probably inspire other researchers to dig further into the shadows illuminated by the book. This book has started connecting up many of the threads mentioned on the diagnosis2012 site, and has brought into sharp focus, the "underground stream" of knowledge encoded into virtually every religion you can think of...

They were all preparing us for the opening of the Golden Gate!

This book is analagous to buying a new elliptical, anxiously opening the user manual to find out how this new piece of equipment is going to benefit you, only to find page after page outlining the technical details of the inner workings of the machine with the last sentence or so briefly mentioning the effects the machine can have on your life. The author is obviously an expert on the subject of astronomy and how it relates to ancient historical monuments, but he is so caught up in the technical details that "the transformation of our consciousness" is brushed aside as an afterthought. Instead, the author drones on and on and on about monuments, angles, precessions, measurements etc. It's obviously necessary to briefly cover the technical aspects to build a foundation for the more exciting stuff to come, but this book never builds on that foundation. There were brief moments when I thought the book started to get really interesting, but the author would quickly revert back to the same old empirical, newtonian shallowness with more chapters that should have been titled, "who gives a [...]." John Major Jenkins is not really interested in the metaphysical side of this subject, and if you don't believe me, I quote page 239 of this book..."as a reminder, my work is not really to identify a mechanism that could empirically explain why a solstice-galaxy alignment might have transformative effects for life on Earth." My question is then why mention the transformation of consciousness in the title when it's hardly mentioned in the book? You would think that the benfits and effects of the sun aligning with the galactic center is going to have on our consciousness would be the main focus, since after all, it's what most of us should be most concerned with. If you are preparing for a test in astronomy, this book is for you. 2 stars for the misleading title.

The conclusion of this book is the reason you won't find this book at B&N or borders or ANY bookstore for that matter. This conclusion, that we are between the years 2000 and 2012, going through the Galactic Equator Plane aligned with the central sun of the Milky WAy, which happens every 30 MILLION YEARS (which occurs 8 times in a Galactic Year of 250 million years). This conclusions disproves the central theme and flawed conclusion of "Catastrophobia" by clow, that we have 11,500 years ago passed through the galactic plane thereby averting the "every 30 million year catastrophe the earth goes through" has already happened. This book is worth your while to read, take my word on it.

The Apocalypse is "the exteriorizing of our soul and the interiorizing of our body."--Terence McKenna (1946-2000)


A masterpiece of musings on the End-Date AD 2012. And if you carefully contemplate the connections cross-culturally, then an occult -- hidden -- truth leaps at you, ultimately. It in fact unlocks the gate to the realms of the invisible that Terence McKenna, the new age "shaman of hyperspace," spoke so eloquently. Specifically, it has to do with the opening of our third eye, and the apocalyptic implications on our society that spends its mornings at Starbucks, and its evenings watching Wheel of Fortune. Yes, I guess this book isn't for everyone, but it sure tuned-up my chakras, made my mind's molecules shift to the next higher orbit! It will yours too, if you put down that TV tuner and read this book with an intention to learn the secrets of the ages -- and apply them to your life's larger purpose, to survive the second coming of cosmic consciousness in era-2012.

Dr. John Jay Harper is author of Tranceformers: Shamans of the 21st Century and Science of Soul: The End-Time Solar Cycle of Chaos in 2012 A.D..

I have to agree with a couple of the other reviewers that this book has a lot of material that would be difficult to verify; however, I read this book shortly after reading a book by Mark Vidler, called "The Star Mirror," which is based on information that even a 14 year old could verify, and found that both books really added alot of color to eachother. I wouldn't have really cared for this book on it's own, but believe it's perpective is unique enough to add to a greater picture of (possible) upcoming global and cosmological events that would be of importance. It is good, but only alongside a few, more scientific, books to make you feel you are reading something that COULD have some validity, rather than more new age speculation.

This book was interesting and a decent read. Jenkins brought a lot if info together and didn't go overboard on the religious rhetoric. I found it to be a good comparison of interesting facts brought together with some interesting opinions with nothing forced on the reader. You are left to make your own conclusions.

i thought this book was really informative giving lots of accumulated info that he has gained from over the years, researching, etc..condensed into a meaningful whole as it relates to 2012. He gave information that i wasn't aware of, so, I HAVE to continue to research FURTHER AND SO INTERESTING, THAT I WOULD BE INTERESTED IN BUYING MORE OF HIS BOOKS TO READ.

This is compelling and important to understanding 2012 theory and man's wakening. Perhaps difficult to understand for the 2012 noive - but full of key research and information. A must have for any 2012 library collection.

Check out my newest thriller - Bound by Birth - by Randall R Wheeler
Bound By Birth