Fact Or Fiction: Is December 21, 2012 Our Last Day?

By Jean Hantch

Throughout time, several people have proposed specific dates in which the world as we know it would end. Most of these days have come and gone, but one day in particular still rings out. You see as many have heard of Y2K and other times of assured Armageddon, perhaps the most discussed and consistent date has yet to arrive. December 21, 2012 is the date that so many people in the past have predicted to be the end. So the question must be asked, 2012 Doomsday Fact or Fiction?

The most popular starting point for the predictions of 2012 rests with the ancient Mayan culture. Their elaborate grasp of mathematics and the movement of the parts of the solar system suggest their knowledge was well beyond its time. They designed a calendar that has been on point with various changes and happenings in space.

This same calendar mysteriously ends on December 21, 2012 with no explanation. Some say it is the calendar simply starting over at 1, while others feel as though they ended it to symbolize the end of the world.

In roughly 2900 B. C., the I Ching or Book of Change was also credited with an eerie calculation to December of 2012. This came in the form of a graph created using patterns from the I Ching; Terrance McKenna created the graph itself. This graph's peaks have so far corresponded to various changes in the world; it too mysteriously stops in 2012.

Yet another source convincing people of impending doom in 2012 is the Web Bot. This software is designed to calculate through discussions and general behavioral trends potential changes in the world. The software was actually developed to assist in predicting the fluctuation of the stock market. Its notoriety began when it predicted to a fair degree of accuracy the events of 9/11. Now, it predicts a worldwide calamity in 2012.

Lastly, the planets are slated to line up with one up with one another in a line. This in theory could create a black hole in the middle of the Milky Way with unpredictable results. Some suggest that this alignment, which coincides with the last day of the Mayan calendar, is a major factor in the end of days.

You can spend hours online looking at everyone's proof that the world is going to end in 2012. To be fair, there have been hundreds of days that people have sworn was to be the end of the world, and yet here we are. For every argument, someone has a sensible counter point. The Mayan calendar, many believe it to be starting over, and not ending. The Web Bot, while it might have predicted things like 9/11, has been wrong many times.

So there is no concrete evidence to suggest one way or the other. It all really boils down to what you want to believe. I don't know what to think, but you have to admit, it gets you at least considering the possibility. No one can tell you whether 2012 is the end but you.

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Historic Use of Mushrooms in Religious Practices

By Dr. Markho Rafael

Since at least 5,000 B.C., people have used "spiritual mushrooms" in their religious rituals. The San Peoples of Tassili in southeast Algeria left behind cave paintings illustrating dancing, masked medicine men with mushrooms in their hands. It's believed the mushrooms were of the consciousness-altering variety.

Tassili is located in an area that today is an uninhabitable mountainous desert. But in ancient times, the climate was wet, allowing not only humans to live there but also cattle, and even crocodiles. The San Peoples were culturally tied to other tribes across the desert, from Chad to Egypt, maybe even Greece.

Because ancient Greeks, too, may have used mushrooms in their spiritual practices. The "Eleusinian Mysteries," continuous for an astounding two millennia, was the most important spiritual initiation ceremony in ancient Europe. Scholars believe it involved use of consciousness-altering mushrooms. With participants such as Plato and Aristotle, spiritual mushrooms may be an important part of the legacy of western civilization.

Jumping another millennia or so forward in time, the Vikings were known to consume the poisonous species Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) in limited amounts to overcome fear. In spiritual pre-war ceremonies, they are said to have eaten mushrooms and danced in the woods before going into battle.

Of course many of us may not think highly of the Viking warrior spirituality but it was an undeniable part of their religious practices whether or not we approve. At the same time, across the Baltic Sea, Siberian shamans also used Fly agaric to achieve spiritual communion with their gods.

R. Gordon Wasson even claimed in a controversial book titled Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality that Fly agaric was the very substance referred to in ancient Vedic literature as the mysterious soma, a plant or mushroom extract used in ancient Hindu rituals and believed to bestow immortality of the soul and other divine qualities to the consumer.

(Important note: Fly agaric - Amanita muscaria - is poisonous and may also be easily confused with other even more deadly species. Consumption for any reason is vehemently discouraged.)

Meanwhile in the New World, spiritual ceremonies using mind-expanding mushrooms were likewise performed. The earliest written record stems from between the 13th and 15th centuries, a text known as the Mixtec Codex. The Mixtec Gods were often engraved wielding mushrooms.

Although Mixtecs themselves told white anthropologists they used spiritual mushrooms in their religious rituals, western scientists still doubted them in characteristic condescending manner.

An American botanist named William Safford was convinced that peyote buttons were confused for mushrooms, while other scholars maintained that the Mixtec tribe truly did use consciousness-altering mushrooms in their spiritual practices.

Raging on until the early 1930's, this debate finally got settled when amateur anthropologist Robert Weitlaner got invited to view a Mixtec religious ritual including the mind-expanding mushrooms.

Then in 1953, mycologist R. Gordon Wasson and his wife Valentina Povlovna as the first westerners became honored participants in a mushroom ceremony - Velada - performed by shaman Don Aurelio. Wasson published his account of the Velada in Life Magazine, 1957. His article initiated the broader public awareness of spiritual mushrooms.

25 species of the Psilocybe genus are known to contain the consciousness-altering chemical compounds psilocybin (stable) and psilocin (unstable). The species used by the Mixtec culture are believed to have been Psilocybin caerulescens and Psilocybin mexicana. The more common and sometimes cultivated species Psilocybin cubensis did not exist in America before the arrival of Europeans.

Spiritual mushrooms have been illegal in most of the world since the 1970's because of their potential misuse as recreational drugs. Only in The Netherlands were fresh Psilocybe allowed to be sold until less than a year ago.

That all changed after a French 17-year-old girl jumped off a bridge when eating Psilocybe mushrooms. The Dutch parliament responded with a ban on the sale of so called "magic mushrooms," which took effect December 1, 2008. From Tassili to Amsterdam, the use of spiritual mushrooms is now officially history.

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Dr. Markho Rafael has worked with natural health products since the mid-90's, today specializing in medicinal mushrooms. He does not support the use of mind-altering mushrooms. The article on this page is for entertainment only. Click cordyceps to visit site for more free mushroom articles, or cordyceps reishi for mycomedicinal products. Note: Absolutely no magic mushroom products, please do not inquire.