Apocalypse Anticipation

Since the beginning of time, human beings have been predicting the end of the world. It's easy to ignore the crazy man on the corner shouting about Armageddon, but the ancient Mayan civilization — with its freaky-accurate calendar and sophisticated mathematical and astronomical systems — is a bit more difficult to dismiss. We're talking about people who could calculate the Venus Cycle and who came up with the concept of zero around 36 B.C.; they were by no means ignorant barbarians. And they believed that the world as we know it will end on December 21, 2012.

Want to learn more? A good place to start is Daniel Pinchbeck's book 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl. Pinchbeck — lauded as the author of the most significant work on psychedelic experimentation since Terence McKenna — includes research on psi/extra-sensory perception, his knowledge about crop circles and his experience of a ceremony of the Santo Daime (when the voice of Quetzalcoatl spoke to him), weaving these disparate elements into an examination of global-consciousness transformation. He'll sign the paperback version of 2012 at 7:30 p.m. this evening at the Boulder Book Store (1107 Pearl Street, 303-447-2074) and at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in Denver, at the Tattered Cover (2526 East Colfax Avenue, 303-322-7727).
Thu., Sept. 13