For centuries wise men of the Mayan civilisation of Central America devoted themselves to predicting the movements of celestial bodies & amassing a body of revelations about the future. At the winter solstice in 2012 their prophecies will come to fruition: this is when according to the chilam (time-keeper priests) the current epoch of time will come to an end. One way to interpret this is in terms of looming apocalypse; but a more thoughtful way is to look at human thinking & behaviour & consider how they can be revolutionised to usher in a new & more balanced way of living. The Mayan Prophecies presents twenty-one predictions based on original Mayan texts each fully explained & beautifully illustrated. From the prophecy of energy release at the 26 000-year galactic syncronisation climax to the possibility that humankind itself may be the living prophecy of which all the prophecies speak the urgent message is not cataclysm but challenge. The books starting-point is a detailed overview of Mayan science belief & ritual. We learn how the Mayans saw their own time & the time to come. Their astronomical understanding was highly advanced: they were the only civilisation in antiquity to know that the morning star & the evening star were one & the same (Venus). This book takes us right to the heart of the Mayan world-view & shows how it can be seen as the foundation-stone for a new way of thinking about our planet our survival & our well-being.