2012 and the Galactic Alignment

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The year 2012 as a time of great change is very much tied in with the Galactic Alignment.

But what does that mean? There's been so much hype, hypothesis, and plain old fantasy around what will happen in 2012, the term triggers more confusion than explanation.

This article explains what it's really about. (Check out how it relates to the process of human evolution and the exile from the Garden of Eden, below!)

And, interspersed, my 2012 predictions for what this all means.

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The Astronomical Alignment

The Galactic Alignment is the point when the Sun passes the galactic equator, lining up with the core of energy at the centre of the galaxy.

(Obviously, we're speaking from a spiritual -- or at least, subtle energy -- viewpoint rather than astronomical perspective, when talking about the energy of the galaxy.)

When you're looking at the Milky Way galaxy from the Earth, you can see that it's shaped rather like an egg, easy-over. It bulges in the middle, and is thinner all around. As we look at it from the Earth, we can draw an imaginary line through its centre, as we do when thinking of our own planet's poles.

This is approximately where the Dark Rift lies -- the band of interstellar dust that bisects a third of the Milky Way, from the Galactic Center north.

Every 25,800 years, the Sun (from our vantage point on Earth) can be seen crossing the galactic midpoint.

The Sun is big, though -- it’s 1/2 a degree in width. So it doesn't cross the midline all at once. It actually takes 36 years for a complete pass.


That 26,000 Year Cycle Again

You may have noticed that number again: 26,000 years. You came across it in the last article.

That's the duration of the Great Year, or Precession of the Equinoxes -- the length of time it takes for the Sun to precede around all the fixed constellations back to the same spot.

In the same process, the Sun appears to travel past the galactic equator of the Milky Way every 26,000 years, as this luminous band of stars crosses the plane of the Zodiac.

(Actually, it crosses it twice: once at Sagittarius, and again at Virgo/Cancer. This is because the plane of our solar system is tilted about 60 degrees from the plane of the galaxy, and the Milky Way reaches overhead. If the solar system were imagined as a shallow basket, instead of a plate, the Milky Way would form a sort of handle.

The centre of the Milky Way is in Sagittarius.)


Aligning With The Energy Source

The point is that, at this time, the Sun is aligned with the centre of the galaxy. And there are theories that the galactic core sends out regular energy pulses, stimulating change in the whole galaxy, and bringing things to a new level.

The result -- an increased vibrational frequency, which means a higher state of consciousness and an era of spiritual illumination.

Some suggest that these regular pulses are more accessible to the Sun while it's aligned with the galactic core.

And that's the first reason the Galactic Alignment is important.


Farthest From The Light...

In this 26,000 year cycle, the Earth has travelled to the farthest point from the centre of the galaxy.

In astrological and spiritual terms, we are in the depths of darkness, as distant from the Divine Light/Source as we can get.

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On the plus side, at the very depths of winter is when we turn back towards the Light.

And that's what the Galactic Alignment is about... We've hit bottom. Now we're on our way back Home!

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Shift Of Ages

There is no doubt that the Galactic Alignment is a time of change, just as when the Earth turns at the Winter Solstice from winter toward spring.

Only on a much vaster scale!

It is a massive shift -- a Shift of Ages millennia-long, rather than a shift of seasons of only months.

This is reinforced by the conclusion of the Mayan Great Cycle -- the 5,125 year World Age. The coinciding of two Shifts of Ages -- 5,125 years and 26,000 years long -- especially with the additional shift of the seasons from the darkest nadir of winter at Dec 21, ensures that something major is in the works.

And what it all adds up to is a shift from a metaphorical dark winter to a new bright spring for the Earth.


Galactic Winter

What might a Galactic "Winter" be like?

What if we have been living it, for most of what we could consider human history?

We would not even know there was anything else. Like the proverbial fish who can't understand "water" because it's never been without it, we can't really know what humanity could be in a Galactic Summer, because we've never seen or even heard of another way.

A Galactic Winter might well be a time of...

  • Struggling to survive against the odds

  • Expanding our inner resources

  • Withdrawal from the "outer life" of spiritual reality

  • Development of the sense of individuation, "self," ego, mind, logic, rationalisation

  • Being in "exile" from the court of the Divine

In fact, we do know that there was a glacial age then -- a period where ice expands over the Earth. These glacial ages happen regularly, however, on 40,000- and 100,000-year time scales, so there's no evidence that Galactic Winters bring ice to the Earth.

My point is that there may be an "energetic" winter: a time of retreat into mind, self, home, and survival mode.

And the new Galactic Alignment signals the beginning of Galactic Spring.

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Galactic Alignment in 2012

How will the current Galactic Alignment affect what will happen in 2012?

No one can say for sure. This is an event that has not happened within recorded history.

However, I have read (so far unsubstantiated) that the Egyptians taught that every quarter circle of the Sun around the zodiac affected humans in a different way, spurring humanity's spiritual development.

Let's look at human evolution in terms of the last Galactic Alignment.

26,000 years ago, at the time of the last Alignment, Neanderthals were still living in caves of southern Spain. Our ancestors were using hearthfires, painting cave pictures, burying loved ones with beads, and worshipping the Great Mother. It was the peak of the last Ice Age. We were only beginning to be human, as we understand the term.

So what really changed at the time of the last Galactic Alignment?

We could only speculate.

Unable to resist speculating wicca-spirituality-winking_witch, let me share an idea with you...


Where We Were, 26,000 Years Ago

26,000 years ago was right in the middle of the Upper Paleolithic period, or Old Stone Age. During the Paleolithic era, humans evolved from early forms (such as Homo habilis) into physically, behaviourally modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens).

By the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic, those things that make us "human" had arisen:

  • Language

  • Music

  • Shelter (nomadic)

  • Tool-use, etc.

Somewhere around the Middle or Upper Paleolithic, humans began creating the first works of art and religious / spiritual practices like rituals and burying the dead.


Exile From The Garden

My point is that, right around the time of the last Galactic Alignment, humans were becoming "human."

We were leaving the state of nature that other animals live in.

Could this not be the time that mythology remembers as the expulsion from the Garden of Eden?

Travelling out from that world of oneness with other animals and nature, we embarked on an epic journey to discover the potentials -- and limits -- of being human. We have, indeed, travelled as far along that road as we seem able to.

And now, after that long and excruciating ordeal, might we now be ready to rejoin the Divinity and the Divine Earth once again?


Galactic Spring

I call this transition time back into the Light "Galactic Spring."

(Some call it Galactic Day, suggesting a return to the Light from the Darkness, but I think this just increases the confusion with the Galactic Day as another name for the Great Year.)

And what might be in store for us, during this Galactic Spring?

This is my personal 2012 prediction...

As we once abandoned our oneness with the Divine and the Earth during the previous Galactic Alignment, the new Shift of Ages sees us ready at last to reclaim our lost legacy.

Thank Goddess!!


With Bright Blessings,

signature; click to write to erin

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