Researcher John Major Jenkins discussed how the early Maya devised their Long Count calendar which ends in 2012, the various ways the 2012 idea has been interpreted, and historical and cultural aspects of Mayan society. There is no evidence that the Mayans predicted the world would end in 2012, rather their calendar, which they created about 2,000 years ago, was pointing toward the alignment of the sun with the galactic center or "dark rift," he detailed. The Mayans were oriented to cyclic traditions, and the ending of their calendar in 2012 signified an emphasis on transformation and renewal rather than doomsday, he continued.

In 1966, scholar Michael D. Coe first proposed the idea there could be cataclysmic events tied to end of the Mayan calendar in December 2012. But Coe's Armageddon-styled interpretation was seen through the biases of his Judeo/Christian background, Jenkins argued.

One of the few surviving Mayan books (most were destroyed during the Conquest) was the Dresden Codex, which contained sophisticated and accurate astronomical charts and a calendar of Venus' cycles. The planet, which changes from the Evening Star to the Morning Star over time, was incorporated into Mayan mythology in legends like Quetzalcoatl that invoke sacrifice, death, and rebirth, said Jenkins. He also spoke about the roots of shamanism in ancient Maya-- their High King was a shaman who would take sacred plants, to travel between this world and the supernatural realm, to bring back knowledge.

Dreams & After Death Communication

Last hour guest, Dr. Gillian Holloway talked about after-death communications via a dreaming research project, precognitive dreams, and dream interpretation. Regarding interpretation, she looks at the action of the dream, rather than dream symbols, to provide allegorical information about a person's life. Contact with deceased loved ones in dreams can have a very different quality than regular dreams, where the departed person might say 'I know you're dreaming, but this is real,' she noted. Dr. Holloway is collecting additional accounts of dream communications with the dead at adcdreams@gmail.com.

Ever Dream This Man?

At least 2,000 people around the world claim to have seen this man in their dreams, though they don't know who he is, according to the website thisman.org. It began, they write, in January 2006, when a psychiatrist's patient first made the sketch and said she'd been having recurring dreams with "This Man," as he later became known.

Bumper Music

Bumper music from Wednesday October 14, 2009