One of the great mysteries of modern times is the Dresden Codex, one of the few surviving books from the ancient Mayan civilization that existed in Central and South America.

This book, decoded by a German scholar in 1880, opened a door to discovery of the brilliant minds of the Mayans. The Codex is filled with numeric equations based upon the movement of the planets, the sun and the stars. The book and other encoded inscriptions on buildings and surviving stone monuments found mostly in the ruins of the Yucatan Peninsula, include a calendar that is so accurate it puts our present system of measuring years to shame.

Unfortunately, the Spanish Conquistadors, under the command of Hernan Cortes, conquered the Aztec Empire in 1521. Under the name of the Roman Catholic Church, Cortes set about destroying what he considered a pagan civilization. They did not know that the Aztecs were occupying a land that was once the home of a defunct Mayan culture. The Conquistadors raided the buildings and burned books, biographies, musical compositions, histories, genealogies and other Mayan works, thus destroying nearly all trace of this great civilization.

It was significant that the Aztecs were conquered by Cortes because they mistook him to be a god named Quetzalcoatl. This ancient god was a person described as having fair skin and golden hair. Quetzalcoatl was said to have once taught the people of Central and South America, establishing a culture that flourished for hundreds of years. When he left, Quetzalcoatl promised to someday return.

A few of the most precious books of the Mayans survived the pillage. They were probably skillfully hidden by the natives. Even though the Aztecs were not of the Mayan culture, they knew about the calendar and the movements of the planets.

The surviving documents, however, have presented mysteries and a possible end-times prophecy that perplex and even worry us today.

The Mayans were master mathematicians who tinkered with calendars that depicted cycles of the planets. They took a special interest in the movements of the planets Mars and Venus, and knew the cycles of the Sun. They believed that the Earth would reach some kind of synchronization with the universe by Dec. 22, 2012. One Mayan prophecy is that the current Age of Materialism will end on this date.

Since the Winter Solstice occurs at this time each year, when the Earth is tipped to its extreme axis, some people wonder if the Mayans did not foresee a polar shift that would cause a major apocalyptic event, destroying civilization as we know it.

Of further interest is the mysterious Mayan magic number 1,366,560. Authors Adrian Gilbert and Maurice Cotterell in their book The Mayan Prophecies, note that this magic number can be factored to harmonize the cycles of both Venus and Mars in two "yearly" cycles also used by the Maya. They called them the sacred tzolkin, which consisted of 260 days, and the Haab, which measured 365 days.

Gilbert and Cotterell note that the Mayans also used another complex system of counting days related to a starting date they called the Birth of Venus. That date was set at Aug. 13, 3114 BC. This calendar was divided into uinals of 20 days, tuns of 360 days and longer periods of 7,200 days known as the katun, and 144,000 days called the baktun.

The Mayans seemed to believe that the world as we know it would end at the conclusion of the 13^th baktun, measuring from the Birth of Venus. That date points to Dec. 22, 2012.

At the time of this writing I have not talked to Aaron C. Donahue about the significance of this date. I do recall him saying that there will not be a poll shift. Aaron warns of a looming apocalyptic nuclear war that will speed the destruction of the Earth's ecological balance and cause the extinction of all life on the planet. He claims that the last woman is alive today, living somewhere in Europe.

Donahue also says that doomsday events like this can be avoided, but it would take a world-wide dismantling of all religious systems that foster both a belief and a desire for an apocalyptic war.

Because we are gods, and creators of our own universe, we humans have the ability to collectively change the future. It is through voluntary submission to angelic influence that we have allowed ourselves to become enslaved by false religious systems and marching like zombies toward our destruction.

I find it interesting that the Mayans and Aztecs recognized a white god figure called Quetzalcoatl, were looking for this entitys return, and they used a complex mathematical calendar that dated to a Birth of Venus.

We know that the Planet Venus is much older than 3114 BC. So what is the significance of that date? And is there a link to Quetzalcoatl?

Remember that the name Lucifer also is an ancient name that means Venus, the morning star.

Did the Mayans remember Lucifer, whom they called Quetzalcoatl, as their progenitor and teacher from this ancient time? Was this the date when our ancestors were placed on this planet following the great flood?

We can speculate on all of these things. Without the vast library of knowledge that was destroyed by Cortes in the name of the church, we may never know the answers to these questions.