Many have heard about the prophecies of 2012, knowing that this date somehow means that the world will end. I believe this is truly a misinterpretation of the 2012 prophecy. These center around the Mayan calendar, which ends on December 21, 2012. 

The Mayan civilization is thought to have been born in the Yucatan Peninsula in about 2600 B.C. and thrived through approximately A.D. 1300. They excelled brilliantly in astronomy, hieroglyphic writing, science, mathematics, art, farming, weaving, architecture, and also in creating highly technical, intricate calendar systems, to name only a handful of their gifts.

Almost as fascinating as the Mayan civilization itself is the mysterious abruptness with which it vanished. It was as if a complex, sophisticated society of fifteen million people simply walked away from their lives one day and never came back, leaving nothing but deserted cities and abandoned architectural masterpieces in their wake. To this day, there are no definitive answers but many theories about what happened so suddenly and with such finality. Again, the only thing about the vanishing of the Maya that experts seem to agree is that no one knows with any certainty what really happened to those fifteen million people around A.D. 1300. And, because the Spanish conquistadors made it their practice to kill the Mayan priests and nobility and to burn Mayan books and records when they invaded Central and South America, it’s likely that no one ever will.

What has survived after all these centuries is the fascinating and very complicated Mayan calendar, which consisted of cycles of 260 days, each day having one of twenty names represented by its own symbol. The days of the Mayan calendar were numbered one through thirteen, but since there are twenty names, after a thirteen-day period was finished, the next day was numbered “one” again. The calendar also kept track of a solar year in which the months were named, and following the eighteen months of their solar year, they included a five-day month in which the days were thought to be unlucky and, as a result, were not given names.

I won’t pretend to be able to decipher the intricacies of the Mayan calendar. Instead, I’ll focus on an element that everyone can decipher: it ends on December 21, 2012, which has been a source of concern for those who are aware of it and are determined to find specific “doomsday” predictions to be fearful of. But the Mayan culture never intended to imply that a cataclysmic end of the world would be happening on 12/21/12, or the winter solstice of 2012. Their prophecy is that on that date, the world will be making a transition from one age into another, and it is humankind’s choice whether that transition will involve violently dramatic changes or will simply evolve with graceful, peaceful tranquility.

The prophecy of the Mayan calendar is that our solar system was slowly ending its fifth cycle, its "darkest before the dawn," in 1987, moving toward the morning of the first cycle that will officially arrive in 2012. And how we use the brief years between now and then will determine whether the impending birth of the "morning" is destructive or productive. Negativity, violence, greed, cruelty, the lust for power, and the systematic desecration of nature and its sacred inhabitants will guarantee a catastrophic transition from the fifth cycle back to the first, while a global nurturing of kindness, respect, unity, charity, and a celebration of the sanctity of our natural planet and all its living creatures can, by our choice, create a cyclical transition into a truly golden age. So 2012, the Maya promise, will mark a profound change among us on Earth. What kind of change is entirely up to us.

This important 2012 date also appears in the Cherokee prophecies. The Pleiades star system is also prominent in one of the most treasured and famous Cherokee prophecies, the Prophecy of the Rattlesnake, a sign in the heavens that is evolving toward the end of the Cherokee calendar in the year 2012. It is no coincidence that the Cherokee and Mayan calendars end in the same year. It’s simply the result of the northern migration of the Mayans and the Aztecs from Central and South America to settle in the United States. But the heart of the Prophecy of the Rattlesnake is rooted in the wisdom and teachings of the ancient Cherokee elders.

Just as all cultures interpret the stars and their movement into zodiac systems and prophecies, the Cherokee see a zodiac of their own, ancient and cherished, the story of eternity, or Time Untime, written across the face of the universe. The universe itself is made of crystal, and four rawhide ropes hang from it to suspend the great island known as Earth. While the outline of the heavens retains its shape in the sky, there is movement within the Cherokee zodiac that makes it seem alive, breathing and transforming itself to foretell the fate of Earth against the backdrop of the eternal cycle of life.

There are thirteen constellations in the Cherokee zodiac, most of them designs of animals. And prominent among them is the Constellation Rattlesnake, in which a prophecy is written. The Rattlesnake has a head, and the tip of its tail is the revered Pleiades system. Between the head and the tail is a body that twists and slithers in a kind of side winding movement. There are fifty-two scales on its mouth, the number fifty-two being an essential part of the very sophisticated Cherokee calendar. The outline of the Rattlesnake remains stationary, but various forms and shapes that appear and disappear on the snake itself are read as signs of the past, present, and future of the universe.

In the years 2004 through 2012, a phenomenon is foreseen in the heavens in which feathers will appear on the head of the Rattlesnake. Its glowing eyes will open. It will grow wings, hands, and arms, and its hands will hold a bowl of blood. The seven rattles of its tail will resemble the roots of a tree,” the Pleiades Tree of the Beginning.” This will correspond to the transit of Venus, a very rare alignment of Earth, Venus, and the sun in which is appears from Earth as if Venus is crossing the face of the sun. A Venus transit occurred on June 8, 2004, and astronomers predict it will happen again on June 5-6, 2012. The Cherokee calendar also says that the world will come to an end in 2012, just as the Mayans do. To the Cherokee, “the end” in 2012 signifies that all will be reborn.

Both the Mayans and the Cherokee offer us rich prophecy for the coming 2012 year. This promises to be a time of rebirth and renewal. A new year that offers us the choice for many great changes.

Sylvia Browne is without question, "America's #1 Psychic," an internationally known psychic and medium.