I don’t leave home very often, but when I do, there’s nothing worse than finding myself pondering humanity’s cosmic destiny without a handy reference: Did the I Ching follow a 12 or 13 lunar month? Was the Mayan Tzolken 260 days or 360? DAMN!...

Well, good news for all you poor souls who sympathize!

Wooden Books has a timely new addition to its esoteric series of pint-sized hardcovers: The Mayan and Other Ancient Calendars.

Starting with a two page introduction to the fundamental cycles (sun, moon, earth and stars) Geoff Stray (Beyond 2012, The Mystery of 2012 and creator of the web’s Diagnosis2012) spends the first seventeen pages describing key facts from the worlds most ancient and mysterious calendars; from the eclipse-predicting rocks of the Neolithic Stonehenge, to the sixty-four hexagrams of the Chinese I Ching (yes, there is more significance to that tattoo on your ankle than eight shots of tequila).

But all of this is just astrological foreplay leading up to the last thirty-two pages (there are fifty-eight in total) which cover the grand-daddy of them all - the Mayan calendar. The author injects his expertise into the subject, introducing the intricate workings of the most accurate calendar ever devised; most notably the interlocking cycles of the sacred Tzolken, the Calendar Round and the Haab. All of this will make you wonder how these people neglected to make use of the wheel!

Of course, the book obligatorily ends off with a brief mention of the Mayan 2012 end-time prophecy but avoids excessive mention of the notorious date’s apocalyptic overtones (you can find plenty of that in Geoff Stray’s other works).

If you find the astronomical and numerical harmonics mind-numbing, the pages are also filled with delightfully detailed illustrations. Oh, and the last page describes how to calculate your Mayan day sign – Oh boy!

Me:
birth year number: 225 + month number: 31 + day of the month: 10 – 260 = 6 Cimi:

Cimi = Death.

*gulp*