John Major Jenkins (4 March 1964 – 2 July 2017) was an American author and

pseudoscientific Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable cl ...

researcher. He is best known for his works that theorize certain

astronomical Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest include ...

and esoteric connections of the calendar systems used by the

Maya civilization The Maya civilization () was a Mesoamerican civilization that existed from antiquity to the early modern period. It is known by its ancient temples and glyphs (script). The Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writin ...

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El S ...

. His writings are particularly associated with

2012 millenarianism The 2012 phenomenon was a range of eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic or transformative events would occur on or around 21 December 2012. This date was regarded as the end-date of a 5,126-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count c ...

and the development of

Mayanism Mayanism is a non-codified eclectic collection of New Age beliefs, influenced in part by Pre-Columbian Maya mythology and some folk beliefs of the modern Maya peoples. Contemporary Mayanism places less emphasis on contacts between the ancient ...

in contemporary and popular culture, as an outgrowth from the

New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

milieu. He is one of the principal figures who have promoted the idea that the ancient

Maya calendar The Maya calendar is a system of calendars used in Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and in many modern communities in the Guatemalan highlands, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico. The essentials of the Maya calendar are based upon ...

ends on 21 December 2012 and that this portended major changes for the Earth. He has self-published a number of books through his Four Ahau Press. He died on 2 July 2017 from cancer of the kidney at the age of 53.

Alternative view of cosmology

Jenkins considered scientific approaches to

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wo ...

a byproduct of limited thinking. In ''Tzolkin: Visionary Perspectives and Calendar Studies,'' he writes, "I primarily wish to promote a visionary approach to these matters, as there is much more to the Sacred Calendar than can be seen with the rational intellect," and that these visionary perspectives "can more closely touch the spirit of the calendar" than does the anthropological literature. Jenkins also maintained that, in order to accept and understand his cosmological theories, one must also accept the premise that the Mayan kings journeyed to “distant places,” and continuously “renewed” their kingdoms at specific points in the

. Jenkins is also a supporter of “The Lost Star” theory which extrapolates the existence of a binary companion of the Earth’s sun based on a believed mathematical discrepancies in “earth wobble.”

Appearances

In October of the year 2000, Jenkins work was featured on two episodes of ''Places of Mystery'' series on the ''Discovery Channel''. Jenkins was interviewed and appears in the film ''Manifesting the Mind'' a film by Andrew Rutajit. Jenkins is featured speaking in the documentary ''2012: Science or Superstition''. The film explores the interpretations of the ancient Mayan predictions by researchers and scholars. Jenkins is also featured in the documentary/film ''2012: Startling New Secrets''.John Major Jenkins , Investigators , 2012: Startling New Secrets , Syfy

Publications

*''Journey to the Mayan Underworld'' (Four Ahau Press, Boulder, CO: 1989) *''Mirror in the Sky'' (Four Ahau Press, 1991) *''Tzolkin: Visionary Perspectives and Calendar Studies'' (Borderland Sciences Research Foundation, Garberville, CA: 1992/1994) *''Mayan Sacred Science'' (Four Ahau Press, Boulder, CO: 1994) *''Maya Cosmogenesis 2012'' (Bear & Company, Santa Fe, NM: 1998) *''Galactic Alignment: The Transformation of Consciousness According to Mayan, Egyptian, and Vedic Traditions'' (Inner Traditions International (Rochester, VT) 2002) *''Pyramid of Fire'', co-authored with Marty Matz, Bear & Company, 2004 *''The 2012 Story: The Myths, Fallacies, and Truth Behind the Most Intriguing Date in History'' (Tarcher/Penguin 2009) *''Three Plumes of Judas'' (fiction) self-published, 2017

References

External links

Alignment 2012
John Major Jenkins own website. Accessed April 2009

, John Major Jenkins discusses 2012 in a two-part video interview with his editor at Tarcher Books {{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, John Major 1964 births 2017 deaths Maya calendars New Age writers Pseudoscience