The Mayan doomsday prediction of 21 December 2012 proposes that cataclysmic and apocalyptic events will occur throughout the world. This date of this so called 'End of the World' is taken from the Mayan Long Count calendar which completes 13 baktuns, or 1 Great Cycle, equaling 5,125 years on 21 December 2012. While most of the world waits for this end, there has been nothing found in the Mayan, or any Mesoamerican, prophecy to suggest that there will be any type of cataclysm surrounding this date. Mayans considered 13 a sacred number. To the Mayans, it would be more of a celebration than a cataclysm.

Much of the controversy surrounding this date is based on the final panel of the Dresden Codex which was rescued by monks from the fires of the Spanish Conquistadors when Mexico was invaded in the 16th century. The Dresden Codex is considered the most complete of the three authentic Mayan codices found which are still in existence.

The Dresden Codex is the oldest book written ever found by historians in the Americas. The codex was written to record, and explain, ancient Mayan almanacs, astronomical and astrological tables, as well as ritual schedules. It is a valuable piece of the puzzle used to decode the Mayan Long Count calendar.

The final panel shows Chak Chel standing above 'god L' pouring out a vase of water over him. Moreover, the serpent arching over the scene is streaming water from three places: its mouth, a sun eclipse glyph, and a moon eclypes glyph (the nearest eclipses to 21 Dec 2012 occur in November. The 13th is a solar eclipse and the 28th is a lunar eclipse). And, The damaged, half-missing text above the picture mentions the phrases 'black sky' and 'black earth'.

Many Mayan pessimists believe that this is a sign that Chak Chel is pouring water over the Earth to destroy it in a flood. But, the water is not being poured over the whole Earth, it is being poured over only one entity, 'god L'. To truly understand what is happening in this panel, one must first understand who Chak Chel is within the Mayan system, and what 'god L' represents.

Chak Chel is the name synonymous with Ix Chel, or the aged jaguar goddess of midwifery and medicine. She is the goddess invoked at childbirth. A similar Aztec goddess helped create the current race of humanity by grinding up bones from the previous ages, and mixing it with the blood of Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl is related to the Mayan diety Kukulcan. Quetzalcoatl was the patron god of the Aztec priesthood, of learning and knowledge, as Kukulcan would be in the Mayan culture.

Chak Chel represents change, and rebirth.

Now, 'god L', in the Mayan system, represents wealth, black sorcery, and violence, or warfare.

As we understand that the 74th panel of the Dresden Codex is about the end of the 13th baktun, 'god L', in this panel, is representative of the current epoch, the one in which we live. This epoch is associated with all of those things that 'god L' represents to the Mayans, concerns of wealth at any cost, the practice of apostasy, as well as mankinds violent nature and warfare, on a personal as well as a national level.

To read this panel correctly, we must understand that Chak Chel is pouring water over 'god L' removing this epoch of wealth (egotism), black sorcery (delusion) and violence/warfare. What will emerge is just the opposite, and epoch where equality (altruism), truth (understanding) and peace dominate.

Chak Chel is pouring blessings over the Earth, destroying the old ways and ushering in the new. Giving birth to the new epoch.

One inscription, known as Tortuguero Monument 6, is the only inscription known that refers to baktun 13, the end of this Great Cycle:

At the end of 13 Baktun, on 4 Ahau 3 Kankin, 13.0.0.0.0; a great understanding occurs when Bolon Yokte makes known.

This corresponds to the prediction given by the Mayans about what will happen at the end of this Great Cycle-

A rebirth of this world into an age of enlightenment.