You are no doubt aware that the
Winter Solstice is rapidly approaching. Here in Ulaan Baatar the solstice occurs at exactly 1:47 am on the 22nd. I am not yet quite sure what I will do that night, but if you see a light flickering on the top of
Öndör Gegeenii Uul do not be alarmed, it is just me huddling around a fire (the temperatures have been going down to minus 35ºF / -37ºC at night). I do not know what you have planned for the Solstice, but as I alway do on these occasions I am asking people to refrain from making any
Animal or
Human Sacrifices.
As can be seen here the Waxing Crescent Moon sneaks by Jupiter around the Solstice. As an added bonus you should be able to see the usually elusive Mercury if you go out in the early hours of the evening after sunset.
Jupiter and the Waxing Crescent Moon should be putting on quite a show on the night of the Winter Solstice. Graphics courtesy of Sky & Telescope.
In case you were wondering it is exactly 1095 days, 17 hours, 25 minutes and 14 seconds from the 2009 Winter Solstice to the 2012 Winter Solstice (if you are keeping track that is 94,670,714 seconds), when as many people suspect the World is going to end. Indeed, the movie
2012 recently opened here in Ulaan Baatar, in English with Mongolian subtitles. I know of at least one company whose employees went
en masse to see the show. Apparently they are working the date into their business plan. One of these people, who is also a professor at the Mongolian National University, opined that the movie was based on “scientific data.” Since I have not seen the movie I will not comment on that.
There are several
Shambhalists here in Ulaan Baatar who are predicting that the
Final War between the Forces of Shambhala and the Barbarians will also begin in 2012. They swear up and down that this has nothing to do with the whole
Mayan Calendar Business. According to these sources, the signal in our three-dimensional world that the War would begin in the near future was the
Destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in March of 2001. These same sources note that Chingis Khan, after invading Afghanistan, left a detachment of troops in the Bamiyan area to protect the Bamiyan Buddhas. The descendants of these people, known as
Hazaras, still live in the region. Subjected to intense persecution by the Taliban, they were unable to fulfill their duty and the Bamiyan Buddhas were destroyed.
Bamiyan Valley, with the Buddha niche visible in the cliffs to the left
Bamiyan Buddha before destruction by the Taliban
Bamiyan Buddha niche after destruction of the statue
Keep in mind that even if the Shambhala War does begin in 2012 we will probably not notice any immediate effects in our three-dimensional world. The War will be fought in another dimension, and subsequent events in our mundane world will be a mere shadow play of a much vaster cosmic conflict.
See
Stars Over Washington for the inevitable connection between the Winter Solstice and the continuing war in Afghanistan.
By the way, the first person from the Occident ever to see the Bamiyan Buddhas was the eccentric Hungarian Wanderer-Scholar
Csoma de Koros, who is also responsible for introducing the
Shambhala Mythologem into the Occidental World.
I have made my own preparations for 2012, come what may. I have hidden 15 kilos of
Puerh Tea in a cave on
Bogd Khan Mountain, the location known only to myself and one other person. The tea was five years old when I hid it and so will be ten years old in 2012. If the world does end I intend to enjoy the spectacle while sipping suitably aged Puerh tea. If the world does not end the tea should serve as a valuable hedge against inflation and the rapidly devaluing dollar.
Labels: Bamiyan Buddhas, Csoma de Koros, Puerh, Shambhala, Solstice, Zaisan Tolgoi
As you know, the Winter Solstice occurred on December 21-22 (December 22, 1:47 a.m. in Ulaan Baatar), marking the beginning of Winter. In Mongolia the Winter Solstice also marked the beginning of the so-called Nine-Nines: Nine periods of nine days each, each period marked by some description of winter weather. The first of the Nine-Day periods is Nermel Arkhi Khöldönö, the time when normally distilled Mongolian arkhi (vodka) freezes. It certainly would have frozen last Night. The next Nine-Day Period starts on December 31. Stayed tuned for updates. 
