Over the past 150 years the earth has lost about 10 percent of its magnetic field.  If this loss were to continue it would eventually result in a magnetic shift of the North and South poles.   The last magnetic shift happened about 780,000 thousand years ago.  It would likely cause some really messy problems with compasses, but no one really knows what the effects of such a reversal would mean.  Most certainly it would give the US Department of Defense a really bad hair day with GPS problems. It can happen but there is no way to predict when it might occur again.  The magnetic north pole itself does seem to wander around at about an average distance of  25 miles in a year.

A magnetic reversal is not the same as a physical shift of the earth itself where the planet literally changes its tilt.  A physical axis shift would be so catastrophic that it would mean ‘The End Of The World As We Know It’ (TEOTWAWKI).  This is the kind of mind blowing possibility that generates movies such as ‘2012’.  But is a physical earth shift with its monumental earth changes actually possible?  There are some anomalies in nature that could be explained by a physical earth shift.  One of the more talked about is the Woolly Mammoth found in 1901 that had food in its mouth at the time of its death.  The speculation is that it was sort of freeze dried in place due to a nearly instantaneous drop in temperature caused by a physical shift of the planet.  Much of what is discussed today regarding this type of possible event has ties to a character (Hebert A. Boardman) in a fiction book by A.W. Eckert, “Cataclysm’s of the Earth” (out of print).  The book sort of morphed into a modern day mythology called the HAB theory.   However, there is some  scientific research that has suggested that an actual shift of the earth’s axis did occur about 800 million years ago.

The current day fervor over a possible planet axis shift is kept in the public eye by such Internet sites as the Hutton Commentaries .  And much of the Hutton Commentaries regarding this topic are based on the readings of Edgar Casey (…more).  However, there are some very clever interpretations of ancient records that predict future earth changes in catastrophic proportions.  At the forefront of this is the literary work of Zecharia Sitchin .  The entire topic of the possibility of an earth axis shift gets really muddled by pop culture web sites such as Zeta Talk.  These types of web sites play on peoples fear and have absolutely no basis in fact for their predictions of imminent earth axis polar shift.  It would be wise to remember Voltaire’s warning: “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities” (Voltaire 1694 – 1778).

The most widely discussed prophesy is that of the Mayans, especially in regards to the date December 12, 2012, which is actually the end of the Mayan calendar.  Their prophesy of human spiritual transformation is being twisted by some very clever sociopaths into and end of the world as we know it scenario.  There is absolutely nothing to fear.  Should you prepare for possible disaster?  It would be really dumb to think that you are somehow immune from local catastrophes (remember Katrina). It is simply prudent to have some supplies on hand to help you through emergencies.  What you need to be very careful of is not to get your head sucked into all of the apocalyptic predictions by Internet gurus.  The only important thing you really need to do is tell someone that you love them; every thing else is just a waste of your precious limited time of life.