A fantastic 1996 map of a post-apocalyptic United States by futurist, spiritualist and self-styled prophet Gordon-Michael Scallion (1942-?)

This is one of several maps published by Scallion in the 1990s, each predicting that impending shifts in the Earth’s magnetic field would have cataclysmic geological, climatic, and biological consequences, though always with a New Age-y upside involving the reappearance of lost islands and a shift toward a more “feminine” human consciousness.

Offered here is Scallion’s Future Map of North America, which “illustrates the way I see North America by 2012, with many of the more significant changes occurring by 2002.” The map is a “before and after” image, the base a relief map of North America and part of Latin America with national, state and provincial boundaries shown in white. Vast areas are overprinted in blue, reflecting Scallion’s prophecy that by 2012 much of the region would be inundated following “three separate magnetic pole shifts… each comprised of a six to eight degree westerly shift.” Surrounding the map are long blocks of text summarizing Scallion’s predictions of the geophysical, climactic and demographic consequences of these successive shifts.

Just for instance, “the plate upon which North America rests, will be broken up causing the West Coast to fracture in three violent shifts”… as if California doesn’t have enough tsuris already. The East and West coasts will be inundated, the Great Lakes will expand and merge into a single really Great Lake, the Mississippi Basin will “widen several miles”, and much of the Canadian Arctic will disappear, as will the islands of the Caribbean. On the plus side of the ledger, vast new lands will arise between Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest, and off the East Coast (On other Scallion maps these are equated with the lost islands of Atlantis and Lemuria.)

This parade of cataclysms will cause mass migrations, with much of the population ending up concentrated in huge “survival camps”. Making things worse, these survivors will be afflicted by “new plagues… as the body’s electrical system becomes imbalanced by changes in the Earth’s magnetic field and electromagnetic pollution”. Further, “infrasonic waves” from shifting tectonic plates will leave humans “vulnerable to pronounced mood swings, depression and even something akin to possession”. On the other hand, there’s also some really good news, at least for those who’ve had it with the patriarchy: The magnetic pole shifts will (somehow) “cause the moon to orbit closer to the Earth. This will cause a move towards a lunar society with more feminine than masculine overtones. As a result, both men and women will experience increases in intuitive capabilities.”

On the off chance things don’t work out as expected (hoped?), Scallion gives himself an out: “Predictions are given as probabilities. Even at this time, consciousness can alter an event, modify changes in a particular area, or at the very least, help prepare for what is to come.” It’s worth noting that similar hedging appears on his 1992 Future Map of the United States, which predicted that the magnetic pole shifts and attendant cataclysms would occur in 1993-95. It’s all reminiscent of the Millerites’ recalculation of the Second Coming of Christ after the “Great Disappointment” of 1844.

Gordon-Michael Scallion
Scallion (1942-?) is (or was) a futurist, spiritualist and self-styled “prophet” who for decades predicted a series of cataclysmic astronomical and geophysical events would fundamentally re-shape life on Earth. By his own account his spiritual awakening began in 1979 when, while working as “a successful electronics consultant”, he suddenly lost the capacity for speech. Confined for a time to a hospital bed, he experienced a vision of a woman predicting the coming of a period of great tectonic and volcanic activity, increasing in intensity over time, with dramatic effects on the Earth. Scallion eventually recovered his voice, but the visions continued, and he also claimed to have gained the ability to see colorful auras around people and objects. A decade later, further cataclysmic predictions came to him in a series of dreams spaced over 29 nights. (Sunfellow)

Scallion put his visions and dreams to work, establishing the Matrix Institute and moving in 1984 to Chesterfield, New Hampshire; publishing the Earth Changes Report; hitting the lecture circuit; and was even getting himself featured on TV shows such as Fox’s “Sightings” and “Encounters”. Though Scallion claims he began publishing in the early 1980s, the earliest publication I find on OCLC is the Earth Changes Report, which first appeared in 1991, and Scallion’s heyday seems to have been the 1990s to the early 2000s. In 1992 he published his Future Map of the United States, and in 1996—the year this Future Map of North America was published—he also issued a Future Map of the World, with OCLC recording a second edition in 2006 (Though I wonder if this date is a typo.) That is Scallion’s last recorded publication, the Matrix Institute web site is no longer active, and the final mention I find of him at Newspapers.com is in 2014.

A rare and spectacular example of imaginary cartography, embodying an unusual manifestation of apocalyptic optimism at the crackpot outer limits of New Age thought.

References
OCLC 44408383, giving seven institutional holdings as of March 2023 (OCLC 52275502 records a second edition, issued in 2002.) Background from Jim Dobson, “The Shocking Doomsday Maps Of The World And The Billionaire Escape Plans”,[3] Forbes.com, June 10, 2017 and David Sunfellow, “Gordon Michael Scallion – A Summary of His Most Important Predictions”, at world-mysteries.com (both accessed May 2022).