i'm going to have to disagree with you a little on that one cftraveler, i think the first thing that will happin is the galactic alignment yes, but because of this other planets, stars, comets, and so forth will too be "merging" so to speak with the galactic center, some may mention a super black hole and such and truth of that is yes they exist, and if you would like to know what a super black hole is it's a galactic rift,
Sources, please?
Or let me put it differently- Why would a galactic alignment cause other planets (that are not already inline) to merge with a black hole that is already there?
If I have a planet next to me and it pulls, let's say 20 units of gravity (I'm obviously making this up) and there's a black hole 30 parsecs away from me- what gravitational difference can the planet make to me if it becomes aligned in any way (there are infinite ways to be in-line with any object) with the black hole? The fact that the planet is now on angle a or b is not going to add or subtract to whatever gravitational pull at me, if I'm far enough for me.
And we do know that black holes are not eternal, they do not swallow things indefinitely, because they emit certain types of radiation, so that there is a time limit to how much they can swallow.
Sure, if I'm close enough to the black hole in terms of it's lifetime it'll eventually suck me in- but if I'm far enough from it, the time it takes to get to the region of space where I'm at may be too much to it's sucking ability, given that it does have a lifetime. If the planet that was to my left is now to my right is also far enough from it, it doesn't make any gravitational difference to it's effect on me, or my mass probably won't affect it in terms of vulnerability to it being sucked in.
Now, if we're both close enough to be sucked, in terms of it's original power and the time it has to get me, where planet a or b are in terms of what we call 'alignment' won't really make much difference, if any.
As to super-black holes, my understanding of them is that they start out as massive stars, so massive that they suck everything around them to begin with. The question is, why is our black hole going to become a super-black hole according how planets line up with it from where we're looking?
I have said before that ideologically, I have no problem accepting that there is some sort of 'awakening' happening, and that there may be forces in the universe at play to make it happen. I also have no problem believing that the universe is a very violent place and there is ample evidence to point out that prior lifeforms on earth have become extinct because of such violence, such as meteor showers, possible visits by protoplanets, and other manner of large-scale destruction, and that chances are that it's going to happen again- at any time.
But what I don't understand is why some organizations have made it their career taking science and twisting it to make it seem that some horrible disaster is about to happen, at a predetermined time of their choosing, to suit ideological or religious paradigms, and do it by ignoring known physical laws.