Is the peace orientated New Age movement related to the Age of Aquarius? This is murky territory as the term `New Age’ has become a virtual brand image for a whole range of disparate concept and images. Behind the ubiquitous New Age sits the Aquarian Age, but if the New Age is murky, the Aquarian Age is ethereal. There are a number of reasons why the Aquarian Age is a wraith-like figure, and they all lie with the uncertainties surrounding the astrological lore associated with the great ages.
The Aquarian Age, along with the Pisces Age and all the other ages associated with the zodiacal signs do not have a monopoly on large scale epochs or periods. The Hindu Yugas, Mayan and Aztec calendars, cycles of the outer planets (especially the combination of Jupiter and Saturn) and cycles based on the monthly lunation cycles are examples of some well trod avenues by the ancients in an attempt to corral historical events into meaningful brackets. However it is the ages based on the zodiacal signs that have made the greatest inroads into urban myth.
Though the term `the Aquarian Age’ gets bandied around regularly, few people outside of the arcane world of astrologers know why these ages exist. Without going into astronomical detail, the world spins on its axis every 24 hours as it makes its annual jaunt around the sun. However this axis behaves like a spinning top, and like a top this axis wobbles. It takes almost 26,000 years for this wobble to make one revolution. This has direct consequences on earth, because very slowly, the orientation of the earth based on the seasons slowly move in relation to the position of the stars and constellations.
The evidence suggests that 4,000 years or more ago the ancient astrologers in Mesopotamia defined 12 zodiacal constellations circumnavigating the earth in a band where the sun, moon and planets are usually located – and it is very possible they did this to calibrate the effects of the wobble. Due to the 26,000 years wobble of the earth’s axis, as seen from the earth, all the stars and constellations shift by one zodiacal sign approximately every 2150 years.
About an hour before dawn on the March Equinox (northern hemisphere spring equinox) around 21st March each year, you will see the constellation of Aquarius just above the eastern horizon – but very quickly the stars will disappear due to the rising sun. 2150 years ago at the March equinox, you would have seen the constellation of Pisces. 2150 years in the future you would see the constellation of Capricorn. It is this slow movement of the zodiacal constellations against the eastern horizon at the March equinox that traditionally has been used to calibrate the ages. Did the ancient astrologers know that their zodiacal constellations slowly moved over thousands of years?
Though we lack the understanding of the motives of the ancient astrologers there is very little agreement or understanding in the astrological world today about the ages such as the Age of Aquarius. Astrologers who research ages, such as the Aquarian Age, are few and far between, with less than 200 recognised as contributing significantly to the ongoing debate over the last century or so. Astrologers agree on very little with respect to the astrological ages, and differences of opinion dominate the ongoing arguments.
The approach to the ages I have pioneered is almost considered heretical by most astrologers because my research clearly indicates that not only is the world in the Aquarian age, it has been in the Aquarian age for many centuries. This is extremely disappointing for those believing a new Aquarian age is around the corner to bring peace to this world.
The focus of my research is not on the ages, but sub-periods of the ages. My big breakthrough in understanding these ages occurred in 1988 when I discovered that each age of some 2150 years each, had 12 sub-ages of around 179 years each. These sub-ages are much more manageable when dealing with history compared to the cumbersome ages. Many people now know that the common zodiacal signs can be subdivided, and the most common division is decanates (abbreviated to decans). A decan is a third of a sign.
For example the world is in the first part of the Aquarian Age, the Libran decan of the Aquarian Age. Libra rules peace (amongst many other things), and the desire for peace expressed by so many people around the world is allied to the fortunes of this Libran decan of the Aquarius age. The fortunes of this Libran decan are increasing all the time, albeit slowly, but it is not until the end of the Libran decan around the year 2148 and beyond, that full expression of Libra’s peace will appear. This is due to a little known quirk of the ages – the ages go `backward’ through the zodiac, and so they are strongest at their end and weakest at their beginning – the exact reverse of traditional zodiacal signs that go `forward’ through the zodiac.
Therefore when the Libran decan of the Aquarius age comes to its end c.2148, it will be at full strength. This peaking of the Libran decan of the Aquarius Age around 2148 will be like a breaking wave. The wash from this breaking wave will pass over the succeeding several centuries. This is a key time when the world is at one of its greatest potential to be a garden paradise and focused upon beauty, compromise and peace plus equality of the sexes.
Though the epoch of peace is not yet arrived, it is under development. Before something occurs it must be aspired to. There is no doubt that significant sections of the world’s population aspire towards greater peace and equality of the sexes and the astrology of the ages indicate that this aspiration will see fruition in the centuries to come. We only get to see the early formative stages of this push towards peace and appreciation of beauty. We should value whatever peace there is, and foster the desire for more peace as this sentiment is a growing phenomena. We may not see the tree but we can watch the sapling grow!