The Age of Aquarius may be upon us or still to come. The roughly 2000 year long epochal ages are reckoned from the earth’s tilt on its axis, putting a line drawn through the centre of the earth against a different constellation in the heavens. Since the constellations are of varying sizes with no start and finish boundary it is never precisely clear when one Age starts and ends. 2034 has been suggested for the Age of Aquarius but who knows?
The age of Leo: 10,000–8000bc This is the age of the hunter-gatherer, and the dawn of agriculture, with the cultivation of wild cereals and the end of the last Ice Age. Rock paintings record early man’s need to create a lasting record of his presence.
The age of Cancer: 8000–6000bc Cancer is home, family and tribe-oriented, worshipping the Great Mother and the Moon as the fertility providers. Communities gather into protected settlements.
The age of Gemini: 6000–4000bc Gemini, ruled by Mercury the communication planet. This is the age of the development of writing, starting with cuneiform, pictographs and hieroglyphs. Initially devised for trade and barter, it was increasingly used for administration.
The age of Taurus: 4000–2000bc Taurus, sign of the farmer, coincided with the start of settled agricultural communities. Taurus is associated with culture, comfort and security. Its Venusian aspects are seen most clearly in the Egyptian civilization, which by 3500bc was flourishing along the fertile Nile Delta. The great bull sarcophaguses of ancient Egypt pointto the reverence in which this animal was held.
The age of Aries: 2000bc–ad 0 Aries, the warrior sign, is associated with iron and coincides with the development of metal, which replaced stone and wooden implements. Aries’ entrepreneurial talents were put to good use: trading increased dramatically. Sporting prowess became the greatest achievement in Greek culture. Bronze technology gave way to iron, with an increase in military activity.
The age of Pisces: ad 0–20?? An age of artistic and religious inspiration, with the great messiahs — Christ, Mohammed and Buddha — carrying the vision of mankind. Pisces concerned with individual sacrifice for the greater good is lived out in the Christ myth. The early Jesus cults had the fish as their secret symbol. Buddhism is the passive facet of Pisces, caring, opposed to killing, aspiring to nirvana, a blissful state removed from earthly suffering. Pisces is connected to realms beyond, so revelations from God come directly to the prophets like Mohammed, who bring those revelations to the people. Pisces’ darker side is orgiastic, devouring, savage, impersonal, inhumane.
The age of Aquarius: 20??–4000 Aquarius is the sign of knowledge, scientific breakthroughs and discoveries. Man takes on god-like powers, manipulating the environment and our species. What he does runs against biology, so the old gender-specific categories and cultures will no longer hold. A world that George Orwell and Aldous Huxley uncannily foresaw. Some have spoken of a golden age coming. But Aquarius can be uncompromising in its demand for complete freedom without interference. The old social glue no longer works. What the Prometheus myth, often associated with Aquarius, tells us, however, is that playing with the power of the universe carries with it dangers. There will be a physical price to pay for an over emphasis on the intellect and scientific supremacy. The emotions, the body and the earth, split off from natural roots, may rebel.
The Age of Pisces – Ideological obsessions religious or nationalistic driving the most destruction inflicted by humanity on itself and every other species in existence. Religious wars Civil Wars Global wars Racial wars Genocides.
From the Crusades to the holocaust and Hiroshima to Putin and now Hamas and Israel that monothestic sacrificial man dominated religiosity/fantasy has led us to our own destruction.
Like the Sea, nothing peaceful about it as Neptune in Pisces is making clear, with ‘Be Kind’ being used to emotionally manipulate us to be boundaryless to disturbing societal exploitations. We have riddled ourselves with fictions based on our own self myth making.
Fascinating Marjorie, thank you!
Marjorie, could you elaborate on social glue? Thank you.
Personally I find the precessional ages are too vast and nebulous to full encompass mentally. I prefer to use Pluto Neptune cycles as a driving force for tying history to astrology as the conjunctions occur approximately every 490 years. The Pluto Neptune conjunctions moved into the air sign of Gemini back at the beginning of the Italian Renaissance in 1398. The current cycle began in 1891-2 and will run to 2384-5. With the Saturn Jupiter cycle moving into Air signs as well at 0 Aquarius I am sure that this element is going to become more influential in the immediate future. How the change will be expressed though is not so easily determined.
I’ve got the earworm now! ‘When the Moon is in the 7th house….’
Have been singing that all week without realizing why!!
Thank you so much for this, Marjorie!
Without meaning to be frivolous, here is a link to a fascinating “Washington Post” article on the history of beer because there is a theory that the first agricultural settlements were at least partly inspired by humankind’s accidental discovery of an intoxicant made from fermented grain which needs time to brew: https://wapo.st/3ZJOTyB.
Even if we’re driven back to living in caves, we’ll still have beer to cheer us up…
Oddly 0 doesn’t figure in the BC – AD. It basically goes from 1 BC to 1AD.