Are we in the Age of Aquarius? (Yes)
Depends on who you ask, but also why? It also depends on the counting system and the reasoning behind establishing such a date. Below is an attempt to justify the reasoning behind such an endeavor and why having such a system is useful.
First there are two reasons for looking at the sky other than telling campfire stories about mythological folk traditions: to guide your travels, and to tell the time both locally and for the Ages and Generations to come.
The Reckoning of Time (i.e. Astrology) — ‘Astrology’ is the luna-solar time keeping system united with star constellations & asterisms as a graph/grid providing a night-watch clock, mariner compass, eclipse prediction system, and planetary aspect planner.
[Astrology is not Horoscopy the interpretation of the stars and planets as affectors on personal attributes and life events.]
Some Background Material
Timeline of Development: Africa, Pan-Gaian Eternal Universe _ pre 80 kya; Out of Africa, Gondwana Dreamtime _ 80-50? kya; Laurasian, Narrative Story-line _ 60-40 kya; Paeleolithic, Shamanism & Animal Totems _ 40-10 kya; Neolithic Skull Cults, First Temples & Cities _ 10-5 kya; Bronze Age Megalithic Astrotheology, Kings & Farming (Sumer & Egypt) _ 5-3 kya; Axial Age, Classical Maritime Empires (Greece, India, Yemen, Phonecian) _ 3-1.5 kya; Modern Hermetics (Abrahamic Monotheism), Alchemy & Tarot (Templers, Masons, Rosicruscians, Sufis, Cabbalists), current
Africa, Pan-Gaian — Based on the distribution of folktales throughout the peoples of the world one can derive an original (partial) set of Star patterns (asterisms) and their associated (Gondwana) Myths which left Africa with the first migrations 80-65 kya, and how they have spread and changed, and where and when new stories came into use. The new set of story lines that came out of these migrations have been called the Gondwana and the Laurasian Myths by Michael Witzel in his book, The Origins Of The World’s Mythologies. The Gondwana Myths of the first migration are concentrated in Africa, Arabian Peninsula, India, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and South America; while the corpus remained largely the same new versions and practices came about, particularly in Australia and the Pacific. The new Story line comes up in Eurasia and spread to North and South America. A precise date can not be given but must have come about at such a time a place so as to spread as widely as it has; this can be set to somewhere before the expansion into Eurasia c. 50 kya, and then out of Eurasia to the Americas c. 25 kya.
Gondwana Canon of Myth (Witzel - from Table 5.2, p. 323): In the beginning heaven and earth (and the sea) already exist and are eternal; a High God lives in heaven, or on earth, or ascends to heaven later; series of lower gods, often children of High God, act as tricksters and culture heroes; primordial period ended by some evil deed of son of High God (or by humans); A Vast Ocean with the Earth Growing out of It, Male High God in Heaven, Mother Earth with Totem Animals, Step-wise Creation, Humanity comes from a Tree or from Clay (or rock); occasionally descend directly from the gods; end of Primordial Period by a Flood Brought on by the Breaking of a Taboo bringing a Catastrophe, punishment by a great flood; humans reemerge; (an end to the world is missing); Death comes from a Broken Taboo, Trickster Brings Culture, Flood Covers all but a Mountain, Dead Shaman or Headless accompanied by a Bird (spirit travel), Animal Familiars as Hunting Guides, Pleiades as Girls or Deer in a Hunt, Orion the Hunter, White Raven (Flood & other), Rainbow Snake & Milky Way, Culture Hero, Hole In The Sky, Earth Diver, Orion and Dog chasing 7 Deer, Milky Way river of the Dead; “the Dreaming” is the largest addition not found elsewhere.
The Laurasian canon of Myths associate with the Sky: Creation from nothing, or chaos; Father Heaven/Mother Earth created, separate; Father Heaven engenders: Two generations (Titans/Olympians), Four (five) generations/ages; Heaven pushed up son released; Current gods defeat/kill predecessors; Killing the dragon/sacred drink; Humans: somatic descendants of Sun god; They (or a god) show hubris; are punished by a flood; Trickster deities bring culture; humans spread, emergence of nobles, local culture begins; Final destruction of world; new heaven and earth emerge. Solar Father, Orion, Dragon cast into a Pit, Twins who balance the poles, Hercules and the 12, Ophiucus conquers the Python, the Pole Star, the Magical Reindeer/Pegasus who carries the Shaman/Hercules, twin Dogs at the Gates of the Dead/River Styx, Milky Way as way of the Dead the River Styx.
Several reasons behind such Star Systems are: Origins & Story Telling Mnemonic, Map of the Local Hunter Gatherer Terrain (Australian Aborigines), Mariner direction guide stars hoops (pacific navigators), seasonal timing connected to plants and animals, and telling the time.
Paleolithic Zodiac — There are Paleolithic Sites across Europe and Asia with object, or cave art that attest to animal totems and the connection of Myth/Spirituality to star Constellations. Among these are the Lion Man, Swans, Bears, and …. At the cave … there is the Bird on a Stick ( ), next to a Headless Man, next to a Bull/Rhinoceros which has 6/7 dots of The Stars. At Gobekli Tepe there are T-Pillars with multiple animals predominately snakes, but also a Dog, Scorpion, Vulture, Bull, Fox, Bending Bird, Ram, Rhinoceros, Ibex, Leopard, Horse, Bear, and Goose; these have been put forth by Martin Sweatman as being indicative of a stone age animal totem constellation series.
The Zodiacal system that we have today has more than one phase of development but the last which is now seen as the Modern version is the Classical Greek Tropical Zodiac of 12 sun signs based on the solar year, 48 asterisms or constellations, a system of Ages, and a practice of designating Four Royal Stars to tell the calendar age which shifts, known as the Precession of the Equinoxes. The Greeks received this teaching from the Babylonians, who received it from the Assyrians, who received it from the Sumerians. The Fertile Crescent which encompass the areas associated with these practices however had been developing and spreading since 12 kya and its dispersal was accompanied by stone luna-solar and stellar observatories and varying forms of Astrolatry.
The origin of the Sumerian system can be established by observing that there is a hole in the Asterism distribution in the southern hemisphere which can never be seen from the north at a particular latitude and at a particular time. This has been established as 36.5 degrees North Latitude in around 2900 bce, which corresponds to the temple of the Sumerian Moon God Sin or Nanna in the city of Harran. Harran dates back to 6000 bce and is located at the center of the plain of Harran which is surrounded to the west, north, and east by the Fertile Crescent neolithic sites of the Tas Tepeler Megalithic Circles such as Gobekli and Karahan Tepe which date to 9500-8000 bce. By the Roman Era, Harran would be a college of Astronomy/Astrology and the home of the Sabaens. It is Legend that this is where Thoth (Hermes Trismigistus) originated, and the Temple in Harran contains buried below it the “Hall of Records”. Just north of Harran on the edge of the plain is Urfa (Sanlafur) where Abraham came from. The Temple of Harran is part of a larger complex of Planetary Temples, caves, and tombs of the Osroene Kingdom of Edessa and their Sun Kings. Further legends from Arab writers told that the Sabians carried out pilgrimages to the Giza Pyramids, itself being a system of temples involving Astralotry (the worship of starts & planets). It is also connected it to King Jesus, and the shroud of Turin originally called “The Cloth of Edessa” given to King Abgar V, and later found during Persian repair work of the grounds of a former Church built for it. Syria would also produce the Sol Invictus cult of the dying Son/Sun and his rebirth on the Winter Solstice which in Roman times was on December 25. This myth is associated with Mithras, Vishnu, Indra, Buddha, Jesus among others with Druids and other northern peoples having their own as well as peoples of North Africa and other traditions across the near east into India.
Agriculture & Animals Zodiac of 12 Sun Signs, Babylonian/Sumerian: (The Hired Man/Sheep, The Stars/Bull of Heaven, The Great Twins/Rooster, The Crab/Crab, The Lion/Lion, The Barleystalk/Raven, The Balance, The Scorpion, Pablilsag/Ansu-bird, The Goat-fish/Goat, The Great One/Eagle, The Talils/Swallow or Dove)
The Egyptians had a similar system dividing the ecliptic into a set of 12 signs of 72 degrees, and 36 Decans of 10 degrees; later dropping the Decans for a lunar systems of 27/28 mansions.
The Hindu Jyotisha (Vedic) Sidereal Astrology had a system of Nakshastras, 27/28 lunar mansions (ecliptic asterisms) that remain fixed, planets, nodes, and later integrated the 12 Helenistic solar signs.
In China there was a luna-solar calendar with a lunar year, a 4 pillar system, and the ecliptic divided into 36 calendar animals, with a 12 animal sign system & 5 elements making a cycle of 60 years.
Maritime & Animals Zodiac of 12 Sun Signs — Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces
The Greek Zodiac includes the many of the Animal and Dragon/Snake constellations seen in the Sumerian and Babalonian Zodiacs and includes constellations from the Northern Traditions (Bears, Swan, Pegasis, Draco), and changes some to that of a Maritime tradition and the Mythology of Greece with multiple Hero figures.
4 Giants — Ophiuchus, Hercules, Auriga, Boötes
The Immortals — Draco, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Cygnus,
Heroes — Orion, Perseus, (also Ophiuchus, Hercules)
Icons — Andromeda, Triangulum, Lyra, Argo,
Animals — Aquila, Ara, Canis Major, Canis Minor, Cassiopeia, Centaurus, Cepheus, Cetus, Corona Australis, Corona Borealis, Corvus, Crater, Delphinus, Equuleus, Eridanus, Hydra, Lepus, Lupus, Pegasus, Piscis Austrinus, Sagitta, Serpens
Sign Ruler-ship and Four Elements
4 Royals Stars — Persian, and Biblical both Enoch and in the Book of Revelations.
7 Moving Planets: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn
In the Biblical and Islamic traditions Enoch is equated with Thoth, Hermes Trismagistus and the father of all alchemy, math, geometry, and astrology, and of this same land.
A NEW SYSTEM
The beginning of this New Precessional Cycle of 26,000 year coincides with the Suns Winter Solstice occurring at 26 degrees of Sagittarius, and the Suns Summer Solstice occurring at 4 degrees of Taurus. On the Summer Solstice the Suns Disc is both between the Horns of Taurus, and above Orion where his raised hand/club is. The Birth of the Son/Sun at the Vernal Equinox is entering Aquarius. Why at 26 degrees of Sagittarius? This is the location of the center of the Galaxy and the Galactic plain; if you are to have a Grand Precessional Year of Ages where do you start? For the Solar Year their are four options with the solstices and the equinoxes; we now use the Winter Solstice, the Classical World used the Vernal Equinox, accept Egypt which based the year on the Heliacal rising of Sirius, and Judaism uses a luna-solar calendar based on the new moon in September/October.
The problem that occurs today with the Sun Sign Zodiac is that it is defined by the solar year which does not change while the Constellations that this Zodiac is based on is no longer in the Solar (not calendrical) Months which they are connected to, do to Precession of the Equinoxes. When the Zodiac was set it was Aries that rose on the Vernal Equinox while today we are now moving into Aquarius, which leaves the Calendar and the Zodiac off by one month. Further confusion comes from systems that use Luna-solar systems that continue to base signs on the celestial equator itself and not the Sun which travels on it.
With the Zodiacal Ages, which follows and is based on this precessional change, there is an argument as to whether the Ages are all the same length of 30 degrees equally dividing the ecliptic into 12 equal divisions, which the Constellations do not fit, or strictly follow the advent of each constellation? Again the question is do you place the import on the Sun or the Celestial Background Stars as Entities exuding influence? Is it the Stars or is it the Sun Cycle?
A secondary question is do the Zodiac Signs and the Constellations still have meaning in our current mythic structure; do they tell a story? They can but the language is not ouir own and some no longer hold the same symbolic meaning today.
Can this all be easily solved without too much change? Very much so.
First is to be clear about what the Sun Sign Zodiacal system is for or can do. The Zodiac in classical times told a story, referenced nature and the changes through the year, and marked the Sacred Year of Feasts and Rites. Some of the signs like Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Cancer, and Sagittarius do not have meaning for us today, there references are not registered. When the Modern Zodiac was created in Sumer it was for an Agricultural society and had signs representing this. When the Greeks took the Zodiac from the Babylonians they transformed it into one with more Mariner themes, Olympian Gods, Myths, and Heroes such as Hercules. Hercules held the role of Scapegoat and player of the Heroes Journey to the Underworld and the Rejuvenation of Nature and the return of the Sun as King/Patriarch and giver of life. We no longer see animals in the same mythic way (accept the Lion King, or the Dove, the Wolf/Werewolf, or a Scorpion and death) but the Heroes Journey and the Sun King do still have some true connections. We also have a Sacred Pagan Calendar that the Catholic Church had to incorporate or be against the People and the folk traditions they were trying to conquer; Groundhog Day, Easter, May Day, Fireworks in Summer, Fairs at Harvest, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Festival of Lights, Christmas, and New Year — these Pagan Feasts and Rites all track with the nature of the Solar Year but some have their meaning skewed by Christianity, are seen as secular or Pagan and thus fought by Religion or seen as too Religious by those who are Secular Minded.
the NEW (Modern) Solar Year, of Sun Signs
1 — Beginning the Modern Solar Year on the Winter Solstice the first sign Capricorn, December 21 – January 20, is Feminine, Cardinal Earth and relates to the New Year and the rebirth of the Sun which begins its clime in the Sky, Father Time returning life back into the Earth and Baby New Year. The reason why the Calendar year does not start with the Solstice is based on the holidays surrounding the Sun/Son entering the Cave for three days and the 5 Holy Days (360 + 5 extra days) of celebration which follows, this comes from Egypt — the new sign is the Midwife, the Elder Woman.
2 — The second sign in Winter is Aquarius, January 20 – February 18, Masculine, Fixed Air, which represents the rains which fill the mountains with snow and thus fill the rivers in the Spring. The second month has also been connected with returning the dead into the River of Death, taking the bones of the last years dead to the river for a final water burial. Imbolc, on February 1st, is a cross-quarter day and aligns with Groundhog Day and the first signs of Spring and melting snow, purification and spring cleaning. — the new sign is the Water Bearer (a return to a clear defining of the sign as it has some times been referred to). — the new sign is The Guru.
3 — The third sign of Winter is Pisces, February 18 – March 20, Feminine, Mutable Water, the two fishes, classically related to the Birth of Aphrodite from the Sea; and earlier with the Swallows Tail. Pisces has been connected to various water Gods and Goddesses, and John the Baptist. — the new sign is the Lovers.
4 — The first sign of Spring is Aries, March 20 – April 20, Masculine, Cardinal Fire, the Ram or in Sumer the Field Hand. This sign begins the old agricultural year, Ostara or Easter, the Spring/Vernal Equinox. This is the sign of fertility, of eggs, and of the virile young Prince, the cock crows. — the new sign is The Cock.
5 — The second sign of Spring is Taurus, April 20 – May 21, Feminine, Fixed Earth, the Bull of Heaven. The holiday in this sign is Beltane on May Day, May Poles, Flowers, and the crowning of the Queen of May. The new sign as with Aquarius takes its true meaning in English as The Bull Of Heaven, the May Pole and the Cock are connected to this symbol with the virility of the Bull, Bull Fighting also being associated. — the new sign is the Cow.
6 — The third sign of Spring is Gemini, May 21 – June 21, Masculine, Mutable Air; classically Gemini is seen as Twins and represented as the stars Castor and Pollux, but the where does this myth come from? In Hamlets Mill the Twins are connected to the Earth’s Pole, the Mill Stone, and the Whirlpool all of which relate to North Pole, the Aurora, the Hole in the Sky, and the precession of the Equinoxes; Hopi mythology has the Twins being the holders of the poles, and righting the poles when they, and thus the Earth, fall out of place. — the new sign is (The Poles) The Dancers.
7 — The first sign of Summer is Cancer, June 21 – July 22, Feminine, Cardinal Water, the Summer Solstice begins this sign. Cancer is connected to the Moon and the goddess Diana, it is also seen as a Turtle, or as in Egypt a Scarab Beetle, both of which push the Sun across the sky. — the new sign is The Matriarch.
8 — The second sign of Summer is Leo, July 22 – August 23, Masculine, Fixed Fire. Lammas is the pagan holiday, August 1, celebrating the First Fruits of harvest with a Lammas Loaf (bread) shaped like an Howl. Leo is classically the Lion which is representative of Royalty; while it is now connected to the King in matrilineal lunar society Lions, or Leopards, were seen positioned on either side of an enthroned Queen. — the new sign is The Patriarch.
9 — The third sign of Summer is Virgo, August 23 – September 23, Feminine, Mutable Earth; Virgo ends with Autumnal Equinox, the Holiday Mabon, the Harvest Home, in Egypt the first wheat harvest. Virgo is connected to the Virgin Mary, and classically to Demeter, the goddess of the Harvest, and her daughter Persephone who in myth is captured by Hades and taken to the Underworld where she would become the Queen; it is this move to the Underworld that brings the Fall of the Sun into death, the cave, and Winter. In the US and other countries local agricultural fairs take place in the week ending August and prior to Labor Day. — the new sign is The Maiden.
10 — The first sign of Autumn is Libra, September 23 – October 23, Masculine, Cardinal Air, is represented of the Scales, which are a balance symbol for the Autumnal Equinox. In Egyptian Mythology the dead, or Osiris, must weigh the Soul on the scales and be light, or free of Karmic debt, in order to pass on to Heaven. Its position as an equinox sign, where the day and the night are evenly balanced adds further meaning to this representation as well as the process that is going on as the Sun King falls from his height in the Heavens to its depth in Winters Solstice. — the new sign is Karmic Scales.
11 — The second sign of Autumn is Scorpio, October 23 – November 22, Feminine, Fixed Water, has Samhain as the Holiday (opposite of Beltane) on October 31; this is a festival honoring the dead, the Day of the Dead, Halloween. Scorpions ability to poison and kill is the animal of this sign, and the sting of death which finalizes the fall of the Sun King and his death. — the new sign is Death.
12 — The third sign of Autumn is Sagittarius, November 22 – December 21, Masculine, Mutable Fire. Sagittarius is the centaur Chiron, the archer, and also a healer bridging Earth and Heaven; this furthers the process of the death of the Sun King, Syrian Sol Invictus, and his transition and rebirth. In late November Thanksgiving Feast is celebrated in the US. In Japan prior to the Solstice is the Festival of Lights, Judaism has a festival of lighting the 7 lights, Hanukkah, and in Christianity there are the 12 days leading up to Christmas celebrated on the 25th. The sun at the solstice appears to remain stationary for three days symbolized by the three days in the cave of many myths of the Heroes Journey, Hercules and Jesus among them. Yule is the Pagan Holiday celebrated with offerings, feasting, and gift giving; it is accompanied by Evergreen (holly, ivy, mistletoe, yew, pine). In Sumer and Egypt the Gods Tammuz (and Osiris) is killed every year at Winter Solstice traveling to the Underworld (like Persephone) and then rescued by Ishtar returning him at the Vernal Equinox. The Sun, the earth, and the calendar are associated with the cross, and the crucifixion of the dying Son/Sun. — the new sign is The Shaman (the Shepard of souls).
This is a small change as the general meaning behind the signs as we know them now do not change, only the symbols used. It is a Solar Year of the same divisions based on the Solstices and Equinoxes and home of the various Holy Days which are based on this change of the year and that of Nature.
So What of the Zodiacal Ages? These have been set in the past based on our imagination and the stories we have outlined in the Stars, this is an abstract system in its designation but not in its numerical division of twelve; three by four relating to the elements (earth, water, air, fire) and their aspects (cardinal, fixed, mutable). The abstract placements however have been seen ages ago to be precessing at one degree per 72 years, it is not an ignorant system just not holding the knowledge we have today of the structure of the Galaxy that we inhabit. As there are multiple opinions of how to date the system of ages I am not remiss in suggesting designating the Galactic Center as the start and end of such a system, a change of only 150 years and a few degrees with the constellations remaining the same only their official beginning and end being established as 30 degree progressions from the current 26 degrees of Sagittarius. This is a Solstice Calendar but an Equinoctal naming, with Aquarius starting in c. 1998 so I would propose the year 2000 ce as the beginning of the New Age of Aquarius, and the foundation of Earthly Time Coding and the practices of Magic, Alchemy, and other Sacred Rites, the laying of Foundations, Celebrations and Beginnings.
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