This blog entry will certainly rile up some of my more zealous
Christian friends but, please don't read this as an attack on religion
but, an exploration on how Ageism and Theism go hand in hand. It
wouldn't be the first time my writing or dry sense of humor got me in
trouble. I was on an interview once and the name of my first organ
teacher came up. I commented how I hated him, fully expecting someone
on the interview committee to ask why. They moved on, thinking that I
actually hated him. In truth, he was the best teach I ever had because
he challenged me and made me work my lazy bumper off. I am still
learning from his lessons 30 years later. I didn't get the job - I hate
them . . . They didn't pay very well, anyway.
We are currently
living in the time/space between the current Age of Pisces and the
forthcoming Age: the Age of Aquarius. To understand an Age, we have to
go back and look at both history and science.
There are twelve
Ages which many of us know as the Zodiac Signs (one for each
constellation of the zodiac). Each Age lasts approximately 2,160
years. All twelve Ages in succession are known as The Great year which
lasts about 26,000 of our calendar years. The earth actually spins in a
gyrating motion that changes very slowly the direction of the polar
axis (think of a toy top that wobbles as it spins). The earth makes a
full circle in the 26,000 years which is known as the Precession. Many
astrologers call this the “Great Polar Cycle” which encompasses 25,868
years as the North Pole aligns successively to a series of stars or
constellations (Zodiac Signs).
Those of you old enough to know
what a phonographic record is, think of the precession as a single
record album with 25,000 grooves. Every 2,000 grooves is a new song.
The whole record is the precession and every song is an age, each
flowing seamlessly into one another. Some Ages are thought to be a
little longer or shorter than others but at this point I'm not sure if
anyone knows for sure. Currently, for the next 300 years or so, we are
in-between two Ages. The earliest recorded Age for man is the Age of
Leo, so, let's start there.
The Age of Leo; Approximately 11000 B.C. - 8000 B.C.
Around
this time the snow of the Ice Age begins to melt and the global climate
begins to warm up. During this time humans began worshiping the Sun,
the ruler of the fire sign, Leo; because obviously a god was melting all
that ice. Culturally there were dozens of Sun-Gods at this time as the
planet began to get warmer and wetter. This period was also known as
the Stone Age.
The Age of Cancer; approximately 8000 B.C. – 6500 B.C.
From
the fire sign of Leo to the water sign of Cancer there were floods!
Where do you think all that ice went? Around 8000 B.C. is thought to be
the time when the great floods that are mentioned in almost every major
culture occurred. Sun-worship was replaced by Moon-worship as many
cultures became aware of how the Moon affected the rising and falling of
the water or tides. The sign Cancer was associated with the archetype
of the Great Mother, which deals with the womb, bearing, birthing,
nurturing, protecting, and domestic life. During this time animals
began to be domesticated. The Great Mother was feared during this age
and even today, we still fear her. We call her Mother Nature as she can
be both life giving and relentlessly destructive in the form of
hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods or drought.
Around
the end of this Age we domesticated many animals (in part, thanks to
Noah who saved them from the flood), invented the wheel, weaving,
working with metal and increased our survival skills and began to fear
Mother Nature less and less as we were better able to protect ourselves
from her wrath, giving birth to intellectualism.
The Age of Gemini, Approximately 6500 B.C. - 3750 B.C.
Humans
begin writing and drawing and discover the god of Mercury or Hermes.
In Greek mythology, these were the gods of communication. The world
began to flourish with communication, language (babble) and knowledge.
As languages developed, so did oral traditions. It is believed that
though the first books of the Old Testament were not written down until
around 1000 B.C. at the time of Solomon, the oral traditions of creation
stories like The Garden of Eden were actually created during the Age of
Gemini. Gemini also gave us the consciousness of duality: The Garden
of Eden and the Tree of Knowledge containing the duality of Good and
Evil, Life and Death, Adam and Eve - duality of sexes, choice and
consequences, rational and irrational. In this Age, God and Nature were
being separated and we became farming communities rather than nomads.
We also began building places of worship.
The Age of Taurus; approximately 4000B.C-1800 B.C.
The
symbol of Taurus is a lot of bull. Cities began to spring up. The
sign of Taurus is associated with agriculture, money, banking, law, real
estate and property and all matters dealing with ownership.
Mortal
man wishing to preserve order created god-like figures dispensing cruel
justice and we found ourselves worshiping a number of bull gods. Apis,
who presided over the underworld. Ra, the Bull of Heaven; Osiris the
Bull of Earth; Nut, the Sky Goddess with cow’s ears; Hathor the Cow
Goddess, crowned with horns; Bulchis the Bull of Thebes; Poseidon, Bull
of the Sea; Zeus, the Bull-ravisher of Europa who fled over the Taurus
mountains; and,most notably, the Minotaur, which was the offspring of
Poseidon’s white bull and Pasiphae, wife of King Minos on Crete.
The
bull symbol (Golden Calf) was replaced in the next Age by Moses, the
bull-slayer; and ushered in the Age of Aries and the Ram-God Yahweh.
The Age of Aries, Approximately 1800 B.C. - 360 AD
Humans
began to consolidate their gods and monotheism was born. Aries is
ruled by Mars, the God of war. During this Age, the Greeks gave us
Homer, Hesiod, Achilles, Hercules, Jason (who sought the Golden
Fleece!), Theseus (a bona-fide bull-slayer!), Mithras who is depicted in
statues as plunging a dagger into a bull and, Odysseus. Also Alexander
the Great who, inspired by Homer, conquered most of the known world
during this Age.
Moses did much more than just blow a ram's horn
and liberate his people from Egypt. In condemning the worship of the
golden calf (Taurus), he symbolically declared a new age had begun. An
age that needed something to guide humanity: The Ten Commandments.
The
Age of Aries also brought us the great teachings of Lao Tzu, Confucius,
Gautama Buddha, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, opening the door for the
next Age to enter.
The Age of Pisces; approximately 360 A.D. – 2400 A.D
The
symbol for Pisces is the fish and this Age brought us Jesus. Jesus
Christ taught new laws to govern our development as human beings and at
the heart of his teachings was the idea that we should seek to love each
other, we should love our enemy, and turn the other cheek, he taught us
that we were one (a Piscean theme) and our enemy is simply a mirror of
ourselves. To hate someone else, then, is to hate yourself.
It is
interesting that many fundamentalist Christians claim to be followers
of Jesus–the great teacher of forgiveness and compassion, but find it
more productive to judge, condemn, hate, and try to convert others.
Christ taught that all one needed was the inner church (Soul). The
Kingdom of Heaven is not over there, not up there, not under there but,
in us and around us. If only we could open our eyes and see it. Maybe
in the next Age we will.
The Pisces Age unleashed some the most
devastating wars and conflict in the history of man such as witch hunts,
the Crusades, the Inquisition, the never ending conflict between
Muslims and Christians, nuclear bombs, world wars and so much more, all
under the banner of Christianity. The world became a dangerous place,
not because of those who did evil, but because of those who looked on
and did nothing.
This is the age that when someone breaks a law,
we lock them up in places where kindness is rare and considered weak.
Wouldn’t it seem more reasonable to put law breakers in a place which
cherishes kindness, reminds them of how important it is and affords them
opportunities to develop and express it?
Toward the end of the
Age of Pisces, we see social activism begin to take hold (especially
during the 1960's). Concern for the planet and all living creatures,
humanitarianism and the struggle for the healing of wounds and
division. Death leading to rebirth, acceptance, tolerance and awakening
are all part of the theme. All this is leading into the next Age.
The Age of Aquarius; approximately 2400 A.D. – 4600 A.D
There
isn't much to say about this Age since it is not here yet, but, this
Age will be the Age of Enlightenment and the symbol is the Water
Bearer. I find it interesting that the planet is being plagued by
dramatic weather changes, warming, flooding, polar melting, tsunamis,
increased hurricanes, tornadoes and devastating super storms.
Humans
strive to avoid struggle and pain. We spend so much energy trying to
avoid negativity and trying to create positivity, even if it’s
synthetic, that we miss the point that each of us is like the movie
character Indiana Jones. At the moment we may awaken to being here at
all, we may say, “What’s life about?" At that moment we are the heroes
of this classic, timeless, spiritual adventure. We already know the
movie is going to end, so the point is not to live forever, but it’s to
be heroic and enlightened. Enlightenment is seeing what in our belief
system is not working. But to perceive the world differently, we must be
willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away and expand
our sense of now. We should strive to leave each person and each place a
little better for our having been there. Simple.
This Age is
supposed to bring the restoration of the Garden of Eden, the Golden Age
of globalization where we all become citizens of the world. Maybe we
will discover that there is only one religion: God. A Hindu who rejects
Christ won’t find it. A Christian who rejects Buddha won’t find it.
It is predicted that Aquarius is to be the Age of the Second Coming.
Maybe, instead of a world leader, a master teacher, or a messiah, maybe,
just maybe, in this coming Age of Enlightenment, we’ll discover that we
are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
In the words of an ancient Sanskrit greeting and farewell, "I bow to the Divine within you."
