THE AQUARIAN AGE
We are living in an interesting period of history. We are privileged to witness the passing of an Age, and the coming of a new Age, an event which occurs only once every two thousand one hundred and sixty years.
As we look round at present-day conditions, we might be tempted to feel that we could do without this privilege. Nevertheless, since the fact that we are alive cannot be ignored, it is much better to understand the causes which underlie the present state of unrest, especially since those very causes give us reason to believe that the near future offers us a much rosier outlook.
As a result of the precession of the equinoxes, our solar universe is passing out of the zodiacal sign of Pisces, the Fishes, and entering the sign of Aquarius, the Man bearing the Pitcher of Water, the eleventh sign of the Zodiac.
The Aquarian Age simply means a period of time which can be measured by astronomical calculations, but if we want to look for the prophetic indications, we find these are based upon the older and much-maligned science of Astrology.
The art of Astrology has fallen into such disrepute that the majority of people to-day know nothing of it whatever, so it may be just as well to make it quite clear what we mean, in common or garden language, by "The Aquarian Age."
If one speaks of the Houses of the Zodiac, or the Celestial Mansions, one is often suspected of trying to be clever, but actually this is the simple division of the space in the heavens into twelve sections, or compartments, each one being occupied by one of the signs of the Astrological Zodiac. This division is quite arbitrary, and the influence of these stars upon our lives depends very much upon the law of perspective.
Our world of Matter is bounded by two great Cycles, the cycle of the Horizon and the cycle of the Meridian. Look straight before you, and then turn, so that the focus of your eyesight describes a circle. That circle represents the limit of your vision. It is the circle of the Horizon.
Now, although the horizon surrounds the human vision as a circle, it appears to us normally as a straight line. If you were to make a drawing of it, you would do so by making a horizontal line straight across your paper.
Now, for the Cycle of the Meridian, point your finger straight overhead. Imagine yourself walking right round the world. Looking up in a line with your finger, far into space, your sight would describe a circle, which is the limit of man's vision outward and upward. Again, regarded from within, this circle appears as a straight line. Again, if you were making a drawing of it, it would be merely a vertical line which would cross the horizontal line at right angles. Now, on your paper, you would have nothing but a cross. That is the Cross of Matter into which the Spirit of Man is crucified when it enters the physical body. It is the cross of limitation, and includes everything which is discernible to the senses.
Its four terminals represent the four points of the compass, and, in Astrology, the four Fixed Signs. They are Leo the Lion, Taurus the Bull, Scorpio, the Scorpion or Eagle, and Aquarius the Water-Bearer. Now, I am told that the story of Noah and his three sons is symbolical of the fact that the remnant of the Adamic Race dispersed, possibly from Atlantis, and were driven by the Flood to the four quarters of the globe. Noah is represented by Aquarius. In the Aquarian Gospel, you will find the expression is used, "A Man bearing a Pitcher of Water across the sky." That is curiously suggestive of the formation of the Rainbow, and God's covenant with Noah. The Lion represents Shem, the Lion of Judah and the Semitic Race. The Bull symbolises Egypt and the Land of Ham. The Scorpion or Eagle belongs to Japhet, who travelled north and became the father of the Aryan Race. It is curious to notice that nearly all the European countries have the Eagle, in some form or other, still emblazoned upon their national flag.
Incidentally, these four figures represent, of course, the Four Beasts of the Apocalypse, who, as it is said in Revelations iv. 9, ". . . give glory and honour and thanks to Him that sat on the throne, Who liveth for ever and ever."
In a modern horoscope, these four figures form what we call a St. Andrew's Cross.
To return to our illustration of the Cross of Matter, its true form is not just two lines, but two cycles. The four spaces in between are occupied by twelve constellations, three in each, which we call the signs of the Zodiac, and the space which each constellation occupies is called its House.
By revolving upon its axis, the earth passes through those signs once in every twenty-four hours. By moving in its orbit round the sun, it makes the journey in a year, and, as a consequence of the precession of the Equinoxes, the whole solar universe visits each zodiacal mansion for a period of two thousand one hundred and sixty years.
To get a simple illustration, let us flatten out our cycles again into two straight lines. Imagine now that they are drawn upon the face of the clock. The line of the horizon runs from 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock, or from sunrise to sunset, and the cycle of the Meridian runs from 12 o'clock, or mid-heaven, down to 6 o'clock, or the nadir, which is midnight. Our twelve signs of the Zodiac now occupy each one of the twelve hours.
Because we are looking at the Zodiac from the earth instead of from heaven, the signs go round in the wrong direction, that is, the reverse way to the hands of a clock.
So the hour from 8 to 9 o'clock represents the House of the first sign of the Zodiac, Aries, the Ram. 7 to 8 is the House of Taurus, 6 to 7 of Gemini, 5 to 6 of Cancer, 4 to 5 of Leo, and so on, round to Aquarius from 10 to 11 o'clock, and Pisces, the last sign, from 9 to 10.
Now, we have heard of a golden Age, we have heard of a Garden of Eden, and we have heard legends of the lost continent, Atlantis. Yet we have never been able to pull these vague theories together into a concrete idea.
The earliest physical man we know has left us some bony remains in the form of skeletons and skulls we call the Pekin Man, the Oldoway Man and the Piltdown Skull. Surely it was not to these ape-like creatures that the Almighty gave dominion over every living thing, nor was it with such as these that the Lord God walked in the Garden in the Day when the earth had cooled after the heat of Creation.
If we study that period which to us is prehistoric, we are driven more and more to the conclusion that there existed a race of Supermen, or Gods. The Bible calls them Sons of God. We are also given the mystic name of Eden, and there seems every encouragement to link that situation with the hitherto fabulous continent of Atlantis. We may even go so far as to discover a date in history when this civilisation still flourished, this Golden Age. We can place it hyperthetically at about eleven thousand years B.C., when the solar universe was in the constellation of Leo.
Look again at the clock. The House of the Lion is between 4 and 5 o'clock. Leo is ruled by the sun, the monarch of the skies, so this might well be called the Golden Age.
We have no records save the mystical religious stories. The first historical, or pseudo-historical evidence tells of a race already decadent. There is a saying that "Happiness has no history." The great history-machine is War, and the first record we possess of the existence of Atlantis is in the writings of Plato where he describes the Atlantean invasion of Athens in about 9600 B.C.
There is much controversy at present as to whether Plato was writing seriously, or merely romancing, but it is certainly true that many of the Other-World messages that have lately come through various Mediums support the theory not only of a lost continent, but of the existence of a race of supermen, and of a Golden Age. It must also be remembered that this period corresponds to the Neolithic, or New Stone Age in Europe.
From the influence of the sun, the Universe then passed into that of the moon. That is, it passed from the sign Leo into Cancer, the fourth sign of the Zodiac, whose House is between 5 and 6 o'clock on the clock, down towards the nadir, or midnight.
It is interesting to note that Cancer is a cardinal, watery sign, ruled by the moon, the luminary which rules the tides, and, according to such records as we possess, Atlantis was destroyed about this time by a series of portentous tidal-waves. The moon also rules the psychic body and the zodiacal sign directly in the nadir, or midnight. And, if we are to believe this mystical teaching which is more ancient than history, it was the practice of the black arts, and man's misuse of his psychic body which led to the submergence of Atlantis, and the psychological catastrophe which we call the Fall of Adam.
The next sign gives an entirely different influence. It is Gemini, the Twins, ruled by Mercury, the Messenger of the Gods, and the planet of Intellect.
Here we have the dawn of history, an era upon which the archaeologists can throw some light. The recent excavations near Ur, and similar discoveries, have proved conclusively that at this time large cities already existed, peopled by inhabitants whom we could not possibly call uncivilised.
Under the exhilarating influence of Mercury, Man was becoming a thoughtful being. That hairy specimen which the biologists have linked with the Ape had evolved into an intelligent member of existing society.
It is a characteristic of Gemini, the Twins, that it is a "double" sign, and if it is true that a remnant of an ancient race, or Sons of Noah, survived from that cataclysm we call the Flood, it is at this time they must have become co-ordinated, and united with those indigenous races which are known as the daughters of men.
Fabre D'Olivet, in his Hermeneutic Interpretation, goes so far as to relate the histories of certain personages actually living during this period. One such story is that of Voluspa, the first Pythoness, and another is of Rama, the great Initiate, to whose existence both Shruré and St. Yves have also added their testimony.
Whether these persons, and the stories that are told of them, are historical or legendary, the fact remains that this period of two thousand odd years under the influence of an air sign ruled by the planet of Intellect, must have shown an enormous advance in human evolution. It is the transitory period between the primitive world and the Neolithic Age and the Advanced civilisation of Egypt. During this time, Mankind, traversed the desert which lies between savagery and intellectuality
Now, in coming to Egyptian times, we leave conjecture behind, and launch off into history. The era of Egypt's supremacy lies under the influence of the sign of Taurus the Bull. You will find his house on the clock between 7 and 8 hours. Egyptian civilisation conforms exactly to the symbolism of this sign. It is represented by a Bull, and you will remember the Egyptians worshipped the Bull Apis. I have been told inspirationally that the Egyptians never regarded the Sacred Bull as anything but an emblem of the great zodiacal constellation whose ruler was the Lord of the Heavens during the period in which they dwelt. The Bull was an outward and visible symbol of their invisible Lord and Ruler, whose majesty was manifested in the reigning sign of Taurus.
Taurus is a feminine sign, ruled by Venus, and Isis, the Mother-Goddess, or Feminine Aspect, was worshipped throughout Egypt. Taurus is a violent sign, and it was a period of violence. It is a fixed sign, and under its influence was founded a school of mystery-teaching and a trend of religious thought which survived through the ensuing epochs, and it is still revered among those who seek the inner teachings of the mind.
The Land of Ham flourished beneath the reign of its Lord and Ruler, Taurus, and the Mother-Goddess Isis, or Venus, contributed a rich share of beauty. Majestic temples were raised, the famous Pyramids were built, and the decorations and workmanship have been the wonder of all ages, even to to-day.
For more than two thousand years, the Sign of the Bull shone from the heavens, his mansion the guest-house of the solar universe, and on the earth the sacred waters of the Nile flowed past the great Temples of learning and of adoration, and the Sacred Bull was garlanded by a people whose understanding of the inner chambers of the mind we might do well to envy and to emulate.
At the end of this period came another of those dramatic changes which have never failed to mark these astronomical periods in history. We came under the dominion of the first sign of the Zodiac, Aries, the Ram. You will find his House between 8 and 9 o'clock. According to tradition, this date in history coincided with the time of the birth of Abraham, and the sign Aries ruled the heavens from then until the commencement of our Christian era.
During this epoch, history was being made all over the known world, but no race has left its mark so indelibly upon the events and the trend of thought, especially of religious thought, which was to follow, as did the Jews. And the religion of the Jews is linked inextricably with the symbol of the Ram or Lamb.
One of the earliest stories of the Jewish race is that of the Ram which was caught in the thicket and sacrificed by Abraham. The historic night of the escape of the children of Israel from Egypt is characterised by the story of the painting of the door-posts with the blood of a lamb, a male of the first year, and the action is commemorated to this day in the Jewish Feast of the Passover. Throughout the whole period of contemporary history, the Ram figured as the sacred beast of sacrifice.
It is significant also that Moses, descending from Sinai, discovered the people worshipping around a golden calf. This was the symbol of Egypt, to them the Land of Servitude, and the calf, or young bull, in its negative sense, stands for the Ox, symbolical of bondage. The incident is still better understood in the light of the mystical interpretation that Egypt stands for the bondage of the physical body, and the Children of Israel represent the liberated Soul which seeks the Celestial Kingdom, or Promised Land.
Aries is a male sign signifying the head, and this was an Age of great learning and reasoning. It is ruled by Mars, and the whole age illustrates the courage, energy, expansion and aggression which are the natural characteristics of this planet. The War God was busy everywhere. The Jews made war upon every nation that stood in their way, and Europe was plunged in hostilities of a magnitude not previously known. The Romans fought their way to power and prestige, and while the blood of the conquered bespattered the pagan world, the blood of the Ram trickled from the altars of Judea.
Nor was the symbol of the Ram the sole monopoly of the Jews. In Greece the famous Parthenon was already in its full splendour.
Now, the Parthenon was built to the honour of Athene, the Virgin, whom the Greeks recognised as the Guardian-Goddess of Aries. This link with the celestial Ram brings her also under the influence of its Ruler, Mars, and so we find Athene the Goddess of War as well as of Wisdom, and the helmet she wears is adorned with the heads of Rams.
At the close of the Cycle of Aries, as a final gesture, "the Lamb of God was slain." Look up Revelation v. 6: "The Lamb Which stood in the midst of the Throne and of the Four Living Ones (that is, the four fixed signs) was slain."
If we look at the astrological aspects of that period we call the Christian Era, we shall see what an Age of overwhelming importance this was in relation to the world's history.
If you look at the date of the Life of Jesus upon the Cosmo-Zodiac, you will find it exactly at 9 o'clock. This is the point of sunrise.
The solar universe passed in this period from the Sign of Aries the Ram into the Sign Pisces, the Fishes, which represents the Feet, or new foundation. We find this idea recurring in the representation of Christ as the Foundation of the Church.
There are two points here of extreme importance. With the final passage of the sun through Aries the great Cosmo-Cycle was complete, and a new Cosmo-Cycle about to begin. This is the Age of the Ages referred to in the Bible, and is a period of 25,920 years. It is sometimes symbolised by the figure of a serpent with its tail in its mouth.
So the appearance of the Son of Man upon our planet collided with the commencement of a new Cosmo-Cycle. It also coincided with another important astrological aspect. Pisces is the first Day-sign.
If you look again at the clock, you will notice that all the signs we have been considering are all around the Nadir, or midnight. At the point of contact between Aries and Pisces comes the eastern horizon, or point of sunrise. Again and again you will find references to this fact in the Christian story. In Revelations xii. I, there appears "a woman clothed with the Sun," representing the Church of Christ, and with the moon under her feet (Cancer, ruled by the moon is on the nadir). In Malachi iv. 2, Jesus is called "the Sun of Righteousness"; in Luke i. 78, are the words, "The Day-Spring from on high hath visited us"; in 2 Peter i. 19, "The Day-Star arise in your hearts"; and in Revelations xxii. 16, are the words, "I am the bright and morning Star."
Up till now, we have actually been living in the fag-end of this epoch, so it is easy to trace the symbolism of the ruling sign of the Fishes. Jesus chose His disciples from among the fisherman, and the world awaiting redemption has been regarded as an ocean of fish. Its priests, from being called the "shepherds" came to be called "fishers of men." I read somewhere that in the new Aquarian Age they were to be called "gardeners." The apport miracle in the Wilderness concerned the materialisation of fish, and this was also a symbol frequently used in early Christian sculpture.
You remember in the emblem of the Zodiac, the fish are tied by the tail and are swimming in opposite directions. This symbolism has been true of the whole of the Christian era. Religious denominations have tried to pull in opposite directions and there has been little concerted endeavour. Pisces is also a Twelfth-House sign, the House of limitation, and of self-undoing. It is a watery sign, governing the emotions, and it has proved an emotional, almost an hysterical age. I am told that this sign is not ruled by the benign Jupiter as you will find in the astrology books, but by the Earth, so that it comes under the symbol of the Cross, which is the astrological figure for the Earth, the sign of sacrifice. The form of the design Pisces is in itself more or less in the form of a cross.
It is a mute sign, and the period has been marked by no literature comparable to that of the preceding period. It is a fruitful sign, and the population of the earth has certainly multiplied. It is also a cadent sign, and in many ways the Piscean Age had been a period of retrogression.
We are now upon the cusp of the House of Aquarius, the second Day-Sign, that era which, in mystical belief, marks the Second Coming of the Christ, not in physical incarnation, but as an Event within the inner Sanctuary of the Mind. Jesus Himself foretold this age: "Behold . . . there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water . . . and he shall shew you a large upper room. . . . There make ready . . ."
To quote from my own inspirational writing, I was given the following passage:"See you not that whilst your planet was dignified in its own Mansion (that is, Pisces), the Lord of your World dwelt among you, and now, caught in the sway of a vibration greater than your own, you must seek Him in a larger Sphere, within the Upper Room of your own mind where the Soul of a man climbs that winding stair which leads to a conscious contact with the divine within himself, and becomes one with the eternal Cosmos."
There is an interesting passage on the same subject in Anna Kingsford's book, Clothed with the Sun (pages 38 and 39):
"Then shall appear the new Sign, the Man in Heaven, upon the rain-clouds of the last Chrism and mystery, with great power and glory. . . .
"For when the Lord would enter the holy city, to celebrate his Last Supper with the disciples, he sent before him the fisherman Peter to meet the man of the coming sign.
"'There shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water.'
"Because, as the Lord was first manifest at a wine-feast in the morning, so must he consummate his work at a wine-feast in the evening.
"It is his Pass-Over; for thereafter the sun must pass into a new sign.
"After the Fish, the Water-Carrier; but the Lamb of God remains always in the place of victory, being slain from the foundation of the world.
"For his place is the place of the sun's triumph."
Now, to break way from the mystical interpretations, it may be interesting to turn to more practical considerations, and visualize the influences that are bound to effect us during the next two thousand years.
We come under the influence of the planet Uranus. The Ancients gave Saturn as the ruler of Aquarius, but in those days Uranus was not known, although it is generally believed it was recognised by the Atlanteans. It was rediscovered by the Astronomer Herschel in 1781. Modern Astrologers are now pretty unanimous in placing Uranus as the ruler of our new Age, and I have had this hypothesis confirmed by the Guides.
The chief characteristic of Uranus is the unexpected. It rules all sudden happenings, all sharp angles and bright surfaces, such as aluminum and chromium plating. Its influence can be seen in most of our modern buildings in their angular construction and chromium-plated ornaments. This planet rules metals such as radium, uranium, etc., and ideas and inventions especially those connected with aviation and aerial discoveries. Under this influence, there are bound to be new departures in X-ray photography, wireless transmission, the use of radium, and all kinds of aviation. There will be a general trend towards originality and independence, and a greater freedom than the world has yet known.
The sign Aquarius is depicted by two wavy lines, one above the other. This is usually misconstrued to represent the waves of the sea, but actually it is indicative of aerial vibrations such as the waves of sound and light. It is an Air sign, and therefore rules the intellect, and will cause a new interest in intellectual subjects, and the sentimental religious outlook of the past is due to give way to a sane and conscientious desire for truth and knowledge. It will not be surprising if the Church of the future is combined with a University which will become a centre of learning, and may contain an inner sanctuary, or Mystery-School.
This is an eleventh-house sign, ruling friendships, so it is a good augury for a state of better understanding between the nations, which the fixed nature of the sign should render lasting. It is one of the "Human" signs, so we may hope that some of our barbarous practices such as War and capital punishment may become relics of history.
We are entitled to look for an absolute upheaval in world conditions generally. Mental healing and the various rays may supersede medicines, machinery will supersede labour. Inventions and discoveries will be of a startling nature, and men will work with their minds. It will be an age of politics, and possibly of great psychic discoveries.
I came across an interesting passage in an article by Ove Tuveson in the Seer magazine for December. He says:
"The Aquarian sign is often pictured as a man pouring out the 'water of life' over the earth. As this sign represents the First principle of the tetrad or quaternary (Jod, Father, White, etc.), it means the outpouring of a greater manifestation of the Cosmic Spirit on our globe during the coming 2,160 years."
We are reminded of the text, "Behold, I give of the Water of Life freely."
We may see many prophecies fulfilled during the coming Age, perhaps among them the beautiful vision of Isaiah that the Lion of Judah shall walk with the Lamb of God, and the Little Child, which is the New Age, shall lead them.
Many have asked, when shall these things be? But the actual date of our passage into the new Sign has long been a subject for controversy. I am not qualified to add my opinion to those which have already been expressed, and which are based upon scientific calculations, but I am impressed by those Minds which have transcended our small mundane knowledge that the present year has already witnessed the actual transition of the influences.
I give the following extract from a Script I received on the subject during the autumn of last year:
"Your Professors of Astronomy watch the progress of the earth through the houses of the Zodiac, yet in your modern times there are but few competent to apprehend the purport of its celestial circuit.
"At the present time the earth's elliptic is passing from the Zodiacal sign Pisces into the sign Aquarius. It is upon the cusp of the mansion of Aquarius.
"Now the passage of a body over a cusp of a celestial house is analogous to the passing of a ship across the bar of an estuary. It is here there is a meeting-place of the currents, the one flowing out, the other flowing in. As the waters of the rivers unite with the tides of the sea, so the vibrations of the Zodiac combine in unity, but before this harmony can be consolidated there must be for the present a period of friction, and the barque that adventures the passage is tossed at the mercy of conflicting currents.
"The influence of a celestial house is sensitive toward its cusp, just as the human flesh is sesitive towards the surface. It is here that the nerve-ends are to be found, and so, astrologically, upon the cusp lie in the sensitive terminals of stellar vibrations.
"Now the period of the transit of the earth's elliptic through a ceslestial mansion is in your own time a little more than two thousand years. This, with you, constitutes an Age.
"The Piscean Age is drawing to a close, and you are entering the new Era of Aquarius.
"Rightly you have called the earth a 'body,' just as all planets are 'bodies' in your solar system. So, just as your physical body is animated by the forces of life, so each celestial body is quickened into consciousness by an immortal Spirit, which is the soul of Truth, and which you have named 'Religion.'
"In order to be tangible upon your planet, all forms of life and consciousness must possess a body conforming to your earth body, that is, they must possess some means of material manifestation.
"So, with the dawn of each new Age, the Spirit of Truth, pregnant within the soul of Religion, is born anew into an infant body of Creed, or, to put it more precisely, into a new Church.
"Again is God manifest in a three-fold form: Truth is the immortal Spirit, Religion the emanating Soul, and the Church is the body of Matter, formed of the dust of the earth and of the mind of the people that the Eternal Verity might incarnate therein.
"So in the dawn of your Piscean Age, the Spirit of Truth incarnated into the body of the Christian Church, and the Son of Man, in whose Soul abided the Cosmic Spirit of the Most High, incarnated to serve as its High Priest.
"Meditate therefore: The Spirit of Truth is immortal, the Soul of Truth which is Religion shall abide for a season, but the body of Truth is of the fabric of Matter and subject to dissolution and to the reversion which you have called Death.
"The span of life allotted to the body of man is threescore years and ten, and the period of life which is issued to the Church is an Age of your existence, or the period of the passage of the earth's elliptic through a sign of the celestial Zodiac.
"Seek for the confirmation of my statement in the history of your world. Cogitate upon the Temples of Egypt, the Mysteries of Greece, the Synagogue of Judea, and the Church of Christ. Each body, each outer form, has been dear in its day to those who beheld within the shell of Matter the divine nucleus of Truth.
"I am speaking primarily of the Ritual of the West, for in the East many have learned to dispense with forms, and have contracted the Soul of religion which is not subject to mundane disintegration, and shall endure so long as the world shall last.
"So, as the body of man grows aged and is no longer replete with vigour, no longer able to express the fire that is within his spirit or the intellect which suffuses his soul, so the body of the Church grows old, and becomes as a man who is weak, whose mind is obscured beneath the accumulation of years, whose organism responds already to the law of reversion, and whose spirit finds no medium for self-expression.
"Weep not, daughter of the Church, but rejoice, for a new Age is at hand, and although the grave of Matter may receive the form of that which you have loved, the immortal Spirit shall arise as a Phoenix from the ashes and shall re-incarnate into a New Body that shall be the Church of the Aquarian Age.
"And I say to you, the Spirit of the Cosmic Christ shall enter into the mind of the Master of this new Building, and He shall be its High Priest.
"The Spirit of Jesus is immortal. Immortal also are the Spirits of the King's Messengers, the Spirits of Osiris, of Hermes and of the Prophets. For although the bodies of incarnation are diverse, the Soul is united, and the Spirit is one, the Fountain and Source of All.
"Because the Church of Christ loses its vitality, the work of Jesus is not destroyed. The teaching of Jesus is immortal and shall be born again into the new Body of Truth. And not His alone, but the teaching of all who were inspired of God, for in Essence They are not several, but One. Amen."
