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Which Astrological Age are we in
now?
We are in the Age of
Pisces.
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| 2: |
When do we enter the Age of
Aquarius?
The Age of
Aquarius will begin in about the year 2600 AD.
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| 3: |
What's the definition of an
Astrological Age?
An Astrological Age is the period of time during
which the Vernal Equinox
Point can be seen against the stars of a particular
constellation.
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| 4: |
How many Astrological Ages are
there?
Thirteen, because there are
Thirteen Zodiac
Constellations. The Zodiac Constellation
Ophiuchus has to be
included.
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| 5: |
How long does an Astrological Age
last for?
This varies, because the amount of time
taken for the Vernal Equinox
Point to move through a particular constellation varies, being dependant on
how long the constellation is. The Age of Pisces
will last for about 2700 years. The Age of Aries
was much shorter, lasting for about 1800 years.
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| 6: |
What causes the Ages to
change?
The Movement of the
Ages is caused by the Movement of the Vernal
Equinox Point, otherwise known as the Precession of the
Equinoxes.
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| 7: |
What causes the Precession of the
Equinoxes?
The Movement of the Vernal Equinox Point is caused
by the Precession of the Earth's
Axis.
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| 8: |
What causes the Precession of the
Earth's Axis?
The Precession of the Earth's Axis is caused by the
gravity of the Sun and the Moon acting on the bulge which the Earth has at its
equator. [In its turn, that bulge in the Earth is caused by the spinning of the
Earth on its axis.]
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| 9: |
Why do some people think the New Age
has started?
(a) Non-astrologers: have invented
many other definitions to mark the start of a New Age,
other than the astrological definition.
(b) Certain Astrologers:
incorrectly use the Platonic Month concept to
try to predict the start of the Age of
Aquarius, where the Platonic Month is
one-twelfth of a Great Year. Unfortunately this
doesn't work, as Pisces is quite a big constellation, and the
Vernal Equinox Point takes
much longer than a Platonic Month to cross
it..
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| 10: |
How ancient is the idea of the Age of
Aquarius?
It's a surprising recent idea, coming
from Gerald Massey's writings of the
late nineteenth century. [See Searching for a
New Age... for more on this.]
However, the ideas which underlie it are
much older. Copernicus discovered the Precession of the Earth in the 16th century
AD and Hipparchos the Movement of the Vernal
Equinox Point in the 2nd century BC. Attempts to take the concepts back
toPlato in the 5th century BC are, however, very
wishful thinking. Attempts to take the concepts back several thousand years
before that - as can be found in a number of modern 'the unexplained' books -
are thought by modern scholars to be highly implausible. [See the
Ancient Egyptians and Precession and the
Ancient Babylonians and Precession for
more on this.]
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| 11: |
What can we expect from the Age of
Aquarius?
The famous psychoanalyst, Carl Gustav
Jung, characterised the Age of Aquarius with
the following words,
"Aquarius, will
constellate the problem of the union of the opposites. It will then no
longer be possible to write off evil as the mere privation of good; it's real
existence will have to be recognized. This problem can be solved neither
by philosophy, nor by economics, nor by politics, but only by the
individual human being, via his experience of the living
spirit..."
C G Jung 1951 AD, Aion, Chapter IV, The Sign of
the Fishes:
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| 12: |
What is the Vernal Equinox
Point?
It is the place on the
Ecliptic where the
Celestial Sphere
and the Ecliptic meet
during Spring in the Northern Hemisphere.
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| 13: |
Why is the Vernal Equinox Point
thought to be important enough to control an Age?
In early astrology the constellation in which this point lay was
considered the first constellation of the
Zodiac, and hence the most
important astrological station. Jung uses his
'synchronicity' concept to explain the connection between the
Movement of the Vernal Equinox Point through
Pisces, and events on
Earth, and he bases the Ages concept on this 'synchronicity'. However, he never
explicitly states why he thinks that the
Vernal Equinox Point in
particular should have this synchronicity, and not the two Solstices, nor the
Autumn Equinox.
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| 14: |
Why is the Vernal Equinox Point in
the northern hemisphere used?
It's an accident of
history; the Northern Hemisphere was where astrology
began.
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| 15: |
So what Astrological Age am I in if I
live in the southern hemisphere?
In the Southern
Hemisphere the Spring Equinox
Point can be seen against the stars of the constellation of
Virgo. In Jung's definition
of the Astrological Age, he seems to have
been thinking exclusively of the Northern Hemisphere Spring Equinox, the
Vernal Equinox, so it's
difficult to say what this means for the Southern
Hemisphere.
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| 16: |
As it's the Age of Pisces, the Sun is
in Pisces at the Spring Equinox [Northern Hemisphere], so why is the Sun in the
sign of Aries on that date?
Conventional Western
astrology uses the Tropical
Zodiac to define the dates of the Signs, and not the
Real Solar Zodiac. The
real place of the Sun in the heavens isn't relevant to the
Tropical Zodiac. In the
Sidereal Zodiac of Vedic
[Jyotish] Astrology used in India, the Sun is in Pisces at the
Vernal
Equinox.
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| 17: |
How can it make sense that the Real
Solar Zodiac be used for the Ages but a different Zodiac be used in
conventional astrology?
It can't. It's illogical to
use the stars-based Zodiac [Real Solar Zodiac] to define
the Ages, and a non-stars calendar based
Zodiac [Tropical Zodiac] to define
normal Western astrological signs. It makes no astrological sense to do
both.
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| 18: |
Has anyone attempted to use a
different solstice or Equinox on which to base an age?
Yes. There is a theory that the Maya Calendar ends on at a Winter
Solstice [Northern hemisphere] - Galactic Equator conjunction in
2012 and that it was designed to do so. However,
this conjunction actually occurred in 1997.
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| 19: |
Why do so many of the books in the
'unexplained' section of a bookshop feature Precession of the Equinoxes in some
form?
Interesting question! My 'personal theory' on
this is to be found at Publishing and
Precession..., but I'm no psychoanalyst... :)
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