Most historians and historical reference books indicate that the Modern World commenced in the 15th century – or, at a minimum, the 15th century was an extremely exalted time in the history of human society. Apart from a plethora of other supporting facts, the 15th century was the first century that humans (i.e. Europeans at least) could comprehend the whole world for the first time due to the maritime exploits of its sailors circumnavigating the world. The arrival of ages is marked by highly significant events!
The arrival of the third subage within the Aquarian age, the Scorpio subage in 1791 basically demarks the end of the Early Modern Period (according to many historians at around 1800) and the beginning of the Modern Period. Within the Scorpio subage (1791 – 1970), the most significant large scale political revolution that has ever been experienced in the world, took place. At the beginning of the Scorpio subage most countries in the world were ruled by monarchs or local aristocracy (the USA was the black sheep of the time being already a rudimentary democracy). By the end of the Scorpio subage in 1970 most of these monarchs had been overthrown and replaced with democratic governments, communism or military juntas. Only in some less politically developed regions, particularly in the Middle East, did the old monarchial way of life continued – mainly propped up in the 20th century by Western and European nations to ensure a ready supply of fossil fuels.
The arrival of a new astrological period such as an age or subage does not affect the world uniformly. The arrival of a new period is like the bow of the boat – surging into previously uncharted waters and leaving its ever expanding wake as evidence of its passage. This wake then slowly affects all other regions of the world. The wake from any age or sub-period of an age is even larger after the end of its own period (as represented in figure 1). The primary focus of the initial Scorpio surge mainly affected western nations (including all of the Americas), but by its close in 1970, over half the world was deeply affected by its wake including an independent and democratic India on the one hand, and a communistic China on the other – but bereft of its former ruling class or aristocracy.
The transference from the Scorpio subage to Libra subage in 1970 actually marks an increase in tempo for Scorpio (due to its ever widening wake). Libra has arrived, but it is the new kid on the block, and the wake from its bow wave has relatively little impact in the world in comparison to Scorpio. Until near the end of the Libra subage in 2148, Scorpio is the dominant sign in the world (at the subage level). The transition between the Scorpio subage and Scorpio subage overflow was marked by the revolutionary sentiment expressed in the late 1960s and early 70s resulting in the almost choreographed student and youth demonstration and riots throughout much of the western world. Other spectacular icons of this period are the hippy movement that sprang out of San Francisco, the music revolution first associated with the Beatles, the Woodstock festival in New York, the anti-war movement against the Viet Nam war, the French student uprising that nearly toppled the government and feminism at full bore and armed with the newly invented oral contraceptive (associated with sex – another Scorpio archetype).
It must be remembered (or recognized by the younger generations) that western society in the 1950s was extremely conservative, mono-cultural, with women knowing their place in society and much stronger fascist elements compared to western society of 2011. The arrival of the 60s and early 70s baby boomers with their long hair, drugs and free love temporarily created the normal fracas when any establishment or society meets a new evolutionary sociological phenomenon. This is why students peacefully protesting the Viet Nam war were gunned down and killed in the USA, restrictive drug laws savagely enforced to persecute the new social movement and contentious objectors to compulsory military serviced were sent to jail. By and large the formerly stodgy and arch-conservative west has moved on to a certain degree since those heady days of the 60s and 70s. The formerly frowned upon music of the 60s and 70s now appears regularly in TV commercials, men can have hair whatever length they like but, except for some isolated pockets of enlightened thinking, the west maintains a witch hunt against recreational drug users, treats homosexuals as second class citizens and has not given full equality to women. The west is in the ongoing and long term process of assimilating the new cultural paradigm that appeared in the 60s and 70s and it will probably take another 150 or so years before some reasonable progress is made.
With the arrival of the Scorpio subage overflow in 1970, the bow wave of the Scorpio juggernaut continues to spread its influence. However if you think that the revolutionary spirit has been a little subdued for the last few decades then you are quite right. This is because subages have smaller periods within them called micro-ages. Micro-ages are almost 15 years in duration (plus another 15 years overflow) and until very recently, the micro-ages encountered at the beginning of the Scorpio subage overflow have been conservative micro-ages (see figure 2).
The conservative (and stable) micro-ages belong to the Earth and Fire signs – Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn, Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. The conservative Virgo micro-age was in place from 1970 to 1985, followed by the conservative Leo micro-age (1985 – 2000) with both periods promoting stability over change but also enforcing the status quo as much as possible. It is only with the current Cancer micro-age (2000 – 2015) that we begin returning to the progressive but destabilizing signs.
Not only is the world returning to progressive micro-ages, this process is still accelerating. The historical effects from any period associated with the astrological ages are always relatively sluggish to appear in a kind of delayed effect. So while the current Cancer micro-age rules from 2000 to 2015, it is not until its overflow period (2015 – 2029) that it can fully express its Cancerian intentions. However a significant shift in gears appeared at its halfway point of Cancer micro-age in 2007 in its climb up Mount Cancer – and the current revolutionary fervor in the Middle East is part of this Cancer play (along with numerous floods around the world always associated with Cancer).
Why the Middle East? Each region and country is associated with an astrological signature. One key component of any astrological signature associated anywhere where Islam is strong is the sign Cancer. Islam shares the underlying commonality of Pisces with Christianity as both came into existence in the Pisces age (along with Buddhism). However Christianity formed near the peak expression of the Scorpio age-decan of the Pisces age (8 BC) while Islam formed much closer to the peak of the Cancer age-decan in 713 AD (see figure 3).
This is why in Islam their view of paradise is closely associated with rivers (ruled by Cancer), they follow a lunar calendar (the Moon is the ruler of Cancer), and many female adherents either voluntarily or are forced to hide themselves away under burkas and veils (Cancer rules shyness and places a focus upon women). These are just a few of the major Cancerian associations to Islam.
With the revolutionary Scorpio subage overflow (1970 – 2148) passing over the Cancer micro-age (2000 – 2015) it is reasonable to conclude that Scorpio’s revolutionary archetype will marry with Islamic Cancer to produce revolutionary ferment in the Middle East. But this is not the end of the story. Within the Cancer micro-age (2000 – 2015) are three micro-age decans of Pisces, Scorpio and Cancer in chronological order with the Scorpio micro-age decan influential from 2005 to 2015, and particularly in 2010, 2011 and 2012 (see figure 4).
Nevertheless the kind of revolutions we can expect will not, as a rule of thumb, be focused upon violence but with a firm preference to peaceful methods. This is because the world is in the early stages of the Libra subage (1970 – 2148) and Libra is a peaceful sign opposite violent and militaristic Aries. This does not mean that those expressing revolutionary sentiment will not use force, but their use of force will be in most cases be in response to the force unleashed against them by power-mad autocrats. Lest you judge these Middle Eastern societies harshly for their despotic rulers, anti-democratic ways and highly visible levels of corruption, you do not need go very far back in history to find the same abominable behavior in western society. For whatever reason, the Aquarian age has arrived relatively early for the west, but it still took about 500 years to ensconce itself in Europe – Europe was a bloody nightmare for the first 500 years of the Aquarian age. So we should not be harsh in our judgments of other society’s shortcomings. The only real difference is that when the west went through its democratic catharsis over the last 500 years, no one was sitting on the sidelines criticizing or forcing them to be democratic with a gun held at their head as the USA did in Iraq. At least with the current Middle Eastern unrest, it is the vision of the citizens that is demanding the change – not an outside entity.
Also see: SCORPIO – the Sign of the Times …. Revisited – Part 1 –Revolution and Tyrants
Demystifying the Aquarian Age 