The current 21st century from an astrological perspective is a ‘mild’ century. In Part 1, an initial examination of the 21st century was made which proposed that the 21st century is not as dangerous compared to the 20th and 22nd centuries due primarily to the fact that both these centuries have a major sub-age cusp whereas the 21st century does not. The primary influence in the 21st century is from the Scorpio sub-age overflow (1970-2148) and a basic examination of Scorpio archetypes was undertaken. Sub-age cusps are not the only harbingers of disasters and difficulties, and in this post, a deeper examination of the differences between the current 21st century compared to the two adjoining centuries is made.
For those readers not familiar with periods used in macro-astrology, you may find your understanding significantly increases if you first read Age of Aquarius for Dummies
The 20th century saw both the peak of the Scorpio sub-age wave in 1970 and the peak of the Pisces sub-age decan (the middle decan of the Scorpio sub-age) wave in 1910. Normally a wave associated with a sub-age decan should have only one-third the strength of a sub-age wave – but like the inevitability of Murphy’s Law, there is always an exception. The peak of the Pisces sub-age decan wave in 1910 was the exception to the rule. The greatest wave of all is caused by an age, and that last rolled in on an unsuspecting world in the 15th century. The age cusp in the 15th century marked the boundary of the Pisces and Aquarian ages, but in the 15th century Pisces is the sign of strength while Aquarius is just the new spindly kid on the block.
In the 15th century, the Pisces age broke like a tsunami and is currently washing over the world for thousands of years bringing all manner of Pisces archetypes along for the ride. Pisces is traditionally associated with Europe, is the primary sign on the USA’s totem pole, is the sign for corporations (fake bodies) and thus strongly linked to capitalism, and is the apocalyptic sign which is why key Pisces religions such as Christianity and Islam look to the end of the world for salvation. Even many science fiction and futuristic movies often portray a post-apocalyptic future. Pisces is the sign of endings, and many people are convinced about the imminent and messy end of human society or society as we know it.
Coincidentally Pisces archetypes include self-deception, delusion and a lack of clarity. Under Pisces’ spell, when Pisces was at its peak the Roman Catholic Church (and the new Protestantism) behaved like the Taliban or ISIS and burnt at the stake many people, exiled or persecuted them by other means due only to their beliefs. There were massive religious wars between the Protestant and Catholic nations (similar to the Sunni and Shiite antagonism currently playing out in the Middle East). The Black Death ravaged Europe. The majority of the American Indians were killed by disease upon contact with their European superiors, if they had not already been murdered or enslaved. Millions of innocent Africans were transported to become slaves with many millions dying a horrible death on route. It was not a pretty picture. There were many developments on the positive side of Pisces at this critical juncture but at this point, I am looking for worse case scenarios.
When the tsunami of the Pisces age wave passes over the centuries, if it comes across a significant Pisces sub-period it resonates with the smaller Pisces period creating, for a short time, a far greater impact than can normally be expected from a smaller wave. When the Pisces age wave hit the early 20th century, it resonated with the smaller Pisces sub-age decan wave and reminded the world of what it was like to live under medieval Pisces in earlier centuries. This is why in the first half of the 20th century the world saw two World Wars, the Great Depression and the millions of deaths associated with the Spanish flu in 1918 which killed more people than the First World War. How many hundreds of millions of people were cut down before their time in the first half of the 20th century? Again, I am focusing on the dark side of Pisces only. The first half of the 20th century was the great disaster of modern times, and there is nothing remotely like it indicated in the current 21st century.
On the other side of the 21st century, the 22nd century has something that only appears once every age. Each age has three age-decans. The cusp of one age decan coincides with the cusp of the ages so can be discounted, leaving the two remaining cusps. The first of these two age-decan cusps takes on additional role. The first age-decan cusp of any age is of the opposite sign of the second last age overflow and stops it in its tracks! The whole of the Pisces age (732 BC – 1433 AD) was dominated by the Aries age overflow in the same way that the current Aquarius age (1433 – 3574) is dominated by the Pisces age overflow. However when the 15th century arrived unleashing the Pisces age-overflow, the remnants of the Aries age overflow continued to be carried along in the slipstream. Aries brought the Age of Warfare and the continuation of the military madness associated with Aries has carried forward into the modern world – but it has a time fuse attached to it.
War is not the only archetype attached to Aries, it is the sign of male-dominated society and sits high on the European totem pole along with Pisces in contrast with the Far East which has a focus upon Libra. Aries has driven the constructive urge in the world where nearly everywhere in the world has numerous examples of spectacular engineering feats. Somehow, all this comes to a screeching halt from the middle of the 22nd century onwards because of the peak of the Libra age decan in 2148 – with Libra countering Aries’ archetypes. Furthermore, age-decan cusps produce serious schisms, and the strength of an age decan cusp is such that even the constitutional integrity of the US government will most likely be compromised (for a short time) before political continuity returns. Major empires and regions have a history of collapsing upon the arrival of an age-decan cusp. Age-decan cusps are serious business. Nothing like this is seen in the current 21st century.
Before examining the 21st century in detail, it is important to reiterate what has been investigated so far. The current 21st century, for all its problems, will in no way be comparable to the extreme destruction witnessed in the first half of the 20th century nor what is projected to occur in the 22nd century. The mood however for the 21st century will be desultory and people will feel vulnerable – some will feel very vengeful. A new ethos will grow and develop over the century which can be sourced back to the 1960s and 70s. This has precedence and previous incarnations of this same phenomena occurred with the rise of the workers commencing the early 19th century, and the earlier rise of the bourgeoisie (self-employed businessmen). Prior to that there was the sudden appearance of the Puritans and Protestant Christians. In each case, these movements were associated with sub-ages – the Puritans with the Capricorn sub-age, the bourgeoisie with the Sagittarius sub-age and the workers with the Scorpio sub-age. In all cases there were long germinations times.
What is the new movement or ethos emanating out of the current Libra sub-age (1970 – 2148)? It is the New Age movement, and the growth of this new environmentally-friendly social ethos is sure to follow the same pattern. We will not experience its culmination in this century.
The two key aspects that need to be examined for a top-down view of the 21st century are the influences from the Scorpio sub-age overflow and the newly arrived Libra sub-age (both 1970-2148 and this period can be labelled the Scorpio-Libra sub-age) plus the role of the two sub-age decans cusps that occur in the 21st century. Because of the wave-like nature of all periods in macro-astrology, no period is solely influenced by only one sign. The Scorpio sub-age overflow and Libra sub-age are occurring simultaneously as the Scorpio wave has attained its peak ascendancy in 1970 and ‘breaks’ over the following period while in 1970 the Libra sub-age comes online ready for its 179 years climb to its peak. Abbreviating the period to the Scorpio-Libra sub-age indicates the role of the two signs in this period and the dominance of Scorpio of Libra in the timeframe.
The Scorpio-Libra sub-age (1970-2148) has a demarcation line around the year 2059. Before 2059 Scorpio is the absolute dominant sign in the partnership, but from around 2059 Libra becomes noticeably more powerful. The input from Scorpio has already been covered in brief, but there is more to Scorpio than regeneration. The other key archetype associated with Scorpio is reduction including minimalism. Scorpio likes to prune the tree. All the predictions for the world population indicate a continuation of the exponential growth in the number of people in the world. The population explosion was a direct result of the Sagittarius sub-age overflow (1791-1970) and few people will disagree with the association of a booming population with the sign Sagittarius. However it is now Scorpio’s turn, and Scorpio is not expansionary like Sagittarius – in many ways it has an opposite quality. Scorpio wants the population of the world to reduce!
How will the world’s population reduce when all the pundits predict the opposite? Most people latch onto apocalyptic scenarios, but this melodramatic view of the future is associated with Pisces, and though Pisces is the primary sign in the world for many more centuries to come, there is no Pisces period of strength in the 21st century to resonate with. The most it can do is prop up the Pisces micro-age and overflow (2059-2074-2089) where it is likely to create another economic bubble which will again crash spectacularly around 2092 to 2097.
The fall in population is already occurring but most people cannot see it. Most western nations have had negative population growth for decades which means the number of children being born is less than the number of people dying. The only reason western countries are not shrinking is due to immigration. This population contraction is now not limited to only western nations, many second tier nations are witnessing the same. Furthermore, as the spread of the middle class extends from developed nations to developing nations, population growth falls because middle class families do not need to depend upon their children for their social security and labor as they grow old. Recently, for the first time in history, more people live in urban centers than in rural areas. This is merely confirmation of the worldwide trend towards an urbanized middle class with greater wealth than their average rural counterpart, resulting in families with significantly less children. In addition, China, with 1.3 billion people is the most populace nation on earth and had for many decades an enforced One-Child policy which has drastically affected population growth for a significant proportion of the world’s population.
It may be too unrealistic to suggest that all the population contraction will be based solely on economic issues – other mildly catastrophic events may reduce population growth, but if disease, epidemics, pollution, violence and so on become factors that prune the world’s population, it cannot be at the same echelon of disasters that befell the world in the first half of the 20th century. One possible reason for population decline is due appropriately to growing rates of infertility – infertility is in the stable of Scorpio archetypes. Infertility or difficulties for women to become pregnant has substantially increased in western nations since the 1960s.[i] Infertility clinics are becoming as common as McDonalds.
The effects of the astrological ages and sub-periods are not uniform around the world but always radiate out from the age-empire or civilization focal point of the time. Since the 15th century this has been the prerogative, for better and worse, of western culture – firstly in Europe, but during the powerful Pisces resonant point in the early 20th century, this was passed on to the USA. The emergent developments will tend to occur first in western nations then radiate out to the rest of the world over the following decades or centuries. The negative population growth of western nations has commenced radiating out past western nations, and though it may not hit Africa for over another century or more, it will ultimately get there.
The other big picture association to Scorpio is pollution. Pollution will be a significant factor in world affairs at least until the early 23rd century. When the world arrives at the peak of the Taurus sub-age decan[ii] around 2207, a counterbalancing period lasting many decades will reign in pollution or its effects one way or another. There is no need to review the plethora of dire consequences that environmental scientists predict for the world except for one major aspect that I did briefly refer to in my book published in 2011. Global Warming is real, and currently the heat is not going into atmospheric temperature but into rising oceanic temperature. Apart from melting the ice at the poles, hot water expands.
“Can any insight be gained from the astrological ages about the prediction by many scientists of a serious rise in ocean levels due to climate change? Pisces takes control of the oceans, and scientists are stating that the conclusions of the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are too optimistic and conservative. The average ocean levels rose about 17 cm in the twentieth century. Most people are aware that the melting of glaciers and ice sheets is contributing significantly to sea level rise. However, global warming is also causing the existing seawater to expand, thus further increasing sea level rise. Based on the combination of meltwater from melting ice and expanding oceans, some experts believe ocean levels could rise by 1 meter by 2100 CE.” [iii]
The scientific evidence suggests that the sea level will rise around one meter (over 3 feet) per century for the next five centuries. Since the 15th century the strongest sign in the world is Pisces and will remain Pisces at least until 2500 – therefore the astrology supports the scientists. This will be an ongoing major catastrophe in slow motion and satisfies the requirement of our current century that detrimental change is here, but not to the destructive level of the early 20th century. Recently I was discussing the issue with a university lecturer in marine biology and he stated that the effects of an average sea level rise of just one inch can push back the shoreline by 20 yards or more. Most of the world’s coastal cities are doomed, but not immediately – how long can Venice survive?
In conclusion, both the 20th and 22nd centuries have major astrological precipitators creating extreme situations due to the Pisces sub-age decan resonating with the Pisces age overflow in the early 20th century, and the Libra age-decan cusp in the 22nd century opposing the violent influence carrying over from the Aries age. The funny thing is that nothing on this level occurs in the current 21st century.
Each sub-age produces a sub-culture with a new ethos, and I have proposed that the new and emergent sub-culture that will be in a position to deal with the world’s problems will evolve from the New Age movement and Green sympathizers. The population explosion is not only likely to continue to considerably slow down, it may even start reducing the world population as the 21st century unwinds, unless this is totally reserved for the 22nd century. Ages and all sub-periods ‘radiate’ and at this stage of the Age of Aquarius, it is western culture that is the source of the radiation, and its radiating influence will slowly but steadily affect the rest of the world for better or worse (torturing prisoners or highly questionable interrogation tactics such as waterboarding will also radiate out to the rest of the world). On the other extreme is the Peace or New Age movement which was developed within western culture.
Finally pollution will increasingly become the issue that must be resolved and the second half of the 21st century looks promising in this regard. The astrology suggests that the current ethos of western culture is incapable of adequately addressing the major issue of pollution due to the overriding focus upon financial profit, and that it will only be due to the growing influence of the New Age/Green movement, or whatever emerges from this movement, that will sufficiently address the problem – possibly as early as 2059 or shortly thereafter. The drive towards addressing pollution and Climate Change will build and develop in the period leading to 2059.
References
[i] http://www.fertility.com/en/stage1/articles/article8/article8.html
[ii] This Taurus sub-age decan belongs to the Virgo sub-age (c.2148-2327)
[iii] Terry MacKinnell “The Dawning”,Xlibris, 2011, p 237-8
Associated Posts
A Funny Thing Happened in the 21st Century – Part 1
Scorpio – the Sign of the Times
Further resources from Terry MacKinnell
www.macro-astrology.com – details of purchasing the book available
The Age of Aquarius for Dummies – explains the structure and sub-periods associated with the astrological ages
Aquarian Age Economics – Examines the relationship between macro-astrology and financial cycles
At the Cutting Edge of the Aquarian Age – Cutting edge research into the astrological ages for astrologers
FaceBook – keep up to date with what is happening
Demystifying the Aquarian Age 
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