Revolution in the Middle East

The rather sudden and startling quest for greater freedom and democracy in a number of Middle Eastern countries in the last few months is part of a greater orchestration towards political and social evolution around the world that commenced with the French Revolution (in the late 18^th century) aligned with the arrival of the Scorpio subage (1791 – 1970), and continuing on in the Scorpio subage overflow (1970 – 2148) due to the overflow effect associated with all ages and their sub-periods. The Scorpio subage is the third subage of the Age of Aquarius (that commenced in 1443 AD – see figure 1), heralding in the modern world. 

Figure 1 – the first four subages of the Aquarian age

 

 

Most historians and historical reference books indicate that the Modern World commenced in the 15^th century – or, at a minimum, the 15^th century was an extremely exalted time in the history of human society.  Apart from a plethora of other supporting facts, the 15^th 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 20^th 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).  

Figure 2 – the first four micro-ages of the Scorpio subage

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).

Figure 3 – the age-decans of the Pisces age

 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). 

Figure 4 – the micro-age decans of the Cancer micro-age

This little Scorpio micro-age decan resonates with the Scorpio subage overflow (1970 – 2148) to create a veritable Scorpio hotspot.  Hotspots, like their name suggests, are more potent than their surrounding periods in stimulating action outside of the norm. Certainly the unrest in the Middle East is extraordinary.

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 

The Wisdom of the Ages

There is much wisdom to be gained from the astrological ages.  In my research and study of the ages I have taken the novel approach that to understand the ages it is necessary to ‘stand under’ the ages and let the ages teach me how they operate.  The ages do not operate in the way that the urban myths of the ages have spread.  Most astrologers define the ages and what supposedly occurs within ages based on theoretical considerations and wishful thinking, not from evidence.   The ages never indicate that paradise, utopia or a world exclusively based on consciousness, reason and rationality is around the corner – or even a possibility at any time.

In our modern world we have enough information and knowledge to examine ages in detail all the way back to the deglaciation of the world that commenced around 14,000 years ago.  It is true that highly detailed information is thin on the ground for the first few thousand years, but what information that is available from those ancient times not only support the existence of the astrological ages, but also that each age consists of positive and negative archetypes associated with the astrological sign concerned.

This is not new to astrologers.  All experienced astrologers know that the horoscope for each individual person is a combination of positive and negative elements.  Most people have a relative equal number of positive and negative astrological attributes.  There is no perfect human being and there is no perfect age.

The perspective of the ancient Chinese philosophers and sages got it right – everything associated with physical reality is composed of a combination on yin and yang, with a little bit of yang in the yin and vice versa.  What happens as each new age arrives is that the positive and negative archetypes associated with the new sign slowly take over from the positive and negative archetypes of the influence from the previous age.  This is what is happening in the world today.  The Pisces momentum from the Pisces age has promoted the positive and negative archetypes of Pisces while the new Aquarian age has commenced pushing its own positive and negative archetypes to the fore.

What are the positive and negative archetypes of Pisces?  On the plus side we have compassion, charities and social security (less so in the USA compared to most other Western nations); great poetry, drama and artworks from the likes of Shakespeare, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci onwards (including the modernists such as Picasso), an incredible array of movies, fictional novels and abstract concepts; pharmaceutical drugs for a whole range of ailments.

On the negative side of Pisces are alcoholism, poisonous chemicals, prisons, addictive drugs, propaganda (spin) and swindlers, religious delusions; slavery and now sex slaves.  In addition, there are a number of areas that can be either positive or negative depending upon your point of view.  These ambivalent Pisces activities include Buddhism, Christianity and Islam; European culture; petroleum, corporations and recreational intoxicants.

These positive and negative aspects of Pisces remain the dominant archetypes in the world but Aquarius has progressively introduced its positive and negative aspects since it arrived in 1443 (or 1442).   For example, Aquarius has promoted democracy on the positive side counter-balanced by fascism.  Whenever Aquarius is strong the sea-saw will tend to go towards fascism or democracy as both are strong Aquarian archetypes.  This is keenly demonstrated by the USA that so strongly promotes democracy within its borders yet since the Second World War has supported fascist dictators and governments around the world over democracy whenever it suits the commercial or political interests of the USA.  In fact, the USA is an excellent example of democracy and fascism conjoined – but that is another story altogether.

Positive developments associated with Aquarius include flight, electricity, humanitarianism and idealists, inventions, modernization, civic organizations and associations, and free thought.  Negative elements include lack of stability, mental instability and illnesses, emotional detachment (think of the Holocaust).  Other elements that can go either way are rebelliousness and revolutions (some bring democracy and freedom while others bring tyranny); and socialism (which can be extended to communism).

Are all zodiacal signs equal in their positive and negative aspects?   There are two schools of thought on this – the modern school typically indicates that each sign and planet is basically equal in its positive and negative aspects.  Traditionalists believe that some planets and the signs they rule are more orientated towards either positiveness or negativity.

In my observation, I believe that the truth lies somewhere in the middle.  No planet or sign is all bad or good – each contains both good and bad, but some planets and signs do tend slightly more to the negative while others tend towards the positive but some sit in the middle.  I believe that Pisces does err mildly on the negative side but Aquarius is either balanced or very slightly biased towards the positive side.  This does not make the Pisces age negative and the Aquarian age positive.

Therefore, though the world is not passing from the ‘dark’ Age of Pisces to the radiant Age of Aquarius, Aquarius does seem to offer some advantages over Pisces.  This can be easily demonstrated.  Whenever the ubiquitous Jehovah’s Witnesses would arrive at my doorstep they would quickly draw my attention to all the problems and deteriorations in the world.  My standard counter was ‘if the world is so bad today, when in the past was it better?’  This perspective always left them floundering.  Do you think 1978, 1988, 1998 for example were better than 2008?

Even with all the problems of pollution, corruption, inequality, terrorism, war, violence, criminal activity and so on, the world in general today is better for a higher proportion of the world’s population compared to any time in the past.  It reminds me of something I heard not too long ago.  Someone said that if your life is 51% positive and 49% negative then you are experiencing a positive life.  The same situation applies to the world.

The majority of the world does not live the relatively gifted lifestyles of the populations of the First World countries.  The proportion of the world that does get to experience modernity is growing.  Even over the last few decades hundreds of millions of people around the world have been embraced by modernity partially or fully – one way or another, especially in China and India.

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.  The arrival of modernity from its seed that was planted over 500 years ago when the Aquarian age first arrived unannounced is steadily embracing a greater proportion of the world.  The modern world is not a perfect world but from my subjective perspective, it is superior to the medieval (Pisces) world it is replacing.

This is the wisdom of the ages.  There is no perfect age, and the Age of Aquarius is definitely not perfect.  The quest for the mythical perfect Age of Aquarius is just the hangover from Pisces.  Pisces rules delusions and self-deception.  You have a choice – you can continue to listen to delusions about a fantasized Age of Aquarius that will never arrive – or you can open your eyes and perceive the dawning of the Age of Aquarius – warts and all, that is occurring all around you and has been for over 500 years

There are many warts associated with the Age of Aquarius but in the end, it comes down to a simple issue – is the glass half full or half-empty?  On a daily basis, I give thanks to whatever reality that produced the universe and world we live in.  Is there any other time in history that is superior to today?  For the huge majority of us living in the modern world, we should be truly thankful for this unique experience since our evolution from the animal kingdom.

I sincerely hope that the dawning of the Age of Aquarius continues until all the people in the world have the option to live in this modern world.  The wisdom of the ages indicates that this will not occur this century and may not even be completed in the next one thousand years.  This is not based on my personal preferences but on what investigating the ages has taught me.

How Long is the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius?

© Terry MacKinnell 2008, All Rights Reserved

Numerous publications and blogs tell us that this is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.  Some people think that the Age of Aquarius has already arrived while others think that it is due in the next decade or two.  If you refer to the topic Astrological Ages at Wikipedia  you will discover that there no agreement about the arrival of the Aquarian age, researchers are divided as to whether the Aquarian age arrived five centuries ago, or as late as 3621 AD, or anywhere in between.

Some researchers claim that the cusp of an age is equivalent to 10 degrees.  Because there are 12 signs to share the 360 degrees of the circle, each sign or age is allocated 30 degrees.  If each age is approximately 2150 years, then 10 degrees represents about 717 years.  This is rather strange as if we equate an age with a day, a day has 24 hours but the dawn of an average day is about one hour maximum.  One hour as a fraction of 24 hours is .0416666 of a day.  The same fraction of an age of 2150 years is 90 years.  Therefore if there is any correspondence between days and ages, the dawning of an age should be about 90 years.

Alas and alack, logic rarely comes into the argument when it involves the astrological ages.  This is all due to the influence from the previous age, the Age of Pisces.  Each sign has an opposite sign, and the sign opposite Pisces is Virgo.  Virgo is the sign of purity, details, exactness and perfection.  If Virgo is full of clarity, then Pisces is the exact opposite.  There is no clarity with the sign Pisces.  I am always entertained by my Pisces friends as they all behave like actors on a stage where not only can they set the rules to their hearts content, they can change the rules whenever they like.  Furthermore Pisces rarely provide details about what they have done, are doing or will do, and if they do provide anything, it will be wide of the mark.

You can’t help but like Pisces as it is the chameleon sign, changing its hue and colour to suit circumstances.  Pisces highly developed ability of deception makes them ideal actors, and they are highly represented amongst movie stars, fashion models and spruikers, especially those born-again Bible thumpers on weird hours in television land.  Yes television, Disneyland, cartoons, movies, Hollywood, fantasies, myths and so on all have a common denominator – Pisces.

In a previous post, Is the Aquarian Age Like a Block of Granite?, I provided the example how each astrological age behaves like a new government.  The new government is faced with the previous governments’ policies, laws, judicial appointments and for a long time, the old government will hold sway.  The same with ages – though the world is well and truly in the Aquarian age, the influence from the previous Age of Pisces is incredibly strong.  This can be demonstrated by the New Age Movement.  The New Age Movement is a living parody of Pisces as described in Aquarius in Pisces Sheep Clothing.

What all this means is that for anyone looking for clarity about the Aquarian age, it is almost impossible because the environment for any such enquiry is Pisces.  Pisces has set the parameters, and Pisces’ parameters never bring clarity.  Looking for clarity in a Pisces environment is like trying to get your work done while drunk or stoned – it ain’t a happening thing.  This is why, from an astrological perspective, everything to do with the arrival of the Aquarian age, including its dawning, is lost in the mists of  dreams and fantasies.  This is why the delusions of the Aquarian age are exactly that – delusions.  The delusions of the Aquarian age are collectively everything that the world is not, never has been, and never will take place.  But let’s not behave like a Virgo- enjoy the delusions like a good movie with a happy ending.

The dawning of the Age of Aquarius is so long and drawn out that one blogger actually called it the `yawning of the Age of Aquarius’.  Everyone seems sick and tired of waiting for the Aquarian age to dawn.  Is the dawning of the Aquarian age going to take over 700 years?  The answer, as with so many things, is yes and no.

First the good news – the Age of Aquarius arrived like the tolling of the midnight chimes of a church or town hall bell.  There is no confusion about midnight, and there is no confusion about the arrival of the Aquarian age.  The Aquarian age arrived at the same time as the modern world.  Historians constantly tell us that the modern world arrived over 500 years ago, and this is exactly when the Age of Aquarius arrived.

Now for the bad news – it will take all of the Age of Aquarius for Aquarius to extract itself from the Pisces quagmire and stand on it own two feet.  For all but the very end of the Aquarian age, Pisces will be incredibly strong, stronger than Aquarius, especially in the first half of the Aquarian age.  So from this perspective we can say it will take about 2150 years for the dawning of the Aquarian age.

Now back to the good news.  Though Pisces is stronger than Aquarius for most of the Aquarian age, Aquarius is not impotent.  Aquarius has been, is and will continue to introduce new and innovative developments into the world since it has been doing since 1433.  First there was Leonardo da Vinci, then Copernicus, Galileo and all the revolutionaries that defied the (Pisces) church and introduced reality as an antidote to delusions.  In the cat and mouse game between Aquarius and Pisces, Pisces has the might (Christianity, bureaucracies, corporations etc) but the underdog Aquarius has the ability to introduce new and startling discoveries like a lightening bolt.

Another lightening bolt came from Charles Darwin, when the lateral thinking that sits in Aquarius’ arsenal of weapons, produced the theory of evolution.  The whole diversity of scientific discoveries over the last five and a half centuries are at least 50% attributable to Aquarius (the other 50% is Capricorn but that is another whole subject altogether).  Aquarius did not limit itself to scientific discoveries, the advent of democracy in modern times also coincides with Aquarius.

The first appearance of the new Aquarian-inspired quest for democracy and freedom came from the Martin Luther in 1517, only 84 years inside the Aquarian age.  The Protestant Reformation was against the authority of the Roman Catholic Church and the pope.  The new Protestants did not want an authority on high (the pope) telling them how they should think.  The Protestant churches as a rule, adopted a fairly democratic structure along the Aquarian egalitarian model.  Martin Luther was a standard bearer of the new Aquarian age.

The rise of secular western nations is another example of Aquarius.  The American colonists called this `freedom of religion’.  Freedom of religion also means freedom from religion.  The fact that normal citizens in most developed nations are not forced to attend religious services, or abide by the antiquated religious behaviour of established religions is another example of Aquarius.  This is a progressive development.  I remember in the 1980’s being locked out of our local movie theatre on Good Friday while we were watching the Life of Brian.  Evidently the law banned movies on Good Friday.  This is no longer the case, as this antiquated law that upheld religious values has been removed.  This is progressive evidence of the Age of Aquarius in action.

The Age of Aquarius arrived with certainty, conviction and unexpectedly in the 15^th century but it will take until around 3574 AD for Aquarius to unfold its wings and fly to its preordained heights.  We only get to experience the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, but has the world witnessed any comparable dawning to date?

Further resources from Terry MacKinnell

Online Institute of Macro-Astrology – details on how to learn macro-astrology

www.macro-astrology.com – details of purchasing the book available

At the Cutting Edge of the Aquarian Age – Cutting edge research into the astrological ages for astrologers