Understanding Great Age Shifts

8/13/2019 Understanding Great Age Shifts

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Uranus and Neptune, to cite just two examples. So, even though an emerging Great Age may not make

its presence fully felt for several centuries yet, its possible for its influence to surface into global

consciousness centuries ahead of time, in assorted symbolic ways.

The essential point is this: When paradigms associated with different Ages come into contact, the

result can take many different forms and unfold through a wide range of dynamics. Like citizens of

separate civilizations meeting for the first time, the encounter between denizens of different Age

paradigms can be peaceful or turbulent, constructive or destructive. In this article, Id like to propose a set

offour primary dynamics associated with this age-shifting process. Among other things, grasping these

patterns can help us to better understand not only key trends of ancient history, but also many historical

developments already taking place around the world now, as we find ourselves perched on the threshold

between the Piscean and the Aquarian epochs.

Rome persecuting Christians in the Coliseum

Dynamic 1: The Old Order Resists the New

At the threshold between Great Ages, the encounter between different worldviews can be like

tectonic plates butting up against one another, with the resulting friction sending faint rumblings

throughout the collective unconscious. At first, those subterranean vibrations are sensed primarily by

societys living antennae the artists, mystics, and philosophers of the world, who express those

intimations through their teachings and/or creative works. Initially, the larger society tends to react to

these unwitting vanguards with either confusion or apathy, but as the differences between competing

worldviews grow more pronounced, defenders of the old regime can set out to repress or even destroythose heralding the new one.

When the first shoots of Piscean Christianity began appearing two millennia ago, for example,

Rome gradually shifted from an attitude of uneasy tolerance toward the followers of the fish (ichthys)to

one of persecution. Ironically, after the Piscean Age itself became entrenched as the dominant new

religion, Christian authorities eventually turned their sights on those early proponents of the next Great

Age, and figures like Giordano Bruno and Galileo found themselves persecuted for espousing ideas in


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keeping with the secular and scientific values of the coming Aquarian paradigm, rather than those of

the Piscean one.

That conflict between different value systems continues through to the present day, with many

Christian fundamentalists resisting the rising tide of Aquarian science and secularism. It erupted with a

vengeance when Charles Darwin proposed his theory of evolution in the mid 19th century, and echoes

even today in the speeches of conservative political candidates expressing their own reservations about

the findings of science. We see that tension as well in the ongoing debate over abortion, with largely

Christian pro-life advocates on one side reflecting a Piscean sympathy for the unborn, and pro-choice

advocates on the other side reflecting a more Aquarian emphasis on personal rights and independence.

Robert Zemeckiss film, Contact, based on the Carl Sagan novel of the same name, features a

subplot involving religious fanatics who are upset over a high-tech NASA mission to send an astronaut

into deep space, and who set out to destroy the experimental craft designed to whisk its occupant (played

by Jodie Foster) to a far-off destination.2This resistance to modernity is fundamentally archetypal in

nature, born of the clash between radically different paradigms, and it underlies the actions of Islamic

extremists, too. In areas like Afghanistan, we see Taliban members trying to prevent women from seeking

an education as men do. Such is the ferocity of those still rooted in Piscean Age values who find it hard

adapting to the values of a new age. Pisces, like its sibling, Sagittarius (both signs being Jupiter-ruled),

has a dark side that can include dogma: an inflexible attachment to belief systems and religious ideals.

This way of thinking about the world refuses to take the liberal sentiments of an Aquarian revolution

lying down.

Dynamic 2: The New Order Resists the Old

The resistance of one Great Age to another can go in both directions, however. Case in point, the

biggest box office hit of the 1960s was Robert Wises film version of the Broadway musical, The Sound of

Music. I had known that it premiered in 1965, the same year as the first UranusPluto conjunction of that

decade, and might therefore hold some astrological significance, but I put off seeing it for years because I

feared it was little more than light entertainment with no deeper value. So, imagine my surprise when I

finally caught up with it and discovered that the films core narrative revolved clearly around the shift

from Pisces to Aquarius!

Consider the films central story of a young woman named Maria (played by Julie Andrews) who

lives in a Catholic convent and aspires to be a nun. As the plot unfolds, she finds herself attracted to the

patriarch of a local musical family shes been called on to tutor, a Captain Georg von Trapp (played by

Christopher Plummer). They eventually fall in love, and after much soul-searching, Maria decides to

leave her life of religious service behind, to pursue a life of romantic happiness in marriage.3

Viewedarchetypally, that break from the Church symbolizes the shift from the religious orientation of the

Pisces/Virgo era, geared as it is toward self-sacrifice and otherworldly ideals, to that of the

Aquarian/Leo axis, with its emphasis on secular values and concerns like life, liberty, and the pursuit of

happiness.

That symbolism in The Sound of Musicis essentially the same as that found in the earlier film, The

Jazz Singer. A technical landmark, it was the first feature-length film with fully synchronized sound to


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come out of Hollywood, and it proved a tipping point in how movies would be made from that point on.

(Its release on October 6, 1927 coincided with the departure of Uranus out of Pisces into 0 Aries

an obvious portent of new beginnings.) Like The Sound of Music, the film depicts a character struggling

with a life-changing decision to leave a life of religious service behind to pursue a more secular calling,

performing in that most Aquarian of all musical forms,jazz.

The struggle to break free from the grip of an earlier paradigm has its analogy in U.S. politics,

too. When the earliest settlers came to American shores, it was ostensibly to escape religious persecution

in the Old World. Because of that, the Founding Fathers set out to create a constitution that drew a line

between church and state, so as to create a nation of laws that (ideally) operated free from the grip

of religion.

These are relatively nonviolent examples of how one

Great Age can uncouple itself from another. But as I

mentioned, this transition can sometimes take a more violent

turn, with the new order actively seeking to repress or crush

the old one. The Biblical story of Moses rejecting the golden

calf is an oft-cited example of that, and has been interpreted

by various esoteric commentators as symbolizing the shift

from the Taurean Age to the Arian one, with its own icon of

the ram. A similar example from more recent times is

Herman Melvilles great novel,Moby Dick. Like Moses and

the golden calf, Ahabs efforts to destroy the great whale can

be interpreted as the violent casting out of Piscean Age forms

and values by the incoming Aquarian Age.

On another level, its tempting to see Melvilles tale

as a portent of the great cataclysm that was about to shakeAmerica to its core just one decade later the Civil War.

Here, too, we saw a clash between Ages being acted out,

with the Union forces, symbolizing the values of freedom

(led by Abraham Lincoln, an Aquarian born on the same day

as Charles Darwin, incidentally), seeking to overturn the slavery-based world of the U.S. South.

Although very different on its surface, the same essential dynamic was at work more than a

century later in the tragic story of government agents attacking David Koreshs religious compound in

Waco, Texas. Whatever ones own political thoughts about the attack or its justification, the symbolism is

clear: a secular government imposing limits on a religious community i.e., Aquarius restricting Pisces.The fact that the attack took place precisely as the planetary rulers of Aquarius and Pisces moved into

alignment, when Uranus conjoined Neptune in 1993, succinctly underscores the archetypal meaning

of the event.


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Dynamic 3: The Old Order Embraces the NewFortunately, the encounter between Great Ages isnt always destructive or acrimonious, as

shown by those instances where an older era not only tolerates the newcomers traditions and values, but

even embraces them wholly as its own.

For example, after leading a campaign of persecution against devotees of the newly formed

Piscean Christian faith, Roman authorities under Constantine wound up adopting Christianity and

making it the state religion for the entire Empire. The result was a curious hybrid of Arian and Piscean

energies, as reflected in the underlying militarism that characterized much of the emerging Roman

Catholic faith. Onward Christian Soldiers!

In our own time, we find similar expressions of that hybridization with movements like theChristian Science church, a 19th-century offshoot of Christianity spearheaded by Mary Baker Eddy (born

on July 16, 1821 under a conjunction of Uranus and Neptune). It retained the essential principles of

Piscean Christianity but refashioned them for comparatively modern tastes, even to the extent of

inserting the word science into its title. While the Piscean era was based more on an ethos of self-denial

and a dependence on external agencies for ones salvation, the emerging Aquarian Age has been

introducing a different mindset, one geared more toward personal empowerment and responsibility for

ones own salvation. Consciously or not, the Christian Science church drew on these Aquarian sentiments

in its rejection of notions like Hell and atonement, while emphasizing the power of each individual to

improve or even heal themselves through a proper use of the mind.

Another example of an older tradition being receptive to an emerging one is present in modern-

day televangelism, where we see traditional churches incorporating modern media technologies in

order to preach the gospel to ever wider audiences. A more ironic expression of that same alliance

between old and new is visible in how Islamic fundamentalists in the Middle East have been adopting

high-tech tools like cell phones, text-messaging, and video technologies sometimes in order to combat

the evils of modernity!


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Here is still another example: In the 1960s, pop music took an unexpected turn when a Belgian

religious sister by the name of Jeanine Deckers (born October 17, 1933) scored an international hit with

the French-language song, Dominique. She was widely known as the Singing Nun, and her step from

the convent into the high-tech entertainment field likewise reflected a shift from the Piscean world to the

secular and technological Aquarian era. Much the same symbolism showed itself in another prominent

icon of the 60s, Sally Fields Flying Nun character from the television series of the same name. To

astrologers, aviation is an Aquarius-ruled activity, so the image of a Christian nun becoming airborne

speaks to yet another metamorphosis of Piscean religiosity into the Aquarian values of freedom!

Dynamic 4: The New Order Embraces the Old

In contrast with tales like those of Moses rejecting the golden calf or Ahab attacking the great

white whale, its not always the case that an incoming Age rejects or represses the previous one, since

there are times when people committed to the new order are eager to find ways of drawing on the

legacies of an earlier one.

A simple example from popular culture is the music of groups like Enigma, which blends

Aquarian techno arrangements with the sounds of Piscean-era Gregorian chants. Along similar lines,

Walt Disneys film Fantasia(released in November 1940 during a trine between Uranus and Neptune)

drew from well-known pieces of classical music and reframed them in the context of modern media

technology.

The merging of new and old values has also started showing itself in more political and economic

forms, too. For instance, communism is a distinctly Piscean Age system that requires citizens to surrender

their ownership of money and possessions to the larger community theyre part of. By contrast,

capitalism is a more Aquarian system in that its based on an ethos of independence, allowing individuals

to acquire personal savings while determining their own futures. But if unhinged entirely from socialistic

values, free market capitalism can easily mutate into a self-centered, every man for himself system thatdiscards compassion in favor of pure self-aggrandizement. To my mind, a more enlightened capitalism

would be one that honors personal wealth and entrepreneurial drive while incorporating a certain degree

of socialism, such as providing safety nets for the elderly, the sick, or victims of natural disasters a

balancing act between Aquarius and Pisces, you could say. Thats a balancing act that the U.S. (among

other nations) has been struggling to perfect for years

and one it will probably be struggling with for years

to come.

A cinematic expression of that economic

interface between Pisces and Aquarius was portrayedin Steven Spielberg's film Schindler's List, released in

late 1993, precisely as Uranus and Neptune moved into

conjunction. Set in Nazi-governed Germany, the film

told the true story of a successful entrepreneur who

used his business skills to protect scores of otherwise

doomed prisoners in a brutal concentration camp. This


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offers a good example of how the sometimes cold-blooded machinations of Aquarian corporatism can be

employed toward the common good, when tempered by the compassionate effects of Piscean values.

The ability of one Great Age to mine the archetypal ore of an earlier one can also take a more

mythological turn, as when an emerging era appropriates the religious stories and symbols of an earlier

time and re-clothes them in more contemporary garb. That sort of thing has been going on since time

immemorial, of course, such as when Christianity recast the resurrection saga of Osiris as the story of

Jesus, or when the Hebrew scribes refashioned the flood story of the Babylonians as their own.

But this tradition of putting old wine in new skins persists even today, though more

conspicuously in the realm of popular entertainment than in formal religious settings. Take Keanu

Reeves character Neo in The Matrix, who reinvents the mythic motif of the dead-and-resurrected hero as

a modern-day cyber-superman. Or consider the original 1951 film version of TheDay the Earth Stood Still,

which revolves around the tale of a Christ-like alien who comes down to Earth in a spaceship, is then

crucified and later resurrected, and finally ascends back up into the heavens. Years ago, I attended a

lecture by the films director, Robert Wise, and during the following Q&A session, I asked whether the

parallels between his movie and those of the Biblical Jesus were intentional, since they seemed so

striking. He answered that they never really considered that correspondence until others started pointing

it out after the movie was released. This simply goes to illustrate something that mythologist Joseph

Campbell often pointed out that creative individuals sometimes tap into universal themes from the

collective unconscious without even realizing it.

New Myths Rising?

Sometimes, there can be subtle changes in this recycling of timeless myths, which can provide us

with clues about the shifting lessons of the emerging paradigm. For example, Stanley Kubricks film,

2001: A Space Odyssey,features a story that echoes the traditional heros journey in obvious ways: An

individual is called upon to engage on a great quest (in the movie, an astronaut embarks on a mission

into outer space); he encounters challenges along the way (i.e., the spaceship's computer HAL

malfunctioning); he reaches his destination and is transformed by it (the astronauts experience within the

psychedelic stargate); and finally returns to civilization (the embryonic star-child returning to Earth at

films end).

But there is a difference: In earlier times, the traditional obstacle or challenge faced by the hero

usually took the form of a threatening person or creature, such as a great dragon; however, in 2001 the

challenge takes the form of a great,

powerful computer. What might this

tell us?One way of interpreting this is

that the real challenge facing modern

humanity is the rational mind itself.

Whereas earlier cultures had evolved

primarily to an emotional stage,

modern humans have collectively


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developed to a more mental level, principally through the influence of computers, media, widespread

literacy, and more accessible educational opportunities.

Still, with that shift has come a series of both blessings and drawbacks. The rational mind opens

up doors for us, true, but if left unchecked, it can also be our undoing. Like the astronaut in 2001, it may

prove necessary for us to unplug our rational minds if we hope to reach our true wholeness as

individuals not in the sense of discarding the mind entirely (note that 2001doesnt show the astronaut

destroying the computer but simply taking its more problematic functions offline), but rather by making

sure that it doesnt overpower us.

When Paradigms Meet: Conflict or Cooperation?

The four dynamics described above are only a few of the possible ways the encounter between

two Great Ages can unfold, but they serve to illustrate both the perils as well as the potentials that can

occur when dramatically different paradigms come into contact with each other. To a certain extent, of

course, conflict may be unavoidable, just as labor pains are unavoidable for many women during

childbirth. The essential point to be made here, though, is this: The outcome isnt necessarily a negative

or violent one in every case, as some of those writing on the Great Ages seem to suggest. There is ample

room for creative interaction to take place in the encounter between paradigms, at that threshold

between Ages.

For me, one image that beautifully

illustrates that harmonious bridging of old and

new is from the 2002 film, Whale Rider. The

movies central character, a young girl from

New Zealands Maori tribe, is shown

struggling to reconcile her burgeoning

independence with the more traditional ways

of her community. An iconic sequence in the

film embodying the marriage of old and new

ways centers around her finally learning to ride

atop a great whale out in the ocean. Needless to say, this image reflects a very different symbolism from

that expressed in Melvilles novel! To my mind, it speaks instead to the possibility of drawing on the gifts

and legacies of a passing era, rather that simply rejecting them wholesale, and it reflects her communitys

attempt to balance both tradition and modernity, rather than a single-minded insistence on one or the

other. An emotional high point of the film comes when the young woman delivers a heartfelt speech

to her community in which she utters these distinctly Aquarian words, illustrating the intersection ofold and new:

But we can learn, and if the knowledge is given to everyone, then we have lots of leaders, and then

soon every one will be strong, not just the ones that have been chosen.


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Reference and Notes1. See my book, Signs of the Times: Unlocking the Symbolic Language of World Events, Hampton Roads, 2002.

2. My thanks to Laurence Hillman for suggesting this interpretation of the films story.

3. Maria's story of leaving the Church behind is just one of two interlocking themes in The Sound of Musicthatillustrate the tug of war between the Piscean and Aquarian eras. In the movie, the von Trapp family finds itselfincreasingly pressured by the encroaching Nazi regime, and desperately struggles to break free from its oppressiveinfluence. Note that the Nazi Party was actually a hybrid of two different Ages: On its surface, it embraced certain

trappings of the emerging Aquarian era such as high technology, the power of mass media, and progressiveattitudes toward health care (warning of the dangers of tobacco, asbestos, and other toxins long before most othercountries did) but at its heart, it embodied the most dogmatic instincts of the Piscean Age. (Remember, not onlywas Christianity the state religion of Nazi Germany, but its chief icon was a twisted cross a climactic perversion ofPiscean ideals and dogmatism.) By contrast, the von Trapp family represented the urge toward creative freedom, animpulse more aligned with the incoming Aquarius/Leo axis. The Nazi partys efforts to squelch that freedomsymbolized a desperate final push by members of the receding paradigm to subvert the potentials of an emergingnew one. The movies happy ending, with the familys escape out of Nazi-controlled territory, speaks to the ideal of afinal release from the suffocating grip of a bankrupt worldview.

2012 Ray Grasse all rights reserved

Ray Grasseis author of Signs of the Times: Unlocking the Symbolic Language of World Events,a study ofthe emerging Aquarian Age, and The Waking Dream: Unlocking the Symbolic Language of Our Lives,astudy of synchronicity and symbolism. He has an active astrological practice and can be contacted at

[email protected]; Web site: www.raygrasse.com

Understanding Great Age Shifts

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