One way of looking at the world these days is through the lens of globalization. Although our earthly home retains its physical dimensions, the evolving human experience is of a planet that keeps shrinking, with each of its various parts ever more inextricably interconnected. Not many years back, who would have thought that wages in Indonesia would impact employment in North Carolina? Who would have imagined that growing car exhaust in Houston might influence the thickness of ice in Greenland? Or that diminishing ice in Greenland might threaten a radical shift in the weather in London and Paris? And who could have guessed that a small newspaper item in Denmark might inspire riots and embassy burnings throughout the Muslim world? Today, news flies around the globe like it flew around the neighborhood in yesteryear. First radio, then TV, and now the lightning-fast internet, with its blogs, e-mail alerts, and instant reporting, have exponentially augmented the power of a single story once it has been launched by only a motivated few.
In Jean Paul Sartre’s torturous version of hell, described in his play No Exit, three completely incompatible people are bound together forever in a room with no escape. Likewise, we live in a world where we are bound ever more tightly with other people whose cultures, religions, and world view are often very different from and often contradictory to our own. It seems that the challenge presented to us in our newly globalized world, where there really is no retreat from our interconnectedness, is simply to learn to get along together, whether it be the red states and the blue, the fundamentalist right and the liberal left, the industrialized nations and the Third World, or the secular, democratic nations and the Islamic theocracies. And yet, in reality, this is anything but simple. It is hampered by the universal disinclination of humans to accept responsibility for their own contribution to their difficulties. It is hampered by our tendency to think in stark terms of black and white, good and evil, right and wrong, and not inwardly stretch to recognize the innate humanity of our adversaries. Much like a troubled marriage, the opposing parties will never progress if they cannot take responsibility for their own participation in the conflict. But unlike in a troubled marriage and more like the torment described by Sartre, there is no possibility of divorce.
The United States likes to think of itself in a leadership role. But leadership in a globalized world is not simply who has the bigger gun or who can force his way of thinking on others. It is rapidly becoming who can lead the world to a place where our interconnectedness can be fruitful, where we can grow in understanding of one another rather than demonizing those who are different, and where we can honor and respect our differences while finding common goals to pursue together. This will take a moral courage and an intellectual integrity the likes of which we have not yet seen on our own political horizon. It will take the capacity to hear the human heartbeat that lies beneath all the anger and shouting, rather than join with it in a hollow self-righteousness. The only alternative to this visionary, inclusive leadership will be war and conflict, an ongoing battle between two sides rigidly assured of their truth, but locked in a conflict for eternity with no exit.
Much has been written in the astrological world about the impending birth of the Aquarian Age. Some feel it has already begun; others, like myself, feel we may have up to a century or more yet to go. The concept of an Aquarian Age, which dates back to the astrological teachings of ancient times, derives from the division of Earth’s history into zodiacal epochs of 2160 years, with the entire 25,920 year cycle known as the Great Platonic Year. It is based on what is known as the Precession of the Equinoxes or the backwards movement of the Sun in its relationship to the fixed stars at the moment of the Spring Equinox. In other words, these historical epochs, lasting a little over two millennia each, reflect the characteristics of the constellation in which the Sun stands at the Spring Equinox during each particular epoch. This relationship shifts at a rate of about one degree every 72 years, moving backwards through the zodiac.
According to Rudolf Steiner, an early twentieth-century educator and mystic who wrote extensively about these early epochs, the earliest known (post-Atlantean) history comes during the Age of Cancer when the ancient civilization of India was predominant. This was followed by the Age of Gemini and the height of the ancient Persian civilization. The Age of Taurus brought us the glories of the Egyptian empire, followed by the Greco-Roman civilizations during the Age of Aries. We are currently living at the end of the Age of Pisces, the sign of the fishes.
During each age, much of the predominant symbolism, as well as the general tenor of the period, reflects the qualities in the constellation rising at the Vernal Equinox. Thus, we find that the dominant world powers during the Piscean Age, since the fall of Rome, have been largely the Western Christian nations, and one common symbol of Christianity is the image of the fish. This is based on Jesus’ words, “I will make you to become fishers of men.” (Mark 1:17) The strong focus on the virgin birth can be seen as a reflection from the opposite sign of Virgo, the sign of the Virgin.
Moreover, Pisces is a mutable water sign implying a strong feeling element that is easily swayed and manipulated. Faith and belief are potent motivating factors, and many wars have been fought in the last two millennia over religion or ideology. Under Pisces, the masses are easily appealed to with emotional or religious arguments that are often devoid of clear thinking.
At present, we are in the last years of the Piscean Age, which means that we are in the Pisces decanate and the Pisces dwadashamsa of the constellation of Pisces. This suggests that the Pisces qualities are stronger now than ever and will continue to be until we actually shift into Aquarius. At the same time, bits of the Aquarian consciousness are slowly infiltrating the Pisces awareness until there is an actual shift, much like the shift from one color to the next in the rainbow.
The constellation of Aquarius depicts an angel pouring the waters of truth over humanity. Many have suggested that the coming Age of Aquarius will be some kind of golden age. Its dawning will certainly bring about the end of the dominance of the Western/Christian (Pisces) civilization, and it seems we are already seeing this begin to unfold. It is perhaps not a coincidence that the US progressed Sun began its 30-year crossing of Pisces beginning in late 2004, bringing with it a feeling of lost strength and a time of confused identity for the nation. The emotional and demagogic tone of political discourse, often devoid of truth and more prone to manipulation, also is a reflection of this Piscean energy. During the first two and half years of this progression (11/04 through 5/07), when the US progressed Sun is in the Pisces duadashamsa, these qualities will remain particularly strong.
Innate to the Aquarian mind is a strong sense of the one human family to which we all belong, with little consequence given to the nationalistic, racial, or religious differences that sow the seeds of so much discord today. Each individual is valued for him or herself, and, at the same time, no one is accounted of greater worth than another. Herein lies the paradox. We are of one human family, and yet we must totally honor the individuality and hence the freedom of the individual. Aquarius is known for its insistence on free expression while at the same time harboring strong feelings of universal brother/sisterhood and the capacity to work as one among equals for a common goal. Along these lines, it seems that the world may move increasingly toward some form of socialism in the next centuries and away from the current focus on capitalism, where the inequality between the superwealthy and everyone else is growing daily.
At present, the pressing reality of globalization would seem to be a necessary first step toward our ultimate transformation into the Aquarian Age. The immediate task is to learn to live and work together, increasingly interdependent and unified in purpose while at the same time, paradoxically, respectful and mindful of differences. We may also find that the growing crisis of climate change necessitates a global effort that supercedes our petty national differences, creating another challenge that must be mastered that will lead us to a future Aquarian consciousness. Although we still dwell in a Pisces reality, there are clearly moments when our common humanity trumps our nationalistic, religious, or ethnic differences – such as a global rescue effort after a devastating tsunami or a worldwide anti-war march over 10 million strong. Each of these moments is another drop of color that adds to the inexorable movement of the shifting rainbow spectrum, slowly moving from Pisces to Aquarius.