It’s now Chodesh Shevat 5783, the month of Aquarius. The New Moon on January 21 in Aquarius at 1 degree hits on the very sensitive zodiacal point first “turned on” in December 2020, when Jupiter/Tzedek and Saturn/Shabbtai made their “Great Conjunction” at 0 degrees Aquarius. This was the first time the two great classical outer planets met each other in Aquarius since the year 1405. This “Great Conjunction” is the doorway to the “Aquarian Age” - but what does that mean?
There are two views of the Age of Aquarius – the age of “harmony and understanding, sympathy and trust abounding, golden living dreams & visions, mystic crystal revelations and the mind’s true liberation” etc., as was sung in popular music by the 5th Dimension – the song “Age of Aquarius” from the Broadway musical “Hair”. The “Age of Aquarius” is imagined to be an era of universal brotherhood, global humanitarianism, and equality among all peoples – in other words, an idealistic utopia based on knowledge, science, reason, and fact, in contrast to the receding “Age of Pisces” which was the age of the Abrahamic monotheistic religions – Judaism, and her daughters Christianity and Islam.
As we are now in the transition phase between ages, we must look at the shadow side of the Age of Aquarius: In this utopian-like era, knowledge and information is king. The rule of reason, not “irrational” emotion or those qualities emotion cultivates such as empathy and compassion, dominates the zeitgeist, whatever the costs.
The dark side of the Aquarian Age is science’s intolerance of doubt, faith, or of belief. Science defines what is “fact” and leaves no room for subtleties, nuance, or choice. Science’s claims of truth are rigid, and the Age of Aquarius, Aquarius is a “Fixed” sign (and Fixed Signs aren’t famous for being flexible) and may even feature social and military coercion of the individual in service to collective ideals.
Saturn in Aquarius was the wind-up; Pluto in Aquarius is the pitch.
With the ingress of Pluto into Aquarius (for the first time since the era of the French and American Revolutions) on Rosh Chodesh Nissan 5783 (March 23, 2023), we’re looking at a 20 year period of time during which Aquarian ideals will be powerful, and those in power (Pluto) will manifest the full spectrum Aquarian tendencies. Technocracy in the name of humanitarianism, here we come.
Robert Zoller a proponent of medieval astrology and the only astrologer to predict the 9/11 attack in 2001, has bleak predictions for the Age of Aquarius He suggests that the Pisces world where religion is the opiate of the masses will be replaced in the Aquarian Age by a world ruled by secretive power-hungry elites seeking absolute power over others. Families will dissolve completely, or family ties will be hidden. Zoller also believes that knowledge in the Aquarian Age will only be valued for its ability to win wars; scientists may even be able to precipitate earthquakes for military means, and the danger in the Aquarian Age is that knowledge and science will be abused, not industry and trade. Zoller sees the Aquarian Age as a Dark Age wherein religion will be seen as offensive.
Aquarius may want to reform everyone, for their own good in the belief that his principles and ethics are correct and the only way, everything is fine as long as you agree with him, the belief may be so strong that fanaticism and over zealousness may rule. This contradicts the flip side of Aquarius which is that of the modern ruler Uranus "the freedom from the known". Uranus is the rebel, the revolutionary, the iconoclast – it’s the Uranus-ruled Aquarius which we sing about in “The Age of Aquarius”.
It is Saturn, the classical ruler of Aquarius, whose archetypes hold the dark side of the Age of Aquarius – control, limits, strictures, status: these are all Saturnian issues.
So, which “Age of Aquarius” are we headed towards? And how can we tip the scales away from the darkest manifestations of The Age of Aquarius, and towards the more positive qualities of this coming era?
It’s an important question, especially during 2023, during which many planets will make crucial aspects to 0 degrees Aquarius, the point of 2020’s Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in Aquarius.
The four successive conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius: December 2020, 2080, 2140 and 2199, will take us through the rest of the transition period between the Age of Pisces, now retreating like the tide carrying the fishes further and further out to sea, and the incoming tide of the Age of Aquarius. It’s possible some reading this right now might even be around at the next conjunction in 2080, but it’s a sure bet none of us will be here to see the conjunctions of 2140 or 2199. Nevertheless, we understand the choices we make today, in our personal as well as our communal lives, will affect the quality of this transition during our own lifetime as well as the lifetimes of our children and grandchildren.
Aquarius may want to reform everyone, for their own good in the belief that his principles and ethics are correct and the only way, everything is fine as long as you agree with him, the belief may be so strong that fanaticism and over zealousness may rule. This contradicts the flip side of Aquarius which is that of the modern ruler Uranus "the freedom from the known".
Zoller suggests that “In the Age of Aquarius, religion will be humanistic love of fairness and justice. While feeding the people with Libran platitudes, the Scorpionic rulers will work tirelessly toward the realization of their goal – absolute power over others, as Leo is seen in position on the 7th house.”
“As the Aquarian dream of humanistic science and universal brotherhood is a vision of the world to come in Pisces, and realized in Aquarius, so too, the Aquarian avant-garde will look forward to an Aquarian Golden Age on the one hand, while the Aquarian technocrats will look for a world corporation to fossilize society into a rigid caste system run technologically.”
The proponents of an Aquarian Golden Age are blinded by unfounded optimism. Ironically perhaps, if they were more realistic, they would see that the agenda of the Aquarian technocrats must be curbed, not just for a better world, but for our survival as a species.
The Aquarian technocrats require powerful militaries and endless wars which are justified as necessary for the security of the nation. For “our own good” we give up freedom and human rights,
Neither will their domestic critics be spared. This is all-out fascism, largely concealed by the velvet glove. Wars are no longer fought for the nation-state in the West, they are fought mostly to further the interests of corporations and to make the very wealthy even wealthier.
One cannot discuss Aquarius the archetype or the constellation without mentioning Saturn / Shabbtai, the traditional ruler of Aquarius prior to the discovery of Uranus in 1781. The archetype of Saturn is an ambivalent one, as he filled two concurrent archetypal positions in the ancient world: the liberal, compassionate, tolerant ruler of the Golden Age, and prior to that, the ruthless, ambitious son of Gaia and Ornonous (Uranus) who castrated his own father and later ate his own children to prevent them from usurping his position of power.
These images of Saturn’s archetypes predated what Torah scholars hold to be the age during which Abraham lived (1813-1638 BCE), slightly preceding the Iron Age (1200–550 BC). The first written stories of the origins of the Greek gods is Hesiod, who wrote in the eight century BCE, detailing these tales of pre-antiquity. I feel the Torah alludes to this era obliquely with a few sentences describing the antediluvian age from the beginning of Genesis:
“And it came to pass when Man began to increase upon the ground and daughters were born to them, the B’nai Elohim saw that the daughters of man were good and they took themselves wives from whomever they choose…the Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterwards when the sons of gods would consort with the daughters of man, who would bear to them. They were the mighty who, from old were men of devastation.” (Gen. 6:1-2,4)
ויהי כי החל האדם לרב על פני האדמה ובנות ילדו להם
ויראו בני האלהים את בנות האדם כי טבת הנה ויקחו להם נשים מכל אשר בחרו
הנפלים היו בארץ בימים ההם וגם אחרי כן אשר יבאו בני האלהים אל בנות האדם וילדו להם המה הגברים אשר מעולם אנשי השם
It’s important to situate this information in time to understand that what we call “Jewish astrology” has its roots in traditions older than the concept of “Jewishness”.
Uranus was apportioned to become the modern planetary ruler of Aquarius, and Saturn was relegated to Capricorn only. Yet the imprint of Saturn lingers and is powerful in the Aquarius archetype, particularly the Saturn of the fabled Golden Age.
After Kronos (Saturn) castrated his father, the blood of Ouranos fell on the earth and his semen into the sea. From the blood were born the Erinyes (the Furies) and the Giants, and from the seed sprang Aphrodite, the celestial goddess of love, who later becomes Venus (Noga). After this victory over his father, Kronos/Saturn ruled over a Golden Age, a utopian paradise (Gan Eden?), described by Hesiod as a time when
“Like the gods, men lived with happy hearts
Untouched by work or sorrow. Vile old age
Never appeared, but always lively-limbed,
Far from all ills, they feasted happily.
Death came to them as sleep, and all good things
Were theirs; ungrudgingly, the fertile land
Gave up her fruits unasked.”
It’s astonishing to consider this description of the Golden Age where Saturn ruled over a utopian society, which sounds a lot like a “Garden of Eden” situation or the fabled Age of Aquarius, in light of what we know about the Tribe of Asher, which is the Tribe understood to be associated with the zodiac sign of Aquarius and the month of Shevat.
A deeper understanding of Asher, the son of Jacob and the father of the Tribe of Asher which is the tribe associated with Chodesh Shevat and the sign of Aquarius, can give us a clue about how to deal with this Aquarian energy.
Asher: To Zilpah’s second son Leah gave the name of Asher, “praise,” for, she said, “Unto me all manner of praise is due, for I have brought my handmaid into the house of my husband as wife. Sarah did likewise, but only because she had no children, and so it was also with Rachel. But as for me, Ihad children, and nevertheless I subdued my passion, and without jealousy I gave my handmaid to my husband for wife. Verily, all will praise and extol me.” Furthermore, she spoke, “As the women will praise me, so the sons of Asher will in time come to praise G*d for their fruitful possession in the Holy Land.” (Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews)
Asher’s qualities - a lack of personal jealousy or possessiveness when one is acting for the greater good – are incorporated into the positive Aquarian archetype.
Jacob blessed his son Asher: "from Asher comes delicious [lit. fat] bread, and he shall provide the delicacies of the king." From this it is evident that Asher represents the sense of taste and eating. The special tree which Asher personifies is the olive tree, which gives the goodly oil with which Asher's portion in the land of Israel was blessed. Asher was known to be blessed with so much shefa / abundance that his main activity was sharing his bounty with his brethren.
So – unselfish sharing with one’s fellow humans for the sake of the greater good. That’s another Aquarius archetype.
The Midrash Talpiyot says Asher stands at the opening passageway to hell and does not allow those who studied Mishnah which contains the same letters as “Shemen” (oil), used in Jacob’s blessing. “As for Asher, fat is his produce” (Genesis 49:20) Fat / oil and water are both symbols for Torah, as of course is water. D’li, the water pitcher, is the servant of the water, as Israel is the servant of the Torah. Asher-energy looks out for their fellow human. Asher blocked the way to hell for those who shared common ground, a common world-view, symbolized by the letters of oil / shemen and Mishna: Shin Mem Num.
Put it all together and we’ve got unselfish sharing with one’s fellow humans for the sake of the greater good as understood through commonly held beliefs and values. That’s the Age of Aquarius we want.
Let’s make sure we make Aquarian Age choices that incorporate and balance communal values and humanitarian ideals with personal identity, treading lightly and with compassion and empathy for others into this Aquarian Age!
