Astrological age

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"Age of Aquarius" redirects here. For the classic musical hit song see: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In.

Position of vernal equinox occurring in Pisces after leaving Aries constellation (through the precession of the equinoxes backward motion). In astrology (not astronomy), this is the moment where the tropical and sideral "first point in Aries" (Aries 0º) came into close alignment. Since, in astrology, the 12 Astrological Ages are equal-sized (30 degrees each) and do not correspond to the exact constellations configuration in the sky, current astrologers need to establish when this alignment occurred, in order to determine the previous and future Ages.

Precessional movement as seen from 'outside' the celestial sphere. The rotation axis of the Earth describes over a period of about 25800 years a small circle (blue) among the stars, centred around the ecliptic northpole (blue E) and with an angular radius of about 23.4°: the angle known as the obliquity of the ecliptic. The orange axis was the Earth's rotation axis 5000 years ago when it pointed to the star Thuban. The yellow axis, pointing to Polaris is the situation now. Note that when the celestial sphere is seen from outside constellations appear in mirror image. Also note that the daily rotation of the Earth around its axis is opposite to the precessional rotation. When the polar axis precesses from one direction to another, then the equatorial plane of the Earth (indicated with the circular grid around the equator) and the associated celestial equator will move too. Where the celestial equator intersects the ecliptic (red line) there are the equinoxes. As seen from the drawing, the orange grid, 5000 years ago one intersection of equator and ecliptic, the vernal equinox was close to the star Aldebaran of Taurus. By now (the yellow grid) it has shifted (red arrow) to somewhere in the constellation of Pisces. Note that this is an astronomical description of the precessional movement and the vernal equinox position in a given constellation may not imply the astrological meaning of an Age carrying the same name, as they (ages and constellations) only have an exact alignment in the "first point of Aries", meaning once in each ca. 25800 (Great Sideral Year).

An astrological age is a time period in astrology which is believed to cause major changes in the Earth's inhabitants' development. It roughly corresponds to the time taken for the vernal equinox to move through one of the twelve constellations of the zodiac. The Ages in astrology, however, do not correspond to the actual constellation boundaries where the vernal equinox may be occurring in a given time.

1 Introduction
2 Calculation aspects
- 2.1 First point of Aries alignment
3 The Age of Leo (Leo-Aquarius)
- 3.1 Timeframes
  - 3.1.1 Zodiacal 30 degrees
  - 3.1.2 Constellation
- 3.2 Overview
  - 3.2.1 Historical similarities
  - 3.2.2 Religious similarities
4 The Age of Cancer (Cancer-Capricorn)
- 4.1 Timeframes
  - 4.1.1 Zodiacal 30 degrees
  - 4.1.2 Constellation
- 4.2 Overview
  - 4.2.1 Historical similarities
  - 4.2.2 Religious similarities
5 The Age of Gemini (Gemini-Sagittarius)
- 5.1 Timeframes
  - 5.1.1 Zodiacal 30 degrees
  - 5.1.2 Constellation
- 5.2 Overview
  - 5.2.1 Historical similarities
  - 5.2.2 Religious similarities
6 The Age of Taurus (Taurus-Scorpio)
- 6.1 Timeframes
  - 6.1.1 Zodiacal 30 degrees
  - 6.1.2 Constellation
- 6.2 Overview
  - 6.2.1 Historical similarities
  - 6.2.2 Religious similarities
7 The Age of Aries (Aries-Libra)
- 7.1 Timeframes
  - 7.1.1 Zodiacal 30 degrees
  - 7.1.2 Constellation
- 7.2 Overview
  - 7.2.1 Historical Similarities
  - 7.2.2 Religious similarities
8 The Age of Pisces (Pisces-Virgo)
- 8.1 Timeframes
  - 8.1.1 Zodiacal 30 degrees
  - 8.1.2 Constellation
- 8.2 Overview
9 The Age of Aquarius (Aquarius-Leo)
- 9.1 Timeframes
  - 9.1.1 Zodiacal 30 degrees
  - 9.1.2 Constellation
- 9.2 Overview
10 References
11 See also
12 External links

[edit] Introduction

Astrological ages occur because of a phenomenon known as the precession of the equinoxes. One complete period of this precession is called a Great Sidereal Year of about 25,800 to 25,920 years and it is divided in twelve astrological ages of 30 degrees each (ca. 2150 to 2160 years).

The entrance into a new Astrological Age is not considered to be a mathematical division of time but a process by which one age initiates its influences, in a slowly increasing way, before the end of the previous age. Due to this reason, some astrologers consider the last ca. 10 degrees, decanate or decante, of a given age (ca. 720 years) as the time period during which the new age starts to make visible its influences, also called "Orb of influence".

In astrology, each age is led by the Zodiacal sign of the constellation in which the Sun actually appears at the vernal equinox in northern hemisphere. Nevertheless, as it is described above, this may not correspond to the actual constellation in the sky, since each age has a fixed 30-degree length and the constellations have variable lengths. The changes upon Earth are caused and marked by the influences of the given astrological sign, related to the northern hemisphere. However, the Age's influences are also complemented by the sign in which the autumnal equinox occurs (the autumnal equinox occurs in the southern hemisphere at the same time that the vernal equinox is occurring in the northern hemisphere). For example, the Age of Pisces (the Fish), vernal equinox, is complemented by the astrological sign of Virgo (the Virgin), autumnal equinox; for this reason the current Piscean age is called in astrology the "Age of Pisces-Virgo."

[edit] Calculation aspects

The Earth, in addition to its diurnal rotation upon its axis, incurs a precessional motion involving a slow periodic shift of the axis itself: approximately one degree every 70 years. This motion, which is caused mostly by the Moon's gravity, gives rise to the precession of the equinoxes in which the Sun's position on the ecliptic at the time of the vernal equinox, measured against the background of fixed stars, gradually changes with time.

In astrology, an astrological age is defined by the constellation in which the Sun actually appears at the vernal equinox. Since each sign of the zodiac subtends (on average) 30 degrees, each astrological age might be thought to last about 72 × 30 = about 2150, 2156 or 2160 years (the most common ones). This means the Sun crosses the equator at the vernal equinox moving backwards against the fixed stars from one year to the next at the rate of one degree in seventy-two years, one constellation in about 2156 years, and the whole twelve signs in about 25 800, 25 868 or 25 920 years (the most common ones), called a Great Sidereal Year.

Many current-day astrologers advance timeframes for the Ages based solely in the astronomical division of the constellations; however, as esoteric astrologers refer, basing astrology in direct connection to constellation configuration in the sky (i.e. its borders) is not astrology but only astronomy assumptions. This perspective is also confirmed by the conclusions of the Austrian astronomer Professor Hermann Haupt who examined the question of when the Age of Aquarius begins in an article published in 1992 by the Austrian Academy of Science: with the German title Der Beginn des Wassermannzeitalters, eine astronomische Frage? (The Start of the Aquarian Age, an Astronomical Question?, see below The Age of Aquarius).

[edit] First point of Aries alignment

This is the moment where the tropical and sidereal "first point in Aries" (Aries 0º) came into close alignment. Since, in astrology, the 12 Astrological Ages are equal-sized (30 degrees each) and do not correspond to the exact constellations configuration in the sky, current astrologers need to establish when this alignment occurred, in order to determine the previous and future Ages. This may vary from astrologer to astrologer, depending mainly on the constellation boundaries used between Aries and Pisces.

In Max Heindel's astrology writings ^[1], it is described that last time the starting-point of the sidereal zodiac agreed with the tropical zodiac occurred in 498. A year after these points were in exact agreement, the Sun crossed the equator about fifty seconds of space into the constellation Pisces. The year following it was one minute and forty seconds into Pisces, and so it has been creeping backwards ever since, until at the present time the Sun crosses the equator in about nine degrees in the constellation Pisces. It will thus be about 600 years before it actually crosses the celestial equator in the constellation Aquarius.

In other words, this means that according to the Rosicrucians the current astrological Age of Pisces began around the 5th century, since that was the last time that, astronomically, the vernal equinox occurred in the first point of the constellation Aries (but the Piscean age influences were already slowly increasing since about the previous 720 years, late 3rd century BC/2nd century BC). Nowadays, the vernal equinox occurs astronomically in about nine degrees of the constellation Pisces and it will be about 2600 when it actually finishes moving backwards through all the 30 degrees of Pisces and enters the constellation Aquarius.

This conception is accepted by western esoteric astrologers and by eastern ones ^[2], although some eastern astrologers mention that each astrological age may be led by the constellation sign in which the autumnal equinox occurs (the autumnal equinox occurs in the southern hemisphere at the same time that the vernal equinox, as used in the western astrology, is occurring in the northern hemisphere). Also, astrologically there have been five major "Epochs" in the evolution of mankind, with the "Fourth Epoch" being Atlantean and the present "Fifth Epoch" being Aryan. Because these concepts relate to Astrology, they are not recognized by modern science.

Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet, founder of Aeon Center of Cosmology in Southern India and prolific writer on Supramental Yoga, writes in The Gnostic Circle that the first point of Aries alignment of the Tropical and Sidereal Zodiacs occurred in 234 BCE. By that calculation, the Age of Aquarius began 2160 years later in 1926 AD, a year significant in terms of Sri Aurobindo's revelations and yoga. ^[3]

[edit] The Age of Leo (Leo-Aquarius)

The Zodiacal signs:

the vernal equinox (northern hemisphere) is occurring in Leo;
the autumnal equinox (sourhern hemisphere) is occurring in Aquarius.

The Age of Leo is one of the twelve astrological ages. These are periods of time during which the vernal equinox occurs in a Zodiacal sign, in this case the sign of Leo; which partially corresponds to the vernal equinox occurring into to a particular constellation, in this case the constellation of Leo. The Age of Leo was the age before the Age of Cancer.

[edit] Timeframes

[edit] Zodiacal 30 degrees

Common interpretation: ca. ~10,500 BC to ~8000 BC.
Sacred Sites' interpretation: ca. 10,970 BC to 8810 BC ^[4]:

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[edit] Constellation

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[edit] Overview

[edit] Historical similarities

The Great Sphinx of Giza

From "Message of the Sphinx ^[5]: "The Sphinx is positioned such that in 10,500 BC (give or take a few years; precession is a very slow process) a remarkable astronomical arrangement of the Sun, Orion, and the constellation of Leo occurs. The Sphinx has the body of a lion, after all--and some think that it originally had the head of a lion as well. The current head, carved to look like some pharaoh unknown, might have been a reworking of the original lion’s head in ancient times. The authors show on diagrams that the current head of the Sphinx is far too small to be in proportion to the prone leonine body. Furthermore, the head shows little of the same sort of water erosion that the rest of the body does, which is all the more remarkable since the head is the only part of the Sphinx to have been above the sands since before the time of Christ."

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[edit] Religious similarities

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[edit] The Age of Cancer (Cancer-Capricorn)

The Zodiacal signs:

the vernal equinox (northern hemisphere) is occurring in Cancer;
the autumnal equinox (sourhern hemisphere) is occurring in Capricorn.

The Age of Cancer is one of the twelve astrological ages. These are periods of time during which the vernal equinox occurs in a Zodiacal sign, in this case the sign of Cancer; which partially corresponds to the vernal equinox occurring into to a particular constellation, in this case the constellation of Cancer. The Age of Cancer was the age before the Age of Gemini.