[ Golden Gater Online - February 20, 1997 ]
Doug Seto
Staff Writer
The Age of Aquarius represents peace, harmony and understanding. It's a time when the technologies of the Western world will be adopted by the Eastern world and the selfless, meditative spirituality of the East will in turn be adopted by the West.
Technically, or rather astrologically, the Age of Aquarius begins about 100 years from now. So why did New Age followers mark last month's cosmic event -- an alignment of planets near the constellation Aquarius combined with the astrological charting of the sun, moon and Earth to form a six-pointed star -- as the dawning of Aquarius?
The better question is why not?
What's important is that we don't have to wait until 2140 to begin the Age of Aquarius. Just ask the people who produced the 60s musical "Hair," or try remembering the martyrs at Kent State. For their sake, harmony and understanding can start today if we only allow it. And why not? Personally, I'm tired of the Age of Pisces and the leftover mentality from the Crusades, Inquisition, cross-burnings and Moral Majority.
For those of you who do not know much about Astrology, an "age" is a time-span of around 2000 years, and during each age, planet Earth comes under the influence of a different sign in this zodiac order: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.
(((((PLEASE EXPLAIN HERE THE DISCREPANCY BETWEEN ZODIAC ORDER AND THE ORDER OF THE "AGES." PISCES PRECEDES AQUARIUS IN THE "AGE OF..." BUT FOLLOWS IN THE ZODIAC ORDER. WHY???)))))
To many the six-star alignment symbolizes peace between complete opposites. Many believe the six-pointed star was invented by King David, who stopped a civil war between two nations, thus the two interlaced triangles symbolize harmony.
Even though most New Agers are far-flung from astrological reality, let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. In fact, we should give them the benefit of the doubt. According to the ancient Mayan calendar, the Age of Aquarius begins in 2012.
But the Age of Miracles, the Hebrew term for the New Age, begins about 238 years from now.
As you see, the beginning of the New Age varies from culture to culture, but it carries the same ideology. Instead of arguing about when it begins, why don't we just start practicing the ideals of the New Age, where the first step is in developing harmony between the nations of the East and West. Some argue that our future (a time of universal enlightenment) is now. With the world plagued by ignorance, selfishness and fear, who can blame them.
Astrology is more than just silly horoscopes and fortune-cookie knowledge, for both astronomy and astrology came from humanity's love for stargazing, sharing stories and mastering one's imagination. Imagination is the key. To develop a perfect world, we first need to visualize a perfect world. A world filled with understanding, harmony and peace.
[ Golden Gater - February 20, 1997 ]