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When people began to consider the universe that they encountered each night in the star filled skies over their heads, they probably began to wonder whether the stars could foretell future events and exercise control over their everyday life.
An unknown Bible psalmist wrote that "the heavens declare the glory of God" (ps. 19:1). Zoroastrian astrologers called "magi" traveled to Bethlehem at the birth of Jesus because they saw a "star" or a sign in the heavens foretelling the birth of a Jewish king (Matt. 2). Long before that, astrologers in places as far apart as Egypt, China, Peru, and England built stone structures to aid in foretelling times and seasons based on the heavens.
Good evidence has been presented that some of the pyramids of Egypt mirror the stars of the constellation Orion, the three pyramids of Giza echoing on earth the position of the three stars of Orion's belt. There appears to be astrological significance attached to many of the enigmatic stone circles of western Europe, Stonehenge being the most obvious. Indians of the American Southwest seem to have been very aware of the significance of astral events, recording them on pictographs scattered throughout Arizona and New Mexico. Chinese mythology makes mention of comets and stars that are now tracked and followed by astronomers. 
The "Source" that Edgar Cayce claimed to access in his trances taught him that the planets influence human behavior.
When comet Hale-Bopp stood high on the sky during spring evenings of 1997, groups such as the Heavens Gate cult were sure it was a prophecy portending either doom or salvation to the human race.
Shakespeare seems to have held a lower opinion of astrology, causing Julius Caesar to say, "men at some time are masters of their fates: / The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings." Apparently his disdain is not shared by the millions of people who religiously search their newspapers each morning to read their daily horoscopes - often wile professing not to believe in such things.
Although astrologers generally do not predict the end of the universe as such, a series of "Armageddons" mark the ends of the astrological ages. We are currently in transition between the Age of Pisces and the Age of Aquarius. Aquarius is the eleventh sign of the Zodiac. As Jeff Lawler, a professional astrologer explains it :
The great ages are a result of the wobble of the Earth's pole in it's axis. The cycle of approximately 26,000 years gives rise to twelve ages of about 2,160 years each. The beginning of an age occurs when the vernal equinox (sun at zero degree of Aries) enters a new constellation. This precession of the equinoxes moves backward in the Zodiac, thus the shift from the twelfth sign Pisces (the fish) into the eleventh Aquarius. Due to conflicting interpretations on the boundaries of the constellations, there is a wide range of dates given as the beginning of the Age of Aquarius, from as early as the 1600's to as late as the 2400's. As with any slow cycle, it's like that the transition process can covers good deal of time, perhaps centuries.
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According to astrologers, the Piscean Age was an age of systemic religious hierarchies. They do not wonder that early Christians adopted the sign of Pisces, the fish, as their secret sign and signal. Aquarius, however, signals freedom, awareness of spiritual possibilities, and individual paths to God.
Change brings confusion. Armageddon implies a culminating death or an end to what was. Astrologers warn that accepted but outgrown elements of the past often seem to conflict with the unknown future. In times of stress it is easy to harden opinions and seek to continue on familiar paths, even if those paths have not let out of the forest. Hence "us against them" thinking, sixties activism, post 9/11 tension, racial bigotry, and religious warfare.
The writer I.M. Oderberg claims that Aquarius has been anticipated by mystic religious movements within major institutional traditions. Buddhism and Hinduism have always allowed personal, individual expression,. Within Judaism and the Kabbalah has a mystic history going back to the middle ages. Sufi has offered and alternative tradition within Islam that is at once personal, flamboyant, individualistic, and meditative. The discovery of Gnostic gospels such as the gospel of Thomas has caused a great stir in Christian circles. People who never considered anything but what, to them, is traditional Christianity seem fascinated that there were once other ways to approach Christian belief. The mystical, highly individualistic trend of the charismatic movement has swept the denominations.
What might emerge in the Age of Aquarius is, of course, not clear. There are those who believe that trends point to tumultuous birth pangs, the equivalent of an astrological Armageddon, which are even now being felt. Earthquakes, population explosion, ecological disasters, and an increase in religious fundamentalism and resultant holy wars are only the beginning.
On the brighter side, those who disagree with Shakespeare's Caesar and believe that the fault is in our stars can hope that beyond all these agonies lies an age when "peace will rule the planets / And love will steer the stars." |
