The Aquarian Age and
the Second Advent
by Max Heindel
Astrology is a phase of Mystic Religion, as sublime as the stars with which
it deals,
and not to be confused with fortunetelling. The educational value of
astrology lies in its
capacity to reveal the hidden causes at work in our lives. It counsels the
adults in regard
to vocation, the parents in the guidance of children, the teachers in
management of pupils,
the Judges in executing sentence, the physicians in diagnosing disease, and
in similar manner lends aid to each and all in whatever station or enterprise they may find themselves.
The laws of Rebirth and Consequence work in harmony with the stars, so that
a
child is born at the time when the positions of the bodies in the solar
system will give the
conditions necessary for its experience and advancement in the school of
life.
A correspondent writes: "Many
people these days realize that
we are entering, or about to enter, a new age. Some understand that
it is the Aquarian Age, and to a certain
extent what it stands for. But I have
not as yet heard an intelligent explanation of just when our earth or solar system would enter this age, and whether
the Aquarian Age coincides with the
passage of the Sun through the constellation of Aquarius, or through the Zodiacal division by that name."
In this paragraph our correspondent
take's up a number of points. And on
the principle that "the last shall be
first," we will consider the last, part of
his interrogation, where, as you will notice he makes a distinction between the constellation of Aquarius and the Zodiacal
division by that name. This, in
itself, is a great difficulty to many people, who do not know how to differentiate between the Zodiacal constellation
and the so-called intellectual Zodiac. The
explanation is as follows:
A certain group of stars in the heavens
is called Aries, another group, located
close to them, is called Taurus; a third
group of fixed stars is called Gemini, and
so on. These constellations or groups of
stars, as seen in the heavens, always remain in the same relative position, and
they are therefore almost unchangeable.
Through all the centuries of which
we have record, these stars have remained in the same group and in about
the same relative position, one to another. And through these constellations
the Sun circles from year to year with
unvarying precision. But owing to the
fact that the axis of the Earth inclines
toward the Sun and has a wobbling motion, similar to that of a spinning top
which has almost spent its force, the
motion of the Sun appears to be uneven,
and each year, when it enters the constellation Aries, crossing the Earth's
equator, it is a little earlier than the year
before. It precedes. And thus the point
where the Sun crosses the equator at the
Vernal Equinox moves backwards from
year to year at the rate of one degree in
seventy-two years, one constellation in
about 2156 years, and the whole twelve
signs in about 25,868 years. This latter
period is called a Great Sidereal Year.
It has been observed that no matter
where in the Zodiac the Sun crosses the
equator, a certain physical effect takes
place. The flowers begin to sprout out
I of the Earth, the little birds begin, to
mate, the mute earth is awakened to' new
life, new hope, and new song. Also the
spiritual effects following the Sun's entrance into the northern hemisphere at the Vernal Equinox have been observed
to remain unchanged. And therefore
the first thirty degrees from that point
where the Sun crosses the equator, are
called Aries, the next thirty degrees are
called Taurus, the third thirty are called
Gemini, and so on through the twelve
signs.
This intellectual division of the circle
of the Zodiac coincides with the constellation in the heavens only once in
25,868 years. During all the rest of the
time the intellectual Zodiac moves backwards, as explained, on account of the
precession of the equinoxes. The last
time when the starting-point in the Intellectual Zodiac agreed with the Zodiacal
constellation was in A,D. 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 ten degrees in the constellation Pisces. It
will thus be, about 700 years or about
A.D. 2654, before it actually crosses the
celestial equator in the constellation
Aquarius. [Adding 2156 years to A.D.
498 gives about A.D. 2654 as the time
the Aquarian Age proper begins.]
The Aquarian Age may be said to start
at, the time when the Sun enters, by precession, the 30th degree of the constellation Aquarius, and it lasts about 2156
years, while the Sun moves backwards
through the thirty degrees until it comes
to the first degree of Aquarius. There
is, however, no definite and sharp cut-off
like we make when we say we enter the
year 1915, which begins at 12 o'clock
on the night of the 31st of December
1914, and lasts until the 31st of December 1915 at 12 o'clock midnight. That
is, a mathematical division of time. But
the various epochs of human existence
depend upon,vital influences in life, and
are conditions of mind rather than divisions of time, though the two are
linked.
Therefore Astrologers recognize what
is called an "orb of influence." To understand this, we must realize that every
human being is something more than
that which we see; that he has surrounding him an aura, an invisible atmosphere,
a something which radiates from him
and which partakes of his distinct and
personal nature. We very often feel the
effect of this aura though we do not understand the reason why. Suppose that
someone has his whole mind concentrated upon his work so that he neither
hears nor sees what happens about him;
but gradually he becomes aware that
someone else has entered the room; is, in
fact, standing behind him, and he turns
around to find a friend there. He had
not heard the friend enter on account of
absorption in his work, but he felt him,
because the aura of the friend intermingled with his own auric atmosphere;
and thus, though there was no physical
contact, he knew that someone was close
by.
The constellations are groups of Great
Spirits who have immured themselves in
these starry bodies, for the sake of less
advanced intelligences to gain the experiences of evolution. Each of the fixed
stars in a constellation also has its invisible bodies, which extend from one to the other, intermingle and overlap.
Therefore, when the Sun reached tho
tenth degree of Pisces, it touched the
fringe of the constellation of Aquarius
influence, though we are still in the Piscean Age.
That this influence is making itself
felt, a glance of retrospection will soon
show. We readily recognize the Piscean, influence during the last two thousand
years, the dark ages, the superstition, the
intellectual bondage, then prevalent, are
not entirely routed.
But since the middle of last century,
when the Aquarian influence first began
to make itself felt, an irresistible intellectual impulse has been instilled into our everyday life. Science has made
such strides as never before, Invention
has electrified the world and is now conquering the air, etc. This scientific intellectual influence will make itself felt
more and more during the centuries
which will pass before we definitely enter
the constellation Aquarius by precession
of the equinoxes. As the narrow, conservative Piscean influence diminishes,
so will the broadening, inquiring Aquarian influence increase.
Regarding what the Aquarian Age
stands for spiritually, we may realize
that Aquarius is the only figure in the
Zodiac representing the full stature of a
Man. All the principal characters of
the Old Testament were shepherds, having reference to Aries, the sheep, ram
or lamb. In the New Testament they are
fishermen, referring to Pisces, the sign
of the fishes. But, the Son of Man is the
subject of prophecy: of something yet to
come. He is to usher in a glorious age,
and therefore we may look for developments of a startling nature to take place in the nearest centuries before us.
Moreover, each of the foregoing ages
have had their teachers. Osiris, and
Mithras were worshiped in Egypt and
Persia while the Sun was going through
Taurus, the sign of the Bull. The Lamb
was slain from the foundation of the
Christian world, by Moses, while the Sun
was going through the sign Aries. There
was a great controversy concerning the
symbol of Christ, on account whereof the
Bishop's Mitre is still made in the form
of a fish, to symbolize the fact that the
phase of the Christian religion then
inaugurated was to hold sway during the
Piscean or Fish Age, in which we now
are. Later the ideal of the Son of Man,
or super-men, will furnish inspiration
for the Aquarian Age, which is now being
ushered in.
The Aquarian Age is not to be confounded with the Kingdom of Christ,
who is to come again; neither is the
Aquarian Age to be confounded with the
Sixth (Galilean) Epoch; for, to quote
the words of the Christ, "Of that day
and hour [when He comes], knows no
man; neither the Angels in heaven, nor
the Son, but only the Father." And it
is absolutely preposterous and a mark
of ignorance for anyone to predict that
the coming of Christ will take place at a
certain, specified time. Perhaps it is even
presumptuous to guess at the approximate time when the second advent will
take place, but the writer has the idea
that, as the precessional cycles, so far as
they are connected with the evolution of
man, seem to commence with the Sun's
entrance into Capricorn, there may be a
development at that time. If that is
correct, the advent cannot take place for
at least 3000 years.
When we consider the Zodiac in its
religious as well as its evolutionary aspects, by means of the six pairs of opposite signs into which the twelve may be
divided, we commence with Cancer and
Capricorn for the reason that these are
solstitial points where the Sun reaches
its highest and lowest declination.
Considered in this manner we find
that there are two sets of three pairs of
signs, namely, Cancer and Capricorn,
Gemini and Sagittarius, Taurus and
Scorpio. In these three pairs of signs
we may read the history of human evolution and religion, in the early, the middle and the latter third of the Atlantean
Epoch. In the other three pairs of
signs: Aries and Libra, Pisces and Virgo,
Aquarius and Leo, we find the key to
man's development during the [present]
Sixth Epoch. This is also divisible into
three distinct periods, namely: the
Aryan Age from Moses to Christ, which
comes under Aries-Libra; the Piscean
Age which takes in the last two thousand
years under Pisces-Virgo, Catholicism;
and the two thousand years which are
ahead of us, called the Aquarian Age,
where the signs Aquarius and Leo will
be illuminated and vivified. by the solar
precession, for the upliftment of the
Son of Man (Aquarius), by the Christ
within, the Lion of Judah (Leo), to the
estate of Superman.
It must not be thought however, that
the Atlantean Epoch only lasted while
the Sun by precession went through Cancer, Gemini and Taurus, a period of only six thousand and a few hundred years;
far from it; but there are spirals within
spirals and recapitulation takes place in
the epochs and races, so that we may
know what is the general destiny by looking at the Sun Is passage through these signs and therewith taking this import
and symbolism into consideration. It
may also be said that the further we advance the smaller do the spirals become,
the shorter the time in which a given
improvement is made, because of the proficiency we attained in former ages, and therefore. it is extremely probable that
the present is the last lap; that the coming Aquarian Age is the final preparatory school day which will fit us for the
new age, the Sixth (Galilean) Epoch,
and that that will begin when the Sun
by precession enters Capricorn.
This, of course would mean that the
Second Advent must take place just before that time, and though it seems to us that so many signs point that way, this
is a mere surmise and may not have any
truth in it at all. Thousands of people
have been misled during all the ages that
we know of, to think that Christ would
soon be here; it is, however, better that
we are looking forward to it than if we
should say with some, that it will never
take place. In that case the Great Day
will find us unprepared and we shall find
ourselves among the stragglers who are
unfit to attend the wedding feast of the
higher Self to the lower because lacking
the "soul-body" which is the "wedding
garment" that enfolds them.
Note: This article is reprinted from the
November 1915 issue of this Magazine, together with part of an article on the same subject in the September 1915 issue.
— Rays from the Rose Cross Magazine, November, 1942, p. 503-506.
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