In Sweden a new religion called “kopimism” is dedicated to the right to share files freely across the internet. This religion has been officially recognized by the Swedish government as a lawful religion. Its sacred symbols are ctrl-c and ctrl-v (the PC keyboard shortcuts for copy and paste). This is not a joke.
For the past 2150 years or so we have been in the Age of Pisces (see my earlier article for the delineations between the Great Ages and a discussion of when the Aquarian Age begins.) The sign of Pisces is ruled by both Jupiter, its traditional ruler, and Neptune, its modern ruler. Both Jupiter and Neptune are connected to the spiritual life, but where Neptune deals with matters of the Spirit in which worldly issues are transcended for the sake of an inner experience, Jupiter seeks meaning in life through building a theological construct and tenets that give us comfort and a sense of peace. Any system of beliefs is a Jupiterian experience, and any divine or creative experience is an experience of Neptune. So the Piscean Age, which began sometime around the beginning of the common era (0 c.e.) has been the age of religious and spiritual experience.
It would be a mistake to say that Pisces itself is connected with religion specifically, because there is this image with Pisces of two fish swimming in opposite directions. At its best, Pisces works to integrate the spiritual life (Neptune) with the intellectual beliefs of Jupiter and in doing so one often obscures the other. The Piscean Age oversaw the greatest expansion of one religion that the world had ever known; it has also been the age of ignorance and deception (negative Pisces traits), during which religious fervor obscured a 2,000 year history of war and abuse by various religious establishments around the world. It’s no accident on an esoteric level that Christianity is symbolized by the Ichthys (fish) which was used as a secret symbol by early Christians to mark their meeting places. The concept of fish factors prominently in the stories of Christianity, with Jesus as a fisher of men, converting loaves into fish, teaching men to fish.
But the Piscean Age also brought about a surge of mysticism and spiritual exploration of various kinds. Every major religion had its mystical branches, even the Roman Church in which such practices were banned in public but practiced in secret. The idea that one can have a direct individual connection to the Divine violates the basic laws of the Church which required the intercession of the priestly class.
The Aquarian age is likely to be a very different story. Aquarius also has a double rulership: Saturn is the traditional ruler and Uranus is the modern ruler, and never two did two different planets share a bed. Saturn presides over structure and form and the status quo, and Uranus is dedicated to shattering the status quo and creating a New World Order where everyone is free and rational. Because Saturn tends to be rather rigid it is often associated with the rigidity of religious doctrine, but Uranus is the planet of science and reason, neither of which are typically very supportive of religion.
There is no doubt that the presence of religion in our lives is changing, especially in the United States which, with Jupiter-ruled Sagittarius rising and Jupiter conjunct the Sun in the national chart is exceptionally tied to religious dogma. A recent Pew study found that 28% of all adults surveyed had left the religion of their childhood, a rather astonishing number.
As we continue to move into the Aquarian Age, the force of “reason” is likely to dominate over spiritual experience, bringing another set of dangers. The idea that in the Age of Aquarius “peace and love will rule the sky” promulgated by the musical Hair is a fantasy. If you ever read Animal Farm by George Orwell, a book about the dangers of communism where all are equal and none are free, you’ve seen the dark side of Aquarius in action.
Over the past 50 years or so since we’ve been in the transitional phase between the Piscean and Aquarian ages there has been a surge of new religions. Neopagan and WIccan cults have gone almost mainstream. The study of yoga has brought eastern religions into western thought. Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in the world, followed closely by Bahai and Sikhism.
Will this proliferation of new religion and faiths mean an increase of peace and understanding, or continued religious warfare? The choice is up to humanity and only time will tell.
[related_posts limit=”5″ image=”50″]
I really devoured this post. Great insight. Thank you!
IT IS ALWAYS A GOD JOB & FOR OUR LEARNING. BE AT PEACE !!!.
Nice work, Lynn. Very thought provoking.
Great post. You mentioned the downsides of the Aquarian Age (the age of “reason”). I agree that it won’t be a happy age of “light”, rainbows and bunny kisses. That’s not what Aquarius is about! Hopefully we will see a resurgence of community, a reconnection of people with the wider community of life on Earth, and greater respect for diversity and equality.
But one of the great downsides we have already seen – the pursuit of technological innovation for its own sake, without any consideration of the consequences (disruption to the web of life). This goes hand in hand with the rejection of religion, and spirit in general, and the turning toward atheism, rationality, post-modernism. In my opinion science has become the great new religion, just a religion without any belief in god or the realm of spirit. Instead spirit has been replaced by rationality, god by the human mind. And look at where this hubristic perspective has led us to!
Nicely put, Jessica, thank you.
I know several atheists who are very moral people and have known several catholics who were simple horrid people. I think blaming the status quo on atheism, though it’s an argument often brought up, is too simplistic. And no I’m not an atheist.
KaD – I’m not sure where you got the impression that I am blaming anything on atheists. The point I was trying to make is that everyone believes in something. I myself don’t believe in the god Jehovah as an all-powerful force, and perhaps that makes me an atheist as well. And I completely agree with you that many so-called religious people do horrible things in the name of religion.
You always do a great job of explaining complex issues, and as usual this is a though-provoking post. One quibble, though–doesn’t the emergence of neopaganism, wiccan beliefs, and eastern religions into the Western mainstream mark a diversification of religious expression rather than the introduction of “new” religions? Christianity is actually the newest of the lot.
Dreamdrudge, your point is well taken. Of course I didn’t mean that these other religious viewpoints are new, but their spread across mainstream America IS new in my opinion.
I agree w/Dreamdrudge’s quibble re. seeing it as a diversification of religious expression vs. something new. Furthermore, I also find trying to ascribe the Aquarian Age to having one quality or potential vs another as being similar to the old argument of ‘is it nature vs. nurture’ that makes the child intelligent/educationally successful.
Why not consider the possibility of the two planets together modifying the status quo via scientists dedicated to their own research who may experience enlightenment to share w/others, discover the “God” gene/particle or discover some other aspect of spirituality that we don’t even know exists yet? That’s the thing about science – there’s a whole lot of possibilities we haven’t learned yet. Hold onto your hats, the best is yet to come.
[…] and truths without facts. The Aquarian Age is the Age of Reason (read more about that here in this earlier article) and for better or for worse, the accuracy of facts will find supremacy over the cloud of […]
[…] and truths without facts. The Aquarian Age is the Age of Reason (read more about that here in this earlier article) and for better or for worse, the accuracy of facts will find supremacy over the cloud of […]
[…] Two years ago I wrote an article entitled “Will religion survive the Aquarian Age?” […]
[…] and truths without facts. The Aquarian Age is the Age of Reason (read more about that here in this earlier article) and for better or for worse, the accuracy of facts will find supremacy over the cloud of […]