The equinoxes give rise to the various Astrological Ages as they move backwards through the Zodiac. It takes about 25,000 years to complete a full cycle and thus spends a little over two thousand years in each Sign. For two thousand years we have been in the Age of Pisces and as the song goes, "This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius".
Robert Hand deals with a lot of this in his published books, especially Essays On Astrology 1982/4 Para Research Inc where he coincides the timing and dates of the precession of the equinoxes over the fixed stars; to whit:
2,000 years ago the equinoxes were moving through the East (or North) Fish, a journey of some 400 years or more. The East Fish pointing northwards symbolises the spiritual quest of Christians (then largely occult or underground due to severe oppression by the Roman Empire) striving for Heaven to seek perfection. After that the equinoxes moved toward the West Fish, spreading laterally across the material plane as expanding Christian Kingdoms such as England, Spain, France, the Dutch and Portuguese etc spread their political dominion across the globe.
312 AD Constantine wins the battle with Maxentius after seeing an omen of a flaming cross in the sky bearing the words "With this sign, thou shalt be victorious", and subsequently converts to Christianity.
313 Constantine then adopts tolerance towards other practising Christians within the extent of his Empire.
323 Constantine becomes outright leader of the entire Roman Empire.
325 First Council of Nicaea, to solve disparities in the varying forms of Christian practice and beliefs. Determination of which 'Books' will be accepted as part of The New Testament, and what shall be omitted.
331 Constantine commissions the first 50 Bibles be produced, written in Greek. The Old Testament was based on Origen's Hexapla.
553 Some argue that this was when the doctrine of transmigration of the soul was removed. Origen was condemned as a heretic at this, the 5th Council. His teachings had many parallels with the Vedas.
380 Theodosius, now as leader declares Christianity the official religion of the Holy Roman Empire.
381 First Council of Constantinople addressing further schisms, declaring them heresies. Icon worship was again allowed, inc. Mary.
Thus marks the development of Christianity during the East Fish and the emergence of the organised religion as the Roman Catholic Church.
The West Fish marks the Reformation and springing forth of new denominations, greatly accelerated by the technology of the Gutenburg press which for the first time facilitated the widespread distribution of alternative Bibles.
It takes roughly 24,000 Earth years for the Equinox to return to the first point of Aries. Therefore it spends about 2,000 in each of the 12 signs of the Zodiac.
The diagram and astrological data is from Robert Hand's Essays on Astrology. Some of the information expressed here is his work, most of the rest is mine or gleaned from various other authors. I have elaborated on some of it in more detail - especially the information about certain doctrines, tenets, dogmas etc being dropped from the Bible during the first seven Ecumenical Councils, early Christian doctrines (especially those espoused by Origen of Alexandria) on reincarnation, karma, etc. I first heard this over 40 years ago from the Hare Krishnas. Nowadays you will find numerous websites detailing Early Christianity, theories about Jesus and his disciples being vegetarians, and other vast differences re the modern Church.
Further explanation is required, as this is a complicated subject, and as usual I have made it overly complex! Simply put though, I would like to draw your attention to the parallels of the Age of Pisces, and the fish being the symbol of Christians. In the first 3 centuries when it was occult (underground) because of Roman oppression, followers placed the sign of the fish above the entrances of secret meetings for identification by closet Christians.
The East Fish represents the first 300 years of Christianity. The West Fish is the modern schisms - not only in Christianity between the Roman Catholic Church and the many post-Reformation varieties of Methodist, Protestant, etc but also the divide in Islam between 88% Sunni and the 12% Shia; and also, in ISKCON with its radical departure from Srila Prabhupada's teachings; and countless other instances of branches and offshoots of mainstream religions trying to "adapt" and "adjust" to fit in with modern society.
Such "adjustment" is completely unnecessary. Unlike society which is man-made, religions come from God. Sometimes they are time-and-place specific, such as Judaism, and may seem to become "dated" and less relevant to modern life, but that doesn't mean they are invalid. Progress is the invention of Man, not accepting his destiny and his lot in life.
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As time passes, the orientation of the Heavens and Earth changes. It is evident by connecting mundane events (not derogatory; mundane means 'here on Earth') to the inherent symbolism of celestial phenomena (Astrology) observed over a long time that correspondences can be drawn. "For every season, turn, turn, turn."
First of all one must relinquish any presumption that Astrology is pseudo-science. It doesn't even try to pretend to be a science, because science deals with measuring phenomena, and astrology also deals with unobservable noumena, placing it in the Arts; and if you like, a craft.
No scientist will ever be able to measure a person's spirituality, how much they are in love, or whether or not they can see God.
This diagram is an attempt to represent the corresponding relationship ("As above, so below") between the Heavens and events on Earth, namely the current Age of Pisces and the resultant religious fervour expressed through established faiths such as Christianity and Islam, as well as any other exclusive "we alone have the one true God" dogmatic trips. I shall attempt to explain. Much credit and many thanks are due to Robert Hand who first made me aware of this through his book "Essays On Astrology" where he covers the more technical aspects in detail. Presented here are some of my further musings as a result of his enlightening propositions. And of course, my own particular bent on the subject. To make a name as a philosopher, it is necessary to present something new; but that should not be translated as a licence for rampant invention.
The vertical axis represents the degrees above and below the Celestial Equator - how astrologers and astronomers alike address the Heavens.
The lower horizontal axis represents time from BC (Before Christ) to AD (Anno Domini = year of our Lord [certainly not 'After Death'!]) . The upper horizontal axis shows the Zodiacal Ages ("this is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius") as the equinoctial precession slips backward through the Zodiac.
For those who need a simple(r) explanation, thousands of years ago at Stonehenge, at the Vernal Equinox (Spring in the Northern Hemisphere ≈ 22nd March) the First Point of Aries (the fixed star Antares) was on the Eastern Horizon, the backdrop for the rising Sun. Nowadays if you go there and witness the fixed stars passing over the horizon at that that time of the year, you will see Pisces there. In future it will be the constellation of Aquarius. These are the Ages of the Zodiac, determined by equinoctial precession. Contrary to popular lore, we are not in the Age of Aquarius at all, we are still in Pisces, as evident by Islamic radical fundamentalism – merely an extension of the early Christian fanaticism and dogmatic religiosity. AS SOME WOULD SAY, same shit, different bucket.
Back in the days of early Christianity, things were different. This blog article attempts to correlate developments in the evolution and formation of the Church, from before the birth of Jesus, through his lifetime, the 300 years afterwards when Christianity was an occult practice (performed in secret meeting places, often underground, famously marked by the sign of the fish [Pisces?] due to persecution from the Roman Empire), the later adoption by Constantine III resulting in the renaming to the Holy Roman Empire when Christianity was declared the sole legal religion, the emergence of Islam somewhat later and the continuing "My God Is The Only God" mentality wreaking havoc in the world today...
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The Constellation of Pisces consists of two fish swimming in different directions. This symbolises Pisceans as being somewhat confused, which they indeed may be. People with Neptune or the 12th House predominant (moi) also carry this trait. With these two fish - one pointed northward, as if reaching to the heavens; and the second pointing horizontally, as if spreading dominion over the material realm, we see the two dualities of Pisces. Aspiring for the Almighty and wizardly mastery over the material elements may seem like different ends of the stick - and that's exactly what they are, the schizoid Piscean split diametric.
What is interesting here is the connection between the Equinoctial precession passing over the East Fish (north-borne) in only the first couple of hundred years of the Age of Pisces, and the subsequent West Fish burgeoning after the l600's (and the Reformation of the Roman Catholic Church) and the subsequent emergence of Lutheran-inspired Methodist, Protestant and other non-conformist breakaway "Sects" in the 1800's fuelled by the Gutenberg press which enabled mass printing of non-RC bibles and widespread distribution. This is how Roman Catholicism lost its stranglehold on the Earth's population, illustrated by the Western Fish spreading across time. "Progress".
Very interesting indeed is the timing of the First Creed of Nicea and the demise of the East Fish - and the current phase of West Fish material expansion. Are we witnessing a new Islamic-based uprising along the lines of the Spanish Inquisition, or a completely new chapter in Piscean unfoldment?
The East Fish reaching for the Heavens marks early Christianity as concerned with the spiritual realm, aspiring to raise pure consciousness and unite with God, totally disinterested in worldly affairs and material expansion. This is evidenced by the later Holy Roman Empire and the West Fish.
The first few hundred years of Christianity's history are unique in that they show the closest, most exact and direct impact of Jesus's teachings on humanity without any political or governmental interference.
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For those interested... first, a little background on the Nicene Creed and its relevance to the development of modern Christianity. Some scholars argue that this is when the Doctrine of Transmigration of the Soul, Reincarnation, and the presence of the Supreme Absolute Truth (atman) in all living entities were wiped as concepts from the philosophy - replaced with a "Jesus is God, animals don't have souls and it's okay to kill them and eat them, and you only have one chance to accept Jesus into your heart now or suffer perpetually in Hell" kind of thinking. This type of mentality is unique to modern Christianity and doesn't appear in any other God-given religion on Earth. One must take into account the possibility that the Roman's adoption of Christianity could've been a last-ditch effort to save a crumbling empire and a falling civilisation. Either way, it eventually gave way as it became outmoded. Yet the Roman Catholic Church persevered.
Prior to 325AD, Jesus was regarded in many ways - as a mortal, as the Son of God, or as Lord. There was no one view. This is a later adoption (an invention?) of the newly formed Holy Roman Empire (HRE). Originally, Christianity was practised along the lines of at least two disciplines - a gnostic approach of continuity, a lifestyle, a process of continual refining and seeking perfection; or, the once-off, do-or-die, hurry-last-offer "accept Jesus into your heart now or forever suffer in Hell" business that was adopted by the HRE. There are at least two opinions as to why the latter was chosen by the HRE. One was that the Gnostic 'gradual perfection by attaining knowledge' method was impractical for the general masses, and that the latter was better suited. Another was that Christianity wouldn't be popular if meat-eating was banned. That theory is supposed to explain why the doctrine of transmigration of the soul, karma, reincarnation, etc was removed from the Bible.
The latter is the version that was preached later to the lower classes by the Roman elite, perhaps a way to control the population and scare them into submission. Interesting to note is that only the learned, the elite, the hierarchy of priestly scholars had access to scripture after Roman intervention. Everyone had access before they took control and institutionalised "The Church". A similar thing happened in India with the upper class of Hindus declaring that only Brahmans had access to scripture - the Veda. Srila Prabhupada and earlier, the Gutenberg Press changed everything much much later.
Okay, so let's get back to the allegedly "meat-eating, bloodthirsty" Emperor Constantine the Third, converting to Christianity just as the Roman Empire was declining. Timely? Legend has it that he saw an apparition going into battle of a Cross in the sky, aflame and bearing the words "with this sign thou shalt be victorious". He was the first Roman Emperor to fully embrace the Church of Christ, indeed not only tolerating it but setting in motion the process that would eventually lead to making it the sole legal religion combined in Church AND State - a practise now banned in democratic societies (secular - separation of Church and State) worldwide. Did I mention that Constantine had his son from his first marriage executed when he was caught having an affair with his second wife - also executed - together? That's mighty un-"Christian" of him! Some argue that Constantine was never a true Christian and only adopted it for political means. Yesh... maybe.
The exact goings-on of the First Council of Nicea in 325, otherwise known as the Nicene Creed, were not fully documented (as are most if not all the early ecumenical councils) and exact details of what went on are uncertain. The origins of the modern church are indeed shrouded in mystery. The first seven Ecumenical Councils, from 325 to 787 AD, saw a lot of to-and-froing, with various policies, philosophies and practices dropped or adopted or both. In this way the Church was put together somewhat like a jigsaw puzzle, without everyone in agreeance including various Popes from the Eastern and Western Holy Roman Empires.
Some allege that the doctrine of transmigration of the soul was removed (5th Council) in order to continue the abhorrent practice of killing innocent animals and eating their flesh. The concept of karma was also dispensed with, replaced with a present and future tense "as ye sow, ye shall reap" with no reference to previous lifetimes or the fact that animals, indeed, all life forms, possess souls non-different from the Lord's marginal expansion as living entities of all forms.
Thus, Modern Christianity (apart from some ecclectic offshoots eg Rosicrucians) is the only religion on Earth without a teaching of karma, previous lives, reincarnation, and recognition of all living entities as having souls as part of God's Creation. It is uniquely Roman: and a political invention, I suspect. We will possibly never know.
Religions, etc that preach reincarnation doctrine:
Hindus, Vaishnavas, Shaivites, Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists;
Judaism, Origen and early Christians;
In Islam - Ghulats, Druze, Sufi;
In early Greece as metempsychosis - Plato, Socrates, Pythagoras;
Native Americans, African Voodun, Australian Aborigines;
Gnostics, Essenes, Manicheans;
Celts, Druids, Norse mythology;
Theosophists, Scientology, Wicca.
No doubt there are more.
