Astro Update - Issue #6

Welcome to Llewellyn's January Astro Update. It's a new year and according to many, a new era - it's the Age of Aquarius! The lyrics to the song by the same name (from the musical Hair), written by Gerome Ragni and James Rado and set to music by Galt MacDermot, are haunting. They're a sort of mantra for peace and better times.

When the Moon is in the Seventh House, and Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace shall guide the planets, and love will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. . .

The song transports me to summer days, when life was a lot simpler. Back in the 60s, I knew zip about astrology, but I wondered, as do many people, if the lyrics had significance. To this day, I don't know the answer, but I believe musicians and artists can plug into the collective unconscious to bring forth messages we need to hear.

Ragni and Rado were part of the counterculture in the 60s. By 1965 a large antiwar movement had emerged in the US. Following a sharp rise in casualties in Vietnam, antiwar activists, authors, and others spoke out against the conflict. Some members of the rebellious antiestablishment group shared a common cause with political activists. Together, the antiestablishment group and the activists began to ask questions like: Why were we fighting, and, is our government morally and ethically right to engage in the fighting?

From an astrological perspective, we might ask: When did the Age of Aquarius start, and what does it mean? Some astrologers believe we entered the Aquarian Age in February 1962, when five planets and the Sun were clustered in Aquarius; others say it was more recent, in March 2000. For the meaning, we look to the mythology of Aquarius, represented by the Water Bearer, which can be interpreted as the water of life pouring from heaven onto humankind. That's pretty intense! The voices, in song, pouring over us--is astrological symbolism at its purist.

Today, the US is engaged in another war, this time with rebels in Iraq. Our government believes the war is justified because it will bring freedom and self-rule to the Iraqi people. We can ask the same questions we asked during the Vietnam conflict: Why were we fighting, and, is our government morally and ethically right to engage in the war?

But, we're not the same Americans we were forty years ago. Life, culture, politics - everything changes in four decades. After 9/11, fears about safety and security caused many Americans to agree that forfeiting personal freedom is acceptable if it keeps terrorists away. We're more politically correct, which is an effective way to control antiestablishment sentiments and ideas more familiar to a counterculture group. The drug culture, prevalent in the 60s, is still with us, but it's also the target of another war - the war on drugs, started by President Nixon, carried on by President Reagan, and continued now by our congress. The US incarcerates more people than any other free country in the world, and the laws keep tightening around us.

Aw-geez! This is getting depressing. Let's let the sunshine in!

I checked and found a day in 2005 when Jupiter aligns with Mars, and the Moon is in the Seventh House. On April 7 between about 5 and 7 p.m. Central Daylight Time, Mars in Aquarius will trine Jupiter in Libra, and the Moon will be in the Seventh House.

Mark your calendars. Think about world peace. Contact your government representatives. Watch the movie Hair. Drag out those old hippie beads, if you have some. If you're new to the Age of Aquarius, pick up some beads at Urban Outfitters, and let's see what we still have in us.