Aquarian Moon
Monday, August 19th, 2024 10:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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70F and partly cloudy this morning.
That title company had said I would get a final check for 5K in the mail, and it hasn't come yet, so I called them and the lady said they were still waiting for proof that the foreclosure had been stopped or something, and to contact my lawyer.
So I texted Jim, the lawyer Mr. Taylor had hired for me.
Hopefully this isn't some big unresolved snag, and isn't related to the BMO calls.
I guess we'll see.
Also got the final water bill from the city in my mailbox today, which says Torres has finally switched over all the utilities.
Democratic convention starts today, so that, and the start of classes, will be the big things going on this week.
I'm tired of summer.
I found myself outside this morning longing for October.
It was a full moon last night and tonight, and on TikTok everybod was making a big deal about how it was a super blue mon, and that it was in Aquarius... saying that it heralds radical change.
I've already been through enough radical change, thank you!.. but this did clear up a question from my visit to the Blanford Clock.
There was a central dial with a sun in the center of it.
Out toward the edge, the names of the zodiac constellations were arranged in a circle.
And in another circle beyond that, were the names of the months.
There were two hands coming out of the central sun, fixed in opposition to one another.
On one hand was a little Earth, with a pointer that pointed to the month circle, showing we were in August... just at the 17th... but also in Aquarius.
On the other hand was a little sun, floating in Leo... and also February.
The guy winding the clock said the little sun was actually the moon.
But that didn't make sense to me, because the sun is in leo right now... and to track the moon, you'd need another hand altogether, because it moves around the zodiac 12 or 13 times in the time it takes Earth to go around once!
But now it makes sense that that little sun was the sun in Leo.
And the fact that the Earth was in Aquarius... really tells you that the full moon will be in Aquarius... because the full moon is always directly opposite the sun!
As for the predictions of radical change... well back when I was a teenager, and just getting into astrology, but also in a band... we had a band practice in August of 1987, on the night of the full moon... and the tape of that practice, I labeled, "Aquarian Moon."
Because for whatever reason, it's just part of astrological lore that the Aquarian full moon is a big deal... kind of the, "age of Aquarius," thing.
But astrological ages are a weird concept.
The twelve astrological, "signs", are pinned to the solstices and equinoxes... meaning that Aries is supposed to begin on the March Equinox, Cancer on the July solstice, Libra on the September equinox, and Capricorn on the December solstice.
With the other signs falling into place between those four cardial signs... such that all twelve occuply about equal time in the year.
So, Aries, Taurus, and Gemini, for example, are spring signs (in the northern hemisphere).
And the personalities that people born under these signs are said to have... basically boil down to; You are like early spring! You are like mid spring! You are like late spring!
But the constellation names associated with these signs no longer line up with the constelation the sun is actually IN, on the equinoxes and solstices... due to the astroNOMICAL phenomenon known as the precession of the equinoxes.
Basically, the Earth's axis precesses over the course of 26 thousand years, meaning that over time, the sun's apparent position in the zodiac, on any given day, like the equinox, will gradually move backward.
So the sun is no longer in Aries on the March equinox... it's still in Pisces... on it's way to Aquarius.
But that doesn't change the fact that the sign called Aries... still starts on March 21st... which was the equinox until recently... though even that has changed to the 20th... but that's another thing altogether.
But at any rate, we're in the, "Piscean Age," because the sun is still in the astronomical constellation of Pisces when astrological Aries begins, on (or near) the March equinox.
And that's sort of like saying that 6AM starts exactly at 5:37AM... because we're in the AGE of 5:00!
I do think there's something to the idea that what part of which season you were born into can affect your outlook on life.
Like My personal concept of a year is from early July to early July.
So focusing only on daylight... because seasons can vary a lot depending on your geography, but daylight between equinoxes and solstices is a constant...
You could argue I see life as a very bright thing... that can get very cold and dark... but will always come back around to being bright again.
Whereas somebody born in late December might see life as a very cold, dark thing, that has some fun, bright moments, but just goes back to being dark and cold in the end.
But even keeping it that simple... I mean... some people love the dark and hate the sun (like me), and love the cold, and hate the heat!
So that December person might just as easily see live as a cool dark thing that's great fucking fun until it gets ruined by horrible heat waves and a blistering sun... until it finally gets dark and cool and fun again.
There's really no accounting for taste!
Even though Astrology's supposed to do... just that.
In reality, I think it's the sociological effect of astrology, as a tradition, that has the strongest effect on anybody.
Like, if you identify as an Aries, then maybe you'll just start acting like one.
And if society tells you you're a Libra, you'll start acting like one.
A little like when your last name is shoemaker, and you wind up being a shoe maker.
But there's no astrologer in the world who could observe a person, and then work backward to deduce their sign, with any kind of reliability or repeatability.
Rather!.. if I were to meet somebody new who was into astrology, and tell them I am a Virgo... they would, over the weeks and months... come to find that I am a textbook example of a Virgo in every way!
Whatever I did or said, they'd be like, Man! that is so Virgo of you, Mister Virgo! What a Virgo!
And if I did anything super non-virgo... they'd just think, Well his moon must be in Cancer or something.
Astrology is such a crazily complicated system, once you plug in the moon and the planets, and start measuring all the aspects they make to one another, and the retrograde motions.
And then you overlay houses?
Houses are defined in your birth chart by what was on the horizon when you were born?
Like it just gets so insanely complicated that you can literally pull anything out of it!
There are so many moving parts that you can just predict whatever you want, and if you're wrong... well it's because of the other moving parts you forgot about.
The whole reason why everybody looks to the age of Aquarius as time of progressive change, is because the current age of Pisces is seen as the age of Christian conservatism.
Partly because of the whole fish symbology with Jesus.
But more just because... Christianity's had a stranglehold on western culture and global affairs for a little over 2000 years now... which is how long an astrological age would be!
I mean, the precession of the equinoxes takes 26 thousand years, and 26,000 divided by 12 is 2,166.
Monotheism, the larger spiritual movement to which Christianity belongs, is closer to 3,400 years old, so... it's fairly overdue for a hard examination.
I mean... we now have three major monotheistic religions... all agreeing there is only one god... but each pointing fingers at the other two, saying, But their's isn't it!
And the largest faction of the Christian branch, Catholicism, basically reverted to polytheism a long time ago anyway, saying that it's really three gods.
At the time... 3,400 years ago... monotheism felt like a revolutionary leap forward!
Like, Wait a second guys!... maybe... hear me out... there is only one god!
Brilliant! Why hadn't anybody thought of it sooner!
But he chose US and not you!
What!??
These days, the biggest enemy of monotheism in general is science!
And that too is ironic, because science was a by product of magic!
Or to put it another way... magic was just our first attempts at science.
Astrology did become astronomy.
Alchemy did become chemistry.
But for the polytheistic peoples of old, the way you figured out how to do anything was just to tinker with shit in the natural world and make observations, and try to work up rituals that brought reliable results.
This resulted in a lot of very effective medicine, and technology in the ancient world.
Like, don't forget that the Romans were engineering massive road & aquaduct sytsems throughout the empire... while being polytheistic.
Likewise the Greeks acheived technological wonders like the antikythera mechinism... while being polytheistic.
Same in China and India.
The whole ancient world was doing just fine, thinking magically... and getting hardcore, applied-science results.
Monotheism showed up very late into that game, as a conservative reaction to all of that, in which any kind of experimental tinkering was seen as witchcraft!
Magic/science was evil!.. it was of the Devil!
Creativity... innovation... progress... all devious callings of the great Satan!
Just read the Old Testament, from which Judaism, Chritianity, and Islam all sprung... and in the first couple books it's ridiculously clear how much this movement hates women, promotes slavery, promotes violence, and hates anybody who isn't heading up a ranch of livestock?
Like Cain, the evil son of Adam and Eve, who kills his brother, Able... is clearly a vegetarian!
And Soddom & Gomorrah are just... urban centers.
Like... everybody in urban centers are just perverted abominations!
But if you're a rancher with livestock... you're golden!
What could be more conservative than that!
So it's no surprise that they've always seen science and progress a grave threat.
And in the modern day, science and progress are pushing them back into the margins.
That began with the enlightenment, in the 1600s, and has continued to the present day.
And some argue that was the beginning of the age of Aquarius.
But others put it more in the late 1960s, when the hippy song about the age of Aquarius was on the radio... in a period of radical cultural upheaval.
It kind of doesn't matter, because when an age is two thousand years, but has a fuzzy transitional period of 5 or 6 hundred years on either side... everybody's kinda right?
Modern science could be thought of as... zerotheism, or nontheism... just the next logical step from only one god to... none!
How 'bout none?
But while this cuts monotheism to the quick... it doesn't disturb modern spiritualists much at all.
And by, "modern spiritualist," I'm generalizing everybody from buddhists, to modern pagans, and anybody you might call a, "new ager."
And that's because none of these people worship gods!
They don't see the concept of a god with either a small or capitol G, as being particularly valid or useful.
Nobody's gone back to worshiping Zeus, for example... or Osiris... and believing they are real beings out there in the sky with magic powers!
On the other hand, they might have some kind of Osiris card, Saturn pendant, or Saint Mary candle... and hold them to represent different aspects of the cosmos to relate with in different ritual ways.
But none of it directly conflicts with, or is threatened by science.
I mean... a person can understand the periodic table, and accept that the sun is the center of the solar system... and that the Earth is a sphere... and that vaccines work... and get how machines and computers work... and still have some new-agey ritual they do at home to connect with the cosmos seeking insight, or luck, or protection for a distant love d one.
And they're not lobbying congress to codify their wierd rituals into law!
The term, "New Age," does refer to the age of Aquarius, and this vision of a future world that's been freed from the bondage of monotheism.
It's not surprising that monotheists deride it!
And they would unite against it more forcefully, if they weren't already at war with themselves, globally.
I just sat through the rant of a conservative co-worker the other day, who told me essentially, I hate academic professors, and cultural progressives, but the ones I fear most are the Muslims!
On the verge of choking up, with almost a tear in his eye, he told me that Muslims should be banned from holding public office!
So it is true, that monotheism is more at war with itself than with anything else right now.
Because they are fighting amongst each other for control of the planet!
The end goal being... to have the entire world all worshiping the same, God!
But over the past 3000 years, we've really moved away from both the concept of gods, and of, worship being a thing that's worth anybody's time, ever!
Who ever gained anything from worshiping anything or anybody?
Somebody in a fandom?
That's what they are!.. just super-fans of poorly written books inspired by backward goat ranchers, once upon a time.
But they stormed the world and had a huge hand in shaping it over the past three thousand years, so each camp is still fighting to finish off the other two and claim the entire planet.
But... it's over.
Maybe it does take another century or two, but...
That age, no matter what you call it, IS ending.
The concept of a single all powerful God seemed revolutionary, compared to polytheism.
But in the end it's too inflexible!
Humanity is creative and wants to progress.
It's not going to be held back by a goat rancher fandom forever.
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