Golden Age, Aquarius Era and the Ringed Planet
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000
An initial version of the following article was
published at “Insight”, the journal of the Adyar
Theosophical Society in England
2004 edition. It also appeared at
the online
magazine “The Aquarian Theosophist”, in April 2005.
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
In
the last paragraph of one of her books, Helena P. Blavatsky made the famous
statement that the earth could be “a heaven” in the 21st century, if compared
to 19th century. [1]
For those who are accustomed to the usual content of newspapers and
television networks in this first part of 21st century, such an optimistic view
of the future may be rather startling - if not altogether unacceptable.
Yet life is far more surprising than present-day journalism - or
fiction. Writing in 1887, the founder of the modern esoteric movement gave the
dates and duration of recent astrological ages, indicating that the year 1900
was to be the end of Pisces Age and the starting point for the Aquarian Age.[2]
She saw that the expansion of higher mind brought about by the new age of
Aquarius would be dramatically painful at first. In the same paragraph,
referring to the equinox, she added:
“When it enters, in a few years, the sign of Aquarius, psychologists will have extra work to do, and the psychic
idiosyncrasies of humanity will enter into a great change.”
The transition of astrological ages is a complex process, though, and
its effects may take a few hundred years to become perfectly visible. The 21st
century is a strong numerological figure which equals 3 times 7 - and HPB made
a bright prophetical statement as to the karmic content of this period:
“(...) Error is powerful only on the surface, prevented as she is by
Occult Nature from going any deeper; for the same Occult Nature encircles the
whole globe, in every direction, leaving not even the darkest corner unvisited.
And, whether by phenomenon or miracle, by spirit-hook or bishop’s crook,
Occultism must win the day, before the present era reaches “Sani’s (Saturn’s)
triple septenary of the Western cycle in Europe ,
in other words - before the end of the twenty-first century ‘A.D.’.” [3]
Strong words, indeed, and the fact that HPB mentions Saturn in these
lines is not entirely casual. From an astrological point of view, Saturn is the
stern Master of the lower quaternary
or basic self in human beings. That
is not a problem, though. The upper triad
or spiritual soul has nothing to lose from the slow, powerful movements of that
planetary spirit whose physical vehicle was called by Camille Flammarion the
“marvel of the solar system”.[4]
When we think of this planet - which has seven rings and dozens of moons
- we must bear in mind that there’s a difference between its body and its
spirit. HPB wrote:
“Saturn, ‘the father of Gods’ must not be confused with its namesake -
the planet of the same name (...) . The two - though in one sense identical, as
are, for instance, physical man and his soul - must be separated in the
question of worship.” [5]
So the material planet Saturn is the vehicle
of the mythological Saturn. Although there is a clear difference between
material and spiritual aspects of this planet, the interaction between them is
very much like the relationship between physical man and his soul.
This planet is the Master of Karma, Time and Structures. It presides
over our karmic harvest, but it is also the regent of Kriyamana Karma, the new karma we choose to plant at each
moment. Saturn helps us make use of
present opportunities in order to attain a lasting happiness.
Master of concentration, Saturn has an important rule to play in the
ladder to heaven taught in the Mithraic Mysteries of ancient Rome
Mythologically, this planet-spirit also corresponds to the
Jewish-Christian god Jehovah.
Chronos/Saturn, the stern God in the Paradise ’s
Golden Age, tries to preserve spiritual life by preventing the personal ego from prematurely separating
itself, at the end of the first races. It “devours” its children (personal
egos) back into an undifferentiated unity, until the right time has come. When
separation/differentiation prevails, then there is the severe and solemn
warning from the Saturnian Lord, who sends Adam (third root-race) away from the
Garden and into the hard world of dualistic life (Genesis, 3).
Saturn has many names, and in “Isis Unveiled” we read:
“Ilda-Baoth, the ‘Son of Darkness’, and the creator of the material
world, was made to inhabit the planet Saturn, which identifies him still more
with the Jewish Jehovah, who was Saturn himself, according to the Ophites, and
is by them denied his Sinaitic name. From Ilda-Baoth emanate six spirits, who
respectively dwell with their father in the seven planets.” [7]
These seven planets are, as HPB explains in the same paragraph, Saturn,
Mars, Sun, Moon, Jupiter, Mercury and Venus, the same celestial bodies that
form the Mithraic ladder to heaven.
HPB acknowledged Saturn as the king of golden age [8]. In many different traditions there is a direct relationship
between the awakening of the higher mind and the emergence of golden ages. In Buddhism and other religions, gold (or
yellow) is a symbol of divine consciousness and spiritual soul. Any golden age
is an age of buddhi-manas or
spiritual intelligence, and there is a direct connection between this higher
mind and Saturn.
We find inspiring information in Arthur Cotterell’s “Encyclopedia of Myths & Legends”. My
own interpolated words are
underlined, in brackets:
“Saturn, like Kronos, was regarded as the ruler of a distant Golden Age,
when life was easy and peaceful. During this age, he taught people how to till
the fields and enjoy a civilized way of life. As early as the fifth century BCE
Saturn’s temple stood in front of the Forum at Rome
Present-day Christmas is also celebrated in December and under the sign
of Capricorn, whose regent is Saturn. It
is a time for celebrating universal brotherhood, too, and for exchanging gifts;
a time which goes on for little more than seven days, from December 25th
through January 1st. As to our week, Saturn-day is the seventh
day, the day originally dedicated to rest, prayer and harmony.
Mythological Saturn was exiled in Rome
“(...) In this land Saturn was received, when he was expelled by Jupiter
from the celestial realm; hence the name
of the Saturnian people, used for a long time by our folks, as also his land
was called Latium, because here the god hid himself.”
Indeed, according to ancient etymology the very word Latium
The exiled god established himself in the Capitol, the birthplace of
future Rome Italy , who
also had come from Greece Latium
Virgil writes of this golden age: “Sometimes there were rivers of milk,
and sometimes of nectar [the drink of gods], and the land produced everything
with no effort from the peasants. Everything belonged to everybody and there
was a deep peace”. And Virgil adds in
his “Georgics”, 2, 538-540:
“Thus was life on Earth when
golden Saturn ruled;
There was no sound of battle
trumpets yet,
Nor the tinkle of swords in
the hard anvil.” [10]
In the 21st
century, Saturn’s influence and lessons help us recover at least parts of the
golden consciousness which leads to a golden society. In our present cycle, it means the awakening
of the sixth, intuitive subprinciple, within the fifth, mental principle; or
simply the rebirth of a spiritual intelligence, a higher level of consciousness
from which the next civilizations must emanate.
It will be a
natural process in the new age, to rediscover the bright side of Saturn. It is
already the proper time to remember that this beautiful ringed planet was for
many centuries the astrological regent of Aquarius [11] - before Uranus was discovered in 1781.
Being the co-regent
of Aquarius age, Saturn shall have an ever inspiring role during this new
cycle, a time when the law of brotherhood taught by the Mahatmas
and Sages can be better understood and respected.
NOTES:
[1] “The Key to Theosophy”, Theosophy
Company, India
[2] H. P. Blavatsky wrote: “It is a cycle, historic and
not very long, but very occult, lasting about 2,155 solar years (….). It
occurred [in] 2410 and 255 B.C., or when
the equinox entered into the sign of the Ram,
and again into that of Pisces”. (“Collected Writings of H. P. Blavatsky”,
TPH, India San Diego ,
USA
[3] “Collected Writings of HPB”, TPH, India
[4] “Les Étoiles et les
Curiosités du Ciel”, Camille Flammarion, C. Marpon et E. Flammarion, Éditeurs,
1882, 792 pp., see p. 641.
[5] “Collected Writings of HPB”, TPH, India
[6] “Mitologia Grega”,
Junito de Souza Mourão, Editora Vozes, Rio de Janeiro, three volumes, see
volume II, pp. 60-61. See also Mithras, Mysteries and Initiation
Rediscovered, by D. Jason Cooper, Samuel Weizer, Inc., USA
[7] “Isis Unveiled”, H.P.B., Theosophy
Company, Los Angeles
[8] “Isis Unveiled”, volume II, pp. 216-217.
[9] Marshall Editions, London
[10] “Dicionário
Mítico-Etimológico da Mitologia e Religião Romana”, Junito Brandão, Ed. Vozes, Rio de Janeiro, 1993, see
p. 268-271
[11] “Enciclopédia de Astrologia”, by James R. Lewis,
Makron Gold Publisher, São Paulo ,
Brazil
00000000
The above text was revised by the author in October 2011.
0000000000000000000000000
Always visit www.Esoteric-Philosophy.com
, www.TheosophyOnline.com and
www.FilosofiaEsoterica.com
.
If you want to have access to a daily study of the
original teachings of Theosophy,
write to lutbr@terra.com.br and ask for information on the e-group E-THEOSOPHY.
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
