Friday, September 20, 2013

Astrology and The Hunger Games Part Three: The Age Of Aquarius.



  As I read Mockingjay, my excitement that Katniss had escaped to District 13 diminished rather quickly as the realization dawned that District 13 was actually kind of terrible. Sure, it's a far cry from the hedonistic detachment of the dying Capitol, (Age of Pisces) But it's pretty unpleasant all the same. Their whole regimented all-are-equal-but-none-are free vibe has an unfortunate Orwellian feel to it. To some Astrologers, this dystopian future bears the hallmark of the darker possibilities of the Age of Aquarius. 

  Last week, we talked a little bit about the Astrological Ages. For the past 2,000 years or so, we've been experiencing the Age of Pisces, and now we're transitioning into the Age of Aquarius. Our current reality has elements of both. Reality television, extreme plastic surgery, prescription painkiller abuse and religious fundamentalism are all symptomatic of The Age of Pisces. Smart phones, online dating, The Occupy Movement, the  LGBTQ civil rights advancements, and the evolution of marriage are all indicators that The Age of Aquarius is dawning.

  What is The Age of Aquarius, and what will it bring? Aquarius is the sign of the Individual and also the Rebel. The early years of the Age of Aquarius will see many revolutions and people fighting for collective and individual freedoms. Aquarius also rules computers, so our dependence on them won't be going away anytime soon. Aquarius is opposite Leo, the sign that rules Ego, so as we evolve as a people we always need to make sure we're balancing our collective needs (Aquarius rules Communities, Political Parties and other Large Groups) against the needs of the Self. (Katniss runs afoul of this in District 13 when all she wants is to go hunting by herself to clear her head. She's granted permission, but is only allowed to hunt at scheduled hours, for prescribed lengths of time.)

  We can glean further insights about what The Age of Aquarius holds for our future by meditating on the qualities of the Astrological Sign Aquarius. Aquarius is a communicative Air Sign, so communication and information gathering will continue to be part of our day to day existence. Aquarius is a fixed, idealistic sign, so as a culture we'll hold on tightly to our collective values about equality and personal freedom. I mentioned before that Aquarius rules computers. This explains our culture's ongoing fascination with with speculative fiction about a dark, dangerous future where computers have acquired consciousness and are waging war on humans. (Personally, my spirituality does not allow for this possibility, but I do love Battlestar Galactica!) Aquarius is symbolized by the Water Bearer, and The Age of Aquarius will allow opposing beliefs to flow together like never before. This is evidenced by the Lutheran Church in my neighborhood offering Meditation classes that are welcome to all, not to mention all the Protestant Churches that now offer Yoga classes. It won't happen in our lifetime, but I do believe that eventually Religious Fundamentalism will crumble under the influence of the Age of Aquarius because it's an institution that limits personal freedom and no longer serves us.

  So how does all this relate to The Hunger Games? Well, The Age of Aquarius is Humanity's future, and at the Beginning of Mockingjay, District 13 represents the future of Panem.  I already mentioned some of the Aquarian qualities of District 13,  but there are more. Aquarius' Ruler Uranus, rules Nuclear Power, the industry of District 13. District 13 had an uneasy alliance with the Capitol for decades because of the Nuclear Warheads in their possession. Aquarians are the Revolutionaries of the Zodiac as we've mentioned before, so it's no surprise that they were never fully under the thumb of the Capitol and were the first to rebel. Aquarius is the least emotional sign, and a typical District 13 wedding involves two people signing papers, and then being reassigned to shared living quarters. President Coin of District 13 exhibits many lower vibration Aquarian qualities. She views her people as pawns, a means to a (bloody, violent) end, and their happiness is not her concern. During her time in District 13,Katniss rescues her former stylist from a prison cell. Her crime is taking an extra piece of bread. Katniss is horrified, but none of the District 13 natives think the punishment is too extreme. Which has the reader thinking, "I guess this life is better than a miserable hand-to-mouth existence where children are regularly forced to fight each other to the death, but it's not that much better, right?"


  Fortunately, for the people of Panem and the human race in general, we can all do better than that. The stress and the strife of District 13, represents the very beginning of a a shift into a beautiful New Age. We actually have a lot to look forward to! We've already talked about how Freedom will continue to be an important concept in the Aquarian Age, and while world politics are shifting faster than we can keep up with, I think another form of Freedom that this Age will bring is a liberation of the Highest Self. Self-Esteem is another Aquarian keyword and more people are acknowledging their self-worth and have less need for external validation than ever before, and these numbers will continue to increase. My belief is that the Age of Aquarius will continue to present us with opportunities to develop our collective and individual character. We'll all have opportunities to develop our Light Within, and we can choose to allow that Light to be our guide.

  The epilogue to Mockingjay shows us a much more peaceful, balanced way of life. Katniss and Peeta's relationship is a partnership. (The Age of Aquarius is already redefining/questioning marriage and will continue to do so.The energy of Aquarius demands equality.) Their decision to become parents was mutual. The citizens of Panem have returned to and rebuilt their Districts. Some people like Gale, ended up in a different district than the one of their origin. (Aquarius celebrates freedom of choice!)  Panem has evolved into a Global Village of sorts, with the people of the various Districts trading and sharing goods and services fairly. Small Communities that stay connected through the miracle of technology is a commonly predicted scenario for the Age of Aquarius. Katniss' voice tells us that she knows she will someday have to tell her children about her brutal experiences with The Games. Let that be a message to all of us who have the privilege of being alive for this exciting shift: To not discard the lessons of the past 2,000 years in The Age of Pisces, but instead to remember and honor our collective past as we move into this exciting New Age. 

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Astrology and The Hunger Games Part Two: The Age of Pisces.



  In Book One of The Hunger Games Trilogy, Katniss introduces us to her world. In many ways, this world does not resemble our world, it more closely resembles our collective past. (Gathering herbs, hunting for food.) But in other ways, it does resemble our reality. (Bad reality television, extreme and artificial looking beauty procedures, amazing achievements in modern medicine that are only available to a select few...) To me, the world that's presented to us in the beginning of the Hunger Games looks a lot like our Age Of Pisces.

  What Is An Astrological Age? Our Earth has to wobble a little bit on it's axis to maintain it's position in space. So when all of us on Spaceship Earth make our annual trip around the Sun, we're actually returning to a slightly different place every year. This is called "Equinox Procession". This is a backwards moving process and it happens very slowly. It takes around 2,000 years for Earth to travel through each sign. These are what Astrologers call "The World Ages". The whole process takes around 26,000 years and Astrologers call that "The Grand Year".

  What Is The Age Of  Pisces?  The Age of Pisces has been called the Age of Religion, and also the Age of Deception. A few Age of Pisces keywords are: Fantasy, Secret, Mystery, Decadence, Addiction, and Confusion, but also Kindness, and Gentleness. The Age of Pisces is most commonly associated with the birth of Christ and and Monotheistic religions sweeping the world. The chaos of  Rome falling (Age of Aries) and the rise of European Empires is generally attributed to the Age of Pisces. Gifts of the Age of Pisces include: modern medicine, the Renaissance, the Romantic Age, the concept of Universal Love, (and Universal Love's ugly twin, Fear of the other) and the discovery of the Planet Neptune. The Age of Pisces also brought us the separate sciences of Astronomy from Astrology which had previously been the same thing. (Not a good thing IMHO, but that's another post for another day.) When it officially began is as strongly debated as when it will end. Some Astrologers associate The Age of Pisces with the earliest beginnings of Buddhism (300 BC) others say it didn't truly start until 900 AD. Some Astrologers believe we are currently in the Age of Pisces and will be for a couple hundred more years or so. Others argue that the Age of Aquarius is clearly upon us. My opinion is that the New Age (Age of Aquarius) is here, but we're just on the cusp, which is why we are still muddling through a lot of Old Energy/Age of Pisces residue.

  So how does all this relate to The Hunger Games? The Capitol of Panem, seems to me to be really entrenched in that Old Energy, Piscean worldview. The Age of Pisces brought us many cultural and scientific riches, but they were never for everyone, always just a select few. The people of the Capitol having access to Medical Care the rest of Panem has never experienced has a very Age of Pisces feel to me. The Capitol's obsession with outlandish Fashion and facial and body modifications is a symptomatic of the Age of Pisces. Pisces is ruled by Neptune, and Neptune, the Planet of Illusion, rules Fashion. Excessive consumption is an Age of Pisces symptom as well. and Katniss and Peeta are horrified  to learn Capitol Citizens have a special drink that makes them throw up, so they can eat more rich food than their bodies would ordinarily be able to hold. Peeta is almost as disgusted by this practice as he is by the actual Games.

  Pisceans are notoriously loving and giving to a fault. Until they aren't. Lower Vibration Pisceans prefer to not feel anything at all. Which is how during the Age of Pisces, we have collectively learned to become desensitized to worldwide human and animal suffering. In The Hunger Games, this is illustrated by the people of the Capitol have no qualms about watching children fight to the death in the Games, and how they are able to in general not concern themselves with the abject misery of the Outer Districts, despite their total dependence on them. (I find it interesting that despite everything she's been through, Katniss doesn't really resent the people of the Capitol very much, even musing that she herself might be like that  if she'd grown up there.)

  Unfortunately for One Percenters here and in Panem, The Age of Pisces is crumbling all around us. In our world, the push for Universal Healthcare and Civil Rights for all people, (Right now the rights and freedoms of transgender and genderqueer  people are being talked about like it's the final battle of the civil rights movement. This relates to The Age of Aquarius in an beautiful way because Aquarius is ruled by the planet Uranus. In Ancient Greece, trans people were said to be ruled by Uranus, and were sometimes referred to as "Uranian" as a term of respect. Full circle y'all.) and a growing interest worldwide in alternative forms of healing are all hallmarks of the Aquarian Age. This shift is being felt in The Hunger Games as well. In Book One, the team of stylists that prep Katniss gossip among themselves and seem pretty detached from the fact that they're delivering a young woman to her death. In Catching Fire, the same stylists are overcome with emotion, the brutality of the Games now affects them personally. In Mockingjay, we learn of other "friends of the Rebellion" hidden throughout the Capitol. Party's over President Snow!

  Interestingly, District 8 is the first to rebel. I've written before about how District 8 corresponds to Virgo and the Sixth House of Work. Virgo is the polar opposite of Pisces and the challenge of the Age of Pisces is to balance it's watery excesses with the stability and predictability of hardworking Virgo, the sign of the Servant. Clearly, Panem was never able to achieve this balance, and this set the stage for the Rebellion. Back in our world, revolutions great and small are taking place here and abroad. In 2011, Time Magazine named 'The Protester' the person of the year, and now we know that was just the beginning. Panem required a bloody revolution to transition out of the Age of Pisces, and it seems like the same may be asked of us. Will the Age of Aquarius usher in a peaceful New Age, or is our world's paradigm shifting in a darker, more dystopian direction, bringing us ever closer to a world that  resembles....District 13?

   ...To be continued.