Cycles and seasons
Lately I have been pondering cycles, the constant ebb and flow of nature and of time. Astrology can be seen as the study of the cycles of life, of how celestial and human cycles correlate with each other. Humans have been preoccupied with cycles for thousands of years, with the first evidence of the observation of lunar cycles dating from 6500 years ago. Following the cycles of nature would have been crucial to early humanity, whether they were nomads needing to know when and where to move on, or early farmers needing to understand the best times to plant and harvest. Now we can live divorced from these cycles, barely noticing the position of the sun or the moon. But in loosing this connection, we lose a crucial part of ourselves.
Throughout history, astrologers have suggested many theories and concepts of cycles, from the planetary hours in a day through to the so-called Great Year. The Assyrians, who believed that time was a gift from the gods to allow them to understand the universe, based their Great Year on the solstice points, when the sun enters Capricorn in winter and Cancer in summer. They believed that civilisation came into being at a grand conjunction of the planets, when all seven came together at once. Every time this happened, the universe breaks down and is reborn, every 1296000 years. Like most of the ancient theories of astrological cycles, the Assyrians made the assumption that the universe is alive just as people are, that it is a living breathing entity and that we are all connected, cycles within cycles. Indeed, their smallest unit of time was approximately four seconds, the length of one human breath. The later terms macrocosm (the universe) and microcosm (a single person) reflect this way of thinking.
The Greek Great Year, known as the Platonic Great Year as it was developed by Plato, lasted for 36000 years. Like the Assyrians, the Greeks believed that when all seven planets came together in conjunction, the universe is destroyed and reborn. The universe was based on the two opposing principles of Strife and Love - one of these was always in the ascendant, whilst the other was falling. One of these principles would reach its peak as all the planets came together, and this point of imbalance would signal the breakdown of civilisation, making way for something new. It's interesting that the universe was destroyed at the peak of Love energy as well as at the peak of Strife energy - it's the imbalance that is key.
The Indians and Arabs also saw history as part of a long cycle of creation and destruction, and in Europe astrologers posited many different theories, often based on scriptural numerology. The variety is worth noting - some saw history as being based on cycles of seven, the number of traditional planets, or four, the number of seasons. Some based their ideas on the life of Christ or on the cycles of Jupiter and Saturn. More recently we have theories based on the precession of the equinoxes, that is, the point in the zodiac where the sun is at spring equinox. Again, there are many versions of this theory, each giving us a different date for the beginning of the Age of Aquarius into which we are apparently now moving.
What I have learned from all this is how subjective these cycles all seem to be, with each astrologer picking the symbolism that works for them. Symbolism is perhaps by its nature subjective, which is why astrology can never be considered a science in the modern sense of the term. We each respond to what is 'burnished on our soul', as one of my astrology teachers says. However we understand them, aligning ourselves with the cycles of nature, greater or smaller, is a way of aligning ourselves with the wider universe. Plato believed that the value of astrology is to harmonise our selves with universal rhythms, and to help the universe as a whole balance itself, delaying that point of imbalance when the universe is destroyed. Whether we choose to eat seasonal food, plan our creative projects around the cycles of the moon, or align our plans with our personal astrological transits, we can bring our lives and our selves into greater balance. And what we do as an individual affects what is around us, from the people close to us through to the universe as a whole. We are all connected.
Throughout history, astrologers have suggested many theories and concepts of cycles, from the planetary hours in a day through to the so-called Great Year. The Assyrians, who believed that time was a gift from the gods to allow them to understand the universe, based their Great Year on the solstice points, when the sun enters Capricorn in winter and Cancer in summer. They believed that civilisation came into being at a grand conjunction of the planets, when all seven came together at once. Every time this happened, the universe breaks down and is reborn, every 1296000 years. Like most of the ancient theories of astrological cycles, the Assyrians made the assumption that the universe is alive just as people are, that it is a living breathing entity and that we are all connected, cycles within cycles. Indeed, their smallest unit of time was approximately four seconds, the length of one human breath. The later terms macrocosm (the universe) and microcosm (a single person) reflect this way of thinking.
The Greek Great Year, known as the Platonic Great Year as it was developed by Plato, lasted for 36000 years. Like the Assyrians, the Greeks believed that when all seven planets came together in conjunction, the universe is destroyed and reborn. The universe was based on the two opposing principles of Strife and Love - one of these was always in the ascendant, whilst the other was falling. One of these principles would reach its peak as all the planets came together, and this point of imbalance would signal the breakdown of civilisation, making way for something new. It's interesting that the universe was destroyed at the peak of Love energy as well as at the peak of Strife energy - it's the imbalance that is key.
The Indians and Arabs also saw history as part of a long cycle of creation and destruction, and in Europe astrologers posited many different theories, often based on scriptural numerology. The variety is worth noting - some saw history as being based on cycles of seven, the number of traditional planets, or four, the number of seasons. Some based their ideas on the life of Christ or on the cycles of Jupiter and Saturn. More recently we have theories based on the precession of the equinoxes, that is, the point in the zodiac where the sun is at spring equinox. Again, there are many versions of this theory, each giving us a different date for the beginning of the Age of Aquarius into which we are apparently now moving.
What I have learned from all this is how subjective these cycles all seem to be, with each astrologer picking the symbolism that works for them. Symbolism is perhaps by its nature subjective, which is why astrology can never be considered a science in the modern sense of the term. We each respond to what is 'burnished on our soul', as one of my astrology teachers says. However we understand them, aligning ourselves with the cycles of nature, greater or smaller, is a way of aligning ourselves with the wider universe. Plato believed that the value of astrology is to harmonise our selves with universal rhythms, and to help the universe as a whole balance itself, delaying that point of imbalance when the universe is destroyed. Whether we choose to eat seasonal food, plan our creative projects around the cycles of the moon, or align our plans with our personal astrological transits, we can bring our lives and our selves into greater balance. And what we do as an individual affects what is around us, from the people close to us through to the universe as a whole. We are all connected.