Susan Miller: Astrological Visions For A New Century...Part Two

What's Next In The New Millennium -- Specifically

Medicine: Regeneration Of Body Parts

Medicine will advance enormously. Eventually doctors will be able to grow body parts for people who are ill or who were born with birth defects. I can see you are distrustful of this possibility and I was too until I saw a report about this process recently on a top rated television news show. Scientists, using genetic engineering with pieces of DNA code, have been able to grow missing body parts (they showed a nose) in a petri dish. This technology is in its infancy, so stay tuned. Deaf people will be fitted with special computer chips in their heads so they can regain the ability to hear. This is being done now, but is highly expensive. Watch for this procedure to become more affordable (and more frequent). On the other hand, scientists tell us that if we don't use all the parts we have on our body now, those parts may be reduced or eliminated during the course of evolution, much like an ostrich's wings. Use it or lose it will take on new meaning! We had better start going to the gym too, because sitting at computers all day long is making us a global population of unfit people.

Soon it will be possible to treat diseases before they occur. Fine-tuned genetic testing will predict our predisposition to a particular disease and we can take steps to never get sick. On the down side, you may see insurance companies insisting a person be treated for a disease he or she doesn't have -- yet. This is already happening, in cases where people take an aspirin each day to prevent heart disease, for example. One can imagine taking pills for years on end in case of illness, even though no signs have developed. The ancient discipline of Homeopathic medicine will also keep developing and more of us will use certain herbs and alternative remedies for disease prevention, too. (Pluto in Scorpio paved the way for this in the 1980s.)

The social debates surrounding organ transplants will continue to heat up as we have greater access to genetic information. Who will get the new heart or liver, the 12-year-old girl with a learning disability or the 70-year-old nuclear physicist? How society will answer these challenging questions will be anyone's guess. Socially, plastic surgery will be so prevalent that if one chooses to "go natural", one could find his or herself the butt of harsh jokes. The movie Gattica which starred Ethan Hawke and Uma Thuman, demonstrated that this emphasis on perfection could grow into something absurd. Can you imagine the talk at the office water cooler? It might go something like this: "I have no idea why she never bothered to have her nose fixed/face lifted/thighs lyposuctioned (whatever) because she certainly has the money ... or is she really not doing that well?" Cruel!

Going au natural (no breast implants, no tummy tucks!) could be a reactionary outgrowth of the trend for seeking physical perfection through surgery, because Aquarius can take an extreme position on any side of an issue. On the other hand, Aquarius likes technology and feels it should be used, so people in the Age of Aquarius will want to tap into what's new and available. There are some developments that might be downright humorous, though, such as a microwave oven that refuses to cook a fattening lunch or a refrigerator with a time lock that won't allow its door to open until dinner time.

The Cost Of Good Health To Society

Economics will continue to play a big part in health care. As we have seen by the end of this century, state of the art health care costs a pretty penny to provide, and those costs are not liable to go down. Insurance companies could get even more powerful, causing lawmakers to have to change how these companies are regulated. In America, managed care has triggered a torrent of controversy. One insurance company recently announced a patient would have to call the company for permission before calling an ambulance to be rushed to the hospital. Approval of the team care clerk (a fancy word for a cost adjuster) is required before the patient would have the go-ahead to proceed to the emergency room. If a patient goes without permission the insurance company won't pay. Many people feel the term "managed care" is simply a euphemism for "managed costs" -- a benefit to only the insurance company, regardless of the patient's needs. Unfortunately that has been true in some cases in America. Not all change will be good, but hopefully, responsible leaders will turn those conditions around into something more reasonable and workable.

Time Changes

Aquarius also rules the concept of time, so how we treat time or think of time will change dramatically. With world travel so prevalent, we won't think of a "day" in the same terms. When we choose to work, play or shop will change. In fact, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, a "day" is whatever 24-hour time span you designate it to be for billing purposes. This hotel receives guests from all over the world all day long. As we all work at different times, some of us will want to get a manicure at 2 AM or hit the gym at 3:30 AM. New York may be the city that never sleeps, but others are on the way -- even in the suburbs.

Cities Will Prosper

The 1950s-era promise of a suburban paradise has not been fulfilled. Traffic and suburban sprawl have left whole communities disillusioned by their low quality of life. Cities will again become attractive places for families to live, allowing for more economical usage of resources like land, electricity, gas and other utilities. Aquarius rules cities, not rural or suburban locations.

Working parents will find city life more attractive, because it allows for shorter commutes and more hours with their little ones at home. Cities give greater access to cultural activities without the hassle too, and as senior citizens age, cities provide access to friendships, activities, home care and health care without the bother of driving.

Endangered Species

The list of species on the endangered list will continue to grow and this will become a more important global issue than it is today. As our rain forests become depleted, as certain species cease to exist, and as the hole in our ozone layer opens wider, it will become evident that humanity, as custodians of planet earth, must do something. Caring for planet earth will always be under the domain of Aquarius. Aquarius is the sign the ancient astrologers wisely believed was most sensitive and best qualified for improving life on the planet. So watch for great strides to be made in environmental protection during the Age of Aquarius.

Business

Going, Going, Gone -- The Middleman

Agents, distributors, and brokers -- middlemen -- are rapidly disappearing from many business models used today. Consumers can often go directly to the source of whatever they want to purchase, like goods, services and even information. The Internet is a very Aquarian concept as it exists today, because Aquarius believes that information should be free. Agents have traditionally granted access to the top echelon, but on the Internet there is no need for agents. Soon, the only agents that will exist are the robotic kind that go and seek out information for you can come back with the answer. On the Internet everyone has the most valuable resource -- access to everyone else. Those who can't or won't negotiate will need representatives of course, but the nature of the agent role will change. With the ease of email, an artist can just as easily get in touch with a long list of contacts himself or herself, at the touch of a keystroke.

The idea that talent is rare forms the basis of intellectual property rights. Scarce resources like paper, ink, or an editor's time should be allocated carefully toward the author who could yield the greatest profit or do the greatest good. Photographers who used to get big fees from few clients now have a new model -- tiny fees from a great many clients. Will they come out ahead? Some will, some won't, but bucking the trend will prove fruitless. Some artwork or music will be given away free and later earn the creator a profit in concert ticket sales or a big book contract -- another twist on the Aquarius idea of one for all and all for one.

Hedging Risk Will Allow Many To Follow Their Bliss

The editors at Business Week suggested in their article that the downside of business risk will be "hedged" with a kind of insurance that lowers how much you risk losing when you follow your biggest dreams. If we all were less fearful of taking a chance, the world would be so much richer for it. Imagine if people were able to write the books, compose the music or start the businesses that they always dreamed of! This kind of insurance would encourage people to think big. An individual, family, group or even a country will be able to hedge their bets by trading futures as one does on a commodity exchange.

Teams Rule! Down With Dictators!

The form of leadership driving big corporations will change, too. Gone are the days when an ego-driven leader will rule the roost -- teams will be in charge. Progress will be a group effort born of shared knowledge and pooled expertise. After all, Aquarius is not like Leo or Aries, signs that like to rule -- Aquarius is the egalitarian sign of groups and encourages a democratic voice for one and all. Instead of a dictator at the helm of the corporate ship the model will be more akin to that of a beehive with bees working side by side. Leaders of the future must be democratic decision-makers. Employee-owned companies are a very Aquarian concept as well.

The Trend Toward Working At Home

The boom of telecommuting and working at home is only a fraction as large as it will eventually become. Aquarius is a highly technical sign. The average person will have to possess a solid working knowledge of computers or risk being left unable to take advantage of the benefits that telecommuting offers. The gap between those who know and those who don't know how to get these things done will represent the new "haves" and "have-nots". This will widen the gap between rich and poor and give new meaning to the phrase "knowledge is power."

More Nations On Earth

Experts feel it is very possible that there will be more nations in the world as time goes by. Regions of existing countries will break away and become independent nations. This is because self rule is very important to the sign of Aquarius. In 1950 there were 58 nations in the UN but now there are 158. Can we see a world where New York City becomes a nation? Maybe not, but what about Quebec? Kosovo? Palestine? Northern Basque? St. Kits and St. Nevis? The Ogoni tribeland in Nigeria? Northern Italy? Will republican Australia secede from the commonwealth? The Internet and a global economy, which were supposed to bring people together, will allow people to express their individuality too. An interesting combination, but Aquarius rules both brotherhood and individuality.

Marriage And Sex

Marriage will change, for the institution of marriage began in agricultural cultures where plenty of hands were needed to till the fields and gather the harvest. The infant mortality rate was high then and life expectancy was short, so women needed to bear as many children as possible so that their offspring could help with the farm work. The wife of the farmer was dependent on her husband for sustenance and protection. In our industrial society, women are educated and capable of making a living on their own. A woman is not normally dependent on her husband for food and shelter and will choose to marry based on love. She is far less likely than ever before to stay in an unhappy marriage. Men, too, do not require a wife or offspring in order to keep their businesses and homes operational. The rising divorce rate can be seen in this positive light: men and women no longer have to stay in bad marriages if they choose not to.

The rising divorce rate is apt to continue until conditions change and make breaking free either unattractive financially or temporarily impossible. Any institution that bases its success on the weakness of one group of participants does not have a strong of a chance of success. Aquarius tends to be a bachelor sign for it prizes independence. If marriage survives and thrives as an institution, it will certainly have to change. If a couple does choose to marry, they may want to do so much later in life. Pre-nuptial agreements will become commonplace as women have more property to protect and courts will uphold those pre-nuptial agreements, something that has not always been the case.

Few people will marry without a lawyer at their side, a clean bill of health, and a credit check of their future spouse. This is especially true of the generations of children who've witnessed the breakup of their own parents' marriages. Is this a bad thing? Not at all. While it sounds unromantic, it will cut down on sadness later. Fewer people will marry for money, because they won't need to. More people will marry for true love. In an odd way, all these conditions will allow love more freedom than ever before, because people will choose their partners without the constraints that have held them back in the past. Free at last, true love can bloom.

In a recent television report on ABC News (www.abcnews.com), futurists suggested that sex, in the sense of making love, could be separated from the function of procreation in the future. Sex, they predicted, will be for recreation alone. Creating a healthy child is way too risky for simple lovemaking. Good grief! I'll take my baby-making the old-fashioned way, thank you.

This brings up the issues concerning DNA, "designer genes," and cloning issues. Society will have to determine once and for all how to define a human being, how to define death (sure to become even harder), and how to define birth. The debate over abortion will get even more intense as science sails us unto these totally uncharted waters. People will tend to have fewer children but will invest more in those children, by giving them a better education and more support. Society will benefit from the attention these parents lavish on their children.

Origins Of Life

We have come so far, but other questions persist. What is the origin of life? Certainly in the next few years (let alone another millennium) scientists will show us amazing discoveries about the origin of life on earth and elsewhere in our solar system. Recently a meteor landed in Texas, and when it was cracked open, traces of water were found inside. Scientists now believe that anywhere one finds water and heat one may find signs of life.

In 1966, Russian and British scientists found a huge fresh water lake buried under a two-mile deep ice sheet in Antarctica. The depth of the lake was measured at 1,650 feet. The pressure over it kept it fluid, even though the temperature of the water was few degrees below freezing. The water in it is thought to be over a million years old -- a perfect test tube sample full of microbes that can live without sunlight. Some of these species of microbes could be eons old. A lake like this could tell us much about the origins of life.

Related to this, the Age of Aquarius will inspire us to question what constitutes a human being? How do we define the soul? What is a living person? These become practical questions when you consider something like cloning science. Cloning may someday help parents who have been unable to conceive the child they always dreamed of. Will they be raising a little copy of themselves? No. Astrology shows that you are not simply a mass of DNA but also part of a social order that involves the time and place of your birth. Since everyone's birth chart is unique. Even if you can clone the body, the mind and spirit would be vastly different and individual. Astrologically we know that a individual's personality is influenced by the time and location of his or her birth, for that is how his or her chart is erected. Therefore, if a cloned person is born at a different time or place he or she will have a new chart -- making this person different and special.

In Conclusion

I have come to the end of my predictions but could have listed many more. I have chosen some of the best and most exciting ones to report to you. There are so many more inventions coming! Cars will drive themselves to pick you up after work. New forms of education will be developed and charter schools could replace public education. Political campaigning will change as politicians use the Internet for polling. The list goes on. I hope I have turned you on to the future and that you are not one bit fearful of what's to come. I gobble up any tidbit of information about our brave new world. The concepts being discussed are too delicious not to sink my teeth into. Hopefully, you feel the same way!

An eternal optimist, I believe deeply in the goodness of people everywhere. I feel that when the chips are down, good judgement reigns and the balance of power remains firmly tipped toward the side of the angels. We are the earth's consciousness, and it is up to us to steer the future in the proper direction. We will do that.

Finally, Religion

Religion will survive. I firmly believe we go through these various ages to expand our knowledge and experience, not to discard what we have gone through as we move on to the next thing. The Age of Pisces has been a powerful building block upon which to stand. Hopefully, if we stand high enough we can reach the sky and discover true wisdom, but that does require that we keep building upon what we have learned.

If we lose our spirituality we will have learned nothing from the Age of Pisces. Many scientists say to me that the closer you get to mathematicians and physics the closer you come to God and the underpinnings of our beautifully, magically constructed universe. Our world is ever fascinating, but complete understanding of it is always just out of our reach.

Can we carry on and improve on the spirit of the earth's collective consciousness? It is not, as I see it, a question of spirituality OR science but a question of blending the two. Science will bring up more questions than answers, and if we are to solve them, we will need to rely on the ethical, moral and religious judgements that we make individually. These are the conclusions we draw after a sleepless night, in the quiet pre-dawn hours when we lie awake and meet our true souls. If we are going to be able to live with ourselves, we must find those answers, even if it means pulling those solutions from the bottom of our hearts, and we must bravely state what we stand for out loud. There is a reason we came from the Age of Pisces, so let's hold on to the treasures and mysteries of faith it gave us.