Until recently, the Greek Hipparchus, was given the credit for discovering the procession of the equinoxes. This 25,920 cycle is the foundation for the Age of Pisces which by modern measurement puts each age as 2,160 years long. The procession causes the fixed stars to rise and set against the earth’s solar years so that at the first day of spring, which is the spring equinox, the constellation of Aries no longer rises but the constellation of Pisces does now. In contrast, the Egyptians started their year at the summer solstice when the constellation Orion rose with the sun to mark the beginning of the flooding of the Nile.

With more insightful study of ancient myths and Egyptian temples, texts and myths, it now appears that the Egyptians priests knew and measured the procession back to the old kingdom and there are hints that this knowledge went back to the Age of Gemini which ended somewhere near 6,140 BC.

In 1895, John Lockyer, the British Astronomer Royal, wrote The Dawn of Astronomy where he visited and measured most of the Egyptian temples to prove their alignment to fixed stars and their realignment every 400 years to compensate for the precession. He was highly disregarded in his time but recognized for his original thinking in the 70’s.

Schwaller de Lubicz showed that the Zodiac of Dendera in the Temple of Hathor (around 100 BC) was actually a time clock measurement that marked the procession of the equinoxes from the Age of Pisces back to the Age of Taurus which started in 4380 BC by his calculations. Schwaller estimated the Age of Pisces to begin near 60 BC and the Age of Aquarius to begin at 2100 AD.

Dr. Giorgio de Santillana, historian and author of Hamlet’s Mill, traced all the ancient myths and legends around the world to show they had a foundation in the description of the procession. Jane B. Sellers then extended Santillana’s concept in The Death of the Gods in Ancient Egypt by analyzing Egyptian myth to show the consistent reference to the procession of the stars in their religious beliefs in the Osiris- Horus myths. These myths were the center of their theology, they empowered the pharaohs, and determined their death beliefs and practices.

The Orion Mystery by Robert Bauval (an engineer) and Adrian Gilbert use the procession of the equinoxes to add proof that the Great Pyramid and the King’s Chamber were used to send the dead Pharaoh’s spirit to the Orion constellation. By use of modern astronomy software they calculate the Age of Aquarius to begin approximately 2,070 AD when a half precession cycle of 12,920 shows the Orion constellation at it’s highest declination of -1 degree 50 seconds and it’s maximum altitude at the Meridian at 58 degrees 11 seconds. It’s opposite point at 10,300 BC would have been the beginning of the Age of Leo when Zeta Orionis would have a lowest declination of -48 degrees 53 seconds and an altitude at the meridian of 11 degrees 8 seconds. (Footnote 1)

This last calculation hints that the Egyptians might have considered that the concept of Great Return could begin at the Age of Leo when the stars in Orion are at its lowest declination. Jane Sellers stated that “I am convinced that for ancient man, the numbers 72...2160, 25,920 all signified the concept of the Eternal Return.�?Footnote 2. It takes 72 years for the precession to move 1 degree, 2,160 years for one Age, and 25,920 for the entire cycle to repeat.

Robert Hand in the essay, The Age and Constellation of Pisces, uses the date of 221 AD as the date when the topical and sidereal zodiacs where in alignment which was deduced by Fagan and Bradley. From this point he calculates the first star in Pisces to cross the vernal point at 111 BC, which would place the Age of Aquarius to begin near 2,060 AD. Footnote 3.

So, from three very different calculations, we have the Age of Aquarius beginning from 2,060 to 2,100 AD.

Yet, why do I sense that we have already entered the Age of Aquarius? Since the invention of mass production, global use of electricity, the car, phone, television, NASA, invention of technology to shrink the globe with computers, and satellite transmission of voice and data like the Internet. These are all related to Aquarius. Since the advent of psychology with Freud, Jung and Adler, the Church as been displaced as a prime spiritual force for many. This century brought the decline of Church power over most governments. They can only advise and recommend now. This is a decline in the force of Pisces and the Great Religions. Since we are within 1 degree of a new age, are we sliding into the change gradually over a century or two? Is the presence of Uranus and soon Neptune in 1998 into Aquarius a preview to the future or a reaching out to pull the Age more into Now?

These questions are not answerable by absolute fact but by observation. So far, Aquarius hasn’t been the sign of brotherly love but of individual rebels with extreme ideas like the Oklahoma City bombing the first month that Uranus entered Aquarius, the militia, the Unabomber and Rabin’s assassin. Since January of this year, major scientific discoveries have been made. The Universe has quadrupled in size, Jupiter’s atmosphere was too cool, the oldest stars are 6 billions years too old by current theory. Scientific sacred cows are falling and should continue for the next 7 years.

Kepler believed that the great conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn in the sign of Pisces truly noted the full beginning of the Age. But that was before the discovery of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. What are our modern measurements now? Could Uranus and Neptune be adequate significators? Uranus will reenter Aquarius in 2080 just in time for the New Age. Aquarius’s ruler will be in its own sign at entry. Personally, I like this idea best.

Footnote 1. The Orion Mystery , by Robert Bauval and Adrian Gilbert, Mandarin Books, 1995.
Footnote 2. The Death of Gods in Ancient Egypt, Jane B. Sellers, Penquin Books, 1992.
Footnote 3. Essays on Astrology, Robert Hand, Whitford Press, 1982.