Are we in the New Age, and what does that mean?

Chinaman:….I ought to begin by thinking about what is ‘an Age’, for there are many kinds of distinctions of time. Thinking back over the millennia there are great epochs of ages. But obviously we do not mean that. There ages such Stone Age, or Bronze Age or Iron Age – but again we obviously do not mean that. You speak of the New Age, and that has a religious connotation. In this case we are not thinking of the Christian or Muslim religion but Neo-Pagan. Although that may be the nearest to some people’s thinking – we do not mean that. When speaking about the New Age we need to be far more precise and say it is the Aquarian Age that is being referred to.

However, that demands more questions before we can answer the original question, such as, ‘What is Aquarian’. There is a tendency in human nature to always find what you are looking for. It is the hallmark of the hypochondriac that if there are some juicy symptoms then, low and behold, he or she finds those symptoms with in them. Others look on with either pity and compassion or humour, for they can see with a different perspective that the hypochondriac is not really ill at all. So when looking for the Aquarian Age or the Piscean Age or the Arian Age of course you can always find some characteristics of any age at any time. Therefore, we have to be far more careful and discerning and ask what it is that we understand about any of these ages. When you think of society in these lands 2000 years ago, then there is no comparison at all. It would have been totally alien and so primitive. What would you do without your television or computers or electricity or communications or transport? 1000 years ago and yet we see a different society. 500 years ago and there was another completely different society. Yet over the space of the last 2000 years or so there has been one of these great ages. So how do you recognise any of these astrological ages?

Another thing to consider is that you are only really thinking of the western area of the world. There is astrology in the east but the Chinese system of astrology there bears very little resemblance to the western concepts. Yes – there are 12 signs, and it is about times of years and of moons, but that’s about as far as the comparison goes. And although people have tried to reconcile the two systems, it is impossible. You can describe a single person in the two completely different frameworks and you can recognise that person, but it is two different viewpoints. You can recognise the person. One is not right and the other wrong. They are just different.

Time still exists no matter where you are in the world, but it would have been a completely foreign concept for somebody in the east to talk of western astrological ages. Similarly for the Mayans, they have a different calendar all together. So when you speak of these astrological ages you are seeing it from the viewpoint of a Westerner, and the characteristic of a particular age is more obviously placed in the west.

Let me give you some examples. The Age of Aries is about aggression, masculinity, drive and war. It is about empires, about ‘might being right’, about power and conquest. And in the 2000 years or so before the birth of Jesus Christ, in the Age of Aries, you saw great empires come and go. Those empires during the 2000 years might bear little in common on the surface, having different religions and politics and practices, but you still had the empires of Syria, Babylon, Greece and, of course, Rome. There were other empires in different parts of the world – of course. There have been empires since and before that Age, but that was the hallmark, the outstanding characteristic throughout the whole of those 2000 years or so – in this part of the world more so than in any other, remember.

And that gave way to the Age of Pisces – the age of spirituality. It wasn’t as if there were no religious people or spiritual people before the Age of Pisces, far from it, but just as there were strong different empires in the Age of Aries, so in the Age of Pisces there were very recognisable and strong religions. Before the Age of Pisces there was much more uniformity of religious practice, for spirituality was life. It was a false distinction to put religion as being an aspect of life – it was life. It was how you lived. It was about nurturing, fecundity, and about the female principle. But in the Age of Pisces you had the rise of several great religions. Of course there was the Jewish religion before this, but it was much localised. Now it is worldwide – as is the Christian, as is Islam, as is Buddhism. There are empires within each religion, but it is the age – or has been the age – of patriarchal empire building religion, no matter what technology was present during that time.

And now we come to this Age of Aquarius. Are we in the transition times or are we in the New Age? I say “no” to both. It is a false idea to think of a transition time, for rather one overlaps into the other. So you have elements of the Piscean Age struggling still to be seen and heard as you also have elements of the Aquarian Age also vying for pre-eminence. In that way, as I said before nearly two decades ago, there would be a rise of Islam. You see it more prominent in your society than ever before, but it belongs to the Age of Pisces. For religion in the Aquarian Age is not a corporate identity – it is not the matriarchal of the Ages before or the patriarchal of the Piscean – but is concerning individual truth and experience. Organised religion, although it will still be around, will be of a much lesser significance, and even spirituality will dim against the emphasis of the power of the mind of the Aquarian Age.

The characteristics of the Age are not comfortable. There is very little hiding in the Aquarian Age. As power of individuality and mind come to the fore, psychic abilities will be more prominent than religion. A truth will be more easily seen so there will be no hiding behind an office or position or dogma. Individuals will stand on their own two feet – or fall. Maturity will be open for all to see. Charisma will be felt, statements tested and the charlatan will be held up for all to see.

But there is also something of karma in the Age of Aquarius, a vast karma for individuals and for the whole Age. Individuality gives rise to genius but also to perversity.  And it is the time for war – not empire building – but war. In fact just as religion is emphasised now, so war heralds the New Age. You can see how, over the last century, there have been for the first time World Wars – and I have to say, expect yet another in the not too distant future.

When the last age came there was a looking for people to personify it, and specific signs of that New Age, the Age of Pisces. John has written an article about that idea for the Christmas edition of your website, so I will not say much about that.  But what he does not say is about the New Age of Aquarius. Once more there are signs and personification which shows you are in this overlap time with one great Age vying against the other. Such signs are of political allegiances. As I said, there is the rise of Islam and the Arab confederacy. There is a looking to the East and the Dragon unfolds. To the North, even a few years ago with what was seen as a spent force, so the Russian Bear begins to growl again. And then there are the western alliances. Such is all coming about.

There is also a looking for someone who will be able to steer the nations through what will be a time of great turmoil and change. People are desperate for some kind of leadership and salvation. When resources dry up, a political figure – who is also a military genius – will be seen as a saviour of the western world.

Do not mistake this as being the end of the world. That is not correct. But certainly it is a time which will epitomise the perversity and struggle of the birth of the Age of Aquarius. No one will be able to escape the consequences. No one will be able to hide or not be involved.

So are you – are we – in this New Age. No. Are we in this overlap (not transition) – yes. Indeed the signs are very, very clear. What are the consequences? Everyone will have to face their own fears and stand up to be counted.

Do you have a specific question?

J:…..Is Obama this new leader?

Chinaman:…… No. No. And the focus of activity is not in America. Once more it will be in the Middle East around the land of Israel. You even have the land on your maps called Armageddon, I do believe. Consider that one!

S:….. When will it happen?

Chinaman:……. I do not know. I do not think anyone can say specifically when it will be, but look at the signs and you can see that it will be soon. There are many people who will say, “It will be this time”, “It will be that time”.  How many times have already gone past to show the error of their ways? I do not know S….. – but it will be soon.

S:…… I just felt that this last Remembrance Sunday there was much more of a healing atmosphere and the world wanted peace.

Chinaman:…. There is also a rise of nationalism. There is also a rise of concern of immigration, of people coming in and taking your resources. And that is not true for just your country, but for other countries also. Is not the great America closing its borders, trying to stop the flood of immigrants that it has welcomed over the many years? Are not resources drying up and people saying ‘enough is enough – we do not want to share’. So those who have the strength will resist the flow. ‘Charity begins at home’ is one of your sayings.

And how quickly fortunes change. How vulnerable is your society? It is on the brink of collapse one day and apparently everything is fine on another. That suddenness of crisis will continue, and not just with your money or your petrol, but in other ways as well. That is one of the New Age’s characteristics. Resources are being strained in terms of manpower and military might. Is not the focus moving for your finance to the East? And as you lose that power, that centre, so feelings of security diminish and insecurity grows. It all leads to many shifts in the preparation for cataclysm.

What a cheery note this is.

H:…… I was wondering about the role of our spiritual leaders in this time.

Chinaman:…. They have great paucity at this time. Your religious leaders look to golden ages of the past when they had power and prestige and what they said ‘went’. Now they are becoming vilified, seen as weak, not saying what people want to hear. They have little to say of real spirituality. They speak of social or national or religious things, but not spiritual. So they lose more and more of their authority. They will side with ‘the powers that be’ to try and maintain a status quo. I think you will find that the diversity of religion will give ground to some kind of supporting one another, a merging almost but losing sight of spiritual truth as they do so. They will be asked to condone things – and to the greater extent they will, but to condone nationalism for the good of the majority means that others will suffer. Most, I believe, have lost their way.

I do not make many friends tonight, do I?

R:….. Is that the whole of the New Age, just of war and struggle? Will nothing good come out of the struggle?

Chinaman:…. I think eventually, yes it will. But I am sorry to say that most of Life on this planet will be obliterated. It has happened more than once in the past. There are these legends that you have of Atlantis, of Lemura and Mu. And so there will be great destruction in this instance. But out of the ashes, out of the dreadful carnage, there will be a great desire to do better, to husband what resources remain and to build a beautiful planet once more. Yes, R….., I do believe in survival.

J:….. What can any one individual do? Can one person make any difference in what is to come?

Chinaman:….. That is what every individual needs to consider. It will be different for each individual. For some it will be selfless in their giving, in their teaching or their work to help other individuals to prepare. It will be able to establish seed banks or make safe places for after the conflagration.

This will be on a very personal level. You can prepare a safe place, if possible, for your children or children’s children; to strive for independence, not be so vulnerable and to spread that particular message as far as you can. Individuals can do a lot to prepare to stand on their own two feet and to seek inner resources against adversity.  But for most, that influence is small compared with the tremendous wave of society’s inertia towards self destruction.

I think I should stop at that point. Remember R….’s question. Hang on to that one for it does look onwards. It does have optimism beyond the obvious pain of the next few years.

I think I have said more than enough for tonight.