Each Age covering a period of about two thousand years has its own zodiacal sign, its own planetary force. For nearly two thousand years the earth has been under the watery sign Pisces ruled by Neptune, the main features of which have been the establishing of Christianity and the conquest of the ocean. Now the new cycle has begun, Aquarius, an airy sign, is influencing men’s minds along scientific lines in every direction, especially towards the conquest of the air.
Gradually the emotional Neptunian era which has passed through varying phases of religious ecstasy, superstition, confusion and doubt is merging into the Era of Uranus, Lord of the Air, who inaugurated his rule by striking the note of atheism and the worship of scientific facts, and will culminate it by leading men towards the direct knowledge of God.
Uranus, then, as the ruler of Aquarius, will guide and inspire the future leaders of the race. Original thinkers, inventors, scientists, artists, writers and all those who function as individuals rather than collectively, will, in ever-increasing numbers, come under his sway as the age unfolds.
The greatest Uranian characteristic, perhaps, is the desire for freedom of thought, together with the search for new methods of living and a refusal to accept or be dominated by the outworn or traditional, no matter how beautiful it may have been.
The meaning underlying Aquarius, the sign which has baffled astrologers throughout the ages, is even now very difficult to delineate, so varied are the types of men born under its influence, so petty in some cases, so great in others. The esoteric key to its significance however, and one which has hitherto been kept secret, is to be found in the interpretation of its symbol.
If this symbol is considered as the usual two horizontal undulating lines, it indicates man fettered to the earth by the customs of the times through those invisible thought-currents which encircle the earth and influence humanity in general. But regarded vertically, it represents that point at which the circle of desire, as expressed through the animal nature of the other zodiacal signs, is left for the spiral, and Aquarius, the man, begins his ascent towards God.
Carrying this latter symbol even further, the first downward current is the Ego [the lower self] endeavouring to comprehend and control the personality by analysing his own feelings in order to free himself from fear and superstition and arrive at truth; and the ascending current represents he who has finished with desire, and has no more to learn on this planet.
In the combination of Uranus and Aquarius we have possibilities of spiritual development so vast and comprehensive as to precipitate a great change in the future of the whole race.
David Anrias, 1932
