Jupiterian truths and the Age of Pisces

Note the astrological cardinal cross that creates the halo around the head in this image. 

As we transition into the Aquarian Age, we are leaving the traits of Pisces behind.  We usually think of Pisces as being Neptune-ruled since Neptune is the modern ruler of Pisces and explains the dreamy and imaginative nature of Pisces.  Neptune is  associated with magic and spirituality, but also with delusion and the negation of the Self – all characteristics of the 2000 year domination of the world by Christianity.

I am reading Reza Aslan’s book Zealot, the Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.  I have been waiting for this book for years – it is a beautifully written  history of the times in which the historical Jesus was born and spent his years as one of many Jews fighting the oppression of the Roman overlords.

One interesting point made in this book, which I have never heard before, is the distinction between “facts” and “truths.”  Aslan says:

How we define history, in the modern world, as a collection of observable and verifiable facts, is wholly a product of the modern age. That definition of history is a couple of hundred years old. It would make no sense at all to the gospel writers or frankly to the ancient mind, for whom history was not about uncovering facts but about revealing truths. This is, admittedly, a very difficult concept for modern people, not just Christians, but just modern people to understand that what they call history didn’t exist 300 years ago and so when I question some of the “historical claims of the gospel,” I think that people think that what I’m saying is that this is a lie. That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is the gospel writers understood that what they were writing was not factually correct. They wouldn’t even know what we talk about when we say factually incorrect. They were interested in writing mythologies about Jesus, the purpose of which was to reveal the truth of who he was, not the facts of what he did. Again, I recognize how hard it is for the modern mind to wrap its head around this complex idea but it is the foundation for understanding how to read the Scriptures.

read more in this interview. 

I do find it hard to wrap my head around this idea, but it is interesting to me as an astrologer.  The traditional ruler of Pisces is Jupiter – the planet of philosophy and religion.  Where Neptune seeks a direct experience of the divine – a mystical, transcendant experience of magic that transports us outside of the day-to-day world – Jupiter formulates truths and creates a belief system that can give our life meaning.   Religions are groups of people who share a belief system and gather together to support each other in their expression of that belief system.  Christianity and Islam are religions, but so are many twelve-step programs.  They have a doctrine which becomes a belief system that is shared and expressed as a group in the same way as other religions.

We can see how Jupiter and Neptune come together in this facts vs truth argument:  the truthiness of our belief systems (Jupiter) become the vehicle for the connection with the Divine (Neptune) in a way that perhaps is more meaningful to the adherents of that religion.  The facts are mythologized to better fit with our truth (with a small “t”) so that we can create a more compelling argument for our religion.

This process isn’t limited to religious expression – we do this every day when we tell a story and embellish it to better fit our point.  What’s different now is that as we leave the Age of Pisces behind there is little room for our self-delusions and truths without facts.  The Aquarian Age is the Age of Reason (read more about that here in this earlier article) and for better or for worse, the accuracy of facts will find supremacy over the cloud of belief.

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