Who will care for the poor in the Aquarian Age?

No one can really tell when the Age of Aquarius begins.  This is a 2160 year cycle, and it doesn’t begin or end on a particular date.  But I believe that we are in the transition period between the Age of Pisces and the Age of Aquarius.

The spread of Christianity dominated the Age of Pisces, and while there have been some horrific consequences as a result (think the brutality of the Crusades, the annihilation of Native Americans and other indigenous groups, etc.) it has primarily been Christian and other religious groups that have cared for the poor.

One of the rulers of Pisces is Jupiter, and Jupiter rules religion, the construct of meaning that we create for ourselves and share with others.  During the Age of Pisces the ideology of shared ideas has prevailed, and for a person to be without religion was unthinkable.

As we move into the age of Aquarius, ruled by Saturn traditionally and Uranus as modern ruler, there is more of a focus on individual rights and liberties and perhaps less compassion that is one of the higher manifestations of the Piscean archetype.  While Aquarius is all about fairness and justice for everyone, there is less of a sense of empathy and more of a fervor for liberty which we can certainly observe in today’s political landscape.  Aquarius loves mankind in general but finds it more difficult to be emotionally connected, hence the image I chose for this article.

Two years ago I wrote an article entitled “Will religion survive the Aquarian Age?”

There is no doubt that the presence of religion in our lives is changing, especially in the United States which, with Jupiter-ruled Sagittarius rising and Jupiter conjunct the Sun in the national chart is exceptionally tied to religious dogma.  A recent Pew study found that 28% of all adults surveyed had left the religion of their childhood, a rather astonishing number. [The number of people expressing no religious preference has grown by a steady  6% per year since the 1990s when Pluto entered Sagittarius, the sign of religion, according to this study.]

As we continue to move into the Aquarian Age, the force of “reason” is likely to dominate over spiritual experience, bringing another set of dangers.  The idea that in the Age of Aquarius “peace and love will rule the sky”  promulgated by the musical Hair is a fantasy.  If you ever read Animal Farm by George Orwell, a book about the dangers of communism where all are equal and none are free, you’ve seen the dark side of Aquarius in action.

We are seeing some of that in the rhetoric from politicians who want to eliminate care for the poor from state budgets.

For much of the last 2000 years churches provided much of the foundation of human life, both political and personal.  Until Henry VIII created his own religion and banished the Pope from his country, the head of the Catholic Church controlled much of Europe.  So there was very little actual separation between church and state, and the churches provided relief for the poor as well as the political structures.

Today it is primarily churches and religious organizations that provide soup kitchens and other relief efforts, and many conservatives argue that it should be churches that care for the poor and not the government.  But as religious structures continue to disappear in the Aquarian Age secular groups and government will need to pick up the slack and care for the poor.

It is ironic to me that those who call themselves Christian politicians are the loudest voices in eliminating supports for those in poverty since it was Jesus himself who said:

Mark 10:21-22 Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

As the number of churches continues to decline, with 3-4,000 churches closing every year in the US, alternative means to provide aid to the poor will need to be found.  In the age of personal responsibility, that means that it will be you and me that will be taking over.

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