This is the Dawning...

Aquarius

“Harmony and understanding,

Sympathy and trust abounding.

No more falsehoods or derisions,

Golden living dreams of visions,

Mystic crystal revelations,

And the mind’s true liberation.

Aquarius.

Aquarius…”

James Rado, Gerome Ragni (lyrics) and Galt MacDermot (music), 1967

          Remember this song from the musical Hair? It was made popular by the 5^th Dimension in 1969. America was going through a time similar to now, without the extra stress of a pandemic. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy had been assassinated, the Democratic Convention in Chicago had been a scene of mayhem, and there were daily protests in the streets because we were entangled in an unwinnable war in Vietnam. Everyone was yearning for peace and freedom. Musicals like Hair, in which the cast was “buck-naked” (as my grandmother would say) for some of the time, Jesus Christ Superstar, and a bit later, Godspell, were huge hits on and off Broadway. They were all expressions of the yearning of the time. “Let the sun shine, let the sun shine, the sun shine in…”

          The age of Aquarius is supposed to come when the “moon is in the 7^th house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars.” Some astrologists don’t put that until the 35^th century, so we’ve got time to work on “harmony and understanding, sympathy and trust abounding.” We’re a long way from “no more falsehoods or derisions,” and, besides, none of us will be around in the 35^th century. In fact, if we don’t tackle climate change, nobody will be around then. So, if we want to see the Age of Aquarius for ourselves, we must bring it about.

          We cannot change the astrological calendar, nor force the stars to align—or can we? The song says that in the age of Aquarius, “peace will guide the planets, and love will steer the stars.” And that’s all up to us

.

We don’t have to wait for the age of Aquarius, or any other age. We can begin today to make peace—first within ourselves, in our own hearts, and next, with one another. We can stop seeing the world in us and them terms and realize that that sun shines on all of us the same, and the rain comes to everyone on earth. We need the people of Nairobi, Kenya as much as we need the people of Boulder, Colorado. We are but brothers and sisters of another mother. We can be the ones to usher in the “dawning of the age of Aquarius” if we want to. I say, “Make it so, Number One.” (J. L. Picard)

                                        In the Spirit,

                                        Jane