I recall Cecil covering this topic in one of his books, but am having no luck with the search engine…can anyone provide a link to that column?
Perhaps a better question is: Are all of the topics covered in the SD books available at this site?
I don’t remember it, but what’s the question specifically? Maybe someone else will.
If the question is “what the heck does it MEAN?” then it has to do with what constellation is in a specific place at a specific time. I think the place is “just rising” and the time is “the vernal equinox”.
If the question is “what do the sort of people who believe in things like astrology THINK it means?” then you’d need to ask one of them. But since they can’t agree on when it’s supposed to begin more accurately than within, say, a century or so, you might want to take their claims with a grain or two of salt. I’ve seen claims ranging from “It’s already started” to AD 2100.
Thanks for the info, torq.
I think your second question
was more what I was looking for, but think I remember Cecil covering the whole kit & caboodle.
Damn, I really have to stop lending those books out. They NEVER come back…
It’s covered in Triumph of the Straight Dope on pages 55 and 56.
He says the Age of Aquarius isn’t due until 2150. Until then we will still be in the Age of Pisces. OTOH, he also sites Marc Edward Jones, author of Fundamentals of Number Significance (1978). According to Jones, the Age of Aquarius started in 1930 with the discovery of Pluto.
There is also a follow-up letter stating that it will start in 2660, but also stating that you could shift the year by a century in either direction and still be reasonably close.
:::Sits back to wait for Cecil to hire me to write the Cliff notes for his books.:::
The sharp, straight-line boundaries between the constellations are artifacts of modern astronomy; therefore, astrologers are somewhat free to decide just when it is moving-object X has moved from one “sign” to another. As a rule, they use the modern astronomer’s boundaries when they want to, and use something else when they don’t.
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams
The problem is that there’s a lot of black between the fairly bright stars that make up the constellations. So, deciding whether a particular very faint star midway between the bright sets belongs to Aries or Taurus is pretty subjective.
It’s also complicated a little by the fact that the signs aren’t exactly evenly spaced every thirty degrees along the ecliptic. Some of them are a bit closer together, and others are a bit further apart.
Since a shift of one degree in the ecliptic takes around 70 years, a small difference in where you draw the line can make a significant difference in when a particular age starts.
As to what it’s supposed to mean: the song from Hair is actually pretty close to what the predictions for the Age of Aquarius are. “Love and peace and understanding, sympathy and trust abounding.” No more wars or fighting.