(cont'd)

In the same Era, much of western Europe began to be overrun by marauders who destroyed
sanctuaries, even as Mycenean pirates had destroyed the Cretan civilization and its
place-centered mythos. This onslaught by sea-borne Vikings continued throughout the next Era,
joined by Magyars from central Asia and Saracens from North Africa. The disorder was so
prevalent that we can speak of a combined Geminii-Cancer "Viking Era" (718-1049 A.D.).

The same sort of human tidal-wave was experienced earlier in the eastern Mediterranean
(1452-1117 B.C.) where after the destruction of Knossos (c.1450 B.C.) footloose pirates des-
troyed Mycenean civilization and the Hittite Empire, then descended as a disaster on the
Levant, obliterating the city of Ugarit. Many of them washed-up in the Nile Delta, where
the defenders called them "Peoples of the Sea", and repulsed their invasion with difficulty.
Some of those marauders then settled in the land they gave their name to: the Peleset or
Philistines in Palestine.

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Sagittarius Capricorn Acquarius and Pisces

SCORPIO

To understand the role of Scorpio in the Torah sequence, let us view it in context. Just as
God (Aries 0 and 13) creates everything in Unity (1) so there is an antagonistic principle,
the Devil (Scorpio 9) which causes everything to fall into disunity, and tries to keep it
there. [Scorpio is opposite to Taurus, the sign of unity, on the zodiac wheel.] And what
better way to maintain that state of disorder, disruption, than to give it a false appear-
rance of unity?

0 1 2 3 4 12 5 6 9 7 8 11 13

(See Origin of the Zodiac)

Thus we have the Cancer-Capricorn Round (3-8) which by recycling everything gives a false
impression of wholeness and new creation. In the ancient pagan religion, what is most
prominently recycled is the King, Leo (4) the lame monarch of the false world of disunity.
The ritual killing of the king, as the central act and sacrifice of the cycle, and of the
ancient religion, then became the origin of Dramatic Tragedy.

The king or god killed in that case was Dionysus (often in the person of his human
representative). And it seems appropriate that it would be during a Scorpio Era that the
killing of the king (and its attendant circumstances) was focused on and put upon the stage,
where it could be examined from all sides. Just as in the Leo Era (1049-1215 A.D.) the
ethos and the mythos of the Cancer-Capricorn Round would be revived in the form of
chivalric Romance, featuring the male archetype as the knight-in-shining-armor (as at
King Arthur's Round Table) so in the Scorpio Era the same motifs are naturally shown in
their Tragic dimension. That the same archetypal material is being dealt with, is shown
for example, in the similarity between the murder of King Agamemnon in his bath (and by
his Queen) and the near-murder of Tristan by Isolde, as the romantic hero sits in his bath.

Dramatic Tragedy started apparently in Corinth, where during the annual festival of Dionysus,
the poet Arion began to present choral songs or poems (dithyrambs) in honor of the god.
(This was around 600 B.C., at the very beginning of that Scorpio Era, 616-449 B.C.) Some
half-century later, the "first dramatist" Thespis, separated an actor from the chorus. And by
the end of that century the greatest of the ancient playwrights, Aeschylus, was beginning his
work at Athens.

The most famous production of Aeschylus is his trilogy on Orestes (the Oresteia) the son of
Agamemnon who avenged his father's ritual murder. The ancient religion is well in-evidence
when King Agamemnon returns from the Trojan War, and is greeted with godlike honors by his
wife, Queen Clytemnestra. (This was traditional treatment of the sacred king before his exe-
cecution.) At the royal banquet or in the royal bath, he is murdered by the queen or by her
lover, the usurper and new king. And she gloats that she bathed in the shower of his spurting
blood like a fertile field of wheat in the rain. (Fertilizing the goddess was a favorite rea-
son given for the king's ritual sacrifice.)

Over two thousand years later, in the Scorpio Era of 1547-1712, the pattern of the revenge
of Orestes will be urged upon Prince Hamlet, in Shakespeare's play by that name. But he will
be unable to execute it so expeditiously. It is a different Age, not of the hard-driving
Chariot (Aries) but of the Church (Pisces) which does not approve of such actions (as Athena
eventually did in the case of Orestes). "The time is out of joint", and Hamlet cannot get his
project underway.

Agamemnon also had a project he was trying to get underway, the Achaean expedition to Troy,
where the Trojan King Priam would be killed. To launch his campaign Agamemnon had to sacri-
fice his virgin daughter Iphegenia. In Hamlet's case it is the virgin Ophelia in the same role.
And only after death is Hamlet able to act, "to sail to Troy and kill the king". Thus are such
archetypal themes acted out with rhythmic variations through the ages.

Now to a more positive side of Scoprpio. This is the position of the Adversary, the Antagonist,
which in a more sanguine view we might characterize as the Defender. Here is encountered un-
yielding resistance. The easy-going tolerance and compromise of the previous stage (Libra) now
turns to unsurrendering committment, and uncompromising opposition. Thus at the close of the
Renaissance-Reformation Era, the conciliatory approach to religious differences was suddenly
replaced by outright warfare, which then plagued western and central Europe throughout most of
the Scorpio Era (1547-1712). It began with the Schmalkaldic Wars, then grew through the
Catholic-Hugenot struggle in France, and the English Civil War, until it reached its most dev-
astating degree in the Thirty Years War in Germany (1618-1648).

But the two most positive examples of trenchant defense occurred, first in ancient Greece (Era
449-282 B.C.) and then in northwestern Europe during the Scorpio Era cited above. The small
Greek city-states of the eastern Aegean were oppressed by the mighty Persian Empire. They
appealled to and got help from Athens. In response the Persians sent an enormous armada, by
land and by sea, against Athens and its small allies. Principal among the latter was Sparta,
whose small army gave their lives to block the pass at Thermopylae against the invading host.
Then the Athenians abandoned their city by boarding their naval fleet, and the latter won a
great sea-victory off the island of Salamis. In short it was a case of the small defying the
great, and by uncompromising defense winning the day.

The second case occurred when the Holy Roman Empire (led by Spain at the time) tried to
subjugate the small, rebellious city-states of the Protestant Netherlands. The Dutch refused
to surrender. They appealled to and got help from England. In response the Empire sent a
mighty sea-force --- the Spanish Armada --- against England, in 1588. The armada was des-
troyed, partly by English warships, but largely by storms. Once again, defiance and rebellion
and committed resistance prevailed. The small survived the onslaught of the mighty.
Trenchant defense fit the Zeitgeist of those Eras.

SAGITTARIUS

By the middle of the Fourth century B.C. Greek civilization was at its peak. There was a pro-
liferation of schools: the Epicureans, The Sophists and the Stoics, the Academy of Plato and
the Lyceum of Aristotle. It might be said that it was the Era of the Teacher. Philosophy was
honored. Rationalism was the rule. The encyclopedic work of Aristotle enveloped the full-
ness of the maturity of human thought (within that cultural milieu). And at the optimum ripe-
ness of this evolution, of this cultural plenitude, the Greek world suddenly overflowed and
propogated its ethos everywhere, from the banks of the Indus river on the east to the Nile
Delta in the south. The eastern Mediterranean was transformed into a Hellenic realm.

And riding this bountiful wave of expansion, as its ostensible leader, was the striking figure
of Alexander of Macedonia. It was the Sagittarius Era, a time of optimum development, the
model of achievement and classical form. The likes os Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, all in
one continuous line, would not be seen again for some time.
449-281 B.C.

By the middle to end of the Eighteenth century A.D. Western European civilization was at its
peak. There was a proliferation of learning and thought in the "Enlightenment". Philosophy
was honored. Rationalism was the rule. The French Encyclopedists attempted to envelop the
full mature range of human thought (within their cultural milieu). And at the maximum ripeness
of this evolution, this plenitude, the Anglo-French world suddenly overflowed and propogated
its ethos far abroad, the English in conquest of India, and the French in attempted conquest
of Russia (where the aristocracy already spoke fluent French).

And riding this overflowing wave of expansion, in its more northerly reaches and as its osten-
sible leader, was the striking figure of Napolean. It was the Era of Jupiter-ruled Sagittarius,
a time of optimum development and classical form. The likes of Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Bee-
thoven, all in one continuous line, would not be seen again for some time.

And within the context of these two Eras of Expansion, will not the colonial wars between
Athens and Sparta (the Peloponesian Wars) bear some comparison to the colonial wars between
Paris and London? And although the tremendous expansion of Alexender's campaign to the
east was not repeated by Napolean in Russia, the Russians themselves expanded their empire
tremendously to the east in this Era, even as the United States of America was expanding tremen-
dously to the west.
1712-1878 A.D.

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CAPRICORN

When Hannibal suddenly descended from the Alps to attack Rome, was that well-planned surprise
attack similar in theme to the German Blitzkrieg through Poland in 1939, or the Japanese
surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941? And does that Second Punic War stand in a position
resembling the twentieth century's Second World War?

The sign of the Era (281-113 B.C.) was Capricorn, ruled by Saturn, the planet of slowness and
delay. The Romans were slow to respond to Hannibal, and it worked to their advantage. In fact
their most successful strategy was to avoid battlefield engagements, to stay away from the
Carthaginian army, and let it waste its substance without adequate supply-lines from home.
This successful strategy of Saturnian delay was conducted by the Roman leader Fabius, whom
in fact his fellow Romans nick-named "Cunctator", the Delayer.

And even as that Hannibalic War was won not by the swift aggressor, but by the slow defender,
so was our modern World War II won not by Blitzkrieg or surprise attack, but by slow steady
response and counter-attack, on the Russian front and in the Pacific theater. The Zeitgeist,
which was the spirit of Capricorn, favored the tortoise over the hare.

As a result of winning its two wars against Carthage, Rome was able to consolidate its world,
soon incorporating Cisalpine Gaul, Iberia, Greece and North Africa. The same theme of
consolidation is present in our Globalization of the world, under various forms of corporate
control. Consolodation fits with reduction and simplifying as Capricornian characteristics.
Here is what the Greek historian Polybius said about such a trend in his world, starting with
the two Punic Wars:

"Now up to this time the world's history had been, so to speak, a series of disconnected
transactions, as widely separated in their origin and results as in their localities. But
from this time forth history becomes a connected whole: the affairs of Italy and Libya are
involved with those of Asia and Greece, and the tendency of all is to unity."
(Polybius, Histories, p.3)

Capricorn is derived from number Eight as a doubled Four. Four being the stage of Structure,
such an Eight represents intensified or Inner Structure. And appropriately the bodily organ of
Capricorn is the skeleton, the inner-structure of the body.

On this theme we can see our modern Capricorn Era (since 1878) as focusing on a search for
inner-structure. In Psychology, Sigmund Freud began Psychoanalysis, a search to find and define
the inner-structure of the mind. Mechanically, the large and expansive steam-engine of the
preceding Sagittarius Era was replaced by the internal combustion engine. In Physics, the
inner-structure of the atom was probed. In Biology the inner-structure of the cell and of
heredity were delved into, leading to the mapping of the human genome.

Even in the fine arts the change can be seen. The former representational style of painting,
which at the end of the Sagittarius Era flourished in the rather structureless style called
Impressionism, was sudenly transformed by an urge to seek inner-strucrture. Starting mainly
with Paul Cezanne, this new sensibility led to modern Abstract Art. And within that field,
a significant category was Cubism, the cube being the geometric figure of Capricorn.

How closely can we date the beginning of that Capricorn Era, by the work of Cezanne?
"Most of his life belongs to the history of Impressionism, and it is only what is
unique in him, and caused a break with the Impressionists, that should concern
us now. He exhibited with his fellow Impressionists for the last time in 1877. He
contemplated exhibiting with them the next year, but the exhibition was postponed
and by 1879 Cezanne had decided not to exhibit with them again."
[ Read, Herbert "A Concise History of Modern Painting" Praeger NY 1959 p.15 ]

In literature, Tolstoy abandoned the grand pictorial novel style, as in "War and Peace", in
favor of exploring inner-dynamics, as in "The Death of Ivan Ilytch". And perhaps the most
extreme example of reducing literary form to inner-structure, and then re-engineering that
structure, was "Finnegans Wake" by James Joyce.
[See FW Forum at: www.egroups.com/group/Finnegans-Wake]

Re-engineering, in fact, is an apt motto for our Era. Everything must be reduced to a minimum,
and that minimum manipulated to produce new forms (as in genetic engineering, as in
abstract art). Thus all information is reduced to the binary number-system (just X's and O's,
in effect) and that minimum is re-engineered to re-structure our information technology.

This search for inner-structure might be likened to detective work. And the Detective has become
a culture-hero of our fiction, starting early in the Era with Sherlock Holmes, who by reducing
everything to elementary observations and logical processes, was able to uncover the inner-
structure and dynamics of events.

Origin of the Zodiac Top

ACQUARIUS and PISCES ACQUARIUS is the new unity, the newly united human individual, hence uniqueness. In the Era of Acquarius (113 B.C.-54 A.D.) we might say there were two supreme individuals: Caesar and Christ. Both represent in their way, the human-being as god, or God as man. The Caesar phenomenon began with Marius, near the start of the Era, then developed through Sulla and Pompey, reaching its apex in Gaius Caesar (Julius) and Caesar Augustus. PISCES (12) by contrast has to do not with individuality but with Collectivism. Hence the Church. And it was during this double-Era of Pisces (54-386 A.D.) that the Christian Church came into being. In every Age there is a double Era (corresponding in sign to the sign of the Age). In only one case does the double Era overlap from one Age to the next. The Age of Aries ends, as all Ages do, with an Era of Pisces. [54-220 A.D.] Then the Age of Pisces begins with an Era of Pisces. [220-386]

Paul Albertsen

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