By Franco (2006)

Most of us are all familiar with the phrase and the corresponding song, The Dawning of the Age of Aquarius. However, many are unaware of its meaning. I will be writing a longer piece on the ages of astrology and the religions which have come from them, but for now, I will give one example of how stories relating to the heavens have made their way into sacred texts. The premise of this essay will be to show that the miracle of 2 fish and 5 loaves was actually an astrological story. However, before proceeding with this, I must give a few explanations.

Religion, the worship of supernatural beings and the rituals pertaining to those beings have changed over the millenniums. New ones come and go, and the existing ones undergo transformations or fade. Past oral traditions and texts have contained social, political and health-related issues and celestial information. For example, Middle Easterners do not eat pork because they could not cure it properly in the past, and people would get ill from eating it. In order to get the ordinary person not to eat this meat which taints quickly, it was written into the religion that they were forbidden to eat it. Subsequently, laws forbade the worship of other gods to propagate their own religions and so forth.

Astrology is one of the most significant topics in religious texts by the authors-teachers to teach the lore of the heavens. Modern religious scholars have misinterpreted these stories as being factual events of past heroes. The Judeo-Christian Noah had many predecessors in earlier religions, all of which could have to do with stories relating to the constellation of Aquarius.

In astrology, the Sun moves through the zodiac approximately one sign per month. The Moon moves through all the signs in approximately a month (a moonth). There are two astrological systems where one starts at 0º of Aries at the Spring (Vernal) Equinox, the Tropical system, and one which more or less follows the actual constellations, the Sidereal system.   Both systems divide the heavens into twelve equal signs of 30º each. The actual constellations are not all 30º and vary quite drastically.

The Ages of Astrology are related to the constellation behind the Sun at the Vernal Equinox. The Tropical system was probably invented when the equinox Sun was in the constellation of Aries. Since our solar system is rotating around the galaxy, the backdrop constantly changes.   If you were born on March 30, you would be an Aries in the Tropical system, but if you were to consult a Vedic astrologer who uses the Sidereal system, he would tell you were a Pisces. Currently, at this point in time, there is a 24º difference between the two systems. Both systems work pretty well because they are symbolic languages, and the relative distance between the planets does not change.

We are currently in the Age of Pisces. The beginnings of these ages are difficult to ascertain since we must first determine whether we are looking at the actual constellations or the equal sign or 30º constellations. Even with the actual signs, it is difficult to determine when one age ends, and the other begins. Is it when the Vernal Equinox occurs at the end of one constellation or the beginning of the other? Some constellations have gaps between them, while some overlap. It was approximately 85 BCE when the Vernal Equinox occurred at the first star of Pisces. The Sidereal system places the beginning of the age of Pisces at 285 CE. The constellation of Aries is smaller than Pisces, which could explain the difference in start times. Since societal trends don’t happen overnight, we can consider both dates.

At the beginning of the Age of Pisces came the emergence of Christianity with the Piscean themes therein. The ram of Aries (Lamb of God) is killed off to make way for the fish of Pisces.   Christianity incorporated all the Piscean themes from the baptism in water, fishermen disciples, and Christ referred to as the Fisher of Men. The symbol of the fish was the symbol of Christianity before the cross of the four directions was accepted. The themes of Pisces are martyrdom and sacrifice and transcendence from our corporeal state into one of unity with the divine. Meditation, wine and music are also Piscean themes.

This brings us to the story of the fish and loaves. (Matthew 14:13, Mark 6:34, Luke 9:10, John 6:1)  I will allow you to determine if this story is genuinely about the Age of Pisces.   As the story goes, Jesus was talking to 5000 men. Some passages state women and children were in attendance over the 5000, but they didn’t count due to patriarchy. At the end of the day, one of the disciples came up to Jesus and said that they had to feed the masses. Still, all they have is two fish and five loaves. Jesus took the two fish and the five loaves, looked up to the heavens and said a blessing over them. The disciples were asked to go feed the crowd, and everyone ate with 12 baskets of leftovers collected.

One could look at this story as factual evidence, or one could look at it as a metaphor for the Age of Pisces. In the metaphor, the Sun and Moon are the two fish of the sign of Pisces, and the five loaves are the five other visible planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn). Twelve disciples fed the crowd, and when all had eaten their fill 12 baskets of leftovers were collected. There are twelve signs of the zodiac. The story’s moral is that the new age will nourish us and allow us to move on instead of starving in the current age.

The part of this story that needs more investigation is what the 5000 men represent. In Luke, they were asked to be seated in group fifty. This could be some numerological story or possibly the known number of fixed stars at the time of the writing of this story.

In conclusion, I would like to say that when reading a sacred scripture, one must be ready to discern whether the story was a factual event in a person’s life or if it was social or political or a description of an astrological phenomenon. We are far more educated today, and unlike in the past, we tend to learn by facts rather than metaphors. One must also remember “myths” were religion at one time, and things need to be examined in that context. There could be more to the story than just a story. Look beyond…look to the sky or the heavens!

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