Showing posts with label heart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heart. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Air Age to Digital Age

In my old volume, The Best of the Illustrated National Astrological Journal 1933-4, picked up in an antique store some years ago, there's a rather odd article by Augusta Foss Heindel, wife of Max Heindel occultist, astrologer and mystic. The piece is titled: "Air Age Tests Human Heart....Noted Astro-diagnostician sees changes in heart due to Aquarian Age influence"

1933 - Aquarian Age? I think not. By some astrologers' calculations we are still, even in 2014, nowhere near the Age of Aquarius, even though that label does fit the current Age - as we see it, not as proper calculation would define it. Maybe people have been willing on the Age of Aquarius since an astrologer first came up with the concept.

Still, laying aside argument about astrological Ages, here are a few excerpts from what the author proposed:
She began:
We are entering an "air" age! On every side we see evidence of this fact. Several years ago an advertising man of Colorado coined the term "air-minded"; daring men conquered oceans with airplanes; millions of dollars flooded into the industry of aeronautics; air mail, air passengers and even air freight were discussed by everyone................It is evident that the public has definitely "accepted" aviation and is building toward an "air" future.
The author goes on to explain why this should be....
We know that the earth itself advances in direct relation to the precession of the equinoxes. And we are now entering into the airy, electrical and etheric sign Aquarius, During this age men must conquer the air and ethers which surround the earth.

That brings me to a point bearing upon man himself. To conquer the air, man's physical body must undergo some changes. Just as Lemurian and early Atlantean men had to develop lungs in order to breathe the clearer atmosphere, so must man now develop organs which will enable him to fulfill the divine plan.

There are two organs undergoing this evolutionary change, the eyes and the heart. The eyes must adjust themselves to become responsive to a higher octave of vision, and the heart must develop "cross stripes" or muscles which will be more easily controlled by mental process. It is interesting to note that eye and heart tests are the outstanding tests in the physical examinations of airplane pilots..................Eye and heart trouble are prevalent now because of these changes which are taking place.........greater number of people, especially young people (are) wearing glasses........The development which is taking place in these two organs has become more perceptible since the planet Neptune transited the heart sign Leo, which occurs only once every 168 years, September 1914 marked the beginning of this transit and since that time heart ailments have increased tremendously.......................
She continues about astrological diagnosis in health care generally.

While I took most of what the author had written with a hefty pinch of salt, I did begin trying to relate her ideas to today's world. Do we need some modification physically to cope with our digital age/ technologial age/virtual age/social-networking age?

Leo rules the heart, according to astrological lore; Mrs Heindel's words were written during a Neptune transit of Leo. Neptune currently, in 2014, transits Pisces, sign of its own rulership. I see no connection to the digital age. A better connection would be Neptune's Aquarius transit, 1998 - 2012. We'd entered the computer age in general some decades earlier than that, but personal computer use and the internet took off on a far wider scale during that time span. Anatomically Aquarius relates to the shins and ankles, and, via its traditional ruler Saturn, to the bones, teeth, joints and skeletal structure.
I cannot see the same kind of connection Mrs Heindel made between the heart, Leo and the "air age". Current human physicality in need of development to better match our digital age would be in the brain's realm, which is ruled by Mercury, whose home signs are Gemini and Virgo. Currently no planet transits, but Saturn, traditional ruler of Aquarius, has transited both signs since 2000: 2001-3 for Gemini and 2007-9 for Virgo.

Are we humans in for some evolutionary modification, mentally, to cope with this digital age? Did humans really need heart and eye strengthening in order to deal with the "air age", which of course went on to develop into "the space age"? Flyers managed well enough with basic aircraft, but once speed barriers were broken, and space travel became a possibility, from there on, I guess only the strongest were chosen to take part. So...perhaps following a similar pattern, to date in the digital age's early stages, we've coped well enough with new technology, but coming decades could prove that we shall not be able to cope with anything more complex without a touch of evolutionary physical modification.

Saturday, October 09, 2010

Change of Pace for Mañana

During the past week my husband had a pacemaker fitted to regulate his heart rate. He hadn't experienced any of the problems normally associated with a low heart rate which, to some extent, has been his personal "style" for most of his life. However, his family doctor at annual check-up, and a second opinion from a heart specialist, dictated the current need of a pacemaker.

Astrologically there's an interesting correlation between Uranus/Jupiter's current transit over husband's natal cluster (Sun, Mercury, Saturn) in first degree Aries and last degrees Pisces. Astrologers would translate such a transit over personal planets as an indication of a change of some kind. And so it was!

The fitting of a pacemaker is a fairly common and routine procedure. Actual surgery lasted almost exactly an hour, with additional time for preparation and recovery, then 24 hours of monitoring hooked up to all manner of electronic devices. Classic Uranian stuff!

Husband's eldest daughter drove us the 90-ish miles to the specialist hospital on Monday evening, to be ready for a 7:00 AM start to the proceedings on Tuesday. We both stayed 2 nights at a nearby hotel; husband's eldest son drove over to be with us for most of the day of the operation. The waiting time, which could have seemed tedious for both patient and a single visitor alike, passed pleasantly in mutually supportive company. All four of us had probably been harbouring secret worries and doubts. Knowing first-hand from the surgeon that the procedure had gone well, with no serious hitches quickly relieved any lingering fears.

His carefully chosen tee-shirt for the trip bore the words Carpe Mañana (Seize Tomorrow). He has done just that - and many, many tomorrows, I trust.

Back home by late afternoon Wednesday, equipped with pacemaker manual, lists of instructions, and prescription for some whack-a-doodle painkillers (he refuses to take them), Himself declared, "I really didn't want to do this!"

"Why?" asked yours truly, dutifully. Her own hatred of medical matters, doctors and hospitals is legendary, her answer ought to have been a different single syllable: "DUH!!!"

"It makes me feel old", he replied.

"You'll never appear, or feel truly old though, with a whacky nature like yours. This pacemaker will just embellish your humour with better timing."

"You reckon? ......That's alright then."