Vedic World Cycles - Part 1
Whichever astrological cycle we study, whether it pertains to an individual or the world, it is important to do so with some proper context. When we look at human history, we see that human beings on the cusp of moments of big change experience and express great anxiety and tend to become apocalyptic. However, from a higher or more absolute perspective, which we often have in hindsight, we see these times of change pregnant with reason and meaning. In the world today, we appear to be in one of those moments of history, between uncertainty and potential. The aim of this article is to provide proper context and meaning for what is happening to us today, by exploring one technique.
A. BACKGROUND
To this end, we will describe two planetary indicators of change (A and B) and their simultaneous occurrence in a chart will be taken to mark the advent of a major new cycle in the world.
A1. Major Cycle A: Mūlatrikoṇa Ketu
The Vedic understanding or conceptualization of time is complex and deep. There are many time cycles of varying lengths mentioned in the Vedic literature. Similarly, there are many perspectives and techniques in Jyotish that help us look into Time cycles and derive meaning therefrom. In this article, I am exploring one technique that demonstrates this proper context.
The word “avatāra” means roughly “divine descent into something”. In the context of Vedic Astrology, planets that are exalted reach high enough to be potential channels for such influence. One of these occurs when Ketu, the South Node of the Moon, is in sidereal Pisces, which is called the Mūlatrikoṇa or working sign of Ketu, and is designated to be carry the avatāra energy of Matsya, the Great Fish of Dissolution of Great Flood fame in many ancient cultures. One of the significant themes of the Matysa Avatāra is a dissolution theme which also carries seeds for a new cycle and new birth with it. The mythology of Matsya avatāra in one sense highlights the continuing wisdom and presence of the ever-living spirit even amidst outer chaos and destruction. Matsya avatāra appears to indicate the end of an era and the beginning of the next and the presence of Ketu in sidereal Pisces in Astrology carries a similar connotation.
The work of Ketu involves this ending-beginning transition or dissolution concept which completely wipes out everything of the past and heralds in the new. This is indicated in periods when Ketu is transiting its working or office sign of sidereal Pisces.
A2. Major Cycle B: Brahma Yoga
Brahma in the Vedic paradigm encapsulates the idea of the localized Creator (local to our universe). The two planets Saturn and Jupiter when conjoined is called Brahma Yoga, which indicates a creative pulse or ideational unfoldment that is manifesting in the world. The Jovian cycles when coupled with that of Saturn, therefore give us details about major developmental cycles.
The cycle of Jupiter shows a positive development or expansion, while the cycle of Saturn shows a deterioration or contraction. Jupiter in Vedic Astrology indicates the embodied soul, and is therefore responsible for protection of life. Saturn as lord of the graveyard sign of Capricorn, pushes physical deterioration. The cycle between Jupiter and Saturn therefore shows the interplay between these forces at work in the Nature. If Jupiter is like the intake of life through the breath, and Saturn is like the mini-death of the expulsion of the breath, then their conjunction is like retention of the breath or stillness and can mark periods when the world show temporarily stands still as the old dynamics die away and new ones emerge.
Typically in Vedic Astrology the basic unit of time measure in mundane astrology is the Yuga of 60 years, in which the cycles of Jupiter and Saturn align. Each of the three 20 year periods within the Yuga mark a creative, integrative, and resolution phase of that Yuga respectively. This system of mundane astrology reckoning can be used to understand global trends at a smaller scale, and deserves another article in its own right. Much of this cycle is prevalent in Western mundane astrology as well.
B. AN ERA DEFINED AS CYCLE A AND B TOGETHER
The occurrence of these two major cycles together - Ketu in sidereal Pisces while there is a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction - indicates a time when a major creative/developmental cycle is commencing for the world. This event happens every 300 years on average. In this article, I will call these events, “Eras”. Curiously, each Era has seen the evolution of the collective concepts of currency, money, and exchange.
B1. The Era 1306-1643 CE
In this period, humanity saw the creation of Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes of Exchange, largely driven and taken to their height of conventional usage by the dynastic merchant families of Europe and especially the De Medici in the Italian Renaissance.
The Knights Templar Order created and implemented for the concept of Bills of Exchange in lieu of currency or exchange of goods over long distances for the first time. Instead of carrying their goods with them on long journeys, travellers from would receive a Bill of Exchange for goods which they would exchange for those goods when they reached their destination. Bills of Exchange gave way to Promissory Notes, in which a cash deposit gave the owner a note promising the receipt of various goods in some other or distant place, for the deposited amount. These were new ways of exchanging goods (including but not limited to money) across long distances for the first time in the world.
The Order was dissolved in 1312 CE, just as the Era began. In this context, we can surmise that the role of the Order of the Knights Templar and other such orders was to open up the concept of a new form of financial exchange securities across international and regional boundaries, a concept which expanded and developed in various forms right into the end of the period in the mid-1600s.
In Medieval Europe from the 1300s-1600s, we saw the rise of highly influential dynastic families who rose to that status by monopolizing and controlling the system of bills of exchange on the trade routes between Europe and the rest of the Eastern world. They called themselves bankers, but it was not the same banking as we know it today.
B2. The Era 1643-1921 CE
A problem that arose with Bills of Exchange was the diversity and legal conundrums it posed. Different banks in the same region would issue their own branded bills of exchange. This posed problematic for travellers or people doing business across large distances, as the commission cost for securities and returns could make or break large deals. Travellers could not purchase goods at their destination if the destination bank refused to accept a promissory note sourced far away as the burden of collecting the hard money backing the promissory note from the source bank was on the destination bank. This did not help inflation, and many times cities and kingdoms struggled to keep abreast of the inflation caused by a plethora of diverse bank bills of exchange flowing in the market. This system caused havoc for the leaders or regulatory authorities, but it sustained largely because the merchant class benefited so much and so richly from it.
In the 17th century CE, England’s King Charles decided to forcefully break the system of the merchants and bring them under control. On the cusp of the start of this period, in 1640 CE, King Charles of England took for himself a forced loan for the Crown. This effectively saw the ruler of a kingdom taking over the mint by military force.
The merchants saw this as a major problem and began keeping their gold and precious items with goldsmiths, who had some of the most secure depositories at the time. These in time became Banks proper, they began holding money and other items in exchange for various financial products. The unintended consequence was that instead of regulating the banks, they just became stronger financial institutions. The banks actively worked against the King by secretly funding his enemies. In 1642, he fought the armies of the Scottish and English Parliaments in the English Civil War. He was tried, convicted, and executed for high treason in 1649 and the English monarchy was abolished and replaced by the Republic of the Commonwealth of England.
This was a highly transformative time for the kingdom of England as well as the financial world reacting to the various political and social pressures arising at this time. With the political leadership in turmoil, the merchant and banking classes solidified their influence. This tension between state who wanted regulation and control, and the merchants who wanted free reign over the market, grew and in the 1690s it came to a breaking point and something needed to be done.
In 1685, the new King James II took over the reigns of England. Like Charles I before him, he moved toward absolute power for the king which intensified the religious tensions in his country. It resulted in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, in which the king was deposed and which ended a century of conflict between the King and Parliament. King William of Orange in the Netherlands was invited by the English Parliament to become the new English Monarch. King William III became King of England in 1689.
Shortly following the restoration of the monarchy in England, two major pieces of legislation were passed that would change the world forever. The 1689, the Bill of Rights was passed, the concept and implementation of which has revolutionized socio-political landscape all across the world. In 1694, the Bank of England was established, the first successful and long-standing national bank in the world of its kind. It forms the basis for banks in the world as we know them today. The creation of the Bank of England removed all diverse bank notes from circulation and effectively over time created a one-bank note system, and the birth of a national currency bank note. This was the birth of a nationalized paper currency system, which has stayed with us to today.
So we can see that the first Yuga (60 years) of the 300 yr Era is absolutely seminal in establishing major dynamics and collective concepts in the world.
B2.1. Peak of the Era in the 1870s
In the peak middle periods of an Era, we expect to see peak innovations emerge and establish that will play a prominent role in the development of the world.
The 1870s saw major technological innovations and new world powers taking centre stage in the world, which set the tone for the rest of the Era. Old concepts, old countries collapsing, and new ones coming in and taking shape.
Following the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), there was a huge movement to unify the German states into what became the nation of Germany. It is interesting that World War I (1914-1918) also became a major conflict between France and Germany.
The 1870s also saw the peak of the Great Britain at its largest extent and power. A decade earlier, the Crown of England took over the administration of the British affairs in India, formally changing Great Britain from a kingdom to an Empire.
South Africa also saw many wars in this period which played a formative role in setting up the cultural and geographical socio-political dynamics that would later define the evolution of the country.
Technologically in the 1870s, we had the world’s first analog computer, the world’s first telephone, the world’s first phonograph, the world’s first headphone jack, and the world’s first light bulb. This was the creative peak of that Era (1643-1921). In the world today, we have not yet reached our creative peak period. All the major technological innovations we have had have built upon the technologies that emerged in the previous Era’s creative period. The creative idea has not changed, only the external formulation and convenience has.
B3. The Current Era 1921-2219 CE
In the current Era, the ending of monarchies has occurred in deference to more democratic systems of government. We have also had the digitization of currency occur and the setup of digital credit systems, making financial credit available to the common man for the first time in human history.
Perhaps the new financial transformation of this Era will be that of the normalization and regulation of virtual currency systems and virtual banking.
B3.1. The Creation, Sustenance, and Dissolution Phases of the Current Era
Since an Era is roughly 300 years in length, it can be split into approximately three 100-year segments. These three segments show the Initiation, Peak, and Ending of an Era.
The first 100 years is about Emergence or the Creation of new patterns and technologies in the world. In the current era, this was 1921-2020/21.
The second 100 years is about Integration and Consolidation of those ideas and concepts, and also features the peak period of creativity for that Era. For the current Era, this is 2021/21 - 2119/20.
So 2020/21 marks a transition in the current Era between the Initiation period and the Integration period. So we may feel that we are at the cusp of a great change or shift in the world, and indeed we are. However it is worth pointing out that the doom and gloom seen in social media astrology circles is probably unwarranted - it is a normal “cuspal” time in the Era. The world has experienced many such transitional periods before, and will experience them again in the future. Those of us living during such a transitional period may indeed feel that we are at some kind of peak/edge cliff experience, but it is nowhere as apocalyptic as most would have us believe. One could say that it is indeed apocalyptic for the world we are leaving behind, but we should always endeavour to keep our focus on working for and in alignment with the forward movement of life in the best way possible. More on this later.
The Dissolution or Resolution phase of the current Era will be 2119/20 - 2219 CE. In this time, as in previous such periods, endings and the need for healing in the world becomes important as we learn to let go of what worked in the past and apply ourselves in resolving major global issues and prepare for what is to come.
B3.2. The Peak Period of the Current Era
The peak period of creative solutions and establishment of the Era will be 2065-2075 CE. So it is very likely that the children born now will reach maturity and provide the world with workable solutions in that peak period in the future. We are still very much dealing with a world in transition. The intention of our world right now is rooted in the souls being born now which will bear fruit in that later decade. From now until then, the solutions that we bring forth will operate under a sort of “trial and error” mandate. From now until then, these solutions we offer now will go through further development and have their final form 2065-2075. It is clear that while the solutions to our global issues will not have their final form now, it is important that we continue to stay on the course of innovation and right endeavour in the scientific and other areas of life.
...continued in Part 2
