MusicMaster Blog

In 1967, rock musical Hair opened with a line that would bring the New Age movement of the 1960’s to the attention of audiences worldwide: “This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.” The opening song, written by James Rado, Gerome Ragni and Galt Macdermot, was soon combined in a medley with another track from the musical (“The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In)” ) and released by The Fifth Dimension. This 1969 single held the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks and was certified Platinum. Yet while this song has been listed 57th in the Billboard’s Greatest Songs of all time, it earned this ranking for more than just its musicality. Rather, it is a telling portrait of a cultural era in American history when young people celebrated hope for a time of peace. But the concepts of an “Aquarian Age” have been explored for centuries before the Haight-Ashbury District emerged from the salt marsh of pre-colonized California. Historians have found the concept of this coming age to be a universally accepted belief among ancient cultures, including those of Maya and Egypt and in the practices of early Islam and Christianity. The modern age has widely interpreted these prophecies as spiritual lore and mythology. There is, however, an emerging buzz in the scientific world regarding an escalation in destructive natural events which fall in line with many of these ancient predictions. The new “Y2K” is 2012 – December 21 of that year, to be more specific. We’re not suggesting that on Christmas morning 2012 we should all except to find coal in our stockings and, for that matter, everywhere else. Still, the saga of Aquarius is undeniably a compelling piece of our cultural heritage which offers insight into how and why we embrace these myths of our demise.

For centuries, the alleged knowledge of the Age of Aquarius and warnings of Earth’s destruction have been passed down through both secret societies and accepted religious works. A common element is the marking of great lengths of time using the cycles of the zodiac, or ancient interpretations of real astronomical phenomena. The view of the night sky from Earth changes as the planet wobbles on its turning axis, an occurrence known as precession. Each year, we mark the spring or vernal equinox by the moment when the sun is directly above the earth’s equator, typically occurring on March 21. But the ancient astrologers were looking not at the sun, but instead at the constellations appearing behind it at that point in time. Strictly speaking, the night sky behind the March 21st sun should be the same each year. However, due to precession, there is a gradual shifting in the night sky (The motto of one 2012 doomsday group is “shift happens”). As a result, all twelve of the zodiac constellations eventually pass into this position, tracing a circle that rotates at a speed of one degree every 72 years and is complete in roughly 26,000 years. As each constellation falls close to the equinox position, a new astrological age is recorded. Currently, the vernal equinox occurs closest to the constellation of Pisces. While it may take hundreds of years to shift into the next age (that of Aquarius), there is a critical midpoint occurring between the two ages when the Earth’s equatorial plane aligns exactly with the the center of the galaxy (“galactic alignment”). This galactic alignment will occur on December 21, 2012.

The year 2012 holds even greater significance when considering the Mayan calendar. Notably, the Mayans marked the “The Great Year” as a period of 26,000 years, indicating advanced knowledge of the precession cycle. The Great Year is divided into five periods of varying years, each representing a different “age” of society. Currently, we are in the fourth – which, incidentally, began in 3113 BC and will end in 2012 AD. New Age theorists have looked to Mayan art and writings to predict that the passing from one age to another will bring great upheaval and change. The writers of Hair and its followers believed this change would bring peace and harmony among mankind. But a new popular opinion is that 2012 will mark the destruction of mankind. And like Y2K, the speculation has gone beyond the realm of conspiracy theory and overtaken the mainstream media. A Google search of “2012” brings a wealth of related media from sources such as ABC, MSNBC and Fox News, many of which you will find on the official 2012 site.

Michel de Nostredame (or Nostradamus) is one particularly well-known doomsday prophet. A French apothecary born in 1503, Nostradamus wrote a collection of prophecies that was first printed in 1555. While conspiracy theorists and even the popular press have credited Nostradamus’s for predicting major world events, the accepted belief is that these after-the-fact speculations are a result of misinterpretation of the writings – perhaps, even deliberate re-wording to make the events fit the prophecies. However, with the surge of 2012 speculation, the media has again begun looking towards Nostradamus.

More specifically, the interest is in Nostradamus’ seeming predictions of cataclysmic weather events. Though science has its roots in the practice of magic and astrology, modern science disregards the supernatural. Scientists do admit, however, that the global climate is changing beyond our comprehension. And just as the gravitational pulls of the sun and moon can affect such things as the ocean’s tides, the positions of the stars and planetary bodies interpreted by astrologers also may have an effect on our natural world. December 21, 2012 may be a date generated from myth, but it also the date of a real astronomic occurrence. It is at least scientifically possible that a galactic alignment could affect our climate.

Nostradamus focuses heavily on “great roaring storms” and “flames” as marking the end of our era, leading to correlations to increasingly deadly natural events. One of Nostradamus’ poetic verses predicts “The great city of the maritime ocean surrounded by a swamp of crystal, in the winter solstice and the spring, will be tried by a terrible wind.” Some believe this refers to Hurricane Katrina, claiming Nostradamus saw the glass-windowed skyscrapers of downtown New Orleans and interpreted them as giant crystals. Some have tied his predictions to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and resulting tsunamis and the emergence of a subterranean supervolcano in Yellowstone National Park.

A further surge in doomsday speculation has arisen with natural occurrences we seem unable to explain or control. All over the world, scientists are struggling to understand the mysterious condition which is wiping away the honeybee populations. Albert Einstein once predicted that if bees were to disappear, man would follow only a few years later. Plant life is reliant on the insects for pollination. A decline could lead to failure of crops, resulting in a shortage of food and the destruction of our livestock population. It is predicted that if the United States has a food shortage, the hundred or so nations that rely on our exports will suffer famine. Malnutrition will lead to increased susceptibility to disease, and the resulting plagues will halt these nations’ own production of food.

All of this adds up to what some in the media call “Apocalypse 2012.” Looking at the breadth of history, one might say that this doomsday panic is no different than the hundreds of others that have come and gone unfulfilled. Nevertheless, it’s a theory that is gaining remarkable popularity. Director Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, Godzilla) has even centered his latest disaster flick around the subject. Credible news programs have even freely joined the speculation. With a doomsday countdown clock on screen, a straight-faced Geraldo Rivera interviewed a survival expert who spoke of spending Earth’s last days traveling and trying to find a place that we could start our civilization over from scratch.

Ultimately, however, Nostradamus’ prediction was never meant to be so grim. December 21, 2012 may be the end of an era, but it may not be the end of the last era. And never, in all of the historical mythical record, does it predict that there will be a single calamity on this date which will destroy us. Indeed, Nostradamus always included the element of choice in his prophecies, even giving his king two predicted futures – one where he was glorified in battle, and one where he dies in a jousting accident. It would be the king’s decisions that would decide his fate. As Shakespeare wrote in Julius Caesar: “The fault is not in the stars, dear Brutus, but in ourselves.”
The lyrics of Aquarius speak of the power of man to usher in a more peaceful age, where the lessons of both science and spirituality can guide our society to make choices that lead to the greater good. It is said that more has happened in the 20th century than in all the previous nineteen combined. Progress is speeding up and with it, resources are being increasingly depleted. Man will be forced in the 21st century to solve these challenges. Even if our doomsday predictions turn out to be purely fictional, they still provide a telling picture of our fears as a society. We accept that warfare could escalate to worldwide proportions. We know that our dependence on depleting resources could halt our civilization. Perhaps late 2012 will be the beginning of an era when we stop speculating about the many ways we may be annihilated, but collectively trying to understand why these things still threaten us. Enlightened with that knowledge, the Age of Aquarius may just in fact be something to sing about.

When the moon is in the Seventh House
and Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars

Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
Angelic illumination
Rising fiery constellation
Travelling our starry courses
Guided by the cosmic forces
Oh, care for us; Aquarius