Finding Our Center

iUniverse, Inc.

Contents

Acknowledgments..............................................................................................ixIntroduction.................................................................................................xiPART ONE SETTING THE STAGE...................................................................................1Chapter One Living in a Time of Transition.............................................................3Chapter Two Seeking the Wisdom of the Past.............................................................13Chapter Three The World Tree: The Milky Way, Galactic Center, and Celestial Pole.........................17PART TWO EXPLORING THE ARCHETYPAL THEMES OF THE AGES.........................................................25Introduction.................................................................................................27Chapter Four The Age of Leo.............................................................................29Chapter Five The Age of Cancer..........................................................................35Chapter Six The Age of Gemini..........................................................................41Chapter Seven The Age of Taurus..........................................................................46Chapter Eight The Age of Aries...........................................................................58Chapter Nine The Age of Pisces..........................................................................65Chapter Ten The Age of Aquarius........................................................................71Conclusion...................................................................................................79PART THREE MOVING INTO THE NEW AGE...........................................................................81Chapter Eleven Liminal Periods: Transitions between Ages..................................................83Chapter Twelve Seeking Guidance for This Time of Change...................................................87Chapter Thirteen Sedna: The Newly Discovered Planetoid and the Inuit Goddess of the Sea.....................89Chapter Fourteen Our New "Dwarf" Planet Eris, or Xena.......................................................101Chapter Fifteen Around the Wheel and Back to Center........................................................108Chapter Sixteen Finding Our Center.........................................................................112Chapter Seventeen Pluto at the Center........................................................................117Chapter Eighteen Conclusion: Coming Full Circle.............................................................119Afterword Circles Within Circles.....................................................................129Bibliography.................................................................................................131

Chapter One

We are currently in a transition time between ages. We are leaving the Age of Pisces and are on the cusp of a new age, the Age of Aquarius. Ancient myths and modern science teach us that such periods of transition are marked by global and social turmoil. These are times that are stressful for the planet from a geological standpoint and also from a cultural or sociological perspective and involve significant shifts in human consciousness.

The cycle of astrological ages is related to the precession of equinoxes. Our Earth revolves around the Sun and rotates on its axis. However, our view of the sky gradually shifts over time (one degree every seventy-two years) due to the precessional cycle. The traditional understanding of this gradual movement of the Earth's axis in relation to the sky is that the Earth has a slow, wobbling movement due to the gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon, resulting in the shifting of the Earth's axis over time.

The visible manifestation of this is in the gradual changing of the celestial pole and the slow shifting of the constellations in the sky. For example, in 3000 BCE, the polestar was Alpha Draconis, but now our polestar is Polaris. (See Figures 1 and 2 below.)

About two thousand years ago, the constellation Pisces began to rise on the horizon at the time of the spring equinox, but now we are gradually moving toward the constellation Aquarius rising at that time of year. This shifting of the vernal rising of constellations is known as the precession of equinoxes. Each age lasts approximately 2,160 years.

Of significance is a recent different scientific hypothesis for the precessional motion proposed by Walter Cruttenden of the Binary Research Institute in his 2005 book, Lost Star of Myth and Time. A similar view has also been suggested by Dr. Richard Muller of the University of California, Berkeley, and Dr. Daniel Whitmire of the University of Louisiana. These researchers speculate that our Sun is part of a binary star system. This means that our Sun is gravitationally bound with another star, not yet identified, with both orbiting around a common center. Astronomers have noted in the past several years that binary star systems are common in the Milky Way galaxy. If this is the case, then the precessional motion is not due to the wobbling of the Earth's axis but rather due to our Sun's movement, which pulls our solar system in a gentle arc through space. The time that it takes for our Sun to complete one orbit would be the equivalent of the full precessional cycle (approximately twenty-four to twenty-six thousand years). As Cruttenden explains:

Just as the spinning motion of the Earth causes the cycle of day and night, and just as the orbital motion of the Earth around the Sun causes the cycle of the seasons, so too does the binary motion cause a cycle of rising and falling ages over long periods of time, due to increasing and decreasing electromagnetic effects generated by our Sun and nearby stars. (Cruttenden, "Precession of the Equinox: The Ancient Truth Behind Celestial Motion," binaryresearchinstitute.org)

If in fact we are part of a binary star system, think how this would affect our understanding of the universe and of ourselves. Our overemphasis in modern Western culture on separation and individuation would be called into question, and in a deep and profound way, we would need to understand ourselves, our solar system, and our universe in a relational context.

Some of the researchers advocating the binary star theory believe that the star that we are orbiting with is the brightest star in our sky, Sirius. It is noteworthy that this star has been sacred in many ancient cultures. The Dogon culture in western Africa has honored Sirius for over five thousand years. Interestingly, long before the modern scientific discovery that Sirius is a twin star with Sirius A orbited by its invisible twin, Sirius B, the Dogon tribe worshipped both and were able to describe Sirius B as an invisible, heavy, but very powerful star. They believe that Sirius is the axis of the universe and the source of all life. In ancient Egypt, Sirius was worshipped for thousands of years (beginning about 3000 BCE) as the primary mother...