Time to Beat a Dead Horse! Aquarius and the End of Spiritual Hierarchy

The combination of Pluto in Capricorn and the ongoing oppositions of Saturn in Virgo and Uranus in Pisces make for a potent force intent on crumbling outdated hierarchical structures.

This includes spiritual hierarchy.

As we head into Aquarian times, the Piscean spiritual structures that have been built up have to shift. I know this sounds weird. Pisces and structure don't usually go together. But there is a definite establishment that has been built around spirituality that will find itself increasingly obsolete as we move into egalitarian Aquarius.

I believe the New Age movement is one of those outdated spiritual hierarchies.

The roots of the current New Age movement go to the late 1800s and occultist Helena "Madame" Blavatsky. Blavatsky's work was based on theosophy and was continued after her death by her student Alice Bailey.

Blavatsky's ideology seems to have developed out of the political movement Synarchism, formed by Joseph Alexander Saint-Yves d'Alveydre. Synarchism was developed as a reaction to anarchism and preached the more state control, the better.

Both Bailey and her teacher Blavatsky had ties to Aryan beliefs (that the Aryans were the most evolved race on the planet). Bailey was also hell-bent on removing the influence of Judaism.

Apparently, Hitler was a big fan and kept a copy of Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine at his bedside.

"Hitler, like today's NA [New Age] philosophers, firmly believed in the coming of a new species of humanity. Like modern New Agers, he expected them to be a literal "mutation" of homo sapiens, achieved by arriving at "higher levels of consciousness". He also believed that the new humanity would be free of "the dirty and degrading chimera called conscience and morality," as well as "the burden of free will" and "personal responsibility" which should rightly be borne only by the few with the fortitude to make the awful decisions necessary for the good of humanity." (Sklar, p.58)

- From an online article by Hannah Newman "Nazism and the New Age, Hitler and the Occult" with references from the book The Nazis and the Occult by Dusty Sklar.

I know the "all roads lead to Hitler" thing is tiresome, but this really is pertinent in the examination of the roots of the New Age movement.

You can see how the concept of a "spiritually enlightened" elite who call the shots for the ignorant masses would coincide with fascism, in general, as well as with any hierarchical power structure in which control is consolidated at the top with orders handed down to the lower echelons.

Pyramid-scheme spiritual hierarchy and pyramid-scheme political hierarchy go hand-in-hand.

New Age ideology is built on a hierarchical belief system that there are spiritual masters - Jesus, Buddha, Quan Yin, etc. - who guide the humans on the planet. Regular humans can usually only interact/learn their teachings through an intermediary - a human being who is more "spiritually evolved" and in a service role.

There is a focus on spiritual information being secret and accessible only throught these spiritual middle men/women. The whole system is set up as a series of initiations or levels you have to go through to get to the top of the spiritual hierarchy, at which point you gain the consciousness of and become an "ascended master."

There is constant focus on spiritual materialism and the individual reaching "enlightenment" through the prescribed program of New Age books, lectures, workshops, gurus, products, retreats, cleanses, meditations, etc. All prescribed by those supposedly higher up the enlightenment ladder.

There is pressure to conform to the teachings of these people, to "surrender" and give oneself over to the "evolution of consciousness" up the enlightenment pyramid scheme.

This system is set up to appeal to human cliqueiness - being "in the know," part of a special, enlightened group of people.

It's also designed to appeal to the spiritual ego, teaching people that they have varying degrees of spiritual specialness over the common herd and can help others get to that special level they inhabit through spiritual service roles.

And boy, do a lot of New Age adherents like to rub it in when they believe they're higher on the Spiritual Ladder of Successful Enlightenment.

It's so incredibly annoying to be told by a proselytizing New Ager, when you offer a different perspective than the one they're asserting, that they're sorry you're just not "there yet" and that they hope that one day you will be open to the truth (their truth).

Nope. I've just been and gone is all. Not interested in what you're selling.

New Age people who believe they are in these spiritual service roles often feel compelled to proselytize and pass on their ideology any chance they get. "Spreading the word." They believe they are more enlightened than the masses and explain away all critique/opposition as that of "lower consciousness." They commonly believe that exposure to their ideology will inevitably bring people to a higher consciousness level - that people will inevitably, with enough exposure, come to the same understandings that they hold.

Reinforcement of spiritual hierarchy isn't the way of the Aquarian paradigm. Under this paradigm we're all on the same "level." There is no such thing as a spiritual person and a non-spiritual person, an enlightened person and a non-enlightened person.

Thanks, Aquarius. You're a pal.

The New Age establishment is in for a dramatic Aquarian levelling, I believe. It will become increasingly difficult for people to set themselves apart, promoting a glamourous spiritual image (and taking that image all the way to the bank). The level of overblown spiritual ego fostered by this system will have an increasingly tough time of it. People who are used to constant little ego boosts from others who are impressed by their supposed higher consciousness level will find it increasingly difficult to get a really good fix.

Continuing with the master-student paradigm at this point will be prone to ass-biting karmic lessons about not blindly following. Doing so under the current conditions sets us up for massive disillusionment and abuses of power within these types of follow-the-leader, hierarchical structures.

(Editor's note: The three dead and dozen injured at James Arthur Ray's The Secret-themed retreat in October 2009 would be a prime example of this. Articles here and here.)

Spiritual information/universal law is no longer to be shrouded or considered beyond the commoners, accessible only through an intermediary. (This was never the reality to begin with.) Aquarius is about integrating collective wisdom and knowledge into the community, as comrades and equals, and using it concretely to solve humanity's problems.

But just like the economic system, this spiritual hierarchy is not going to shift quietly. There's a whole army of New Age missionary-types who make it their personal goals to spread their understanding of things - prescribed by a program or system or guru-type, generally.

There is a push to get new converts into the fold, and they don't like it so much when you don't want to be folded. Staying in your own energy seems to be taken as a personal affront for a lot of old school New Agers. They want to envelope you in their's. There's a push with these folks to get everyone on the same page. Oneness. Everyone agreeing with each other.

And boy do the fangs come out when you aren't willing to be guided into their understanding of things and exert a differing perspective.

Subtle manipulation and unrequested promotion of what they're into is one surefire way you can tell that a person is holding onto the spiritual hierarchy. And then more-enlightened-than-thou condescension when you exert your boundaries. Anger and lashing out about how you are too negative or unconscious or closed off when you don't swallow what they're feeding you is also popular.

The problem with this is...we don't all agree. I doubt we ever will. It's not about blissing out together in communal harmony anymore (if it ever was). It's about all voices being respected and taken into consideration...not just those singing the same New Agey tune.

Aquarius requires that we take on the responsiblity of our individuality within the collective. To be ourselves and say what we think and feel, even if it goes against the grain - especially if it does. And maybe this isn't comfortable for everyone, but these are real human relations. It's not always pretty.

From what I can surmise, anyone in a position of earned leadership in the Aquarian paradigm will not be promoting or imposing their particular brand of spirituality as the key to salvation. And they will not be self-labelling as our leaders. Being followed is the last thing someone attuned with Aquarius will want, and they will CERTAINLY not be talking people out of their own experiences.

Painting people in difficult circumstances as "too negative" or "unenlightened" rather than actually listening to what they're saying and taking action on it is just insulting. It also lets everyone off the hook for any collective responsibility for what is systemically being created on this planet. This way of explaining things has absolutely no sociological perspective.

I always think it's hilarious when people say, well, I've always had a comfortable life. I've always had everything I wanted, when I wanted it. So obviously these other people are doing something wrong in their lives.

These people honestly don't see how their comfort has often been provided on the backs of other people in much less comfortable circumstances.

In reality, most "spiritual" knowledge is fairly common sense when people are connected to themselves and their bodies.

The problem is that our societal structures are set up in a way to keep people disconnected from their own spiritual wisdom, their emotional guidance, their inner world, the healthiest and most balanced ways of living, connected to the Earth. They're often talked out of what they feel or experience.

When we transform our sick structures (as Pluto in Capricorn is doing), we will have fewer sick/out of sync people, and I think this actually freaks the hell out of the people selling the supposed cure.

I've always felt that much of establishment New Age was treating the symptoms of a dysfunctional, disconnected culture rather than dealing with the root, systemic/institutional causes of the sickness. As long as the structures people are living in are sick and dysfunctional and spirituality is considered separate from the day-to-day, they'll never be out of business selling the temporary cure!

Until the New Age establishment addresses the problems that create the sickness in the first place and works to change that from inside the mainstream structures out, it is just capitalizing on a bad situation.

To me, the constant positivity pushing of the day only makes things worse. Denying the intolerable things going on on the planet just gives those committing the wrongs more power and allows them to continue. Thinking that if we "transcend" (you say transcend, I say deny) the horrifying parts of what is going on on Planet Earth and make it all the individual's fault (a la The Secret), we'll all be fine and dandy is naive at best, dangerous and deadly at worst.

The frictional transition between Pisces and Aquarius is all around us these days, and it takes a lot of conscious skill to successfully deal with the requirements of both energies.

There has been a lot of talk on Internet circles about the New Age roots of the powers-that-be - the sort of creepy spirituality that allows them to murder and ravage the planet, all as part of the "Divine Plan." (While keeping the followers sedated with love and light soma, eyes glazed over with Neptunian bliss, repeating the "all part of the Divine Plan" mantra.)

I initially read about the connection between New Age and the New World Order's One World Religion on astrologer Robert Phoenix's blog, and that connection made perfect sense to me based on my personal experiences with people in the New Age movement. Both bank on the idea of an "enlightened" group of elites calling the shots for the rest of the planet - the unenlightened sheep who can't be trusted with autonomy.

Too bad these so-called elites are so very far from true spiritual understanding and from being real leaders. Thus, their vision will create yet more dystopia. Too much secrecy, domination, abuse and manipulation. Um...yeah. And killing.

And too close to that whole Master Race thing. 'Memba that?

So you can see the roots of this stuff.

Outdated, redundant, not just a little creepy...and if it's pushed, in the wrong hands, horribly dangerous. And it's most definitely in the wrong hands.

To me, the crystallized establishment that has grown up around this stuff has to be examined and broken down. The spiritual egos and quest for spiritual superstardom, the proselytizing, the groupthink, the programmed idioms repeated ad nauseum. Unbalanced denial of the dark and lack of socio-political awareness. The hierarchical way of thinking about spirituality, in general. The explaining away or glossing over of anything that doesn't fit their paradigm. The insufferable positivity-pushing and passive aggressiveness. The way individual experience is rejected for umbrella New Age platitudes. The emphasis on "transcending" the problems of Earth (and Earth-bound experience altogether), rather than digging in and dealing with the issues head-on.

To me, this stuff has to go because this is the stuff that threatens to hold people back in an outdated paradigm, repeating the mistakes of the past.

We have a responsibility to improve conditions for all living things on this planet, and those who say otherwise aren't talking real Aquarius.