In case you missed it, Mercury went into retrograde again from September 27 through October 17 and we’ve entered another Age of Aquarius. According to astrologers, this happens as a result of the “great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn,” which takes place every 20 years. However, only once every 800 years does this occur in the constellation Aquarius. Even though astrologically the name of the sign implies water and its symbol is water, Aquarius is an air sign. With one exception, it’s the first time in 200 years that the great convergence won’t happen in an earth sign.
I have no idea what this portends, but stay tuned to my blog. I might investigate it for next month, especially since noted astrologers tell us that Jupiter will remain in Aquarius for around a year, while Saturn will stay for two-and-a-half years. As a participant in the most celebrated Age of Aquarius (remember the 5th Dimension?), I’m compelled to Let the Sunshine In on how this new age will compare to the one in 1969.
Instead of bell bottoms, we now have Spandex Under Armour that leaves nothing to the imagination. I speak from experience on this. Bell bottoms looked cool on women and men. Spandex, not so much. And instead of Jesus sandals and Daughters of Olaf clogs (I had both), we now wear flip flops and Crocs (I wear neither).
Thanks to the Beatles, in the sixties and seventies, we wore colorful, flowing Indian kurtas. Now we see mostly drab hoodies on the street. My husband opened his SPECTRUM-INIDIA store on Thayer Street in Providence in 1967. It still exists and you can find kurtas there to this day. Probably hoodies, too, but I’m not going to ask him about them. Those are so not Age of Aquarius fashion items.
True proponents of The Age wore flowers in their hair-down-to-there. Now hair is either thinning and falling out, or men shave their heads bald. I didn’t go to San Francisco until much later, but I had waist long hair for years. Today I’m in the thinning camp, so I keep it short.
Other notable changes in societal and cultural habits you may notice? Sitars have been replaced with electronic synthesizers. You don’t hear much Ravi Shankar music (he died in 2012); it’s Ed Sheeran in today’s news. Oh, and after a six-year hiatus, Adele came back November 19 with a new album. Ravi’s daughter Norah Jones is reasonably popular, but not because she makes us nostalgic for her father’s music. Like Adele, she has a beautiful voice.
Following up on Indian influence, we don’t hear much about ashrams anymore, those communal living locales for free spirits. Hippies from the seventies now live in condos or HOAs (Homeowner Associations). In our current location, my husband and I are severely restricted even with regard to what we can display in our windows and on our doors and how many pets we can have. I’m not talking just goats in the yard. Our HOA limits indoor cats to two per household.
As for food, there have been too many changes in diet to even begin to get into that here. But if the ads on TV are any indication, it does seem we’ve rediscovered Nutella. Can Ovaltine be far behind? And as for transportation, we’ve gone from that treasure, the VW camper bus, to electric Teslas and hybrids. Those might be more practical, but they can’t possibly be as colorful or as much fun.
I can’t leave my review of my first Age of Aquarius without visiting some of my favorite TV shows. We had Laugh In (Sock it to me!) and Star Trek (Live long and prosper). The crew of the Enterprise might have gone “where no man has gone before”, but you’d have to be a hermit to not know that Captain Kirk (William Shatner) went to space in October aboard one of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin New Shepard flights. Sort of what goes around comes around. Now the hot TV property is some bizarre program from South Korea called The Squid Game. I keep reading about it, but I have no desire to investigate.
The seventies Age of Aquarius was known for peace, harmony and understanding. Words like trust and love were guiding principles. Sadly, today’s age is known for stress, anxiety and anger. Trust has taken flight. Let’s hope that the next Blue Origin expedition can find it again up near the edge of space.
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