by Nick Owens, Agent 37

This article was first published on 11 April 2010 at the old C*I*A – Zone X blog.

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

There is one over-riding change of consciousness that needs to occur in coming years, which perhaps contains all the others.  That change is a re-enchantment of the world.

When we look to past periods of time with Pluto in Capricorn, there seems to be a theme of coming to terms with the real measure of the world e.g. Meron determining the solsticial points in 440 BCE, Eratosthenes measuring the distance between the Sun and Earth in 200 BCE, the Anno Domini numbering system of years first being used in 532, the invention of zero around 550, Magellan’s Vittoria circumnavigating the world in 1522, the solving of the longitude at sea problem with Greenwich Observatory’s Nautical Almanac and Harrison’s chronometer circa 1770.

Another theme is establishing lasting structures, e.g. the Parthenon (438 BCE), the Great Wall of China (approx. 200 BCE), the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul (537), the Great Mosque at Cordoba (795).

And of course we have the coming to terms with the rotten and dysfunctional nature of large institutions which have become more interested in their own byzantine hierarchies and rules than in the function they are supposed to fulfil (e.g. the splitting of the Roman Empire by Diocletian and the establishment of the tetrarchy in 293, the Reformation (Luther nailing his theses to the church door in 1517), the American Revolution and foundation of the USA in 1776).

So I suppose what unites these themes is a compulsion to examine the nature of the chthonic realm, the world of limits and measure, of form, of substance, of social order and governance, and to tell the truth about it, to declare the facts of the matter come what may, and to use this as a basis on which to construct something better that will stand the test of time.  If this is true, then what should we be examining now?  I think it is our conception of planetary community, of global governance, of worldwide structures and their measure (e.g. population, resource supplies, ecological complexity, climate).  But also our notions of traditional authority and who wields it (the Church, corporate power, military forces, political parties).

I think holding people in positions of authority to account for their actions will be important in coming years.  The increasing sense that structures of governance have failed people (banks stealing taxpayers’ money and social security entitlements, pensions etc., the Catholic Church refusing to take ownership of its problem with sexuality, corporations and governments completely disinterested in the looming catastrophe of climate change and resource depletion) and that they need to be totally transformed, is already palpable.  There is a sense that elites are running scared, that they sense an appetite for revolution amongst the masses.

So I think its about re-defining what it means to be responsible in the world.  Traditional borders and geopolitical structures will need to be re-examined.  Local community governance will become more important (but with this will necessarily come increased individual responsibility towards one’s local community).  This will also involve a re-appraisal of holistic thinking, of communitarian politics, of inclusiveness and a long-overdue reorientation towards nature and the feminine.  Indeed, one of the burning issues will be ‘who’s in charge?’, who is directing the changes that we want to see, that are so urgent?  This is governance, and it will be transformed – I think less emphasis on paternalistic traditions and forms, and more willingness to build on truly representative forms of political representation (where men, women and children all have political agency).

The Mosque at Cordoba

Where does the re-enchantment come from, then?  I think it gradually arises from our dawning awareness of our profound responsibility (indeed our holy, sacred, responsibility) to tend the planetary matrix, to look after it, indeed to submit to its grandeur and its overwhelming power, to see ourselves as embedded within it, not lording over it and exploiting it.  It is a transformation in our conception of power-relations with our environment, a re-envisioning of a natural order that contains us, envelops us, nurtures us, sustains us (as opposed to a virgin body-land ready for violation and use).  This re-equilibration of the power balance is inherently a spiritual renaissance, because it grants agency and purpose to the natural world in which we live.  It acknowledges an ‘other’ as opposed to a narcissistic reflection of the self.