I have previously written a piece about the 1851 Great Exhibition in London in an astrological context. It is probably coincidental but at this exact time there was one other less well publicised and rather odd occurrence in Prussia, in what is now northern Germany.
This strange Caucasian spoke what sounded like an unusual German dialect, but he also stated that he spoke Abramian and Laxarian, the official written and spoken languages of his country. Jophar was also nominally Christian, which he described as Ispatian.
He called the country of his origin Laxaria, in a region of the world called Sakria. However, when asked to locate his home on a map he could not do so. He stated that his country was hundreds of miles away, that the reason for his voyage was to locate his long lost brother, and that he had been shipwrecked en route. He described his world as having several regions, namely Sakria, Aflar, Astar, Auslar, and Euplar.
It appears that the authorities in Frankfurt believed his story and he was taken to the Prussian capital of Berlin for further examination. As far as I can tell, it is not known officially what happened to him.
Parallel Universe?
So what are we to make of this strange case? Many have speculated that it was either a hoax or even an example of the existence of parallel universes.
The fact that Jophar could speak a kind of broken German is interesting. Whilst Laxaria does not suggest too much to me, the name of his country or region, Sakria, may be suggestive.
In our known histories the Scythians, a people who appeared in a broad region north of the Black and Caspian Seas around 2,500 years ago, were also known as Saka, or Sacae. The word Saxon may originate from this. These people were fierce warriors and metalsmiths of great skill. It was these same people who were to later move en masse to central and northern Europe, speaking a form of the Indo European language related to modern day German and other Germanic languages.
Not of this World
So whilst Jophar Vorin does not appear to have been a time traveller, it is odd that he could converse in a form of broken German.
The other regions of his world which he named as Aflar, Astar, Auslar, and Euplar, have prefixes at least tenuously related to some continents of our world, namely Africa, Asia, Australasia and Europe.
One of the languages of his people he described as Abramian, which is clearly related to Abram, or Abraham, perhaps hinting of a link to Hebrew origins. Abram means ‘high father’ in Hebrew, whilst Abraham means ‘father of many’ nations.
Multiple Timelines
This unusual individual’s Christian name, Jophar, is also similar to Joseph, which some people called him at the time. But it is even closer to Japheth, one of Noah’s sons, whose name means something like ‘wide expansion’ – highly appropriate considering much of today’s humanity is still believed by many to be descended from Japheth and his two brothers, Ham and Shem.
What is more, Noah’s ark is said to have come aground in the Mountains of Ararat (Genesis 8:4), exactly between the Black and Caspian Seas, where the Scythian (Saka, Sacae) people were to develop centuries later.
Jophar’s second name, Vorin, sounds almost Slavic, though this may be a genuine coincidence, unless you are a particular fan of Star Wars mythology.
Speculation
So whilst some speculate that here may be proof of parallel universes, the existence of multiple timelines is also interesting and of course related. Is it possible that these timelines occasionally cross over or meet, allowing some to intentionally or accidentally pass through?
We might speculate that Jophar’s own timeline diverged from the one we are currently on around 2,500 years ago. Maybe his country of Laxaria developed from the Saka, or Sacae and followed a divergent course to our own.
If the Sacae (Scythians) were speaking a form of proto German, that may explain how he could, at least to some degree, converse with the Prussians of the mid 19th century, who were in part descended from the Scythians.
Allegorical
The world he knew had clearly developed along very different lines to our own, even though his religion, Ispatian as he called it, was apparently Christian.
Finally, it strikes me as highly allegorical that the reason for his voyage was to find a long lost brother. Maybe Jophar was as surprised as those who questioned him to discover he could make himself understood. What if he had actually found his long lost brother, not a single individual, but a ‘brother’ people?
Hoax or true story? We will probably never know for sure, yet it is endlessly fascinating.
“But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their word will eat as does a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.” Sha’ul (2 Timothy 2: 16-18) A…
My family and I visited Prague in the summer of 2019, and while it’s been a year since then, I haven’t been able to properly talk about the cities we visited. If you want to see my posts on some other cities we visited on our trip, I’ll link them below! Budapest (Photography Series) Why […]
The older among us may remember the clarion calls of the late Sixties, the so-called cultural revolution, pronouncements that the New Age of Aquarius was dawning, an age of peace, love and freedom. So what happened?
Furthermore, speaking as an Aquarian sun native myself, although I strongly recognise certain accepted traits of the fixed air sign within myself, such as detachment and forward thinking, I have never felt comfortable with some of the more eccentric and bizarre character associations of Aquarius and this supposed Aquarian Age.
In reality, no one knows when this Aquarian Age will begin. Maybe it already has. The dates suggested have ranged from late medieval times to anywhere as far ahead as 2300 AD. Not so precise, is it?
What’s It All About?
And what is it all about anyway? It’s all to do with the phenomena called the Precession of the Equinoxes. Each zodiac sign is a thirty degree segment of the ecliptic, which is the apparent path of the sun around the earth. There is a zodiac sign behind the very slowly receding point of the Vernal Equinox around March 21 every year. This is all part of The Great Year, a period of time of almost 2600 years, where each sign takes a bit over 2000 years to recede behind this Equinoctal point. This is caused by the earth’s ‘wobble’ as the sky spins at an angle of 23.4 degrees around the pole star, from our perspective.
At this present time, we are said to be somewhere around the transition of the sign of Pisces, the fishes, into Aquarius, the male watercarrier. The past 2000 years of the Age of Pisces have been dominated by the sign of the fishes, Christianity. Christ has often been symbolised by the fish, ichthys in ancient Greek, where each letter encapsulates the divinity of the Saviour. The fish symbol was important to early Christians hiding from authorities who regarded them as a danger, even subversives.
Controversial
Naturally, such a supposition of astrological signs ‘affecting’ human culture is controversial. Admittedly, there were plenty of other events going on in the world over the past 2000 years that were not tied to Christianity. Considering this, and the massive time window given to the threshold of this Aquarian Age, I have long since been cynical about this particular astrological theory.
But I am willing to concede I may be wrong. I am a practising astrologer. I am also a realist. To make prognostications as to whether we are in, or are about to enter the Age of Aquarius, we should surely be clear as to what we should expect to see. Firstly, I do not agree with all people’s interpretations as to the character of the sign of Aquarius. Peace, love, freedom and understanding may be all fine ideals, but are they Aquarian? And have we seen any of this since the late Sixties, for example? I will let you be the judge of that.
Uranian Upheaval
One of the problems is that since around 1781, with the discovery of Uranus, most astrologers have come to put this outer planet at least equal to, or above that of Aquarius’ traditional ruler, Saturn. I think this is a mistake. I concur that Uranus certainly does have a revolutionary influence, causes sudden changes, often turning things upside down in the process. But is this in any way Aquarius, the Fixed Air sign? I strongly contend it is not.
So I don’t believe Uranus has ‘rulership’ of any sign and neither do Neptune and Pluto. They are generational influences because they move slowly through the signs, Pluto taking around 248 years, influences we have become consciously aware of since their discovery (or perhaps rediscovery).
The Two Faces of Saturn
For me Saturn has two sides. After all, apart from the sun and Moon, every planet down to Saturn was given rulership over two signs: Mercury rules Gemini and Virgo, for instance. So on one level Saturn may be Satan, the Greater Malefic, virtually evil personified as in the ancient myth of Cronos (Saturn) devouring his own children. On another level, he is the symbol of limitation, for ages considered to be the outermost planet and therefore symbolising a kind of barrier, the furthest reach, where all things are stopped, crystalised and slowly brought back. He is a kind of brake, bringing things down to solid earth so they can be accounted for. The latter I suggest is the Capricornian Saturn, a necessary function of life.
The other side of Saturn is the one which has rulership of Aquarius, the more ‘positive’ side. Aquarius is traditionally the sign of hopes, dreams and wishes, in other words objectivity as opposed to Leo’s subjectivity of sheer life enhancement. If Leo is artistic, Aquarius is scientific, liking to rationalise, codify. The same fundamentally materialistic Saturn, which is associated with the cardinal earth sign of Capricorn, shows this more ‘positive face’ in Aquarius. He is objective, the planner of the future, a practical idealist, as befits the fixed air sign of serious communication and association. Aquarius is fundamentally human. The outright eccentricity often tagged to Aquarius is wrong in my opinion. Strong aspects from Uranus to the planets or angles in a personal chart, would most likely explain any eccentricities of nature.
So, if this indeed be the case, any age of Aquarius would reflect the serious, objective and associative qualities of that sign. These are conspicuous by their absence at the present time.
The Grand Conjunction
That said, what we do have towards the end of this year, 2020, is the Grand Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurring at 0 degrees Aquarius. The Grand Conjunction of these two planets represents a cultural correction point every twenty years, setting a general theme for the up and coming period. This on top of the ‘earth shattering’ Saturn Pluto conjunctions earlier in the year, so symbolic of the nadir of political and economic turmoil and you have a year of major significance, a year of historic transition and migration, if you will. I feel this has nothing to do with entering any new astrological age ruled by Aquarius, with all the ill defined thresholds of each sign within the Great Astrological Year of about 2600 years.
The occurrence of this Grand Conjunction every twenty years or so, invariably, although not necessarily wholly, migrates from one element to another every 150 to 200 years. For the last 180 years, apart from 1980/1, the GC has occurred in earth signs. From this year of 2020, it will be within the air signs of Gemini, Libra and Aquarius for around 140 years. This will be a major transition, marking a cultural shift, a probable explosion of philosophical and spiritual thought and technological progress, as befits the communicative and expansive air signs.
So from 2020 right through well into next century, we will undoubtedly undergo a vast, and, I truly hope, positive transformation, perhaps akin to what we are told about in the Renaissance. Precursing that time, during the 13th and early 14th centuries, there was a similar preponderance of Grand Conjunctions occurring in air signs.
Momentous Times
I believe that right now, in 2020, as we are currently living through one of the most momentous times in ‘history’. We are indeed at the threshold of a new age, a new cycle, which bears much renewed hope for humanity. At a time in the near future, we will be able to look back at this hiatus point with a bit more Aquarian objectivity.
What is more, bearing in mind that by the middle of this decade we will see all the outer planets in ‘positive’ signs too, the world of 2025 and beyond is going to feel wholly different than right now. By then, Uranus will be in Gemini, bringing great invention to technology and all forms of communication. Neptune will be in Aries and Pluto will move in Aquarius, both lengthy transits forever changing our ideas about humanity and spirituality, who we are as individuals and how we relate to the collective ‘universe’ – and revealing the truth as to what that universe and this reality actually are.
The Age of Air
What I don’t believe is that this is the much vaunted Age of Aquarius. If anything, we are entering the Age of Air Signs and everything to do with that element, which on the face of it is far more positive than all the earth energy we have been experiencing over the last 180 years, a truly extended period of denseness and negativity. The Saturn Pluto conjunction of 2020 represents the death knell of this ‘dark age’, where gross materialism has ruled outright and brought us literally to our knees.
The Grand Conjunction’s cycle in Air signs from December 21 2020, marks the beginning of the free – freer, more candid, fairer communication and justice as expressed through Libra; the rolling out of advanced technology for the benefit of humanity and the planet, as expressed through Gemini; and, firstly, a more planned, objective approach to administering the world and its resources, as expressed through Aquarius and positive Saturn. Let’s make it so.
