Neptune In Pisces Part 2

The cycles of Neptune correlate well with major changes and reforms in the areas of medicine and our philosophical context within nature. That is, our relationship with the rest of nature. A retrospective look over the last eight hundred years or so, the beginnings of modern science with the introduction of the Hindi decimal numeric scheme, the last five transits of Neptune around the Sun, takes us back to the commencement of the reign of King John (Plantagenet). Here we come to a time when the Magna Carta was signed, forfeiting the ultimate power of the king to be subject to his lords. In all it proved to be more of a gesture than any lasting reform but set in train the idea of the king being of service to his subjects rather than the other way around. In this same era, Oxford University first opened its doors where previously education was attained through the Cathedral Schools and before this through the double monasteries. The professors at university, like monks, took a vow of chastity in order to devote themselves totally to the holy work of discovery. A funny aside to this was that the development of university education led to the development of societal prostitution. Oxford university’s first vice chancellor, Robert Grosseteste, championed the development of science with pioneering work into the nature of light and optics and he tutored Roger Bacon. Aside from these endeavours, he was extremely strict about the chasteness of his academics and religious men, targeting nuns who were suspected of promiscuity. In his regular inspections of the nuns where he would have his priests to squeeze the nun’s nipples for signs of lactation. He felt the perfect life at Oxford university would be one where women and families were entirely absent, to not distract and exclusive male world.

Within society there were many other upheavals including the expulsion of the Jews from England and Europeans being first introduced to the compass, a Chinese invention, leading to the first European attempts to sail across the Atlantic beginning with the Vikings. The new era marked the birth of Genghis Khan and the expansion of the Mongol Empire. The largest the world had seen. The Tartars or Mongols also invaded Europe with small field guns utilizing the Chinese invention of gunpowder which they had used for mining. The Mongols were well organized, had spies and so knew the state of Poland and Hungary prior to overtaking them. They came in swiftly on horseback and despite their success they left owing to many factors including the tricky mountainous terrain where they had been used to the plains. Also the reign of Manco Capac who founded the Inca Empire. Then within the Catholic Church, the orders of the Franciscans and the Dominicans were established, challenging the church leaders to accept the broader principles of charity, chastity and poverty as well as notions of extending love and compassion to all creatures.

Towards the end of this cycle came the Black Plague, the purging of Western society in which half the population died in the space of two years. The following cycle further challenged the Catholic Church with the Western Schism where the power of the church was divided and the Renaissance began. The fall from grace of the Catholic Church though would take much longer although the divide had commenced and such leaders as Martin Luther helped to secure the split within the Catholic Church between northern and southern Europe with the Reformation. In this cycle came the initial colonial expansion of Europe and the fall of the Incan Empire under the Spanish with Pizarro. The Reformation gave rise to Puritanism where the ordinary life had to encompass the glory of God. With this came personal responsibility for one’s own salvation and so one’s moral duty to save themselves and not rely upon pardons given by the Church for their sins.

Puritanism also compelled the necessity to stamp out disorder within society providing the ruling elite with the justification to enforce this when necessary in the face of the unruly masses. Towards the end of this cycle the final showdown between Science versus Renaissance Magick and the Occult Arts played out. The Occult held a model of the universe where everything was connected by a universal soul, operating like a single organism. As the Occult Arts were the precursor to natural philosophy and science, it was necessary for science to distance itself from its murky past in order to rise within society to become the sovereign holder of truth. It achieved this through two men, Mersenne and Gassendi, who developed a mechanical model of the universe to counter the one held by the Occult. This image found great favour with the Church and so was then accepted by the broader community.