The Age of Aquarius: We are No Longer Tolerating Systems that Seek to Oppress Humanity.

(Une exécution capitale, la place de la Révolution (c. 1793) by Pierre-Antoine Demachy; Pierre-Antoine Demachy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

*TW: mentions of suicide and abuse

In astrology, Pluto is the planet of transformation, death and rebirth and Aquarius is the sign that symbolises humanity and collective care.It is associated with technical advancements and breakthroughs and brings change to society on a mass scale. The last time this transit happened was 1777-1798 in which this time brought us The French Revolution and many other various periods of change that shaped the world we live in today. Pluto entered Aquarius for the first time since then on March 23rd 2023 and will be there to stay until 2044 bringing a new cycle of change and energy for the next 20 years.

As Pluto was nearing closer to Aquarius there has been a rapid growth of discourse in regards to some of the broken systems that are no longer being tolerated amongst us. Already there has been a surge in acts of rebellion in desperation for change such as key workers all over the United Kingdom striking because they can't afford to keep working without change. There is also growing awareness of the 4b movement in South Korea in which the women are so tired of the patriarchy they are abandoning it altogether an outright refusing to adhere to any of the roles that system has assigned for them. I have hopes that in the next 20 years, we all channel our collective rage and turn towards the systems that seeks to make this world unfair and painful.

I’m very vocal about my hatred for the patriarchy because I feel the failures of it so deeply but I am also very aware of the intersectionality of it. When growing up with only negative impressions of what men are like, I’ve become a very fearful adult in which my hatred towards men is in the guise of fear. The way the world so desperately cling onto reinforcing a masculine world has now led to devastating results in which 76% of suicides rates are men. These statistics are alarming. The world is so large yet holds little to no space for men to talk about their feelings which has led it to become a global issue because when internalised it leads to life threatening outcomes both towards men themselves and to others. With the patriarchy emphasising on masculinity, when men do feel big feelings that the systems deem ‘weak’, it them alchemises into more dangerous manifestations such as violence and anger.

Whilst the world is ‘seemingly’ more welcoming towards the LGBTQ+ community, the increase of toxic masculinity at the same time is not a mere coincidence. Masculinity and femininity are not tied to genders or sex but instead an energy that lives within all of us. They are states of being that as humans, we need to flow in and out of fluidly. As the patriarchy needs the world to be divided in a binary way, it forces people to conform to the energy most correlated to their sex. Men’s refusal to tap into their femininity is in fear of facing the social scrutiny of being deemed ‘gay’ which further highlights the problem of homophobia and how it is still prevalent despite it seemingly not on an external level. Calling men who aren’t afraid to play with their feminine energy ‘gay’ stems from homophobia and misogyny which then reinforces the patriarchal values.

Both masculine and feminine energies are crucial to the world we live in an we need a balance not on a binary level between men and women but amongst people. Neither one or the other is superior and when they work in unity together, that is when there is peace and balance. I am hoping as we enter the Age of Aquarius that we really go back to the core of humanity and what that means because I often go so long without seeing genuine acts of humanity that I often grieve of a world that I’ve never encountered. I’m not the only one who operates on the basis of fear but we need to look towards the systems that operated and thrived on levels of injustice and oppression. It has affected us all collectively on a subconscious level and we need to bring those feelings to the surface and use that anger to rebel and call for change.

Nicole