The Rules.

                            

Making Them and Breaking Them:

When it comes to religion there are two types of people:

Rule makers
and
Rule breakers.

These two types are represented in astrology by the planets Saturn (rule-makers) and Uranus (rule-breakers).

These are represented in Judaism by the House of Judah (Saturn) and the House of Joseph (Uranus) - the two Kingdoms of Israel.

"The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, take a stick and write on it, 'For Judah, and the Israelites associated with it', then take another stick and write on it, ' for Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with it', and join them together into one stick, so that they may become one in your hand."  Ezekiel 37: 15-17 (NRSV)

This passage from Ezekiel foretells God's intention to join the two Kingdoms of Israel into one nation.

The astrological sign of Aquarius is co-ruled by Saturn and Uranus - the rule-makers and the rule-breakers.

These two positions must be reconciled into one for the Age of Aquarius to begin.

Interestingly there is an asteroid called Chiron which orbits between the planets Saturn and Uranus, moving from inside the orbit of Saturn to outside the orbit of Uranus.

Chiron in mythology was a centaur.
He was a wise teacher and healer.
He trained many heroes and healers.

He was wounded by an poisoned arrow from Hercules but could not heal the wound and replaced Prometheus in Hades.  He was later lifted to the stars by Zeus.

Thus Chiron is called the Wounded Healer.

There are many wounds between Saturn and Uranus - these two forces often clash violently causing wounds - as we have seen in the recent Culture Wars.

Perhaps in the Age of Aquarius these wounds may be healed and a lasting peace established.

And so we have Religious Traditionalists (Saturn) and Religious Progressives (Uranus).

But could there be a third force - the Healers.

Jesus himself was a healer and sometimes he was a rule-maker and other times he was a rule-breaker.

He said, "'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.'"  Matthew 5:9 (NRSV)

As the two sons Judah and Joseph had one father, Jacob, so traditionalists and progressives have one Father - the one in heaven.

So, rather than claiming exclusivity, we should recognize that we are brothers equally loved by God.

Neither of us is perfect and neither of us is preferred.

And so we take the best of both worlds - the best of traditional religion and the best of progressive religion - and synergize them into a rainbow of views across the religious spectrum.

We must tolerate each others' views without trying to force others to conform to our view.

Then, perhaps, we may see the beginnings of peace.


[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]    

Photo Credit: Roberto Verzo via Compfight cc