Earth's three motions give us our three basic time frames or cycles; 1: the Earth's rotation around its inner central sun gives us our day; 2: the Earth's orbit around our Sun(Sol) gives us our year; and 3: the Earth's wobble gives us our Great Year. This is depicted below(times and dates are rounded off for simplicity).

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6-8AM

8-10AM

10-Noon

Noon-2PM

2-4PM

4-6PM

6-8PM

8-10PM

10-Mid

Mid-2AM

2-4AM

4-6AM

Mar.21- Apr.20

Apr.21- May.21

May 22- Jun.22

Jun.23- Jul.22

Jul.23- Aug.22

Aug.23- Sep.22

Sep.23- Oct.22

Oct.23- Nov.21

Nov.22- Dec.21

Dec.22- Jan.19

Jan.20- Feb.18

Feb.19- Mar.20

Age of Aries 2000BC- 0000AD

Age of Taurus 4000BC- 2000BC

Age of Gemini 6000BC- 4000BC

Age of Cancer 8000BC- 6000BC

Age of Leo 10,000BC -8000BC

Age of Virgo 12,000BC- 10,000BC

Age of Libra 14,000BC- 12,000BC

Age of Scorpio 16,000BC- 14,000BC

Age of Sagittarius 18,000BC- 16,000BC

Age of Capricorn 20,000BC- 18,000BC

Age of Aquarius 2000AD- 4000AD

Age of Pisces 0000AD- 2000AD

The biblical injunction that a day is to the Lord as a year or a thousand years has an astronomical basis, based on our planet's three motions. The day, which is our most basic unit of time, is symbolic of many other time frames which regulate our lives, and is also the basis for progressions in astrology. There are in fact at least twelve basic time frames -one for every planet in our solar system, and each is complete in themselves. Earth gives us our day, the Moon our true month, and the Sun our year. Our seven day week is not presently accounted for in an astronomical sense. Mercury and Venus, geocentrically, are variants of the solar cycle, Mars is the 1.9 year cycle, Ceres 4.5 years, Jupiter about 12 years, Saturn almost 30, Uranus 84, Neptune 165, and Pluto just under 250. Recently discovered Eris gives us a 577 year cycle, and there are no doubt others ranging in the thousands of years.

Since we are concerned primarily with Earth, we will look at its three most important time cycles: the day, year, and great year(also called the Platonic year), which all work together nicely to peg or mark our time in the cosmos.

Our twenty-four hour day(which may not have always been twenty-four hours), has two main parts to it; twelve hours of daylight(average), and twelve hours of darkness. There is great symbolism here. Daytime corresponds to life, activity, conciousness, and the nobler qualities of existence, whereas darkness is death, inactivity(sleep), and unconciousness, or the less desirable elements or characteristics of life. We basically spend half our lives concious and productive and the other half unconcious or unproductive. Our daily wake/sleep cycle has its higher expression in our year, with spring and summer as the day or concious half, and the fall and winter as its night or unconcious self. Thanks to technology, we do not hibernate in the winter as most animals do, but the trait may be inherent. Both the day and year can also be looked at as micro versions of our lives; spring or getting up in the morning is like being born, whereas fall or going to sleep is like dying. The fact that we get up or go to sleep many times, and that spring and fall are recurring, strenghthens the case for reincarnation.

The day and year cycles are familliar to all of us, but the Earth's third basic cycle is not. This is because it is such a LONG cycle -some 26,000(or 24,000) years to be more specific! One would have to live a very long time indeed to become aware of this one, yet it is there, as much evidence seems to indicate. Most ancient cultures refer to this period which Plato and other great thinkers popularized. Just as one can tell that summer or winter is coming by the changing light and temperature of the passing days, so one can tell that the Long Night or Day is coming from similar slight changes over the years, decades, and centuries.

The current long-term global indication for the 21st century AD seems to be that we are going into more light and warmer temperatures overall. Many claim that we are on the verge of entering a new Golden Age, as was during the days of Atlantis in the Age of Leo, but this prediction may be inflated. According to the diagrams above, it is the Ages of Aries to Virgo(each Age is roughly 2000 years duration), which occupy the Day side of the Great Year cycle, that are more likely to produce a Golden Age. Of these six Ages, the three positive ones(marked by a +) are more favourable than the negative ones.

The diagrams also show that both the Age of Pisces and the Age of Aquarius are in the NIGHT side of the great cycle, and that it is far from over. The night side of the Great Year, in fact, appears to have STARTED with the Age of Pisces! The Age of Aquarius which we are supposedly moving into, being a positive age, will theoretically be better or more productive than the Age of Pisces, and will reflect(due to its axis alignment with the Age of Leo) much of that period's greatness, but it will still be far from the prophesied golden age. Then comes the Age of Capricorn(negative), followed by Sagittarius(positive), Scorpio(negative), and Libra(positive). With the Age of Virgo starts the Day side of the Great Year. All of this stands or falls on whether or not we are actually in the Age of Pisces. There are some theories that we are actually in some other Age.

Since every time cycle is represented by an astronomical body(the Earth our day, and the Sun our year), where is the body for the Great Year? This is still a mystery, but one that will soon be solved. The current conjecture is that our Sun(and it's binary) revolve around a common center of gravity in a period of some 24,000 years, and that this orbit is responsible for the Earth's wobble which in turn gives us our zodiacal Ages. Others, however, stick to the old notion that the Ages are a purely planetary phenomenon that may be caused by the planet's interior mechanism. Whatever the real cause, the impetus is on to resolve this Ages-old mystery which will have profound ramifications for us all.

The Hindu Yugas
(according to the Holy Science)