What is the Turning of the Ages
During any Turning of the Ages, we are akin to the Merlin, the Magi, or the priestesses of Avalon, and all who knew, like now, when there was such a great turning.
Our school’s founder, Daniel Giamario coined this phrase in the 1980’s as an outgrowth of repeated experiences of the night sky within a ceremonial context, global astronomical and astrological research, and an ever evolving understanding of the larger calendric cycles. Few astrologers in the 1970’s and 1980’s were working directly with a knowledge and experience of the night sky; astrology had become primarily an intellectual and left-brain exercise, without much organic connection to Earth and Sky.
The book, Hamlet’s Mill, written in 1969, was the very first mention of an extremely interesting phenomenon, that the December Solstice (or 0 Capricorn) would intersect with the galactic plane of our galaxy (known as the Milky Way), at the location in the sky where it intersects with the plane of the solar system (known by astronomers as the ecliptic, or also the visible pathway of the Sun). This is between the constellations of Scorpius (the Scorpion) and Sagittarius (the Archer). 1962-2034 is the time-frame when this occurs, and only once every 26,000 years, or one precessional cylcle.
Throughout the 1980’s, together with a colleague, Raymond Mardyks, they brought these cosmological understandings into mainstream astrology. Mardyks favored the term “Galactic Alignment”, whilst Daniel used “the Turning of the Ages”.
The foundational basis of this understanding is the great precessional cycle of 25,820 years (using the calculation of astronomer Guy Ottewell.) The ancients, as far back as Plotinus, and Hipparchus before that, became aware of the precessional cycle, but not its accurate length, or connection to a greater Turning of the Ages. Even the well known astrologer Dane Rudhyar had not noticed the phenomenon in relation to Solstices and Equinoxes. The precessional cycle, a result of the wobble of the Earth in space that produces the effect of having different North stars over long periods of time, and of different constellations showing up in different seasons, did, in fact, create the awareness of the concept of different “Ages:”, like the Age of Taurus, and the current controversies about the Age of Aquarius.
This is a deep and complex subject for which TOTAMS has dedicated an entire on-line course: Cosmology: Navigating the Night Sky. Having always been at the forefront of this area of research, TOTAMS can give you the best education possible to understand this most important topic. This includes a deep understanding of the variety of different zodiacs, and how we have integrated it all into a practical astrological and astronomical frame-work that is viable and useful for our current times.
The bottom line, and why we are named the Turning of The Ages Mystery School (TOTAMS) is that Global Humanity is at an extremely rare and important turning point. It is quite possible that we are at the end and beginning of 12 times 12 precessional cycles, or over 300,000 years (the current leading edge knowledge of how long our species has been on Earth). Each of these cycles also has a correspondence with the Indian civilization’s views about the Yuga cycles. Furthermore, there is a synchronous correlation with the prophecies and understandings of a wide variety of indigenous cultures. Many timelines are now converging: The end of the Fifth Sun (Mayan/Hopi), Mayan calendar considerations, the end of Kali Yuga, and the end of at least one precessional cycle. From a non astrological perspective the United States and the Crown Colony “West” are at the end of a Fourth Turning (2024-2025). Last, but not least, is the increasing talk of a sixth mass extinction with the end of the Anthropocene.
TOTAMS believes that we offer valuable, appropriate and practical tools for understanding and navigating these times. We seek to value the best of global humanity’s knowledge and experience, and to expand our view beyond the confines of any cultural relativity. As such, we see the importance of valuing all the places on the wheel of life, and are committed to assisting with the realization of life purpose of individuals and the greater collective.
During any Turning of the Ages, we are akin to the Merlin, the Magi, or the priestesses of Avalon, and all who knew, like now, when there was such a great turning. We also respect and gather inspiration from Dane Rudhyar’s vision of the creation of “seed people”. Like Dane Rudhyar, TOTAMS believes that this is a necessity, to be prepared, and to be able to contribute, in case of any eventuality. This requires the ability to value the most important contributions of the past, be totally honest about what is happening right now, and also to be completely open to the new transmissions that are coming into play at this time. This is nothing less, than to be committed to participating in a renaissance, a great rebirth of the original vision of global humanity. In Dane Rudhyar’s words, this is the “planetarization of consciousness”. Or, in the great expression of C.G.Jung: “To dream the vision onwards!”