A Look Ahead at 2004
From a Conscious Evolution Perspective

by Gregory Ellison

Welcome to the fourth year of the new millennium!

For those of us who believe that humanity is in the midst of a radical transformation of consciousness, the events of the past year provided ample evidence that the state of the world is indeed in major flux … and the outlook for 2004 portends even more radical changes to the world around us.

There is a new militarism rampant in the world and we’ve been told to prepare for “decades” of war on terrorism … and that many of our cherished rights and liberties must be surrendered as part of the cost. We’ve seen our security eroded by a deeply troubled economy and growing joblessness. We’ve witnessed corruptions and scandals in the highest levels of government and business, and we’ve seen the perpetrators go unpunished while the corrupt systems keep growing. We’ve seen international agreements break down on everything from free trade to U.N. resolutions to the Geneva Convention, while militant nationalism roars ever louder. We’ve seen power outages on an unprecedented scale, major disruptions of weather patterns, threatening and unexpected solar flares, staggering loss of life from earthquakes and geological disturbances. Small wonder that 2003 has left us with an uneasy feeling of insecurity, as if the stable ground beneath our feet has given way to quicksand.

Into this troubled and uncertain world situation is born the New Year 2004, vibrating numerologically to “6,” the number of love. How dearly we wish this would signify the dissolution of all the conflict and strife in the world!

But the number 6 also expresses the energy of the astrological 6th House and Virgo, the archetypes of work and service. If the year is to be a turning point in our quest for world peace and love — as we hope it will — we will have to work for it.

Just days before the new year, Uranus — the planet of liberation and revolution — entered the sign of Pisces, significator of both universal spirituality and deception/illusion! At the same time, it formed a special connection called mutual reception with its outer planet neighbor Neptune: for the next seven years Uranus will pass through the sign that Neptune rules (Pisces) while Neptune passes through the sign that Uranus rules (Aquarius). This is a powerful relationship that conjoins and amplifies the influence of both planets … and interestingly, the connection remains in effect until just before the 2012 “end of time” marked by the end of the Mayan calendar and other prophetic writings!

Archetypally, Uranus could be said to represent science, while Neptune represents spirituality. The message of this mutual reception is that science and spirituality must learn to accept and interact with each other in order to progress beyond the current era!

Transcendance is always about the union of “opposites.” As long as science looks upon spirituality as superstition and spirituality looks upon science as materialistic illusion, we will be unable to see and participate in the higher reality in which science and spirituality are but two different aspects of natural law. But it is only from this awareness that the ability to create our own reality has any meaning. To bring about meaningful change in the human condition, we must work through both science and spirit: applying our physical technology and rational skills to the attainment of spiritual ends — namely the compassionate care of our fellow living beings, in the name of Love. Without this union, science is applied only to the attainment of material ends, such as the amassing of wealth and power, while spirituality is applied only to otherworldly concerns, such as the hope of paradise in the hereafter.

Here lies the work and challenge laid out for us by the mutual reception of Uranus and Neptune at the start of this year: we must demand of ourselves (and our leaders) that our science, technology and organized “practical” actions align with spiritual ends, always. How easily do we accept corruption in business, deceit in politics and brutality in war on the premise that they are “practical” necessities in the “real” world? We may denounce the lies of a politician we oppose, but justify those of our favored leaders on the grounds that “compromise is necessary” in politics, or that the means justify the ends in the pursuit of worthwhile goals. We may jump on the bandwagon when a corruption scandal points to a prominent public figure, but we tolerate the corruption of countless others who are after all only practicing the ethics taught in our business schools and glorified in our media, that the bottom line is the only thing that really matters in business. How often do we engage in such corruption ourselves, perhaps on a smaller scale like stretching the truth to make the sale? How willing are we to tolerate injustice to others as long as our own comfort and security are not threatened?

There is a saying in Alcoholics Anonymous and other spiritually-based recovery programs: “Fake it till you make it,” meaning that to reach a state of freedom from alcohol or other addictions it is necessary to act “as if” you were already free of the influence, until the act becomes the reality. The same holds true for conscious evolution. If we want to grow to that higher state of awareness where the duality of matter and spirit dissolves in the unity of spiritual love, we must act “as if” that were already the reality we inhabit, in everything we think and say and do.

And, as we think and speak and act, so shall it be.

There are many reasons to believe that 2004 and the following years will be a period of planet-wide spiritual transformation, including the Uranus-Neptune mutual reception, the Harmonic Concordance of late last year (highlighted in the Harmonic Concordance article in this issue of metamorphosis), and many others. Upcoming articles this year will examine many of these indications from the perspectives of science and spirituality, evolutionary astrology, and unique insights from different religious traditions, metaphysical studies and spiritual paths. But as the numerological 6 of the year implies, it will be a transformation won through hard work: both the shoulder-to-the-grindstone work of keeping on keeping on in trying circumstances and hard times without losing heart or hope, and the “inner” work of spiritual meditation or practice in our own chosen path, to align our thoughts, actions and expectations with the spiritual vision we seek to bring about.

May the coming year see you succeed brilliantly in your own conscious evolution!