Ecliptic. In addition it librates, or tilts slowly back and forth, with respect to the Invariable
Plane. This has the effect of slightly changing the backward rate of motion of 0° Aries - the
Equinox: now speeding it, and again retarding it. The variation is such that the general
Precession - the actual as opposed to the Mean motion of the Equinox - can be plus or minus,
by 281.2y, that of the Soli-Lunar Precession of 25,694.8y. Thus it can occur at rates of from
25,413.6y to 25,976 1/2 years. Observe that this range of variation includes: the present rate,
25,868y; the period mentioned by Plato, 25,920 years; and that memorialized in the Great
Pyramid of the Egyptians, 25,827½y.
Another effect of this variation is the lag and lead, plus or minus 3°56', of the variable
Equinox with respect to the steady poles. As the line of intersection of Ecliptic and Invariable
Plane was at right angles to that of the Equinox at the time of Christ, this discrepancy had its
maximum value and the Equinox led the pole. If we count back about 281 years before the
three year Mission of Christ ended in the Crucifixion and Resurrection, 28 A.D., we reach
early 254 B.C. as the approximate time when the Moving and Fixed Zodiacs coincided. This
is in close agreement with the date 255 B.C., given by Gerald Massey, based on his extensive
knowledge of Hebraic and Egyptian Culture. This may be regarded as a period of transition,
whose midpoint came about 115 B.C., not greatly at variance with the date, 97 B.C.,
advanced by Rudhyar, and 125 B.C., by Thierens, for the start of the Piscean Age. It indicates
that on the basis of actual motion the Aquarian Age commenced about 1906, although the
Pole will not reach this point until about 2170 A.D. It is notable in this connection that a
Great Cardinal Cross of the major planets, similar to that at the time of Christ, 25 A.D., took
place on January 11, 1910, with Mars and Saturn again in Aries, and again opposing Jupiter
in Libra; but with the positions of Uranus and Neptune interchanged - ranus in Capricorn,
where Neptune had been, and vice versa. Instead of a Full Moon on the Jupiter-Saturn arm of
the Cross, there was a new Moon on the Uranus-Neptune arm, conjoining Uranus, the planet
of the Aquarian Age, and Mercury and Venus were both in Aquarius and both direct -
significant of the New Era now commencing. In 25 A.D. Neptune, the planet of the Piscean
Age, had the Capricorn position, with both Mercury and Venus in Pisces, and both
Retrograde.
The overall pattern seems to piece together a number of factors, and the Precession emerges
as a cycle of great vitality (v. Cycles). The entrance of the Equinox into Aquarius and the
Great Cross of 1910 thus account for the tremendous changes and readjustments now taking
place in this predominantly Uranian cycle of transition in which we live - which gains added
importance perhaps, through the fact that only in the past two Centuries have the extra-
Saturnian planets been discovered. An additional significator of the crucial importance of the
present Era is the fact that the Meta-Galactic Plane, the Milky Way, is crossing the plane of
the Equator at 0° Cancer- Capricorn, thus making another Cross with the Equinox. The Cross
is the symbol not only of crisis and readjustment, but also of "crossing over" from one phase
of evolution into another. Therefore the start (Polar) of the Piscean Age and (Equinoctial) of
the Aquarian Age are heralded by rare cosmic crosses that mark the Epoch as of unique
significance in the evolution of humanity, wherein Man is stimulated by new energies.