Apocalypse

Apocalypse

All the great prophetic traditions agree that we are now approaching the end of an age. The astrological calculation of the precession of the equinoxes tells us that we are passing from the era of Pisces into the age of Aquarius. Nostradamus, who in the sixteenth century predicted such things as the French Revolution, the rise of Hitler and both world wars, often in great detail, set the end of the epoch at about the year 2000. His prophecies, which cover 400 years, go no further than that time.*

Dozens of lesser prophets, all of whom have predicted events of this century from former times, see the period around the end of the century as the end of the world or of some great world-era.

A. Woldben has collected a number of these prophecies, and writes in an intrduction to them:

"They are culled from a number of sources and on the whole reveal a striking similarity about the chief events which will take place at the end of the century...

"According to all the prophecies, during the next thirty years the world will pass through terrible tribulations. The necessity of renewal will first lead to the destruction of everything we know in our present civilisation, to give way, in a second phase, to the building of a fundamentally different society."**

The Four Ages

Ancient Indian tradition going back to Madrian-matriarchal times speaks of a Great Year or Manvantara of 25,920 earthly years (this is equivalent to the astrological Great Year, since each zodiacal age lasts about 2,160 years and 2,160 x 12 = 25,420) divided into four ages or Yugas: Devpara-yuga, Tetra-yuga, Satya-yuga and Kali-yuga. We are now in the final phase of Kali-yuga.

This division corresponds to the four ages set out by the Greek historian Hesiod at the opening of the present yuga. He described them as the Age of Gold, the Age of Silver, the Age of Bronze and Age of Iron. It is significant that Hesiod, of all patriarchal writers, knew most about the Madrian-matriarchal ages, and describes the Silver Age specifically as matriarchal.

Both systems make it clear that the first age was the best and that each succeeding age saw a decline both in happiness and in spirituality.

Robert Graves, writing on the Greek tradition, says: "The myth of the Golden Age derives from a tradition of tribal subservience to the ... goddess ... The myth of the Silver Age also records matriarchal conditions ... Silver is the metal of the moon goddess ... the third race adopted the cult of the goddess and her son."

The four ages are not of the same length, but just as each age is inferior to its redecessor, so is each much shorter. The lengths are given as follows:–

Devpara-yuga 10,386 years
Tetra-yuga 7,776 years
Satya-yuga 5,184 years
Kali-yuga 2,592 years

Kali Yuga: The Tightening Grip of Matter

The primary tendency of our own era – Kali Yuga – is the dominance of matter over spirit, or to put it another way, of quantity over quality. In what is perhaps the best non-Madrian stufy of the condition of the modern world, Réné Guénon writes:–

"... our period could almost be defined as being essentially and primarily 'the reign of quantity'. This characteristic is chosen in preference to any other ... because of its truly fundamental nature ... and also because it is the particular tendency in question that leads to the lowest point of the 'descent' which proceeds continuously and with ever-increasing speed from the beginning to the end of a Manvantara ... the lowest point takes on the aspect of pure quantity deprived of every qualitative distinction."***

Guénon makes it clear that the reign of quanitty is not just a doctrine or idea, but a real change both in people and in their surroundings:–

"The materialist certitude, whether it be a question of explicit and formal materialism or of some simple 'practical' materialism necessarily imposes on the whole 'psycho-physiological' constitution of the human being a real and very important modification ... modern man (sic) has become impermeable to any real influences other than such as impinge on his (sic) senses."****

Guénon points out that this spiritual blindness in itself reinforces the profane point of view which created it in the first place. But beyond this, there is: "a sort of progressive 'materialisation' of the cosmic environment itself, and it is only when this 'materialisation' has reached a certain stage, by now very marked, that the materialistic concept can appear in man."*****

Guénon's analysis coincides in its conclusions with the prophecies: that we are fast approaching "the end of a whole Manvantara, and so of the temporal existence of what may rightly be termed a humanity." This does not necessarily mean the end of the physical world (though the means of such destruction are certainly now available). But it certainly means the destruction of all the tendencies of the past several thousand years and the 'opening' of a completely new principle.

Working from a different viewpoint, Elizabeth Gould David came to the same conclusion:–

"The rot of masculist materialism has indeed permeated all spheres of twentieth century life and now attacks its very core ...

"The ages of masculism are not drawing to a close. Their dying days are lit up by a final flare of universal violence such as the world has seldom before seen ... Any and all social reforms omposed upon our sick civilisation can be no more effective than a bandage on a gaping and putrefying wound. Only the complete and total demolition of the social body will cure the fatal sickness. Only the overthrow of the three-thousand-year-old beast of masculist materialism will save the race."******

Historically, then, Kali-yuga began about 600 years before the Christian era. At this time patriarchy was established in most parts of the world, and the first exclusively male-god religion was being developed by the Jews. Satya-yuga had seen a steady decline from the glories of the Silver Age, beginning with a decline in spirituality and the first signs of what we now call materialism. The masculine principle is the symbolic expression of the materialist tendency, therefore the image of a so-called 'son' of the Goddess was introduced into religion.

As matter became more important than spirit, so physical strength and material "progress" came to be more highly valued than psychic power.

In the Silver Age, according to Madrian traditions, people lived in co-operation with nature, providing for their material wants with a minimum of labour, exercising control over material things by sheer power of mind and spirit rather than by physical technology. (The feats of Indian yogis and recent experiments in telekinesis, among other things, reveal that remnants of this power still exist.) Being less obsessed with matter, maidkind was less dominated by matter, and the primary aim of life was not material acquisition but spiritual advancement.

Through the course of Satya-yuga this situtation was lost. The human body became more and more dense and material, and the physical environment, as a result, more and more intractable. Towards the end of the Silver Age, cities grew up around the great temples, and the early part of Satya-yuga was the age of the great matriarchal cities, peaceful & satisfying all earthly needs by a mixture of physical and spiritual science.

But as materiality increased, religion became adulterated by idolatrous 'son' and 'consort' cults, and a few patriarchal revolutions took place in remote areas. Wherever this happened, all the benefits of Madrian civilisation were lost, and the people degenerated into what is miscalled a "primitive" state. For the first time, physical force became a factor in human affairs, and soon a new phenomenon had appeared on earth – war.

It is impossible to construct a calendar of degeneration. In different places the change happened at different times and in different ways. Some nations were reduced almost overnight to a "stone-age" condition. Others passed from a modified matriarchy to a modified patriarchy more or less intact. In some, a degenerate matriarchy continued even into Kali-yuga. But we can say that in the last millenium of Satya-yuga, patriarchy was almost universally established politically and was making deep inroads into religion.

Dr. A. C. Bouquet writes: It is a commonplace with specialists in the history of religion that somewhere within the region of 800 B.C. there passed over the populations of this planet a stirring of the mind which ... produced in a number of different spots on the earth's surface prophetic individuals who created a new starting-point for human living and thinking."******* This was the great spiritual convulsion toward the end of Satya-yuga which began those wonderful and terrible anomalies, the masculist world religions. Religions which would provide comfort to millions and also be the cause, the justification and the driving force of wars, persecutions, genocide and torture. The stage was set for Kali-yuga – the dark age.

If it is true that the end of the age is close upon us, we would expect some turbulence, some "stirring in the spiritual ether" as the movement of the future trembles into life.

There has indeed been such a stirring. Perhaps at no time in recorded history have there been so many spiritual apparitions as during the past century, and nearly all of them have one thing in common – nearly all have been visions of a beautiful and awe-inspiring female figure. A Woldben writes:– "There has never been a time as the last hundred years in which the Virgin has revealed herself so frequently."********

At the end of his book, Miracles of the Gods, Erich von Daniken appends a "calendar of visions". It is not an exhaustive list, but contains all those which the author dealt with in the course of his research, and may be taken as a fair cross-section. Analysing the list, two facts emerge unmistakeably. Firstly, the visions increase dramatically after 1830. (The list from pre-Christian times takes up just under 7 1/2 pages; from 1830–1974 just over 7 1/2 pages.) Secondly, the predominance of the female figure is almost overwhelming. Out of the 107 post-1830 cases, 93 are of a magnificent or sorrowful female figure, usually, but not always, identified by the seers a "Mary". Of the remaining 14, 6 concern inanimate objects, 5 are of "jesus," 3 miscellaneous.

Many of these cases represent more than one vision – in one, "four different females" had between them 160 visions of 'Mary'. Many of the visions were seen by several people at once – sometimes as many as 50 or 60.

Sometimes the figure is with a child, very often Her appearance is strikingly majestic and awe-inspiring. At SIgny in 1890, She appeared "in a cloud of light, with a long veil held by angels, hands folded and silent." In the 160 visions at Allenstein, "Sometimes She was floating, sometimes sitting, but always surrounded by angels." Often, those who saw Her called Her "the Queen of the angels."

The two most famous visions, of course, were those of Lourdes and Fatima. At Fatima the sun whirled and danced in the sky at the command of our Lady. It was witnessed by some 70,000 onlookers and sceptical newspapermen who had declared their intention of proving the whole thing a 'fake' were forced to admit that they had seen a miracle.

Until recently, these events have usually been interpreted in a Christian context (despite the notable absence of Christ). Of course it is debatable to what extent the worship of Mary is Christian anyway. Protestants often rightly point out that this devotion leads the soul away from Christ to an independent Goddess-figure.********* Briffault writes that as early as the eleventh century, "the Holy Virgin ... had well-nigh replaced the male trinity in the devotion of the people ... She had, in fact, entirely regained her original position as the Great Goddess."**********

Nevertheless there are already the stirrings of an entirely new and revolutionary interpretation. Olivia Robertson writes:–

"Studying the Eleusinian Mysteries of Demeter and Persephone (i.e. God the Mother and Her sacrificed Daughter), to me the visions of Lourdes and Fatima are a portrayal of these dramas in actual human history." She adds: "When a Mystery is performed on the earth before an earthly audience, a new age is upon us."***********

Commenting upon the prophecies of Fatima, a Christian spokesman writes:–

"A tremendous earthquake rocks the spiritual foundation of the universe, and from a ruins a new light is to shine, and a new civilisation is to arise when ... all the world feels the spiritual exhilaration of the Age of Mary and the triumph of Her immaculate heart.

"Already, She has claimed the love and affection of countless millions not of the Christian faith.

"The pilgrim statues that have traversed the world have been received with reverence and honor amongst Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists and other non-Christian faiths."************

Now let us be clear about this. There was very rarely any question of these people bring 'converted' to Christianity – so they were not revering Mary as Mother of God for the simple reason that they did not accept the divinity of Christ. At some level of consciousness they recognised the true Image of Deity, and worshipped Her in Her own right. If this is a foretaste of the Age of Mary, it will be very different from what most Christians would imagine.

But as more and more people are turning to the direct worship of the Goddess in Her own Name, we may expect to see visions and miracles in which She is fully known and recognised. Indeed, the process has already begun.

The vision at Lourdes was closely connected with healing waters, as are many places of Marian devotion. Olivia Robertson recently wrote to a sister of the Daughters of Artemis, telling of a well in Ireland consecrated to the Goddess by a priestess. This well has produced water which has brought supernatural healing to a number of people. A phial of the water was taken to England and was seen to emit rays of "brilliant silvery-white light."

In recent years there have been several visions of the Goddess recognised as such, and we may expect this to increase in years to come, as Her children become more attuned to Her and to the ancient and universal religion which is beginning to re-emerge through the crumbling surface of the doomed patriarchal civilisation.

First published in The Coming Age No. 3

*A Woldben, After Nostradamus, pub Neville Spearman 1973 p. 11

**The Prophecies of Nostradamus, ed Erica Cheetham, pub Neville Spearman 1973

***Réné Guénon (trans. Lord Northbourne), The Reign of Quantity, Penguin Metaphysical Library, 1953, page 10.

****Ibid., p. 125.

*****Ibid., p. 161.

******Elizabeth Gould Davis, The First Sex, Penguin, pages 338–334.

*******A. C. Bouquet, Comparative Religion, Penguin, 1953, page 96.

********Woldben, After Nostradamus, Neville SPearman 1973, page 168.

*********Examples: (1) "Mary has eclipsed her son. There has been another eclipse too. The devotion to Mary, in its operation, hides and virtuallty negates ... the fatherhood of God." (Prof. W. Smith in The Virgin Mary by Prof. G. Miegge, Lutterworth, page 9.) (2): "The evangelical has a strong suspicion that the deepest roots of the Marian cultus are not to be found in the Christian tradition at all. The religious history of mankind (sic) shows a recurring tendency to worship a mother goddess ... may it not be that what we have here is in reality an older religion ... whose ancient features persist under a thin Christian veil?" (Canon John de Satge in G. Ashe's The Virgin, R.K.P. 1976, pages 7–8.)

**********R. Briffault, The Mothers, Grosset 1963, page 624.

***********Olivia Robertson, The Call of Isis, Cesara Pubns., page 125.

************R. Bergin, This Apocalyptic Age, Voice of Fatima International, 1971, pages 101–2. (The capitalised pronouns are the author's.)