What happened to the New Age of the ’60s and ’70s?
The so called New Age of Aquarius swept in like a hurricane.
I was quite carried away with the excitement of change.
Maybe that was just a kneejerk reaction, not the real deal.
And it seems like the New Age came and left just like a passing storm.
According to popular opinion, all the time the real New Age of Aquarius was only beginning.
Because the majority view is that astrologically the New Age has another 2,000 years to run its course.
So let’s relax and see it as just a small step into the water bearer sign of Aquarius and not a plunge into the deep end.
Today I want to step back and to look at the big picture.
I’d like to believe that together we can make a difference in the world even if only because the catch phrase and salutation we used then, “Love and Peace”, still has a few thousand years to make its mark.
So what happened in the ’60s and ’70s to sweep me away with change?
In the ’60s The Beatles arrived.
In 1970 Paul McCartney sang ‘Let It Be’.
In ’71 John Lennon sang ‘Imagine’.
His Moon was in Aquarius.
And in ’71 Don McLean released ‘Starry Starry Night’ about painter Vincent Van Gogh.
The adorable Muppets were born in the late ’60s and revolutionised children’s television.
I was one of five who launched Animal Liberation in the late ’70s to address animal cruelty and to promote free range farm products.
Today free range eggs make up 40% of all eggs sold in supermarkets in Australia compared to zero percent 50 years ago.
A win for cruelty to animals.
At the same time I felt like the world was coming to an end.
It didn’t.
I still remember the feeling of those times.
Chances are you probably don’t because most likely you weren’t born yet.
Bob Dylan sang that the ‘Times Are a-Changin’.
It was a time of marijuana and free love.
I wasn’t interested in either.
Yes, I was a long haired bearded hippie then.
At the same time I was a ‘respectable’ advertising copywriter.
(I worked for some of the hottest ad agencies in Melbourne.)
A group of us started a commune on 40 acres which fell flat on its face.
We were unprepared, under funded and undisciplined.
But it was very aquarian.
In the late ’70s I was the first official member of the new Permaculture Association started by two academics from the University of Tasmania.
Today Permaculture is a worldwide phenomenon.
I had plans to create a self-sufficient Permaculture acre and live off the grid.
It never happened.
In 1962 I learned Chakra Yoga and a unique healing relaxation technique from Australia’s first full time yoga teacher.
Margrit Segesman’s interest in breathing and relaxation techniques combined with an interest in the expansion of consciousness were subjects she had discussed with Carl Jung when they met in the 1920s.
He suggested she should take up the study of yoga and yogic philosophy.
After spending time in Indian ashrams, she found her guru at Rishikesh on the Tibetan border and spent about five years living in a cave as an ascetic.
I practiced her form of yoga, chakra balancing and relaxation every day for 50 years.
What, then, does the Aquarian Age stand for?
What does it mean?
Where is it going for the next 2,000 years?
Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
That’s very Aquarian too.
Maybe together we can make a difference in the world.
Aquarius is about you too — and your life for the next 2,000 years.
Look for future posts.
Namaste.
Neil.
PS. Visit my author page here for my New Age books including the blockbuster ‘Man Steps Off Planet’.
your mind is all 