Rulers of Men in the Aeons

An intriguing idea occurred to me while rereading the Ancient Greek poet, Hesiod, whose account of the five ages of man in the "Works and Days" appears to correlate with astrological symbolism...

Hesiod  first talks about the Golden Age. Gold, the metal, is one associated with the Sun, the ruler of Leo. Hesiod tells us that Cronus, that is Saturn, ruled over the men of the Golden Age. Number of authors have suggested there appears the influence of the opposite sign during the Precessional Great Ages, which I prefer referring to as "the Aeons". In this instance, Hesiod suggests the men of the Golden Age were ruled by the traditional ruler of the opposite sign to Leo, that is Aquarius, which is Saturn.

Modern astrology has assigned the planet Uranus to the sign Aquarius, that would mean the planet Uranus would be a contesting Ruler of Men in the Aeon of Leo. Greek mythology tells us, the primordial sky god Uranus was overthrown by Saturn. Saturn liberated Gaia the Earth Goddess from the oppression of Uranus, and started agriculture. Saturn is often depicted with a sickle. The first beginnings of agriculture are in the Aeon of Leo.

Hesiod does not tell us, who ruled over the Silver Age which followed. Silver is the metal of the Moon, that is Luna, who rules the sign Cancer. We can assume the ruler of men in the Aeon of Cancer remained Saturn, the traditional ruler of the Cancer's opposite sign, Capricorn. Hesiod further tells us, that the men of the Aeon of Cancer were all destroyed by Zeus. Greek mythology tells us about the overthrow of Cronus by Zeus, that is Jupiter. And Jupiter is the ruler of Sagittarius, the sign opposite to Gemini. Hence the men of the Aeon of Gemini were ruled by Jupiter.

Next came the brazen race. Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. Copper being the metal of Venus, the ruler of Taurus. Hesiod says the brazen race delighted in war, the domain of Mars, ruler of Scorpio. Mars is the ruler of men in the Aeon of Taurus. The adoption of bronze throughout the Aeon of Taurus was not uniform, and occurred towards the end of the Aeon. But those civilizations that adopted bronze became hierarchical and warlike.

Sumerian phalanx in the late Aeon of Taurus

The subsequent Aeon of Aries was ruled by Venus because in the Classical Age, the Aeon became the epitome of beauty, which men attempted to repeat one thousand years later during the Renaissance. Hesiod, however, has different words for the men of this Aeon. He calls them "degenerate, cruel, unjust, malicious, libidinous, unfilial, treacherous." All this corresponds to the shadow side of Venus, and reminds us that the effects of the planets may not always be good.
Going beyond Hesiod, our Aeon is that ruled by Mercury, the scientist, the traveler, the messenger. The Aeon of Pisces is the one of groundbreaking discoveries, both territorial and scientific. It is a time when the Apostles went to the four corners of this world to spread the Gospel. The world wide web, globalization, the printing press, the personal computer; but also capitalism, merchant expeditions, commercialization of everything is the function of Mercury.

The Aeon of Aquarius will be a one ruled by the Sun, and we can perhaps already see the rise of people, who shine at us from the screen. The dominant media image can make wonders. Charismatic personalities in politics, and religion will be the ideal men and women in the next Aeon.