The Great Year and the Rebirth of Civilization (II)
Part 2 | The Summer Solstice and the Galactic Center
This is Part 2 of a six-part series exploring the archetypal forces driving present world trends. In Part 1, we considered the Philosophy of Armageddon; in Part 2, we move on to investigate the significance of the Summer Solstice’s current alignment with the Gemini-Taurus cusp.
The timing of this post is fortuitious, given that the 2025 Summer Solstice just took place. As we proceed in this series, we’ll continue to unpack the significance of this event, emphasizing how it relates to theme of human civilization entering into a period of cosmic initiation.
Note: This material is extracted from the extended essay that concludes my new book The Coming World Nation.
The Summer Solstice and the Galactic Center
The various overlapping time cycles that shape the lives of individuals, organizations, and nations are each subservient to the single master cycle that drives the evolution of the world system as a whole. All systems are part of one supersystem, and when that supersystem undergoes a major phase change, each of the numerous subsystems operating within its structure is impacted.
The evolution of life on Earth is driven at the largest scales by a master cycle that Plato termed “The Great Year”. This marks a roughly 25,800-year period, calculated for the time it takes the North Celestial Pole to make a full rotation around its axis. In other words, it marks the time that it takes for the planet’s North Celestial Pole to return to a specific pole star. Today, the pole star is Polaris (Alpha Ursae Minoris) of the Ursa Minor constellation. This will not always be the case, however: because the tilt of the planet’s North Celestial Pole rotates in a gradual counterclockwise motion, in time the pole star will shift away from Polaris and point to other stars. After 25,800 years, a full cycle is completed and the North Celestial Pole will return to Polaris, reestablishing it as the pole star.
The ~25,800-year cycle of the pole star not only defines the duration of the Great Year; it also marks the span of time it takes for the sun’s precession cycle takes to make one complete journey around the zodiac. From our vantage point on Earth, every year the sun makes one full rotation around the constellations, passing through each of the twelve signs. Due to the wobble of the Earth around its North Celestial Axis, each year the sun exhibits a slight retrograde motion in its circumambulation, taking slightly longer to return to the same zodiacal marker. It takes ~72 years for the sun’s retrograde motion to move one degree back in the zodiac, ~2160 years for it to pass through one of the 12 zodiac signs, and ~25,800 years to complete a full cycle around the zodiac. (The size of the constellations vary, as does the length of time the sun resides in each).
The sun’s precession cycle is typically measured in relation to the Spring Equinox, with the zodiac sign that the sun rises within on the morning of the equinox marking the zodiacal age of present moment. Today, the sun rises in the constellation Pisces, but it is gradually approaching Aquarius, with its final transition into this new sign occurring in approximately 350 years.
When it comes to tracking the long-term development of the Great Year supercycle, how do we measure its official start and end date? Philosopher Peter Dawkins has contemplated this issue, asking “where does the zodiacal division of the ecliptic (the sun’s path through the zodiac) begin and end? How do we know when each Age, or a Great Age, begins and ends?”
To calculate the alpha-omega point of the Great Year supercycle, a fixed reference frame is needed. The Milky Way galaxy provides this: the zodiac is intersected at two points by the galactic plane of the Milky Way. These two galactic markers are situated at diametrically opposing zodiacal points: one at the cusp of Gemini-Taurus and the other at cusp of Sagittarius-Scorpio. The cusp of Sagittarius-Scorpio is aligned with the core of the Milky Way galaxy, while the cusp of Gemini-Taurus marks the point on the zodiac opposite the galactic center (the galactic “anticenter”). Together, these two points form "the major axis of the zodiac, (with) the rest of the twelve divisions or signs of the zodiac laid out from these markers.”
According to Peter Dawkins, in the esoteric astrological teachings of the ancient Mystery Schools, “the start of a Great Age was traditionally understood as being when the summer solstice Sun is exactly on the cusp of Gemini-Taurus, crossing the galactic equator and moving from Gemini into Taurus.” At this same moment, “the corresponding midwinter Sun will be on the cusp of Sagittarius-Scorpio,” this being “the closest the Sun ever gets to the galactic center, as it appears from Earth.”
Dawkins informs us that, in esoteric philosophy, the galactic center is “symbolic of the womb of the Great Mother, wherein divine conception takes place.” This idea is reflected in the philosophy of the ancient Greeks, who, as Manly Hall informs us, “believed that the spiritual nature of man descended into material existence from the Milky Way - the seed ground of souls.”
In his book Earth Under Fire, physicist Paul LaViolette analyzes the relationship between the galactic center and our solar system, noting how the core of the Milky Way periodically emanates bursts of cosmic energy he calls “superwaves.” During certain key periods in the Great Year supercycle, these superwaves move into our solar system, instigating great cataclysms and transformations. LaViolette warns that “the galactic center is a powerful energy source, periodically releasing massive bursts of cosmic rays that can alter the Earth's climate, destabilize its magnetic field, and even influence solar activity.”
Opposite the galactic center on the ecliptic is the galactic anticenter, which LaViolette informs us “can be seen as the point of reception, where energies stabilize and manifest as new cycles of creation.” Peter Dawkins also highlights the significance of the anticenter, noting that it marks the alpha-omega (or AA) point of the Great Year. The entire Great Year supercycle is keyed to the interplay of these two Father-Mother points on the zodiac. During two key periods in the Great Year’s ~25,800-year duration, the summer and winter solstices are in direct alignment with these two galactic power points. During these rare occasions, Dawkins declares that a channel opens up “between the heart of the galaxy and the Earth, via the Sun, which allows a cosmic baptism of energy and light to pour upon us.”
There are two ways in which the summer and winter solstices can align with the galactic plane. The first is when the summer solstice aligns with the Gemini-Taurus cusp (galactic anticenter) and the winter solstice with the Sagittarius-Scorpio cusp (galactic center). This alignment signals the end of one Great Year cycle and the birth of a new great age. The second alignment occurs at the midpoint of the Great Year cycle, when the summer solstice has rotated 180° around the zodiac to occupy the Sagittarius-Scorpio cusp, while the winter solstice shifts onto the Taurus-Gemini cusp.
These two alignments - one at the Great Year’s alpha-omega point, the other its midpoint - mark twin periods of profound, Armageddon-like transformations on Earth. The first signals the death of one cycle and the birth of another. This is when, as Peter Dawkins puts it, “the old Phoenix dies and is reborn, renewed, resurrecting from the ashes of its old form.” The second marks the cycle’s transition from involution to evolution, where spirit's initial downward descent into material expression culminates and transitions into an upward ascent toward liberation and enlightenment.
Dawkins relates the timing of these two power points with the occurrence of Armageddon-like periods on Earth: “These two times, the beginning and the midpoint of each Great Age, are the times of the destructions. At these times, which occur at approximate 12,000-year intervals, the earth appears to be bombarded with cosmic super-rays emanating from the heart of the galaxy. … The galactic heart lies close to the ecliptic cusp of Sagittarius-Scorpio; and so when the solstice sun is on that cusp it is said that a channel is opened up from the heart of the galaxy to the earth, down which pours a baptism of water and fire. From the spiritual point of view, these times are associated with the two baptisms: the first by water and the second by air and fire. From the physical point of view it causes great changes, difficulties and challenges, with destructions and mutations of species, including the human race. They are major initiatory moments.”
The cosmic “baptism by water” that Dawkins references comes at the midpoint of the Great Year cycle, while the “baptism by fire” comes at its AA or alpha-omega point. These two baptisms are periods of initiatory testing for humanity, where it must undergo Armageddon-like ordeals. The ultimate purpose of these baptismal episodes is not to punish humanity, but rather to catalyze its long-term evolutionary development.
Bibhu Dev Misra, the Yuga scholar I cited in this book’s Introduction essay, has put forward an interesting theory about the structure of the Yuga cycle that parallels Dawkins’ framework about the two cosmic baptisms contained within the Great Year supercycle. Misra’s theory, which he presents in his book Yuga Shift, is rooted in his unique method of aligning the timing of Yuga cycle with ~25,800 year timetable of the Great Year.
Misra states that the core framework of the Yuga cycle is rooted around a 24,000-year master cycle, with an initial 12,000-year descending half-cycle followed by a 12,000-year ascending arch. Each 12,000-year period is divided into four Yugas of equal duration (2,700 years), with a 300-year transition period separating each. During the Yuga cycle’s initial descending phase (its involutionary arch), there is a downward motion from an initial golden age (Satya Yuga), to a silver age (Treta Yuga), to a bronze age (Dwapara Yuga), until finally an iron age (Kali Yuga) is reached, where materialism, ignorance, and sin reach their peak. After this dark age concludes, the Yuga cycle then transitions into an upward, ascending phase, with the cycle gradually ascending upward through the Dwapara and Treta Yugas before culminating finally in a return to the Satya Yuga.
Compared to the Precession cycle, which lasts ~25,800 years, the 24,000 year Yuga cycle falls short by about 1800 years. To account for this discrepancy, Misra explains that “the earth is subjected to two extended periods of purging in the course of the Great Year. One is called Kataklysmos (meaning ‘Deluge’),” which represents the “‘great winter’ of the Great Year, when the earth is inundated by water. The other is called Ekpyrosis (meaning “Conflagration”) or the ‘great summer’ of the Great Year, when the world is destroyed by fire.” Misra proposes that these two periods of extended “purging” last for approximately 900 years each, extending the duration of the Yuga cycle to 25,800 years - the same duration as the Precession Cycle.
As we discover, there is a direct alignment in the frameworks of Dawkins and Misra regarding the existence of two Armageddon-like transition periods within the Great Year supercycle, one equating to a global “baptism by water” and the other to a global “baptism by fire”. The baptism by water or “Kataklysmos” occurs at the cycle's midpoint, coinciding with the summer solstice moving into alignment with the Sagittarius-Scorpio cusp. Astronomically, this event occurred approximately 12,900 years ago (10,900 BC), a date of important historical significance: it marks the sudden onset of the Younger Dryas climatic period, when a miniature ice age erupted whose characteristics closely match the archetypal themes of a “baptism by water".
Stay tuned for Part 3 tomorrow - “The Younger Dryas: A Global ‘Baptism by Water’”