2 Fish, 5 Loaves – Sun, Moon and 5 Planets

Most of us are all familiar with the phrase and the corresponding song “The Dawning of the Age of Aquarius”, however many are unaware of its meaning. I will be writing a longer essay on the ages of astrology and the religions which have come from them but this article will give one example of how stories relating to the heavens have made their way into sacred texts. The premise of this essay will be to show the miracle of 2 fish and 5 loaves was really an astrological story. However, before proceeding with this I must give a few explanations.

Religion, being the worship of supernatural beings and the rituals pertaining to those beings, has changed over the millenniums. New ones come and go and the existing ones go through some transformations or fade. The oral traditions and texts of the past have contained in them social, political and health related issues as well as celestial information. For example, Middle Easterners do not eat pork because in the past they could not cure it properly and people would get ill from eating it. In order to get the common people not to eat this meat which taints easily, it was written into the religion that they were forbidden to eat it. There were laws forbidding the worship of other gods in order to propagate their own religions and so forth.

Astrology is one of the biggest topics included in religious texts by the authors-teachers in order to teach the lore of the heavens. These stories have been misinterpreted by modern religious scholars as being factual events of past heroes. The Judeo-Christian Noah had many predecessors in earlier religions all which had to do with stories relating to the constellation of Aquarius.

In astrology, the Sun moves through the zodiac approximately 1 sign per month and the Moon moves through all the signs in approximately a month (a moonth). There are two astrological systems where one starts at 0º of Aries at the Spring (Vernal) Equinox, the Tropical system, and one which more or less follows the actual constellations, the Sidereal system. Both systems divide the heavens into 12 equal signs of 30º each. The actual constellations are not all 30º and vary quite drastically.

The Ages of Astrology are related to the constellation behind the Sun at the Vernal Equinox. The Tropical system was probably invented when the equinox Sun was in the constellation of Aries. Since our solar system is rotating around the galaxy the backdrop is constantly changing. If you are born on March 30, you would be a Aries in the Tropical system but if you were to consult a Hindu astrologer who uses the Sidereal system, he would tell you were an Pisces. Currently, at this point in time there is a 24º difference between the two systems. Both systems work quite well because they are symbolic languages and the relative distance between the planets do not change.

We are currently in the Age of Pisces. The beginnings of these ages are difficult to ascertain since we must first determine whether we are looking at the actual constellations or the equal sign or 30º constellations. Even with the actual signs, it is difficult to determine when one age ends and the other begins. Do you look at when the Vernal Equinox occurs at the end one constellation or the beginning of the other? Some constellations have gaps between them and some overlap. It was approximately 85BCE when the Vernal Equinox occurred at the first star of Pisces. The Sidereal system places the beginning of the age of Pisces at 285CE. The constellation of Aries is smaller than Pisces so that could explain the different in start times. Since trends in society don’t happen overnight then we can consider both of these dates.

At beginning of the Age of Pisces came the emergence of Christianity with the Piscean themes there in. The ram of Aries (Lamb of God) is killed off to make way for the fish, Pisces. Christianity incorporated all the Piscean themes from baptism in water, fishermen disciples, and the Fisher of Men himself. The symbol of the fish was the symbol of Christianity before the cross of the 4 directions was accepted. The themes of Pisces are martyrdom and sacrifice and transcendence from our corporeal state into one of unity with the divine. Meditation, wine and music are also Piscean themes.

This brings us to the story of the fish and loaves. (Matthew 14:13, Mark 6:34, Luke9:10, John 6:1) I will allow you to determine if this is truly a story about the Age of Pisces. As the story goes Jesus was talking to 5000 men (some passages refer that there were women and children in attendance over the 5000 but due to patriarchy they didn’t count) and it was the end of the day at which point one of the disciples comes up to Jesus and says that they have to feed the masses but all they have is 2 fish and 5 loaves. Jesus took the 2 fish and the 5 loaves, looked up to the heavens and said a blessing over them. The disciples were asked to go feed the crowd and everyone eats with 12 baskets of leftovers being collected.

One could look at this story as factual evidence or one could look at it as metaphor about the Age of Pisces. In the metaphor, the Sun and Moon are the 2 fish of the sign of Pisces and the 5 loaves are the 5 other visible planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn). 12 disciples feed the crowd and when all had eaten their fill 12 baskets of leftovers were collected where the 12 is the number of signs of the zodiac. The moral of the story is that the new age will nourish us and allow us to move on instead of starving in the current age.

The part of this story which needs some more investigation is what the 5000 men represent. In Luke they were asked to be seated in groups 50. This could be some numerological story or possibly the known number of fixed stars at the time of the writing of this story.

In conclusion, I would like to say that when reading a sacred scripture one must be ready to discern whether the story was a factual event in a person’s life or if it was social or political or a description of an astrological phenomenon. We are far more educated today and unlike the past we tend to learn by facts rather than metaphor. One must also remember “myths” were religion at one time and things need to be examined in that context and there could be more to the story than just a story. Look beyond…look to the sky or the heavens!