In 1968, the musical Hair opened on Broadway and ran for 1,750 performances. In 1969, it was nominated for a Tony for best music and best director, but lost to the musical 1776. There’s a certain irony in this.
1776 concerned events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence from Britain. Hair, fueled by the Vietnam War and the social revolution of the sixties, was about the dawning of the Age of Aquarius – i.e., a paradigm shift. On December 19, Jupiter joined Saturn in Aquarius and on the 21st, today, the two are exactly conjunct.
When the moon is in the seventh house
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
And the mind’s true liberation
Keep in mind that in 1968, the Civil Rights Act had been in effect for only four years and the Voting Rights Act had been passed just three years earlier. The military draft wouldn’t be abolished until January 1973.
In 1980, twelve years after Hair opened on Broadway, Marilyn Ferguson’s The Aquarian Conspiracy, also portended a paradigm shift. “We are changing because we must,” she wrote. “War is unthinkable in a society of autonomous people who have discovered the connectedness of all humanity, who are unafraid of alien ideas and alien cultures, who know that all revolutions begin within and you cannot impose your brand of enlightenment on anyone else.”
Things limped along for the next twenty years, two steps forward, one step back, and then 9-11 happened. We went into Iraq, then into Afghanistan, which has the dubious distinction of being the longest war ever. With the advent of greater technology and social media (Facebook, 2004) Smart Phones (2007) we became more connected to each other, with information at our fingertips 24/7. In 2008 our first black president was elected and it looked as if the shift might be happening. Eight years later, we had a female candidate for the presidency. But a reality TV star won.
Today the country is polarized, and it seems at times that we are living in two alternate realities that overlap. It’s not surprising that many of us feel that we are experiencing the complete opposite of the shift envisioned in Hair more than fifty years ago.
Yet, it’s now December 14. The Electoral College, an anachronism that should be abolished, has confirmed Biden and Harris are our next prez and VP. Thanks to the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Aquarius on December 21, the winter solstice, I believe this conjunction signals the beginning of a paradigm shift.
In spite of the dire circumstances that exist in the world, millions of people on the planet are now experiencing an awakening and an opening of the heart. As a collective, we are becoming more heart-centered, more intuitive, more aware of the sea of signs and symbols that surround us – the heritage of Hair.
Some people refer to this shift as 5-D awareness, where we move beyond the mind’s tendency to complain and condemn, criticize and control and enter a heart-centered world. I think of it as the dawning of the Aquarian age. Finally. How this shift unfolds is yet to be seen, the potential for a more egalitarian world now exists.
I never received this posting and it’s interesting to me that NO ONE responded. Does anyone else remember seeing it? I am in absolute agreement with all statements made here. HAIR, the musical, and the lyrics to this particular song gave me hope. I was in high school when I first heard it and I am now in my sixties. Regardless of what’s going on around us at any given time, let’s keep walking into the unknown with anticipation and without fear.
I saw it on Broadway and just loved it!