Does anyone remember the Harmonic Convergence? Back in 1987? It was an unusual astrological pile-up that according to organizer, José Arguelles, was supposed to send a “vibrational signal” to our species to change in the direction of unity and peace. Just a flash-in-the-pan, fringe spiritual event with no lasting consequences, right? There isn’t much peace on earth to show for it.

The event, in and of itself, had some historical significance in that it was massive, and only the second time such a large, global event had been organized to direct consciousness toward the goal of unity (the first being the World Peace Meditation sponsored just months earlier by the Global Family, which became an important organizer for the Harmonic Convergence). Many famous people participated, including John Denver, Shirley MacLaine and Timothy Leary. Even Johnny Carson of the Tonight Show got his audience to chant OM for the event. Probably millions were touched in some way and nothing of this magnitude had ever happened before. Remember, this was before we were all connected by social media and the Internet. It was a much bigger deal to organize something like that. But still… ushering in peace on earth? Come on!

As this event was based on an astrological happening, I decided to explore this question for myself by looking at it astrologically. In particular, I looked at the movement of the planet Saturn because Saturn is said to create time frames, stress points and structure. It takes roughly 29 years to transit 360 degrees, full circle, around the zodiac and if you look at the moment in time when something begins, be it a human life, an organization, or the birth of a new impulse toward unity, approximately every 7 years—the time it takes Saturn to move 90 degrees from where it was at the starting point—there will be a testing or eventful marker of some sort. What’s strong will become stronger, what’s weak will be stressed, often to the point of breakdown.

So I dug out my ephemeris and tracked the progress of Saturn by precise 90 degree intervals. First I found this date: September 11, 2001, (at the 180 degree mark) the day the Towers fell in New York City—definitely a world-shaking event. I also found a late September date in 2008 (the 270 degree mark)—the time when Lehman Bros collapsed, starting a serious nose dive of the global economy. The loud and dire nature of these events certainly speaks to Saturn’s capacity to create stress and breakdown but do they have anything to do with unity consciousness? And what about the first 90 degree mark in 1995? Nothing as world-changing as the beginning of the war on terror or global economic disaster seemed to happen that year.

Or maybe it did, though there were reputable journalists of the era saying it would never amount to much. The years between 1987 and 1995 pretty closely bracketed the incubation phase of a worldchanging phenomenon. 1987 marked the first year that the internet had significantly more users than the tiny, elite group it had prior to this time, and 1995 is when the internet was privatized and really took off in a huge way. So 1987-95 is the period of time when the internet as we know it was developed and launched for mass consumption.

Since then, the internet has played a huge role in evolving global consciousness. It has created infrastructures for new models of egalitarian power and given access to global interconnectedness to nearly everyone. This quietly growing infrastructure has so quickly become a daily necessity that it’s easy to lose perspective of its magnitude. As old infrastructures based on greed, fear and hierarchical power escalate to extremes with dire consequences that could destroy us, this amazing new infrastructure has been growing into a web of life that just might save us.

1995, 2001, 2008 ... This brings us to … now. Saturn has now come precisely (to the exact degree) full circle around the zodiac from where it was on 8/17/87. Symbolically, a Saturn return is said to be a coming-of-age time when what’s weak falls apart, what’s strong solidifies, and there’s an opportunity to see the consequences of our choices coming fully to fruition. How does that translate to the “growing up” of a vibrational impulse? Where have our choices since then led us?

Well, we’re seeing that waging war against terrorism has created more terrorists than ever before. So, the war on terror—maybe not a good choice. And, did you know that only 55% of the electorate voted in the 2012 election? And less than 40% in the 2014 midterms? Consequently, big money interests have been able to pour enough money into elections, especially in mid-term years, to easily swing them toward their preferred candidates. Heck, they only need to sway as little as 18% of low information, single issue voters with anti-abortion/gay rights/gun laws/immigration platforms. Then—oh no!—one day we wake up to find the children of an entire Midwestern city have been irreparably poisoned due to cost cutting. So… political apathy, maybe not a good choice either.

Please Read Part 2.

Lynn Woodland is an international teacher, author of Making Miracles—Create New Realities for Your Life and Our World, and creator of the online Miracles Course. Her particular expertise is in what gives rise to miracles and in teaching ordinary people to live extraordinary lives so that miracles become, not just possible, but natural. www.lynnwoodland.com.