What is the “Aquarian Conspiracy” and Why is it Relevant in 2024?
Will we see the dawning of a new “New Age?”
In 1980, Marilyn Ferguson published a book called The Aquarian Conspiracy, a kind of manifesto for the 80s New Age movement that arose after the 60s counterculture revolution. The 60s were a time of profound social change, when established norms were questioned in a way that eventually reshaped Western societal values for the next generation. If you were around in the 90’s, you would have witnessed the aftermath and visualization of New Age concepts that resulted from this time: think music stores stocked with Enya and Loreena McKinnett CDs, or whimsigoth design features like celestial bedspreads and occult-themed jewellery.
Ferguson’s Aquarian Conspiracy posited that the West had entered a “paradigm shift” in the 60s, in which collective human consciousness became open to transformation and transcendence as people hungered for new meaning and spirituality alongside a “profound wish for social change.” Domestic and foreign events, like the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War, had led to shifts in thinking that permitted people to “transcend” as a collective, as greater numbers of people were now questioning authority and social norms in a way that resulted in major cultural shifts in the mainstream. People embraced new ideas like sexual liberation and psychedelic exploration, concepts that were at the time perceived as socially shocking. Ferguson theorized that the influx of new ideas had allowed people to “attack obsolete ideas and practices” and “conspire against old assumptions,” leading to an eventual spiritual and intellectual evolution as a community.
While her community was experiencing a contemporary shift, however, she suggested that previous consciousness shifts had happened at other times throughout history. Other movements had happened before at other periods, such as the Renaissance, the 1848 French Revolution, and the American Revolution. Based on Ferguson’s thesis, shifts throughout history meant that eras in the future would also experience shifts of their own.
The Aquarian Conspiracy was a controversial book at the time, and I’m sure most sceptics would still be happy to criticize it today based on its esoteric, “woo-woo” subject matter. But while Ferguson touches on criticisms of the movement (some called these cultural shifts “narcissistic” because of its emphasis on personal transformation), the Age of Aquarius appears to have nevertheless re-entered conversations within the 2020s cultural zeitgeist.
The idea behind the re-emergence of this topic is that we may have entered a new “Aquarian” era of our own: people questioning cultural norms in a way that have not been questioned seriously for a while. If we are operating on the assumption that this is indeed happening, this phenomena may have been triggered for a variety of reasons, which appear to eerily parallel similar triggers that existed in the 60s.
Both periods are/were marked by economic discontent, controversial wars abroad unsupported by general populaces, changing youth demographics as young people begin to have a bigger impact on culture and society, and increased access to education leading to a rapid spread of information (for Boomers in the 60’s this was increased funding for higher education, for us, it’s the internet and social media). There is even a common psychedelic aspect in both movements, as there is currently renewed interest in psychedelics as they become increasingly accessible in brick and mortar stores, and they begin to be used in experimental clinics to treat mental health conditions.
Based on the thesis of the Aquarian Conspiracy, the 2020s current sociocultural background has, like in the 60s, led to younger generations begin to question the rules set out for them by generations that preceded them—rules that have previously been accepted as givens by older generations. People are beginning to collectively ask questions about practices and institutions that have previously been respected or seen as unquestionable, such as:
Why do Western governments expect their populaces to support Israel no matter what, even when the tide of popular opinion has turned against them?
Is our mainstream media actually trustworthy, or has wealth disparity led to the media being controlled by an elite bourgeoisie who cannot reflect the will of the general populace?
How much are our political opinions our own, and how much have they been shaped by propaganda?
Why, with so many technological advances, are we still expected to work ourselves to death for little reward in the background of a housing and affordability crisis?
What is the point of working in an office when we can complete the same work from home and save on important things like commuting time and gas or transit prices?
How much has higher education been corrupted now that it is controlled by and only accessible to those who are wealthy?
What happened to art, and why is everything beginning to look bland and characterless?
Why do we need to always have the same two governmental parties competing for power when neither party appears trustworthy?
Why is it assumed that these are our only choices with no realistic possibility for change?
How much power do people actually have in Western democracies, and are there any new ways for average citizens to have their voices heard?
Is democracy working in its current iteration?
Why do we think we are so progressive and open-minded, but are beginning to sound cultish and conformist as we recite all the same politics others expect us to recite?
While the book remains esoteric, and the concept is only a theory and not necessarily “true”, The Aquarian Conspiracy appears to have re-entered the zeitgeist because it reflects themes that resonate in this age. Ferguson writes about a revolution “in the minds of the people,” a “Great Refusal” where young people said “no to things taken for granted.” She counselled that new ways of thinking would likely always be treated with contempt and mockery when they arose, but that new paradigms could not be entered without letting go of the old ones.
The future is always uncertain. We cannot know if a new age is actually on the horizon until we are far enough in the future that we can know that it was in fact happening. But if the idea of a consciousness shift has already taken root, and if enough people believe in the concept, this is all that would be needed for larger chance to actually take place. Ferguson quotes historian Arnold Toynbee in saying that civilizations decline and change not because of invasion or other external forces, but because of an internal hardening of ideas. This is why, perhaps, other countries around the world are rising as the West begins to struggle—not because of foreign issues, but internal shifts as Western populations look inward and attempt to navigate problems of our own.
Declines, while difficult, do not mean a decline forever. I do think we in the West are in our struggle era, with scary things soon approaching. With that said, when things break, it doesn’t mean they can’t be fixed and grow again into something better. If it is indeed the dawning of the age of Aquarius, this may actually be quite hopeful. After so much death and destruction in the 2020s, one can only hope that once we have gotten to the end of it, a more human era will emerge. As “woo” as it may sound, maybe people do need to be getting more in touch with their souls and humanity, and see this as a driving factor more than just achieving “success” through the lens of capitalism.
The Conspiracy part of the title, Ferguson writes, is not an actual conspiracy in the way one might expect. It’s not about aliens or tinfoil hats, and it’s not something that is meant to be negative or destructive. Rather, a conspiracy is hopeful as it refers to humans collaborating, developing, and transcending as a collective. Conspiracy, Ferguson writes, derives from the Latin conspirare. The word is typically understood with a negative connotation, interpreted to mean “to plot.”
But the literal translation of conspirare means “to breathe, together.”
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Some articles and writers I’ve been reading on Substack:
It was the media, led by the Guardian, that kept Julian Assange behind bars by Jonathan Cook
How People Are Making Friendship Work *Right Now* by Anne Helen Peterson
Zelensky is an Authoritarian, But the West Tells Us He is Fighting for Freedom and Democracy by Michael Feldman
Man freed from prison despite undeniable evidence he is guilty of journalism by Normal Island News
Is it political or is it spiritual? by Spirit of Solidarity
Zionism is the exact opposite of spirituality by Caitlin Johnstone