History of Enlightenment

Early Vedic religion (India), Egyptian mystery schools, Sumerian priest-kings
Rise of first cities & civilizations (Uruk, Egypt, Indus Valley); invention of writing. Uranus–Neptune conjunction ~2767 BCE (new mythic/religious paradigms every ~172 years)

Axial Age begins – Upanishads, early Taoism, Zoroaster, pre-Socratic Greek philosophers
Bronze Age collapse (~1177 BCE); fall of Mycenae, Hittites; rise of Assyria, Zhou China
Pluto in Scorpio – death/rebirth of civilizations
Saturn–Pluto conjunction ~1150 BCE

Peak Axial Age: Buddha, Lao-Tzu, Confucius, Hebrew prophets (Isaiah), Pythagoras, pre-Socratic philosophers
Rise of Persian Empire; Greek city-states; Zhou dynasty decline.
Uranus–Neptune conjunction 576 BCE (major mystical/philosophical leap)

Gautama Buddha attains enlightenment.
Persian wars with Greece; Spring & Autumn period China.
Buddha’s birth traditionally under Uranus–Pluto opposition (revolutionary transformation of consciousness)

Jesus of Nazareth (exact dates debated).
Augustus establishes Roman Empire (27 BCE – 14 CE). Saturn–Pluto conjunction 7–4 BCE (crucifixion of old religious order; birth of new)

Prophet Muhammad & founding of Islam.
Fall of Sassanid Persia; Byzantine–Sassanid wars; collapse of classical-era order. Jupiter–Saturn “Great Mutation” from water to fire signs 571 CE (shift in world religions)

Rise of Sufism, Zen Buddhism (Chan → Japan), Jewish Kabbalah, Christian scholasticism (Anselm, Abelard).
Islamic Golden Age; Tang–Song China peak; Mayan classic collapse; Crusades begin. Uranus–Neptune conjunction 907 CE (mystical renaissance across Islam, China, Europe).

European Renaissance & Hermetic revival (Ficino, Pico, Paracelsus). Fall of Constantinople 1453; end of Hundred Years War; beginning of European global expansion. Pluto conjunct Neptune ~1440–1490 (deep fusion of spirituality and rediscovered ancient knowledge)

Rosicrucian manifestos (1614–1616) → early Freemasonry. Thirty Years’ War (central Europe devastated). Uranus–Pluto square 1626–1632 (revolutionary secret societies arise from ashes of religious war)

The Enlightenment (Voltaire, Kant, Locke, Hume) + Great Awakening revivals (Wesley, Edwards). English Civil War → Glorious Revolution; American & French Revolutions; decline of absolute monarchy. Uranus discovery 1781 (literally the “awakening” planet)
Neptune discovery 1846 (just after).

American Declaration of Independence + Adam Weishaupt founds Bavarian Illuminati (May 1). American Revolutionary War. Uranus in Gemini square Saturn (revolution against old authority)

French Revolution. Fall of Bastille, Reign of Terror, Napoleonic era begins. Pluto in Aquarius 1778–1798 (death of divine-right monarchy, birth of modern republics).

Theosophical Society (Blavatsky 1875), Golden Dawn, Anthroposophy (Steiner), New Thought.
World War I (1914–1918); collapse of Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, Russian & German empires. Pluto–Neptune conjunction 1891–1892 (great occult/esoteric revival that fed both spirituality and totalitarianism)

Rise of New Age precursors during darkest hour (Alice Bailey, Manly P. Hall, Krishnamurti breaks away). Rise of Nazi Germany, WWII, Holocaust. Saturn–Pluto conjunction 1931 (hard karma), then exact in 1944–1945 over Hiroshima/Nagasaki degrees.

1960s Counterculture & Human Potential movement; psychedelic awakening. Vietnam War peak; Civil Rights movement; 1968 global revolutions. Uranus–Pluto conjunction in Virgo 1965–1966 (exact during peak of hippie/anti-war movement).

Harmonic Convergence (1987), rise of modern New Age & channeling. Fall of Berlin Wall 1989; end of Cold War; internet goes public 1991. Saturn–Uranus–Neptune conjunction in Capricorn 1988–1990 (dissolution and restructuring of material & spiritual order).

Global awakening movements, rise of meditation apps, plant medicine legalization, “Great Awakening” & QAnon (shadow side). Global Financial Crisis 2008; Arab Spring 2011; Brexit/Trump/Populist wave; COVID-19 pandemic 2020. Pluto enters Capricorn 2008 (collapse of old financial & governmental structures)
Saturn–Pluto conjunction Jan 12 2020 (exact on WHO pandemic declaration week).

Current wave: decentralization, psychedelics renaissance, spiritual but not religious surge. Russia–Ukraine war 2022; AI explosion 2022–2025; shift from unipolar to multipolar world. Pluto in Aquarius 2024–2044 (permanent transformation of collective power, technology, and human freedom)
Uranus in Gemini 2025–2032 (revolution in communication and nervous systems).

Upcoming Neptune–Saturn conjunction in Aries 0° (2026) → first degrees of Pluto in Aquarius. Expected major new spiritual–technological paradigm (possibly AI-mediated “enlightenment” tools). Neptune–Saturn 2026 + Uranus–Neptune conjunction beginning ~2030 (new mythic operating system for humanity).