It began in the evening of August 16th, 1987 and stretched into the pre-dawn morning hours of the following day, August 17th. I sat with a group of friends in quiet meditation of the northern coast of California, all of us somehow connecting to others in this same state of hope, optimism, high strange and peak New Age. It was the Harmonic Convergence, an event that was loosely organized by Jose and Lloydene Arguelles. Jose was in shape-shifting mode, loosening his ties on academia to claim the identity of Pacal Votan, the Mayan “Lord of Time.” Arguelles would go onto to use Tony Shearer’s work and ultimately re-model the Mayan calendar in his own image, thus creating “The Dreamspell” a version of the Mayan calendar, reset with Aruguelles own personal day sign kicking off the calendar.

His re-working of the calendar and cosmology would attract as many detractors as adherents to his work, the foundation of which would culminate on 12/21/12. And while this story starts with Arguelles it certainly doesn’t need there and the ineffable middle is a riddle we are being called to solve.

As I groggily emerged from that state and place on the foggy shoreline, I was unsure what I had just been a part of or how it would effect my life.  In a years time, I would find find out.

WHY 8/16/87?

While Jose Arguelles was the person credited with the idea of the Harmonic Convergence, the idea actually started with a researcher named “Tony Shearer.”
Shearer had been a a respected journalist who became seduced by unraveling the mysteries of the world. His curiousity led him to Mess America, where he began studying Aztec and Mayan culture and lore. When diving into the Mayan calendar, Shearer uncovered some amazing cycles. From Wikipedia:

"In his 1971 book Lord of the Dawn. According to Shearer's interpretation of the Aztec calendar, the selected date marked the end of twenty-two cycles of 52 years each, or 1,144 years in all. The twenty-two cycles were divided into thirteen "heaven" cycles, which began in AD 843 and ended in 1519, when the nine "hell" cycles began, ending 468 years later in 1987. The very beginning of the nine "hell" cycles was precisely the day that Hernán Cortés landed in Mexico, April 22, 1519 (coinciding with "1 Reed" on the Aztec/Mayan calendar, the day sacred to Mesoamerican cultural hero Quetzalcoatl). The 9 hell cycles of 52 years each ended precisely on August 16–17, 1987."

Shearer would introduce the ideas to Arquelles who would co-opt them and out of them, the Harmonic Convergence was born.

So what was happening on 8/16/87 and what does it have to do with the 1988 timeline shift?

THE CHART

What made this chart noteworthy at the time wasn't just the correlation with the Aztec/Mayan cycles but the grand fire trine of Aries/Leo/Sag all happening within a nine degree orb, with Jupiter in Aries at 29 and Mercury in Leo at 20. Uranus in Sag at 22 in an exact trine with Venus and a tight trine to the Sun and Mercury. Mars also joins in the dance at 26 Leo.  Fire is an accelerant.  

But look at that Saturn/Uranus Trine. Saturn rules order and time and Uranus rules chaos the destruction of time. Aquarius heralds revolutions which bring an end to an established order and time.  Look at Ceres here as well, the staff herding the old time into the new time.

Turn your gaze towards the Second House, where Chiron in Gemini represents a split, a fractal of the mind, two possible paths to take.  Neptune and its fluidity, even out of the element of fire is part of this strange, cosmic, algorithm as once again, Capricorn/Saturn, rule time. It's ghostly and summons up energies that the collective doesn't know what it's playing with. The Sabian Symbol for CAPRICORN 6 summons up something out of David Lynch movie.

PHASE 276 (CAPRICORN 6°): TEN LOGS LIE UNDER AN ARCHWAY LEADING TO DARKER WOODS.

KEYNOTE: The need to complete any undertaking before seeking entrance to whatever is to be found beyond.

Number 10 is a symbol of completion; it symbolizes even more the revelation of a new series of activities just ahead. Yet unless the concluded series is brought to some degree of fulfillment, nothing truly significant is likely to be accomplished by a restless reaching out toward the as-yet-unknown. Number 10 is a symbol of germination, but the seed (Number 9) must have matured well. No natural process can be accelerated safely beyond certain limits.

This represents the first stage in the fifty-sixth five-fold sequence. It establishes a foundation for what will follow. Here man reaches a THRESHOLD in which he may have to pause in order to safeguard his further advance.

The Harmonic Convergence was a threshold moment powered by naïveté and hope.

FAST FORWARD

1988, literally heralds in a new time. If the Harmonic Convergence was the powder that primed the pistol, 1988 was the cosmic trigger. 

Saturn and Uranus danced back and forth between Sag and Capricorn, with the their final and fated meeting on 9/22/88. In in this chart, in the 7th House they are both conjunct the Galactic Center, remember we're dealing with time and the destroyer of time coalescing with the super black hole t the center of it all, the mind of God at 26 Sag, The Galactic Center.

This is the beginning of the great revolutions that are about to follow, from the Soviets and even the Chinese and the singing revolution of Estonia. Polish strikes occur and near the end of the year, the first proper internet connection between Princeton, NJ and Stockholm, Sweden takes place.

We were entering a new time.