Editing Harmonic Convergence

{{Short description|World's first synchronized global peace meditation, observed August 1987}}
{{Distinguish | Harmonic series (mathematics)#Definition and divergence}}
{{New Age beliefs sidebar}}

The '''Harmonic Convergence''' was the world's first synchronized global peace meditation, coinciding with an exceptional alignment of [[Solar System]] planets on August 16–17, 1987. The event was organized by spouses [[José Argüelles]] and Lloydine Burris Argüelles, via the Planet Art Network (PAN), a [[peace movement]] they founded in 1983. Timing of the Harmonic Convergence allegedly marked a significant celestial alignment of the Sun, Moon, and six planets as "part of the [[grand trine]]."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Argüelles |first1=José |title=From Art as Everyday Life to Planet Art Spore |url=http://www.earthascending.com:80/maya/Y-Art_Spore.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010421093143/http://www.earthascending.com/maya/Y-Art_Spore.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 April 2001 |website=EarthAscending.com |publisher=Planet Art Network |access-date=5 September 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Smoley|first1=Richard|date=Fall 1998|title=The Crisis of the Calendar. The Gnosis Interview with José and Lloydine Argüelles.|url=https://tortuga1320.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/gnosis-interview-jose-lloydine-arguelles.pdf|journal=Gnosis Magazine|issue=Fall 1998|page=28|access-date=5 September 2019}}</ref>

==Origins==
{{More citations needed section|date=January 2024}}
Though Arguelles eventually connected the timing of the Harmonic Convergence with his understanding of the significance of [[Maya calendar|Maya calendrics]], the dates themselves were derived not from [[Maya cosmology]] but from the reconstructed [[Aztec]] prophecies of [[Tony Shearer]] 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 introduced the dates and the prophecy to Arguelles, and he eventually co-opted them and coined Harmonic Convergence to promote the event.

==Astrological alignment== 
{{More citations needed section|date=January 2022}}
According to the astrologer Neil Michelsen's "The American Ephemeris," on 24 August 1987 there was an exceptional alignment of planets in the Solar System. Eight primary celestial bodies were aligned in an unusual configuration called a [[grand trine]].{{Citation needed|reason=This claim needs mathematical verification.|date=May 2018}}

The Sun, Moon and six out of nine planets (note: Astrology continues to consider Pluto as a “planet.”) formed part of the grand trine, that is, they were aligned at the apexes of an [[equilateral triangle]] when viewed from the Earth.

The Sun, Moon, Mars, and Venus were in exact alignment, astrologically called a [[Conjunction (astronomy and astrology)|conjunction]] at the first degree of [[Virgo (astrology)|Virgo]] in [[Tropical Astrology]]. Mercury was in the  fourth degree of Virgo which most astrologers count as part of the same conjunction being within the "orb" of influence.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73840709.html?dids=73840709:73840709&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+22%2C+1987&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=Harmonic+Convergence%3A+Why+Report+It+With+Such+Disrespect%3F&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020101938/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73840709.html?dids=73840709:73840709&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+22,+1987&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=Harmonic+Convergence:+Why+Report+It+With+Such+Disrespect%3F&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 20, 2012|title=Harmonic Convergence: Why Report It With Such Disrespect?|date=Aug 22, 1987|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=2009-04-28}}</ref> Jupiter was in Aries, and Saturn and Uranus in Sagittarius completing the grand trine.  However some believe that this is an Earth grand trine with Sun/Moon/Mars/Venus/Mercury in the initial degrees of Virgo, Neptune at 5 degrees of Capricorn, and Jupiter in the last degree of Aries ([[anaretic degree]]), on the cusp of Taurus. Uranus, and especially Saturn are on the edge of this trine.

There is disagreement regarding this occurrence being a unique event. Grand trines, where planets share 120 degree positions forming an equilateral triangle, are not uncommon or particularly noteworthy. Traditional astrology does not consider trines to be action points, and would not regard such an occurrence to be significant.

== Astrological interpretations ==

The convergence is purported to have "corresponded with a great shift in the earth’s energy from warlike to peaceful."<ref name="nyttravel">{{cite news|url=http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/travel/29spirituality.html|title=Touring the Spirit World|last=Todras-Whitehill|first=Ethan|date=April 29, 2007|work=New York Times|pages=3|access-date=2009-06-29}}</ref> Believers of this esoteric prophecy maintain that the Harmonic Convergence ushered in a five-year period of Earth's "cleansing", where many of the planet's "false structures of separation" would collapse.{{citation needed|date=January 2013}}

Adherents deemed the event as beginning a new age of universal peace, with signs indicating a "major energy shift" was about to occur, a turning point in [[Earth]]'s collective [[karma]] and [[dharma]], and that this energy was powerful enough to change the global perspective of man from one of conflict to one of [[co-operation]]. Actress and author [[Shirley MacLaine]] called it a "window of light,"<ref>{{cite news|last=Anderson|first=Lisa|title=Getting Cosmic With Shirley|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1987/08/19/getting-cosmic-with-shirley/|access-date=15 February 2013|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=August 19, 1987}}</ref> allowing access to higher realms of awareness.

According to Argüelles, the Harmonic Convergence also began the final 25-year countdown to the end of the [[Mayan Long Count]] in [[2012 millenarianism|2012]], which would be the so-called [[end of history]] and the beginning of a new 5,125-year cycle. Evils of the modern world (war, materialism, violence, abuses, injustice, oppression, etc.) would have ended with the birth of the 6th Sun and the 5th Earth on [[December 21, 2012]].{{citation needed|date=January 2013}}

== Power centers ==

An important part of the Harmonic Convergence observances was the idea of congregating at "power centers."<ref name = field>{{cite news | url =  https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1842&dat=19870815&id=8V8eAAAAIBAJ&pg=5771,2464174 | title = 144,000 Needed to Establish Field of Trust |date = Aug 15, 1987 | publisher = Times Daily  | access-date = 2010-03-31}}</ref> Power centers were places, such as [[Mount Shasta]], California,<ref>{{cite web  | title = Harmonic Convergence  | publisher = [[College of the Siskiyous]]  | date = 1989  | url = http://www.siskiyous.edu/shasta/fol/har/index.htm  | access-date = 2010-03-31  | url-status = dead  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100527184532/http://www.siskiyous.edu/shasta/fol/har/index.htm  | archive-date = 2010-05-27  }}</ref>  [[Mount Fuji]],<ref name = APStory>{{cite news | url =  https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19870815&id=YiAyAAAAIBAJ&pg=3744,141928 | title = Convergers Seek harmony |date = Aug 15, 1987 | publisher = Reading Eagle (from Associated Press and United Press Intl.) | access-date = 2010-03-31}}</ref> and [[Mount Yamnuska]]<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.lightningpath.net/page106/page49/page76/page2/page2.html |title = THE LIGHTNING PATH Harmonic Convergence}}</ref> where the spiritual energy was held to be particularly strong.  The belief was that if [[144,000]] people assembled at these power centers and meditated for peace, that the arrival of the new era would be facilitated.<ref name = field/>

==See also==
* ''[[Big Generator]]'', 1987 album by the band [[Yes (band)|Yes]] including the song "Holy Lamb (Song for Harmonic Convergence)"
*[[Harmonic Convergence (The Legend of Korra)|Harmonic Convergence (''The Legend of Korra'')]]
*[[Syzygy (astronomy)|Planetary alignment]]
*[[World Contact Day]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

* ''Adapted in part from the [[Wikinfo]] article [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930181157/http://www.wikinfo.org/wiki.phtml?title=Harmonic_Convergence Harmonic Convergence], licensed under the [[GNU Free Documentation License]].''

• The Legend of Korra season 2 episodes 11, 12, 13, and 14 mentioned the Harmonic Convergence

==External links==
*[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/thirty-years-ago-people-tried-save-world-meditating-180964548/ Thirty Years Ago, People Tried to Save the World By Meditating] (''[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]'', August 17, 2017) 
*[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/almanac-the-harmonic-convergence/ Almanac: The Harmonic Convergence] ([[CBS News Sunday Morning|CBS ''Sunday Morning'']], August 16, 2015)
*Simulations of planetary positions on [http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Solar?date=1&utc=1987%2F08%2F16+12%3A00%3A00&jd=2476948.34564&img=-k1&sys=-Sf&eyes=0&imgsize=700&orb=-b0&lat=51%B0&ns=North&lon=2%B0&ew=West&hlat=90%B0&hns=North&hlon=0%B0&elements= August 16, 1987] and [http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Solar?date=1&utc=2012%2F12%2F21+12%3A00%3A00&jd=2476948.34564&img=-k1&sys=-Sf&eyes=0&imgsize=700&orb=-b0&lat=51%B0&ns=North&lon=2%B0&ew=West&hlat=90%B0&hns=North&hlon=0%B0&elements= December 21, 2012]

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[[Category:Astrology]]
[[Category:Fringe theories]]
[[Category:1987 in the United States]]
[[Category:2012 phenomenon]]