This would be frightening were it not for the fact that we are also standing at the beginning of an extraordinary period in the history of the world. Certain little known cosmic events occurring now strongly suggest that humanity will not only survive these trying times, but will in fact make a 180 degree turn, to create a golden age that will rival any preceding it.

What, specifically, is our current reality in a nutshell? Politically, with the United States taking the lead in pursuing new types of nuclear weapons, we are reentering a time of unrestrained weapons development and the threat to world peace this entails—if we survive. Economically, the gap between the exorbitant wealth of the developed world and the absolute poverty of the developing world is the widest it has ever been, and is growing rapidly. Our social fabric is disintegrating as we reel from the effects of crime and violence, regional conflicts, dislocation, economic failure, drug addiction, disease pandemics, natural disasters, and terrorism. Millions of people—mostly in poor countries— are without food, adequate shelter, even minimal health care, and primary  education. We have poisoned our air, water, and soil to the degree that our own life support system is endangered.

On the other hand, over the past two decades we have seen a miraculous series of unexpected and unlikely events unfold on the world scene—from the voluntary dissolution of the former Soviet Union and the destruction of the Berlin Wall, to the release of Nelson Mandela and the end of apartheid in South Africa. These changes marked the end of political totalitarianism in major portions of the world, and in other places the fight for self-determination continues. The voice of the people has become increasingly loud and strident, demanding freedom from oppression, repression and injustice: we’ve had Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring, and the Spanish Podemos movement. Demonstrators converge at every meeting of international financial institutions to demand fairness in the conduct of international trade and finance. And thousands of private charitable organizations have mushroomed to help meet the needs of the poorest of the poor not addressed by governmental aid programs.

What is the explanation for these two simultaneous and opposing trends? According to Benjamin Creme, chief editor of Share International magazine and the author of 16 books on the Ageless Wisdom Teachings, they are the reflection of a great shift in consciousness taking place within humanity as we leave one planetary cycle and enter another. At the beginning of a new ‘age’, he says, new energies and forces streaming into the world conflict with those currently at play. In scientific terms, this has to do with the movement of our solar system around the heavens in relation to the twelve constellations of our zodiac. Our sun makes a journey in relation to these constellations taking almost 26,000 years to complete. About every 2,150 years, our sun comes into a particular energetic relationship with each of the constellations in turn. During the time we are in alignment with a particular constellation, we are influenced by the cosmic energies streaming from it, and said to be in the corresponding ‘age’.

For approximately 2,000 years we have been in alignment with Pisces—or in the Age of Pisces—and our present civilization has developed in response to its energies. Two qualities of Pisces are individuality and devotion to an ideal, but in our expression of these qualities we have tended to cling to our own ideals at the expense of all others. This has created serious divisions in the world—political, economic and religious—and violent confrontations between those holding different points of view. However, the sun has now moved away from the influence of Pisces, and is coming into alignment with the constellation Aquarius. The incoming energies of Aquarius carry the quality of synthesis, and oppose the separative, outgoing energies of Pisces. During the transition between the ages, friction and conflict is almost inevitable; however as the energies of Aquarius become more predominant, greater unity and cooperation will be seen.

Fortunately for humanity, another little known cosmic event is taking place in concert with the shifting planetary cycles. At the beginning of each age, the spiritual custodians of human evolution send one of their great ones into the world to act as a teacher for the coming time. Some of these we have known historically as Confucius, Krishna, Buddha, the Christ, and Mohammed. Major world religions all expect another great teacher at some future time, and his imminent appearance has been foreseen by some writers since the early 1800s. The books of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, first introduced the fact of our spiritual mentors to the western world, and those of Alice A. Bailey predicted the reappearance of a great teacher around the turn of the century. The contemporary books and lectures of British artist and esotericist Benjamin Creme indicate that he is here now—and has been since July, 1977. Creme maintains that the teacher’s personal name is Maitreya, and that his work behind the scenes has influenced many of the extraordinary political changes that have taken place since he arrived. Reportedly, we can expect to see Maitreya in an international press conference very soon.

But there are even wider ramifications for humanity as we teeter between the energetic influences of Pisces and Aquarius. The presence of Maitreya and our current evolutionary point – on the cusp of graduating into a higher level of consciousness – have attracted the attention of our inter-planetary space brothers and sisters. They have come in the thousands from other planets in our solar system to support, assist in any way possible, and watch our transformation.

The very existence of Unidentified Flying Objects, or UFOs, has been a topic of debate for decades, and governments have been loath to share what they know with the public. In recent years, however, several countries – including the U.K., Canada, Brazil, France, and the U.S. – have opened at least some of their UFO files for public scrutiny. And numerous credible voices have either spoken out previously or are speaking out now about the presence of extraterrestrials on Earth.

Roscoe Hillenkoetter – Vice Admiral in the U.S. Navy, CIA director from 1947 – 1950, and a member of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena from 1957-1962 – has stated, “It is time for the truth to be brought out in open Congressional hearings…Behind the scenes, highranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned about the UFOs. But through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe the unknown flying objects are nonsense….” (New York Times, Feb 28, 1960) Mikhail Gorbachev, past president of the USSR, says, “The phenomenon of UFOs does exist, and it must be treated seriously.” (Soviet Youth interview, May 4, 1990)

U.S. Air Force Colonel and astronaut Gordon Cooper, in a recent interview with the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (www.CSETI.org), reports seeing and photographing UFOs flying in formation beside his plane, and says that we need a United Nations organization to coordinate all information and research on the UFO phenomenon.

Perhaps most pertinent to our current crises, The Right Honorable Paul Hellyer, Canada’s Minister of Defense from 1963-1968 and Vice Prime Minister from 1967-1969, states, “Decades ago, visitors from other planets warned us about where we were headed and offered to help. But instead we, or at least some of us, interpreted their visits as a threat, and decided to shoot first and ask questions after… The veil of secrecy must be lifted and it has to be lifted now, before it is too late.” (Speech, National Press Club, Washington DC, April 2008)