Awakening in the Age of Aquarius: Astrotheology & the Vision for the Center of Spirituality – An Interview with Aaron Eschenburg

How does someone raised in a religious home rediscover the cosmos as his greatest teacher—and build a movement that blends ancient wisdom, modern spirituality, and community healing?

For Aaron Eschenburg, the path wasn’t a sudden awakening but a long unraveling of inherited beliefs, fueled by curiosity, inner questioning, and a lifelong desire to understand the true nature of God, consciousness, and the universe. From challenging the stories he was taught as a child to uncovering the astronomical origins woven into religion, Aaron’s journey led him far beyond doctrine and deep into the study of astrotheology, plant medicine, and the timeless relationship between humanity and the heavens.

Today, Aaron serves as a spiritual guide, ayahuasca facilitator, and founder of both the Center of Spirituality and Ancestral Herbs—a constellation of offerings rooted in liberation, community, and a return to cosmic truth. In this conversation, he shares how understanding the sky can free us from fear, why the Age of Aquarius is reshaping everything we know about connection and technology, and how plant medicine helps us remember our strength, clarity, and inner light.
Continue reading—or listen in by subscribing for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or YouTube—to discover how Aaron Eschenburg’s insights invite you to awaken to a wider, more wondrous universe.

Can you tell us a little bit more about your journey of awakening to consciousness, mindfulness, and spirituality?

Aaron Eschenburg: Sure. As far as faith goes, I was raised in a Christian family, and I always appreciated the sense of community that came from growing up in the church. Not necessarily the religious ideologies or the organizational structures, but the community itself.

I was also a very curious kid. I had so many questions that my parents had no idea how to answer.

What questions would you ask them?

Aaron Eschenburg: Mostly questions about religion—Christianity in particular—that didn’t make sense to me. I’d try to put the pieces together, and the more I learned, the less certain things added up. Like, “You’re telling me two elephants, two rhinoceroses, and two of everything got on that ark? I don’t think so, man.”

Eventually, they’d say, “Maybe you need to talk to the pastor.” But I had so many questions that even he couldn’t answer. That pushed me onto my own path of self-discovery and trying to understand the origins of what I’d been taught.

It’s interesting—when you grow up hearing “Don’t look into astrology,” “Don’t look into this,” “That’s Satan,” you’re taught this whole picture of good versus evil. It’s almost like Santa Claus: you’re either getting presents or coal. In religion, it’s the eternal afterlife or eternal misery. Anyone would be scared by that.

But once you start diving into these topics and learning about their origins, it becomes fascinating. It’s been a joy to explore what these teachings actually meant.

What were some of the first resources or individuals that helped you start putting things together in a way that made more sense?

Aaron Eschenburg: Mainly Manly P. Hall—people like that. I started studying everything I could about religion: Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, and different traditions. I wanted to understand how other people worshiped and how they connected with God—or whatever name they used for God.

There have been so many names throughout history: Theo, Yahweh, El Elyon, Elohim, God. But even that one word—“God”—lands differently depending on who hears it. It goes into your brain and triggers whatever meaning you’ve attached to it.

For someone in a vulnerable place, hearing “God is within everything” can light up their heart. That sense of connection—that unified consciousness experiencing life through you—can feel incredibly comforting.

But for someone who’s pushed away religion, that same word can turn them off immediately.

Christianity… spirituality… these words mean different things to different people. A lot of people say, “I’m not religious anymore, I’m spiritual.” But what does that mean? Often, it means they feel connected to some kind of source energy or unified consciousness, and they have their own practices to connect with it.

And you see the variety: yoga, sound baths, meditation, silent retreats, plant medicine ceremonies—so many paths. But there’s a common thread: rejecting the dogmas passed down from previous generations while still having faith in a higher power.

Something is sustaining all of this—life, planets, the precision of a 24-hour day. When we connect with that perfection, we feel its movement through us. And through these practices, we tune into that beauty.

It’s almost like spirituality is defining itself through the people who practice it, rather than anyone needing to define it for them.

How did astrology come into your life, and how has it impacted the way you view the world?

Aaron Eschenburg: It is a fascinating question because, for a long time, I absolutely did not believe in astrology. I used to think, “The sun’s in Scorpio right now because it’s November—big deal.” To me, it was just a clock, a calendar. I didn’t understand the deeper layers, and honestly, a lot of what I saw felt like “woo” astrology: Mercury retrograde—don’t start anything, your microphone might break, bury your head in the sand. It all felt very surface-level.

But astrology itself is actually a very deep system. It’s a geocentric observation of the solar system. Astronomy is heliocentric—we know the Earth revolves around the sun. But astrology is based on our perspective here on Earth, where we see the sun and planets moving around us.

When I was about 26, I watched an old documentary called Zeitgeist. There’s a 20-minute section about astrotheology, and it absolutely flipped my lid. For everything I had learned about religion growing up, all the questions I had, all the ways I had fallen away from it for good reasons—this suddenly made a lot of sense.

It felt similar to when I learned Santa Claus wasn’t real. My older sister told me, “Aaron, Santa’s not real,” and even though I was sad, I knew it was true immediately. Astrology hit me like that—something in me recognized it instantly.

When we only look at astrology on the surface, it’s easy to dismiss. But when we look deeper, we realize astrology is the basis of how humans have understood time from the beginning. The 24-hour rotation of the Earth is astrological. The sun moves through each of the 12 signs every two hours. Our calendar system—October 14th, November 2nd—all of that only exists because of technology. If we didn’t have clocks or phones, we would have to follow the sun, the constellations, and the stars.

Humans used to live by the sun. We navigated the world by the 88 constellations, by the North Star. We knew where we were geocentrically by watching the planets. We knew the time of day based on the sun. We knew the month by which constellation the sun rose for 30 or 31 days.

Technology became a crutch. When you lean on a crutch too long, you stop using the muscles you need. As a species, we stopped following the sun because we rely on devices to tell us what time it is, what day it is.

And then when you start looking at the origins of religion through this astrological lens, things unfold even more. The Earth rotates every 24 hours; it revolves around the sun in 365 or 366 days because of the tilt of the poles.

The sun rises higher and higher until June 21st—the summer solstice—then descends until the winter solstice. At the lowest point in December, the sun appears to “die” for three days. It doesn’t rise north; it doesn’t move south. It just stays. Then on December 25th, it rises one degree north again—“the sun that lights the world” begins its return.

That’s where so many religious allegories come from. Jesus as a personification of the sun—the one who brings light, whose “reflection walks on water,” who “rises again.” It’s metaphorical. It’s allegorical.

But before I get too far ahead, there’s another piece: the Earth has a wobble.

When you talk about the wobble, tell us what exactly is wobbling and why.

Aaron Eschenburg: The Earth itself has a wobble. I can’t tell you why—I’m not the one spinning this rock—but we can observe it. We can observe the 24-hour rotation, the 365-day revolution, and the third movement, called the precession of the equinoxes.

It’s a very slow wobble of Earth’s axis. How and why it happens is beyond me, but it’s calculable—just like hours and months.

As the Earth spins around the sun, its axis wobbles slightly. How long does a full wobble take?

Aaron Eschenburg: A full wobble takes 25,920 years.

Why does this wobble matter? What does it mean?

Aaron Eschenburg: Just like our 24-hour day and our 12-month year, everything gets broken down into twelves. So if you take that 25,920-year wobble and divide it by 12—representing the 12 constellations—the result is 2,160 years.

That 2,160-year period is what we call an age. And that means every 2,000 years or so, during the spring equinox, the sun rises in a new zodiac sign.

For about 2,000 years, the sun rose in Taurus during the spring equinox. Humanity at that time worshiped the bull—Baal, Moloch. There were many deities representing the forces of nature: storms, love, fertility, earthquakes, and harvest. These were powers beyond us, personified as gods.

Then another 2,000 years passed, and blood and human sacrifice were still common. This is important to understand because these rituals were seen as ways to get closer to God or the divine.

After Taurus came the Age of Aries, which aligns with the birth of Judaism. Aries is the Ram—Ari, Abo, Ram, Abraham. The Abrahamic religions emerged during this period. Aries is about self, personal will, and personal relationships. Humanity shifted from group worship to an individualized connection with God.

But even then, it wasn’t monotheistic yet—there were still many gods, many “Els.” And blood sacrifice was still happening. The difference was: no more child sacrifice—“no more baby killing,” essentially. Instead, lambs were slaughtered as offerings.

I think that’s a reasonable upgrade.

Aaron Eschenburg: I agree. And it gets better, because the story keeps evolving.

Next came Pisces. The symbolism is the two fish. Aries—the Ram—is assertiveness, self-determination, taking life into your own hands. Pisces brings compassion, forgiveness, belief, and spirituality.

When is the beginning of the Age of Pisces estimated to be?

Aaron Eschenburg: Around the turn of the era—roughly year zero.

Constantine and others who shaped Christianity understood the precession of the equinoxes. They knew these ages shifted, and they wrote this astrological framework directly into the Bible.

If we were two travelers moving from the Age of Aries into the Age of Pisces, and I drew half a curve in the sand, you could complete it—and together we’d form the Jesus Fish. That symbol is a direct representation of Pisces.

And the stories reflect that symbolism: Jesus feeding the masses with a loaf of bread and two fish—the fish is Pisces, the loaf of bread is Virgo, its opposite sign.

As we transitioned into Pisces, humanity still relied on blood sacrifice. That was not sustainable. So symbolically, God sacrifices His only son—so that blood sacrifice would never be needed again. That is a profound turning point in human history.

Jesus, in this interpretation, becomes a personified allegory of the sun.
Personification means giving human traits to something nonhuman.
An allegory is a story or parable meant to teach truth through symbolism.

Like Jonah and the whale: maybe it didn’t literally happen, but the moral is clear—if you don’t speak your truth, you’re as good as swallowed whole.

The sun itself “dies” on December 21st—the winter solstice—when it reaches its lowest point. It sits still for three days, then rises one degree north on December 25th. The sun “is born again.”

From there, the sun moves through the zodiac, mirroring the story of Jesus:

• The sun enters Aquarius → Jesus meets John the Baptist, the water-bearer
• The sun enters Pisces → Jesus meets the fishermen
• The sun crosses the equator → Passover / Easter
• Aries → the Lamb
• Leo → the lion / trials in the desert
• Virgo (house of bread) → harvest season, celebration
• Libra → judgment, balance
• Scorpio → the sting, the kiss of Judas
• Sagittarius → the spear, the lowest point

In the zodiac, there are three crosses: the cardinal, fixed, and mutable crosses. The sun “dies” at the center of these three crosses with the spear inside.

To me, it’s similar to learning Santa Claus wasn’t real. At first, it’s unsettling, but then you understand the deeper meaning behind the story.

I hope when people hear this, it opens something in them. So many people are falling away from religious stories because they don’t make sense literally. But when we look at the origins, these are some of the answers we’ve been searching for.

Is what you just described the foundation of astrotheology, or how would you define it?

Aaron Eschenburg: Yes, 100%. Astrotheology is simply the understanding of our relationship with the observable universe and how it influences humanity. “Astro” refers to the stars, and “theology” refers to God, so it’s really about the God-aspect of the cosmos—what some people call cosmobiology.

I remember sitting in a peyote meeting with an elder, and he started talking about this exact thing. I was stunned. I said, “Alfonso, I’ve studied this my entire life, and I’ve never met another human who understands these concepts. How do you know?”

He looked confused by the term astrotheology and said, “Ah—cosmobiology. My people follow the sun. We’ve never lost this information.” It was profound. His community had maintained this understanding through tradition, not books or documentaries.

And he said something that really stuck with me:
“We’re no longer in the Age of Pisces, ruled by Jesus. We’re in the Age of Aquarius, ruled by technology. And you can find all this knowledge through technology.”

Here we were—opposite sides of the country—yet sitting in the exact same moment, in the exact same space, having this conversation because of technology.

What are the implications of this for everyday life? How does this matter to the average person?

Aaron Eschenburg: Sure. On the second page of Genesis, it says: “Look to the sun, the moon, and the stars for guidance.” It’s right there. So why did the church later condemn it as dangerous?

Because once you open that Pandora’s box, once you see these connections, it’s very hard to go back to dogma. Understanding these patterns frees people from guilt, fear, shame, and some of the manipulative tactics certain religious systems use.

I’ve had people try to guilt me into belief: “You’re going to hell unless you believe the story,” or “I’ll pray for you.” Instead of letting me follow my own path, they cling to what they’ve been taught because they don’t want to stand alone in their belief.

Astrotheology gives people permission to think freely. It gives context. It offers a bigger picture. It removes fear.

As we enter the Age of Aquarius, what does that shift look like globally?

Aaron Eschenburg: We’re already seeing it. The signs are everywhere.

Since the 1980s, technology has skyrocketed. And now it’s exploding—AI, instant communication, information-sharing. None of this would’ve been possible in the previous age.

Astrologically, Aquarius is knowledge, technology, communication, innovation, and community. Through technology, you and I are exchanging knowledge right now.

To me, spirituality isn’t about creating a new religion—it’s about observing what’s already here and giving it a home. That’s what the Center of Spirituality is about. It’s a double meaning: the “center” isn’t a building—it’s the vibration, the understanding, the cosmos itself. But we also need a physical place for community.

Right now, spiritual people float between yoga classes, cacao ceremonies, sound baths, and medicine circles—you come in for an hour and then leave. There’s no home base. No consistent community.

We need that. Humans are wired for it. Sharing food, gathering, connecting—it’s essential. And we don’t all need to believe the same thing. That’s the beauty of Aquarius.

It’s about creating a safe space—a home—for people who are spiritual, curious, or awakening.
A place where community exists without dogma.
A place that can sustain itself financially but isn’t driven by profit.

That’s the vision of what’s unfolding right now.

What is the vision you have for the Center of Spirituality? If you imagine five to ten years from now, what would you love to see?

Aaron Eschenburg: Essentially, I envision something similar to churches—but without the dogma. We don’t need a savior story anymore. We don’t need a Messiah. The sun “comes” every single year on December 25th. It rises, it sets. The cycle continues.

The original story behind all of this—the truth of it—has been distorted through thousands of years of the telephone game. But the roots are still there. And now, with technology, we have access to the original source material that was once passed down only through rare lineages.

So the goal is to create centers—plural—where people can gather, connect, and practice what spiritual people are already doing: sound baths, yoga, breathwork, meditation, plant medicine integration, community gatherings, shared meals.

These centers would be places where people can congregate, eat together, connect, and practice in ways that feel authentic.

Astrology is also a guiding force. There’s always a story to pull from the movement of the sun, the moon, the planets. We’ve assigned archetypes to planets and star clusters, and these archetypes help us understand the energies moving through humanity at any given moment.

Right now, for example, Mars just moved into Sagittarius—it shifts the energy from deep emotional passion into exploration, learning, and higher knowledge. There are always messages reflected in the sky, as the old saying goes: as above, so below.

Historically, this was the role of ministers. Old churches faced east so the rising sun would shine through the pillars and show what month it was. Ministers were observers of the heavens. That’s the lineage we’re rebuilding.

You can ask any astrologer what Pluto in Aquarius represents, and they’ll tell you:
Transformation of community, technology, and information.
And we’re seeing that unfold in real time.

When people get too focused on personal struggle, they lose sight of the bigger picture. They feel isolated. But when they come into community—especially one grounded in these ancient, universal truths—they realize they’re not alone. We’re all moving through the same cycles and growing pains.

So I’m not creating the Center of Spirituality—we are. Collectively.
Spirituality itself is evolving through all of us.
We’re all walking each other home.

You’ve mentioned plant medicine several times. When were you first introduced to it, and how did that experience impact you?

Aaron Eschenburg: Plant medicine is beautiful—but it’s not for everyone, and that’s okay. That’s why we need many modalities: coaches, vibrational healing, sound baths, and yoga. These all help people connect with themselves and with source energy. Plant medicine is just one tool. A powerful tool—but like a hammer, it’s only needed at certain times.

I worked with mushrooms and psychedelics when I was younger, but in my early thirties—around 33 or so—I found myself in an ayahuasca ceremony. It was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.

It showed me so much.
It helped me see my shadow, release weight I’d carried for years, reconnect with the mystery of the universe, and witness the overwhelming beauty that exists beyond our everyday perception.

After that, something kept calling me back—the songs, the energy, the medicine itself. For years, the medicine told me, “You’re going to serve me.”
And I said, “Absolutely not.”

It wasn’t like I woke up thinking, I’m going to play shaman.
That’s the last thing I ever wanted.

But the messages kept coming—in visions, in intuition, in the ceremonies themselves. Eventually, the shaman I worked with said, “Go to Peru. Immerse yourself.”
So I did.

I trained. I learned. I trusted the medicine. And eventually, I started serving it. I formed a religious nonprofit and have now been serving ayahuasca in the U.S. for about six years.

Just recently, I held a ceremony where a young man told me afterward, “I just had a conversation with God.”
Moments like that remind me of the power of this work.

The medicine isn’t easy. Drinking it is the easy part.
The hard work is after integration, self-reflection, and becoming stronger in mind, heart, and body. The medicine wants you to be strong. It wants you to shine your brightest light—like the sun, which never dims for anyone.

Working with medicine here in America is different and challenging. We’re a young country. Our minds are strong. We’re still learning how to navigate technology, social media, and constant stimulation. Plant medicine helps many people reconnect, recenter, and remember who they are.

And globally, the medicine is “calling” people.
In Peru, I meet people from all over the world who are learning, training, and being invited to carry this work forward.
It’s not random.

These are ancient relationships—ancient lineages—coming alive again.

And when the time is right, the medicine chooses who will bring it into new places, new communities, new homes.

One way you’re introducing people to the power of ayahuasca is through Ancestral Herbs and microdosing. How did you come up with this vision, and what is the product like?

Aaron Eschenburg: Absolutely. A lot of the things in my life—this included—have been inspirations that came directly from the plants. None of this started from me thinking, I’ve got a business idea or I’m going to be an ayahuasca guy.

I had just returned home from Peru. I fell asleep, and when I woke up, I heard the voice of ayahuasca guiding me—very clearly—on how to create this company. I opened my eyes like, What? Immediately, I called my friends in Peru and said, “This is what the plants are telling me. Is this even possible?” And they said yes.

So about a month later, I went right back down to Peru and started cooking. And when we’re down there, we’re surrounded by plants—we’re plant people. You learn to communicate with the plants the same way you learn to communicate with a pet. Sometimes the communication is loud—visions, intuition, clarity. Sometimes it’s subtle. But the plants speak.

When we cooked the pure ayahuasca—without chacruna, without DMT—several other plants basically “jumped in,” saying, We’re coming too. As wild as that sounds, I’ve experienced it enough times to accept it.

Pure ayahuasca itself is an MAOI. It has no DMT and is completely legal—FDA-approved. MAOIs were originally pharmaceutical antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications. What they do is prevent the body from breaking down DMT so you can experience it in ceremony. But in microdosing form—without DMT—ayahuasca becomes a natural anti-anxiety medicine, a dopamine regulator, a mood elevator, and a powerful support for neuroconnectivity.

It’s leaps and bounds above pharmaceutical SSRIs for many people, and without petrochemicals damaging the gut.

That’s why these plants came forward—people need natural medicine again.

From there, the other extracts were born:

• Pure Immunity (Cat’s Claw): an incredibly strong immune booster; we call it the COVID Killer.
• Pure Vitality (Tahsai): amazing for joint pain, inflammation, physical labor, and overall strength.
• Pure Clarity (Pinon Blanco): a gut and parasite cleanse—“brain 1” is the gut, and if it’s toxic, the signals sent to the brain are toxic.
• Pure Heart (Bobinsana): a heart-opening plant, great for rheumatoid arthritis, sleep, and dreams.
• Pure Moon: a powerful support for menstrual cramps, PMS, menopause—interestingly, that plant spoke to me the loudest.

Each one is a single-plant extract—not a tincture in the traditional sense, because tinctures use a 1:1 alcohol ratio. These are slow-cooked over fire in 30-gallon pots for days. It’s an old-world method, like a 40:1 potency ratio. There’s nothing remotely this strong in U.S. drugstores.

These extracts are the plants in their purest form—preserved with a small amount of organic cane alcohol for shelf stability.

So yes, each product is a separate plant extract, and each plays a specific role. And if someone wants to learn more or get them, the website is ancestral…

If someone isn’t facing a big challenge right now but wants to take things to the next level, which plant extract would you recommend?

Aaron Eschenburg: The Pure Being—the pure ayahuasca extract—is unbelievable. What it does for the brain is remarkable. You’ve heard the phrase, “neurons that wire together fire together.” When we’re young, our neural network fires beautifully, but as we age, those pathways can weaken. That’s why we lose some of that childlike awe and wonder—why it gets harder to appreciate the small things.

When neurons fire together, they strengthen their connection. That’s what allows information and brain chemicals to flow more smoothly. Pure Being supports that process. My grandma takes it. My mom takes it. So many people I know tell me, “This stuff works so well for me.” It also gently elevates the mood—not in a dramatic way, just a subtle little boost.

And you take just a small dose under the tongue? When would someone use it?

Aaron Eschenburg: Anytime. It comes in a small dropper bottle. You can take a couple of drops or a full dropper—whatever feels right for you. With Pure Moon, for example, some women take just a few drops and it’s enough. Others prefer a full dropper. I’ve had women tell me, “I forgot I was even on my period.” The plants truly want to serve.

I know you mentioned being drawn to Pure Moon. Are you taking that one yourself?

Aaron Eschenburg: No, not really. It’s good for muscle spasms or back issues, but it wasn’t calling to me personally in that way. It was more that the plant called out during the cooking process—loudly—and wanted to be part of the journey north. That one was incredibly verbal, second only to Pure Being.

Beyond purchasing Ancestral Herbs or attending an ayahuasca ceremony, how can people get involved with the Center of Spirituality if they resonate with your vision?

Aaron Eschenburg: You can reach out to me by email at mitranscendence@gmail.com. “Mi” stands for Michigan, but that’s why we’ve shifted to the Center of Spirituality—it’s much bigger than Michigan, and we’re growing as a board and as a community.

You can find me on YouTube. I share a lot about astrology—the full moons, the new moons, what the planets are communicating right now. There will also be more information on centerofspirituality.org.

How do people find out about the ceremonies you host? Is it mainly word of mouth in Detroit?

Aaron Eschenburg: Yes, mostly word of mouth. The spiritual community is creating something powerful here, and these medicines aren’t going anywhere—they’ve been with humanity a long time. But there are legal considerations. That’s why you don’t see videos of people serving ayahuasca in the U.S.—there’s fear. You can help people profoundly, but you can also go to prison for life for serving in the wrong jurisdiction.

Here in Michigan, psychedelics are decriminalized in Washtenaw and Wayne Counties. You can walk into a store and buy mushrooms. Some stores also carry my Pure Being plant extracts. But no one will ever sell ayahuasca itself. There’s too much reverence and responsibility attached to the medicine.

We also created a religious nonprofit, which was directly guided by ayahuasca. During one ceremony, the medicine said, “Protect me. Protect your participants. Protect yourself. Create an organization.” So there’s deep trust involved in this work.

One of the biggest shifts I see in people who come to ceremony—whether in Peru or here—is that they begin to trust themselves. They see parts of themselves they’ve denied out of fear: fear of being judged, fear of being seen. It’s like wanting to sing karaoke but holding back because the risk of feeling embarrassed seems bigger than the joy. The plants help dissolve that barrier. They help us see where we’ve been sabotaging our own opportunities.

Right now, collectively, there’s a lot of turbulence. People are stuck in the emotional side of the brain—overwhelmed, anxious, unsure. Plant medicine helps bring balance. It helps people step out of the overwhelm, see clearly, and trust their own inner movement again.

What’s the best place for people to connect with you and learn more?

Aaron Eschenburg: Center of Spirituality. The website transition is happening now—Mercury retrograde has slowed things down a bit—but everything is moving from Michigan Transcendence to Center of Spirituality. You can find me on YouTube, reach out at mitranscendence@gmail.com, and find more about astrotheology and plant work at centerofspirituality.org.

And for anyone listening: this is a call. I’m not creating this alone—we are creating it. Pigeons don’t fly with eagles. Not that I’m an eagle—but it means we need people who are aligned to come together, support each other, and help build what is already revealing itself. This is the moment to step into the light and co-create what wants to emerge.

Aaron, thank you so much for joining us today.

Aaron Eschenburg: Thank you, David. It’s been an honor and a pleasure.