Awakenings

In the last few weeks, The Grid has completed 500 years of Crisis and is starting on a new Turning. The next steps will be to find significant events from the Second Turning, or Awakening, which is chosen here for a number of reasons:

• The historic appearance of Awakenings is about 40 years after (and before, of course) each Crisis.  This is easily seen without having to accept the remainder of the Strauss & Howe model. (Whereas the other Turnings - the High and Unraveling - are specific to it.)
• By splitting the time between Crisis periods in half, the mean time between these significant dates stays consistent and as small as possible. As a result, most historic events that might come up will average only about 20 years from either a Crisis or Awakening date.
• It can be possible to detect the roots of one Crisis in the events of the previous Awakening. The genesis of the Spanish Armada, for example, can be seen in the rejection by Henry the Eighth of his Spanish queen. 

While the Crisis events usually tie in to the major war that occurs at that time, the distinct voice of the Awakening often appears in text - a speech or a sermon, a law or a legal decision. The struggles of the time are between ideas, and it is in words that ideas fight it out.