On Not Being Able to View the Jupiter-Saturn Conjunction

At least I had legs to carry me down
Two flights of stairs and outside,
Most of the way to the waterfront.
I walked as far as the sidewalk was shoveled,
To the underpass where I could see the garish mural
Of psychedelicized flowers and read the trite affirmations
That still managed to be a comfort to this cynic.
At least I could see a crescent moon on its descent,
Wrapped in downy gathering clouds.
At least I could smell winter in the last dregs of fall,
In home fireplaces, in the kitchen
Of the local old-school Italian restaurant
Open for business, surviving the pandemic.
Tomorrow it will snow again;
Monday it will be overcast.
So most likely, I will miss viewing
This once-in-800-years event,
This Star of Bethlehem.
But I am not downcast—I have already had
My Christmas miracle:
I got out of the city with my sweetie,
Lock stock barrel, the whole kitten caboodle,
To a smaller city with more space
Both inside and out.
I do not pass a single soul on my walk
And feel blessed as I breathe in the cold, clean air,
Noting how some upended chunks of snow
Resemble tiny gravestones in the dusk
And feel graced when I slip on an icy patch
And recover my balance.

It's the Great Conjunction, Charlie Brown (and the Great Mutation, Too)

“How many years can a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea?
Yes,and how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?”

—Bob Dylan, “Blowin’ in the Wind”

“No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.”
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

Six very long months ago, I threw a predictive hat into the ring that the upcoming Jupiter-Saturn conjunction would usher in “positive new developments, since it is clear to me that Saturn at 0 degrees of Aquarius (where it was in late March and early April of this year, and where it is currently) is a crucial factor for this particular pandemic. Aquarius rules groups of people, revolution, science, and technology. With Jupiter joining Saturn there at the end of this year, perhaps humanity will step up to the plate.” (From my blog post of 6/27/20.)

Little did I know when I was waxing so uncharacteristically optimistic in my usually downbeat astrology blog that this was to be no ordinary Jupiter-Saturn conjunction—not that any of them are, as so-called Great Conjunctions only occur every 20 years and serve as markers for societal epochs—but a Great Mutation. It came as mind-blowing news for me to learn that Great Conjunctions do not fall in random signs every other decade, as I had assumed ever since I began practicing astrology; instead, Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions occur in a single element for 200 years before jumping to a different element for the next 200 years—although there is a preview of the Great Mutation in the penultimate conjunction of each 200-year cycle. (Indispensable source material for this article: https://www.astropro.com, “Astrologer Richard Nolle’s 3000-Year Jupiter-Saturn Conjunction Table," published 4/26/98.)

In other words, by the time you read this article, we will have just emerged from an earth-element Great Conjunction cycle that began on January 26, 1842. Let that sink in for a New York minute: on a societal level, this cycle has been almost entirely focused on the material world. Even the flower children of the 1960s who turned on, tuned in, and dropped out of the dog-eat-dog rat race for at least a few years, wanted to (as per Joni Mitchell’s song “Woodstock”) “get back to the land to set my soul free […] And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.”

Our most recent glimpse of the air-element Great Conjunction cycle was the 1980–81 Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in Libra, which marked the next two decades with the rise of the personal computer, the internet, and dramatic shifts in the institutions of marriage, law, politics, and borders. There was the rise of Reagan on the one hand, the fall of the Berlin Wall on the other.

In 2000 the final earth-element Great Conjunction occurred, in Taurus. With the exception of the preview of 40 years ago, our last Great Conjunction in the air-element cycle occurred on January 16, 1405—and it happened in Aquarius.

I am writing this with Jupiter and Saturn still playing tug-of-time in Capricorn, so I am finding it difficult to evade the clutches of earth-sign logic, which is empirical, not theoretical; rooted in the five senses and the mundane world. Perhaps it is the Capricorn influence that is encouraging me to fixate on an identical pattern during the last elemental shift from earth to air: Libra (1186) to Taurus (1206) to Aquarius (1226) rather than ditch history and simply predict that the coming Great Mutation in Aquarius will send humanity to group therapy…. Yet even if history doesn’t repeat itself, it rhymes.

The countless generations of astrologers who lived before the outer planets were discovered would probably slap me upside the head for not being aware of this Great Conjunction pattern, but back in the long-ago day, Jupiter and Saturn really were the naked eye’s final frontiers of our solar system. Every 20 years, they appear in the night sky to merge into one extraordinarily bright star, which in the year 6 BC was conjunct in Pisces three times (May, October, and December) and christened the Star of Bethlehem or the Christmas Star, alerting the Three Wise Men (code for astrologers) to the birth of a great spiritual leader. Before the outer planets were discovered, Jupiter co-ruled Sagittarius and Pisces, while Saturn co-ruled Capricorn and Aquarius. These final four signs of the zodiac are associated with transpersonal matters; appropriately, the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction is also known as the Great Chronocrator, Markers of Time.

The Great Mutation at 0 degrees of Aquarius occurs on December 21, 2020, on the heels of the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, when the Sun enters the Saturn-ruled sign Capricorn. Saturn is clearly still a force to be reckoned with here, not ready to cede its dominance of 2020, and is putting its harsh taskmaster stamp on the “dark winter” that US president-elect Joe Biden has been warning us about concerning the pandemic. Although expansive, optimistic, gambling Jupiter will have an easier time transiting through Aquarius than in Capricorn (sign of its fall), it will still be dominated by Saturn, as the latter planet is still the co-ruler of Aquarius.

The chart for the Great Mutation in Washington DC points to a classic earth-air conflict, as the Ascendant at 0 degrees of Taurus (conjunct Joe Biden’s Moon at 1 degree of Taurus) exactly squares the Great Mutation, with wild-card Uranus in Taurus in the First House of identity, while the Sun-Mercury conjunction at 0–1 degrees of Capricorn trines the Ascendant. Consider, too, that the Sun on Inauguration Day conjuncts the Great Mutation, literally spotlighting its significance. I do not want to come off as Chicken Little here, but…the sky could very well be falling.

The seeds of Saturn in Aquarius were sown at the very beginning of last spring; this winter, they will bloom as social distancing (a manifestation of Saturn in Aquarius) moves into a new phase with new or enhanced forms of online or virtual technology (Aquarius) in an attempt to normalize on a collective scale what this time last year was unthinkable or unimaginable for most individuals. Social media will be more policed (Saturn) at the same time it expands (Jupiter); Zoom may roll out a Zany offshoot while Slack rolls out Slick. This past spring, I predicted that multiple breakthrough Covid-19 vaccines would be invented on the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction; at the time of this writing, approvals of various vaccines are already occurring in some countries, without necessarily finishing the standard protocol (Jupiter and Uranus going rogue on Saturn).

The most significant aspects of the winter of 2020–21, following the Great Mutation, are profoundly challenging: the Jupiter-Uranus square (1/17/21) and the first of several Saturn-Uranus squares (2/17/21), during the same period that Mars is conjunct Uranus in Taurus. As Mars is an inner planet, and debilitated in Taurus, there is no way for us to opt out of these challenging squares, and they will involve the same signs of the Jupiter-Uranus and Saturn-Uranus squares of 2000—just flipped. Rhyming history, anyone?

Think back to 2000, the final Great Conjunction in the earth element, specifically Taurus; reflect on the past 20 years of societal matters, and how they have all been tied into the sign of money and possessions. Particularly in the US, the gap between the haves and the have-nots has widened into a canyon. Unfettered capitalism, tax breaks, and the stock market have mainly benefited the 1%. Nearly all politicians are in the back pockets of corporations, which recently were determined to have the same rights as people (but not vice-versa). 9/11 occurred and has had the effect of dismantling certain personal liberties (e.g., Big Brotherish surveillance) in the name of security (an earth-element desire). Even as the internet, virtual reality, and AI gained traction with Uranus in Aquarius, the tech bubble burst in 2000 and true communication between disparate groups (Jupiter and Saturn) got bogged down in the bullheaded “my way or the highway” modus operandi that is the dark side of Taurus.

This time around, however, Uranus has moved from the sign of its rulership to the sign of its fall, which suggests that the effects of this square will be even harsher and involve not just public health and economic misery for millions of people, but the climate-change emergency that is mainly kindling young activists who will be most affected by the coming devastation if nothing is done very soon to mitigate it (as it may already be too late to stop the damage entirely).

During the spring of 2020, millions of individuals lost their jobs due to the pandemic, and a global recession ensued;
Saturn backed off from the exact square, but starting this winter, the square will be in full force. While the Jupiter-Uranus square willencourage conspiracy theories, cultlike groups, rampant fake news, and gambling with money and literal lives, the real crash will come on the exact Saturn-Uranus square. Incoming president Biden may say “Bye Don” as the Lame Donald Duck is removed from the White House with a butterfly net (or, depending on what he attempts during the Jupiter-Uranus square, in handcuffs). But unless the US Senate is flipped in the January runoff in Georgia or the Senate Majority Leader candy-flips, Americans may not be helped in any real way this winter as Covid-19 ravages the nation and vaccines are at the very earliest stages of being distributed. As of this writing, there are talks in the Senate of passing a compromised stimulus bill to help individuals and businesses; if there is no significant improvement, and individuals are being evicted and going hungry, even more people will take to the streets in protest of this utterly avoidable mess than the Black Lives Matter movement (though there will be overlap). And the protesting could easily turn violent.

The stubborn nature of this Great Mutation in Aquarius squaring Uranus in Taurus also indicates that another bubble will burst, with more potential violence: the information bubble, which has polarized our society and is yoked to money in the form of corporate interests and hucksters. Critical thinking has become a lost art, as has compassion and a sense of fair play. Every opinion is a fact; every fact is an opinion. Many of us, no matter how nice, educated, or “evolved” we are, have our own set-in-stone beliefs on just about everything, gleaned from such disparate sources that when op-ed columnists opine, newscasters speak, epidemiologists weigh in, the CDC flipflops, Facebook friends post, or twitterers tweet, they are all preaching in echo chambers to their very separate choirs. Very recently, I became aware of Parler, a far-right social media platform that formed in response to pushback from Facebook.

Federal mask mandates and strict three-month lockdowns may work in some countries, but not here, and particularly not during a 20-year cycle defined, as in the last 20-year cycle, by Jupiter and Saturn squaring Uranus in fixed know-it-all signs. Freedom has become such a loaded term, used by many people to define their right to not wear a mask to protect other people, that I nearly scrapped the Bob Dylan reference at the beginning of this article. As the poet William Butler Yeats put it so eloquently in “The Second Coming,” just following the First World War and the last pandemic:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Now that we are trying to tame the worst public health crisis since Yeats wrote that poem in 1919, the center must regain its footing if we are to make it as a species, or at least as Americans, to the next potential renaissance (as occurred in Italy midway through the last air-element Great Conjunction cycle). We need not to “get back to normal,” as recent normal was not working out so well for many of us, but to be inspired by a long-ago era.

An era when the newborn Magna Carta was used as a springboard for common law outside of England. An era when the populace (symbolized by Aquarius) hungered and fought for human rights (Aquarius again) that would benefit as many people of all races, religions, and walks of life as possible instead of sinking into tribalism, cynicism, nihilism, and authoritarian populism (which has enabled fascism, holocausts, ethnic cleansing—and most recently, a mentally ill psychopathic grifter to become the President of the United States). An era when ideas and communication (domains of the air element) were valued at least as much as things and ownership (ruled by earth).

Tribunals and revolutions may be unavoidable during this elemental societal change. But if enough humane humans unite, we can get the true Age of Aquarius rolling…with the great transformer Pluto transiting through Aquarius, to boot. This winter, let us mask up, take a deep breath, and begin a 200-year-long journey.

Jupiter Conjunct Pluto, Round Two: The Return of the Coronavirus That Never Left

Jupiter and Pluto posing in a sea of Covid-19
Collage by T. C. Gardstein

As I predicted in a post from this spring, Mars transiting Pisces unleashed a whole lot of trouble concerning action (Mars), the emotions (Pisces), and public health (the domain of the opposite sign of Virgo). Around the time that Mars entered the final sign of the zodiac in mid-May, many countries and states within the US began opening up, in many cases not meeting the US government's own guidelines. Unemployment (represented by Pisces, since the opposite sign of Virgo represents employment) continued to climb (a key factor in the premature reopening of the US). The death of George Floyd on Memorial Day brought a few weeks' worth of emotional yet largely peaceful social justice (Pisces, the sign where Jupiter is exalted) protests all over the world, peaking in early June, when Mars formed a difficult square to Venus retrograde in Gemini (itself a placement that would seem to encourage backing away from social distancing). After a spate of looting and problems with the police, NYC was placed under curfew for about a week for the first time ever, just prior to its first phase of officially emerging from the lock down. This city is now midway through the much-vaunted Phase 2, when it is possible to dine at restaurants with outdoor seating, get elective medical procedures, get your teeth cleaned, go back to the office (though many companies are moving slowly on that), and either mask up or not, depending on how and where you roll (in my neighborhood, not so much).

From my perspective as an astrologer in New York City, mid-May through June was (and still is) a perfect storm for what many are calling the second wave of Covid-19 (epidemiologists beg to differ, as the virus has not receded enough to end the first wave, but it's clear that many people have stopped listening to scientists). The storm broke shortly after Mercury turned retrograde in Cancer (6/18), with the Solar Eclipse on the heels of the 6/21 Summer Solstice (which was the Winter Solstice for the Southern Hemisphere). It is inevitable that Mercury retrograde must backpedal, creating delays and second thoughts; countries that had apparently gotten the virus under control, including Australia and Germany, were dealing with new outbreaks, while many cities of the US that had escaped the initial onslaught in March and April, such as Houston, Miami, and Los Angeles, were at risk of becoming the next New York City. As of yesterday, recently reopened bars (represented by Pisces), acknowledged to encourage the spread of the virus among relatively young, healthy people who would then infect others, closed down again in the new hot spots.

Considering that the first Jupiter-Pluto conjunction occurred on April 4, right around the peak of the horror show in NYC, it does not take an astrological genius to see that the second Jupiter-Pluto conjunction, exact on June 30, is bringing more of the same to other cities. The US is in particular trouble, however. On July 1, as borders reopen in the European Union with Saturn about to retrograde back into Capricorn, it is almost certain that the EU will put the US on its no-fly list. Just a few days later, on July 4, the US has its Solar Return, which features a Lunar Eclipse and an approaching square between Mercury retrograde in Cancer and Mars in its ruling sign of Aries (a classic aspect of arguments that can turn violent).

I will write in more detail about the US's 244nd birthday, but with transiting Saturn in the Solar Return retrograding back over the US natal Pluto this summer, it is conceivable that there will be localized (if not nationwide) lock downs and walk-backs, as well more restrictions and separations from first world countries that view the US with a mixture of pity, concern, frustration, and revulsion. Fortunately, Saturn will turn direct before it forms another conjunction with transiting Pluto (as we had on January 12 of this year -- the day that the genome of Covid-19 was made public), but we will experience a third Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in mid-November, which would seem to indicate a second wave as well as turmoil in the US concerning the presidential election.

In case reading this post is tempting you to stick your head in a toaster oven, I am still optimistic that the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction at 0 degrees of Aquarius in mid-December will bring positive new developments, since it is clear to me that Saturn at 0 degrees of Aquarius (where it was in late March and early April of this year, and where it is currently) is a crucial factor for this particular pandemic. Aquarius rules groups of people, revolution, science, and technology. With Jupiter joining Saturn there at the end of this year, perhaps humanity will step up to the plate and evolve in a, well, humanitarian way instead of dying out or handing the keys over to robots whose AI tops our collective IQ.