So, I’m not generally one to write at length about astrological happenings. Personal transits, maybe. Natal aspects, absolutely. But the ongoing affairs of the sky are typically not something I carry on about.
But today is different. Or, more aptly, TOMORROW is different. Tomorrow is the day of the Great Conjunction.
You may have heard about it. Even scientists are into this one – from where we sit, Saturn and Jupiter will be closer than they’ve been for hundreds of years, forming one bright, beautiful spot in the cosmos known as a “Christmas star.” How quaint of it to take place right around Christmas this year, to boot!
But astrologically, it’s even more. For over 200 years, we’ve been living through what I call the “Earth Era” – with Saturn/Jupiter conjunctions occurring in the element of earth, keeping us consistently focused, collectively, on material matters – i.e. the industrial era. Before that, there was the Fire Era – one of revolutions and exploration and expansion, often accompanied with violence. And before that, the Water Era, commonly referred to as the Renaissance™ – a time when science and spirit were still wed, and the arts flourished. And of course, before that would’ve been the Air Era – known in part (in Europe at least) as the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages – one characterized by turbulence and war.
By now you might be guessing (correctly) that we’re entering another Air Era. Yes, there is a pattern to this, and yes, we may just be approaching something of a “crisis.” So should we be concerned?
I sure as hell am not. In fact, I’m over the moon!
I’ve got many reasons to feel this way, but one leads the way: it doesn’t have to be a “crisis.” We need change, and we’re gonna get it. Of course, change can look scary to people who’ve been thoroughly conditioned by the Earth element (AKA all of us). It wouldn’t be out of character for us to call ANY change a “crisis.” The past couple centuries have trained us to place our faith in the material realm, to resist transformation, to value linear thinking and endless economic growth, to muddle our minds with nostalgia and yearning for “the good old days.” But it has calcified us. It has made us slow and heavy, just like the element itself. What was at first a fun flirtation with material magic (Railroads!) has become one hell of a ball and chain, to the point where we’re honest to God wondering if humanity can even survive the amount of garbage it’s produced.
Enter the element of Air. Uprooted, unpredictable, flighty, and relatively detached from the material world, Air is sweeping in to lift us above, give us perspective, help us see the whole picture – just as it did when it pried us loose from the dark ages. Most people would argue that change was due then, and are grateful that the battles waged to break free were fought.
We’re once again beholden to virtual feudal lords and a “sacred” hierarchy that causes us to doubt our own intelligence. Ownership and control over our own possessions and lives is once more dubious. But we’re more connected now. We’re more educated. We are capable of bigger things, wilder dreams, more expansive innovations. It doesn’t have to be a crisis. It will be if there’s too much push back – or at least it will look like one. But the time for change has come again, and we do have the power to do it artfully, peacefully, and with grand vision.
The air signs are Gemini (communication), Libra (partnership) and Aquarius, and we’re kicking off this new era with a Jupiter/Saturn conjunction in the latter. Aquarius rules new technology, freedom,
community, and revolution – things that have all been highlighted for us during 2020. Aquarius is unpredictable: it upends, surprises and rocks boats. Our path to recovery from COVID-19 is going to be intricately tied to whatever it brings to the table.
One small example: there are now robots roaming the university I live by. ROBOTS. You don’t get much more Aquarian than that – that’s straight up sci-fi. Sure, they’re just little boxes on wheels, and they don’t say much more than “thank you,” but they sure as hell weren’t there at the beginning of 2020. They exist because of the pandemic. They are here, in true, ungrounded air fashion, to deliver food. Food, the earthiest thing you could imagine, in a robot.
(My kids love ’em by the way – I often take them “robot chasing” to get them some exercise.)
2020 marks the death of an era – sometimes painful, sometimes frightening, sometimes ugly. But death is followed by rebirth (at least in my belief system), and Aquarius is well-equipped to be our midwife. With airy innovation, we’ll be able to build a society that can withstand what the next 200-some years throw at it. All hope is not lost. It might be if we clung to the “earth” ways and insisted on business as usual. But if anything’s a threat to that, it’s Aquarius – and seeing as how there’s around 20 years between each of these conjunctions, Aquarius has got some time to let its quirky, rebellious magic sink in.
Astrology doesn’t mess around either – it knows exactly what it’s doing. Teenagers – those damn kids these days! – are already set to take the reins and steer the rest of us into this unknown future. They have Neptune and Uranus on their side – slow moving planets sitting solidly in Aquarius in most of their natal charts. They probably don’t realize it (or maybe they do, I wouldn’t be surprised), but they hold the key to unlocking this mystery.
So I have hope. I have hope for the youth, hope for the future, and even hope for myself! I’ve got reason to suspect that everyone who, like me, felt a bit like they didn’t belong in this world before are finally going to find a place in the coming years. Our cultural values are going to shift – I mean, they HAVE to – and the weirdos might just find outlets for self-expression they never dreamed possible.
Tomorrow, some friends and I are having a small ceremony. Just basic witchy stuff, ya know – burning symbols of the past, cleansing our psyches of all we don’t want to bring into this new era, writing lists of what we want to move towards. And I’m not gonna lie – I’m excited as hell. These past couple weeks have been a real slog. Many people have felt the slow death within and around them, and I’m no exception. Transformation can be trying, and it’s not always clear that suffering has a purpose. But it almost always does.
Here’s to rebirth!
