Lessons of the Great Conjunction
Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Anthony Louis, author of several books, including the new Horary Astrology.
On December 21, 2020, the planets Jupiter and Saturn conjoined in the heavens. Such “great conjunctions” happen about every 20 years, but this one was special. Not only did the planets coincide as measured along the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun around the Earth, but they also came together in declination—that is, in their angular distance north or south of the equator. In fact, these two giants of our solar system got so close, within 0.1 degrees of each other, that to the naked eye they looked like a single, extremely bright planet. The last time Jupiter and Saturn got this close to each other was in 1623 during the life of Galileo. For centuries astrologers have speculated that a similar conjunction or celestial phenomenon was the original Christmas Star that led the Magi to visit the baby Jesus in Bethlehem.
Astrologers have also used the roughly 20-year cycle of Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions as markers of significant historical periods in human history. Every 20 years such a conjunction appears in a particular sign, whose symbolism and elemental nature set the tone for the entire period. For example, in December of 2020 the great conjunction took place in 0° Aquarius in the tropical zodiac, indicating that Aquarian themes will be prominent in human history until the year 2040, when the next conjunction occurs in Libra. To see how this conjunction might affect you personally, study the position 0° Aquarius, the planet Saturn (which traditionally rules this sign), the planet Jupiter (which partakes in this conjunction), and any planets you have in Aquarius in your birth chart. In the world at large, Aquarius will place an emphasis on liberty, independence, human rights, innovations, and humanitarian concerns.
For the next 200 years, the Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions will take place in the triplicity of air signs in the sequence Aquarius – Libra – Gemini, a sequence which will repeat every 60 years. Air is an element that easily flows across borders and makes connections. We are in the midst of transitioning out of two centuries of great conjunctions in materialistic earth signs, during which we witnessed the Industrial Revolution, and we are entering two centuries of conjunctions in air, which is associated with ideas, knowledge, communications, the worldwide web, remote learning, artificial intelligence, etc. Interestingly, in the Vedic tradition, the air signs are associated with merchants and farmers, whose role in society is to protect the sacred cows, provide food for all creatures, and wisely manage the environment so that it can continue to sustain life. Perhaps the most important lesson of the 2020 great conjunction in Aquarius is the need to finally address the problems of climate change and global warming over the next 20 years.
Our thanks to Anthony for his guest post! For more from Anthony Louis, read his article “How to Use Planetary Hours to Make Your Life Run More Smoothly.”
