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2020’s Jupiter/Saturn conjunction: 5 Takeaways

By Dana Gerhardt

 

Among astrologers 2020 will be known as the year of 3 world-changing conjunctions—Saturn/Pluto, Jupiter/Pluto, and the last, occurring on December 21, 2020, the conjunction of Jupiter & Saturn at zero Aquarius.  Here are 5 things to know about this wonderful celestial event:

1.  Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions are sociopolitical game changers.

For thousands of years, astrologers have held Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions in high regard. They were known as the Great Conjunctions.  This bright pair are the two largest, most distant, and slowest moving of the visible planets in our solar system, making their conjunctions the rarest, occurring once every 20 years.  Theirs was the longest planetary cycle observed before telescopes were invented.  Even today, many define a generation as being 20 years long.  Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions have also been called the Great Chronicators, the Markers of Time.

Sky lords Jupiter and Saturn are what we call “social planets.”  Their influence is broad, describing the ebbs and flows of social power around the world, affecting governments and their leaders, as well as the shifting mood of the collective.   “Conjunctions” mean that two or more planets appear in the same sky space.  Their meeting indicates a beginning—the dawn of a new day.  With Jupiter and Saturn, this suggests a turn in political fortunes, perhaps the birth of a new king.  In some way, the pendulum swings.  An old world is dying.  A new spirit enters the realm.

You can see this pattern in US presidential politics over the past 60 years.  Presidents elected within orb of a Great Conjunction turned the political tides.  Their victories brought key power swings in our 2-party system.

YearThe VictorThe Vanquished
1960/61KennedyA Democrat ends 8 years of Republican rule under Eisenhower
1980/81ReaganA Republican makes Democrat Jimmy Carter a one-term president
2000BushA Republican ends 8 years of Democratic rule under Clinton
2020BidenA Democrat makes Republican Donald Trump a one-term president.

When two years are given in the table above, the first is the election year, the second is the year the J/S conjunction was exact.

2. This year’s Jupiter-Saturn conjunction is a Great Mutation.

In another of those elegant patterns of the cosmos, Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions tend to cluster in the elements (earth, air, fire, or water), traveling through the same element for about 200 years.  This beautiful sequence was first observed by astrologers in the Islamic Golden Age, about a thousand years ago.

We’re now on the verge of another 200-year elemental shift.  Since 1802, all Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions have occurred in earth–except for the one in 1981, which being in Libra, previewed the next elemental reign, air, before going back to an earth sign again in 2000.  Jupiter & Saturn now meet in Aquarius and we officially enter the long sequence of air conjunctions, which is why the 2020 J/S conjunction is called a Great Mutation.

Earth signs are strong, practical, efficient, and enduring. Their focus on logic–what works–helped to drive humanity forward through both the Industrial Revolution and the scientific triumphs built on the Age of Reason.  The past 200 years have seen the rise of manufacturing and the widespread exploitation of natural resources.  Earth signs are the most materialistic of all the elements.  During their reign, money has increasingly become the highest measure of success.

Air signs take us behind the veil of the physical world, into the more intellectual, theoretical, and creative realm of ideas.  Air signs are the most social of all the elements.  They’re curious, idealistic, and collaborative, more focused on the greatest number, what will benefit humanity as a whole. If earth signs are the materialists, air signs are the socialists.

Air rules communication too.   Indeed, during the air sign preview after the 1981 conjunction, there was an explosion in new forms of communication.  In those 20 years, all the new technologies that drive our world today were introduced–computers, cell phones, the information superhighway.

In the new air age, it’s less about “making” and “doing” and more about “thinking” and “manipulating.”  It’s about mind over matter.  It’s like the magic we can conjure with a sea of algorithms.  What new intelligence will emerge?  Perhaps we can even reverse climate change.  Aquarius is a progressive, ingenious, egalitarian and futuristic vibration.  Imagine where it can take us in the next 20 years!

3. A Great Mutation like this one–in air–hasn’t occurred for 800 years.

It’s been 800 years since the Great Chronocators met in an air sign–back in March of 1226.  Like the 2020 conjunction, that one occurred in Aquarius, and was also previewed by a J/S cycle in Libra.   In England then, in the years between the Libra and Aquarius conjunctions, much like today, the distribution of wealth was out of balance.  King John’s oppressive taxes placed such a heavy burden of debt on his people, the urge for social justice and greater freedom began to arise.  This was the impetus behind the Magna Carta, which for the first time placed a King under the rule of law. That was the document our Founding Fathers looked to when creating the Constitution.

“We the people” and “Power to the people” are wonderful slogans for air sign years.  However, as with all things in astrology, there is always shadow and light.  Ideas can become a kind of tyranny too, as when, also in the previous air cycle, Pope Gregory IX established the Inquisition to punish whatever the Catholic Church decided was heresy, allowing the persecution and torture of Jews, witches, and Muslims for hundreds of years.

We can already see our own air problems in the making.  Cries of “fake news” and the “war against truth” indicate the dark side of air–it can go anywhere.  Who knows what to believe.  Then there are the algorithms of social media. These serve to isolate each of us into self-affirming bubbles, so that everyone is living in very different worlds.   How do we unite such a splintered collective?  On the way to air’s ingenious breakthroughs–we must also solve this great perception divide.

4.  This is the closest Jupiter/Saturn conjunction since 1623–the closest visible conjunction since 1226.

Either way–it’s been a long time!

The conjunctions of these two planets offer a magnificent sky show–yet they’re not always visible. That was the case in 1623–when Jupiter and Saturn were too close to the Sun.  It was the same situation more recently; they were conjunct in Taurus in May 2000, when the Sun was also there.  We need to go back 800 years for the closest visible conjunction.  But this year they’re visible nightly until the end of 2020.  You can start watching them now, as they draw steadily closer.

Jupiter is the brighter one; Saturn is smaller and has a slightly goldish tint.  Look south.  For the next couple weeks, they’ll be overhead in the late evening.  At their conjunction on solstice, they’ll be visible in the west just after sunset.  That’s when they’ll come within 0.1 degrees of each other–about a fifth of the size of your extended thumb.

Dr Siki/earthsky community

Slow-moving Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions, when visible, can be seen for months at a time.  Johannes Kepler was the first to propose that the famous Star of Bethlehem was actually a Jupiter/Saturn conjunction in the spiritual sign of Pisces, in March of 7 BC.   Before Jesus’ birth it’s said that three magi had been following this star for months because it portended the birth of a new king.  Of course magi were traveling astrologers–they would have known that new kings can arrive with Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions.

5.   Have we broken free of Tecumseh’s presidential curse?

This definitely sounds like an earth sign curse.  As the story goes, Tecumseh, a Shawnee Chief, was so angered by the dishonest land dealings of the soon-to-be President William Henry Harrison, that he cursed the president’s life.  Since then an odd pattern has emerged.  Since Harrison’s death, every 20 years we seem to see another presidential death-in office, almost like clockwork.  All were elected within orb of a game-changing Jupiter/Saturn conjunction, portending the birth and death of kings.

President Harrison was dead within a month of his inauguration from complications due to pneumonia, which he might have gotten after standing in the bitter cold during his swearing in.   Six of the following presidents elected in “00” years also died in office–until the pattern began to shift with President Reagan, who was shot, but not fatally so.  He came to office during the air sign preview at the end of the long earth cycle.  George Bush, elected in 2000, was fine.  The next 4 years should let us know if the curse is truly broken!

YearPresidentCause of death
1840William Henry Harrisonpneumonia
1860/61Abraham Lincolnshot
1880/81James A. Garfieldshot
1900/01William McKinleyshot
1920/21Warren G. Hardingnatural causes
1940/41Franklin Delano Rooseveltwould die later of natural causes in his 4th term
1960/61John F. Kennedyshot
1980/81Ronald Reagansurvived an attempted assassination by shooting
2000George W. Bush Jr.lived throughout his term

When two years are given in the table above, the first is the election year, the second is the year the J/S conjunction was exact.

 

More on this conjunction here:

The Great Mutation and Start of  New Era: Jupiter & Saturn by Raymond Merriman

Generational Shifts and the Jupiter-Saturn Mutation by J. Lee Lehman

Before 2020 ends, a great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn (EarthSky)

The Star of Bethlehem: notes from Chris Brennan’s Astrology Podcast

US Presidents–Tecumseh’s Curse–Jupiter Saturn by Marjorie Orr

Filed under: Chart Play Tutorials, Home New Moon Featured Article

About Dana Gerhardt

A popular columnist with The Mountain Astrologer since 1991, Dana Gerhardt is an internationally respected astrologer. She has lectured extensively and written for astrology publications on several continents. Her ongoing passions are the moon and living the intuitive life. Dana worked for many years in the corporate sector, where she observed the undeniable influence of natural cycles. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude from Occidental College in Los Angeles and did graduate work in literature at Columbia University and CSULA. Dana can be contacted by email.

Comments

  1. Narda says

    Nov 16, 2020 at 11:17 am

    Thank you Dana. I have enjoyed your writing since discovering you via a yogi friend a decade or so ago. Your writing is always full of interesting, insightful, and relatable information. when I tap into your passion and purpose I am redirected to my own again and again. So grateful for you and the dimension you add to my journey. May the season bring you much health, comfort and joy!

    Reply
    • Dana Gerhardt says

      Nov 16, 2020 at 12:49 pm

      Thanks, Narda–what a beautiful reflection! I”m happy to hear my work resonates with you.

      Reply
  2. Mariane Valdivia says

    Nov 14, 2020 at 5:56 pm

    Dana, I have been following your articles, etc. for 3 decades now. You have and still are my favorite writer.
    You make such sense and have a gift for explaining. And making your articles interesting and easy to read.
    Thank you!
    Love and Light

    Reply
    • Dana Gerhardt says

      Nov 16, 2020 at 12:50 pm

      Thank you, Mariane–sometimes researching and writing posts is a lonely business, so it’s great to hear your feedback.

      Reply
  3. Terry says

    Nov 13, 2020 at 11:21 am

    Great overview Dana!
    I have come to see that perhaps the Aquarian view of “mind over matter” is part of the old paradigm problem…

    What if the task was to embrace an Aquarian view of “Heart-mind into matter”?

    Heart~Mind…. How I view Aquarius’s Spiritual higher octave… in order to illuminate and create pathways for innovative, collaborative, creative, sustainability, that is in heart connection with the Divine in all Life.

    Thanks for another great New Moon series of articles! Cheers!

    Reply
  4. Trixie says

    Nov 13, 2020 at 11:02 am

    Very interesting wasn’t aware of Tecumseh’s presidential curse.

    Reply
  5. Amy says

    Nov 13, 2020 at 10:36 am

    Ha, Bush narrowly survived choking on a pretzel and having that show thrown at him. Maybe the growing popularity of the land back movement among non-indigenous is helping?

    Reply
    • Amy says

      Nov 13, 2020 at 10:37 am

      *shoe, dammit autocorrect.

      Reply
    • Dana Gerhardt says

      Nov 13, 2020 at 3:01 pm

      Thanks–I remembered his father vomiting at a state meeting, but I couldn’t think of any suitable perils GW survived! Yes, that shoe.

      Reply
  6. Sherri Zimmerman says

    Nov 13, 2020 at 10:23 am

    Love this great information! Thanks Dana… HOW can I reach you for a astrology readings?

    Thanks Sherri

    Reply
    • Dana Gerhardt says

      Nov 14, 2020 at 11:09 am

      Thanks Sherri–check out the “Sessions with Dana” link on the navigation bar of my website–I’d post it here, but I the comments program doesn’t seem to be allowing links. :

      Reply

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The Moon is in its
New Phase

in the
Sign of Aries


Today's Lunar Aspects (Greenwich Mean Time)
(subtract: PST -8 hours, PDT -7 hours, EST -5 hours, EDT -4 hours)

  • Moon sextile Mars, 5:13pm  Mar 23 2023
  • Moon square Pluto, 6:42pm  Mar 23 2023
  • Moon sextile Saturn, 9:57pm  Mar 23 2023

Venus is currently
The Evening Star

in the sign of Taurus


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© 2000 - 2023 Mooncircles.com

Astrologers use a variety of house systems, or methods of dividing up the sky into twelve sections. I use the Porphyry house system; another popular house system is Placidus (this is the default on https://astro.com). If the chart I send you looks different from what you are used to seeing, then likely a system other than Porphyry was used. Whole signs, Equal House, Regiomantus, and Campanus are examples of other systems. If you find all of this confusing, do not worry. It is likely not critical to your report.

m  Conjunction:  Like peas in a pod, planets in conjunction tend to come from the same place. They act together, but it’s also hard to tell them apart. This aspect can increase talent, focus, and intensity (“two are better than one”). Or one planet can disappear as the other dominates. Their connection feels so natural, it’s easy to think everyone blends these planetary energies just as you do—but mostly, they don’t!.

p  Sextile:  Planets in sextile are compatible, though without any fireworks. This aspect doesn’t demand your attention. It quietly presents an opportunity. You can join these archetypal forces. Donna Cunningham has called this the “Oh, that!” aspect, because that’s generally what her clients say when she describes their benefits.  To get the most from sextiles you need to actively work them.

q  Square:  Squares are wild and wonderful—but difficult too. The power struggle between these planets was likely defined in your youth, when they were impossibly challenging. People are usually aware of their squares. They force the issues that make you to grow. And that’s their gift. They ensure you learn your lessons. When you rise to the occasion, they bless you with energy, action, and success.

r  Trine:  Michael Munkasey has dubbed this the “goddess aspect” because it’s so lovely. Identifying talents you may have perfected in a previous life, trines can bring you joy. There’s a nice flow of energy between planets in trine. They support and reinforce each another. But without any struggle, you might take them for granted—neither using nor developing their gifts. An unattended trine can sometimes trick you into negative behaviors.

t  Inconjunct/Quincunx:  Your quincunx planets are innately incompatible. Bringing them into harmonious expression requires constant adjustments. This can be stressful, also motivating. You’ve got to keep changing your process, opinions or attitude—which promotes highly creative solutions.

u  Opposition:  They say opposites attract—and planets in opposition are never far from each other, though they’re constantly bickering. You may be triggered into awareness of this aspect by other people who seem to resist or undermine you.  An opposition can make you feel uncertain, insecure, or discontent, until you can accept and see yourself in both energies. Typically people find it easier to identify with one side and project the other onto unsuspecting others in the outer world.

First House: Personality, physical body, beginnings. Includes the Ascendant and rules physical appearance, the image you project to others, your general outlook on life, how you start things; may describe your role in your family system, often guides your first impression of immediate environment.

Second House: Money and personal finances, sense of self-worth and basic values, personal possessions, talents.

Third House: Communication, thoughts, language skills like writing and speaking, early schooling, siblings and neighbors, short trips, coming and going around town.

Fourth House: Your home, psychological foundations and roots, family, parents, domestic life, instinctive behavior, ancestry, your connection with the past, sense of security, domestic life, real estate. conditions at the end of life.

Fifth House: Children, creativity, romance; pleasure, entertainment, self-expression; all forms of “play”, speculation, gambling, and attitude towards taking risks; hobbies, attitude towards romance, lovers as opposed to partners, attitude towards having fun.

Sixth House: Work and job (as opposed to career), daily life, attitude towards service and coworkers, helpfulness, pets, attitude towards routine and organization, how you refine and perfect your skills.

Seventh House: Partnerships, one-to-one relationships, marriage, the first marriage, the “significant other”, business partnerships, competitors, open enemies, lawyers, mediators, counselors, contracts, negotiations, agreements. clients/the public.

Eighth House: Transformations and crisis, your ability to meet and rebound from crisis and change, sexuality; sex, death and rebirth, rituals and personal growth, your partner’s resources, addictions, psychology, other people’s money, taxes, divorce/alimony, inheritance.

Ninth House: Attitude toward expanding horizons, religious beliefs and personal philosophy, higher education, long-distance travel, morals, foreign languages and cultures, personal truths, publishing, commerce, advertising, your sense of adventure.

Tenth House: Career and profession, your contribution to society, social status, public reputation, material success, how you carve out a public identity for yourself; attitude toward authority figures, parents, caregivers, bosses, governments, attitude towards responsibility, desire for achievement.

Eleventh House: Friends, groups, organizations; hopes, wishes, aspirations, personal goals; your philanthropic attitude, concern for the collective, humanity; like tenth, can bring recognition and honors for fulfilling hopes and dreams.

Twelfth House: What’s hidden beneath the surface, karmic dustbin, limiting childhood/past-life messages, self-undoing, hidden enemies, hidden weaknesses, dreams, secret affairs, lost items, hospitals and prisons, hidden strengths, spiritual studies and soul growth.

A  Sun: Our vitality and magnetism; self-identity, ego.
Roles: The Self, the Hero, the Performer, the King.

B  Moon: Intuition, emotion, nurture.
Roles: The Mother, the High Priestess, the Child.

C  Mercury: Mind; physical dexterity and mental agility.
Roles: The Thinker, the Communicator, the Student, the Trickster, the Merchant, the Thief.

D  Venus: Our capacity for pleasure, receptivity, creativity, and social connection. Also indicates our relationships, self esteem, and financial abundance.
Roles: The Lover, the Seductress, the Artist.

E  Mars: Desire, initiative, anger.
Roles: The Protector, the Athlete, the Warrior.

F  Jupiter: Luck, opportunity, expansion, higher learning, religion.
Roles: The Scholar, the Gypsy, the Traveler, the Monk, the Professor.

G  Saturn: Hard work, commitment, focus, inadequacy, leadership, suffering, loss.
Roles: The Task Master, the Grim Reaper, the Wise Old Man, the Builder, the Cynic, the Boss.

H  Uranus: Change, breakthroughs, upsets, discoveries.
Roles: The Revolutionary, the Humanitarian, the Visionary, the Snob.

I  Neptune: Imagination, spirituality, idealism, addictions, deception, compassion.
Roles: The Artist, the Romantic, the Guru, the Addict, the Martyr, the Victim.

J  Pluto: Transformation, power, psychological dynamics, helplessness.
Roles: The Terrorist, the Detective, the Psychotherapist, the Dictator, shady people.

a  Aries: Pioneering, competitive, selfish, impatient, courageous, reckless, independent, dynamic, domineering, “Me first!”

b  Taurus: Patient, stable, lazy, dependable, practical, sensual, stubborn, artistic, possessive, greedy, gentle, loyal.

c  Gemini: Intelligent, curious, adaptable, quick-witted, restless, clever, scatterbrained, lacking follow-through.

d  Cancer: Nourishing, intuitive, protective, moody, sensitive, maternal, domestic, childish, cautious, creative.

e  Leo: Proud, dignified, vain, expressive, romantic, generous, childish, overbearing, self-assured, creative.

f  Virgo: Perfection-seeking, practical, methodical, petty, critical, studious, discriminating, cautious, never satisfied.

g  Libra: Charming, sociable, peace-loving, refined, diplomatic, artistic, indecisive, apathetic, easily deterred.

h  Scorpio: Passionate, secretive, penetrating, resourceful, suspicious, manipulative, jealous, sarcastic, intolerant, determined, aware.

i  Sagittarius: Freedom-loving, philosophical, optimistic, enthusiastic, careless, impatient, talkative, a know-it-all, broadminded, athletic, honest.

j  Capricorn: Serious, responsible, practical, hardworking, stubborn, brooding, inhibited, status-conscious, domineering, unforgiving.

k  Aquarius: Progressive, individualistic, unpredictable, cold, intellectual, artistic, eccentric, shy, impersonal, scientific.

l  Pisces: Compassionate, intuitive, ungrounded, romantic, impractical, self-sacrificing, seductive, musical, artistic.