Astrological Cycles of History
Astrologers have been talking about 2020 for a long time. It’s not just any year, astrologically speaking. Astrology measures periods of time by planetary cycles. The cycle of the Sun and Moon create the monthly lunar cycle, but every planetary combination signifies a particular archetypal combination and length of time. This year, several bigger cycles are ending and beginning, suggesting this year marks a significant turning point in the grand scheme of history.
In January 2020, there is a conjunction between Saturn and Pluto, planets that together signify cycles of the evolution of structures (and much more, of course, that we’ll get into). They join together every 33-38 years (depending on Pluto’s elliptical orbit). The previous conjunctions were in 1982, 1947, and 1914.
A Saturn-Pluto conjunction would be significant on its own, but Jupiter is also in the mix, amplifying Saturn-Pluto, and bringing in themes of belief, ideology, and vision. The Jupiter-Saturn cycle is 20 years (the last exact conjunction was in 2000), and is also connected to historical shifts.
More, while Saturn and Pluto get together every 30-odd years, this year they are also in line with the eclipses (eclipses between Fall 2018 and Spring 2020 happen in Cancer and Capricorn), an 18 year cycle. Capricorn is clearly a theme here.
The last time Saturn and Pluto were conjunct in Capricorn was in 1518 (just two months after Martin Luther nailed his theses to the door, and at the height of the first wave of European Colonialism and the trans-atlantic slave trade).
Many people are familiar with the Lunar Nodes, but what’s talked about less often is that every planet has nodes (the intersection points between that planet’s orbit and the ecliptic). Nodes symbolize the trajectory of a planet, its direction and course through history. And the South Nodes of Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto are all in Capricorn at this time as well! This seems to suggest that the transformation we are undergoing concerns the entire trajectory of humanity.
On interpreting this added layer of the planetary nodes, Mark Jones says: “our collective psychological process (Pluto) involves a profound re-examination of our collective vision (Jupiter’s south node), our deepest attachments to power and security (Pluto’s south node), and the way we structure our society and civilization as a whole (Saturn’s south node). The fact that this occurs at the start of a new Saturn–Pluto cycle in January 2020 suggests that we will be dealing with the implications of this encounter with our collective past and its assumptions for decades to come.”
The North Node of the Moon--as well the North Nodes of Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto--are in Cancer. This is our destiny. Cancer points us to care, nurturance, family, and community as how we will transcend this impasse. There is indeed much suffering, but we will get through this together.
What to do when you’re in the thicket
There’s no getting around the fact that times are hard. For many of us personally, and for humanity as a whole. And the astrology certainly speaks to that. We know that humanity must make some big changes if this bad situation isn’t to worsen--when it comes to the environment, yes, but environmental concerns can’t be separated from social ones.
Systemic oppression and violence, the war machine, the financial system that functions to keep people in debt and hooked on consumer culture, rape culture, misogyny, racism, mass extinction, genocide, concentration camps--how bad does it have to get? And in our personal lives, we are all affected by this state of affairs--even those of us blessed not to be directly touched by the worst of it are nevertheless confronting our systems of power in other ways.
This astrology wants us to get real. These heavy themes astrology points to--it’s not news (or it is). We know things are bad. What astrology can do is help us get real with what is, and shed light on how we can make the most of this moment. And there ARE opportunities and blessings. But we can’t get to them without facing the shit.
If I had to sum up the current astrology in a sentence it would be: move toward the pain, not away from it. It’s only reasonable to run the other way when we encounter suffering, pain, grief, fear. But suffering asks for our compassion and understanding. This astrology teaches that the only way through suffering is through. And that on the other side of that thicket is atonement.
Mark Jones The Space Between the Stars: The Nature and Function of the Planetary Nodes: https://www.plutoschool.com/blog/198-planetary-nodes-function