Every night this year, I’ve been watching Saturn and Jupiter in the sky coming closer and closer towards their ‘grand conjunction’ in Aquarius  – the much anticipated astrological event that will occur in the early morning of the 22 December 2020 (ADST -11hrs).

History shows that every time Saturn and Jupiter come together every 20 years, significant new global trends emerge, new leadership (at times due to the loss of the old leader) and a dawning of a new social structure. From very ancient times as far back as the Zoroastrians (2nd millenian BCE), the Saturn Jupiter conjunctions have been used as time markers for significant bookmarks of social, political and economical systems. Even the Star of Bethlehem is hypothesised to be the Saturn Jupiter conjunction which led the three wise men to find the birth place of the new leader, Jesus.

As these two bodies approach each other, there’s a lot of talk about a new age coming to humanity, as if this conjunction will magically wisk away our problems of the world today to a better future. Some are even saying that this is the Age of Aquarius, which is not true and not related to the great conjunction. (You can read more about this here).

What’s likely to emerge over the next 12 months is the clash of the old paradigm against the rebellion of aspiring idealists as new seeds of change are sown for our future generations. The germination period may take around four years when the first Jupiter Saturn square occurs which may see decisions of social structural change forced into action.

Before this, I imagine this time to be similar to a hospital triage where all the issues, injuries, broken bones, accidents, blood, crisis, abusive behaviour, screams, and cries of the wounded meet in one big melting pot of organised chaos.

New trends and priorities will emerge over the next decade, bringing with it new structures, systems and ways of living that will shape society. However, it’s unlikely that we will live to see the major developments of this new era. Even though the great conjunction occurs every 20 years, they do so in the same element for approximately 200 years. This particular Saturn Jupiter conjunction on Tuesday 22 December happens to be the first one in a new air element, in what is called the ‘great mutation’, signalling the beginning of a new 200 year era. So, we could think of ourselves as the generation of people that are tasked with ending an old regime and establishing a new kingdom in line with the aspirations and agendas of the emerging global citizens.

Any change is hard, especially when they occur in the domains of fixed signs like Aquarius which happens to be ruled by Saturn, the symbol for tradition, conservatives and the old paradigm. Saturn will have the upper hand over Jupiter in this conjunction suggesting that the switch towards greater equality, community and humanitarian ideals may come with some resistance. We saw a glimpse of this in June 2020 when Saturn visited Aquarius momentarily. True to the archetypes, the world produced imagery of protests against systemic racism after the murder of George Floyd. This grand conjunction will mark a time in history when events will cause issues to be raised and major, world-shaping decisions instigated. So, although change will come, expect to see difficuties arise in this first phase.

The grand conjunction in our personal context

The Saturn Jupiter conjunction will usually spark new hope within us – some new vision or aspiration regardless of whether we have any plans or know-how to make this happen. It nevertheless, provides  us with a sense of renewal and hope for the future. It is a great time for brainstorming, visioning and designing a future based on your aspirations.

With the sign of Aquarius activated, these aspirations could take on broader societal framework that seek to project your skills, values and contribution outside your personal priorities. And no doubt, the role of technology will play a big role in the next two centuries with the grand conjunction mutating into the air element. It will bring challenges and opportunities for us as we navigate the next evolution of the information age with all its dangers and lifestyle advancements.

To get a deeper understanding of this sense of renewal,  let’s explore the mythic representation of Saturn and Jupiter. As I re-read my book, The Saturn Jupiter Conference Lectures by Liz Greene and Stephen Arroyo, which is a transcript of this conference held during the Saturn Jupiter conjunction in 1981, I’m reminded of what a treasure trove of gems this book has.

Greene explores the myth of Kronos, who devours his own children for fear of a long-held prophecy that states he will one day be overthrown by his own children. Obsessed with keeping his throne, Kronos eats all of his children to prevent this prophecy from coming true. However, when Zeus (Jupiter) was born, his mother Rhea hid him and instead presented a stone wrapped in a blanket to Kronos. After devouring this stone, Kronos becomes ill and purges out all of his children.

In this myth, the idea of Kronos (Saturn) as the old King, the old paradigm, the traditions and the past undergoing a death is a necessary process of the Saturn Jupiter conjunction. Every 20 years when this grand conjunction perfects, we are all called to let go of an old king within our psyche. This old king represents our crystalised fears, attitudes, patterns and behaviours that keep us contained within our known reality and stunts our growth beyond the limits of our material constructs.

Then comes Jupiter who is also within this story but Greene introduces the Puer Aeternus to symbolise Jupiter. The Puer is the concept of the forever young Peter Pan who opposes all boundaries and limits, continually seeks freedom and adventure as well as aspire to a greater ideal. In the Tarot, the Fool card is attuned to the energy of the Puer. After the death of the old king, the Puer takes the reigns yet he / she has no experience, substance or practicalities but rather operates only on aspiration, enthusiasm,  idealism and inspiration. Every 20 years at this conjunction, we often experience a feeling of new hope and new beginnings despite being relatively unaware of what this is. This renewal can be experienced anywhere on the spectrum between restlessness and uncertainty to excitement and enthusiasm.

The sign of Aquarius is known for its humanitarian, socially-conscious and community-orientated style along with its commitment to group values and shared goals. It is also connected with technology and the longsighted future. With the authoritative Saturn ruling over the Aquarian domain, there’s a fearlessness when enforcement of freedom, equality and community are involved. The shadow side of this is the staunch, stubborn fixation on ideologies, that with all good intentions of integration and equality, can also result in dogmatism, exclusion, arrogance and narrow-mindedness. Don’t forget, Saturn is the old paranoid king, and will do anything to protect its throne. Sugar coating the agenda with an aspiring humanitarian cloak doesn’t always  result in integrity.

With this conjunction in Aquarius, we could expect to see the populace gravitate towards their strong ideals as a fight towards freedom and equality takes place. But, what exactly is the common definition of freedom, equality and community? We all have varying opinions on this that will be ignited as the conjunction activates our inner rebellion for liberation in some way. The house that Aquarius is located in your natal chart can show where your biggest revolutions could take place over the next decade.

The grand conjunction through the ages

To the traditional astrologers, Saturn and Jupiter were the furthermost planets from us. They were the social leaders of the planetary hierachy, closest to the prime mover and demiurge. Their movement is much slower than the other personal planets residing below their spheres, thus, their impacts are farsighted, socially-orientated, slow to deliver but long lasting.

Their conjunction repeats every 20 years and a special relationship with the four elements are seen in their cycle. For every 200 years approximately, Jupiter and Saturn will conjoin in one of the four elements highlighting challenges and opportunities for society pertaining to that element. In other words, after approximately 40 grand conjunctions (approx 800 years), the grand conjunctions will have made it through all four elements.

For example, at the time of writing, we are in an earth phase of the Saturn Jupiter conjunctions, which commenced in January 1842. Since then, society has exploited the earth for her minerals and resources, destroyed the natural environment but at the same time, benefitted from commercial and lifestyle opportunities from earth’s gifts.

Prior to this when the conjunctions occurred in fire (1663-1842), society used fire as their main source of energy, steam engines moved people and goods while the industrial revolution was in full swing.

When the conjunctions occurred in water (1425-1663) a focus on nautical exploration expanded new trade relationships across the world but also saw plagues and infections spread to many indigenous cultures too.

Prior to this (1186 and 1425), the conjunctions occurred in the air element where we saw huge advancements in printing technology, providing new opportunities in education and knowledge transmission.

Today we are at the cusp between earth and air. What makes this event even more special than any other Saturn Jupiter conjunction is that it will occur in an air sign for the first time since the last air phase between 1186 and 1425. Essentially, we’re seeing the commencement of a new 200 year cycle of Saturn Jupiter conjunctions that only few generations of people in history has ever witnessed. Therefore, get outside and witness this once-in-an-eon phenomenon!

Already, we’re seeing challenges and opportunities to do with the air element in our society which promises to rise to more prominence – space travel, 5G network, energy and light workers, explosive uptake of online communications, cyber security issues, blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Air is the only element symbolised by humans compared to all the other elements which incorporate animals and beasts, illustrating the uniqueness of the air quality and its possible significations for this time. From the Corpus Hermeticum, it states,  “Man has this advantage over all other living beings, that he possesses mind and speech.” As with the air element, the qualities of mind, speech, cognition, cleanliness, clarity, communication, connection, rationality and a perceived closeness to the divine are distinguishing factors compared to other elements.

With this in mind, I invite you to imagine the possibilities that the grand conjunction in air might bring. Can you think of challenges and opportunities connected to the mental and communicative air realm for yourself and collectively?

But of course, due to the ecliptical orbit of the planetary spheres, we don’t always see a clear cut elemental change. What tends to happen at the end of an elemental period is that we get to experience the next element for one conjunction, before it reverts back to the current element – kind of like a preview of what’s to come.

For example, in this current age of earth conjunctions, we saw a Saturn Jupiter conjunction in the air sign of Libra in 1981, which then reverted back to Taurus for the final earth conjunction in 2000 before finally making the ‘great mutation’ into air on 22 December 2020. So, to understand what we may expect to see during the air period for the next 200 year period, we can look to what happened in 1981 for a preview.

One notable observation of 1981 was that it was the birth of the internet, which gave rise to personal computers, advancements in telecommunications and a more efficient, fast way of transferring data and information. Can you now see the connection between the air conjunction to the world events happening now at the new conjunction in Aquarius?