I can’t help but think about Plato’s hyperuranion, the place beyond heavens where all ideas are collected together, as I ponder the significance of today’s Great Conjunction. As per the Athenian thinker and philosopher, ideas are not only eternal — they are the ultimate reality, from which the existence of all things tangible proceeds.
I keep envisioning the existence of this cirrus-like, flat/layered stratus of thoughtforms and concepts hovering over our heads, wrapped around the surface of the Earth, pushed along by strange winds, merging and scattering. And today’s Great Conjunction is akin to a precipitation shaft — the opening and downpour of those rarefied, intellectual droplets in a torrential stream.
Jupiter overtakes Saturn in its orbit once every 20 years. These so-called Great Conjunctions — a definition coined by astronomers — tend to happen in the same element for about 200 years, with few exceptions (the fifth and sixth planet outward from the Sun previously met in the Air sign of Libra in 1981, before coming together in the Fixed, Earth sign of Taurus in late May of 2000, when the previous GC was observed).
Today’s Great Conjunction, with Jupiter and Saturn freshly into Aquarius, adjoining at 0 degrees and 28 minutes of the sign of the Water Bearer, marks the shift from a 200-year period during which the two planets primarily met in Earth signs, into a 200-year era that will emphasize the Air triplicity — and therefore ideas, thoughtforms, relatedness, interconnected networks. And it does so in a visually spectacular fashion: this is the closest Jupiter-Saturn conjunction since 1623, and the most easily visible close conjunction since 1226.
The Gods are nearly touching the Earth as we speak.
Each Great Conjunction is a cosmic reboot, and this one makes no exception. Occurring alongside the Winter Solstice, an energetically potent time of the year, with the Sun and Mercury entering Capricorn, this event anchors us into that airy, indefinable dimension we’re constantly plugged in and regurgitating from. And while it’s most definitely not the onset of the Age of Aquarius as some are saying, it’s still, definitely a key moment in the repatterning of our collective (and personal) experience that should not be downplayed.
Saturn crystallizes. Jupiter expands. Saturn hems in, and Jupiter saturates. Both of these celestial relatives, often described as social planets, work together to shape reality as we know it into something different — the former through enforcement of rules and responsibilities, and the latter through conceptualization, diffusion, magnification.
The Fixed, Saturn-ruled sign of Aquarius is the entry point to this initiation. Opposing Sun-ruled, heart-centered Leo, Aquarius represents the systems and social structures we operate in, and, by extension, the underlying rules, collective sentiments and conventions that inform them, the descriptive and injunctive norms and penal policies that regulate them, as well as the way all of the above influences the ideas we generate.
Goddess knows that all of this needs to change — not because the system is flawed, but precisely because it’s doing precisely the very thing it was designed to do. Oppression, social hierarchies and capitalism are inextricably entwined.
Jupiter and Saturn coming together stresses the duty of forming new perspectives on systems and reconsidering the impact that our ideas around community care, collaboration, interconnection and future-building hold. And afterwards, Jupiter and Saturn want us to think of doing the work that our systems aren’t doing as a personal responsibility — it’s not just about the brainstorming aspect, even though that certainly plays a huge part.
Because until we realize how profoundly healing it can be, for both ourselves and the collective, to destroy the illusion that impractical and impossible are synonyms, and to dare imagining a world in which we can move and thrive without being restricted by social hierarchies, discrimination and inequalities, we will be confined to the same constrictions we dream of escaping.
If we’re to create a world of equal opportunities, equal access to resources and mutual support, perhaps it’s time to tap into the richness of our inner sky and refine, hone and cultivate those ideas we always deemed to wild and chimerical for the “real” world. And then, to look around and find our connectors — shared ideas can easily become projects. Projects can become movements. What starts out as a droplet can become a swelling tide.
If you want to know more about how the Great Conjunction will impact you personally, you can book an astrology reading.
Photo by Zain Ali on Pexels.
This was an interesting read. On a grand scale, this seems like it will bring injustices to the fore, as it did back in the early 90s.
Individually the fixed signs may have some issues.
I’m a natal Leo sun 9degrees/ASC 27degrees(late leo rising). With my natal Mercury and Mars also in leo.
My natal moon and Jupiter are in Aquarius.
My natal Saturn and Pluto are in Scorpio. And midheaven is in Taurus.
I have literally been going through it since my Saturn return in Scorpio, and I am dreading this transit because I really haven’t had a break(I was homeless for like a year and got real sick). I am scared of what this will bring. Everything since my return, just seems to be a huge blockage.
The last time Saturn was in Aquarius, was in the early 90s and I was around 6-9 years old at the time. The only things that stick out vividly around those times were two totally different teachers. One hurled verbal abuse at me because I didn’t pick up on a lesson she was teaching. She was everything a teacher isn’t! Then the next year, I had a teacher who more than made up for what that disgusting one lacked.
I still remember the positive impact that teacher had on me and how much she truly cared and loved her students. I really excelled in that class.
I’m sure other events happened, but those stick out the most.
Thank you for sharing your experience and feelings with me, Christina. I think that the themes associated with this conjunction will be slow to manifest, but, ultimately, I do think that the opportunities to expand beyond blockages will be there. I hear you — I had a few years of complex, trying transits and I feel that I’m still recovering. Sending you love!