What You Need To Know About The Great Conjunction Of 2020
What is a Great Conjunction?
On December 21st, 2020, we will experience a Great Conjunction, which is the bodily conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn. It is considered ‘great’ because it features both Jupiter, the greater benefic, and Saturn, the greater malefic. These two outermost planets were the furthest visible to the ancients with the unaided eye; their relative distance having been deduced by observing the length of their orbital periods. By comparison, the orbital periods of Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury and the Moon are observably faster, thereby causing the ancients to sequence them successively closer. Twenty-twenty’s Great Conjunction will be the closest these planets have been in almost 400 years.
This geocentric astronomical event occurs approximately every 20 years with a corresponding opposition in the intermediate decade. The last Jupiter/Saturn conjunction occurred in the sign of Aries on May 28th, 2000 and the next will occur when the two planets meet at zero degrees and a matter of minutes into the sign of Aquarius. This event will also mark the ingress of a procession of Great Conjunctions through the tropical air signs (Gemini, Libra & Aquarius) for the next 139 years, whereas they had previously been in the earth signs (Taurus, Virgo & Capricorn) for the last 200 years (with the exception of the aforementioned dip into Aries, a fire sign, in 2000). While we may be said to be entering a species of Aquarian age, since a Great Conjunction has not occurred in Aquarius since 1405, this is a separate event from our transition into the storied precessional age.
From the perspective of the Earth, the two planets will be within 6 arc minutes of one another – their closest conjunction since 1623. Significantly, the perfection of this conjunction at 9:15am MST will occur within a mere two-and-a-half hours of the exact moment of 2020’s winter solstice, which is at 6:30am MST that morning.
What are the Astrological Implications?
Due to the length of their orbital periods, Jupiter and Saturn are sometimes called ‘social’ or ‘transpersonal’ planets, in that they tend to symbolize longer-term, collective cycles. Jupiter spends approximately one full year in each sign and Saturn spends about 2.5 years, as opposed to the ‘personal’ planets (Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury and Moon) who transit through signs much more rapidly. While both Jupiter and Saturn certainly represent archetypal energies in the individual’s chart, they also signify broader societal themes such as ethics, justice and adherence to shared structures, abstract and concrete. So, in the months, weeks and days leading up to the perfection of their conjunction, we begin processing influences that transcend the individual. Anyone who’s been paying attention to the recent social perturbations should readily be able to correlate this with their experience over the last 9 months or so.
This conjunction is occurring in the sign of Aquarius, which is of the air triplicity and the fixed quadruplicity. In the astrological sense, air signs are generally characterized by intellectual communication, while fixed signs are considered resolute and stable. Aquarius is a humanitarian sign whose modern ruler is Uranus. Consequently, some of this Uranian energy may be imported into the way that this conjunction plays out. From this, we might “expect the unexpected” like sudden upheavals and a sort of abrupt awakening—these are hallmarks of the ruling planet’s influence. Reinforcing this, Uranus will be in an inferior square with the conjunction, which may add some difficulty, particularly for those born with the planet in early Aquarius (1996-2000), as that transit will be squaring their natal placement.
At the perfection of the conjunction, the Ascendant will be in Capricorn which will consequently be on the 1st house in the whole sign house system. The Ascendant will be conjunct Pluto, signifying death and rebirth, materially as well as ideologically. It’s also important to note that Pluto is the ruler of Scorpio who is on the 11th house, thereby indicating that this transformational cycle will be occurring in the collective sphere. Pluto will be overcoming Mars-conjunct-the Part of Fortune by a partile square in the 4th house of the home and local authority; this seems to mirror the reconfiguring of the local law enforcement paradigm, underway since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Mercury, the ruler of the 6th house of illness, and the Sun, ruler of the 8th house of death, will be conjunct in the 1st house, obviously signifying the presence and centrality of the global pandemic in the parade of challenges that has been 2020 so far. Lastly, Neptune will be in-domicile in Pisces on the 3rd house, copresent the Moon, which certainly speaks to both mainstream and social media’s widespread employment of deceptive rhetorical devices (pathos, particularly) to bend and shape narratives as if reflected through a funhouse mirror. Delusion, illusion and distortion; the question will no longer be: what does this mean? but: how does it feel?
The Prognosis
It’s going to be another difficult gauntlet to run but, as Mars separates his square with Pluto, things will likely cool off… until January 20th. At which point, Mars will perfect a conjunction with Uranus in Taurus, a fixed/earth sign, which could mean that whatever bombastic and sudden change occurs on that day (or very close to it) will likely metastasize into a permanent fixture – a new “new normal”, if you like. The Mars/Uranus conjunction will also be applying an inferior square to the slowly separating Jupiter/Saturn conjunction. As I said before, we should expect the unexpected. This will be followed by a period of a little over a week as the Sun fans over Jupiter and Saturn – exposing what is left of the Great Conjunction of 2020, in the first decan of Aquarius (also ruled by Uranus) – and the dust settles around the smoldering wreckage of one of the objectively worst years in recent memory.