Every 20 years, the two largest visible planets in the sky move close to one another. To ancient stargazers, the closeness of Jupiter and Saturn sparked the beginning and end of a cycle.

This meeting in the heavens is The Great Conjunction. Over time, astrologers observed that the cycles of Jupiter and Saturn correspond with societal, cultural and financial developments.

The cycles of Jupiter and Saturn also seem to echo the bull and bear periods of financial markets… but this does not allow clockwork precision for speculators who follow astrology. The movements of other planets and their symbolism shift the cycle enough to prevent absolute financial market prediction. Nonetheless, there are financial astrologers who do very well; this is not my specialty — I look to others for that expertise.

The 20 year cycle is part of a bigger picture. Every 60 years, Jupiter and Saturn return to the same sign, for 3 consecutive cycles. The other 20 year conjunctions within those 60 year cycles are in the same element. At the beginning and end of that 200 + year span, another element slips in and begins to mutate the theme.

So for approximately 200 years societal, cultural and financial developments vibrate within a specific element’s theme. This large cycle is known as the Great Mutation, because the focus and priorities of humanity for societal, cultural and financial structures shape shift over time.

To look back, Jupiter and Saturn came into alignment in the earth sign of Capricorn in 1842. This shifted the Great Mutation theme of fire (more about that later) into earth. (I was fascinated to discover that Mount Saint Helens erupted in 1842: fire into earth).

The cycles of the earth signs, Capricorn, Taurus and Virgo, have moved the wheels of production since the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution.

The emphasis through the 19th and 20th centuries has been on mass production of “stuff” fueled by coal and fossil fuels ripped from the earth. Factory production and an emphasis on physical possessions drove economic models during this time.

Machines have “planned obsolescence”; they are not built to last but last only long enough to ensure a replacement purchase.

Earth builds structures, values wealth, defines boundaries and seeks material gain. Negative manifestations are controlling, greedy, fearful and demanding, Positive manifestations bring loyalty and determination. Productivity and practicality resonate with earth values. Capitalism, real estate and the corporate model thrive in the earth cycle, but their survival into the next element of air depends on adaptability.

The last time the Great Mutation was in earth, in the 11th and 12th centuries, The Roman Catholic church enforced celibacy for its priests: emphasizing the value of career and dedication at the sacrifice of family and intimacy. There was a great deal of colonization as one empire amassed wealth of other cultures and countries.

Colonization and expansion was not only for a king’s empire. The Western and Eastern Orthodox churches divided and in time, the Crusades ensued. Religion became more involved with the mundane world than the quest for spiritual ideals. The Vatican was its own empire, complete with an army.

The symbolism of Jupiter and Saturn is paternal.

Jupiter is the father who opens up to ideas, expansion, opportunity and new terrains with no concerns about time or restrictions. The Jupiter kid goes out to explore with no sunscreen, no hat, no  sweatshirt, no flashlight, no sandwich nor water bottle; the ideal is to make their way through benevolent encounters. On the other hand, Saturn dictates timelines, restrictions, rules, responsibilities and protocol. The Saturn kid bears the weight of a fully-stocked backpack on their shoulders and a timer to know when to turn home.

Jupiter symbolizes demand, which triggers the Saturn realm of supply. When the two kids I just described meet one another, it’s a classic friendship of opposites. But those friendships lead to an eventual chafe, as one learns from the other or goes their own way.

In the Jupiter Saturn 60 year cycle, demand rises over about 10 years as supply increases, which leads to a 30 year rise. Then a dip follows of 10 years with an overall 30 year ebb. This cycle happens 3x within the bigger 200 year cycle.

So as the Jupiter Saturn cycle in the element earth ebbed, the air sign Libra dipped her toe into the mix from 1980 – 1981.

In 1980 – 1981, CNN introduced 24 hour news, MTV launched 24 hours music videos, Pac-man was released (a video game for those too young to recall), the CDC announced that men were dying of a virus that would later be titled AIDS, the US Supreme Court appointed a woman for the first time – Sandra Day O’Connor, the Episcopal Church allowed women to be priests, the space shuttle Challenger made its first flight, there was a secret test flight of the world’s first radar-resistant aircraft, the F-117 Nighthawk and IBM releases the first IBM personal computer. The element of earth still had a foothold, as mineral crystals provide conductivity to electronic devices.

Air themes for Jupiter Saturn cycles are about concepts, ideas, justice, communication, technology, collaboration and humanitarian ideals. The elements all have their positive and negative spins; it is the consciousness evolution of humanity that determines how we ride over each Great Mutation cycle.

As air began to mutate the Jupiter-Saturn cycle, the heady 1980s and Reaganomics took swing.

In 1987, the stock market crashed with Black Monday after which regulation was put in place to allow exchanges to temporarily halt trading with sudden steep price decline. These economic “circuit breakers” have been put to use with the recent market dives of 2020.

One could say the lesson through the end of the 20th century’s foray in air is that we cannot expect the theme of air to behave in the way markets had when in an earth cycle.

There was one last step into an earth sign in 2000, Taurus. The dot.com bubble burst and Microsoft was up for monopoly and anti-trust. As we’ve run through the last 20 years of the great earth cycle, we need to cleave from old rules of economics and consider more sustainable ones.

We witness the last gasps of the juggernaut companies and institutions which are “too big to fail”.… yet the shift into the next element’s theme blows like a relentless wind on timeworn structures.

So what does this have to do with the Coronavirus COVID-19?

Note that AIDS erupted into more people’s awareness when the Great Conjunction touched an air sign in 1981. As people understood its impact, money (earth) and priorities went to find a cure. The boundaries (earth) of society stretched to declare: the men who are dying are our brothers, friends, co-workers, fathers and sons. Their lives are an integral part of our web of life and we unite to find a cure and to support them.

Unfortunately, not every member of humankind felt this way, but the Libra scales tipped. A horrible illness shattered a generation, but it led to technological understanding of T-cell counts and how to bolster immune systems. With the right protocol and medication, less people are infected and no one gets AIDS anymore when they are diagnosed HIV+.

More important, the AIDS epidemic began huge sociological shifts to accept and integrate homosexuality as OK. On the threshold of the air Great Mutatation, a proud and confident Mayor Pete made an unsuccessful run for the presidency…. something that never would have happened in the last century.

On December 21, 2020, Jupiter and Saturn meet in alignment in Aquarius. At that point in time, we will have learned a great deal about the Coronavirus COVID-19. If we can be foresightful, let’s recognize that this tiny virus is here to remind us that we are ALL connected. In 1981, many people separated themselves from the scourge of AIDS and thought: “that won’t happen to me”… until some of them realized the victims were people they loved or that they were not invincible themselves.

The great tragedy were those who disowned or forgot about those they loved because they saw them as “sinners” or buried them in shame. Saturn was in Libra in 1980 -1981; that symbolism reminds us the relationships are work. To work through the difficult passages in relationship is what turns lead to gold.

Coronavirus COVID-19 is the great equalizer. It attacks the wealthy and the poor. The elderly seemed to be the initial victims, but the young can die as well. The long-term effects of its attack on the human body have yet to be documented; the survivors heal slowly. It is transmitted through the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose and eyes. A brush of the hand on the face after touching a door or can of beans that an infected person handled, starts to replicate the virus within the unsuspecting host.

With Saturn in Aquarius, the public message is: “we are all in this together”. 

As we leave the Great Mutatation cycle of earth, we confront an adversary that knows no borders — we need to define and declare what we value and prioritize in this enforced hermitage. Some people ignore the protocol of safety, because they don’t think it applies to them.

The United States has long suffered from a detachment to the reality of death. Many immigrants came to the US and dismissed the rituals of dying and death that had been part of their culture for centuries. As a result, death became institutions of hospitalization, drugs and inevitable release, followed by a system of funeral homes. The cruel Coronavirus COVID-19 has taken any familiarity of closure from loved ones,

The deep divisions that have cemented as we end the earth cycle must fracture. The virus doesn’t care if you “feel the Bern” or are a dedicated MAGA. It doesn’t care if you panic while your IRA plummets in the stock market or if you wonder how you’ll eat now that your Uber driving has stalled. The virus doesn’t care if you’re moored on a cruise ship, unable to dock or if you have been sleeping in a cardboard box outside Silicone Valley. The 1% whisked to their next destination are just as vulnerable as the refugee in a cage on the border or a prisoner in Rikers.

The equalizer may hit home when a person who has touched the lives of the masses dies.

But another “death” that seems to be occurring at the end of this earth cycle, is the fascination and adulation of celebrity culture. Meghan and Prince Harry have rejected the lifestyle that royalty must endure. They will still be rich and famous, but they have different ideals and do not choose to be bound to the earth values of the monarchy. The royal family may somehow adapt to the air themes of the next Great Conjunction.

Prince Charles has the coronavirus; the word corona comes from the Latin for “crown”.

The Kardashian model of excessive purchasing is on its way out. The wealthy and celebrity who flaunt possessions as opposed to those who use their wealth for ideals and innovation simply will no longer captivate. Bling, huge homes and meals that cost more than many people pay for rent will lose the cachet… It may not happen overnight, but as the The NY Times observed “Celebrity Culture is Burning”. 

Where will this pandemic lead us? The ideal is greater awareness and thoughtful interaction, which requires presence of mind.

The Magna Carta was first drafted at the onset of the air Great Mutation. This was the first, albeit imperfect document that attempted more peaceful and egalitarian relationships among landowners and the ruling class. The Magna Carta set the foundation for subsequent declarations and constitutions, including the US Bill of Rights.

The USA approaches its first Pluto return, the planet of irrevocable transformation. As we move into 200+ years of the Great Mutation cycle in air, the revolution of this country is inevitable. The 12/21/2020 Jupiter Saturn conjunction happens at the Winter Solstice, to symbolize an end of darkness and doorway to light. That conjunction is the closest position of Jupiter to Saturn since the Great Conjunction since 7/16/1623.

The interesting thing about this is that the 7/16/1623 Great Conjunction was in the fire cycle — at 6° Leo, which is the opposite sign of Aquarius. There is symbolic significance that this upcoming conjunction is in a tension point of opposition with the earlier conjunction, Each time an event occurs it can be delineated by a horoscope. When traveling planets trigger a point in the horoscope of the earlier event, that transit can cause something to happen.

Fire’s theme increases inspiration, exploration, exuberance, courage, creative expression, initiation, leadership, assertion and passion. Its negative manifestations are egotistical desire, selfishness and opportunistic exploitation. The fire cycle burned through the 17th into the 18th century as the New World was explored and slave trade exploded.

The colony of Jamestown, VA  struggled at its onset in the early 1600s. The settlers came with their conviction that they brought “civilization” and the tribes native to the land were “heathens”. The United States was forged during the fire cycle and because of the actions of its ancestors, the country does carry the legacy of genocide of the aboriginal tribes and historic slave labor. It is the responsibility (a Saturn word) of the more conscious citizens of the USA, to make amends for that history.

The USA horoscope from July 4 1776 shows the North Node at 6° Leo. The seeds of the Great Conjunction of 1623 call to the higher ideals of this country. Yet the US has struggled with its Cancerian image as the caretaker of its people which is at odds with the Aquarius Moon that finds comfort in the rugged individualist, even if it means dying alone.

As of 12/21/2020 when the Aquarius Great Conjunction is at the historic opposition of the 1623 Great Conjunction, the United States can rethink its foundation. It is time to rip up certain floorboards and clear out the rot.

This takes insight, analysis, forethought and idealism. It’s time to make atonement for the bad decisions of the past. This can be done, especially with the dynamic support from the heaven’s guideposts.

It begins now. With the recognition that we are as strong as our support of our neighbor. The United States was a great experiment that even its founders did not have the courage to truly declare. At the end of the fire cycle, they created a living document — a declaration, bill of rights and constitution that was designed to be altered “by the people” when the time came. Somehow, citizens of the USA have forgotten that. After years of “education light” and “television self-medication”, many US citizens are unaware that “the people” determine the course of action, not the wealthy officials they voted into place.

The United States, like so many governmental bodies and institutions has to shape shift into air values. The Coronavirus triggers the unrest that will tip the revolution. The irony of people stockpiling guns as the virus hit speaks to the attachment of earth reactions of protection. Firearms will not insulate one from the virus.

Remember how Mount Saint Helens erupted in 1842 when the Great Conjunction finally settled into a couple of hundred years in an earth theme?

The Coronavirus is air that leaves the earth/material theme. The virus has a much greater impact on global society than when a volcano erupted in Washington state. It is bigger because we live in a reckoning symbolized by the Saturn Pluto conjunction. This airborne disease creates an impact that if we act upon, we can implement exponential change and growth.

If you are willing, it is time to fast forward into the true Age of Aquarius. We have been floating in the way station for quite some time, but over the next couple of decades the acceleration will be profound. Technology can soar when scientists across the globe share data and research, The bond of a common cause allows for collaborations that can usher in leaps of innovation.

The last air cycle in the 12th and 13th centuries had empires pitted against one another with rabid expansion. The Black Plague wiped out 1/3 of European society and out of the ashes, the Renaissance took root.

We have more conscious people on the planet than we did 800 years ago. People who realize that every action they take has an effect on the whole. People who take responsibility for their brief time here on Earth.

Our humaness means that we stumble; to be present and conscious at every moment takes practice. During this pause, we have time to practice. We can be the start of a magnificent flight into unprecedented imagination and inspiration.

For today, take care of your neighbor, wash your hands and make the most of this creative time at home.

Master Healer Suzy Meszoly and I, offer our ActiveSpirituality weekly podcasts for free at this time. Go to ActiveSpirituality.Life and sign up for a weekly astrology forecast and Suzy’s activation meditation.