Jupiter/Saturn Conjunction 12/21/2020

JUPITER/SATURN CONJUNCTION
The Jupiter/Saturn aspect is a major driver of nation building and decline. It operates within the broader implications of the rise and fall of world-powers such as dynasties, kingdoms, and empires governed by the Uranus/Neptune and Saturn/Uranus cycles.

Themes
Restructures the course of history through leading nations whether in breakup, consolidation of power, or instability events
Power transfer through an incumbent losing an election, dying in office, or being otherwise defeated
Financial restrictions, downturns, hardships
Political alliances form or collapse

Jupiter and Saturn form a conjunction about every twenty years advancing about 3-degrees in a sign 120-degree earlier than the last one; for instance, a conjunction in Virgo is followed 20-years later by one in Taurus. Over the course of ten repetitions the grand conjunction takes place in a different triplicity; this is called a Great Mutation. After going through the four triplicities in 724-years, the process begins again. The year 2020 marks such a Great Mutation as the conjunction occurs 12/21/2020 at 00 Aquarius 29’. The last series in the earth triplicity concluded in 2000 with the conjunction at 220 43’ Taurus during the George W. Bush administration. The great calamity here was the 9/11 terrorist attack.

It is said that serious troubles ensue for the countries associated with the sign that the conjunction takes place. The sign-country associations of old are not particularly accurate or complete and so will not be use here. The signs are likewise dubious as best as they no longer align with the constellations that they represent. We will therefore focus on the meaning of this historic planet pair in relationship with its star position.

Before commenting on the 2020 conjunction, a little historical reference material might help the reader more fully comprehend the significance of this conjunction. A series in fire signs began in 1603 during the time of Kepler and lasted for 199-years when the conjunction switched into earth signs in 1802. The fire mutation had significance in England in the year 1603 when the House of Tudor ended and the House of Stuart ascended. Another dynasty transition took place in Russia when the Rurik Dynasty ended (1610) replaced by the Romanovs in 1613. In the prior fire mutation that began in 769, another dynasty transition took place, none other than Charlemagne (ruled 768-814).

A running look at Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions in U.S. history will bring us to the historic Great Mutation conjunction of 2020.

1802 5 Virgo 07’

The 1802 mutation is particularly relevant to the United States as this was during the time of the Native American Chief Tecumseh (1768-1813) who attempted to unite various Midwestern tribes to prevent U.S. westward expansion. His strong confederation of tribes allied with Great Britain in the War of 1812. Tecumseh was eventually defeated by General William Henry Harrison at the Battle of Tippecanoe. It is Harrison who became the first victim of so-called Tecumseh’s Curse (Jupiter/Saturn earth conjunctions) – dying in 1841 after being elected president in 1840.

1821 24 Aries 38’
The American political system started without strong political parties. Andrew Jackson changed all that. President Jackson empowered the presidency. His election also marked the end of the Federalist Party. Important events during this period included major cholera epidemic, crop failures, and especially a wheat failure that precipitated the Panic of 1837.

1842 8 Capricorn 54’
William Henry Harrison died only a month after he took office shocking the nation. Slavery was a major issue tearing at the fabric of society. Later in this 20-year cycle in 1850 Zachary Taylor also lost his life.

1861 18 Virgo 22’
The Civil War began and ravaged the nation with horrendous carnage until finally ending in 1865 when Lincoln was assassinated by a southern sympathizer.

1881 1Taurus 35’
A little over four months after James A. Garfield was sworn in as president he was assassinated.

1901 13 Capricorn 15’
William McKinley was shot and killed by an anarchist early in his second term.

1921 26 Virgo 35’
President Warren Harding died of a heart attack in 1923.

1940 14 Taurus 27’
Franklin D. Roosevelt, the longest president in U.S. history, died of a cerebral hemorrhage during his fourth term right before World War II ended.

1961 25 Capricorn 12’
John F. Kennedy dies at the hands of an assassin. The Cuban Missile Crisis defines his presidency.

1980 9 Libra 29’
Ronald Reagan breaks the presidential death curse but there is an assassination attempt and the president is hit in the chest by a .22 bullet but survives. Reagan reinvigorated the nation and the Republican Party. His presidency marks the end of the Soviet Union that he championed to defeat.

2000 22 Taurus 43’
George W. Bush is elected president and spared an assassination attempt although the nation is attacked in a vicious manner by terrorists flying hijacked suicide airliners. The 9/11/2001 attack on the Twin Towers in New York City and the Pentagon starts the long War on Terrorism.

2020 00 Aquarius 29’
Nationalism reaches a peak throughout the world most notably in the United States during the idiosyncratic Donald Trump administration. Trump’s boisterous style of leadership fractionalizes the country in the face of a worldwide pandemic that kills hundreds of thousands, wreaks economies, and reshapes lifestyles. Some fear the nation is heading toward fascism, others cheer Trump’s conservative policies while turning an eye from the corruption, the crumbling of convention and the trashing of standards. The turning point comes in 2020 when Trump loses the election by 7 million votes – 306 electoral votes to Biden versus 232 for Trump. In an unprecedented challenge to democracy, Trump, backed by his party loyalists, claims election fraud without providing convincing evidence of widespread vote tampering and is turned down by the courts 59 times to 1, and even by his own attorney general who said the election was fair. In a desperate and unprecedented move to steal the election, 126 House Republicans and 18 GOP state attorneys general signed on to a Texas lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to dismiss millions of votes in key states and install Trump as president by asking state representatives to cast electoral votes his way. The Supreme Court refused to hear the meritless case. A group of Republican lawmakers even sue Vice President Pence in an attempt to force him to pick electors in favor of Trump – a gambit sure to fail. Trump calls the election supervisor in Georgia, a fellow Republican, and goads him to find 11,000 votes in his favor – the election official refuses. During a lengthy Oval Office meeting with chief aides the idea of declaring martial law and sending the military to supervise a re-election in Georgia is seriously considered before saner aides talk them out of it. Then, on January 6, a joint session of congress meets to affirm the Electoral College’s votes. A few hard-core Trump backers plan to challenge the results in five states. If they can get a Republican senator to agree, the challenge will come up for vote. McConnell is urging senators not to sign on to any challenge as a vote for or against Trump will split the party and sow a deeper division between disenfranchised conservatives and liberal progressives.

Two-thirds of the Republican Party has been swayed by Trump-mania, perhaps not so much by the man as the policies he supports. Nevertheless, Trump’s reluctance to follow precedent is an affront to the American system of government. The last time party differences were so passionately extreme was in the closely fought 1856 election over slavery in Kansas as the territory becomes a state. The result of this political clash took the form of a horrendous civil war during the following election cycle.

Joe Biden, the oldest man elected president, assumes office facing not only political headwinds but managing the distribution of the fastest and largest research and development of a vaccine in history. Defeating the virus is his number-one crucible. Biden’s other initial challenges are to stimulate economic recovery and pass a vigorous progressive agenda. All the while, devious nations like Russia infiltrate our cyber network, China continues its bid for world economic domination, and Iran ramps up efforts to enrich fission-material.