The
Jupiter-Saturn Cycle's Influences on the World
The twenty year
Jupiter-Saturn cycle—from conjunction
to conjunction— remains one of the oldest and best ways
of forecasting widespread social change. It has become popular
to use the transits of the outer planets Uranus,
Neptune, and especially Pluto
as lenses to view broad societal transformation. However,
the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction has withstood millennia of
observation and application by astrologers. Before the late
18th Century, Jupiter and Saturn were the two outermost
planets. The twenty year cycle of Jupiter and Saturn may seem
a bit too neat and tidy for our diffuse age, but when applied
to nations, the Jupiter-Saturn cycle can give surprising insights
and yield accurate forecasts.
In light of current
national (U.S.)
and international trends, it is worth looking at where we
are going next based on the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction.
Charles Carter
has concisely described the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction and
its applications in his masterpiece, An
Introduction to Political Astrology. In a scant 100
pages, Carter manages to lay out a framework for modern
mundane astrology, using the planets to analyze and predict
the affairs of nations and the world.
The first half
of the Jupiter-Saturn cycle—a period of ten years
from the conjunction through the waxing square to the opposition—is
the winding up of an age, the intense rising action. The
second half of the Jupiter-Saturn cycle is the unraveling,
the movement towards entropy, culminating in a new conjunction
and the beginning of a new Jupiter-Saturn cycle. This cycle
is played out on the world and national stages.
One example of
this was the 20 year Jupiter-Saturn cycle which began in
1980. The 1980 conjunction was in Libra, the sign of relationships.
In mundane astrology, this would be the relationships between
nations and the balance of power. During the 1980’s—the
“winding up” part of the Jupiter-Saturn cycle—the
Cold War dominated the world stage. Countries were defined
politically by their strategic alignment with the Soviet
Union or with the United
States. Both superpowers
sought supremacy through an intense arms buildup. This buildup
of tensions peaked in 1989—close to the opposition
of Jupiter and Saturn— with the dissolving of the
old Soviet empire and the resulting realignment of nations.
In 1980, who would have thought that Poland
would now be a close U.S.
ally?
Carter describes
the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in an Earth sign—its
most recent placement—as one which affects economic
conditions.
With the waxing
square of Jupiter
and Saturn, new economic challenges have become evident.
This is a worldwide trend, as evidenced by economic change
in nations as different as China and Chile.
China
has been rocked by recent economic protests over rapid industrial
development and terrible pollution, a byproduct of swift
economic expansion. Chile's new President-elect
Michelle Bachelet, a socialist, has vowed to tackle economic
class inequity. Oil prices are on the rise and worldwide
stock markets are fighting for stability in an unstable
world. Unemployment and underemployment were big issues
in the recent French riots. And one might recall that on
Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists attacked what they perceived
as a central economic foundation, the World
Trade Center.
If one uses the
U.S. Sibly chart, the Jupiter-Saturn
conjunction itself fell on the cusp of the U.S. 6th
house. The 6th house in mundane astrology has
to do with public health and work. This is where we are
seeing a great deal of change. Public health care in the
United States
is eroding and the number of those without any health insurance
continues to grow. Just now, in the United
States, the new Medicare
prescription drug plan—the biggest Medicare change
since its inception—is embroiled in controversy over
its botched transition and denials of prescription drug
coverage to millions of low-income senior citizens. Pensions
are being cut back and formerly secure middle class jobs,
such as those in the auto industry, are disappearing or
being downsized. Ford
Auto has announced the layoff of 30,000 workers. This will
be an ongoing trend for the next 15 years and government
will be called upon more and more to address dislocations
in the areas of public health and work.
See
my AstroFutureTrends
Astrology Blog
for a series of recent blogs in which I have made additional
connections between the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction and other
specific cultural trends, including gambling, men’s
jewelry, and even steak restaurants.
