Any planet at the 29th degree of a sign is in treacherous terrain. Since Solstice, December 2017, Saturn has been trudging through each degree of Capricorn, its nocturnal base camp. It arrived this week at the final, 29th degree.
This 29th degree terrain is not unfamiliar to us. We were here in March when the WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, and again in July when China imposed retroactive laws upon Hong Kong, Melbourne went into the worlds strictest quarantine and BLM protests continued internationally. It’s not an area of the zodiac known for peacemaking, tea parties and fan fare. It’s harsh and heavy with an undertow of austerity and consequence.
Saturn’s occupation of Capricorn for the past three years has been nothing short of arduous. Testing. Gruelling. We’ve witnessed the impact of dominant power structures valuing profit over people, highlighting the injustice of who is rewarded and who is left behind. Personally, we’ve all had to consider our own responsibility and contribution to this world we share, and how we can keep each other accountable.
Wherever Saturn roams it carries stories of inter-generational power struggles and resistance to insignificance. Underpinning Capricorn’s intense desire to push forth is fear. Fear of failure. Fear of being exposed as weak, unable, not capable. Vulnerability is Capricorn’s kryptonite. This combination, Saturn in Capricorn, has a distinctly different flavour than the Aquarius terrain we’re heading for.
Jupiter will join Saturn here on December 14th. Together they will close up not only this Capricorn chapter, but also a 200 year cycle that has had us focussed on the material plane of resources, wealth, possessions and land. In 2021, we’re moving into a new era. Don’t for a second think you just lived through all this for nothing. We are the ancestors future generations will look back on, wondering what we did at this great transition. Don’t waste it by denying yourself your unique part in this unfolding.
The final 29th degree portal holds both, the memories gathered and the potential of the new bursting into existence. The surrender and release that accompanies any completion are not as simple as curated IG posts will have you believe. They each take courage, accountability, humility, trust and unflinching honest self-reflection.
Saturn in Capricorn has planted seeds that will take years to mature. Years. This is the last time we’ll be here with Saturn at this degree until January 2050, when Jupiter will look on from 29* Cancer. We’ll be in a whole new world by then.
In today’s world however, endings and goodbye’s are like a ship on the distant horizon. We don’t say good bye like we used to, unsure if we’ll see each other again. We leave a city, a job, a country and see everyone next week on the socials or Zoom. We watch re-runs of our favourite shows and re-read text messages. We gaslight instead of leaning into the richness of hurts and apologies.
Endings are a window peering into the reality of no tomorrow. No next time. No second chances. There is only right now; a shared opportunity to gather everything from the past and make decided steps about the future. To take a leap of faith where fear tirelessly attempts to keep us bound in the mediocrity of sameness.
The past three years have the marks of growing pains embedded in them. If we weren’t wounded within them then we’re no doubt aware of the long lineage of ancestral trauma we’ve inherited. Scar tissue is tough because it’s been through trauma, but it doesn’t cover the entire body. It toughens to heal, to reconnect, to keep going, not to shield us from openness to the next thing. For us at this important juncture, at this 29th degree lookout, we can look back and see our choices not as mistakes or victories but as pivot points of growth and change.
We are in a phase of completing one thing so the next can emerge. While we can’t create or destroy energy, this moment, this opportunity, will never occur again. And there will never be another you. Avoiding the inevitability of endings creates a false narrative around loss. It creates a grasping of things that have long lived beyond their used by date. It’s our responsibility to acknowledge what we have outgrown. There is no weakness in asking for help. No personal loss in collaboration and sharing. On the contrary, that’s what the new era will encourage of us: Strength in our interdependence.
Change takes time but initially it requires a vision. As we close this chapter know that you have a blank page to draw upon, to create and shape the world for generations to come. We are aware of the past and the future is ours to write because of it.