As Australians are forced to understand the connections between their flawed political system and environmental devastation, the UK & EU are standing on an unsteady brink of change, while the POTUS “unintentionally” just sparked a war with Iran that will affect the entire globe beyond measures we’ve yet seen. Welcome to 2020!
Astrologers have been sending up flares for a while about the intensity of 2020’s planetary climate. The current alignment between Saturn and Pluto has, in history, been a precursor to world war and global devastation. As above, so below, this year will mark significant changes in history with regard to politics, power and the use of resources, for better or worse.
Saturn and generational inheritance
The main theme of the year is delivered by Saturn ruled Capricorn: A stern teacher who values discipline over play; A mythology that passes down inferiority to its younger generations, fearful that the new will overthrow the old; A lack of accountability with how power is wielded that results in tighter, stricter measures; The failure to acknowledge vulnerabilities that could provide a far more beneficial model of how to use power than has been inherited.
While these are some of the more challenging Saturnian characteristics that come out under pressure, the unfolding themes are affecting everyone, not just those with Capricorn or Aquarian placements. It’s highlighting what we’ve all inherited and what we’re all being called to work with and through, 2020 and beyond.
Capricorn prides itself on being a leader. With its uncompromising eye on the prize, this earth sign can steamroll across any emotion that threatens to destabilise the firm structures of security it’s built. It knows how to bury inferiority, often presenting with a bold superiority to avoid contact with fear that could potentially undermine it. The problem with this familiar narrative is that it’s the old model, and we’re just beginning to scratch the surface with what we’ve inherited and how we all, in one way or another, uphold these cold, outdated modes of behaviour.
In the past few years, polarising narratives have thrown around insults to shut down those who are here to bring in change. “Snowflake” was once used to describe those who opposed the abolition of slavery in the 1800’s. It’s now used to condemn anyone acknowledging that the systems we’ve inherited hurt us. While there is the issue of entitlement to work through, if the current state of power (capitalism, top down politics, white supremacy, heteronormativity etc) is anything to go by, there are a select few creating the narrative we are fed as fact, and we continue to play along in a complex playground of forced membership.
2020 is a game changer.
If there was only one major transit this year ~ the Saturn Pluto conjunction occurring in January ~ it could be said that the start of the year is intense but after that you can breathe out and get back to your life. Without wanting to play on already existing fears, it’s important to shift our view from a minor obstacle we can work through – to understanding that January is a precursor for what this year, and the future, holds. Collectively we’ve created an apocalyptic narrative that begins and ends, not one that we have to endure, slowly.
If Capricorn is good at anything it’s the long-haul, so take stock of where you’re feeling vulnerable, what is potentially threatening your pocket of security in the world, and who and what holds deepest value to you. Solidarity and community connections will be our life blood when these power structures buckle under pressure.
The unfolding narrative in the 2020 sky highlights power in the wrong hands, exposure of who feeds who in the underbelly of corruption, and a reassessment of our values and how we communicate (let’s see how we function without the internet!). At the end of the year we have a brand new cycle of change emerging. One that will cap off a momentous year with a new direction of power and hope.
The thing with Capricorn and Saturn’s mythology is that it doesn’t hand power over well. For us to step into this new age, that has been emerging for some time, we need to embrace and acknowledge the things that have been buried and kept from view.
We’ve been taught that violence is an overt, obvious event. If we listen to minority groups however, who are often the ones stipulating necessary social changes, we hear how subtleties are often debilitating precursors to the more obvious symptoms. It’s difficult for people to grasp that language itself can be violent. The reaction to gender neutral language, for example, disrupts the heteronormative model, meaning that those who don’t understand have the choice to learn or resist. We’re taught that illness should be visible and something you plough through, as the severity and impact of mental health comes out from isolation.
As we seek to uncover the origins of the world we’ve inherited, we’re confronted with the narrative of Capricorn, “Get on with it. Stop complaining. You need to bury your feelings so that you can work and be productive. You’re too sensitive. You’re a burden on the system.” Acknowledging our vulnerabilities as signposts for change, not as weakness’s that halt production, are personal milestones that impact collective change.
Shifting consciousness from Capricorn to Aquarius
There’s a LOT of talk, especially in white spiritual spaces, of how we’re gearing up toward a consciousness shift. While this is not necessarily untrue (isn’t it a constant?), we can’t go through these monumental changes without our consciousness also shifting.
The exposure of Capricorn’s underbelly comes accompanied by the narrative that those stuck in the ‘old ways’ will be left behind. The issue is that everyone thinks they’re right and Capricorn, as a determined cardinal sign, can get stuck in the “doing” which creates the hierarchy of ahead v’s behind. What Aquarius is ushering in at the end of the year is that we’re all here together; if one of us isn’t free, none of us are.
We’re being forced to acknowledge our own uncomfortable experience of inferiority; none of us know what’s going on and we’ve been fed lies that say having control means you’re in charge. Having control brings its own set of things to worry about; maintaining it, curating the illusion that you’ve got it and often, not sharing it.
What this year asks for is complex.
There’s not one answer and not one solution. What there is though, is a playground full of tests and challenges for releasing that which we’ve outgrown. We’ve been given a set of rules and to survive we have to break them. Conformity will not save us. Not unpacking thoroughly that which we’ve inherited will only slow the process of change.
As the year unfolds and you find yourself, your outlook, your beliefs, your security, your relationship to power all being challenged, the best thing we can all do is look to our neighbour and see how they’re faring. Isolation is one of Capricorn’s defence mechanisms; reach out, stay connected and let the injustices impacting you inform you on how others are being affected, also.
Anyone wanting to understand where the energies are occurring in your own chart, I’m offering a Year Ahead reading, drawing up a month by month personalised map.
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2020 dates to watch out for:
As this year unfolds I will continue unpack each of these transits as they occur.
Jan 10: Lunar eclipse at 20* Cancer / Capricorn. Uranus stations direct.
Jan 12: Saturn Pluto (& Mercury) conjunction at 22* Capricorn
March 19-22/31 : Mars, Jupiter, Pluto, Saturn conjunction in Capricorn
March 29: Jupiter conjunct Pluto at 24* Capricorn
May 13: Venus retrograde 21* Gemini
May 14: Jupiter stations retrograde 27* Capricorn
June 23: Jupiter Rx conjunct Pluto in Capricorn at 24*
June 29: Mars enters 0* Aries
September 9: Mars retrograde at 28* Aries
November 7: Jupiter conjunct Pluto at 22* Capricorn (the same degree as the conjunction in January)
November 13: Mars stations direct at 15* Aries
December 19-23: Jupiter conjunct Saturn