Dear earthlings,
2020 is a monumental, era-changing year.
The planets above are moving toward a radical new alignment, and we on Earth mirror them. This year, our task is to thoroughly clear old ground and prepare the new. It is a year of clarifying our work in the world and making plans that support these intentions — without getting attached to the outcomes. We must strive as well as surrender.
It is a little like growing food. Farming to feed the people requires a lot of intentional planning! We prepare the soil to welcome a hatchling new life. We plan in great detail what to grow, and when and where. But the best plans honor the forces of nature that are beyond our control. The truest preparation is learning from the cycles of change.
There is remarkable support and symmetry in the skies of 2020, helping us commit to the lives and world we wish to build. But first, let’s set some context.
2020 Completes a 200-Year Cycle
This year, planet Earth is moving toward a monumental conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter (conjunction = when 2 or more planets align in the sky, from our view on Earth). We’ll literally be able to see these two planets lined up in the night sky.
Saturn is the planet of rules and authority (the old guard), while Jupiter is the planet of hope and possibility (the new guard). In mythology, Jupiter is the young buck who overthrows the ruling monarch, Saturn, and sets up a new world order in which there is more shared leadership (but, let’s be honest, still a lot of double standards and squabbles over power).
There is a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction every 20 years, BUT… every 200 years, these conjunctions take place in a new element, instigating a new cycle. Ancient astrologers of present-day Iran were the first to decode how the Jupiter-Saturn cycles map onto major changes in dynasties. In other words, when Jupiter and Saturn conjoin in a new element, there is a shift in world power. For this reason, astrologers call this event the Great Conjunction.
That’s where we are now. We have been under a transitioning sky in which Jupiter and Saturn are moving from earth-sign into air-sign conjunctions. 2020 is the final year in this 200-year cycle. On December 21, Jupiter and Saturn conjoin at 0 degrees of Aquarius, and continue to meet in air signs for the next 200 years.
If you’ve done the math, you’ll notice that every 800 years the cycle fully completes and re-sets, since there are 4 elements in Western astrology (earth, water, air, and fire). That means this is the first time in 800 years that Saturn and Jupiter are in air signs. The last time this happened, major innovations in printing and paper manufacturing made it possible to disseminate ideas en masse, for the first time ever. Jupiter and Saturn meeting again in air signs, starting with Aquarius, will create visionary ideas for the future. We will need to balance them, however, with warmth, emotional connectivity, and commitment.
The planets above spell that we are in the midst of a turning point in human history. The old power structures are decaying and what we witness now is their last gasp and grasp for control. The astrology of 2020 implores us to clear old ground and turn it into rich compost for seeding our new visions in. Many of us have been working for quite a while to build our next world. The planets now accentuate this transition.
Of course, we know that societal restructuring doesn’t happen overnight. Even in the mythology — even in the planetary movements above — this change takes decades to complete. How we live, work, and cooperate this year and every day is critical. We are writing the story in real time, unfolding it as we live it.
I’ve become more certain of this the more I work the Earth. Growing food and tending land, I see how the Earth responds to my touch. It is visible every day.
Capricorn is a Creator
Several planets and points spend the year in Capricorn — including Jupiter and Saturn before they meet for the Great Conjunction. With so much activity in this part of the sky, the Cosmos tells us it’s time to clean up the Capricorn area of our lives. We’re learning to release any toxic buildup of this energy as well as embody the skillful manifestations of this workhorse sign.
Capricorn is an all around BOSS. Through structure, a relentless work ethic, and sheer determination, Capricorn creates impeccable, high quality stuff. They have incredibly high standards for themselves — and others.
When this energy is overdeveloped in the social order, it turns rigid and becomes obsessed with success. It is authoritarian government, supremacy of any kind, corporate greed, and a world in which human value is measured by productivity and number of Instagram followers. This is the kind of Capricorn energy we are now dismantling and healing.
At the same time, we are reclaiming the sacred elements of Capricorn. Some structures and traditions are valuable. Accountability processes help evolve our relationships, and systemic planning is needed to redistribute wealth. It takes patience and effort to develop true mastery at anything. We have to learn ecological limits and play by nature’s rules if we want our life on Earth to last. All of these are the domain of Capricorn as well.
Personally, we may want to activate Capricorn’s power by forming well-structured plans. The solar system brings light to our long-range goals and visions. However, this year, we will have to take small steps to big system change. We need to build the necessary scaffolding. Capricorn reminds us that deep and lasting growth takes time. The skies advise us to take specific and well-considered steps like a mountain goat, but not get too attached to our plans either.
A slew of Pluto transits this year remind us of a simple, sacred truth: to give it our all without getting attached to the outcome. Our work is in committing ourselves fully to our task, and then surrendering and belonging to all which follows. More on this in the Pluto section below.
Reflection Questions:
What is your evolving relationship to structure and planning?
What vision do you wish to call into existence? If you were a mountain goat carefully assessing your path to the top, how would you move this year?
Taiwanese-Chinese artist Tong Yang-Tze’s calligraphy of “Embrace the One” inspired by Lao Zi. The retrospective of her artwork at the Taipei Museum of Fine Art is amaaazing. Full text of Chapter 10 of the Dao de Jing at the end of this post.
Eclipses Set New Patterns
We started the year smack dab in the middle of a conversation between the Sun and Moon, also known as eclipses. Eclipses help set new patterns into motion. They always take place in a pair of opposing signs: one indicating what we are releasing, and the other what we must cultivate to regain wholeness.
The eclipses of the past two years have been in Capricorn and Cancer. We just had two on December 26 and January 10, and we will have the final pair this summer:
Solar eclipse in Cancer on June 21, 2020
Lunar eclipse in Capricorn on July 5, 2020
In our personal lives, the Capricorn eclipses have been tugging at us to shed certain rigidities, “should”s, and internalized scripts. The Cancer eclipses may have brought new understandings about our roots and origins, as well as activated desire for the kind of homes and families we choose to create. Cancer eclipses also tend to illuminate what we need for emotional connection — with ourselves or with others.
On the collective level, moving from Capricorn to Cancer means learning to create systems of collective care instead of systems of production. We take Capricorn’s capacity for hard work and gift it to our communities. I think these eclipses have been inspiring us, as a global community, to re-imagine our home on this planet.
I started learning about the gift economy during this time of Cancer-Capricorn eclipses… and rapidly felt inspired to commit to it! Eclipses can do that. They bring revelations that move through us with lightning speed. For me, the gift economy is one way to build the home I believe in. Unlike the market economy in which everything is reduced to a dollar figure, the gift economy is a practice in sustaining each other by sharing our offerings. In that way, it is life affirming. Besides, that which offers itself freely to us — earth, water, the spirit of astrology — should never be sold for profit.
By the middle of the year, the eclipses transition to Sagittarius and Gemini. These help retrain our mind away from a generational pattern of information overload and hyper-connectivity, toward spiritual wisdom and existential meaning. Dates:
Lunar eclipse in Sagittarius on June 5, 2020
Lunar eclipse in Gemini on November 30, 2020
Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius on December 14, 2020 (a strong one!)
Reflection Questions
What rigidity or old narrative are you proud of yourself for releasing?
What insights about home, family, and/or ancestry have you had over the past two years?
Celebrate the important work you have done here! We will have one more activation of these themes with the Cancer-Capricorn eclipses this summer.
Pluto Conjunctions Demand Release
Pluto forms conjunctions with Saturn and Jupiter this year, preparing us for change through a massive detox.
When Pluto encounters Jupiter and Saturn, it strips away artifice, tears down social constructs, and exposes deeper truths. Pluto conjunct Saturn reveals the toxicity of rigid structures, rules, and hierarchies. Conjunct Jupiter, it peels back false optimism and inauthentic beliefs. Together, these transits help clear old ground before the Great Conjunction on December 21, which is the tipping point for the social transformations underway. It is like an energetic cleansing before we start anew.
The Saturn and Pluto conjunction became exact on January 12, although it had already been building for the past two years. During the transit, the planets are working on us, sometimes in ways that feel overwhelming or beyond our control. After a transit passes the exact point, it is not “over.” Now, the work is on us to integrate. As elder astrologer Caroline Casey says, “An insight only has power when we give it expression.”
These insights will be reactivated when Jupiter and Pluto conjoin three times this year, on April 5, June 30, and November 12. When Jupiter and Pluto meet, things grow extreme. Jupiter will expand the institutional changes and social movements that are in process. Pluto will pull back surface optimism to reveal where we must remake our lives so they better align with our integrity and belief systems. This is especially the case wherever you have Capricorn in your chart.
No doubt, Pluto transits are intense. They can feel like we are being dragged through change after change. But Pluto transits are most painful when we try to hold onto that which must be released. The best medicine for Pluto is surrender.
Even as 2020 is a year for visioning and goal-setting, I want to remind us all — myself included — not to get attached to outcomes. This will be a year for baby steps, as we encounter unexpected change on the road to massive change. Y’all know how we can build up fantasies and attachment to those fantasies..... But, life keeps showing us that it is very ALIVE — always growing, changing, and rebirthing. Acceptance is often the wisest, and hardest, choice.
My own process goes like this: hopes and dreams propel me forward, they make creative juice. They are a North Star helping map my route, but I know I’ll end up somewhere beyond what I could have imagined. I am re-orienting myself so that my values, more than my goals, are my guiding compass. Life never turns out the way we plan for it to. But our dreams can come true, we just have to stay open to how life will deliver them.
Reflection Questions:
What did you notice around the time of Saturn-Pluto conjunction about what needs to be purged in order to honor a deeper, abiding truth?
In 2020, I will honor the balance between planning and surrendering by __________ [complete the sentence].
Every Planet Retrograde
This year, every single planet in our solar system will be retrograde at one point or another.
Not to fear! Retrogrades are an important opportunity to reflect and regroup before setting new plans. To review all that has been before we create what’s next.
The most noteworthy retrogrades this year are Venus and Mars. Both planets get to the heart of what we want. They are about desire. Venus is appreciative desire, while Mars is assertive desire. Given that the rest of 2020’s astrology is about clearing the old and preparing the new, these retrogrades help us clarify what we truly want.
These retrogrades happen back to back. Venus and Mars retrogrades also tend to reveal our culture’s issues around relating to femininity and masculinity.
Venus retrograde will take place in Gemini from May 13 - June 25. Including the shadow periods* the entire retro process is active from April to July of 2020.
Venus retrograde helps us get in touch with what we love and value. In Gemini, it will hold a mirror up to our community relations and how we interact with our peers. It asks: do the relationships and places I invest my attention reflect what I truly want? If not, it is time to re-assess.
This retrograde involves Neptune — the planet of dreams, fantasies, and illusions — so it will reinforce the need to get honest with our ourselves and others. It can reveal where we hold back information or inadvertently manipulate situations because we want to get along. A word to the wise: we can save ourselves a lot of trouble by practicing honesty now — before the retrograde!
[*Note on retrogrades: From our view on Earth, a retrograding planet travels through a piece of sky three times, giving us plenty of time to review. In astro speak, the first pass is called the “pre-shadow period.” This period sets the scene: a situation forms whether or not we are conscious of it. The second phase is the retrograde period itself, when the planet is moving backwards. This is the hot spot, when hairy situations arise and we must patiently attend to twists and tangles. The third and final pass is the “post-shadow period”; we have untangled some knots and are now coming into clarity about how to move forward.]
Mars retrograde will take place in Aries from September 9 - November 14. Including the shadow periods, the entire process runs from late July through the rest of 2020 — that’s 5+ months!
Mars retrograde turns up the heat. It stirs the (blood)lust, awakening passion and aggression alike. Mars in Aries will connect with Saturn (the planet of limits), so this retrograde will ignite our desires while also erecting roadblocks to meeting them. The challenge will be facing issues with impatience, anger, and conflict.
The higher calling of this retrograde? Meeting conflict with courage. True acts of courage have vulnerability at their center — we risk putting ourselves and what we care about on the line. The most inspiring example I know of this is Corrina Gould, spokesperson for the the Confederated Villages of Lisjan/Ohlone people. Her bravery defends something that is deeply personal and sacred to her: the indigenous lands of her people. Genuine love motivates her courage. I hear it in the prayers she leads at actions and city council meetings, which draw tears from her own eyes and the eyes of so many around her.
This kind of strength is all honesty, no bravado. It is the courage to name what is sacred to us and defend it. This is Mars in Aries in its power.
…….
In summary, the astrology of 2020 gives us many opportunities to draft and re-draft our plans. We will be called throughout the year to revisit what it is we truly want. These visions can act as a North Star guiding our work, but we will also need to surrender to the mystery of living. Here is one of my favorite chapters of the Dao de Jing, Chapter 10:
O can you embrace the One with all your soul and never depart from it?
Can you concentrate on your breath to approach the tender state of a newborn?
Can you wash and clean the mysterious mirror in your heart and allow no blemishes on it?
Can you love the people and lead the nation without identifying with your intelligence?
Can you be like the opening and closing of Heaven’s gates, and bestow rewards and punishments from the feminine?
If your understanding penetrates all four quarters of the earth, can you still keep from interfering?
Give birth and nourish well.
Produce and do not possess.
Grow and do not control.
This is called the mystic virtue.
載營魄, 抱一能無離乎?
專氣致柔, 能嬰兒乎?
滌除玄覽, 能無疵乎?
愛民治國, 能無知乎?
天門開闔, 能為雌乎?
明白四達, 能無知乎?
生之畜之.
生而不有.
為而不恃.
長而不宰.
是謂玄德.
Image description: Chinese red papercurtting art of 4 mice. They are walking with red lanterns that spell out 2020.