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#52
Synopsis Of Key Points
When Jupiter and Saturn conjoin, their powerful and opposing karmas shape a new era Unveiling Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions gives us practical information we can use in our long term planning It is difficult to know early in the cycle what this design will be, what this new era will bring by 2020 This new era was heralded as millennium's promise of raised consciousness, even ascent directly to God Alternatively, Globalization was claimed by many futurists as the emerging reality
D. Some Jupiter and Saturn Fundamentals Jupiter is the planet of wisdom, religion, law, politics, philosophy, optimism, progress and wealth Saturn is Jupiter's opposite, but its equal in forging consciousness
E. Recent Conjunctions Of The Planets Of Social Evolution The last three Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions occurred in 1940, 1961 and 1980 The last three Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions since 1940 have signified broad gains for humanity Many totalitarian governments, notably fascist and communist, have been defeated or discarded We have again a clashing of corrupted religious systems, a new crusade likely fall on its own sword Deforestation, desertification, fisheries decline... link in as yet unknown ways to bring global warming
F. The Current Jupiter/Saturn Conjunction For this conjoining of the planets of social evolution, we have an astrological conundrum In summary, this Jupiter/Saturn chart is complex, powerful and adaptable Saturn is disorganized and lacks structure... breaking down existing structures and the need to reorganize The ongoing process of globalization is breaking down national borders and the concept of nation states Labor is added through outsourcing jobs, and this is opens the door to labor mobility worldwide As Saturn's existing structures collapse, new structures for an internationalized world take their place This view of globalization also does not speak to the inevitable dislocations of people I've been daydreaming about Vermont summers, Sedona in the fall and a Caribbean island in the winter
A. The Millennium To 2020
In
the midst of heightened and continuing escalation of ideological
conflicts and the US national political struggle, it's useful to pause and
take a
double-decade
look ahead to 2020. Let's contemplate,
then, where this karmic sea may be taking the world, the US ship of state and integrally,
our individual lives.
One astronomical technique, that of the twenty year Jupiter/Saturn conjunction, is of great practical value in its mapping double-decade eras. The current era began with the last such conjunction on May 28, 2000. This interval relates well to the stages in life, and thereby how we perceive and plan our develop- ment. Using the perspective of an average eighty year incarnation, what happens today is not definitive for the life path, and nobody cares about the future in 1,000, or even 100 years. Yes, there are daily upheavals, for good or ill, that are life-changing, but such karmic events are contained within the more enduring and comprehensive ocean of karmic influences that shape the entire life. Upheavals are the forkings in the river of life but are not the life's journey to the river's end.
We therefore naturally ponder and plan our lives within the world in twenty year segments, consider- ing our goals, the current world situation and anticipated trends for the next twenty years. For example, we choose education to prepare for twenty year career, select a home for raising our children to adulthood and develop financial plans for twenty years of retirement. All these life are practicalities necessary for achieve- ment and self preservation for expected lifespan of eighty years or so. Governments, political parties, businesses and other large organizations, which are, after all, run by people, similarly plan about twenty years into the future.
B. Time Is The Arbiter Of All Things
One's vantage point is an important consideration here. The Jupiter/Saturn conjunction means different things to people, and these must further vary with culture, geography, climate and country. The US, as potent a driving force as it is now, is not the center of the world. Only 5% of the population reside here. Nor is the US dominant in all parts of the world. Consider Tibet, for example, or even the entire African continent. Further, the US role in the world changes over time, and its ability to influence shifts as inevitably as the planets inexorably move in the sky. History is replete with world powers and empires growing, only to fade away. Time is the arbiter of all things.
Consider the longer world view held by economically poor India, which many Indians maintain is a rich country. For so much of its long 5,000 year history, India was indeed wealthy (the search for the Northwest Passage was always about India), and its recent economic poverty falls only within the narrow context of recent history and the Western concept of wealth. Suddenly the West is recognizing that India's rich-in-wisdom and enduring culture is a greater type of wealth, for this underlying power is again manifesting in burgeoning economic growth.
C. The Jupiter/Saturn Conjunction -- A New Era
In Vedic Astrology, this twenty year interval is measured, not by accident, through the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. These, the two big planets defining the scope of the solar system, signify the process of social evolution. Because of this broader societal focus signified by these impersonal planets (compared with the more personal inner planets), this technique is not applied to individual charts but rather to planet-wide forecasting, called mundane astrology.
Ponderous Saturn's twenty-nine year journey through the constellations, together with Jupiter's still unhur- ried twelve year voyage, bring their intersection at double-decade intervals within in the constellations - signs. When Jupiter and Saturn conjoin, their powerful and opposing karmas shape a new era for the next twenty-year cycle.
If each of us is a ship navigating the Atlantic Ocean, and by understanding the powerful and unseen Gulf Stream, we can use its energies to our advantage, making our journeys quick, safe and productive. How- ever, without this knowledge, we risk missing the favorable current, entering stormy seas and losing our course. Unveiling the deeply submerged meanings of Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions gives us practical infor- mation we can use in our long term planning. There's an old adage that millionaires don't use astrology, but billionaires do. What this concept speaks to is that all large organizations have long term plans, suggesting many use astrology, often secretly, attuning their strategies to the planets and stars.
The Jupiter/Saturn conjunction sets the canvas upon which the planetary karmas paint a design, and it is difficult to know early in the cycle what this design will be, what this new era will have brought the world by 2020. IBM's personal computer in 1980 launched the information age, but it wasn't until the early nineties that we recognized and labeled this double-decade as the information age. The current Jupiter/Saturn conjunction occurred May 28, 2000, and although much history has already unfolded in the last four frenetic years, the shape of the entire twenty year era is not yet established. This Forecast identifies and interprets the major planetary karmas to sketch out the broad outlines of the era from 2000 to 2020, to provide long term planning information that ordinarily is available only to large groups at great expense.
Jupiter and Saturn joined in May 28, 2000 in the constellation of
Aries, and this new era
was heralded by many as the new millennium's promise of raised
consciousness, even ascent directly to God. (I recall Marvin
Weinstein, with the Sedona name of Zodiac Zeek, who left his hat at the
studio
where his ascension video was filmed. I called him
Zeek,
by the way, for
Zodiac
sounded campy. After the Millennium- he called the studio,
stating he decided not to ascend and demanded his hat back!)
Other New Age gurus used fear of the-end-of-the-world to influence
their followers. Well, the hopeful
view of a gentler and more conscious world has already been dashed in the fire of
a new type of war, global terrorism, accompanied by a tidal wave of
violent American imperialism, which should truly be no surprise,
for Jupiter/Saturn conjoined in fiery Aries. But this is not the
end of the world either.
D. Some Jupiter and Saturn Fundamentals
E. Recent Conjunctions Of The Planets Of Social Evolution The last three Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions occurred in 1940, 1961 and 1980. Following are condensed obser- vations on each. The charts were calculated for the exact time Jupiter reached Saturn. The location used was London, to apply Greenwich Mean Time. Since we use GMT for set our clocks, this time zone is also known as universal time, which makes it applicable to globally relevant mundane charts. This method compares with the more general natural zodiac chart, which makes Aries the first house.
in Venus's signification for vehicles.. Because the fourth house of fixed assets and the home is so potent, great progress was made in Sun/Mars weapons, and Sun/Mercury business encouraged housing.
Venus's reproductive system brings AIDS in the eight house of chronic illness, but Venus here is also great for research and income.
Summary -- The Last Three Jupiter/Saturn Conjunctions
Globalization in trade and communications is making the world a global community of still sovereign states. This is a work-in-progress, however. No one yet anticipates the shape the world under matured globalization. Many totalitarian governments, notably fascist and communist, have been either directly defeated or discarded throughout the globe. Most remaining dictators and kings are gradually unclenching their medieval society iron fists to accept reform. While western style democracy is not a one-size-fits-all model, the success of its political, economic and social freedoms are inevitably soaking into the world societal fabric through globalization. There is a new kind of war in Muslim fundamentalist terrorism techniques, although it follows the Ireland model. However, the US is also suffering from its own homebrew of religiously intolerant imperialism. So we have yet again a clashing of corrupted religious systems, a new crusade which will likely fall on its own sword before humanity can begin again the advancement of freedom based upon spiritual truths universal to all religions. Building environmental concerns, resulting mainly from unchecked population and economic growth, have been identified but as yet lack effective solutions. Deforestation, desertification, fisheries declines, resource imbalances and air and water pollution link together in as yet unknown ways to bring global warming. This is the second challenge for humanity in the new millennium. The current, and still infant, Jupiter/Saturn conjunction era is built upon this foundation of globalization, expansion of personal freedoms, newly emerged imperialism and impending environmental challenge. As these confront us all, they must ultimately be addressed during the remaining sixteen years of the new era. F. The Current Jupiter/Saturn Conjunction For this conjoining of the planets of social evolution, we have an astrological conundrum. By changing the time just seven seconds, the all-important Ascendant (identity) changes from Leo to Virgo, and there is no known method to measure whether Jupiter conjoined Saturn within this short interval. (Note: This same problem would occur if the natural zodiac, making Aries the first house. The issue is thereby unavoidable.) Further, when the Ascendant point lies on the very edge of the house/sign, the chart has characteristics of both Ascendants, making it a dual-Ascendant chart. To understand how determinative this is, see how all the planets shift houses from one chart to the other.
While one may conclude this results in a dual-identity chart, in practice this seldom correct. Because the chart holds the characteristics of both Ascendants, it is more accurately viewed as incorporating all the qualities of both charts. So, there's no split identity here but rather a composite, like plywood is formed from multiple layers. Interpretation is difficult for the complexity of two distinct but joined layers. Again, however, like the strength of plywood, the chart can be powerful, and this perhaps results from the chart's capability to drawn upon twice the strengths of a single piece of wood. Adaptability would be another way of seeing this strength, for the chart can operate from either Ascendant.
It is also true that in this situation, the Ascendant (self) becomes very weak at the edge of a house/sign at zero degrees. This is called Sandhi, which translates to dead, indicating weakness. Sandhi is defined as being within two degrees of the house/sign edge, and this zero degree position indicates extreme inability to function. However, if the planetary ruler of the Ascendant is strong, and if the Ascendant receives aspects (glances) from beneficial planets, this weakness is overcome. Astrologers call this a fortified Ascendant. Both these conditions are satisfied for both Ascendants in this chart. In summary, this chart is complex, powerful and adaptable.
A further concern in the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction chart is that Saturn and Jupiter are also Sandhi at 28:50 degrees. Like the 1940 conjunction, Saturn is in its fallen (debilitated) constellation of Aries, bringing war, death, punishment, degradation and paranoia. That Saturn is Sandhi can only debase the planet of suffering further. Saturn's debilitation and Sandhi weaknesses inflate suspicion to already seen paranoia on both sides of the war on terrorism. This Saturn also harms Jupiter. For example, we can already see Jupiter's significations for fat, diabetes and allergies are all becoming widespread health concerns. That Jupiter rules children puts young people most at risk from these illnesses.
These harms to Jupiter's health significations are illustrative of how the dual-Ascendants operate. In the Leo Ascendant chart, Jupiter rules the fifth house of children and the eighth house of chronic illness and is Sandhi with debilitated Saturn (chronic illness) in the good ninth house. One doesn't have to understand Vedic Astrology to see the harms to Jupiter, and thereby to its areas of health. We also see Jupiter's health issues in the Virgo Ascendant chart. Here, Jupiter is placed in the eighth house of chronic illness conjunct fifth house (children) ruler Saturn, debilitated and Sandhi.
Similarly, there has been a recent rash of philosophical political books, which also relate well to the two Ascendants. For Leo Ascendant, Jupiter rules the fifth house of authorship and is placed in the ninth house of publications and philosophy. For the Virgo Ascendant, Jupiter is placed with the fifth house (authorship) ruler Saturn in the eighth house of secrets. These combine for the books exposing fear-based neoconserv- atism and advocating the higher values of truth, equality and courage.
These examples demonstrate that despite the dual-Ascendant complexities of the current Jupiter/Saturn conjunct- ion chart, their influences can be merged together to gain meaningful insights.
With the weak positions of Jupiter and Saturn and the dual Ascendants, uncertainty and change must be bywords for the first twenty years of the new Millennium. Although this era has been characterized so far by terrorism, invasions and a recession, the difficult beginning does not necessarily characterize the entire era. In fact, the chart's complexity, power and adaptability increase free will and promote change. The chart does not bind humanity to a twenty year violent struggle but rather empowers humanity to overcome the difficult circumstances in which we find ourselves. A linchpin factor for the new millennium twenty year era is that a weak Saturn is disorganized and lacks structure, which indicates a breakdown of existing structures and the need to reorganize.
This chart is distinct from, and much more favorable than the 1940 Jupiter/Saturn conjunction chart that brought strife during the entire era. First, the dual-Ascendant quality greatly empowers the chart. Second, several planets are better disposed in this current chart than the 1940 chart. The grouping of Venus, Sun and Mars is strong and favorable in both charts -- Virgo Ascendant for wealth, wisdom and creative achieve- ment and Leo Ascendant for worldly achievement, good deeds and fixed assets. Mercury is also favorably placed in both charts -- Virgo Ascendant for advancement and Leo Ascendant for achieving goals an group interactions. Together, these planetary dispositions bring potent karmas for reorganizing after the Saturn-inspired breakdown.
Breakdown here does not mean societal ruin, like the Dark Ages following the fall of the Roman Empire. Rather, the ongoing process of globalization is breaking down national borders and thereby the concept of nation states, upon people identify and governments operate. Consider that international trade means producing products and services in optimum locations, which are then sold worldwide. The three legs of economics are land, capital and labor. International trade has for literally thousands of years international- ized land and capital, although the scope of trade has grown immensely in recent decades. Now in the information age, labor is added through outsourcing jobs, and this is opens the door to labor mobility worldwide. By adding this third economics fundamental into global trade, the value of residence in a country begins to evaporate. Both business and people (labor) become independent of the nation state, which trends to making nation states irrelevant, even useless impediments.
This gradual but irresistible disassembling of nation states, as signaled and empowered by labor without borders, is the key to understanding the twenty year era ending in 2020. With this change, Saturn's existing structures contained within nation states collapse, and new structures for an internationalized world take their place. In fact, the term internationalized itself becomes a misnomer, for there's no nation left in a world without borders.
The broad-brush view of the current twenty year era is admittedly general, and does not address the power struggle of governments holding on to their nations' sovereignty. After all, the evolution of global- ization wipes out the national public institutions and jobs of those in power. However, politicians and bureaucrats have never been able to hold back progress in the long term, and as unspiritual as the concept may be, science and commerce are the engines of social evolution. This view of globalization also does not speak to the inevitable dislocations of people in the broadest sense of redefining citizenship, culture, values, traditions, lifestyles -- even the family and religion.
As encouraging and frightening as this Forecast's conclusions may be, a future in which all mankind is free to live and work in a truly global community is enticing. I've been daydreaming about Vermont in the summer, Sedona in the fall and a Caribbean island in the winter. You can already e-mail or inexpensively call me at any of these locations for a Vedic consultation, and soon we'll be able to teleconference or personally visit with similar ease and economy.
Doug
Riemer
Copyright 1999-2004 Doug
Riemer
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