The Great Mutation from Earth to Air

A version of this article appeared in the winter 2021 issue of The Ingress, a publication of the New York City Chapter of National Council for Geocosmic Research (NCGR). 

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Jupiter and Saturn made a historic conjunction on December 21, 2020, beginning not only a 20-year cycle, but ushering in a new era of conjunctions that will occur in the signs of Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius — element Air — for the next 200 years. This shift in element, known as a Great Mutation, heralds a new era, one where society and humanity will shift accordingly.

And what is Air? Systems, connection, exchange, movement, and ideas. It is quite possible that we will see important technological advances in coming two centuries. Or the rise of new systems of government and political theory. Our ability to reach around the globe will expand and, it’s quite possible, that humans will even travel beyond the earth more than ever before.

Of course, we can only dream and speculate. This era will cover a range of time that none of us will live to see. But we can look back for clues to help us to put the future into perspective. First, to the 1980-1981 conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn in Libra, which was a preview of this greater shift in time. Second, we can examine the last Great Mutation from Earth to Air in 1186 and its cycles of conjunction that lasted until 1405.

Overview

Astrology is the study of time — how we live it as well as how we build and create with it. Like a Wheel of Life, the zodiac signs teach us how everything under the heavens has its own time and rhythm. The zodiac also teaches us that element Fire is the spark of life that animates creation (element Earth). What we gather has to be distributed and shared (element Air) so that it can nourish humanity and the entirety of creation (element Water).

But what do the planets tell us? Their movements, like hands on the great cosmic clock, point to different hours, different signs, and even different elements. They all have their own rhythm and speed. The Moon, for example, moves quickly through each sign and speaks to the natural ebb and flow of life. Jupiter and Saturn, however, carve out greater cycles of time. Jupiter, for example, takes 12 years to make one revolution around the Sun while Saturn takes 29 years. By comparison, the Moon’s synodic cycle is a mere 29 days.

Jupiter and Saturn’s great movements aren’t connected to life on a personal level, but rather a societal level. Although they both support each other, Jupiter and Saturn have very different motives. Jupiter inspires with faith — faith to leave home and explore, to search out meaning through wisdom and philosophy, to educate ourselves. It brings growth as well as a wealth of experience. Saturn, however, demands form. It consolidates and solidifies. It wants to codify and create structure, something for Jupiter’s wisdom and vision to live within.

That said, Jupiter and Saturn represented a finality to the ancients. Saturn was the last boundary of the known universe. It was the planet of time, structure, and the limitations of the physical world such as aging and hardship. It was the order to Jupiter’s law, a planet that represented our understanding of the universe through theology and doctrine. Jupiter, as the ruler of Sagittarius, taught us what was on this side of Saturn’s divide. Jupiter, as the ruler of Pisces, taught us on what was on the Other Side of Saturn’s great boundary.

The Jupiter-Saturn Conjunction

Every 20 years, Jupiter and Saturn form a conjunction, also known as a Great Conjunction. Again, if Jupiter and Saturn are the planets of law and order, their alignment speaks to new cycles of government, new faiths, and new ideologies. Jupiter searches for meaning, Saturn makes it a reality. Are we cautious or optimistic? Do we create laws that constrict or support? Do we need new philosophies or ideologies to help us understand the world? Jupiter and Saturn speak to that greater societal ebb and flow.

When we look to the sign and element that the conjunction falls in, we can start to get an archetypical understanding of what society and its rulers and leaders will construct over a coming 20-year span of time. The last conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn was in Taurus in May 2000, for example. (See Figure 1.) As the first earth sign, Taurus is about material resources, from money to the accumulation of possessions. Taurus is also the earth and the environment. It’s agriculture and labor. Although the last 20 years were indelibly marked by profound technological advances, there was a demand for a greater consciousness and awareness of the planet, its resources, its fragile ecosystem, and the major consequences at stake.

The technological advances of the last 20 years actually has its roots in a previous conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. Whereas the 2000 conjunction was in Taurus, an earth sign, the conjunction of 1980-1981 was in Libra, an Air sign. (In fact, this was the first conjunction to occur in an Air sign since 1405 and was a harbinger of a greater shift to come.)

All elements have within themselves their triplicity, which is to say, an Air sign, such as Libra, has within it the energies of Gemini and Aquarius. These three energies — called a triplicity — is essential to the flow of life. So, to understand Libra, a sign of relationship and balance, you also have to understand how connection and harmony is built with Gemini’s energy of exchange and movement or Aquarius’s need to create systems and networks.

While the 1980-1981 conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn was in Libra, it opened us up the triplicity of air over the ensuing 20 years — new systems and networks, new technologies and shifts in the role of technology. There were ideological and social shifts, too, as laws sought to both restrict and reform what constitutes a relationship or even a marriage. (Let’s not forget that Pluto was in Libra at the time.) We also saw shifts in economic theory that shaped both nations and global trade.

But what really took hold during this chapter of time was the introduction of the personal computer and beginning of the internet in 1991, two seeds that would have a profound impact on our society and foretell of greater seismic shifts to come.

Then again, we still had one foot in an old cycle, one that began in 1802 with a conjunction in Virgo and one that would take us not just into 2000 with a conjunction in Taurus, but to December 21, 2020 with the start of a new 200-year cycle in element Air.

The Great Ages of Jupiter and Saturn

Jupiter and Saturn not only form a 20-year cycle, they form a 200 year cycle, one where all the conjunctions between these two planets occur in one element over the course of two centuries. For example, the conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn over the last 200 years, from 1802-1821; 1842-1980/1981; 2000-2020, were in element Earth. (See Figure 2.) During this period society was shaped by industry that itself was forged by two waves of Industrial Revolution. We saw laws and governments driven by Capitalism and Communism, two opposing forces. Trade and labor issues indelibly left a mark. Even the physicality of planet Earth was irrevocably impacted.

When we look back even further, the previous cycle of conjunctions were in element Fire from 1603-1643, 1663-1802, and 1821-1842. This period aligned with the Age of Enlightenment in Europe and the awakening of new ideas, new scientific advancements, and even new religions. But it was also a time of religious wars and revolution. (Additionally, a previous cycle of conjunctions in element Fire from the 8th to 11th centuries coincided with the Islamic Golden Age and a flourishing of math, science, and ideas in the Middle East. Then again it also marked the start of the Crusades and faith as a weapon.)

To go back to the point when we last had conjunctions in the Air signs, you have to go all the way back to 1186-1206 and 1226-1425 — 800 years ago. This tells us that it takes eight centuries for the cycle to return to the element that it was in previously. And the world, of course, looked very different than it did 800 years ago.

The Great Mutation from Earth to Air

We’re living through a time where civilization is transforming through one element to another, a once in a 200-year event. This change of element is called a Great Mutation and the next two centuries, until 2179-2219, will be lived through the lens of element Air. The 1980-1981 conjunction in Libra was a preview and from that we can begin to get a sense of what to expect over the coming decades and beyond.

Although there was much speculation online that this marks the start of the Age of Aquarius and some sort of golden age of humanity, this is merely a time for civilization to express itself through air in all its permutations, for better or worse. Air can at once show us where we are connected as well as where we are disconnected. Every sign, every planet, and every element has two sides to it, a side that creates and supports life and a side that destroys.

For example, the coming decades may be a time that equally strengthens social bonds and weakens them. The rise of technology may bring us closer than ever, but it also may create a sense of disconnection. The element Air may support life just as it may destroy. Thus is the duality of life.

The 13th and 14th centuries, the last time we had a cycle of conjunctions in air, at least from a European perspective, coincided with massive social shifts and even climate change. One of the main drivers of these societal shifts was the Black Death, a 1347-1351 pandemic that killed millions in Europe, Asia, and North Africa. With great mortality came lasting changes in societal and political structures that also fed the early decades of the Renaissance, a flourishing of art, ideas, and technology that began in the 14th century in Europe.

So here we are again. Curiously the first conjunction of our present cycle, in 1980-1981, coincided with another pandemic — AIDS. And the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on December 21, 2020 came alongside our newest pandemic — COVID-19. Perhaps it’s a coincidence, but it’s worth noting. (Yes, both pandemics as well as the 1918-1919 pandemic coincided with conjunctions of Jupiter and Pluto in cardinal signs.) Nevertheless, we need to remember that at the heart of element Air is exchange, whether it’s a social exchange or the exchange of pathogens.

Society will nevertheless shift and adapt to new restrictions and create new technologies as a response to these times. Governments will shift and adapt. If 1200 to 1400 roughly corresponded to changes in the feudal structures of Europe and rise of great empires in the Asia with Genghis Kahn and the Golden Horde, will we see parallels in our own time?

That said, it is quite predictable that we will see advances in science and technology, especially artificial and nanotechnology. The internet will grow in ways we cannot conceive. We will redefine what community means. New political theories and structures will emerge as a response to the times we live in. New ideas or new ideologies will take hold. People will move, either to resettle elsewhere or to migrate and flee. We will see climate change. We will work to put our systems and ecosystems back into harmony. We will grapple with themes of inequity and injustice. We will navigate future plagues and pandemics. The air we breathe will become more precious because it may be limited in some way. We will travel through to other worlds in search of new life and new beginnings and new humanities.

Figure 1: Jupiter Conjunct Saturn — 1782-2040

Figure 2: Jupiter Conjunct Saturn — The Great Cycles

* The conjunction of 1365 was at 7 Scorpio
** The conjunction of 2159 will be at 7 Scorpio

Figure 3: Jupiter Conjunct Saturn — Previous Conjunctions in Air, 1186-1405

Katie Sweetman is a consulting astrologer in Brooklyn, New York. She is the creator of Empowering Astrology, a popular online source for daily astrology writings and video horoscopes. Her work stresses a holistic view of the client and the chart, utilizing not only astrology but energy work and psychic mediumship to create transformation. She’s really into Saturn. You can find her on Instagram @empoweringastro and Facebook at @empoweringastrology. Her website is empoweringastrology.com.