Sunday December 20, 2020 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc., editor | Island Social Trends
Early tomorrow morning — December 21 at 2:02 am (Pacific Time) — is the moment of the winter solstice, the official beginning of winter.
As most everyone has already heard, this year there is also a rare conjunction of two large planets — Jupiter and Saturn — coming quite close to each other (in astronomical terms, by a few million kilometres), in the southwest sky for those of us here on south Vancouver Island. This is happening at the same time as the winter solstice.
When that conjunction happens the two planets will appear to be one (an optical trick due to geographical and spatial positioning). It will be bright as far as planetary sightings go, viewable without a telescope, just by looking up. Tonight there was cloud cover in some areas. But hopefully you get to see this.
You can watch the conjunction live on YouTube (with some awesome background music, meditative).
Jupiter and Saturn have been travelling pretty close to one another since the end of November.
The peak of this dance on this COVID-year’s winter solstice is in a way that won’t be repeated again (in precise astronomical terms) — until March 15, 2080.
Cosmic significance seen socioeconomically:
Astrologically, this has the cosmic community all ablaze with eloquent and predictive descriptions about the power of this conjunction — expansion and opportunity (Jupiter) has been contained by intense discipline (Saturn). Watch out when this pressure let’s up! Kind of like letting the lid go off a pop bottle that you’ve shaken up.
Early 2021 will be about tossing lots of things about — the flotsam and jetsam of society, economic, communities and relationships. Not much will be spared as the sparks and pieces fly. Protect what you can, catch what you can, let go what must part from you.
Case in point today with another round of the COVID-19 virus blasting out more disarray with a more intensely transmissible strain in the United Kingdom, leading to border shutdowns in Canada and many European countries.
Hang on for a rough ride of social change and economic impacts in January through March until Pluto also starts to ease up its pressure of permanent change, but not until society has been scoured even more in ways we haven’t even thought of yet.
This Christmas is truly a unique and powerful one. One can feel excited to be alive at such a time. And in some ways thankful that the pandemic has slowed us down enough to appreciate these impactful moments to their fullest, to be open to the shift of the spheres and become centered around what one wants to do with life in 2021 and beyond.
Symbolically, the decisions our leaders make (and that we all make) this month and into early January will have impact for decades.
Even Google is into it! The Google header graphic for December 21 features a friendly pair of star planets (Jupiter and Saturn) high-fiving each other in a bright/dark winter sky, with Earth watching from afar.
Marking your calendar:
Even by January 4 the impact of this intense moment of cosmic energy on earth will begin to ease. Saturn lets up on Jupiter.
According to the Farmer’s Almanac, the rare Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in the sky on December 21, 2020 minor (not as close) less visible versions will occur in 2040 and 2060, if you’re marking a future calendar.
