Although we couldn’t travel on the earth plane in 2020, we could look up and journey among the stars. In December amidst the pandemic restrictions, Jupiter and Saturn arrived at my backdoor attended by the crescent moon.
December 19, 2020 6:00 P.M.
“I saw the Jupiter Saturn conjunction last night. I stood at my backdoor at sunset and looked south. The crescent moon had ascended, nearby and almost parallel were the planets Saturn Jupiter together. Clear, bright, gorgeous. I used my binoculars to get a better look at something I would see once in my lifetime. Directly below the moon, Jupiter and Saturn was the neighbor’s dining room window, a Hanukah Menorah with lit candles filled the frame.”
For spiritual folks, Tarot lovers and astrologers an Interpretation of the rare conjunction combined with the Winter Solstice themes of rebirth into light and the fact that the two planets are now in Aquarius for most of 2021 is just too good to pass up. Jupiter and Saturn entered the Air sign of Aquarius on the winter solstice after 200 years of meet ups in earth signs; lately they’ve hung out together in Capricorn. Now, Air sign themes take the paradigm spotlight.
Some spiritual influencers predict a recycling of Age of Aquarius 60s peace, love and brotherhood vibes. While traditional astrologers disagree and point to the beginning of “the real Aquarian Age when electricity came into our lives.” More predictions cite space age, techno and scientific revolutions. Humanity and social causes are scheduled to grab more headlines and older institutionalized sameness of government, life styles, working and hierarchal stereotypical values of the haves and have nots will become less influential. Identifying and actively serving the greater good gains prestige.
“The 11th sign of the zodiac, Aquarius is represented by the Water Bearer pouring from a jug, a symbol of the Gods bringing nourishment to Earth.” The same theme appears in the Aquarian governed Star card. A goddess is the celestial water barer who pours water from two jugs, amphoras, jars, vases or chalices onto the land and into a pool. Stars fill the sky; the landscape is tranquil. The imagery represents a spiritual plane, a kind of over the rainbow divine level. The outpouring of heavenly manna streams of consciousness is available Aquarian style to all humanity via inspiration, meditation, genius, intuition, talents, aptitudes, the muse, spirit guides, gifts of the spirit, aspiration, and channeling the higher self. It’s a great time to embrace your inner unique brilliance, but there’s a catch.
The Jupiter – Saturn Conjunction Conversation – Ask an Aquarian Astrologer
Friendship is associated with Aquarius so I asked Dave, my Aquarian Astrologer friend for his interpretation of the 2021 conjunction. “Pouring of water jug means stirring things up, both good and bad. Kind of like opening Pandora’s box. Or Prometheus giving fire to humans, who is also considered the father of Deucalion, the hero of Greek flood mythology. Upsetting the status quo established by Capricorn. Or as my Aquarius/ Capricorn mother used to say “throw the baby out with the bathwater” as an admonishment to retain and build upon that which works, and not get rid of everything just for the sake of change.
Jupiter/Saturn = balancing optimism and pragmatism, recognizing opportunities and implementing a plan.” Got it. The Wheel of Fortune and the Jupiter go big or go home philosophy balanced with the Saturnian practicality and spiritual ethos of responsibility and World Card mastery.
The Tarot symbolist in me continues to focus on an ideal version of the Gods bringing nourishment to Earth. After exploring many interpretations, it was the actual visual impact of the conjunction solstice event that stayed with me. An alignment between the lights in the window and the sky left an impression. Maybe I was the only one on earth to view the celestial and terrestrial display that Winter Solstice night in that way. Very Aquarian cosmic Unique, can’t beat it. Last year’s Winter Solstice couldn’t hold a candle to it, or could it? I wondered, what did I do to commemorate the 2019 Winter solstice? Then I remembered, I was at a Sufi dance performance it was titled, the Rebirth of the Sun. The production featured whirling dervish style traditional dance, music, Sufi and Shamanic practices in the Mugham style of tradition blended with inspired movement. The experience was described as a ritual performance intended to represent the negotiation between the inner self and the outside world represented by the stage.
The Cosmic Dancer in the Saturnine World card does the same thing, blending personal uniqueness inspired from the higher self with mastery of traditional ritual structures that exist in the everyday world, it’s a dance movement between the stars and the earth. Mugham relates with Sufism in that it seeks to achieve ascension from a lower level of awareness to a transcendental union with god. It is a spiritual search for god.” The essence, for me of the purpose of Tarot and most metaphysical journeys from The Fool to The World.
The Sun Card
The celebration of the return of the sun is a global common denominator in holidays this time of year and the essence of all Winter Solstices. Most faiths regard it as a time of reconnection to our spiritual side symbolized by the growing sunlight. The Rebirth of the Sun performance themes were, awakening often associated with The Judgement card, heart opening -The Lovers, detachment – The Hanged Man, the cup – the Ace of Cups and wine pouring. Wine represents the gateway to ecstatic spiritual altered states in most belief systems and is regarded as a symbol of spiritual light that provides a pathway to connect with wisdom. The pouring, in other words the experience of the divine takes place in the Temperance card, The Hermit and his lantern of outpouring light and of course The Star card.
I remembered at one point the room went dark and stars in the form of lit tea lights were placed on the floor. The performers, now on their bellies crawled to reach them. They pushed small metal bowls across it like a heavenly shuffleboard game or was it more like cosmic curling? Clanging clinking clashing, flung out to the audience and sent back again, like the ego and the soul, self and others, chaos and then calm. The dancers created a circle with ropes and placed cups on the circumference at precise measured even intervals, one for each of us like a huge Wheel of Fortune. We were asked to sit behind the cups around the circle and became part of the experience of the circle. We are all part of a larger circle whether we know it or not, all part of something bigger than ourselves – community, tribes, spiritual groups and inner mystery schools. That is why the Tarot Wheel of Fortune has many symbols that represent spiritual systems of knowledge. There are books, and symbols of alchemy, kabbalah, astrology, chakras, mystery schools and more incorporated in the design. At the close, the performers poured hot tea into our cups, they were acknowledging the watering of our newly awakened souls just like the Aquarian water bearer pouring spiritual energy into our open and awaiting vessels.
We are all Sufis; we are all in the Cosmic World card dance whether we recognize it or not. The ritual Mugham we saw formalized, focused and demonstrated the higher self in relation to the personality. The performance was defined as a solstice ritual so the dancers were also acting as magicians.
They ended with serving us tea. This simple act wasn’t a simple act – they had performed a series of movement rituals that emulated and on a cosmic-soul level awakened the universal self in each of us, what they were really doing is pouring and giving us tea aka nurturing the soul providing it sustenance just like the Aquarian water barer.
In 2021 hindsight the performance also seemed to be foreshadowing the 2020 Winter Solstice’s Aquarian Jupiter Saturn Conjunction message. Traditional whirling and ritual movements balanced with inspired independent self-expression, circles, cups, a fleeting glimpse of a triangle of candles, moon and planets that revealed an inspirational relationship with the cosmos. Nothing like visuals to drive the point home, are we really inside heaven and every once in a while, our earthly experiences point to that realization? Something to contemplate I thought as I poured myself another cup of tea in my favorite mug, the indigo one with the gold stars and planets on it.
Marcia Masino is the author of the classic Tarot book, “ Easy Tarot Guide” published by ACS. A perennial favorite, the book has been in print since 1987 and been translated into numerous languages. Her “easy” how to format provides new readers with the tools to understand the cards and to interpret them with ease. Marcia’s book includes astrological information that provides fresh ways to interpret the Astrology of Tarot.
mmasino@globalserve.net – book your e-reading with Marcia.
