The End of a Beginning

We sit on several precipices, collectively, as significant astrological shifts edge closer toward us.

One major transition has already taken place, and this is perhaps the most significant transit to consider in the long range: that is the transit of Jupiter and Saturn intro Capricorn which began March 2020. No one will forget all that has transpired in the collective since then. I have written previously about the way in which Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions mark 200 year cycles which often coincide with the rise and fall of civilizations. In this recent transit they ended their 200 year long conjunction in fire signs (Aries, Leo and Sagittarius) to begin a 200 year cycle in earth signs. The repercussions of this change are significant, and have been discussed at some length here, in a post I wrote very early in 2020.

Since that time, the world has gotten to see what a change in ‘era’ actually feels like. We’ve gotten to feel, on the ground, what these two heavyweight planets can do when they get together, and why their combined transit has historically been considered significant.

The sign in which their transit is occurring is significant, not only because Capricorn is an earth sign and so begins this next cycle, but also because many of the themes of Capricorn have become center stage since the beginning of this transit.

Capricorn is the sign of the graveyard, and we have seen how the subject of death has become primary since the start of the pandemic. Many mainstream news organizations now have a ‘death toll’ counter running constantly to keep track of deaths related to the virus. A related theme that has been slowly gurgling up from underneath the unabated panic is the subject of death in general: our society’s relationship to it. The conversation regarding the ways in which we’ve allowed the very structure of our society to be built around an illusory “protection against death” will need to occur at some point, and the longer it is delayed the more collateral damage there will be. I believe this is actually one of the most important conversations to be had at this time. There is a way in which consciously bringing in the subject matter related to a sign can pacify the tendency of some transit to bring out its uglier side. One of the fundamental tasks of Capricorn is to become comfortable with the more aversive aspects of life. This is why Mars- the planet who indicates the left-handed tantric- is exalted here. Traditionally the burial grounds were where the left-handed tantric went to achieve moksha, or enlightenment: by meditating atop dead bodies to understand the transitory nature of life. The more we as a society continue to make everything look pretty and permanent and purposely conceal the rotten core of the tottering systems we’ve built our lives upon, the deeper the rot will be when it is finally revealed.

Capricorn is also the 10th sign of the zodiac, which relates to work. Jupiter and Saturn have the capacity to create a huge amount of change wherever they transit together. This began as a change in the way many people worked: large numbers of people shifted to remote ways of working. As time went on we began to see record numbers of people leaving their jobs altogether—particularly in the service industry. This reflects a fundamental change in the ways people are relating to work. I do not see this as a negative change, but a sign of a refusal on the part of many people to continue with ‘business as usual’ when the signs everywhere are suggesting that we are in new territory. If you are one of those people asking deep questions around purpose and career, know that Vedic Astrology Consultations can be one way to steer someone in a direction of alignment with desires, skillset and astrological timing.

Capricorn is a moveable earth sign. This means that it is an earth sign by nature, and is governed by rajas- a quality of nature associated with activity and movement. These two combined create what I like to call the bulldozer effect of Capricorn. It may not be pleasant, or pretty, but this sign—particularly when activated, through transits such as these—will create change no matter how much resistance there is. The more you are able to see what the intention of the transit is and get on board with what is asking of us, the more it can be a catalyst for positive transformation in your life. This can be said for the collective as well, and applies to ANY transit. This happens to be a big one, which cannot be ignored.

That bulldozer effect of Capricorn, along with the fact that this is the doorway into a new 200 year cycle, helps explain and make meaning of what many people have been observing in the last few months or so: the world is a different place than it was before December 2020. I don’t think that fractures have been created during this time as much as pre-existing ones have been revealed and deepened. Everything that was buried in the graveyard of Capricorn is beginning to surface, and we have all lost a bit of our innocence in the very short time since this transit began. We can expect more of that. There are more skeletons in the closest, and I would expect the psychological and emotional devastation to deepen even after the physical threat of the contagion itself weakens.

Jupiter leaves Capricorn to enter Aquarius mid November. This, in my mind, marks the “end of the beginning” so to speak, for this next phase of humanity. What we just experienced was a doorway, or threshold, which many people are mistaking for some sort of strange and forgettable interlude between acts of their manicured and controllable life. From my perspective, this was just the tip of the iceberg and things will only get heavier from here. This will require us to get to work, get our hands dirty, and start doing some heavy lifting—spiritually, psychologically, environmentally. We should take heart in the fact that the time has come when the issues we’ve all been sitting on can begin to actually be addressed. Nothing about the way most of us have been living is sustainable. And I think we can’t even begin to understand, from where we sit now, the number and depth of broken agreements with Nature and the cost to the human heart.