Returning to Earth

A lot has changed in the world since I wrote The Era of Earth which hopefully gave some context for recent events and an idea of what might be ahead. What may have felt like a disturbing but fleeting moment in human history has shown itself to be more pervasive than we might like. This is in keeping with the fact that the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in Capricorn (in December 2020) brought in a new era: ending a two hundred year cycle that began at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. This shift is brought on by Jupiter-Saturn conjunction (which happens every twenty years) changing from fire signs during the last two hundred years, to earth signs, beginning last year.

We now have a better sense of what it actually means to have the collective foundations shift. This new terrain we’ve entered (for which Capricorn- the sign of the graveyard-is the doorway) has its own rhythm and challenges, and it will take time to adjust to these.

Fire eras—such as the one that’s just ended—are driven, directed, and achievement-oriented. There can be a one-pointed focus, as is the nature of the fire element, which can cause many blind spots. You can see that the last two hundred years were very achievement and progess oriented, and much of this achievement and progress was made at huge cost (to nature, mental health, physical health, etc).

The nature and objectives of the earth element—whose era we are just entering—are very different than those of fire. But just as changes in personal planetary time periods (called dashas) require the acclimation of the individual, these larger shifts can take time and do not come without disturbance.

In the Vedic system of Astrology, elements are considered the carriers of karma. They deliver karma to us through our own desires, which will take the shape of the configuration of the elements in our chart and in the sky: someone with a strong fire influence will be very driven, focused and sometimes a little harsh or militant. A strong water influence will tend to make someone more creative and highly impacted by their emotions and a desire for comfort and softness.

Then there is the larger configuration of elements driven by transits in the sky, which is constantly changing. The slowest moving planets are Saturn and Jupiter, which is why their transits and conjunctions are so powerful. They spend enough time in a given sign to get a lot of work done there. The nature of that work will depend on the sign and other factors. These two planets combined are said to have the capability of unleashing a tremendous amount of energy. They are slow, powerful and wise planets whose rhythm seems to determine the shape of the human experience in a way that no other planets can.

When they entered Capricorn, it seemed that the entire world blew up. And one of the elements of human experience that changed the most was the way we get work done. Capricorn is the 10th sign of the zodiac, which is the house of work. The 10th house in a person’s chart will show how they work, what type of work they like, how they are treated by bosses, etc. Capricorn reflects this area of life for the world at large. Saturn brought limitation and Jupiter (debilitated in Capricorn) brought the necessity of dealing with impurities i.e. potential disease and a fundamental disruption of the space between us. This was extremely disruptive, for obvious reasons, but also because the last two hundred years of fire has made the world into a machine whose primary focus is on productivity, economy, gain.

Even when Jupiter moved out of Capricorn in April, there was no actual return to normal, even if we attempted. This is because the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction is a threshold inside which we enter a new world. There is truly no going back to life as we knew it, largely because that life was predicated on a massive blindness. It will take time for this to sink in, but many people can already feel the fundamental disturbance in society. There is a dangerous fracturing that seems to only deepen the further we get from the point of initiation of the pandemic.

If we think about the way earth might meet fire, we might imagine the heating and drying effect of fire creating cracks in the earth (as in a dry, hot desert in summer), or loose earth getting thrown on actual flames to put them out. In this case, fire is contacting earth, so the first analogy is probably more appropriate. And it is in line with the deep lines of division we see even in basic social interaction.

And we can see, also, the earth actually drying up, at least partially as a result of the fossil fuels that came about in the last two hundred years during Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions in the signs of fire. The earth is showing the wear of our collective drive and blindness, and is now demanding our focus. It might take some time, but this conjunctions should eventually bring our attention to the ground, to tend to the disturbance(s).

Jupiter will soon retrograde back into Capricorn from Aquarius, for a two month period beginning in September. There is the possibility of this initiating some new type of disturbance, and leaving no doubt in our minds that there is no return to ‘normal.’

As I’ve written previously, the biggest mistake one can make right now is holding on to the idea of getting back to life as it was. That will tear you apart, as reality takes you into this new terrain but you hang on to a past that is never returning. It is best to attempt to acclimate to the new challenges and potentials of this earth-era environment as quickly as possible. There is (and should be) a huge amount of grief involved in this process, which most of us are still attempting to hold at bay.