Mars (in Taurus) square Saturn (in Aquarius), Jan. 13, 2021
Mars square Jupiter, Jan. 23, 2021
After the major social upheavals that the Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto conjunctions of 2020 brought with the Covid-19 epidemic, this intensity spilled over into the first quarter of 2021, marked in the United States on January 6th with violent public demonstrations at the senate buildings in the nation’s capital and in Myanmar where the army overturned the government, resulting in major public protests. One of the year's major aspects, Jupiter square Uranus, went exact not long after, on January 17. According to the Valerie Mesa:
‘’Jupiter in Aquarius is encouraging the collective to cultivate social awareness, and aspire towards change. The concept of humanitarianism and progress are of crucial importance during this time. Its square to disruptive Uranus, however, could trigger everything from an overarching enthusiasm around the thought of revolution to global anarchy. There could also be an excessive impulse and/or sense of idealism surrounding rebellion, but it isn’t necessarily realistic either.’’
1st Saturn square Uranus, February 17, 2021
A month later, on February 17, the other major aspect of the year, Saturn square Uranus occurred (the first of three exact stations, the others on June 14 and December 24). According to Narayana Montufar:
"While traditional Saturn likes to build and preserve, Uranus likes to change and destroy. This aspect is basically the old versus the new, a clash between rebellion and tradition. When Saturn (which is in Aquarius right now) and Uranus (in Taurus) form a square, we often see cracks appear in the foundations of society. The problems with our political, financial, and social institutions become exposed, and then they crumble… so we can rebuild them based on the concepts of freedom, inclusivity, and individuality"
One facet of this aspect can be seen in the rise of tensions with autocratic governments, according to Kenneth Roth:
The conventional wisdom these days is that autocracy is ascendent, democracy on the decline. That view gains currency from the intensifying crackdown on opposition voices in China, Russia, Belarus, Myanmar, Turkey, Thailand, Egypt, Uganda, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. It finds support in military takeovers in Myanmar, Sudan, Mali, and Guinea, and undemocratic transfers of power in Tunisia and Chad. And it gains sustenance from the emergence of leaders with autocratic tendencies in once- or still-established democracies such as Hungary, Poland, Brazil, El Salvador, India, the Philippines, and, until a year ago, the United States. (Can Democrats Rise to the Occasion? Human Rights Watch World Report 2022)
2nd exact Saturn-Uranus square, June 14, 2021
The first quarter of the year witnessed dramatic convulsions in the aftermath of the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, notably with turbulence in American politics and the emergene of a second wave of the Covid pandemic. The second semester continued to witness social conflicts as the world struggled to proceed with the vaccination roll-out as efforts were made to control the re-merging pandemic.
Leading up to the summer solstice, there was a lunar eclipse (May 26), a Mars-Pluto opposition (June 5), a solar eclipse (June 10), the 2nd exact Saturn-Uranus square , 2021The solstice was a very intense one, with two powerful aspects, the challengeing Grand Cross and the beneficial Grand Trine, both involving the Moon, which can be quite powerful in a transit chart, even though it doesn’t last long. Some of the major news events from the Jun 9-15 period include:
More than 350,000 people in Ethiopia experiencing dire hunger, with millions more facing "high levels of acute food insecurity," Ethiopians head to the polls for the country's first multiparty election in 16 years. Anti-government protesters flooded the streets of Lebanese cities as the country's currency tanked, adding to a string of economic woes. Naftali Bennett was sworn in as Israel's new prime minister, ending former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's 12 years in office.
In the United States, president Biden attended the NATO G7 summit in the UK. and the US-EU summit in Brussels, recommitting to global concerns like cybersecurity, global health, and climate change. A severe drought occurred, and the Delta variant appeared as responsible for a six-fold increase in hospitalizations in one Missouri city. The Keystone XL Pipeline deal was officially cancelled.
Around the Summer Solstice, also in the United States, ten mass shootings happened across the nation leaving at least seven people dead and more than 40 injured. It was the latest in a streak of violent weekends in America. The weekend before this, there were also 10 mass shootings that left 12 people dead across seven states. On June 25 A Minnesota judge sentenced Derek Chauvin to 22 1/2 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd. The sentence "is one of the longest a former police officer has ever received for an unlawful use of deadly force," Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said, calling it a "moment of real accountability."
The Summer Solstice marked the beginning of a Mars/Saturn/Uranus T-Square, one of the most intense aspects of the year, which was at its most intense around July 4. Around this time, there occurred the assassination of the Haitian president, as well as a string of bad floods, forest fires, hurricanes, building collapses, vehicle accidents, and freak accidents.
An example of these tensions can be seen with the Covid pandemic, (which seems to recede in concert with the Pluto and Saturn retrogrades; although this occurs as the weather gets warmer in many places, with less people indoors, so it is harder to track the correlation). The problem has been admirably addressed at a medical level, as great progress was made with the vaccine roll-out process, but it has proven unable to curb the fourth wave and delta variant due to failures at the political level. Despite sophisticated communication technology, governments are having difficulty educating the public of the need for safety measures. When restrictions are lifted, the case numbers tend to rise dramatically. Relatively small, but vocal groups are radically opposed to vaccinations, but end up getting the virus and overloading the medical services. This strong distrust in government is probably not helped by their seeming inability to prevent a majority of vaccines going to the rich, while the poor continue to suffer the worst, although there has been some concerted manifestation of generosity in vaccine distribution such as COVAX. Another related example was the need to apply widespread restrictions on social media platforms in order to curb Covid and vaccine misinformation, as well as conspiracy theories.
Another interesting event that illustrates this tension and also coincides closely with the 20-year Jupiter-Saturn cycle has been the end of United States military occupation of Afghanistan with the ensuing return of Taliban rule around August 14. The September 11, 2000 destruction of the World Trade Center occurred six months after an exact Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, the latest Taliban takeover, eight months after the most recent conjunction. Possibly, it can be seen to signal the end of end era in a certain style of oil-interested military interventions and a steady decline of international US military involvement, previous to the decline of Russia and the rise of China as an international military enforcer. At any rate, an interesting bookend to the previous Jupiter-Saturn cycle, which was marked by the 9/11 disaster.
Lunar Eclipse, November 19, 2021
Heading towards the Winter Solstice, we had the Lunar Eclipse of November 19. Some events at that time included:
China's treatment of Uyghur Muslims has been a point of great concern for the international community, and talks of a diplomatic boycott of the Olympic Games in China emerged.
Rioting broke out at The Hague over the Dutch government's new coronavirus measures. Elsewhere, an estimated 40,000 people on Saturday crowded the streets of Vienna in the country's biggest coronavirus-related protest to date.
Sudan's military chief reinstated Abdalla Hamdok as prime minister, almost a month after he was ousted in a military takeover. Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan appeared with Hamdok at a signing ceremony in the Presidential Palace. Hamdok and Al-Burhan also agreed on a power-sharing deal between civilian and military leadership.
Many high-profile court cases charged with social tensions in the US reached a conclusion: District Judge Royce Lamberth sentenced Jacob Chansley, the Jan. 6 Capitol rioter known as the "QAnon Shaman," to 41 months in prison on Wednesday for his role in the insurrection. Travis McMichael, his father, Greg McMichael, William (Roddie) Bryan were convicted of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. A jury acquitted teenager Kyle Rittenhouse on Friday of murder in the fatal shooting of two men during racial justice protests following the non-fatal shooting of a black man, Jacob Blake, by a white police officer. Moreover, two men convicted of assassinating Malcolm X were exonerated after a renewed investigation uncovered evidence proving authorities had withheld evidence that they were not the ones who gunned down the civil rights activist.
The U.S. recorded 100,306 drug-overdose deaths in the 12 months that ran through April, the most ever, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released Wednesday. It was the first 12-month period in which overdoses surpassed 100,000. The record marked nearly a 29 percent rise compared to the same period a year earlier, indicating a sharp rise during the coronavirus pandemic. Five people were killed and more than 40 were injured when a vehicle drove into a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Solar Eclipse, December 3, 2021
We then had the Solar Eclipse of December 3. Some events at that time included:
The US joined with international allies to impose new sanctions on Belarus in response to the migrant crisis on the border with Poland and the political repression and ongoing human rights violations committed by the regime of Belarus's longtime strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko.
It emerged that China recently tested a hypersonic weapon system, and is rapidly building up its nuclear arsenal, aiming to bring it to at least 1,000 warheads by 2030. Gen. David Thompson, vice chief of space operations for the US Space Force, says China is developing its space capabilities at "twice the rate" of the US, and could overtake the US by the end of the decade.
There is increasing concern over the potential for Russian aggression against Ukraine. Russia has rapidly escalated its military presence along the countries' shared border, amassing up to 175,000 troops there.
In Michigan , Ethan Crumbley, a 15-year-old is accused of fatally shooting four classmates and injuring several others at a Michigan high school.
The US is averaging more than 100,000 new Covid-19 cases a day, the first time the country has crossed that threshold in two months. Deaths are also on the rise, with an average of 1,651 people dying from Covid-19 each day over seven days. Scientists scramble to determine whether Omicron is more transmissible and more virulent than other strains.
3rd Saturn-Uranus square, December 24, 2021.
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