On December 21, 2020, the first of a series of uninterrupted Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions in air signs occurred. It was an actual conjunction, as opposed to a mean conjunction. Historically, the mean conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn were used by Arab astrologers to look at mundane events. The actual conjunctions can also be used, and can be significant markers in a general interpretive sense though medieval astrologers used the mean conjunctions with ingress charts, another zodiac, and connected them to an array of charts. The Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions happen every twenty years. They occur in a single element for 220 years. The actual conjunction in Aquarius in December 2020 was not the first time that they occurred in recent years, as they conjoined in Libra in 1980. Many astrologers have discussed the Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions in air signs in videos, podcasts, blog posts, and magazine articles. The exposure to the concept has also been on this website, as there are articles that look into various aspects of Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions. In this post, I will give personal observations of events that are not timed specifically but correspond to the events of the calendar years 2020 and 2021. I will hypothesize that these mundane events are windows into the larger mundane themes of the next 220 years. In doing so, I will ignore the actual sky weather(the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction occurring at the end of 2020) and other interpretive techniques and tools(the superior conjunctions, Aries ingresses, and other synodic cycles) that can be used to break down that era. These views are based on observations of events and the idea that the events at the time are indicative of a much larger pattern. The latter view is quite common to astrology, and is often demonstrated with the ingresses of planets into signs, with time lord activations, and in other aspects of astrology.
The major events of 2020-2021 were the initial response to Covid-19, the lockdowns, the BLM protests, the 2020 Presidential election, the attempt to make vaccines mandatory, the actions of governments, the media, and supporters towards the anti-vaccine population, and the actions of the parts of the population that were anti-vaccination. These events occurred in a technological landscape that had revolutionized communication. The advent of the internet and new mobile devices, as well as social media and an array of multi-purpose apps transformed all aspects of life in the decades prior to 2020. By 2021, most Americans were part of the new digital ecosystem. In that year, eight out of ten Americans had a smartphone, and over ninety percent used the internet. Large amounts of private data was tracked and used for corporate purposes. It was also public knowledge that the US government tracked and stored citizen’s data in opaque programs.
While many people were warning of the impact of the rapidly improving information and communications technology(ICT) on physical and mental health, there was less said about how it could act as an instrument of mass connectivity in a time of crisis or social upheaval. Social media had been used in the Arab Spring, and many of the political events of the 2010s revolved around social media, the internet, and other types of information and communications technology. The media had often criticized social media for Trump’s 2016 election victory and the rise of new right-wing movements. Modern communications technology wasn’t identified as being able to control and manipulate the masses in unprecedented ways.
The advent of the new information and communications technology led to widespread connectivity. It allowed for the dissemination of narrative and propaganda on a mass scale. With so many people connected on social media, it enhanced tribal allegiances. In a morality-police-led-cultural-revolution or a directive from government experts to vaccinate, attitudes of conformity, peer pressure, and herd mentality dominated. The use of these tools led to the ability to affect the perception of reality. The facts of Covid-19 or lockdowns as a policy were never really debated by the public at large. The BLM riots were fueled by disinformation about the police. In many cases, social media amplified the messaging of the corporate media and government. The masses were pitted against the few who disagreed with the messaging and the movement. The power structure and its institutional allies used methods such as fear mongering, scapegoating, lying, violence and physical intimidation, and gross oversimplification. The broad reach available with modern technology was used to great effect by a coordinated institutional and organizational campaign. It was quite obvious that new tools were used to shape the response of the public.
Some of the messaging had no bearing on a factual take on reality. The death rate of Covid-19 was greatly exaggerated, and leftists believed it was much higher than it actually was. There were tremendous, irrational changes in narrative and perceived reality. For example, people were told they had to stay home and social distance but then suddenly told that it was fine to protest or riot because racism was also a deadly virus. Also, there was little evidence that vaccination prevented transmission, but the mainstream media and government authorities insisted that it did and not taking the vaccine was helping to spread the virus. Finally, events were not organic and were manipulated by corporate media, activists, and social media companies, especially in the case of BLM. In these years, some people used the term the Great Bifurcation to refer to the severing of the population into two camps. In fact, a hallmark of this time was the dispersal of the population into a variety of smaller factions based on their views of Covid-19, government intervention, vaccines, politics, policing, and race relations. Massive shifts in perception occurred suddenly. The larger themes are the use of technology to:
- Distort the facts
- Hasten communication
- Enforce tribalism on a broader, systematic scale
- Spread narrative widely
- Manipulate the masses through narrative
- Persecute segments of the population
- Achieve control over segments of the population
- Quickly change narrative content, to the point of absurdity
- Divide the population
- Cause alienation, disengagement, suspicion, and skepticism
- Social unrest and disaffection as a result of governmental and institutionally led psyops
- Erosion of rule of law and international law
- Disruption of international travel and commerce
- Ostracize and punish the elements of the population that are seen to be against the mainstream narrative, as was especially demonstrated by nations like China, Australia, and Canada
A term that has been used more and more frequently in the public sphere in recent years is psyop. From the view of some, the events of this era largely featured psyops. Psyops are, according to one definition:
“Psychological operations (PSYOP) are operations to convey selected information and indicators to audiences to influence their emotions, motives, and objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of governments, organizations, groups, and individuals. United States Psychological Operations. Country. United States.”
It is more than possible that a US government led psychological operation was behind a lot of the major events of the years 2020-2021.
A few issues around the content of this article will be addressed, such as the US-centric perspective, the actual causes of events, and the short span of time utilized. Any reader of this article will note that most of the evidence used in this post was limited to a United States perspective and events that largely occurred in the US, though some elements occurred on a global scale. There are two reasons for this. At the current moment, the US is the world’s hegemonic power. Its influence is unparalleled. The norms that the American ruling class and government enact have major influence globally. Second, the influence of technology and big tech is most pronounced in the US. Big Tech is largely based in the US. The impact of technology amongst the world’s democracies is greatest in the US. Next, let’s examine the background of this time. There are many possible causes of the events that occurred in this period. They range from happenstance, a globalist cabal, bad policy by bureaucrats, ideology, technocracy, fear around a pandemic, divine providence, or chaos. Still, these events occurred, and they stood out for what they told about modern technology, power structures, the actions of populations, and times of crisis. Last, the idea that the relatively short time span of two years is indicative of the new 220 year period of Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions in air signs might be questionable. However, the 2020s has a lot of major astrological significance outside of the Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions. It also fits major changes in cyclical readings of history. Though technically the events around a larger period of time would be more indicative of a 220 year period, many of the events of the 2020s will be related to other astrological cycles and cyclical systems.
At the beginning of the 2020s, there were new realities and new tools that were used to shape those realities. Social media and other information vectors like the mainstream media, the internet, and communication apps allowed narratives to be widely shared. Information war was waged, and there were likely psyops employed by institutions, governments, and organizations, using the infrastructure of Big Tech. They were able to distort the facts, hasten communication, enforce tribalism on a broader and more systematic scale, spread narrative widely, manipulate the masses through narrative. Also, it allowed the ability to persecute segments of the population while achieving control over other segments of the population. It allowed certain actors to quickly change narrative content, to the point of absurdity. It allowed for the division of the population, and caused alienation, disengagement, suspicion, and skepticism. It led to social unrest and disaffection as a result of government and publicly led psyops. It also saw the erosion of rule of law and international law and the disruption of international travel and commerce. Many of these elements could be major problems in the next 220 years.
Bibliography
- Psyops definition. Wikipedia. Last accessed April 2022. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_operations_(United_States)>
Photo Credits
- A doctor rests during the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy. Photo by Alberto Giulani.
- A Spanish-language calendar. Photo by Maximopi.

David has studied traditional astrology since 2014. The Bay Area native completed Chris Brennan’s Introduction to Hellenistic Astrology course in 2015, and attended courses taught by Austin Coppock, Nina Gryphon, and Ryhan Butler. He is interested in exploring the less well known aspects of astrology, divination, and spirituality.