The reset of the cosmos: the shift from earth to air
The reset of the cosmos: the shift from earth to air
DECEMBER 18, 2020
Spoiler alert: the way we have lived our lives over the last centuries is no longer tenable. The industries and systems we have created have reached their breaking points. There's overconsumption and overproduction, we’re in the middle of a sand crisis, our animals are dying, our sea levels are rising and one person after another feels burnt out. There must be a landslide if we want to continue living on this planet. Lucky for us, that landslide has finally come! The stars are offering us opportunities for change: we, my dear earthlings, are leaving the Era of Earth, an era that has lasted for many centuries, and enter the Era of Air. It may not always seem that way, but the cosmos is always on our side. In the end, at least.
The Great Conjunction and Jupiter-Saturn cycles
This new “Era of Air” has everything to do with the so-called “Great Conjunction” that takes place on December 21, 2020. Great Conjunctions occur every 20 years and happen when Jupiter and Saturn - the two biggest planets in our solar system - meet in the same sign in the same number of degrees. From earth’s point of view, they then appear to be very close to each other. This year on December 21, Jupiter and Saturn meet in the air sign Aquarius at 0° and form a Great Conjunction, while being zero degrees apart. This is a big deal.
What's special is that this Great Conjunction forms the start of a series of Great Conjunctions in the element of air. The past eight Great Conjunctions happened in earth signs (with one exception I will talk about later). These eight Great Conjunctions together formed a Jupiter-Saturn cycle in the element of earth. The next eight Great Conjunctions will all happen in air signs (with one exception at the end of the air cycle) and will form the air cycle. In other words: we're witnessing a shift from the Era of Earth to the Era of Air.
Jupiter-Saturn cycles have always had a huge impact on global cultural, political and economic developments. Western mundane astrology defines Jupiter and Saturn as the Great Chronocrators: the rulers of the ages. It’s extremely rare to experience two Jupiter-Saturn cycles in a lifetime. When we shift from one cycle to the other, our world will be turned upside down. The cosmos will have a reset. Ofcourse, this will not happen overnight, but may take some time. In my humble opinion, it's a unique and exciting experience!
The Age of Aquarius
Important to note is that the Era of Air should not be confused with the “Age of Aquarius”. Since we’re at the beginning of both the Era of Air and the Age of Aquarius, the confusion makes perfect sense. Nonetheless, the Age of Aquarius is a period in “galactic astrology” and spans approximately 2000 years. Galactic astrology is based on the astrology of the Milky Way, while all other forms of astrology are based on our solar system. The Age of Aquarius succeeds the Age of Pisces (yes, it goes in the opposite direction of what we’re used to) and also marks a transition from the Kingdom of the World to the Kingdom of Heaven (to make it even more confusing). The Kingdom of the World represents a world where the ego and earthly matters are central. The Kingdom of Heaven, on the contrary, is about dealing with higher vibrations in our lives. Some people call this a transition to a new dimension, whatever that means.
However, the exact start date of the Age of Aquarius is a topic of discussion. Some believe that it starts with the Great Conjunction in Aquarius on December 21, 2020. This is very unlikely since the ages in galactic astrology are not defined by the planets in our solar system. Others believe it started on December 21, 2012, the day the Mesoamerican calendar of the Mayans ended. The Mayans knew that on this date the earth and the sun would align over the galactic center during what is called the “galactic plane crossing”. Astronomers confirmed this. The Mayans saw this alignment as the end of a cycle, not the end of the world. Finally, there are also people who are convinced that the Age of Aquarius only starts at the end of the twenty-second century. I don’t think there’s one correct answer, but what I can say for sure is that the shift from the Kingdom of World to the Kingdom of Heaven and the shift from the Age of Pisces towards the Age of Aquarius doesn’t happen in one day, but will happen slowly over time. Very slowly.
The shift from earth to air has already started
The seeds for the Era of Air have already been planted by Jupiter and Saturn. These developments have started since three Great Conjunctions took place in the air sign Libra in 1980 and 1981. For the sake of convenience, I consider these as one Great Conjunction. It was the very first Great Conjunction in the element of air after a series of Great Conjunctions in the element of earth and paved the way for the big transition we’re facing now. It served as a sneak peek of what the air cycle would have in store for us. This first Great Conjunction in the element of air coincided with the birth of the internet: an air invention par excellence. There’s no doubt that the internet will be the protagonist in the Era of Air.
The misuse of the element of earth
The reason we cannot call the Great Conjunction of the 1980s the beginning of the Era of Air is because we had one last Great Conjunction in the element of earth after this. In 2000 the last Great Conjunction in the element of earth occurred in 22° Taurus. This Great Conjunction coincided with “the tech bubble”, a stock market collapse due to the bankruptcy of many new computer and technology startups, and slowed our transition to air. On the contrary, the past two decades we have really exploited everything that represents the element of earth, including the earth itself. The Era of Earth started off with the Industrial Revolution (1760-1840) and the introduction of capitalism which has resulted in an incredible amount of prosperity, but in 2020 the Era of Earth has had its day. We’re running out of sand and fossil fuels while the global demand is constantly increasing. Naturally, fossil fuels contribute to global warming. It’s also no secret that there’s overconsumption, overproduction and a huge surplus of plastic waste.
Other less obvious facets that characterize the element of earth - in addition to raw materials - are practicality, productivity, security, materiality, stability, persistency, control, ownership and institutions. Towards the end of the Era of Earth, the worst aspects of these characteristics, with greed at the forefront, have emerged as well. Everyone agrees that companies like Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon are getting too powerful. Business is all about securing a monopoly and exercising as much control as possible while trying to deliver the most efficient and fastest services. A company like Uber has almost never made a profit, while it still has a large market share. In other words: the capitalist system is broken.
On a personal level we have completely gone mad with regard to the characteristics of the element of earth as well. There’s this constant feeling we have to be productive or busy in order to be happy or successful. We, the burnout generation, order our lunches via apps and eat them at our desks. We have become productivity junkies and datasexuals who even plan our #selfcare rituals down to the smallest detail, only to cross it off our to do list. We obsessively try to fix ourselves and are addicted to control. But we are not projects. We are human beings. We are allowed to just be. At the end of the Era of Earth, it seems we have forgotten this.
2020 as a bridge towards the Era of Air
The element of earth is also characterized by difficulty with change, a slow pace and a tendency to cling to the known. (I have nothing against the element of earth. I’m just done with the Era of Earth. Sorry not sorry.) However, the pandemic made it impossible to stick to existing situations and served as a bridge towards the new world. We’re far from the final station, but the pandemic has definitely accelerated a change in habits and views. The pandemic has afforded most of us time to reflect and made us realize that this obsession for productivity ignores our personal needs and development. It also made us realize we actually love seeing blue skies! Another important realisation is that mental health and social health should be equally weighted with physical health. #skinhunger
Furthermore, my personal favorite development was our reliance on our communities when Saturn came into Aquarius (March 22, 2020 - July 3, 2020). We entered the world of Zoom, started connecting on a new level and attended virtual events. We started relying less on the government and institutions and put our faith in our communities. It’s no surprise that keywords for the element of air are: community, sisterhood, brotherhood, social, communication, information, intelligence, knowledge, technology, online, virtual, ethereal, innovation, sharing and collaborating.
In a nutshell, the shift from the Era of Earth to Era of Air, which has already begun, looks like this:
Earth ➜ Air
Physical ➜ Digital
Body ➜ Mind
Fossil fuels ➜ Wind power, (space-based) solar power
Farmland ➜ Vertical farming, cellular agriculture, 3D printed food
Low-rise and mid-rise rectangular architecture ➜ Sky-high curvy architecture
Physical storage ➜ Storage in the cloud
Overproduction ➜ On-demand manufacturing, 3D printed products
Organs of donors ➜ 3D bioprinting
Coffee ➜ Brain-boosting devices
Fixed materials ➜ Living and responsive materials
Cash ➜ Contactless payments, cryptocurrency
Ownership ➜ Shared vehicles, shared wardrobes, communal living spaces and gardens etc.
Monogamy ➜ Polyamory, ethical non-monogamy
Synastry and composite charts of two people ➜ Group charts
Individualist society ➜ Collectivist society
Subjectivity ➜ Objectivity
Focus on status and money ➜ Focus on the wellbeing of your community
Excluding marginalized communities ➜ Including marginalized communities
Competing each other ➜ Helping each other
Physical events, shops and dates ➜ Virtual events, shops and dates
Physical health ➜ Physical health, mental health, social health
Capitalism ➜ *insert new system*
Profit ➜ Purpose
Self-optimization ➜ Self-actualization
The human as machine or project ➜ The human as human
The list goes on.
“Smart and green city” by Urban Practices
Welcome to the future
The preparations for the new era will last until Pluto enters Aquarius, because we are not ready yet. Pluto is the slowest moving planet of our solar system and represents transformation and rebirth. Pluto will enter Aquarius on March 23, 2023 and will move back into Capricorn on June 11, 2023. Then Pluto will enter Aquarius again on January 21, 2024 and will move back into Capricorn again on September 2, 2024. Thereafter, Pluto will enter Aquarius on November 19, 2024 and will stay in Aquarius until 2043. Pluto really doesn’t know what he wants, I know, but when Pluto finally enters Aquarius, it’s going to be wild! The Era of Air will then blossom and will feel like a breath of fresh air! Mark my words. I think the most transformative period will be around the end of 2027 and beginning of 2028 when the North Node in Aquarius will be conjunct Pluto in Aquarius. At the same time Pluto in Aquarius will trine Uranus in Gemini: a revolutionary combo! My prediction is that around that time, the world will start to look like the high-tech sci-fi future you know from the movies. What a time to be alive!
“An artistic vision of a future city where humans and drones work side by side” by Empa
Community and communication
The early years of the Era of Air, the focus will be on the air sign Aquarius. Not only because of Pluto in Aquarius, but also because of Jupiter in Aquarius (December 19, 2020 - May, 13 2021, July 28, 2021 - December 29, 2021) and Saturn in Aquarius (December 17, 2020 - March 7, 2023). Aquarius is a sign that breathes activism, community and social justice, and understands how societal systems are working. This sign has the understanding that we’re all individual, but equal at the same time. There will come a greater perspective of what is needed and how to make things work for everyone, which will be necessary in the dismantling of systems and institutions that are deeply rooted in the element of earth. The focus on community will even become a necessity. There will be more and more climate refugees and we will have to help each other. We will need to work together.
In addition to community, communication and language are also important characteristics of the element of air. Communication and language have become increasingly inclusive in recent years. Think of closed captions in videos, the use of the pronouns “they/them” and wearables that transform sign language into speech in real time. This will continue to develop. In the coming years there’ll come new ways of communication and new forms of media. When it comes to intelligence and knowledge - also ruled by the element of air - our minds will be merged with technology. We can already hack the brain to treat diseases as Parkinson’s or help paralyzed people move again. Even brain-computer interfaces are being developed to boost our brainpower. Elon Musk is already creating this with his company Neuralink. Freaky.
Film still from the dystopian science fiction anthology television series Black Mirror, episode "Arkangel"
The future of astrology
When we look at the future of astrology, doing readings for marginalised communities or specific groups of people will become commonplace. In addition, more and more international astrology conferences are held online, which is a fantastic development for people like me who live in Europe, when most astrology conferences have always taken place in the United States. I also believe that astrology will become more and more eclectic, in the sense that it will become more acceptable to use different forms of astrology at the same time instead of sticking to the rules of one astrology form, like, for example, Hellenistic astrology. Another interesting development is the creation of German astrologer Christof Niederwieser: group horoscopes. Until now, it’s common to bring together the charts of two people, in a synastry or composite chart, for example. A group horoscope, or group chart, on the other hand, is suitable for groups of up to 20 persons. It’s a godsend for analyzing the group dynamics of a family, a team, a class or a group of friends. Unfortunately, the group horoscope of Niederwieser cannot be used yet, but hopefully that will change soon!
Example of a group horoscope
Challenges in the Era of Air
I know the Era of Air sounds largely utopian, but it has its dark sides too. The downsides of the Era of Air will also have to do with communication, information and technology. Our main challenges will be tech wars, bot armies, internet trolls, aerial wars using warfare drones, genetic modification, fake news, deepfake, cyber security and lack of online privacy. Think of Black Mirror scenarios. My biggest concern is that legislation can no longer keep up with technological developments. For example, the Dutch government has been working on legislation for hoverboards, onewheels and similar vehicles for many years now. Even today there are still no laws while more and more people are starting to use these vehicles. Super dangerous. Furthermore, I believe critical thinking, critical reading, researching sources and technology ethics must be given top priority in schools so we can face the future as best as we can. Finally, my prediction is that by the end of the Era of Air, around the end of the twenty-second century, Artificial Intelligence will have taken over humanity. I’m dead serious. But as with Jupiter-Saturn cycles, the subsequent era, the Era of Water, will provide a solution. Yay!
Film still from the film “I, Robot”