Introduction by Eric Francis
The cardinal sign alignment we are living through keeps taking new forms. It really consists of many aspects at once, and at different times different aspects come into focus. It’s a little like using a camera on a wide-open f-stop: everything is in the frame, but only certain things are in focus at once. At the moment, the focal point is now the Jupiter-Saturn opposition, which is exact Monday. I haven’t described at this aspect in detail: it’s been a bit lost in the news of outer planets Pluto and Uranus. All Jupiter-Saturn contacts are significant — they are the two largest planets; they are the two transpersonal planets, meaning they are the gateways between the inner and the outer solar system, and are like a vast area of collective experience.
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Dr. Marc Edmund Jones, who after the long dark ages helped turn the lights back on in 20th century astrology, called this configuration “two lifetimes in one.” The opposition is the peak of the 20-year cycle that began in 2000 — it’s like a Full Moon between Jupiter and Saturn.
There is potentially a lot of stress in the parallel-worlds alignment of the Earth sitting between these two enormous bodies, approximately like a pea in proportion to two basketballs. That’s what an opposition is — the Earth between two planets. Astrology does not always come with a gravitational effect, but in some cases it clearly does. The distance of the planets does not make a difference — they’re out there, having their effect on the physical and astral levels.
With Jupiter-Saturn this can feel like two similar but irreconcilable experiences; being pulled apart in two directions; serving two masters or two concepts; needing to integrate two different ideas; or many other varieties of two realities that seem to compete with one another and which really need to be integrated. The Aries Point is involved — this aspect goes from early Aries to early Libra. Part of the integration is about coming out of our small worlds and making contact with the wider world. There is a wake-up call to this aspect.
Jupiter and Saturn are like brothers — totally the same, totally different. While astronomically similar, gas giants with rings that are like mini solar systems, each represents a different principle, and these are usually seen to be opposite ideas: expansion and containment. Think of humanity, or a person, or the Earth, as a soft pot on a potter’s wheel. The potter’s hand inside the bowl pushing outward is Jupiter — the principle of expansion. The hand on the outside of the wheel is Saturn, providing structure and a sense of necessary limitation. The wheel spins — time moves on — and the pot takes its shape. Right now the Earth, that is us, is sitting on the wheel, being spun around. And man it feels like it.
Then, we have a third planet within the exact focus of this alignment that is providing a distinct influence — Pluto in early Capricorn. Pluto is square both Jupiter and Saturn. These aspects are currently focused to half of a degree — precise, to a division of the wheel into about 700 thin slices. So, at the moment, we are in three major aspects: Jupiter opposite Saturn; Jupiter square Pluto; and Saturn square Pluto. Uranus is still in the mix, that is true, but it’s about to dip back into Pisces and is out of immediate focus, for now — it comes back into focus later in the year.
The ‘missing piece’ here is Cancer. Cancer is about nourishment, and our human emotional experience. Cancer is about incarnation. There is a point in Cancer — the South Node of the Moon. That’s telling us about our emotional patterns. I say this because the South Node describes a legacy of the past. It describes what we lean on and where we might be stuck. One thing we must confront is how stuck our emotions can get: how trapped in negativity, in obsession, in self-criticism, in the feeling of not having enough.