This month we are inundated with airy Aquarius energy. Aquarius is ruled by Uranus (which is currently traveling through Taurus), the only planet that spins on its side. And there will indeed be moments that business as usual goes sideways, if not completely upside-down.

We begin this month with Mercury retrograde in Aquarius making all forms of communication difficult and taxing. So far we’ve seen debates over freedom of speech, online “censorship” and the regulation of hate speech. And the epitome of an Aquarian name - Robinhood - suddenly restricting stocks (the realm of Taurus) including Game Stop and AMC. But we should use this energy in the best way possible and take a look at what has changed or what we’ve put aside and use Mercury to revise, rework or review. Mercury will remain retrograde for most of this month, assisting us in realigning with the many changes that will be taking place.

We have reached the other side of a year that will certainly go down in the history books. We all have been touched in some way by forces beyond our control and speaking for myself, I felt at times, rudderless. While our lives will not turn on a dime, there is healing and repair on the horizon.

The Great Conjunction as it is called only happens every 20 years and has been the preeminent method of demarcating historical eras in traditional astrology. Jupiter and Saturn last aligned in a great conjunction in May 2000. When Jupiter and Saturn come together there is both the intensity of old forms dying as well as the fertility of new growth beginning to take shape. In the past century, their cycle has aligned with the transition in between decades, with the conjunctions and oppositions between Jupiter and Saturn marking the start of each decade. Together Jupiter and Saturn combine expansive and imaginative vision with the structure and discipline needed to both manifest results as well as strip away the inessential. While Jupiter signifies generosity and fortunate opportunities, it can also lead to greed and delusions of grandeur that requires the contemplative focus of Saturn to trim the excess and strengthen what is ready to ripen. At the same time, we need the inspirational revitalization of Jupiter to mediate the negative side of Saturn that can bring fear over limitations and obstacles and lead to depressive stagnation.

We were all put through the wringer in 2020. Structure and structures that we relied to navigate life were irrevocably stripped away. All of us have suffered some type of loss, from losing jobs, to losing family members, no one has escaped unscathed. From the simplest of acts like going to the movies, to major life events such as getting married, northing was easy or guaranteed. So now what? There’s no going back, only forward. The universe has taken away, now it gives so we can rebuild. Not the same, but better.

We are here, finally, at the last month of the most tumultuous year in living memory for many of us barring those who lived through WWII. While astrologers anticipated that 2020 would be a history maker, I don’t think any of us were fully prepared for what was to come. This year has challenged all of us in many different ways and has changed our perceptions of what is “normal”.