Assembly in Aquarius

The year was 1962, it was February and an assembly was forming. This wasn’t the normal assembly you might imagine of parishioners gathering under a religious or political banner, it was a meeting called in the sign of Aquarius. Those present were the great luminaries, the Sun and Moon, as well as the planetary bodies Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. In astro-speak, this is known as a stellium, the presence of three or more planets in a single zodiacal sign or house. The significance being an added emphasis on that sign or house. On top of this auspicious gathering, there was a solar eclipse on February, 5, 1962. This portended bold new beginnings and a new path.

Being Aquarius, themes surrounding innovation, rebellion, disruption, volatility, liberation, and all things non-mainstream or alternative come to the fore. Such a gathering is also likely to spur original thinking, unusual approaches, and revolutionary ideas all with a humanitarian twist. Group think and activism are ignited in hope of the community achieving a common goal. Scanning a few headlines from 1962, the following jump out as directly correlated with what would be expected with this traffic jam of planets in Aquarius:

· Jan 23, Jackie Robinson (1919-1972) became the first African-American elected to Baseball Hall of Fame.

· Jan 26, The United States launched Ranger 3 to land scientific instruments on the moon, but the probe missed its target by some 22,000 miles.

· Jan 27, The SF Bay Area hosted the Chubby Checker Twist Party at the Cow Palace. 17,000 fans made it the 1st big rock concert in Bay Area history.

· Feb 12, A bus boycott started in Macon, Georgia

· Feb 16, Todd Gitlin (b.1943), Harvard activist, helped organize a national antiwar rally in Washington, DC. Some 8,000 students turned up. Boston SANE & the fledgling SDS organized the first anti-nuclear march.

· Feb 20, U.S. Marine Lieutenant Colonel John H. Glenn, Jr. (1921-2016), became the first American to orbit the earth. Launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., Glenn made three 90-minute orbits of the earth in Friendship 7, radioing down to Earth, "Oh, that view is tremendous!"

· Feb 26, US Supreme court disallowed race separation on public transportation.

· Mar 10, The Phillies baseball club left the Jack Tar Harrison Hotel due to its refusal to admit black players, and moved to Rocky Point Motel, 20 miles outside Clearwater, Florida.

· Apr 24, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology achieved the first satellite relay of a television signal, between Camp Parks, Ca., and Westford, Mass.

Fast forward to February 2021. Here we go again. Late on February 9, the Moon enters Aquarius joining, the Sun, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus already domiciled in Aquarius. Over the course of two days the Moon will conjunct each of these planets, activating their energies. At the same time a very stubborn and determined Taurus Mars (in detriment) will be square to this entire stellium and in an exact square to a retrograde Mercury in Aquarius on February 10. Mercury will be retrograde through February 20. Classically when Mars squares Mercury, communications can become assertive as well as angry, and ideas and thoughts are incisive and put into action. Delicacy of expression is not a priority! Expect this period to become contentious, argumentative, and brazen at times. Being that Mercury is retrograde during this square it seems the actions and contention will be about something being revisited and reviewed. Here in the U.S. this might apply to the impeachment proceedings. Also, adding to the plot the Moon will join the Sun at 23 degrees of Aquarius on February 11, a new moon, marking a new beginning of some type.

Continuing with the Aquarian theme, this new moon could signal a rebellion, or provocative collective actions aimed at societal issues. All of this will proceed the ongoing Saturn/Uranus square which will reach its exactness on February 17, the first of 3 exact squares for 2021. This potentially is a time when tension and volatility reach a peak as the old and new continue their battle. Saturn representing the traditional and established and Uranus the alternative and revolutionary. We are already seeing examples of this tug of war in recent headlines such as the GameStop saga pitting the established Wall Street hedge fund managers against renegade individual investors seeking to change how things are done. The recent surge and volatility in bitcoin as an alternative currency is another example. Or the banning of certain ideas being expressed by social media outlets vs others.

We have entered a period of the extreme. A time when innovations will be disruptive. When societal structures will be challenged and redesigned. This is big stuff, conventionality will be reimagined. The walls of separation that have stood firm for years will be crushed under the force of all of those who have been shut out and have been standing on the other side. It will be a clash of ideas, with many taking exception with the past ways in favor of something different and outside-of-the-box. The “Assembly in Aquarius” becomes the powerful kindling that continues to stoke the fire that the Great Conjunction on Winter Solstice 2020 got started. Fasten your seat belts as the revolution has begun.