I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for a change. This has been a tough year no matter where you live in the world. From a global pandemic, to unrest and upheaval literally all over the globe, this year has brought a lot of stress.

The good news is that a shift of great proportions is coming! On December 21st, when Jupiter and Saturn meet, we will officially move into the Aquarian age. Their meeting is at zero degrees of Aquarius — truly a new beginning.

This is something you can actually watch in the night sky. Each night they’ll come closer and closer together, until — on December 21st — they will appear as one. Both are bright stars. Jupiter is brighter than Saturn, but I wonder how bright they’ll be when they come together? They have not been this close since 1623, but, that year, according to EarthSky, they were probably too close to the Sun to see.  This means that the last time you could actually see their conjunction was in 1226!  Check it out by looking to the southwest horizon shortly after sunset.

Epochal change

Jupiter and Saturn meet every 20 years, which is roughly one generation. However, this year there are some extra features that make this meeting even more epochal. First, they have been hanging out in the earth sign of Capricorn for a very long time.  Capricorn is all about top-down, rule by law, government and big business structures. Moving into Aquarius will bring more than a breath of fresh air (Aquarius is an air sign).

Their shift into Aquarius signals a shift into greater communication, invention, and unity, to name a few. You’ve heard people talking about the Aquarian age for many years, but this is truly the astrological shift into that age.

Second, they move into another element only once every 200 years. For the past 200 years, Saturn and Jupiter have met in earth signs. For the next 200 years, they will meet in air signs. And it will be 800 years before the cycle starts over and they again meet in air signs. Talk about new beginnings!

To give you a sense of how huge this shift may be for us, the last time they met in an air sign was in 1405, toward the beginning of the Renaissance period, which represented an evolutionary shift of gigantic proportions. The year 1405 itself brought advances in art, history, literature, engineering, and more.  In that century there were also three pivotal inventions that changed the character of the world: the printing press, firearms, and the nautical compass. These three inventions allowed modern people to communicate (and not just the elite), exercise power, and travel at distances unimaginable in earlier times.

All indications are that this shift could bring changes of that magnitude!  Can you imagine what the possibilities may be?

Midwifing a huge shift in consciousness

Third, there are a number of newly discovered dwarf planets whose archetypal energies are lending a hand. Chariklo, about whom I’ve written, is going to be right smack in the middle between Pluto, who is still hanging out in Capricorn, and Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius. As such, she also represents the mid-point between the old and the new.

Wife of Chiron in myth, Chariklo also has a strong healing energy.  Even more importantly, she acts as a kind of soul midwife of shifts in consciousness.

Three other dwarf planets in particular, also all strong feminine energies that balance out the strong masculine energies of Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto, are especially connected with regeneration, quantum shifts, and manifestation of the new, and more.  Together, these energies are supporting the huge shift in consciousness that this conjunction is part of.

Also, it’s happening on Solstice this year, which has its own very powerful energies adding to the mix.

There’s a lot more, but I hope this gives you a sense of how extraordinary this event is. As one astrologer, Pam Gregory, says, this feels like we’re stepping into the shift of the ages.

We’re coming out of the chrysallis

So, what can you expect with this Great Conjunction? Well, for one thing, all the intensity of this year will finally start to diminish. For the past few months, astrologically and otherwise, there has been wave after wave of intense energy.  These waves have been pitting the old, top-down, might-makes-right, way of being (Pluto, Saturn, and Jupiter in Capricorn) against the new revolutionary, egalitarian, from-the-grass-roots-up movements (Mars, Eris, the female awakener, and Uranus, the revolutionary awakener). These are the awakening energies that gave rise to so many protests the world over and started big institutional change.

This is the energy that has been building all fall. From what I’m reading, it will come to a head at the total solar eclipse on December 14th. The December 21st Great Conjunction demarcates the actual shift from the old ways and structures to the birth of the new.

I’ve been talking all year about being in the chrysalis. On December 21st, we are finally coming out of the chrysalis! This is a period of transformation, and the birth of the new consciousness that we’ve been moving toward for so long.

A new beginning

What can’t you expect? While this represents a huge energetic shift, you can’t expect that everything will be resolved. To the contrary, we are just moving into this new age, and there will be many shifts and changes that come along the way. This is not some magical utopian switch from the difficulty of this past year. None of the things that we’re in the midst of is going to magically disappear.

There will continue to be intensity, as we move through a period of shifting from old to new. We will see an accelerated period of unravelling the old as we go through January and February. And there may be a period of lots of confusion between December 21st and a big astrological even in mid-January. But that won’t last. Everything I’m reading suggests that we will see a drop in intensity by mid to late March. It’s truly a beginning, the beginning of a process of change and growth that will take place over the next 20 years.

The time between now and December 21st is key

If everything I’m reading is accurate, the time between now and December 21st is crucial to how things will play out for you personally in the coming months, even years. What I’m reading is that whatever your focus is in these next few weeks will be magnified as we make this shift.

If your focus is on anger, fear, constriction, and what’s not going well in your life, that’s what will be magnified in your life. On the other hand, if your focus is on expansion and possibility, the energy is such that it will magnify that expansion and creativity. I totally get that is a difficult thing to do right now – it’s been a really tough year on every level.  That means, as I’ve been saying for several months, that this is the time to double- and triple-down on your spiritual practices. Work through the hard and difficult emotions, but don’t get bogged down in them. Cultivate love, kindness, compassion and gratitude.

Some simple practices to help you prepare

Here are some simple, practical and fast things you can do:

• Use a gratitude practice each day.
• Take a minute to breathe through your heart as if it’s a lung each day – it will bring all your cells into coherence, especially if you find yourself triggered by someone or in reactive mode. Here is a link to a short video walking you through the practice.
• Or do the brain balancing technique I recently taught that can help bring you out of anxiety, and will soothe your nervous system.

Each of these takes 2 minutes or less to do, and will help keep you centered and grounded.

Choose to help the planet shift

Choose each day to act out of love, kindness, compassion and gratitude. And as you make that choice over and over, you are also spreading that energy. It goes out in ripples, helping the planet to also shift in the same way.

As you can see, we all have to hang on to our hats for the next couple of weeks, but the intensity will end. More than that, over the next weeks, months, and years, you will see huge shifts and changes in yourself and in the world.

PS: To support you in making the most of this shift, I am offering an online attunement and community healing session and Solstice celebration on the Great Conjunction itself: on Monday, December 21 at 8 pm. I would love for you to join me. Here is the link for more information. If you’re ready to register, this is the registration link.