We are in the midst of a great transition on the planet, which is being acutely felt here in the United States.  At the time of this writing, the Sun and three planets are in the sign of Aquarius, with Venus ingressing into Aquarius on February 1^st.  This lineup of Aquarian planetary influence in February is highly potent and the closest we’ve experienced something like this was in February, 1962, when Saturn and Jupiter were also in Aquarius but this time with Mars, Venus, Mercury and the Sun.  Mercury was also retrograde then as it is for the first three weeks of February, 2020. 

The term, Age of Aquarius, reached a new height during the 1960s due in part of that Aquarius lineup, like it is being talked about now.  I’ll share more about that later in this article, but desire to provide some insights about this February lineup in Aquarius. 

Aquarius is a seasonal or temporal sign/archetype in the western astrology zodiac.  Aquarius as a sign, like all other signs, is not the same as the astronomical constellation that has the same name.  In Shamanic Astrology, that constellation is called the Water-Bearer, a human figure pouring celestial water onto the Earth and southern sky constellations.

Aquarius as a sign is primarily located in the Goat-Fish Constellation with some overlap of the Water-Bearer due to one of Earth’s wobble called a “precession”.  This is where Saturn will be over the next couple of years and Jupiter this year.  The Aquarius stellium takes place throughout this region of the sky along the ecliptic (path of the Sun / plane of the Solar System).  The sign of Aquarius represents archetypes of the grand experimenter, inventor, scientist-observer, revolutionary-thinker, avant-garde and wizard (though this one could be considered as part of a few other archetypes). 

Aquarius is the leading-edge of the archetypes and highly unconventional and unorthodox in its expression.  This sign also connects us to idealized philosophies of freedom/democracy, universal love and spiritual ascension or awakening from the physical realm.  Aquarius is much more concerned about the mind and consciousness than it is with the physical body.

The “shadow” of this sign (for lack of a better word, I am choosing to use “shadow” until I can think of or come across one that fits better), as all signs have a “shadow” to them, can be directly tied to the vulnerability of the link between mind and body or that it is not a conscious priority.  This can lead to ignoring or not considering much about technologies and experiments affect the body in some way.   In extreme cases it could be just simply escaping the physical realm all together by leading the charge socially to abandon everything, including food, water and relationships with others in order to ascend or somehow merge with the ether technologically.

Even the shadow of Aquarius (or any sign) can still show something beneficial within any unhealthy expression, something that we can learn from.  All of this isn’t necessarily judged as good or bad, but looked at in a holistic manner.

Dane Rudhyar writes in his book, Astrological Signs, that “Aquarius represents civilization expanding or reforming itself through its inventors, seers and revolutionists.” and called the “Liberator who saves a people from bondage and renews civilization without destroying its basic structure.”⁴ Rudhyar describes how “power is released” through this sign that was generated with Capricorn.  We saw in the early stages of Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius on January 6^th, the release of energy or power in the form of an insurrection and while these two planets were not the only factors that contributed to that event, it was heavily involved in part due to the 2-year long squaring pattern of Uranus, a Promethean-like expression of influence, including unpredictability. ⁴

Aquarius is neither good nor bad, it simply IS.  On January 30^th, Mercury stationed retrograde in Aquarius, then stations direct on February 20th and continues in the sign until March 15.  Venus stays in Aquarius from February 1^st until the 25^th. The Sun is in Aquarius until February 18^th.  I interpret this as even more potential for release of power and a mix of the shadow and a healthy expression of Aquarius.  Combined with the Saturn-Uranus square, we could experience some breakthroughs in humanity’s knowledge of what our needs are, considering the Necessity (a goddess) is the “mother of invention” and sometimes surprises.   This is a period of glimpsing into humanity’s potential futures with a cosmic viewpoint.

Mercury’s back and forth tracing across the sky in Aquarius shows an intent for all of us to fully SEE beyond where we are, especially outside the tribal and divisive positioning that has been dominate in recent years.  Disasters, suffering and loss do help us unite but so does knowledge, potential and hope.  This is being expanded upon with two more (out of three) conjunctions between Mercury and Jupiter, with perhaps a potential emerging vision quest.

The New Moon on February 11^th will be in Aquarius with the Moon having conjunctions with Saturn, Jupiter and Mercury between the 9^th and 11^th in the same sign.  This looks to be a active period of Aquarius where the qualities of the sign itself are experienced more in humanity.  An Aquarius New Moon holds the promise of a New Future to envision.

In 2021 (especially in February, June and December), a Uranus theme with Saturn is a wild card factor involving itself in the potential creation of novel systems and structures in society, while at the same time counter-movements can strengthen or simply resist due to attached ideas that wall us off or isolate us culturally, economically or otherwise.  A resistance to acceptance of others unique and/or different from one another could both firm up AND shatter.  It is still unknown what will take place, but we can see an intent for continued shifts and instabilities in order for an emerging involution/evolution process to take place.

In the larger picture, we an expand our view to the great ages and see where we are, depending upon what one use’s as a measurement.

Is it the Age of Aquarius?

The so-called “Age of Aquarius” is both here and not here.  Or, at least, it is not the time which most people refer to as the Age of Aquarius.  In my understanding of the larger astrological ages, it was intended to mean when the Vernal (or March) Equinox point precesses into the Water-Bearer Constellation (astronomers still call it Aquarius, but it is not the same as the seasonal/temporal sign of Aquarius).  With certain night sky apps or software, a person can determine when that March equinox point moves into the Water-Bearer.  While I do not know the exact date when that takes place (due to the arbitrary lines for constellation boundaries), it is in about seven centuries from now.

The overall precession of the equinox and solstice points to complete a full circle takes close to 26,000 years, which amounts to one degree every 72 years.  According to the free Stellarium night sky software , the March equinox point has been part of the Fish Constellation since about 300 BCE.  So another 700+ years from 2020-21 would contain about 3,000 years of the equinox point being in the Fish Constellation.  However, if the 26,000-year “Great Year”, as it is called, can be divided into twelve equal parts, which would amount to about 2,160 years per constellation on average.  Since each of the constellations are of differing spatial sizes in the sky, very few would even come close to the average figure of a 2,160 “Great Month”.  Does that mean some ages or Great Months are shorter than others?  Arguably, that could be correct but I don’t know exactly.  Intuitively, I do feel we have entered a transition period into another age.

It is a slow (even though it feels like an acceleration) multi-century transition from one age to another age.  There are additional sources of calendric evidence to support the coming of a new age.  The first is based on recent research about the Vedic Yugas (calendar ages) as one of those Yugas (the Kali Yuga) is ending in 2025, which then brings in 300 years of transition until the next Yuga¹.  Another one is based on the astronomical alignment of the Sun against the backdrop of the Galactic Center on the December Solstice, whose center point was in 1998 according to author and astronomical mathematician Jean Meuss².  The material about the “Turning of the Ages” itself can be found in Daniel Giamario’s The Shamanic Astrology Handbook (any edition) in the beginning chapter(s).

In February of 1962, there was another great alignment in the sign of Aquarius that is nearly the same as this time in 2021 except that Mars was also in the sign of Aquarius at that time. In those 1960s, the “Age of Aquarius” was all the rage in astrological circles and New Age promoters. The alignment in 1962 helped bring the topic of a “new age” into new hieghts. If we use 1998 as the center point (of the Sun, Solstice and Galactic Center) and using a 1-degree orb in the sky (due to the precession taking 72 years to complete 1 degree of Earth’s wobbling), then the range of the age would be from 1962 to 2034. So there is some measure of truth to 1962 and beginning of that radical, revolutionary (including counter-revolutionary) decade being a beginning of a new age.

Another astrological researcher, Kelly Lee Phipps wrote an ebook about the emergence of the pattern of air signs that Saturn and Jupiter will conjunct in every 20 years and how we have just began the “Air Wave” of 140 years of conjunctions (years 2020 – 2159) of these two planets only in air signs.  Phipps’ projection is that the “Age of Aquarius” begins in the year 2318³.  From Phipp’s research, I can say at the very least we have entered a new, long phase of a Global Renaissance.  There are other factors he wrote that give me hope for the planet well.  But my heart mind knows we must face our fears (and TRUTH/REALITY!) and truly grieve the many centuries of loss and suffering if we are to have any type of “global renaissance”.

The last “Air Wave” of Saturn-Jupiter conjunctions with the transition in alternating Air and Water signs occurred in 13^th-15^th (including Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions in Aquarius, which were the last conjunctions in Aquarius before December, 2020) centuries and were the precursors to the emergence of the time of the Renaissance after dramatic and potent changes occurred throughout the world.

The material from Phipps supports my own research into the recent planetary alignment in 2020-21 and how it has a similar vibration to the alignments n 1285-86, which was the early stages of a multi-decade and longer period of transition BEFORE the period called the Renaissance.  Historians refer to the period shortly after 1285-86 as the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages.  During the late 13^th century in Europe, the ending of the great Crusades was upon our ancestors and the Mongol armies were nearing their peak across Asia and Eastern Europe.  Some researchers and experts suspect that what is called the “Little Ice Age” began about 1300, though others have a differing opinion in that it began in the 1500s. 

This period in the mid to late 13^th century and 14^th century was the runup to the Renaissance period of knowledge and exploration of the 15^th century and beyond.  So it is entirely possible that drawing from this information and the similarity of the planetary positions of that time, in particular Saturn, Jupiter and Pluto in conjunction in the sign of Capricorn in 1285 before they moved into Aquarius in 1286, really shows something could help us create another “renaissance” in culture, science, spirituality, astrology, exploration, economics and relationship with the Earth.

I don’t view astrology as a predictive science, but I have the viewpoint that it helps us understand patterns and intent so we can better utilize our free will to make decisions.  However, there are some astrologers that use astrology to make predictions of a sort and I respect those that do as there can be something useful learned in that process.  Realizing for several years that we are in this transition period unto a new global age, we can make use of astrology (among other tools and modalities) to guide us through collectively along the humanity’s great journey.

Works Cited

¹ The End of the Kali Yuga in 2025: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Yuga Cycle by Bibhu dev Misra https://grahamhancock.com/dmisrab6/ July 15, 2012

² Mathematical Astronomy Morsels by Jean Meuss, pgs 301-303, second printing (2000), published by Willmann-Bell, Inc.

³ Element Wave Chronicles – The Jupiter-Saturn Cycle by Kelly Lee Phipps, pg 60, 2011 http://divineinspirationastrology.com/books/elemental-wave-chronicles-the-jupiter-saturn-cycle/

⁴Rudhyar, D. (1970). Astrological Signs the Pulse of Life. pages 114-123 Boulder, CO: Shambhala Publications, Inc.

Additional Resources

The Shamanic Astrology Handbook by Daniel Giamario with Cayelin Castell (2019)