The Astrology of Crisis: Sitting with the Dark

In between the Virgo full moon on March 9, and the Aries new moon on March 24, Coronavirus was declared a global pandemic, and the true extent of this crisis began to reveal itself as the Moon waned. The waning Moon, when the light goes from full to dark, is a time of endings, shedding, and release. The phases of the Moon correspond to growth cycles of life on earth. It’s significant that the global urgency around Covid-19 came to light under the Virgo full moon, illuminating issues of community wellness and care, resource distribution, and communication. It is also fitting that we were made to sit with harsh news of this grim reality in the dark of the Moon.  

The Moon is a satellite that mediates between farther celestial bodies and the Earth. In natal astrology she represents your physical body, emotional landscape, the body of the person who brought you into this world, how you were nurtured growing up, and your own nurturing style. It takes 28.5 days, a menstrual cycle or a month, for the Moon to traverse the entire zodiac. She is the closest and most personal celestial body to humans; an intermediary who transmits energy from up above to down below. Her power and influence over the Earth and its inhabitants is undeniable, from the high tides of the ocean to the busyness of an ER on a full Moon.

The Moon’s phases--new, full, and dark--are a visual representation of the terrestrial processes of tilling, sowing, watering, harvesting, and threshing. Each part is essential for the healthy continuation of life, but Western society glorifies some aspects of the cycle while seeking to avoid, downplay, or rush others. The moon cycle isn’t just the prototype for plants. It’s the cosmic blueprint for the arc of relationships, mental development, evolution of projects, and unfolding of events. Each phase contains its own emotional, spiritual, and psychological gifts and lessons. Not every part is easy or enjoyable but seeking to skip over one alters or hobbles the whole.

The dark phase, when the life force disappears before the Moon becomes new again, is for retreat, healing, transformation, and preparation for renewal. In her book, Finding Our Way Through the Dark, astrologer Demetra George explores Western capitalist societies' fundamental discomfort with dark moon energies that... 

“...corresponds to times of change and transition when we experience a personal loss and pass through a period of disruption and grief. This can occur when we are immersed in the closure phase of a relationship, job, belief system, family responsibility, living environment, or addiction. Whenever we face the loss of that form which has given our life structure and us a sense of identity, we are caught in the chaos of formlessness, and may experience free-floating anxiety. What has been is no longer and what is to come has not yet appeared. We may feel overcome by an immobilizing depression, locked into the grief and mourning of our loss, or trapped in the madness of the uncertainty of our situation” (x).

Endings are difficult for humans though they are necessary for evolution. There is a natural resting period before life can begin again, but winter is most people’s least favorite season. The economic system of capitalism, which demands constant production and insatiable consumption of goods, and the unending need for continual human labor, reflects our psychological desire to reside eternally in summer, the season of bounty, and our inability to tolerate the dark Moon phases of life. 

Astrologically we are at the end of a major phase. The “great mutation,” when Saturn and Jupiter conjoin in a new element and begin a new 200 year cycle, is happening on the winter solstice December 21, 2020. What we are going through now is preparation to take a major leap in evolutionary consciousness, but it requires us to sit with the discomfort of this difficult ending before the next beginning. For thousands of years, Saturn and Jupiter were the largest and farthest away planets humans could see. Their movements carried heavy importance, and their relationship had great significance. Saturn represents the framework we exist within: structure, authority, rules, and regulations. Jupiter signifies how humans conceptualize our experiences: culture, philosophy, law, religion, education, and society. Together, they are known as the “great chronocrator,” the markers of time, because their 20 year conjunctions are epochal, definitive of the zeitgeist, and herald significant events, such as the rise and fall of leaders. 

A conjunction is the inception point between two planets when their cycle ends and begins again. The “great conjunction” of Saturn and Jupiter occur in the same element 10 times over 200 years. We are currently at the end of the earth cycle, which was previewed in 1802, at 5 Virgo, and kicked off fully in 1842, at 8 Capricorn. This period has brought about unparalleled material advancement in human history. Over the last 200 years humans have learned to harness the power of the earth and manipulate her resources like never before. Middle-class people in industrialized nations have a higher standard of living than emperors  previously enjoyed. Globally, people have access to technology that was inconceivable in 1802. However, the unequal distribution of resources and access to these improvements has exacerbated the disparity between people on the planet. The earth cycle has taught us what is possible for humans to achieve materially. Now we need to learn what is possible for humans to achieve for the benefit of the many. Thus begins the new cycle in air.

Aquarius is the sign of the higher mind. The outsider. The outcast. The watcher on the wall who looks at Capricorn’s well laid plans and dreams up something better. Architects of the new society, they download the futuristic plans for humans to live into in the coming decades. Saturn and Jupiter making the great mutation in Aquarius signifies both the opportunity and responsibility we have to shift the direction things are going. 

The last grand conjunction in Aquarius was on January 16, 1405, at the end of the previous air cycle. The new water cycle of 1425, just after Columbus sailed the ocean blue, gave rise to European imperialism and global atrocities, such as the genocide and displacement of indigenous people’s of the Americas and the barbaric horror of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The fire cycle that followed, which began at 8 Sagittarius in 1603, marked the emergence of capitalism, and final departure from feudalism. The rise of capitalism was made possible by European colonialism in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. The exploitation of the land and the labor of the people is the bloody bedrock on which our current economic system was built. 

There is always a reference to the past and a nodding to the future at the beginning and end of the cycles. We broke with the earth pattern on December 31, 1980, when Saturn and Jupiter conjoined at 9 Libra. This period was a whisper in the wind of what the coming air cycle would bring. From 1980-2000, we experienced a backlash against the civil rights movement and advances in human rights. The rise of neoliberal capitalism, popularized by conservative politicians like Ronald Regan and Margaret Thatcher, saw a systematic defunding of public programs and social structures that had brought America out of the great depression. Terrorism against communities of color and poor people continued under new guises like the war on drugs and the prison industrial complex. The strength of unions was eroded as businesses moved their factories overseas to exploit unprotected laborers in post-colonial countries. Wealth grew in unprecedented numbers for the top 3% while the average American worker became poorer and poorer. The final great conjunction in earth at 22 Taurus on May 28, 2000, brought about a recession as the first dot com bubble burst. Children born around this time, known as Millennials, were the most ethnically diverse and politically progressive generation, but the first in decades to inherit a world with less opportunities than their parents. Those children are now adults who have been calling for a global climate strike. It is their consciousness that will define what the air cycle looks like. 

The great mutation is a monumental process. It calls our attention towards what the last 600 years of empire has wrought. But it is not the only significant cycle playing out. 

The Saturn-Pluto conjunction at 22 Capricorn on January 12, 2020, was built up by many astrologers as a fearful omen. Hard aspects between the planet of discipline and punishment, Saturn, and the god of death and power, Pluto, have historically given rise to waves of fascism and totalitarianism (1921-23), global economic crisis (1930-33), and the start of world wars (1913-16 & 1939-41). Saturn and Pluto have not met in Capricorn since 1518; once again, invoking the legacy of European imperialism being brought to bear on the current situation. Their meetings are characterized as periods of crisis and contraction. Working in collaboration with Uranus in Taurus, who has come to disrupt our unsustainable and exploitative environmental practices, these cosmic heavyweights are bringing us something no one alive has seen before--a global health pandemic that has the potential to topple the world economy, which is exposing the cruelty and inequality of our social systems. 

The initial outbreak and spread of the Coronavirus coincided with the eclipses between Cancer-Capricorn, highlighting the Saturn-Pluto conjunction. People began falling ill around the Gemini Full Moon on December 12, and health officials in China became aware that a new Coronavirus was the cause just after the Capricorn new Moon solar eclipse on December 26. The information was made public on Jan 9, in the light of the Cancer full Moon lunar eclipse, and the first case was reported in Thailand on Jan 13, just after the Saturn-Pluto conjunction. On January 15, the first confirmed patient carrying Covid-19 arrived in the US. For months the world watched and waited, but as Saturn prepared to depart Capricorn, things worsened. 

Saturn entered Aquarius on March 21, giving us a taste of what’s to come over the next three years (2021-23). He will stay in Aquarius until July 1, informing us of the work we need to do to prepare for the great mutation. His arrival was accompanied by government decrees banning gatherings of over 25 people, the closing of schools, and the ordering of residents to shelter in place. Saturn and Pluto are known for bringing death, destruction, and great suffering. Coronavirus is delivering all three. No one knows how long the quarantine will last, but Saturn’s time in Aquarius is limited. He will retrograde back into Capricorn just as the weather gets warm enough to start beating back the virus. We can expect things to let up a bit in August and September. However, we do not live in an eternal summer, and the cold will return again. A vaccine is expected to be rolled out just after the great mutation in early winter 2021. Before then we have an American presidential election where we will once again vote whether to uphold a system of domination and exploitation or to seek change. 

The work of this moment is the challenge of the dark phase of the cycle. It is a confrontation with shadow, the parts of ourselves that we dislike and feel powerless over, and an opportunity to face our fears. We need a collective healing on our deepest wounds if we are to continue as a people. We can not continue to revile and attack the dark, feminine, receptive, intuitive, sensitive, and vulnerable parts of our nature and expect to continue as a species on this planet. It is not an overstatement to say that what happens over the next 20 years will determine whether people live to see the next great mutation in 200 years. People know that, even if just subconsciously, and it’s scary.

Most of us are struggling right now. Our issues are magnified, and so are other people’s. Seeking comfort and security, those who can hoard toilet paper and frozen meat, attempting to protect themselves from suffering and ward away death any way they can. Our coping mechanisms, whether they be life sustaining, selfish, or harmful, will present themselves as such at this time. There is no escape from the reality of this situation, the universe has arranged it so, but we have many wise spiritual teachers to turn to for counsel. In her book, When Things Fall Apart, Buddhist nun Pema Chodron encourages us to abandon both hope and fear:

"We hold onto hope and it robs us of the present moment. If hope and fear are two different sides of the same coin, so are hopelessness and confidence. If we’re willing to give up hope that insecurity and pain can be exterminated, then we can have the courage to relax with the groundlessness of our situation...

Death can be explained as not only the endings in life but all of the things in life that we don’t want. Our marriage isn’t working; our job isn’t coming together. Death and hopelessness provide proper motivation for living an insightful, compassionate life. But most of the time warding off death is our biggest motivation. Warding off any sense of problem, trying to deny that change is a natural occurrence, that sand is slipping through our fingers. Time is passing and its as natural as the seasons changing. But getting old, sick, losing love – we don’t see those events as natural. We want to ward them off, no matter what.

When we talk about hopelessness and death, we’re talking about facing facts. No escapism. Giving up hope is encouragement to stick with yourself, not to run away, to return to the bare bones, no matter what's going on. If we totally experience hopelessness, giving up all hope of alternatives to the present moment, we can have a joyful relationship with our lives, an honest, direct relationship that no longer ignores the reality of impermanence and death."

Sitting with the dark side of the Moon means sitting with difficulty until it changes us or we change our relationship to it, but that process requires acceptance and surrender. This is a crucial chapter in human history. How we show up will define not just our individual life, but the lives of countless others. Let us take this opportunity to transform our relationship to what frightens us most. Let us have the courage to sit with fear, to seek the divine with an open heart, to ask for help when we need it, and to give generously of ourselves. Let this lead us towards a more insightful and compassionate life.

May the Goddess comfort and protect you.