Jupiter opposes Saturn on May 23, bringing its expansive qualities to the already tumultuous divisions between Saturn and Uranus, a larger planetary cycle that has been in operation since the fall of 2008.  

Jupiter and Saturn are oppositional forces.  Jupiter expands, Saturn contracts.  Jupiter is optimistic, Saturn is pessimistic (although it prefers to think of itself as “realistic”).  I should say, Saturn IS realistic, but compared to Jupiter is SEEMS pessimistic.  

The 20-year Jupiter cycle is used by mundane astrologers to forecast political events as the two planets cycle through conjunctions in one element for about 200 years and then transition into the next.  (See Richard Nolle’s excellent table for 3,000 years’ worth of data.)

Since 1980 we have been in the transitional period between elements.  The last Jupiter/Saturn conjunction in Earth was in 1961, and the conjunction in 1980-1981 transitioned into air, moving  back into Earth for the conjunction in 2000.  The 2020 conjunction will take place in the air element. We are therefore at the end of the transitional period between earth and air.

Robert Blaschke writes:  “When Jupiter and Saturn conjoin in the earth element, societal infrastructure evolves globally and there is substantial wealth creation, along with extensive land settlement and territorial disputes.  The earth cycle began in 1802 and we can certainly see that this was in play.  We are now transitioning between earth and air, and Robert writes:  “[Jupiter/Saturn c]onjunctions in the air element historically correspond with rapid social progress, significant intellectual development, and new concepts entering into human consciousness. ”  I would add that with the air element there is a growing focus on fairness and equality, and we are in a transitional period between the Piscean age and the Aquarian age as well as a new Jupiter/Saturn cycle. 

In any case, we are at the midpoint of the current 20-year cycle which is the final transition into a 200-year air cycle.  The opposition phase of a planetary cycle is like the Full Moon in the lunar cycle: it is the climax of the cycle and the culmination of the waxing phase before the waning phase begins a completion of the cycle.  

It is said that because Jupiter is expansive by nature, it rules the expansive waxing phase with Saturn ruling the contracting waning phase.  This construct is often used in financial astrology, but it competes with other planetary cycles that may have more authority.  For example, the 1990s marked the waning phase of the Jupiter/Saturn cycle but was a decade of tremendous economic growth thanks to Pluto’s travels through Jupiter’s sign of Sagittarius.

The current opposition cycle will have three stages and will conclude in March of 2011.  Because this cycle aligns with the final phase of the opposition to Saturn and Uranus that has brought about so much polarity, it will serve simply to intensify the sense of extremism before the need for balance is brought into the equation.  We will likely see a sense of balance return in the fall after the Saturn/Uranus cycle is concluded.