On Dec. 21, the time of the winter solstice and the shortest daylight hours of the year when the hours of daylight and darkness are equal, you will have seen what looks like a very bright star in the night sky. The two largest planets in our solar system, Jupiter and Saturn, have come closer to each other than they have been since the Middle Ages. March 4, 1226, to be exact. Jupiter and Saturn come into alignment every 20 years or so, but the phenomenon mentioned here, seen between Dec.16 and Dec. 25, will not be repeated until 2080 The magnitude of brightness is the result of a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, an alignment of the two planets as seen from Earth. In other words, one looks to be exactly in front of the other, giving the appearance of one giant star. Joe Rao, writing for Space.com, reports, “Most of the time, when Jupiter overtakes Saturn, they usually are separated by more than a degree. But come Dec. 21, they will be separated by just about one-tenth of a degree or 6.1 arc minutes. To gauge how close that is, on the next clear night, check out Mizar, the middle star in the handle of the Big Dipper. A fainter star, Alcor, is positioned only 11.8 arc minutes away (the ability to perceive the separation of these two stars, was once considered a test of good vision). Jupiter and Saturn, however, will approach to within about half that distance! That’s just 0.102 degrees.� Many “New Age� thinkers believe this extraordinary conjunction is the actual beginning of The Age of Aquarius. A new age is the dawning of a new way of thinking, totally alien to the previous age. Imagine going to a culture that is so different from yours that there are things in it that literally cannot be translated into things you can understand. It’s not a modification of the status quo; it’s such a sea change that the new paradigms cannot even translate to what came before. Once, the world had no flowers, just plants, then there were flowers. Once the world was dominated by reptiles, then there were mammals. Once there were just single cell organisms, then there were humans (and a lot of stuff in between). All this is the result of DNA, alive 400 million years ago, that continuously ripped itself apart and rearranged itself in an unbroken chain of survival. It’s breathtaking. The end of one age may be caused by a massive extinction event that creates a void that new life forms fill. One age may give way to another by creative inventions that completely change life as it has been known. One thing for sure, the time between epics is getting shorter on the evolutionary timeline. I doubt there is anyone reading this who has not felt overwhelmed at times by the speed at which things are changing now. To move into a new age requires transcendence. In the Free Dictionary, transcendence is defined as “lying beyond the ordinary range of perception� and, according to Kant, beyond the limits of experience. It means rising above. It is this last part of the definition I most look forward to in a new age, if it is indeed the Coming of the Age of Aquarius model in the lyrics from Hair. Harmony and understanding Sympathy and trust abounding No more falsehoods or derisions Golden living dreams of visions Mystic crystal revelation And the mind’s true liberation Aquarius! Aquarius! In the song, Jupiter is aligned with Mars. This winter solstice, Jupiter is in conjunction with Saturn. In New Age-speak, Saturn is involved in the karmic consequences of how we have been behaving. Jupiter is an invitation to hope and possibilities. It begs the question of where we are going. Will the future be driven by the rule of our lower selves? Or will the soul rule. Can we be the spiritual architects of a new awakening in humanity? New age or not, there is no doubt that changes are coming fast, driven not by a cataclysmic event (yet) but by creative ingenuity that is absorbing the entire web of life, and much like the journey of original DNA, ripping the web of life apart to create a new world vision. It’s scary. It’s exhilarating. There is destruction. There is growth. It’s a wild ride. Will it be a journey down the rabbit hole of self-centeredness and greed that leads to a divided world? Or will a path of loving kindness emerge, a pathway to right human relations and right relations with the Earth? During this conjunction of the planets, one thing is for sure. You will have seen a beautiful light in the sky. When I see it, I will say this prayer: Let the light descend on Earth Let love stream forth into human hearts, Let purpose guide all little human wills, Let the plan of love and light work out And seal the door where evil dwells. Wishing you all a Beautiful and Merry Christmas and Love-filled Happy Holidays. Namaste! Vamos a ver! And thank you to Ben LaBrot for helping me with this article. oxox