An Overall View of 2021

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One of the problems with Astrology is fragmented information. Usually, we focus on a single event during the course of the year. We analyze it, we try to understand it better. But in the end we easily loose the perception of the bigger picture. And with it, the context that would enable us to have an idea of what’s going on.

This article wants to be an answer to this problem. Not only providing next year’s bigger picture well in advance. But also stepping back and looking at it, in order to understand how basically an astrological year is made. In fact a lot of events are going to occur, and it might get confusing. But if we display them together, arranging them into groups they immediately become more understandable.

Let’s start by looking at this picture, that summarizes in a single glimpse what we are going to be talking about during 2021.

It may seem messy and confusing at first, but bear with me. First of all, I’ve chosen a background image that could immediately communicate the elemental forces at work during the year. Since 2021 is going to be a year centered on the Air Element, the background is a clear golden sky—being yellow the color of Air and Light.

The glyph in the middle is a representation of the main events that are going to occur in 2021. The circle in black at the center is the wheel of the Zodiac, as you can see from the twelve Zodiac Signs of the same color all around it. Then, we find:

• In white, the orbit of Mercury doing its three retrogrades stops during the year. Isn’t it beautiful? It forms a three petal flower, with Mercury stopping in all three air signs: Aquarius, Gemini and Libra. As you can see we are immediately introduced to the air element.
• In purple, we find the positions of the two lunar nodes. They are important because they are the spots where eclipses take place. The North Node, the so called head of the Dragon, in Gemini (which again, is an air sign); the South Node, the tail of the Dragon, in Sagittarius. This means that most of 2021 Eclipses are going to occur in those signs.
• In blue, we have Jupiter. This planet changes sign once a year, giving it a specific color. For this reason looking at Jupiter gives us another clue about the new year. Jupiter’s just entered Aquarius on December 19th. But what’s interesting here is that in 2021 it’s going to move so fast that it’s going to enter Pisces as well, turning retrograde, and going back again into Aquarius. Also note that Saturn also just entered Aquarius—another air sign. Can you see the elemental pattern forming?
• Lastly, we have in red the main aspect of the year: the Saturn Uranus square. This aspect is particularly important, not only because it’s going to last for a year and a half. But also because it’s going to be the foundation on which several Planetary Configurations are going to form on during this period of time.

Let’s see all these points into more detail. Of course we are going to deepen them in specific articles as the year unfolds. Nevertheless, we can have here a preview of what’s coming next.

Mercury Elemental Triangle of Air

Mercury turns retrograde three times a year. The beauty of this rhythm is that Mercury tends to stop in zodiac signs of the same element (of course, this is not always the case). During 2020 Mercury formed an Elemental Triangle of Water. In 2021 he is going to create an Elemental Triangle of Air.

But what does Mercury retrograde mean? Basically, it means that the Mind turns its attention within to better understand and process what’s going on outside. That’s also the reason why external circumstances get more challenging during these transits. Things out there don’t function because we are asked to do some kind of inner work about it.

The Air element is the element of thinking, communication and social interactions. So it’s going to be very interesting to see the challenges 2021 has in store for us from this perspective.

The Lunar Nodes: 2021 Eclipses

Every year there are about four to six eclipses. We are not aware of that because most of the times they are not visible. Still, they are there. Every time that a new moon or a full moon occur on a lunar node, we have an eclipse. For this reason they occur in small sequences of 2-3 eclipses every about six months.

Their effect is very important for life on earth. From a spiritual standpoint they are the release valve of naughty astral forces we need to get rid of. In 2021 we are going to have “just” four of them: two lunar and two solar eclipses.

The first sequence is going to occur on:

• May 26, 2021: Total Lunar Eclipse in Sagittarius

• June 10, 2021: Annular Solar Eclipse in Gemini

The second sequence on:

• November 19, 2021: Partial Lunar Eclipse in Taurus

• December 4, 2021: Total Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius

As you can see we have still an eclipse in Taurus this year, and the most important (total eclipses) are going to take place in Sagittarius.

Jupiter’s ride through Aquarius

Let’s now take a quick look at Jupiter. First of all, we must say that the first month of Jupiter in Aquarius is going to be quite lame.

Freed from the Capricorn captivity, Jupiter in Aquarius is going to perform a square with Uranus for all January 2021. And This aspect is going to be worsened by two factors:

• Mars in Taurus is going to conjunct Uranus, adding tension to the aspect;
• We are going to have a stellium in Aquarius (cumulus of planets) for the whole month.

We are going to talk about it soon in a dedicated post. But after this challenging beginning, as we mentioned Jupiter is going to get very, very fast. And when a planet goes fast it has more power than usual.

After gaining momentum Jupiter is going to cross the whole sign in less than six months. In May it’s going to Enter Pisces, getting retrograde, and going back in Aquarius in July.

It’s going to definitely leave Aquarius in late December 2021.

The Saturn Uranus Square

When we have two very slow planets making an aspect, sooner or later quicker planets are going to join the party, adding other aspects on top of that. This is going to form a so called Major Configuration.

Let’s make an example. A square between two planets (first circle in the pictured below) is “closed” by an opposition forming a T-Square (the red triangle in the second circle is a T-Square). This is exactly what’s going to happen this year. And when another planet transits on the fourth angle, the T-Square is closed in a so called Great Square (third circle with a red square in it).

In particular, in early July and early August we are going to see T-Squares closing the Saturn Uranus square, adding fuel to the fire. Of course we are going to talk about it in specific articles.

Another kind of major configuration is called stellium. A stellium is a cumulus of planets in the same zodiac sign. As you can imagine when two slow planets stays in the same sign for enough time, other planets are going to get there sooner or later.

This is the case of the Saturn Jupiter Conjunction that is going to be the base of the upcoming stellium in Aquarius from late January to late February. We are also going to have a stellium in Taurus in late April, where we already find Uranus.

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