Saturn will be entering into Aquarius in March 2020, retrograde back to Capricorn on 2 July and move back to Aquarius on 17 December, a few days before a new Jupiter-Saturn cycle is formed. Saturn will dip back and forth between the signs that represent the old and the new, creating a reflection on what we need to leave behind and what will be kept when we journey toward new potential.

• Saturn in Aquarius 22 March 2020
• Retrogrades 11 May at 01°Aq57″ 2020
• In Capricorn 2 July 2020
• Direct motion 25°Cap20″ 29 September 2020
• Enters Aquarius 17 December 2020
• Enters Pisces 7th of March 2023

We are up for changes. 2020 promises some real game-changers. A new Pluto-Saturn cycle begins, Saturn moves into Aquarius, the nodal axis moves into Gemini-Sagittarius, Mars will go retrograde in Aries and there is a new Saturn-Jupiter cycle to finish the year. That is quite a bit. Life is synonymous with change and deep inside of us lives simultaneously a deep fear and a deep yearning, for it’s bound to cause both stress and anticipation. 2020 is no exception. Rarely do we see such a stack up of planetary events. We all have a little fear about the current state of affairs, but keep in mind that the perfect storms almost always create the foundation for new vision and changes.

Every time Saturn shifts signs, I feel slightly elated and excited. While I am not quite sure what it is that is tickling my curiosity, it could be the memory of an article I read long ago about how the Dawn of the Internet would change the coming cycles in ways that made it hard to predict how any astrological cycles would manifest. And my natural question would then be: ‘So how will astrologers be surprised as we now face the first transit of Saturn in Aquarius after the Dawn of the Internet?’

The presence of the Internet provides both an upgrade of awareness that runs at high speed and a massive explosion of time-consuming nonsense. There is a certain information overload and people are struggling to find out what is real and what is not. The rhythm of our lives has changed, developments come at a much more rapid pace than our biology is prepared for and most people are unable to keep track.

The benefit is a potential awakening in people. If we are willing to look at ourselves, we now have the potential to see what we are projecting and our motivations. We will see if our actions are a part of the problem or a part of the solution. Through the medium of the Internet we get to see what is going on in the big brain of the world, and it isn’t always beautiful.

Patti Smith once said about the Internet that it is still in its adolescence, but it carries the potential for global revolution, and we see how this potent capacity for manipulation and inspiration can lead us both into darkness and light. Globalization took a big step forward with the Age of the Internet, an age that heralds the Age of Aquarius itself.

Last round of Saturn in Aquarius:

The Gulf War and operation Desert Storm in 1991 set into motion a situation that the world is still dealing with, and this particular war on the Iraqis signified a change. It heralded a new era in warfare with laserguided bomb and advanced surveillance technology. Major General Paul Johnson said about it: ’We saw the first glimpses in Desert Storm of what would become the transformation of air power.’

By the end of 1991 the former USSR was also history, and on 25 December the Russian flag got raised over the Kremlin with Saturn at 5 degrees Aquarius, leading directly to the independence of several new republics. Also Yugoslavia split into Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Kosova and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Eritrea seceded from the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Africa. The maps of Europe were changed drastically with new countries popping up everywhere.

Suddenly watching the Eurovision Song Contest became a very long evening in front of the television. In Western Europe the Maastricht Treaty was set into effect in 1993 and thus created the foundation rock of the European Union.

The televised war from Iraq also led us into understanding the impact of world events on our individual consciousness, and we saw that the world was moving quickly toward a more Aquarian way of life; one where we are interconnected and capable of influencing and being influenced.

The cell phone was something ‘everybody’ had overnight and the first smartphone was to be created in 1992 as the invention of new technology catapulted the world into new opportunities to connect.  The first website was created at CERN and launched in August 1991.

The massive pull towards further globalization can be explained by the long conjunction of Neptune and Uranus in Capricorn and later in Aquarius. However, the years 1991-1994 were particularly interesting as Saturn moved through Aquarius changing the political structures of particularly Europe, but also of Japan, China, India and most large nations around the world.

Now, an entire Saturn cycle after, we are living in a world where information seems to be the foundation of our world. Communication with friends, surfing the Internet, connecting on Facebook, the creation of videos, podcasts and blogs has taken over a lot of our everyday life. Just imagine, in 1991, none of us knew what was coming. We still hadn’t read a blog and not many of us had texted our friends on a phone. Now we can stalk, research, cheat and post under false names on the great web. We can gain and use or gain and abuse information at a large scale.

Big Brother sees you:

In 2013 Edward Snowden released the NSA files and it showed us that surveillance is more massive than we might have fooled ourselves to believe. The right to privacy is stated under Article 12 ‘No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation.’ However, we seem to give up this right in the realm of the Great Internet. What we willingly post and share is one thing, but it is quite different when we realize that our privacy is compromised through phones picking up on conversations and our private messages being available material for those who sit behind the wheels.

When we share in Messenger, we evidently have signed up to having our private sphere shared. I am certain I am not the only one who has felt slightly shocked after realizing that I get advertisements on my phone for something that I have talked about in a private conversation outside of the web.

For fun. we can look at the chart for Facebook and the solar chart for Mark Zuckerberg and ponder what will happen when Saturn hits those middle degrees of Aquarius in 2021. He has already been under scrutiny for not being entirely clean in his business, and with Saturn being Saturn; it is hard to imagine that there won’t be any consequences for his particular style of running things.

But that is just children’s food compared to the surveillance that goes on behind our backs. Aquarius deals with Human Rights, a theme that we continuously debate and are called to protect, but the real question remains: Are we moving toward more liberty or less?

The George Orwell futuristic and dystopian book 1984 was published in June 1949 and has since become a household name, a concept and a symbol for our current situation. George Orwell himself was born with Saturn in Aquarius, and his work culminated in the book that is now historical. His own life was a constant search for truth and the adjective Orwellian is descriptive of: ‘“official deception, secret surveillance, brazenly misleading terminology, and manipulation of recorded history by a totalitarian or authoritarian state’ [1].

The storyline in the book is set to a post-war scenario in the fictitious land of Oceania, where people are constantly watched and kept under control. Big Brother is keeping firm control and protagonist Winston Smith is a rebellious, low-class citizen challenging Big Brother’s authority. The plot is more than familiar—dictatorial control compromising human rights and dignity.

It is interesting to note that the Republic of China was also founded in 1949, and after Mao, China started monitoring citizens, keeping them under tight control. The Social Credit System established in 2014 is a system wherein a person gets social conduct registered and receives a score, and from 2020 this will be mandatory for all Chinese.

It is also interesting to note that censorship in China became even more severe after the demonstrations of Tiananmen Square in 1989 when Saturn was in Capricorn conjunct Uranus and Neptune. China is censoring the Internet and access to social media such as Facebook is denied. They have the highest density of government surveillance cameras installed in public in the world and use several domination techniques to keep the rule. They are becoming the kind of state that Orwell envisioned.

China is not the only one though. Most countries in the West are using technology to monitor their citizens and it is little wonder that this book has seen its renaissance.

George Orwell would have been slightly surprised to see how right he would be about his vision for the future. There is little doubt that we will see some interesting situations arise in terms of privacy and the future of the Internet as Saturn, and later Pluto, transit Aquarius.

After another complete Saturn-Pluto cycle and Saturn’s move to Aquarius followed by Pluto to Aquarius, we can without doubt say that the greatest obstacle and challenge for the future is the threat of censorship and the surveillance of the people that has been surfacing for a while. The economical and political matrixes of the world are moving more and more towards full control over people, as technology is becoming increasingly advanced.

It is even tempting to think that since this cycle happens in the aftermath of Saturn-Pluto new cycle (12 January, 2020) the social and political discussion on earth will be concentrated around Human Rights, the distribution of wealth, social injustice and technological advances challenging and changing the life of each individual.

Resources and the Earth

Uranus, the ruling principle of Aquarius, is now in Taurus, symbolizing Earth herself, and with Saturn going through Aquarius, representing science; we might see changes in how we feed the planet and how scientific advances can help us find solutions to the growing problem of the size of the human family.

As per November 2019, earth hosts 7.7 billion human lives, with 10 percent living in extreme poverty. The numbers are on the decline and in 1990 a staggering 34 percent lived in extreme poverty. So in certain ways things are moving forward. How to feed the planet and maintain a healthy earth are a couple of the absolutely vital issues we will deal with during the new cycle of Saturn-Pluto lasting until 2053, when the two planets form a new conjunction in Pisces.

Poverty gives rise to so many social problems and since Aquarius deals with groups it is likely that we might expect simultaneous reforms and protests.

How earth then will look in the future is hard to perceive, but with each planetary transit through Aquarius we get a further chance to understand how different groups and races must learn to work together as a whole family. Maybe we will see new visions for modern housing being set in motion or plans being presented on how to employ people after the technology revolution we’ve are still in the midst of is over.

In 2004 co-founder of the famous festival Burning Man wrote some ideas and principles that are known as the Ten Principles of Burning Man. They are as follows:

• Radical Inclusion
• Gifting
• Decommodification
• Radical Self-reliance
• Communal Effort
• Civic Responsibility
• Leaving No Trace
• Participation
• Immediacy

For me they stand as the foundation rock upon which the ideals of Aquarius rest. If we are to thrive as a species, the higher side of Aquarius needs to be understood and our childish egos, the shadow side of Leo, will have to be put aside.

And it is exactly this shadow side of both Aquarius and its opposing sign, Leo that the transit of Saturn through Aquarius might reveal.

Shadow of Aquarius:

• Aquarius is a sign that rules groups, societies, friendships and science. It covers higher knowledge, detachment and visions of the future. The downside is coldness and cynicism, isolation and disassociation, sarcasm and criticism.

Aquarius is all about consciousness, a higher awareness about the state of affairs, and through Aquarius and its modern ruler, Uranus, we get a chance to see how we affect and influence each other for good and bad.

Every sign has a shadow and with the dawn of technology we saw that humanity is capable of killing others while sitting safely tucked behind the remote controls. There is a coldness and a cynicism to Aquarius that happens when anyone gets too detached from their heart and emotion. We can all be a little heady from time to time, but the Aquarius loftiness is bordering on dissociation. An individual born with Saturn in Aquarius might have to deal with the consequences of having been let down by a flawed system, cast out from family or friends or struggling with a deep outsider syndrome. They may have such a keen intelligence that they get stuck in analysis of the weakness of human nature and life in general, in turn sending the individual into a depression and a feeling of never being able to set firm roots in life.

This rootlessness is a challenge and self-criticism is on an all-time high. Saturn can be melancholic and dismayed here, and nihilism and dystopia are very often the result. Some of our most famous conspiracy theorists, such as Jeff Boss, was born with Neptune in Scorpio square Saturn in Aquarius. There is a whole sub-generation born from 1991 to 1993 who has Uranus-Neptune in Capricorn, Pluto in Scorpio and Saturn in Aquarius and who are now facing their first Saturn return. A quick survey among them reveals that a lot of them feel betrayed by society and let down by the elders. They often come with a much higher intelligence than their parents, having been born with access to information their parents never had.

Intelligence isn’t always easy to carry and the hubris in Aquarius is the famous ‘know-it-all’ attitude that translates to fixity of the mind and a rigidity of the bones. It can be cold, isolated and lonely, lacking spontaneity and capacity to trust the heart. When all illusions are gone, what is then left?

Neurology is associated with Aquarius and certain eccentricities and fetishes come under its domain. It will become evident, as Saturn moves through Aquarius, just how the porn industry has affected human sexuality and our capacity to relate to each other without extreme stimulation. This comes as a direct consequence of the overuse of porn to stimulate the sexual parts of our brains. Saturn seeks to correct all that is misaligned, and when we get too detached we need to reconnect with our heart.

Issues pertaining to intimacy versus freedom will become more important for us all to work on as we seek to find a better balance between detachment and attachment.

Mindfullness:

Aquarius also correlates to Buddhism with its strong correspondence to the science and method behind enlightenment. As a religion without a God and with practices centred on being mindful, Buddhism is in perfect synch with the Aquarian mind. This is a path that teaches among other things, the power of detachment. However, if detachment is taken too far, without the integration of another important Buddhist principle, compassion; we are on the verge of creating psychopathy, a condition renowned for its absence of empathy. To be mindful and objective, detached and aware of the nature of projection is the key to world peace. Given the current rapid changes in our neurological conditions, we may experience a situation, with Saturn in Aquarius, where we find ourselves needing to address the development of a situation of spiritual bypass.

Through Aquarius Saturn can teach us, in a good way, to transcend the mind and avoid the traps of falling into personal desires and the ensuing suffering. However that is a journey we cannot fake or pretend to master. Without the connection to our heart and to our human nature, we will witness a rise in cynicism

Science:

At its best this transit will make us even more aware of our social responsibilities and ensure that we move into the world presenting our highest levels of awareness, while not letting our unconscious selves be projected without question.

Since Aquarius has to do with science, controversy about robotics, AI, house robots like Alexa and other new inventions could emerge. With our world being taken over more and more by electronic gadgets and virtual reality, we might start questioning the real consequences of this evolution. Saturn is always about understanding the consequences of anything, and we might ask ourselves if we are losing our humanness in this maze of electronics.

Neuralink, Elon Musk’s new invention, attempts to sync human brains with a computer and trials of this on humans will begin in 2020. Musk himself is born with his North Node and Mars in Aquarius, and it is hard to imagine that his work will not face some serious setback, adjustments or other ethical challenges as Saturn proceeds relentlessly through Aquarius. Musk said about his project that it can help cure some people with neurological disabilities and assist in securing the future of humanity  as a civilization, relative to AI. The goal is to achieve a symbiosis with artificial intelligence.

Now, despite the rather gloomy downsides to this, in terms of political control over people, Musk’s vision seems to be on the side of evolutionary thinking. Sooner or later this symbiosis will happen, but it is not without ethical aspects deeply embedded in it. What are the consequences of such a symbiosis?

Is technology making us into better human beings or worse?

What we know for sure is that if this kind of technology falls into the wrong hands, the consequences are gloomy. Therefore, we also need to take a look into the opposite sign, Leo, to understand the full context of Saturn in Aquarius.

Shadow side of Leo:

As with all principles of life any sign is reflected in its opposite expression. The one cannot live without the other. Leo and Aquarius are the opposite sides of creative expression moving into the world: participation and creation.

In order for the Aquarian ideals of brother and sisterhood, true cooperation and natural hierarchies to emerge humanity still has to deal with narcissism and selfishness, the dark side of the archetype Leo.

Leo will get a certain attention whilst Saturn transits Aquarius, but not perhaps as Leo likes. Not all feedback is good feedback; it depends on the intention of creation. Saturn with its no-bullshit attitude will certainly peek rather critically at the Leonian aptitude for selfish creation. And that is not necessarily a bad sign as it heralds an awakening of compassion for others, reminding the Leo impulse to lift the mind and see beyond the self. But as long as the proverbial Child Archetype that is Leo is not yet ready to be a student, then the teachings will be direct, clear and without sympathy. We all have to learn to think not only of ourselves, but also of others. I would like to add a little disclaimer here to not insult the many beautiful Leos who read this. When I say Leonian archetype, I refer to a state of mind that is that inner and not conscious child, present in all.

The altruistic impulse in Aquarius cannot be expressed until we overcome our own sense of separation and self-inflation. It will be evident, as Saturn crosses the plains of Aquarius, that dictatorial and childish ways of ruling people will be challenged.

With Saturn in Aquarius there can be issues with friendships and group dynamic that will prompt us to look at our own creative capacities and learn about the true art of giving without becoming either too obsessed with our own sense of importance or too dimmed by the somewhat cold response of Saturn in Aquarius.

Political Saturn:

Aquarius represents the audience and whatever we give will be received. How it is received can either stifle our expression (Leo) or ignite growth, because we are capable of taking instructions and receiving feedback. As the year  2020 ends with a new cycle of Jupiter-Saturn in Aquarius, the journey of maturation that happened whilst they both were in Capricorn can result in the emergence of a personality that is ready to move into the world with full power.

Everyone is keeping their eyes on the election in the US in November. Will there be a new ’King’? Or maybe even a ‘Queen’? Saturn-Jupiter is an aspect renowned for its leadership capacity and as this new conjunction happens in Aquarius, it is easy to get a little excited and anticipate that the world will see something entirely new emerge from this upcoming election.

Being the world’s only official superpower, the US holds not only an interesting position in world politics, but also in the collective unconscious. Whatever happens in the US holds great symbolic power for the rest of the world.

Politics is always a hot potato and right now the current climate is ripe with anger and frustration. It makes no sense discussing politics during such a time; however with Saturn in Aquarius moves toward a more socially just system might be prevalent for this upcoming election. Both leading candidates for the Democrats, Sanders and Warren, are showing strong leanings towards socialism. In the future we all have to learn to share, and the skewed system that is now so evident, with the top 1% holding on to so much money, will face some resistance as Saturn moves through Capricorn. Socialism might become popular even in the States.

From Aquarius back to Capricorn.

Keep in mind that the new cycle of Saturn-Pluto begins in Capricorn, a sign that speaks volumes about integrity and true authority. As Saturn will move back to Capricorn in July, the steps we’ve taken toward the future will be tested as a consequence. We might all have to think one more time about the conditioning of the past, what to keep and what to move away from. There is realism in both signs; however with Aquarius we get a chance to take some quantum steps towards the future.

In mundane astrology Saturn and Pluto are the big players. The Boomers, a generation that has run the world, will be replaced by younger leaders. Perhaps that will be the result of the coming election. A new fresh Prince or Princess of the Future will step up on the throne and rule, taking into account that we are not here to rule the world, but to make sure that our children can inherent a treasure. That treasure is life itself.

Then again, that could be only me and my Aquarian style of daydreaming. Without a dream of a better future what are any of us left with? Now is the time to create some solid vision both individually and collectively.

Use your mind to its highest purpose.

Another point of interest is that a lot of the big nations on earth show up with planets in mid-degrees Leo-Aquarius. It is thus to be anticipated that as Saturn progresses through these mid-degrees from 2021 we might except social and political changes manifesting as social unrest and a rise to revolution or change.

Some countries affected by Saturn in Aquarius:

EU: 1st of Nov 1993, (00.01 am) Brussels, Belgium
– Maastricht treaty came into effect 1 November 1993 with Saturn 23°Aq29″

USA: Sibly Chart: 4th of July 1776 at 17:10 (= 5:10 PM ), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
– Moon in Aquarius 27°Aq10″, South Node 06°Aq36″ Sibly chart

China: 1 October of 1949 at 15:01 (= 3:01 PM ), Beijing, China
– China (Moon 03°Aq03″, Ascendant 01°Aq33″, progressed Jupiter 01°Aq52”)

Germany: 24th of May 1949 (=00.00 AM) Bonn, Germany
– Jupiter 02°Aq09”

India: 15th of August 1947 (00.01.00 AM) New Dehli, India
– Moon, Mercury, Pluto, Saturn, Venus and Sun in Leo

Brazil: 7th of September 1822 (4.08.00 PM) São Paulo, Brazil
– Saturn 9°56, North Node 14°32

Bolivia: 6th of August, 1825, (12:01 PM) Sucre, Bolivia
– Sun 13° Leo 49″, Mars 23°Cp36″ rx /Pluto degree for 2020

North Korea: 10th of September 1948 (8.50 PM) Pyongyang, North Korea
– North Node 07°Ta28″/Uranus transit- Pluto 15°Leo31”

England: 1st of January 1801 (00.00 AM) London, England
– It is interesting to note that the chart of England has a progressed MC in Aquarius and the current progressions shows Mercury-Sun-Jupiter-Saturn in mid-degrees Leo showing up as a leadership crises and the institution of the monarchy coming under great pressure.

Japan 11th of February 1889 (10.30 AM) Tokyo, Japan

Footnotes:

[1]     Orwellian, Wikipedia, Viewed 9 October 2019,