Alignments: Jupiter-Saturn opposition heralds changing of political guard

In the early hours of Sunday, May 23, the planets Jupiter and Saturn will face off in a once-every-20-years opposition.

To the ancients, the two-decade-long Jupiter-Saturn cycle heralded the rise and fall of kings. For our modern times, it suggests the changing of political fortunes, swinging the pendulum back to the other side of the ideological aisle.

The last Jupiter-Saturn cycle began in 1980 with the election of Ronald Regan and culminated from September 1989 to May 1991 with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union.

Our current Jupiter-Saturn cycle kicked off in 2000. From now until March 2011, we can expect the things set in motion around the year 2000 will come home to roost, for good or for ill. The cycle ends in December 2020.

Incumbents who haven’t delivered the goods will find themselves especially vulnerable over the next two years. Those who are serious-minded and conservative often gain the upper hand in the second half of the Jupiter-Saturn cycle.

The opposition falls across the 6th and 12th houses in Austin's chart, bringing the issues such as health care, hospitals, immigration and animal shelters to the center of debates over the next few months while the aspect is in effect.

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