Astrology Tips for 2021

The archetypes of the astrology of 2021 urge us to make a new beginning. This is a year likely to inspire social change, reforms, and brilliant new ideas.

Yet it is also likely to be a time of strife and volatility. Because change can fracture and divide. And because our society is riddled with psychological and ideological splitting.

This is the dance of 2021.

To understand reasons why, and for a full archetypal analysis, please first read ‘Navigating Times of Change with the Astrology of 2021’.

This follow up post,

spells out a range of changes anticipated this year by top astrologers,
and offers helpful guidance for finding the good and working positively with the archetypes now in play.

Astrology Tips for 2021

Let me qualify what follows by pointing out that this is a year to expect the unexpected. So, predictions are not the business to be in.

Having said that, some of the brightest astrological minds agree that the energy patterns of 2021 point to these possibilities:

civil unrest
social upheaval
an urge toward revolution
a push for civil liberties and social justice
radical developments in technology and communications
changes, speculation, and volatility in monetary and financial systems (the 1999/2000 Saturn/Uranus coincided with a tech stock crash)
and breakthrough intellectual and scientific endeavours

The combination of Saturn and Uranus is the most challenging archetype of 2021, so I’d especially like to share with you the fascinating research of philosopher/academic/astrologer Rick Tarnas PhD into what happened when Saturn and Uranus combined in the past.

Rick Tarnas on Saturn/Uranus

Tarnas writes in his masterpiece ‘Cosmos and Psyche’ that historical periods when Saturn/Uranus held sway were marked by “tensions between authority and rebellion, order and freedom, structure and change”.

The clash between these two opposing life forces is not therefore an easy time for society, often manifesting as:

Political and economic breakdowns and instability
Crisis, and a collapse of structures
Social discord, political splits, and extremism

What astonished me though was what Tarnas discovered about how these archetypes can combine in peculiar ways.

Heightened Risks of Civil War in 2021

The call to rebel and the cry for freedom, typically associated with Uranus and progressive movements, has in key historical moments been co-opted by repressive forces in society, that are typically associated with Saturn.

In what seems at first a contradiction, revolution becomes the weapon of a reactionary ideology.

Tarnas gives these examples:

how the leadership of the French Revolution themselves imposed a Reign of Terror.
how the Cultural Revolution in China brutally purged capitalist and traditional elements from society to reimpose Communism.
and how the slaveholding Confederate states in the USA came together to fight for freedom and states’ rights so they could maintain what Tarnas calls their systematically oppressive way of life.

“The Civil War began in precise coincidence with Saturn’s movement into exact square with Uranus in 1861, immediately after the election of Lincoln.” – Richard Tarnas, Cosmos and Psyche

Some may draw a clear analogy here to those self-described ‘freedom fighters’ who violently invaded the US Capitol while brandishing the Confederate flag as an icon of insurrection.

Does the dark potential of Saturn/Uranus doom us to such conflict throughout 2021?

With the current popularity of extremist views and irrational beliefs in conspiracy, healing may seem long distant and unlikely. But we can choose to put our energy into the good trying to happen.

Strategies for Finding the Good in 2021

Any archetypal energy has a healthy side and a shadow side. How do we grow the virtues and bring light to the shadows?

Here are a few ideas for how to work with the archetypes now in play.

Value dissent. Democracy needs it. A healthy democracy evolves, and a good shaking out may help to bring changes for a better world one day in the future.
Do more to live the change you want to see. This paraphrase is often attributed to Gandhi, and suggests that change in the outer world must begin with changing ourselves.
Stand up for social justice, human rights, and accountability, without hateful ideas or irrational beliefs about the way things are.
Open your eyes to misinformation, even in places that might surprise. Wellness guru Sarah Wilson, author of the New York Times bestseller ‘I Quit Sugar,’ explores in this interview with The Guardian how the online wellness community she helped to grow became a hotbed for conspiracy theories and misinformation. She also shares her thoughts on what we can do about it.
Value reason. Trust it will prevail. Aquarius is the sign of the higher mind, of advanced thinking. It is intellectual, rational, and brilliant. Time now to open to a world of intelligent ideas and credible facts, beyond using Facebook as the font of all knowledge. Think like a scientist. Learn how to critically analyse information that comes your way.
With Saturn in Aquarius our social movements will be tested to become more grounded, responsible, serious, sensible, better organised, and accepting of limits. Get on board with maturing social activism.
While Aquarius is the archetype of the rebel, it is also the archetype of the group. Of society as a whole. Of collective humanity. Expect, perhaps, to face this dilemma, ‘where does my right to do as I like balance against the rights of all?’ This is a dance for Aquarian times. Embrace consciously.
Watch out for ways that Saturn and Uranus energies integrate positively. As could be happening right now with social media, that darling of the Aquarian Age. The sudden willingness this year of social media platforms to close some accounts that spruik misinformation suggests a new acceptance of responsibility (Saturn) may be dawning in the ‘wild west’ of social media (Uranus), and a new willingness to set standards for publishing truth.
Appreciate helpful breakthroughs in science and technology, especially in any field needing large-scale co-operation, such as climate change or healing the pandemic. Aquarius at its best.
Look to the future. This is no time for Paradise to be the way things were.

‘The future is not a gift. It is an achievement’ – Robert F. Kennedy

Opening Pandora’s Box

We begin the year with a legacy of widespread psychological splitting, and the conflict of Saturn/Uranus throughout 2021 may seem to open Pandora’s box. But it may also be exactly what we need to help us face the issues that polarise us and confront the need for change.

Hopefully, any difficulties we face can spur us to embrace necessary reform. For this is how Saturn and Uranus can work together as buddies and allies.

The new age on offer today is far less a feel-good movement, than it is a radical vision of how much better things could be. A vision built upon inspiring ideas and discoveries, and the need for large scale co-operation.

If the archetypes of 2021 shake us up, perhaps that is a first step toward this vision of our future. Where we find cracks, may they let in the light.

On March 4, 2021 • By Deborah Muffet