We have talked before about the cycle of Jupiter and Saturn and how each half of the cycle corresponds to a decade (since for several centuries the 20 year Jupiter Saturn cycle started near the beginning of an even decade) but the first and last quarter phases of the Jupiter-Saturn cycle are also important — the first half of a decade is different from the second half. This is most obvious for the decade of the Forties since the first half saw World War Two and the second half became the time after the War, with the rise of both the Anthropocene and the national security state and this period also has what I’ve called a zeitgeist change. In this period of the late Forties the center of the art world moved from Paris to New York City with the rise of such movements as Abstract Expressionism. NYC and America was a special place in that period. In Europe the recovery from the ravages of the war was long and arduous.

Compare the first half and the second half of the Fifties in America: the first half saw the birth of McCarthyism when Joseph McCarthy found a list of 200 or so Communists in the State Department on Lincoln Day of 1950 at a speech he gave in West Virginia until he was finally censured by the Senate in December of 1954 — the end of that half decade. In the second half television became a fixture in the American home (as Pluto transited opposite the US Moon), strengthening the fascination with the flickering image. The Korean war dominated the foreign policy side of things in the first half of the decade not just for the United States but the UN that was officially fighting that war also, while the second half started with the Suez Crisis that set the stage for the dominant powers in the late fifties.

But this is really true of all decades; a brief checking of Wikipedia shows the best movies in the US; the Academy Awards for 1964 — the end of the first half decade — was My Fair Lady, which was based on a Broadway musical which was based on a play by George Bernard Shaw. The winner in 1969 — the last year of the second half — was Midnight Cowboy, the only X-rated movie to ever win an Oscar.

And consider drug movies of the early versus late sixties. From 1962 we have The Days of Wine and Roses. In this movie a business executive and his wife (Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick) descend into alcoholism and then attend Alcoholics Anonymous. This was based on a TV drama from 1958 and is opening on Broadway in 2024. The drug movie for the second half was Easy Rider, about two motorcycle cowboys (Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper) who have sold some cocaine and then take the profits to New Orleans where they consume LSD; during the movie they and a hitchhiker (Jack Nicholson) smoke an awful lot of weed. No AA for them but a sad ending anyway.

The same is true of the Seventies and the Eighties and the other decades. This decade is no different and when we see the opening Jupiter Saturn square we will see the dawning of the second half of the decade, but at the same time or shortly thereafter there will be other important aspects which will be discussed in upcoming posts, thus assuring that the second half of this decade will be very different from the first.

Lets look at those three opening squares of Jupiter and Saturn. The numbers below refer to the graphical ephemeris (below) which allows you to see all three squares at one time as well as other aspects that will be discussed later.

First Opening Square

In the first square in August 2024(1) Jupiter is direct but Saturn retrograde. This is a time in America when the campaign season is in full bloom. For the US Neptune is on the IC (which has been discussed before) and Uranus is square the Moon (which will be discussed later). Should be interesting. There is a Full Moon at this time with Uranus making a T-square with the Full Moon so watch out for change. At the same time there is another T-square with Venus opposite Saturn and square Jupiter. And to make it even more interesting Mercury is retrograde and conjunct the Sun so it fits into that T-square. And this Full Moon falls on the Moon of the United States. With so much going on in the sky and in connections to the US chart it is a great kickoff to the second half of this decade.

Same Square Without U.S.

Second Opening Square

The second square at Christmas time (2) is with Jupiter retrograde and Saturn direct. Jupiter is close to the Descendant of the United States which means that Saturn is square the Ascendant. The new President has been elected but the inauguration won’t happen for a couple of weeks. Judging by the last two national elections there will be a big controversy no matter who wins and who loses. Expect fireworks for Christmas.

Third Opening Square

The third exact square (3) occurs in middle June 2025, shortly before and after other important aspects involving Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune which will be discussed later. This opening square occurs at the same time as the Saturn Neptune conjunction (to be discussed next) which is near the Aries point so Jupiter is also square Neptune. Jupiter is widely conjunct the Sun which is in late Gemini right before the summer solstice — called midsummer even thought it is the official start of summer. The conjunction of Saturn and Neptune is interesting because the exact conjunction never actually happens at the time. Both planets go retrograde shortly after the Fourth of July and since since Saturn is of lesser longitude than Neptune and moves faster it soon leaves Neptune behind.

All Three Opening Squares

To conclude, by 2025 the second half of this decade will have surly started, and as we will show in upcoming posts it will be quite different from the first. Of course whether that is good or bad depends on the individual or more to the point the class. Pluto will interpret this quite differently than Uranus. But it will make for very interesting times.