I write these columns ahead of time, when the events of the month have not yet been born. All that’s visible is their raw symbolism.
It’s good to remember, every once in a while, that the goal of symbolic languages like astrology is not to identify specifics but to infer meaning. Planetary cycles don’t traffic in worldly events (I explore these in the blogs) but in the energy that underlies worldly events.
Right now, it’s very hard to detach ourselves from the event level. Even if we try to block them out, we are all awash in the massive crises being generated by these chaotic skies.
From the worldly perspective, we talk about events in terms of causality. We see the various group emergencies upon us, like the pandemic and the breakdown of US democracy, as being the effects of other events, and of having effects in their turn.
But from the astrological perspective, events — no matter how singular or attention-grabbing — are fungible. They bubble up into manifestation from the energy level. Whatever the event would be, it would have the same meaning, if it were overseen by the same sky.
As the Solstice approaches, the scope and speed of global dramas are multiplying exponentially. This month’s transits will use any of these dramas, and/or unforeseeable new ones, to express what the Cosmos wants us to learn.
Power throws its weight around
The premier transit of November is the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction, the third and last one this year. The earlier two took place in April and June.
This conjunction, notorious for epic power grabs, is especially apposite in the context of America’s Pluto Return. The chaos now undermining Uncle Sam’s governmental institutions (Capricorn) expresses these transits to a tee, while suggesting that our national turmoil is not going to disappear after Americans cast their ballots.
Jupiter (legality, ethics, social justice) and Pluto (raw power) are the stars of the show in November, but the conjunction needs to be seen in context. It is one of a collection of influences that has made 2020 so momentous.
American Devolution
There’s no single date that encapsulates this national trauma, and it is confined to no single transit.
If you’re into history, you know that the longer a view we take, the better an understanding we get. It’s the same with astrology.
Planetary cycles overlap each other, giving rise to different ways of expressing a given long-term theme. If we want to understand the state of disunion the USA finds itself in, for example, we consider as many cycles as we have the patience to study.
The long-term cycle for Uncle Sam right now is being expressed by the most powerful planet in the sky, Pluto (breakdown/ makeover). The country is at a turning point — a once-in-250-year milestone — as Pluto returns to its natal position. (1) During the several years this transit is active, other transits fill in the blanks. (2)
For instance, this year, whenever a planet has passed through a Cardinal sign (last month, for instance, the Sun did so), it has reignited the Capricorn degree made famous in January. That was the month that shot 2020 like a cannonball out of history’s cannon.
Geared for battle
Mars, in full battle mode in its ruling sign, has been raking us over the coals since June of this year, and it’s not done yet. When it stations on 11/13th at the middle degree of Aries, the god of war will start heading direct again.
For those who do rituals, this is the moment to slaughter a metaphorical goat for Mars’s altar. The intention that we set at this station, as a group and individually, sets the tone of Mars’s style going forward.
Do we want to use it to fuel violence, or to embolden our bravest and most independence selves?
It’s a common astrological error to blame this planet (traditionally the “lesser malefic”) for wars and other instances 
of testosterone run amok. But it’s not that red rock spinning through space that determines how martial passion gets expressed.
It’s determined by the state of the human ego. And at certain key moments, such as the planetary station this month, the state of our consciousness is particularly critical.
A sense of balance
Mid-month, Venus (personal values) in Libra (equality) squares Pluto, Jupiter and Saturn (11/15-19), one by one. We are called upon to take a stand on issues of equitability, on the collective level, and simple fairness, on the individual level.
This multi-pronged drama will be ratcheted up by an opposition to Uranus (exact on 11/27). At issue is the instinctive human desire to get along with each other. Towards the end of the month, Uranus will test it, by catching us off guard.
The result will be unsettling, but potentially creative. In relationships we may surprise ourselves with our own inventiveness.
Notes
1) The Pluto Return has a series of peaks. Was was when Pluto started to conjoin Saturn in 2019. This phase got a boost when that conjunction reached exactitude in January 2020. Pluto will reach its own exact natal position three times in 2022.
2) Such as the Saturn-Pluto conjunction of Jan 2020, which helps us understand how the cultural and political trends of the last 3 decades led up to where we are now (discussed here).
Painting of dystopian soldiers: Dariusz Zawadzki
