Jupiter-Saturn Conjunction & Plagues: Black Death, SARS, AIDS, MERS-CoV, Ebola, Covid-19

“The first printing of the rhyme was in Kate Greenaway’s 1881 edition of Mother Goose; or, the Old Nursery Rhymes:

Ring-a-ring-a-roses,
A pocket full of posies;
Ashes! Ashes!
We all fall down.

 . . .The rhyme has often been associated with  . . . the Black Death in England.  . .

The invariable sneezing and falling down in modern English versions have given would-be origin finders the opportunity to say that the rhyme dates back to the Great Plague. A rosy rash, they allege, was a symptom of the plague, and posies of herbs were carried as protection and to ward off the smell of the disease. Sneezing or coughing was a final fatal symptom, and “all fall down” was exactly what happened.”

Black Death began in Europe in October 1347  when a trading ship landed in Messina, Italy with most of the sailors dead.  The living crew members were all deathly ill and soon succumbed to the fever and black boils which formed over their bodies. The Black Death had arrived in Europe. The ships were immediately returned to sea but it was too late and for decades to come this new plague, Black Death, aka Bubonic plague ravaged Europe.  The disease, a bacteria, spread via the air from person to person as well as by bites from infected fleas and rats.

“Many people fled the cities for the countryside, but even there they could not escape the disease: It affected cows, sheep, goats, pigs and chickens as well as people. In fact, so many sheep died that one of the consequences of the Black Death was a European wool shortage. . . The Black Death epidemic had run its course by the early 1350s, but the plague reappeared every few generations for centuries. Modern sanitation and public-health practices have greatly mitigated the impact of the disease but have not eliminated it.”

The disease struck and killed people with terrible speed. The Italian writer Boccaccio said its victims often

‘ate lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors in paradise.’

By the following August, the plague had spread as far north as England, where people called it “The Black Death” because of the black spots it produced on the skin. A terrible killer was loose across Europe, and Medieval medicine had nothing to combat it.

In winter the disease seemed to disappear, but only because fleas–which were now helping to carry it from person to person–are dormant then. Each spring, the plague attacked again, killing new victims. After five years 25 million people were dead–one-third of Europe’s people.”

JUPITER-SATURN CONJUNCTIONS

Jupiter and Saturn conjunct or come together every twenty years.  This can be called the Juipter-Saturn cycle or ‘great conjunctions’.

This Jupiter-Saturn cycle has been studied by astrologers for thousands of years and the degree and sign that these two traditional outer planets combine is studied as it may portend to shifts in mundane events such as President’s being assassinated or plagues.

A few years prior to the outbreak of the Black Death in Europe in 1348, Jupiter conjoined Saturn at 19 degrees of Aquarius in 1345.  The year that the plaque hit hardest, 1348, there was a Solar Eclipse that hit the degree of the Jupiter-Saturn Conjunction almost exact.

BLACK DEATH -1348

• Jupiter conjunct Saturn: March 24, 1345 at 19:01 degrees of Aquarius. 
• Solar Eclipse on January 31, 1348 at 18:59 Aqarius.
• 1348 – Black Death or bubonic plague spreads across Europe.

In the book “Astrology and the Seventeenth Century Mind: William Lilly and the Language of the Stars (Social and Cultural Values in Early Modern Europe)” by Ann Geneva, the following excerpt shows that astrologers at the time attributed this Jupiter/Saturn cycle with eclipses as the predictor of the bubonic plaque’s onset:

“The conjunction of 1345 cited by Pietro was a ‘cause celebre’ even before it occurred, with all three superior planets – Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars – to meet in Aquarius in March, preceded by a lunar eclipse.  The advent of the Black Plague in 1348 caused subsequent conjunctionist astrologers to cite it with the wisdeom of hindsight.  Geoffrey of Meaux, for instance, reviewing the astrological causes of the plague after the event referred back to this conjunction (claiming to have begun his research on the conjunction after invoking the Holy Ghost). . . The most important contemporary commentator on the 1345 conjunction was John Ashenden . . . his tract ‘summa judicialis’ treated great conjunctions as both signs and causes of the Black Death.  . .  The effects of the conjunction, he stated, would not be felt for four and a half years, and would then continue in effect for the next three. ”

HIV / AIDS – 1981

• Jupiter conjunct Saturn:       Dec 31 1980    09°Li29′ D     09°Li29′ D
• Jupiter conjunct Saturn:       Mar 4 1981      08°Li06′ R      08°Li06′ R
• Jupiter conjunct Saturn:       Jul 24 1981      04°Li56′ D     04°Li56′ D
• AIDS 1981
• Solar Eclipse October 3, 1986

In 1980-1981 Jupiter conjoined Saturn three times due to retrograde motion at 4, 8, and 9 degrees of Libra.

    “On June 5, [1981]  the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publish a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), describing cases of a rare lung infection, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), in five young, previously healthy, gay men in Los Angeles.” 

Years later, this new infection would become known as the introduction to  HIV or AIDS.  It would take years before the magnitude of this new virus would become known around the world.

The next eclipse in Libra was a solar eclipse on October 3, 1986 at ten degrees of Libra precisely hits  the first Jupiter/Saturn conjunction in 1980.  It was in 1986 that the virus was officially named ‘HIV.’   “In May [1986], the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses Exit Disclaimer declares that the virus that causes AIDS will officially be known as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).” 

Also in 1986,  President Reagan mentioned AIDS publicly for the first time, vowing in a letter to congress to make it a priority.  Also in 1986 AIDS activist Cleve Jones creates the first panel of the AIDS Memorial Quilt Exit Disclaimer.

SARS – 2002

• May 28 2000  Jupiter conjunct Saturn:       22°Ta43′ D    22°Ta43′ D
• Nov 19 2002   Lunar Eclipse            :            27°Taurus 32′ D       
• May 16 2003   Lunar Eclipse            :            24°Scorpio 52′ D

In 2000 Jupiter conjoined Saturn at 22 degrees of Taurus.  There were no eclipses in Taurus until November 19^th 2002 when a lunar eclipse occurred at 27 degrees of Taurus (approx. 5 degrees difference.)  Shortly after a new coronavirus, SARS, hit the scene and resulted in mass fears of a worldwide epidemic throughout 2003.

SARS outbreak which began in 2002 and was deadly but it did not spread out as widely as was feared at the time.  According to the CDC, “SARS caused a global epidemic in 2003, but there have not been any known cases of SARS since 2004. MERS-CoV is not the same coronavirus that caused SARS.”

The virus was not as deadly on the world scale as had been thought.  After 2004 it was no longer considered a threat.

MERS-CoV – 2012 – ?

• Nov 13 2012   Solar Eclipse            :            21°Scorpio 56′ D

As of this writing, the last Jupiter-Saturn conjunction was in 2000,  The next one will not occur until Dec 21st 2020.  As we approach 2020 we have become aware of a new coronavirus which has begun in the Middle East.  It is called: MERS-CoV – Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus.

What is coronavirus?

According to the World Health Organization, “Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illness in humans and animals. In people, coronaviruses can cause illnesses ranging in severity from the common cold to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

The novel coronavirus (MERS-CoV) , first detected in April 2012, is a new virus that has not been seen in humans before. In most cases, it has caused severe disease. Death has occurred in about half of cases.

This new coronavirus is now known as Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). It was named by the Coronavirus Study Group of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses in May 2013. “  

MERS-CoV has been spreading very slowly. The first reported case in Saudi Arabia was in April 2012.

However, it seems to be killing many young healthy people as well as older people.

The first case of MERS-CoV was found a short time before a solar eclipse at 21 degrees of Scorpio on November 13, 2012 which closely opposed the last Jupiter-Saturn conjunction at 22 degrees of Taurus.

Recently this virus has been in the news as the WHO monitors it’s progress and medical organizations have already begun to prepare for the possibility of a worldwide outbreak.

The activity of this new potential plague can also be seen by aspects to the Jupiter Saturn opposition which occurred three times due to retrogrades in 2010-2011 at 27 Pisces, 2 degrees Aries and 14 Aries.

This month on April 15^th 2014 there was a lunar eclipse at 25 degrees of Libra/Aries, hitting the Saturn/Jupiter opposition widely resulting in resurgence of the MersCOV virus with new reports of more people infected in Saudi Arabia while Egypt contends with its first case of the disease.

“Saudi Arabia, which has been hardest-hit by the MERS virus, announced on Friday (4/15/14) it had discovered 14 more cases in the kingdom, bringing the total number to 313.”

A dramatic increase from the handful of people who were reported ill last year. The mortality rate is about 50 percent.

The current concern is whether this MersCOV, or something else (Ebola?) will appear by the next Jupiter/Saturn conjunction in 2020 – only six years away. The degree of the 2000 Jupiter/Saturn conjunction at 22 Taurus and possibly the Jupiter/Saturn opposition degrees of 27 Virgo/Pisces, 2 + 14 Aries/Libra, are ones to watch for eclipses and other celestial events and developments of MersCOV, Ebola, or something else.

2014

• April/ May 2014 – Transiting Saturn opposing the last Jupiter/Saturn conjunction at 22:48 Taurus has brought the first case of MERS-CoV to the U.S. 
  

• Transiting Saturn will turn direct on July 20, 2014 and oppose the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction in October 2014 which may cause more infections.
  

Also, later this year on October 8, 2014 there will be a Lunar Eclipse at 15 degrees Aries/Libra which falls almost exact on the Jupiter/Saturn opposition of Mar 28, 2011. This may indicate a spreading of a disease to other countries and/or an increased number of infected people and animals. This may be prominent as the degrees are close.

2015

April 4, 2015 a Total Lunar Eclipse at 14 degrees Aries/Libra again falling exact may also show as more increased activity of this virus.

2018

July 27, 2018 there will be a Total Lunar eclipse at 5 Aquarius/Leo which hits the upcoming Jupiter/Saturn conjunction in 2020 at zero degrees Aquarius.