In what will appear as a Christmas Star on the Winter Solstice on Monday, Dec. 21, Jupiter and Saturn will come into alignment in a Great Conjunction: Google

The Big Picture – 
By Glynn Wilson – 

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — There appears to be no profound quotations of wisdom from the past or memes to share that accurately capture the present moment.

Or maybe Google is just too polluted with commercial crap for me to find it. I would sue the ba, ba, bastaads myself if I could find a law firm with the balls to file the complaint.

Today’s writers dilemma is to decide whether to write about the past, or the future.

It’s impossible to write about the present.

Never mind all that so-called wisdom about living in the moment. The present is gone before you can capture it in words. You can take a snapshot and catch it in a photograph and maybe it will live forever in some form. But you can’t write it.

Sometimes it’s possible to put the reader in the present tense with me, by saying something like this: “Just as I was writing this they were shooting the cannons off down by the Tennessee River as the UTK Volunteers were about to kick off against the UT Aggies.” But do we really care about football with everything else that’s going on?

Besides, in spite of a long tradition in news publishing of producing a year-in-review story, 2020 was such a horrible year in the history of the country and the world that I would rather forget it. Even though I know we never will. And it’s not quite over yet.

The worst president ever, Donald Trump, is still sleeping in the White House. And there are still destructive thoughts stirring around in his orange head, and not just those the size of a mouse. Who knows what surprises he has in store for us to get our attention this Christmas and New Years?

Sticks and coal for him.

But damnit, the last thing I want to think or write about at this moment is Donald F___ing Trump. So I will write about the Christmas Star instead.

Christmas Star: Great Conjunction

Jupiter and Saturn moving closer together: Google

On Monday, December 21, 2020, if you look up in the night sky, you might see it.

No, it’s not a Christian miracle.

It’s the so-called “Great Conjunction,” when Jupiter and Saturn appear to align in the southwest sky in the Northern Hemisphere on the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.

Scientists have known about this since the 1600s, when Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei pointed his telescope to the night sky. After he discovered the four moons of Jupiter and Saturns rings, in 1623 the solar system’s two giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn, traveled together across the sky. Jupiter caught up with and passed Saturn, and this astronomical event came to be called the “Great Conjunction.”

It’s also called the “Christmas Star” when it occurs, only it’s been nearly 400 years since the planets passed this close, nearly 800 years since the alignment occurred at night.

So people around the world will be able to witness it this year, and much will be made of it by all manner of evangelists and astrologers.

Age of Aquarius

Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter will be beside Earth’s moon for a few days too: Google

In fact, astrologers are already making a big deal of it, since this rare alignment of Saturn and Jupiter will take place with the dawning of Aquarius, “a sign that’s all about humanitarianism, enlightenment, independence, and radical thinking.”

“This shift will bring a huge influx of Aquarian energy into our lives for quite some time,” they say. “And that’s just the beginning. Could it be the dawning of the Age of Aquarius?”

The Age of Aquarius is the name for the approximately 2,000 year astrological cycle that starts a new age on Earth. It’s supposedly an era of brotherly love, humanitarianism, ideals, peace, visionary spirituality, technology and science.

The “zero degree” aspect of this conjunction of these two outer planets “is very auspicious,” they say. “It’s often associated with huge new beginnings and expansion.”

Some astrologers refer to this conjunction point as a “critical degree,” where old things die out and new and positive things come into being.

Trump is on the way out of favor along with the Age of Pisces, and as a Gemini, sources say, he was eclipsed by the solar eclipse on Dec. 14.

Hey, I’m all for it. Hope it comes true.

But we still have some reality to deal with first.

Year in Review: 2020

California redwoods burning: NBC

While 2020 will always be known as the year of the novel coronavirus pandemic, when millions of people got sick and many died, at least the people came together in the United States and voted in record numbers to send Trump packing. That’s the best thing that happened all year.

Yet there were all kinds of signs of bad things to come that we also witnessed in 2020.

Nothing was more troubling to me than the mass burning of the great redwoods and sequoia trees in the American West. I am almost glad I was not there to document this story in person. I think it would have broken my heart beyond repair.

It made me sadder even than the death of John Prine from COVID.

Since I was hiding out in the mountains during hurricane season, I was not there in person to cover it either this year.

According to NOAA, however, the extremely active 2020 Atlantic hurricane season came to a close at the end of November with a record-breaking 30 named storms, and 12 storms that made landfall in the continental United States.

We know from the science on global warming and climate change from human burning of fossil fuels for energy and transportation that the fires and storms will only become more frequent, larger and get even worse — even if we stop what we are doing now and drastically change our behavior.

Maybe we can get started with a new administration in Washington in January. But Age of Aquarius or not, this does not bode well for the future.

We have to start somewhere, however, so after a long Christmas and New Years rest and break, let’s get to it. I will do my part by covering the stories I can get to.

Meanwhile, the world has turned weird in all kinds of ways this year.

The Washington Post just ran a story about how they asked readers to describe the year 2020 in one word or phrase. Apparently the number one response was “exhausting,” although there was also “lost” and “chaotic,” “relentless” and “surreal.”

There’s no doubt the events of 2020 have taken their toll on all our psyches, making reality hard to recognize even when it should be obvious. This is not just a problem on the right, by the way. There is plenty of fantasyland to go around the political spectrum.

What I wonder is: Even once Trump is long gone from the White House and we get vaccines enough for everyone, will we ever fully recover our mental health? A real sense of sanity like we live in a normal world? Will people ever be able to trust again?

I’m no expert and don’t know the answer. I’m trying to reach some experts to question them about it. Unfortunately it is Christmas Break week, so no one is calling back. You can’t blame them. Everybody needs a big, long break.

I will keep asking, though. That’s all I can do.

So keep looking up. Check out the Christmas Star and keep hoping for a new Age of Aquarius. Maybe if we keep on trying, we can get there one day soon. One can only hope.