An extremely rare and symbolically potent astrological configuration happens for two and a half days beginning on 4 November 2020: the rulers of each cardinal sign will be present in the cardinal sign they rule.

Let’s call this the “Great Cardinal Turning” (GCT) (a thread).

Of the modes, only cardinal signs can have all sign rulers in the sign of their cardinal domicile at the same time. With mutable signs, Mercury and Jupiter can’t be in two signs at once. With fixed signs, Venus and the Sun can never form a sign based square.

Cardinal signs are signs of beginnings. Action is initiated: new events, discoveries, ideas, and movements. Novelty, you might say. These GCT events have marked the initial phase of important changes in the human experience, astounding achievements and harsh undersides included.

GCT alignments happen less often than the mean mutation conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. That significant mundane astrological event happens once every 200 years. A GCT has happened only 33 times in Solar Fire’s searchable ephemeris, roughly once every 300 years.

If we dial in the last two GCT events before this November’s, we find the years 1578 and 1783 are in focus. Both years marked highly significant alterations to the North American continent and the world at large. I’ll take them here in chronological order.

1578 was a year in the middle of Sir Francis Drake’s circumnavigation of the globe, an event emblematic of the rise of England as a global empire based in naval dominance. It was during this year that Drake became the first Englishman to move through the Straits of Magellan.

Also during 1578, Englishman Martin Frobisher, in search of the Northwest Passage, celebrated the first "Thanksgiving" in North America (according to some historical timelines). This is symbolic of European expansion into a North America that they saw as a “New World.”

With these advances came the exploitation of bodies and souls via the transatlantic slave trade, colonial slaughters, and the extraction of resources for the wrongful ingratiation of European powers. There’s often a shadow side, or evil side, within the cycles of human affairs.

The next iteration of the GCT was in 1783, the year of the signing of the Treaty of Paris, the document ending the Revolutionary War and establishing the United States as a new country. This marked a change in governance in North America, a real and symbolic beginning.

1783 was also early in the Industrial Revolution, a period bringing transformative upgrades to the manufacture and availability of goods and medicine. These changes also saw the sad and dastardly exploitation of labor in factories under harsh, often inhumane working conditions.

2020 has been a year of shocking upheaval. The continuity and flow life will be forever altered. The World Economic Forum has dubbed this period a “Great Reset” to be used for the ushering in of what they term the "Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

“While interest in Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies has spiked as a result of COVID-19, fewer than 9% of companies currently use advanced technologies such as machine learning, robotics or even touch screens.”

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/10/the-great-reset-harnessing-the-fourth-industrial-revolution/

There’s a great promise that these new technologies will bring sentient beings better health and more wealth. But a dark side could include what Zbigniew Brzezinski described as a “technotronic era” involving “the gradual appearance of a more controlled society."

To summarize: the Moon’s ingress into Cancer on 4 November 2020 will perfect a rare astrological alignment of all rulers of cardinal signs being in the cardinal sign they rule. This event has marked the appearance of great changes in society. While promising, there is dark side.