The Future’s Early Renaissance – A Change Already Taking Shape
Since the pandemic, the world seems to have shifted into a new era. The rhythm of everyday life, the ways we work, and how we stay connected have changed permanently, while technological development has taken a tremendous leap forward. Artificial intelligence in particular has emerged as one of the fastest growing and most influential forces of our time. No wonder the era feels different. But how can we make sense of this transformation? And how might astrology help us understand the changing nature of time?
Huvila Härkä’s societal blog series explores this transition, especially through the lens of the years 2026–2027. The cycle of Jupiter and Saturn offers a compelling perspective. In astrology, the shared, so called synodic cycle of these two giant planets is considered significant, as they meet in the sky roughly every 20 years (19.859 years). The Jupiter–Saturn cycle reflects, among other things, phases of the economy, development, and growth.
In 2020, the planets Jupiter and Saturn appeared exceptionally close to one another—closer than they had been in centuries. The phenomenon was compared to the rare conjunction that Johannes Kepler once proposed as a possible explanation for the Star of Bethlehem. The 2020 conjunction was visible on clear evenings low on the horizon as daylight faded, but the planets’ approach toward each other could be followed for a long time, as they remained close for nearly a year. In the coming summer, Jupiter and Saturn will form a trine aspect and take part in a so called bowl configuration, in which all the slow moving planets, i.e. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Plut, are involved.
What makes the Jupiter–Saturn cycle particularly fascinating is that their conjunctions, the beginnings of new cycles, repeat for roughly 200 years within the same element. These conjunctions occur in long series in either fire, earth, air, or water signs. For the past couple of centuries, since the early 1800s, Jupiter and Saturn have met exclusively in earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn), most recently in Taurus in the spring of 2000. The conjunction in Aquarius in December 2020, however, opened a new era: a roughly 200 year cycle of air sign conjunctions. To find the previous air sign era, we must look far back in history; indeed, as far as the 13th century. These are extremely long epochs, and therefore deeply meaningful cycles.
Next, I will explore the broad developmental patterns that can be traced within the earth sign and air sign eras. Jupiter and Saturn’s earth sign conjunctions fall within the periods 1007–1206 and 1802–2000.
Correspondingly, their air sign conjunctions occur between 1226–1405 and in the era that began in 2020 and will continue until 2199. These are vast cycles, best understood as the major background currents of time, long range frameworks that shape the unfolding of history.
Between the years 1007–1206 and again from 1802–2000, the Jupiter–Saturn conjunctions occurred in the earth signs Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn. What unites these two eras is, above all, a logic of construction and consolidation. The earlier period can be described as an age of medieval stability, while the latter corresponds to the material era of smokestack industrialization. Both represent phases in which societal structures strengthened: in the earlier cycle, feudalism and the authority of the Church became firmly established; in the later one, nation states and modern institutions took root. At the same time, both the economy and population expanded significantly; first through advances in agricultural technology, and later through industrialization and urbanization.
Culturally and technologically, these eras were times of ascent and organization. Between the 11th and 13th centuries, universities emerged and Romanesque architecture flourished, while in the 19th and 20th centuries, modern science, the industrial revolution, and the dawn of the digital age reshaped the structures of knowledge and technology.
Both periods are also characterized by a certain inward orientation when viewed against the transformative phases that followed them. Earlier Europe remained relatively closed before the opening of Eurasian networks, while the modern world was preparing for the broader expansion brought by globalization and digitalization. In this sense, both eras functioned as foundational periods; times of stability before major shifts unfolded.
Between 1226 and 1405, and again from 2020 to 2199, the Jupiter–Saturn conjunctions occur in the air signs Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius. What links the periods 1226–1405 and the era beginning in 2020 is a shared landscape of disruption, increasing interconnectedness, and uncertainty. The earlier period can be described as a proto Renaissance, while the latter represents an immaterial age of intelligence. Both mark moments when the world “shrinks” and connections intensify: between roughly 1240 and 1350, the Pax Mongolica established by the Mongol Empire opened Eurasian trade routes and created the intellectual, economic, and cultural conditions upon which the Renaissance would later be built. The spread of universities and the strong growth of the 13th and 14th centuries reshaped the structures of knowledge. Universities became new centers of thought, nodes where the legacy of antiquity met medieval theology, generating new modes of thinking that paved the way for the Renaissance. This stands in contrast to the preceding earth sign era of Jupiter–Saturn conjunctions, when scholarship was concentrated almost entirely within monasteries and the Church. In the modern era, digitalization, artificial intelligence, and space based networks have created real time global connectivity. Technological development has not only transformed society; it has altered the fundamental structures of thought itself.
Both periods are also marked by the role of crises as accelerators of change. Structural shifts in the economy and in forms of work are central to each era. The labor shortages that followed the plague weakened the feudal system and opened space for the rise of wage labor. In a similar way, automation and artificial intelligence challenge today’s economic systems and generate new forms of work and livelihood. The old order erodes, and alongside it something new begins to take shape; often still vague and unfinished.
Culturally, both eras signify an expansion of worldview. Asian influences and travel accounts broadened medieval perspectives, while in the present day, global cultural flows, AI generated knowledge, and space exploration expand humanity’s understanding of itself. In this way, both periods form turning points in which the old order wavers and a new one begins to emerge.
In the 13th and 14th centuries, Europe underwent a decisive transitional phase in which the structures of the medieval world gradually gave way to new forms of thought, art, and scholarship. This period is often referred to as the proto Renaissance: a time when the legacy of antiquity began to re emerge visibly in European culture, even though the full flourishing of the Renaissance still lay ahead. At the heart of this transformation were, on one hand, the opening of Eurasian trade routes, the weakening of feudalism, and the rise of Gothic art and architecture; and on the other, the spread of universities, which created a new intellectual infrastructure grounded in rational inquiry, debate, and the reinterpretation of classical heritage.
When the proto Renaissance of the 1200s–1400s is compared with the preceding era of medieval stability—the earth sign period of 1007–1226—the differences are profound. This was not merely a stylistic shift but a reorganization of European thought and society at a fundamental level. A similar comparison can be drawn between the immaterial age of intelligence that began in 2020 and the smokestack industrial era that started in the early 1800s. The years 1800–2000/2020 were an age of building the material world, when progress depended on physical infrastructure and industrial expansion. Since the early 2000s, we have entered an immaterial, networked, and rapidly changing era; a transition from constructing the world to constructing realities.
Although the contemporary world does not, of course, mirror the conditions of the 13th and 14th centuries, we can still ask whether the dynamics of these periods share similar features. Is it possible that we are living through a transitional moment reminiscent of the shifts that occurred 600–800 years ago? Are we, in a sense, experiencing a proto Renaissance of the future?
Since 2020, we have entered an era in which change no longer unfolds steadily but accelerates in layers and at an exponential pace. The pandemic acted as a kind of catalyst, revealing how deeply interconnected the world already was, and how quickly it could transform. The rapid advance of digitalization, the breakthrough of artificial intelligence, and the tightening of global networks have created a shift reminiscent of the earlier air sign era, the proto Renaissance, but unfolding at many times the speed. This is not merely a technological transformation but a comprehensive transition reshaping the structures of knowledge, the human self image, and society. What follows are three scenarios for a proto Renaissance of the future.
The first major shift concerns the structure of knowledge. Artificial intelligence is no longer just a tool but a partner in thinking; a participant in the production and organization of knowledge. Learning moves into real time, adaptive systems in which information is not static but continuously updated and collectively shaped. This mirrors the emergence of universities during the proto Renaissance, but on a global and algorithmic scale.
At the same time, the human self image expands. Humans are increasingly understood as biological, psychological, social, and technological beings whose identities are constructed across multiple parallel spaces: the physical world, digital environments, and virtual communities. Individuality and community are no longer opposites but intertwined dimensions that shape what it means to be human.
The third transformation appears in the structures of society. Work, the economy, and culture shift toward the logic of platforms and ecosystems, where the boundary between the local and the global becomes blurred. Social change now moves faster than institutions can respond, placing us in a state of continuous adaptation; a kind of in between space that echoes the proto Renaissance but is even more radical in nature.
The proto Renaissance of the future seems to be a transition in which old structures lose their hold while new ones are only beginning to take shape. It is a threshold: as we step across it, we do not yet know what kind of era awaits, but we recognize that the transformation is already underway—and that its direction is still being defined.
Huvila Härkä’s Societal Blog Series
In spring 2026, we will examine these cycles, transitional phases, and intersection points in greater depth, focusing on the perspectives and scenario frameworks they offer for understanding temporal change.
Other Articles in the Societal Blog Series
Astrological Megatrends
The Long Arc of Finland and Russia, 1703–2026
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