A liability of rushing around and listening to wrong advice could greet our December.
The 1st of December has Venus opposed Mars, Mercury square Neptune, and Venus trine Saturn. The Mutable Sign T-Square with planets in Gemini, Sagittarius and Pisces is ratcheted up severalfold. We may be doing a great deal of juggling, and we have to be careful not to upset the applecart or upset someone. Relationships can be fraught with drama, and our communications may be a little off. We have to be wary of misinterpreting what we hear. We need to avoid personal slights, whether we feel like the victim or perceived to be the perpetrator. This is a day for us to take everything with a grain of salt and rely upon a trusted and true confidante as a sounding board as to what is really going on.
If we stepped on toes to begin this month of December, we could be stomping on them on the 3rd – 4th when Neptune turns direct [7:15 PM EST] on the 3rd, and Venus squares Neptune on the 4th. Emotions can be high, and our judgment as to the intentions of someone may be off. We might be able to see potential in someone but whether they are interested in realizing their potential can be questionable. Now is a time to beware of tricksters, people who appear one way, the reality being something different. Grace and charm would go a long way to defusing any potential hiccups with our relationships.
It would be wise to keep in mind that the second half of November through early December has the Mutable Sign T-Square in play with a liability of high nervous energy, agitation and racing around.
December 6th has Mercury square Jupiter just before Mercury exits Sagittarius to enter Capricorn [5:08 PM EST]. People may be talking a blue streak about anything and everything, some of which may be completely insignificant. While there can be a great deal of idle chatter, our communications and our thoughts become far more meaningful as Mercury enters Capricorn. While Mercury is in Sagittarius, a Sign of Detriment for Mercury, where our thinking becomes diffuse and conversations become endless, our mind tends to be expansive and diffuse, negating specifics and seeing only a big picture. With Mercury in Capricorn, some of our buoyancy may drop off and our tone of thought turns more serious and more practical. As Mercury enters Capricorn, the Stellium of three planets in Sagittarius ends. We may feel as though some wind has been knocked out of our sails.
The Gemini Full Moon on the 7th of December [11:08 PM EST] when the Sun opposes the Moon has Mars in the mix with the Moon conjunct Mars and the Sun opposed Mars exact on the 8th. The Mutable Sign T-Square is ramped up. We might find our social obligations to be more than ever before and especially after two years of virus reactions and lockdowns when we felt that we were banished to solitary confinement. People may be looking to play nice with relatives, friends, neighbors and even people with whom they have had no contact for several years. The holiday madness could be starting with gusto and with the cheer of ‘the more, the merrier’.
Similar to the 6th of December when we had Mercury square Jupiter with a tendency of a gabfest and over-the-top expectations, the 9th of December could have people indulging to the max. The two ‘good guys’ of the planetary realm, Venus and Jupiter, are square. Enough may be far less than what we desire, and we can be singing the praises of ‘more, more, more’. Although even excess may not be enough, it would be wise to bear in mind the admonition: “if you dance to the music, you’ve got to pay to the piper.”
After Venus squares Jupiter on the 9th, Venus exits Sagittarius to enter Capricorn [10:54 PM EST], triggering a Stellium in the Cardinal Earth Sign as Venus joins Mercury and Pluto in Capricorn. While there can be a sense of the bloom coming off the rose, we might turn our attention to practical matters, our goals for the year ahead, and our responsibilities. During this month and especially during these last three weeks of the month, in the midst of the holiday festivities and merrymaking, it would be wise for us to consider our resolutions for the new year and with an appreciation that during this paradigm shift it is best for us to make our plans in pencil with a big eraser. 2023 will have significant Sign changes.
Two conflicting energies occur on the 12th and 14th of December. On the 12th, the Sun sextiles Saturn, followed on the 14th by the Sun square Neptune. We can devise a practical and focused strategy to achieve our goals with a consideration of what we want to do, how we want to do it and with whom, if anyone, we want to do it. Even though we may create a solid template for ourselves on the 12th, and possibly with some worthwhile input from someone, the 14th with the Sun square Neptune can have us questioning whether we have taken into account all the necessary components. Have we misread the signals along the way? Are we up to the challenge? Do we have the resources to carry off our greatest ambitions? Second guessing ourselves to the point of catatonia could have us freeze in our tracks and allow inertia to set in.
During this paradigm shift, it is essential to keep in mind that the game of life has changed. We are no longer the sole determiner of our fate [as if we ever truly were] but rather mutual participants with the universe unfolding. We are moving out of sequential, linear reality and coming into asequential reality where things can occur in the most inexplicable manner, akin to what we would consider to be magic and miracles. We do NOT have to do it all, but we do need to be open and receptive to unexpected variables that can either block our way or ease our path. In these times, humility is called for.
Even if we were flummoxed by a sense of what we want and a feeling that what we want is beyond our abilities with the seesaw energies of the 12th and 14th, the universe can step in on the 17th when Mercury trines Uranus. Surprising developments, sudden insights, and wondrous opportunities may be revealed. We need to have our antennae up, work with peripheral vision, and be open to receive the workings of the universe. Perplexing problems could be suddenly resolved. Intriguing encounters could hold an important key for us. Yes, this is a time to notate the magic of these times. It may not be the parting of the Red Sea, but the 17th can provide us with some fascinating reflections of this paradigm shift into asequential reality.
We close out the autumn season with Jupiter exiting Pisces to enter Aries on the 20th of December [9:32 AM EST]. Jupiter has completed a twelve-year cycle through the zodiac. Its entry into Aries calls for new beginnings. We had a prelude of the Jupiter in Aries during the late Spring through October of this year when Jupiter first transited the Cardinal Fire Sign. It would be wise to recount the various involvements we had that were self-affirming and that indicated new trajectories for ourselves. Even if we were unable to fully engage the newness for ourselves at that time, they offered us glimpses into what we can pursue during this coming year of 2023.
The winter season begins on the 21st as the Sun exits Sagittarius to enter the Cardinal Earth Sign Capricorn at the Winter Solstice [4:48 PM EST]. As the Sun enters Capricorn, the Sun squares Jupiter. The question of what we want as opposed to what we need may be engaged. Limitations and restrictions could impede our personal intentions and our ability to put our individual mark upon things.
The movement of the Sun into Capricorn increases the influence of the Earth Sign Stellium as the Sun joins Mercury, Venus and Pluto in Capricorn. No matter the weather, we could be in for a long cold winter. Instead of the wide breadth of expansion, we might be experiencing compression and contraction. The liability of shortages and reduced supply may force us to focus on necessities more than luxuries. We may be able to stave off the wolves at our door thanks in large part to the plastic we all carry with the rallying cry of ‘charge it’.
In the northern latitudes, the Winter Solstice harkens the birth of light, as we reach the darkest point of the year and from here the days grow in light.
Unlike city dwellers, those who live in rural communities are used to interaction with their neighbors with a reliability and dependability of assistance. When one person or family faces hard times, rural neighbors often rally around. We might evidence the ability of drawing upon someone, even someone we would not expect, on the 22nd when Venus trines Uranus. While these disruptive, tumultuous times seem more contractive than expansive, there is magic afoot with mini-miracles evident on a regular basis. Even if we are feeling thwarted by circumstance, the 22nd could afford a wondrous incident that helps us realize that life is good, no matter how much we might try and muck things up.
The 23rd has the Capricorn New Moon when the Moon conjuncts the Sun [5:17 AM EST] and influences the next two weeks up to the Full Moon on the 6th of January and also impacts the winter season. Perhaps we are in for a cold, hard winter when the dysfunctionality of old systems and old institutions become increasingly apparent with detrimental consequences for us as a group and as individuals. This New Moon has five planets in Capricorn but is offset by the Venus Uranus trine on the 22nd and the Mercury sextile Neptune on the 24th. Even if conditions and circumstance seemed geared towards a dystopian future, it is essential for us to realize that what appears to be is often an illusion and that more significant fundamentals are percolating below the surface with the eventual upwelling being a blossoming and flowering. In truth, the phoenix rises from the ashes. And we, whether sooner or later, come out from under the darkness.
The Mercury sextile Neptune on the 24th, Christmas Eve, allows us to blend critical analysis with heightened intuition. While our ‘culture’ seems to be on a runaway train of postmodernism with its gobbledygook of the subjective becoming the objective, fiction replacing fact, and the empirical dismissed to bizarre fantasy; our ability to ‘see’ through the miasma of these times is heightened. We can draw upon our sense of a higher power[s] and realize what is truly going on amidst the constant bombardment of stimuli of sounds and sights that tend to denigrate rather than uplift.
The latter part of this month of December could be a time when we reconnect with the spiritual characteristics of our being and of the true meaning of our life on the earth plane. From even a small impulse of the force behind the form, we may reinvigorate a sense of putting our spirit into action. We might even be more aware of the magic operating in these times.
The 28th has Venus sextile Neptune. Relationships may be close to idyllic, as we appreciate the connections that we have with people on a soul level.
An interesting thing about this paradigm shift is that we are moving from the fourth dimension into a fifth dimension. We are crossing a threshold from the limitations of the three spatial coordinates and a measurement of time, and ascending into life’s continuum of NOW where past, present and future are all NOW. A sense of familiarity with someone we have just met, flashbacks into prior historical periods, and glimpses of what could be can increasingly be part of our life experience. It might be unnerving at first, but the more we relax into this kaleidoscope of past, present and future we can come to realize the truth to karma and the importance of our doing life with depth, honor and integrity. For in truth, what goes around comes around, and we may not have to wait lifetimes for it to come around, or in the words of John Lennon:
“Instant Karma’s gonna get you
Gonna knock you right on the head
You better get yourself together”
We close out the month of December with Mercury turning retrograde and Mercury conjunct Pluto on the 29th. With Mercury being in the third decanate of Capricorn [Virgo], Virgo creates the sub-influence of this Mercury retrograde and suggests we tie up loose ends, deal with outstanding matters and make certain that we have taken care of even the most minute particulars. We are ending 2022, about to enter 2023, likely to be a year of significant change and challenge, and the more we can have a clean slate to draw upon, the less encumbered we shall be and the better able to address our life conditions effectively and successfully.
December 2022… slowing down the intensity of time…
