December begins with a rush of energy, much of which may be unrestrained and even uncontrollable. There may be no stopping us as we begin December. We could feel virtually invincible with a desire to go for the gold and more.
The 1st of December has Venus exiting Scorpio to enter Sagittarius adding to the Stellium in the Mutable Fire Sign as Venus joins the Sun, Mercury and Saturn in Sagittarius. We may be geared to expanding and broadening our reach and doing so with exuberance and confidence that can verge on false optimism.
The 1st also has Mars opposed Uranus. Impetuous actions may have us deciding to leap before we look. Our desire to engage the extreme would provoke a strong liability to accidents. If things turn out right, then we need to consider ourselves lucky for the chances we take can be risky at best, downright foolhardy at their worst.
The 2nd of December has Jupiter trine Neptune, and the inclination to push the envelope under the guise of divine protection or personal manifest destiny can have us overdoing, overextending and reaching beyond our usual parameters.
This early December crescendoes with the Gemini Full Moon on the 3rd, with the Sun square Neptune, and Mercury turning retrograde for its three-week cycle. The Full Moon being in Gemini is in the Sign ruled by Mercury. Meanwhile, Mercury will retrograde back through Sagittarius, a Sign of Detriment for Mercury, where Mercury is not at all comfortable.
We enter a period of time when we may not find solace in our confusion. Instead, we might find that much of our exuberance and enthusiasm was ill-placed and that we are having to sort through our realities — those of our imagination, those of our choosing, those of the paradigm shift and those of hard cold physical reality. We might have a wakeup call but possibly miss what the signals seem to indicate.
The 6th of December has Mercury conjunct Saturn, Mercury sextile Mars and Mars sextile Saturn. If we take things slowly, plan out our trajectory, then we can accomplish a great deal. The main issue is not to get bogged down in any depressive thoughts but rather to appreciate the fact that we never get more than we can actually handle. We might choose to address outstanding matters and tie up loose ends with the idea of bringing to completion those affairs that we do not want to bring into the new year.
On the 9th of December, Mars exits Libra, a Sign in which Mars is uncomfortable and in Detriment. With Mars entering Scorpio, Mars transits a Sign it co-rules with Pluto. Our actions may be far more decisive with greater determination to forge ahead no matter the obstacles. While Mars was transiting Libra, we might have been waffling in our decisions and in our actions and possibly more dependent upon other people’s input or assistance than self-reliant. We have greater perseverance now.
The 10th of December has Mercury trine Uranus and Venus square Neptune. We experienced the Mercury Uranus trine back on November 25th when Mercury was direct. With Mercury now retrograde some of the ‘ah-has’ that we might have experienced in late November can come forward again. It would be wise for us to have our antennae up, work with peripheral vision and be open to hearing some surprising news. What we have to watch out for is from whom we get our news. The Venus Neptune square can be very seductive but could also open the door to the trickster, someone who appears one way, the reality being quite different. This is a time when it would be wise to draw upon my oft-used admonition to
‘check the source, and check their agenda’.
December 12th has the Sun conjunct retrograde Mercury. We may be making our holiday plans, thinking about our resolutions for the new year and looking to how we can best present ourselves. This may be a day when we blueprint and strategize rather than implement.
The weekend of the 15th – 17th can kick off our holiday festivities. Mercury conjuncts Venus on the 15th of December. We are likely to be highly social whether we engage in holiday parties and / or connect with friends at a distance with whom we haven’t spoken for a while. We are in holiday spirits and full of good cheer. Some of us may decide to leave town on vacation or to visit family. We may want to keep our options open, for the 16th has the Sun trine Uranus, and we might decide to take an unexpected turn in regard to what we intend to do.
The 17th – 18th of December has the Sagittarius New Moon with the five Sagittarius transiting planets either by Sign or in orb of trining Uranus. The Sagittarius New Moon is also in orb of a conjunction with Saturn. This New Moon can be a powerful one with an emphasis on bringing closure to the past and especially the past two and a half years, but also with a willingness to embrace the unanticipated. We may be far more open to the serendipity of these times, where things develop not so much from us making them happen as to the idiosyncrasies of the universe unfolding. Now through the end of the year would be good times for us to do an inventory-taking, go through our old baggage and consider what we want to leave behind before we enter the new year and what we might be open to in the years ahead.
Saturn exits Sagittarius on the 19th – 20th, ending its two and a half year cycle through the Mutable Fire Sign. Saturn enters Capricorn, the Sign that Saturn rules, for the next two and a half years. The Saturn Capricorn transit is something I shall address in another post.
The autumn season ends with Venus trine Uranus on the 20th. New friends and greater connection with those people we know can make us appreciative of what people provide in our lives — perspectives that allow us to see things from a different viewpoint and mirrors that reflect some of our own best qualities and the sense of blessings for all the people who add so much to our life.
The winter season begins on the 21st as the Sun enters Capricorn at the Winter Solstice. The Sun conjuncts Saturn, ruler of Capricorn also on the 21st. We have a Stellium of three planets in the Cardinal Earth Sign as the Sun joins Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn. This imprint for the season ahead speaks to a push pull between old and new. We might easily get tripped up by past situations if we are not careful and all the while having us champing at the bit to move into new directions. There are times when we have to go back in order to truly move forward.
Astrology provides us a window into timing, times for right action, other times when we need to have patience and wait for better conditions. This winter can be a time of delays and frustrations. Some of the delays may be a consequence of our own lack of resources to move ahead, some of it our being forced to deal with outstanding matters that become impediments to our future trajectory, and some of it the liability of a slowdown in societal movement or impediments placed in our way by authority figures.
Another aspect of this winter may revolve around climate issues. Back in the 1970’s when I wrote my book Earth Changes Ahead, people focused on global warming, largely a result of human activities. In my book, I stressed climate change with an assertion that the jury should be out as to whether we were moving toward a climate warming trend or a climate cooling trend. I explained the various factors involved in climate change beyond human activity — natural climate cycles which would have us moving naturally towards a cooling trend, solar activity with a proclivity to lessening, geophysical phenomena of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions picking up, and countervailing human influences to human use of fossil fuels and the consequent greenhouse effect, all contributors to what could be a global cooling trend.
With Saturn in Capricorn and the Winter Solstice having the Sun entering Capricorn to conjunct Saturn, temperatures this winter may prove to be colder than normal raising question to the global warming advocates. Time will tell. Let us hope that science maintains objectivity, depends upon empirical evidence and does not jigger the data to support personal bias or a particular agenda.
We may take on a far more serious, even somber, tone as we begin the winter. Would it be any surprise when people have been experiencing heightened anxiety to the point of fearfulness and with outcroppings of anger, frustration and despair?
If we would keep in mind that we are at a time of dramatic paradigm shift, a change in the ways of the world, where the traditional forms of operating no longer work, then we can accept the turbulence and turmoil that we are witnessing in the world around us and possibly experiencing in our own lives.
These are exciting times, but not for the faint of heart.
While we may have to go back in order to go forward, any relapses might prove only momentary, for the way is in deed forward.
The 22nd has Mercury turning direct, ending its three-week retrograde cycle. We’ll still be in the Mercury retrograde ‘shadow’ until the 10th of January, but communications can become clearer with the ability to rectify any misunderstandings that might have occurred during Mercury’s retrograde. The Mercury retrograde has had Mercury retrograde through Sagittarius, a Sign of Detriment for Mercury, where Mercury is not at all comfortable but can be diffuse without focus.
December 25th is Christmas Day with Venus exiting Sagittarius to enter Capricorn and Venus conjunct Saturn. Whether intentionally or just characteristic of this specific day, each of us may reconnect with someone or some people from our past, whether we do so physically or as we reflect and take a walk down Memory Lane. With people drawing lines in the sand regarding their deeply held opinions and their assumed beliefs regarding the state of the world, it would be wise for us to keep things light or, at the least, try to lighten any heavy moods.
While Christmas for Christians celebrates the birth of their messiah, Jesus, Christmas comes around the time of the Winter Solstice, the darkest day in the northern hemisphere but also the day that celebrates the birth of the light as daylight will increase from the Winter Solstice up to the Summer Solstice in June.
If we could see this latter part of December as a time of completions and conclusions and yet with it a birth of the new, the increase of light in our lives and preparation for new beginnings, then we need not fall prey to heavy emotions and depressing thoughts but rather can fully celebrate the opportunities that may lie ahead, even those opportunities of which we cannot possibly be aware.
Let’s keep in mind that we are in the midst of a paradigm shift, turbulent yes, but exciting as well. This paradigm shift moves us from the sequential linear reality of progression from beginning through middle to a definitive end and conclusion into an asequential non-linear reality where things occur in a most unexpected manner, can change dramatically in a nanosecond, and engage us in a continual process. Magic is afoot, mini-miracles abundant, if we only choose to take off our blinders of what we consider to be ‘normal’ and embrace the unfathomable natural unfolding.
The last major aspect of December occurs on the 28th when Mars trines Neptune. We may feel as if our actions are being divinely guided. If we release control of how we are doing our time, we might find that we are being moved in interesting directions, directions that would seem to affirm the sage advice of: ‘the universe has far greater plans for us than we could ever imagine for ourselves’.
December 2017… out with the old, preparing for the new…
