To start the week, we have the Winter Solstice! The Solstice is marked by the Sun leaving Sagittarius and entering Capricorn as Mercury in Capricorn sextiles Chiron in Pisces. This Capricorn Solar season can be used as a collective getting our world in order month. Vitality while the Sun is in Capricorn comes from things like having our finances down or developing clear rules and boundaries – a lot of stuff that seems like the hard work but is what makes life run smoothly. With Capricorn, being prepared is not just a form of security but even like a status symbol. Your thrills and pleasures ought to be sustained – Capricorn is where we learn and devise how, like clever engineers of life – ‘hard knocks’ of Saturn and all, but bent on success. However we define that…
I want to emphasize that tracking Chiron transits are becoming more Chirotic in nature is essentially becoming a bridge builder, from the mystery and the invisible to the visible. Chiron is the bridge between the visible inner planets and the more ethereal outer planets, which are felt by those who have developed the link. The ‘wounded healer’ aspect comes in the sense that many dive into the mystery or come into contact with that mystery because of pain – times in life that have us questioning if there is anything more to life. Chiron relates to the places in our lives that we are able to initiate others because of our own sometimes painful initiations, except we get to offer a balm, the kind we didn’t have. Of course it goes to say that an ultimate lesson of Chiron is healing ourselves. One Chiron shadow is one of perpetually healing others for something we have not been able to heal in ourselves. But it’s in healing ourselves that the true vibrational power of Chiron is expressed, not just for the individual but for the collective.
So for the Mercury-Chiron sextile, this will have something to do with consciously effecting self-healing in the realm of our inner-dialogue, the kinds of words we use – Mercury in Capricorn may have a tendency to be harsher in its judgements (we can be hard on ourselves), but this energy is also great for being ethical and disciplined and accountable in the most positive of senses. We find the line by our sensitivity. When is the fire under you or the pressure you put on yourself working to your benefit and when is it just running you ragged? In this sense this transit also has to do with physical health. We can be looking into ways to effect our health in a holistic, or root sense, rather than just treating symptoms perpetually. We also can begin to find a value in aches, pains, and other little ailments, in that it is a form of communication from the body that is not separate from the rest of us – how can we find another way of going about life to be easier on ourselves? The mind will endure much that the body will protest. What’s going to work better in the long term? Running yourself into the ground for short term gain is of course not your option. This is a good week to gaze into alternatives.
On the 24th Venus in Scorpio sextiles Jupiter in Virgo – this is way sexy. This is like a refined lover, groomed & deeply aware of the arts of love. This is a force that can help expand the relationships that are already deepening. One reason I believe we can be depressed in winter is because it is a time where we are really needing to be comforting and experiencing ourselves; and it shines a harsh light on where we feel alone, that there is only darkness and isolation. The real jewel of winter comes from learning how to be blissful and ecstatic in this quiet, snow-sleepy quiet space of self, which requires that we are our own lovers in a sense. The deeper you can go within, the more you can enjoy the expansion states that spring and summer bring, and the more you can hold your own as an individual in a deeper sense. Bringing this back to the Venus-Jupiter sextile, this can either be a really rewarding time or it can be a time of being painfully aware of the limitations of relationships (to self or other), with the gaze of self-criticism magnetized and the venom sharp. If this is the case, please do not give into it as reality. If you must give into the drama (drama can be great), see it as an arch, and find the upper-arch. There is some kind of peace you seek as resolution of your desire, or validation from the outside, that if you can only find in your own consciousness, alone in the cold & the dark inside of which you have built a hearth to warm yourself, you will be wealthier than you ever imagined. You’ve tapped root.
“And don’t think the garden loses its ecstasy in winter. It’s quiet, but the roots are down there riotous.” – Rumi
…and then – the Full Moon on the 25th, Christmas day, in Cancer. However you play this holiday on the regular, think this year of doing something in a structural sense (where you show up or how you organize your home space) that is providing you with a sense of nourishment. Full light is shed on the emotional reality this day, so doing just the littlest thing to make yourself feel good will be appreciated by Luna in Cancer. Holidays in general strike me as moments of “social success” versus “social failure”. It doesn’t have to be internalized, but feeling alone during the holiday season will evoke the sense of “social failure”. I put it in quotes because it is of course an excessive and intense self-judgment, and a little objectivity helps. If you’ve found yourself in that spot this year, take it way easy – and make a commitment to find your tribe and make deeper, more loyal connection with people this year instead. Reality checks don’t have to keep you down – they do have one function of helping you move in the direction you really want to be in. Also go ahead and connect to people that ARE in your life – collectively the value this time of year does have a lot to do with inclusion, even if it is sometimes disguised in “you have to act like one of us to be one of us”. See through this as a limitation of consciousness. Uranus is also stationing direct this day, so this is when the antenna frequencies are extra powerful. Likemind is a matter of is as does. How much longer are you going to pretend to be someone else?
The Full Moon also comes with a Mercury-Jupiter trine, both in earth signs, Mercury in Capricorn and Jupiter in Virgo. Think about representation and discernment here – that you are always giving off symbols, be it in your speech, your dress, or other communication cues you are sending off into the world. Remember that this is a mutable function of your reality, which although you may have habits, these are not things set in stone. If you want change, get creative about it, and follow the dots. One time I couchsurfed and stayed at the residence of a very sensitive and artistic man who spoke to me several times about women who had broken his friends’ hearts. He was processing a break-up himself, and I took a picture of “This is How you Lose Her” by Juno Diaz lit up in one diagonal shard of sunlight on his coffee table. His reality at the moment had a clear theme to me. What themes are playing out in your reality? Are you enjoying them as a process, and intentionally shifting into new phases or allowing new phases to start, or are you spinning your gears? The time to look is now.
Horoscopes
*Note: This is the last post in which there will be horoscopes broken down by sign – the horoscopes have been in a phasing out process and will be discontinued here on out. There will be focus on the forecasts (as you read above) in its stead.*
Aries/Aries Rising: The Sun enters your career house and the Full Moon prompts a visceral, feeling-level assessment of whether or not you’re moving in the right direction as it pertains to what you really need. Uranus moving direct in your sign – magic synchronicities according to your instinct are possible.
Taurus/Taurus Rising: The loving and romance sector of your sky is GOOD. Freedom is key – fun is key. Give the heavier emotional stuff its time and place, chances are much of it can be worked out on your own. Know the difference between your work and what is shared and to be merged; a formidable pair stands better.
Gemini/Gemini Rising: Expect some insights on what your values are, and know that making space for them is not a matter of being stubborn but an act of self-love. If you shift the balances this way where they have been out of balance it’s going to be a gamechanger, inviting in a new kind of intimacy.
Cancer/Cancer Rising: The Sun enters your house of relationships – this is a time where romance and building it into something that works over time takes stage. It’s okay to be in a little bit over your head, to be nervous. If you’re growing and experiencing new things, that’s part of it. This is a sweet time.
Leo/Leo Rising: Developing a fetish for function makes the ride smoother. You’re getting some key grounding and info regarding your most personal of values. Implementing them is in your court right now – all you have to do is ‘clock in’. Adventures and lucky meetings speed up.
Virgo/Virgo Rising: Your house of romance and creativity is lit up while the Sun is in Capricorn. This is bringing some brightness into areas of your life that have been under deep construction – with space to enjoy the fruits of your work. Uranus moves direct in your Soul sector – DEEP insights moving through.
Libra/Libra Rising: And the sentimentality/nostalgia: Sun in your 4th house. Thinking of exes, good times of the past, is a possibility: yet Venus in Scorpio in your house of values means you are standing your ground in some way, committed to doing what is actually in your best interest (unless you do the destructive Scorp vibe, but please). Processing can be joyful.
Scorpio/Scorpio Rising: The Full Moon lights up your house of philosophy – new feelings around what is actually possible. In this way it’s really also about an attitude adjustment, given that your attitude is going to have a magical affect on what you attract. This is a time to expand your attitude toward beneficial purposes.
Sagittarius/Sagittarius Rising: Coming down from your own Solar season, something new and fresh is in your sphere that can now be rooted into a more lasting form. Pleasure and pragmatism unite. A Full Moon illuminates your soul sector – it can be a little intense but just remember it’s your Soul sector, the biggest house of mirrors.
Capricorn/Capricorn Rising: A Full Moon in your house of relationships: lead up to it by taking care of you AND being duly considerate of others. Don’t do the strong Cap thing where you put everyone else’s stuff on your shoulders and feel used after. Know your worth, stand your ground, and let people in in the right ways for a potently blissful Full Moon.
Aquarius/Aquarius Rising: The Full Moon illuminates your house of health and work. This brings in insights around what is in balance or out of balance with your spiritual life or higher self. Living your dream does not have to come easy for it to come – some of it is a matter of diligent alignment. Insights around this come in.
Pisces/Pisces Rising: Pisces, a Full Moon in your house of romance. Totally sweet. Think rewards and a playful vibe that comes in from wherever you have individuated – even you, the most blendable of them all – that’s why it’s especially important you let people see who you actually are, a hidden jewel…
(Images: Margaret Orr, Janet Agnes Cumbrae-Stewart)
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