New Moon Solar Eclipse (Eclipsemas): Astrology of 12/25 – 12/31

Before we get into this week’s astrology, I want to acknowledge the terrestrial happening that it’s holiday season and this is a time that has a wide spectrum of emotional meaning for people. This Christmas happens to also be an Eclipse so we can give it the friendly name of Eclipsemas.

So whether this is a happy or a challenging time of year for you, or some mix of both, let’s talk about the astrology!

There’s a huge line-up of Capricorn planets, with Mercury entering Capricorn this week, a New Moon in Capricorn, and the building Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn coming January 12. This can feel pretty heavy and can have a strong pull down and in – meaning introspection, conservation of energy, and stillness. Often we leave the seagoat out of Capricorn and just make Capricorn’s mascot a mountain goat – but losing the seagoat we also lose the part of Capricorn that is the deep inner descent into the waters of the unconscious.

I have a relevant Capricorn story, from my Capricorn grandfather. There was a time in his early adulthood where he fell out of a small boat (the boat turned over) and he recalls from the incident that instead of panicking he was completely calm. He had heavy boots and gear on him that he calmly removed and let fall to the ocean floor, as the heaviness of them would not let him swim back up to the surface. This image is a great metaphor for an energetic process that happens within Capricorn, which is the deep inward pull and the subsequent release of what is too heavy to keep holding onto. Effectively, feeling ourselves taxed or lower in energy is one of the first openings to realizing what is too heavy for us and where our limits are. We wouldn’t be able to see this information if we just felt superpowered all of the time. This is why cyclical movements of quiet, rest, and stillness are so restorative – not just in the rest itself, but for the information and letting go that can crystallize in these slower spaces.

We associate Saturn and Capricorn with “hard work”, but Capricorn has its connections to Saturnalia and general debauchery as well. The nightlife scene, with people drinking and greatly letting go of the inhibitions they feel during the week or during the day has definite Saturnian elements to it.

It’s up to us, and where we’re at, to discover how we release the heaviness that we’re holding onto. Perhaps we’ve fallen into the also very Capricornian trap of feeling all too responsible for other people, and we’re expending a lot of energy to attempt to control various outcomes such as how people will think of us or respond to us. Going “down and in” here could mean coming back to our center of gravity and center of being and settling into where we feel in integrity, where we feel self-esteem, where we feel authentic, and stop subscribing to the illusion that we can ever control others. Being more centered and integral with ourselves gives us greater freedom to interact from others without the cording that occurs when we feel the need to extend ourselves in a way that is not authentic or a way that has manipulative intentions, however unconscious. 

Eclipses are not normal New Moons. One could set intentions, but the nature of eclipses is that they often “eclipse” our plans or egoic conceptualizations. In place of intentions or manifestation rituals, I’ve personally found eclipses are profound times for deeper witnessing (less reactivity) and allowing. I’ve had visions bubble up during eclipse season that went on to become very positive things in my life – and they didn’t come from my will as much as they just appeared. From a place of both study and experience I advise deeper witnessing and stillness during eclipses. I don’t think eclipses are “bad”, but they are different, and normal new moon manifestation and intentioning is not entirely resonant in my opinion because of the degree of surrender eclipses may ask of us. It also can take some time for the dust to settle after eclipses, meaning we may see things differently in just a few weeks time. The less reactive we are, the less drama we create with what would otherwise have been settling dust.

Welcome back! Or in case this is your first time here, I’m Sabrina Monarch and I’m a soul-centered astrologer. I love providing perspectives on the opportunities of transits and putting into words what the vibe may feel like at this moment in time, to support you on your path & open a dialogue between us and the cosmos. If you would like to receive these weekly forecasts to your inbox, sign up for my mailing list here. You’ll also receive a new subscriber-only article about the current Saturn-Pluto conjunction.

See what stillness you can tap into as we move through this eclipse portal – and here’s our week, after a few announcements!

The upcoming four-month, deep-dive Evolutionary Astrology Intensive coming this January is now open for enrollment. Learn how to read natal charts from the perspective of the soul & the soul’s ongoing evolution. Whether you are just beginning your astrological journey, or are a professional astrologer, or anywhere in between, this course is designed to uplevel you. You’ll deepen your communion with the cosmos, expand your confidence in understanding and speaking the language of astrology, and gain tools to apply your astrological knowledge to bring magic, healing, and flourishing into your daily life. Read all about this course, including student testimonials, and enroll here!

“Sabrina’s program was a transformational, empowering experience. I recommend it to anyone interested in deepening their understanding of themselves and their place in the cosmos. This class was a paradigm shift for me, adding dimension to my understanding of astrology that I had not even conceived of. Sabrina is a wise, positive, and empowering guide who is gifted in accessing the soulful aspects of the natal chart. She is supportive and accessible, and has really gone out of her way to make sure that the material is understood. As a healer and herbalist, this has deepened my practice and helped me to incorporate chart readings into my work. Sabrina’s perspective is unique and clearly cultivated from years of soul-seeking and intensive study and observation. It is healing, soulful astrology in service to a bigger picture. I left every class feeling inspired. And it was amazing to be in community with likeminded people! If you’re considering this class, take a leap and go for it. It is well worth it!” – Lauren O.

Latest on the Magic of the Spheres podcast: I had Becca Tarnas back on the show to discuss the planetary combinations of Mercury after we last discussed the planetary combinations of Venus. This episode is part one of our conversation and we’ll make it out through Saturn, so stay tuned for part 2 where we will discuss Mercury’s combinations with Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.⁣
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Speaking with Becca and getting to otherwise interact with her work is a real pleasure one reason of which is that she combines such deep intellect and scholarship with the numinous and the mythic, which I feel becomes a doorway to making new connections about the magic of the world around us. Archetypes, after all, are everywhere. We explored Mercury as it expresses in people’s communication styles but also some of the esoteric qualities of Mercury like spell-casting, etymology, and “dead languages”.⁣
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Becca is a scholar, artist, and counseling astrologer, and an editor of Archai: The Journal of Archetypal Cosmology. She received her PhD in Philosophy and Religion at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco and her dissertation is titled The Back of Beyond: The Red Books of C.G. Jung and J.R.R. Tolkien.⁣
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Tune in where you listen to podcasts or on your browser here!

December 25, 2019

New Moon Solar Eclipse in 4 Capricorn: 9:13 PM PST

This Solar Eclipse is joined with Jupiter in Capricorn, and the three (Sun, Moon and Jupiter) are conjunct the South Node of the Moon in Capricorn. This New Moon will also be trine Uranus in Taurus, highlighting the current trine between Jupiter and Uranus. The New Moon squares Chiron in Aries.

• While New Moons signify… new… developments and the beginning of a very tangible cycle we experience here on earth and in our emotional bodies, this New Moon happening on the South Node of the Moon (which relates to the karmic past) and a sign so concerned with the past and history such as Capricorn, suggests that whatever new cycle is emerging will be heavily concerned with processing and creating new movement around something historic. On a personal level this could be a more conscious awareness of ancestral patterns or personal patterns we are at a moment of shifting. On a collective level, this could be the burgeoning of greater awareness of how we are situated in this moment in time and culture, as well as a greater feeling of responsibility for the role we play in history. 
• Take it easy on manifestation this New Moon. It’s an eclipse on the South Node of the Moon which implies support for letting go, even though we normally think of New Moons as times to begin something or to set intentions. Inspired ideas or visions are one thing, as the South Node does relate to memory and perhaps here, a resurfacing of something valuable and inherent. At any rate, eclipses are potent times where the veil between ego, soul, and spirit can be and feel thinner – so some patience, equanimity, and witnessing can go a long way instead of willful declared intentions. We may, additionally, be surprised during this time at what sparks our attention or interest.
• Many of my teachers, and currently now as well activist friends, stress the importance of understanding the past or the way that the various systems of the world work. The past, and these systems, are riddled with traumas and abuses and dysfunctions, and if we do not know what these things are we do not know how we continue to participate within them or how we might have greater impact in healing these patterns. Alternately, when we are diving into awareness of the realities in which we are working with, there can be a kind of heaviness that easily translates into despair, futility, depression, etc. One of the emotional skillsets of Capricorn is being able to have the bandwidth to deal with grave situations without shutting down. In this context, the ways that we experience nourishment are crucial to our emotional longevity when directly facing our personal and collective adversities. How might we proactively create nourishment in our lives instead of devaluing it or putting it off?
• It may also be important to consider how our resistances and difficulties become part of the path, how we absorb the obstacle so to say and become stronger because of it. Deflecting and moving around trouble is a different kind of skill that may have useful applications in various situations. But facing a problem head-on, and taking responsibility for ourselves, is a very Capricorn kind of thing! With Jupiter here in Capricorn, we are actually expanding through our willingness to be mature enough to address the problems we just wish didn’t exist, or the ways that life is hard that we just wish it wasn’t. We may be adjusting our attitude to realizing that the “tests” and challenges we experience are also just occasions to rise to.
• Eclipses tend to be accompanied with higher amounts of emotional reactivity because life events more directly line up with our soul memory and soul work, so we get “triggered”. Herein is the opportunity to grow more aware, though we may be called to be discerning about how we act upon this new awareness – what’s truly in alignment, versus where we just being reactive. To learn more about eclipse, check out a podcast I did with Rosie Finn last June about the nature of eclipses.

December 27, 2019

Sun in Capricorn conjunct Jupiter in 5 Capricorn: 10:25 AM PST

This transit occurs with the Moon still in Capricorn after the New Moon, though now the Moon will be conjunct Saturn and Pluto in the later degrees of Capricorn.

• Some of the biggest joys to be had are taking real responsibility for ourselves and noting our progress and transformation as we become more skillful in navigating our lives. While a choice to head in a direction can happen immediately in one moment, our progress and the transformative results of our efforts tend to accumulate with time. So whether we are tracking the fruits of past efforts or steadily applying ourselves now, there is real joy to be had in knowing we are doing ‘the work’.
• One of the way this placement may shine is in keeping one’s word and being a person of integrity. It’s never too late to create that as a pattern or personality trait and for one who has not built that yet it’s quite an initiation into personal maturity. It is harder to trust people whose word is made up of hot air and empty promise. And arguably, no one really feels good being unreliable. Becoming reliable and becoming honest about our commitments and what we are able to promise and realistically deliver is a personal skillset that may be more noticeable in the field right now, in ourselves and others, for its presence or lack thereof.
• Additionally, being reliable and keeping one’s word implies a necessity to be self-aware, as well, such that one is not binding themselves to promises that are not in actual resonance with that person’s nature. Sometimes we do miss the mark and make promises or say things that are more than we realize we want to or can deliver and we end up having to withdraw a commitment or take back our word – perhaps something we do very sparingly if our word is to have a track record. This can teach us about our limitations and the necessity to not over-promise. Setting high goals is fantastic, but it can be done without stringing other people along. Jupiter in Capricorn can teach us about the expansive power of having limits, of saying no, and being reserved enough to know where we want to place our focus and that we can’t just do everything, say yes to everything, and act like we can always show up 100% in integrity and capacity to a million different things. There are limits.

December 28, 2019

Mercury enters Capricorn: 8:55 PM PST

(Image: Marly Gallardo)

Mercury will be in Capricorn until January 16, 2020 – shorty after the Saturn-Pluto exact alignment on the 12th with that massive stellium in Capricorn (South Node, Jupiter, Pluto, Saturn, Ceres, Sun and Mercury). With Mercury entering Capricorn, we now have all members of that stellium in Capricorn leading up to the Saturn-Pluto alignment. If you want to learn more about this transit, sign up for my newsletter to receive an article about Saturn-Pluto when you sign up!

• Mercury in Capricorn can relate to being very thoughtful and deliberate in one’s communication, such that we are as clear as possible.
• We may account in advance for how we might be misinterpreted, which can relate to feeling inhibited about expressing or to being extra judicious about being clear and addressing possible caveats.
• With Mercury in Capricorn there tends to be more concern for the impact that our words have (rather than just tossing that care to the wind and saying whatever we feel like). While we actually can’t control how our words will be received by anyone no matter how delicately or articulately we phrase something, our care in language can still go a great distance. Mercury in Capricorn is not as favorable for bombastic, opinionated, one-sided, careless statements – but rather dutiful examinations of a point or perspective and the possible issues or problems with it and addressing those possible issues. We account for complexity in advance.

December 30, 2019

Mercury in 2 Capricorn trine Uranus in 2 Taurus: 2:22 PM PST

(Image: François-Louis Schmied)

• Our willingness to look at gritty, hard facts and details may naturally be connected to portals of innovation and embodying new realities – especially if we can notice details that feel off or out of alignment without immediately going to a place of shame or low self-esteem about it. If we are able to notice gritty details but come from a place of self-love, we may feel much more energized and empowered and capable to make some revolutionary edits.

Thank you for meditating on the planets with me this week! I really appreciate you being here with me as I know that if you connect to this writing we have likemindedness and that is so special. Please share this article with a friend who you think would resonate!

Please let me know what you think in the comments – truly I want to know so leave a note! I love you and you are soul family to me, thank you for finding your way to these words and resonating with them in whatever ways you have.

If you would like more personalized guidance, I would love to read your natal chart and transits for you! If you would like me to explore the themes in your chart, book a reading with me here. 

I meditate on charts before the reading and combine my knowledge of astrology with my clairvoyant abilities to offer you some insights about themes you are working with in this life based on prior lives, and what is the evolutionary purpose of this lifetime. I recorded an episode on my podcast recently titled Befriending your Intuition and Clairvoyance if you’d like to learn more about my relationship with clairvoyance along with tips for increasing yours!

I can work with your specific questions and shed light on ongoing issues or patterns you would like to shift, as well! Book with me here.

I’m also becoming increasingly expressive on instagram, so go find me there @sabrinamonarch and say hello! I’m posting a lot of content there that I don’t share anywhere else and I love interacting with you there.

With love,

Sabrina Monarch

Sabrina Monarch is a soul-centered Evolutionary Astrologer who publishes weekly astrological forecasts, works with clients and teaches. She is a novelist and is currently pursuing her masters in Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness.