Insights for Capricorn
December 21 & 22
Sun enters Capricorn 10:27 PM EST
As individuals we do the best we can with what we have, we make ends meet. As a collective, a human race, we seem to be unable to accomplish this. Thousands of years of thinking of humans as the Crown of Creation have driven us insane. We can’t seem to stop wanting more. We seem to be at the mercy of …
This inequity between humans and nature has driven Capricorn into deep archetypal distress. As the Sun is born again* into the coming year we know it will get stronger, as babies will. We count on the days getting longer, brighter and warmer. Hotter. Celebration of some sort is in order. If we want to rescue Capricorn from its archetypal perversion we need to reconstitute how we celebrate. It has become obvious to a lot more of us than it used to be that we, the living, are all better off when trees remain standing, when fossil fuels stay in the ground. In essence Capricorn is about the right use of resources. For thousands of years this notion of the right use of resources did not include every living thing. This notion has been seriously distorted as it diverted resources toward the top of the pyramid. You know this story. We all do, even the people at the top. May our celebration honor that we are wise enough and willing to manage what resources we have for the good of all living beings. Including Earth itself.
Oddly and interestingly Mercury retrograde is conjunct the Sun at zero degrees of Capricorn at this time; the solstice degree. Time for a deep dive into the mysterious way in which we are part of nature: A contemplation of how your animal body as well as your glorious, treacherous mind are aspects of the natural world, expressions of Life as it lives itself through you. Take a break from the preparations, the shopping expeditions, the anxiety of it all, and sink deeply if only for a moment into the mystery. It’s a good one. Imagine this: Your nature is a gift from Nature itself. (Best time for this is between 1 PM and 3 PM December 22nd).
As the Sun travels through Capricorn this month it will sextile Saturn, and Neptune, square Chiron. It will even manage a conjunction with Pluto at the last moment before they both enter Aquarius offering our imaginations a bit of celestial drama. We have lots to think about regarding how the world has changed since 2008 When Pluto entered Capricorn.
*Perhaps the greatest paradox of our planet is that it is a big round ball and what happens in the northern hemisphere happens in reverse in the southern. Winter solstice and summer solstice happen at the same time, on the same day. Boggles the mind. As it should. Astrology originates in the north. It is a way of telling stories of culture and the individuals who constitute it. If you live in the southern hemisphere and are the descendent of Europeans, the symbolism sticks. Long live the paradox of life on a big, blue ball…
December 23
Mercury (rx) re-enters Sagittarius
Having (just) crossed the midpoint of the retrograde period, our cosmic trickster and relentless storyteller is in a froth. Likely this will persist until it culminates on the 28th. Other, more supportive planetary forces are at work between now and then as well. We are not at the mercy of the mind’s restless wanderings unless we ignore them. Slow down and turn your awareness on the noise inside your head as well as the collective mind, the zeitgeist. We are a diversity of oneness. A bit of awe at the seemingly powerful and irreconcilable everything-everywhere-all-at-once-ness of the Holy Daze is in order.
December 24
Sun sextile Saturn
Stand in the stillness. Even a moment (waiting for the light to change crossing the street) will do. Coherence gathers around you. Suddenly you can do what has to get done. Best you can, good enough.
December 25
Venus trine Neptune
How would it feel to have everything you want? If you were living the dream? If here and now was the greatest gift? You do. You are. It is.
December 26
Full Moon: 04 degrees Cancer: 07:33 PM EST
Chiron stationary direct
For those who notice, the day starts a bit earlier, ends a bit later by now. The wheel spins. Time doesn’t march, it cycles. You and me and everyone we do and don’t know are cells in the Body of the World. It’s bigger, deeper, wider, more diverse than we can imagine. It’s always moving, always changing. It lives through each of us. It’s One Precious Life; dancing the dance, singing the song, telling the story. We don’t make it as much as it makes us. And we don’t always understand or like it. We are the change. Try drinking that in with your morning brew.
December 27 & 28
Mercury square Neptune
Sun trine Jupiter
Mercury conjunct Mars
Mars square Neptune
Mercury Rx is having a moment: Full of conviction, maybe a little sound and fury, sure of its vision, ready to defend and likely completely deluded. Scratch the surface of all that bluster, and you’ll find some powerful existential insecurity and doubt as well as profound wisdom - the wisdom of the Trickster - regarding the ever changing, shape-shifting qualities of reality. Stay with the wisdom of the Full Moon with your feet on sacred ground. It’s all sacred, even if it breaks your heart. Be strong in presence and attract coherence in a storm of confusion.
December 29
Venus sextile Pluto
Venus enters Sagittarius
Are love and desire the same thing? I don’t think so. When we can’t tell the difference we easily slip into addiction. Tell the difference. Save your soul. Walk out the door, if you must, to a better adventure.
December 30
Jupiter stationary direct
There is no point in using sky writing (astrology) if we don’t anchor it to our lived lives. Whatever you believe, however heavenly it is, the meaning is only found in the way you live it, the relationships you have with the world around you and most importantly, your own very intimate and personal relationship with your body. Jupiter in Taurus says so as it steps forward and joins the fanfare proclaiming that 2023 is over and 2024 is about to begin.
January 1
Venus square Saturn
Mercury stationary direct
Happy New Year and Mercury Direct! If you want this year to be your Big Win, wait no more. You just have to wake up inside the dream of the world. 2024 adds up to the number 8. In Tarot this takes us to the Strength card. It will take all our strength to wend our way through this year. So much and so many have been lost, so many in power seem to slow our ability to make the world a better place. Venus/Saturn reminds us that it is easy to feel overwhelmed; all too easy to sink into the slough of despond or to carry on in a business-as-usual manner. To wake inside the dream is to resist each of these options. Mercury direct suggests a kind of hell-or-high-water (it will square Neptune once again, soon). It’s time. You decide what it is time for. Every impossible task is ours to tackle. Strength and courage are the resources we bring to the task. As the gate to 2024 opens before us you might remind yourself that we live on a Big Blue Ball and nothing is as it seems. Everything changes even as it stays the same. Strength and courage is not the same as bluff and bluster. Faking it till you make it isn’t the same as reaching into the resource of your particular kind of strength and committing yourself to using it.
January 4
Mars enters Capricorn
Mars loves Capricorn, loves being boss. It’s up to each and every one of us to make sure Mars does a good job of being in charge. Capricorn is at its best when it considers and acts upon the notion of a sustainable world for as many living beings as possible. It perverts itself into a patriarchal pretzel when it puts personal gain over and above sustainability.
January 6
Sun square Chiron
Some heavy lifting might be required to accomplish your goals. The secret is in the Capricorn notion of sustainability. Ask yourself ‘if it harm none’. It may be impossible to do so much as brush our teeth without harming the world. When dealing with squares we often feel hopeless at first. Awareness changes everything. Don’t be afraid to know the difficulty before you roll up your sleeves and get to work.
January 8
Mercury square Neptune
The easiest way to dis-spell King Hopelessness and his courtiers is with wonder. Perhaps this has been the teaching of our recent Mercury retrograde all along. Wonder, if you must, about the insanity of humans. It will soon take you to awe given all the possible ways we could engage our various crises. Let it take you to the New Moon in a few days’ time. Then you might figure out what to do with all that awesome wonder.
January 9
Sun trine Uranus
Mars sextile Saturn
All that wonder takes us to possibility. Imagination is the Mother of Action… Be inspired by that which is possible. Not for the sake of ‘more’ or ‘better’ rather for the sake of the living, breathing, pulsing, flowing, embodiment of Life Itself.
January 11
New Moon: 20 degrees Capricorn: 06:57 AM EST
Venus trine Chiron
If astrology teaches us anything it must be that this world, this existence is always changing. One day it’s squares or trines and the next a New Moon. Life goes on even in the midst of it all. “Start again, no matter what”, says each and every New Moon. Shake off the dross. Make an intention. Focus your attention. This New Moon carries a bit of Uranus with it. If your life is a garden what seeds are you planting as the New Year gathers light? What resources will fertilize these seeds? If the seeds you are planting for 2024 fall in the category of New Year’s resolutions (it’s never too late) let it be something practical, substantial. Don’t give things up. Want what’s good for you.
January 12
Mars trine Jupiter
Yes! Cultivate that recently planted seed of yours. Yes! Because you know what is good. Yes! Because you know which efforts are worth making.
January 13
Mercury enters Capricorn
Rounding the bend, separating from the square to Neptune, applying to trines to Jupiter and Uranus, Mercury aims at finishing the shadow of the retrograde. There was confusion, dissatisfaction, restlessness, signifying not much besides the human condition: our out of focus over-mind. Part two is the clean-up, the stabilizing. Time to roll up our sleeves and turn toward what has to get done with commitment. Life may be finite for individuals but it goes on for the collective. It’s a wonder we struggle so much with righting the ship.
January 15
Sun sextile Neptune
We don’t need to escape the surly bonds of earth to be free. We actually need to be as firmly present as possible, to unlock the wonder and the presence of life’s inherent sacredness. Each and every one of us is a sacred offering on the altar of Life. The more we understand this the easier it is to be here for the long or short of our stay.
January 18
Mercury sextile Saturn
You knew it could be like this. Actions have consequences. And often they are wholesome and good.
January 19
Mercury trine Jupiter
Venus square Neptune
Here is it; Mercury’s parting wisdom: There never was pie in the sky. Delusion, misdirection, disappointment are built into the way we are made. We do it to each other as well as to ourselves. So is the ability to steady ourselves in the froth of it all and to learn from experience. Consider your favorite work of art. It starts with imagination but it is carried to fruition through effort and skill. This effort becomes skill because it is repeated over and over as they say, 10,000 hours. You get to enjoy it without too much effort. Perhaps it inspires you to put in your own 10,000 hours, to become proficient, to give yourself to love and life and spin the wheel. Something about today makes this simple, elegant wisdom obvious opening us to the wisest course of action.
January 20
Sun conjunct Pluto at the last degree of Capricorn: 8:46 AM
(Sun enters Aquarius 9:07 am
Pluto enters Aquarius 7:50 PM)
Seems like astro-drama to me… Thresholds are always Big News. The conjunction at the last degree, minutes and seconds of Capricorn suggests that we are not done with the past. We have not completed the task. Maybe it started in 2008 when Pluto entered Capricorn. That was a nightmare and if you recall, no one went to jail. The rich got richer and the demographic of the poor expanded and continues to expand. Perhaps a bit of serious reflection is in order. We were all a lot younger then. What have we learned and witnessed regarding sustainability and responsibility? Who are you’re your leaders? Pluto stepped into Aquarius for a few months in 2023 and immediately the conversation was about the glory and the dangers of A.I. Pluto will make one more, brief, backward sojourn into Capricorn in September of 2024. The best thing about today might be to see how it is to stand at the gate, the threshold. What does it mean when the world makes ‘non-binding resolutions’? Seems a lot like business as usual rather than the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.The canaries in the coal mines of our lives - the kids, the immunocompromised, the casualties of wars and climate disasters are not exactly canaries any more. They are more what we have to deal with, like it or not. 2024 strikes me as a year of continuing to walk into the jaws of our own worst possibilities even as all manner of green shoots sprout up around us as we go. 2025 is a year of astrological change. Today is a good, maybe great day to stand at the cusp of Great Change.