Insights for the Month of Capricorn

December 2020 / January 2021

December 21
Sun enters Capricorn: 5:02 AM EST:
Jupiter conjunct Saturn
(Venus inconjunct Chiron)
The Sun has made its journey into darkness and will now begin slowly to wax in light. (North of the equator of course. Down under is quite the opposite.) It’s a predictable but nonetheless magical moment for those who pay attention. As the story used to be told, at the midnight hour animals are able to speak in words we can understand. For a brief and holy moment we can all feel the stillness which permeates the world. Then music unlike anything we are used to hearing, raises us to heights of sound until, at last and for an eternity which lasts only a moment, all is quiet.
To see the sacredness of this season as well as this period in our history allows us to calm ourselves rather than lament the lack of the familiar but stressful hustle and bustle that we are conditioned and trained to expect. To offer gifts of beauty and meaning, for sure as we keep our awareness on the holy  and subtle magic of light returning. A magic which, like a lot of magic, only exists for those who turn their attention toward it. Ritual matters and many of us find ourselves face to face with only ourselves in the void of Covid isolation. What if? What if we stand at the threshold of the spacious void of Solstice and acknowledge as well as celebrate our willingness to step through into a great and challenging unknown? True, we have no choice. Rejoice! Rejoice!
(For more on the specifics of the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn you can partake of either of the following offerings: Threshold of a New Age or The Moons (and More) of 2021)

December 23
Mars square Pluto
Mercury square Chiron
Consider, if you will, the evils of unmitigated progress. How it creates a throw-away world and puts profit above people. We can, must and will do better going forward because we will learn how to focus and restrain our relentless obsessions for ‘more’ and ‘better’. If sustainability sounds like a good idea, today is a time to practice restraint or pay the high price. For those of you who have been following the Mars journey over the last 6 months today is Mars’ last aspect to the Capricorn gang.

December 25
Mercury trine Uranus
The holy day, the holiday has come. Inspired at the solstice we now, if we know how to look, can see that the days are in fact getting longer in tiny increments. (Astrology can be so north-centric). Be inspired and feel good if you made the world less of an object on your way to Christmas. She’s alive! Innovation wins the day. It’s a revolution to scale down and invite Earth Herself to your celebration. The kids get it.

December 26
Sun square Chiron
Everyone in this world, on this planet is as much of a person as you are. Each of us requires the same quality of light, heat, water, air, food and shelter as well as love if we are to flourish as we all long to do. We do not need to be martyrs to this cause. Simply honoring the enormous truth of this changes everything. It’s the starting place.

December 27
Sun trine Uranus
Innovate. Think outside the box of the traditions you are used to. We will need new traditions where we are going, more inclusive ones. Traditions that include all life. We are the ancestors of those to come.

December 29
Full Moon: 08 degrees Cancer: 10:28 PM EST

Take the long view of 2020, now that it’s ending. Where has it taken you? How have you changed? What remains the same? Full moons invite us to see, to bear witness. This one asks us to see change even if it appears as chaos. How it looks from your perch matters.

December 30
Venus square Neptune
Don’t kid yourself and don’t let anyone else kid you either. “Truth is beautiful, without doubt, but so are lies.”We want to believe, we want to believe in each other. Today we benefit from taking it slow before clicking on what seems like the best deal or the offer you can’t refuse. Too good to be true, generally is. 

January 1, 2021
Mercury sextile Neptune
A lovely aspect to begin a new year and to look at what kinds of opportunities we imagine could aid and abet our desire to step into a better world. If you are making a vision board for the New Year, dream big. Not because you will get (or not get) what you want but because our dreams nourish our actions.

January 4
Mercury conjunct Pluto
Mars leaves the shadow of its retrograde journey.
Take a look at that vision board, whether you made it from images or even just a list in point form. What kind of transformation is required? What would it take for you to dig deep into your very own circumstances in aid of change? Consider your actual dreams as metaphors or symbols of something even more real, more possible. Instead of ‘If only…” you might try ‘What if?” It’s the question of the year, maybe for the next 20.

January 6
Mars enters Taurus
Having left behind even the shadow of the retrograde period (end of July – January 4th) Mars has a new expression for us through January. It will square Jupiter and Saturn in their new home of Aquarius and conjunct Uranus. This creates a bit of a wild, even explosive picture for us. There is always a volcano that might erupt and a bomb that could detonate. Not much we can do about those things. Mars challenges us to deal with our own personal inner volcanoes, our frustrations and anger. The promise of Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius is that we can be reasonable and rational. Mars shakes his fist and says something like, ‘Yeah but what about THIS?’ Reason that doesn’t take circumstance and actual conditions into account is mere disconnection. Do your best not to kick the cat or harm yourself or another with rage and frustration. It’s an excellent time to build strength and get real about cleaning up. Mars will leave Taurus but Jupiter and Saturn will remain in Aquarius. Reason will prevail, later if not sooner… You could see this period as a test or maybe a teething period for the New Year. It was not an easy birth if you think of 2020 and all it showed us as labor.

January 8
Mercury enters Aquarius
Venus enters Capricorn
Sun sextile Neptune
Mercury square Mars
A busy astrological day on the zodiacal highway. Two planets changing sign suggests a time of shifting perspectives. Reason and circumstance must each be considered. The aspects between the planets and the Sun are more about our actions and behaviors. On one hand it’s time to remember our dreams from only a week ago, on the other a maddening frustration that no one is really listening which underscores the frustration of thinking reasonably in the face of chaos. Would it be simpler just to join the fray? Probably only for one blind and reckless instant. 

January 9
Venus trine Mars
Mercury conjunct Saturn
Much good is accomplished today if or with yesterday’s shift in perspective. Having rolled up our sleeves for the tasks at hand we may if we try, see clearly into what can, can’t and must be done. That is the promise.

January 11
Mercury conjunct Jupiter
Mercury sextile Chiron
Jupiter sextile Chiron
Here is a day or even a few days to learn something about your art, whatever it is. Anything goes and all the better if you consult with a master or offer your own carefully honed wisdoms. You might call on the big question of 2021, ‘What if…?’

January 12
Mercury square Uranus
Venus square Chiron
Road blocks and challenges are to be expected as we continue to discover the extent of the mess we are in. It might seem there are too many pieces to fit together. Like Humpty Dumpty we cannot be put back together again. We will have to fashion something new from the broken bits. It’s like making a mosaic from broken dishes. 

January 13
New Moon: 23 degrees of Cancer 12:00 AM EST
Mars square Saturn
Venus trine Uranus
Today’s challenges are quite circumstantial and unnervingly real. Rising above them will not make them go away. Even so, each circumstance seems lit with possibilities for creating something entirely new from the wreckage, a worthy challenge for all. Make your intention for the New Moon month with an eye toward concrete manifestation. Trust that the possibilities are greater than you can imagine. These days require us to align with and allow for the mysterious workings of transformation. In this way we create a world of becoming where aspirations become realities. Less force, more co-creation. 

January 14
Uranus stationery direct
Sun conjunct Pluto
Keep working with the notion of transformation. Consider where it might be valuable to let go, to relax or surrender. This is not to be confused with capitulation. We cannot wave the white flag at the circumstantial realities of our world. Nothing stays the same. Even the Pyramids wear away in wind and weather. We see change most clearly in hindsight but that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening in the here and now.

January 17
Jupiter square Uranus
The Titans are clashing. Which should come as no surprise although it still might be shocking. The Sore Loser must indeed vacate his position. The world is on edge. This square is not about personality however. It’s about the need and the difficulty of making rational, reasonable decisions in the midst of chaos. The global climate crises (which includes the dread disease) and a precarious economy combined and exacerbated by rampant injustice might sum it up. Both Jupiter and Uranus are revolutionaries, each a radical proponent for their cause in their own way. Jupiter can indicate a blind passion that leads to what seems to be a holy war. (Perhaps all war seems ‘holy’ in this way. Otherwise who would fight?) Uranus likes to wreck things because it is the fastest way to create change.
But each has a more noble manifestation. Jupiter, to follow the path of wisdom, to honor the teachers and the teachings of the past and to use their wisdoms to navigate the present which may seem wholly unlike the past. Uranus brings change. Creation didn’t stop with the Big Bang. It is necessary to keep creating the world anew not to simply destroy the old one. Each of us, in our own small way participates in this journey. We struggle to be wise and to live into the changes. This aspect suggests the major astrological theme of 2021. In for a penny… 

The End which is, of course, the beginning!