Insights for the Month of Sagittarius

November / December 2020

November 21
Sun enters Sagittarius: 3:40 PM EST:
Venus enters Scorpio
When we think of adventure we probably don’t imagine being cooped up at home without visitors and going out as little as possible in a world where it’s ‘always winter but never Christmas’. This seems to be the adventure of the moment for many of us. Sagittarius was not made for such enforced detention. Even so, even Sagittarius can see that for 2020 the adventure has been inside. A good question for the Sagittarius part of this year might be What have you learned so far? The south node in this sign has been an interesting reflection of the weird, wild and ever intensifying beliefs that people subscribe to, shaking the fundamental ground of perception. It’s a human thing to wrestle with the question of what is really real. How much of our reality do we create with our minds alone?
The Sun will make two main aspects this month (close together), a square to Neptune and a conjunction with the south node. These aspect underscore the questions of ‘What have we learned?’ and ‘What is (and isn’t) real?’. The word ‘education’ derives from the notion of ‘leading out’. To educate ourselves is what Sadge likes best. To hold tightly onto our opinions with dogmatic zeal is the least positive expression of this sign. Wild and difficult as this year has been, could it be that it is an education? That we are being led out of a structure, a world, an Age that no longer fits?
Venus in Scorpio is discomforting. Possibly she is reminding us how the word ‘scared’ can be rearranged to spell ‘sacred’. To make something sacred requires a sacrifice. Not in some gory, bloody Hollywood kind of way (although there is plenty of that going on in this world) but a letting go of our attachments to thinking we have all the answers, to allow for our interaction, our co-creativity with Creation or Nature or Whatever You Call It . If we want a different kind of world we must give up something to get it. Venus knows this when she transits Scorpio. 

November 22
(Mercury inconjunct Mars)
(I’m putting these aspect of the inconjunct, in parenthesis it is not a primary aspect. You cannot divide a 360 degree circle into neat packages to figure out this aspect. It’s more like a hiccup than a straightforward interaction between planets.)
When engaging a mystery, a seemingly unsolvable dilemma, it is best to cultivate patience as you sit in the seat of awareness. Change will, can and must come. Anytime, all the time. It is the only constant. 

November 23
Mercury trine Neptune
Share your most profound, deeply felt, unprovable thoughts with someone who is interested, someone who gets you. It’s quite possible that this particular ‘someone’ lives deep inside you in which case journaling would be a good idea. We are connected by so many invisible threads.

November 25
(Venus inconjunct Chiron)
What if each and every one of our lives is an initiation? What if this is also true of our collective life as a species or even just as a life form? What if we are always becoming, never meant to arrive? What  if the requirement is to offer ourselves to the processes that are unfolding in time? What if…? 

November 26
Sun trine Chiron
And what if our willingness to surrender ourselves fully to that initiatory journey which never stops, shows us everything? We may be melting like candles but we are shedding light as we go. Especially as we travel the dark road to the New Year to come.

November 27
Mercury sextile Pluto
Venus opposite Uranus
“History, mystery, legacy, destiny” : something to ponder, a mantra, a prayer of layers of human experience. As you ponder this see if you can move back and forth between the personal as well as the collective experience of these things. They say that we, each of us, carries the last five generations of our ancestors into every moment of our lives. Inevitably we come to the issue of healing and the need for radical shift regarding our priorities. What is real and worthy of our attention, our intention and our commitment? 

November 28
Neptune stationery direct
Mercury sextile Jupiter
The waves continue to break, pounding the shore. Much, what seems like too much, washes up. In the light of our reflections what do you think can be done to make a beginning out of so much ending?

November 29
(Sun inconjunct Uranus)
Today is not necessarily one for reconciliation. Today is time to register the shocking awareness of how far apart we humans have grown from each other as well as nature: To recognize the challenge, to begin to believe that reconciliation can, will and must happen. 

November 30
Full Moon, Lunar Eclipse: 08 degrees Gemini: 4:30 AM EST
Mercury sextile Saturn
‘Mystery, destiny’. What can you do with these big ideas? How can you wrestle them into a shape you might understand? Write a poem about a door. How it looks, where it leads and why you want to open it. Then, walk through.

Astrologers fear eclipses but like everything else in astrology, eclipses don’t create events, they don’t make things happen. They simply, profoundly, powerfully reflect what is happening. We are awash in lies and T.M.I. (too much information) about everything along with too little knowledge or understanding. It is what it is. The eclipse asks us to grapple with the problem. Asking the question is a kind of poem in and of itself. 

December 1
Mercury enters Sagittarius
Time for visioning, for looking toward the horizon and considering the farther shore. Mercury is at a disadvantage in Sagittarius as it opposes it’s home place in Gemini. But only if you insist on pinning its wings. To think freely, to play without agenda in the world of big ideas leads to all sorts of breakthroughs. It is also an invitation for scoundrels to spin us into thinking things are not what they seem. We’ve all probably had enough of that by now but most horrifying is our understandable discomfort with the idea that one man’s scoundrel is another’s hero. It’s not that simple, of course but it is very difficult when there is no point of reference. Mercury in Sagittarius won’t make that easier.

December 4
Mercury trine Chiron
None of us get wiser for or by ourselves. We need all of us and some of us to stir the embers of our sense of possibility so they become flames of change. “What if?”  is still the question. 

December 5
Venus trine Neptune
The greatest moments are when we let go of separateness and trust that we are all one in the Great Soul of Nature that infuses the entire Universe. Allowing ourselves to feel that we belong here, along with everyone else is the fulfillment of our most poignant longings, even if our ability to feel this is fleeting and momentary.

December 6
(Venus inconjunct Mars
Mercury inconjunct Uranus)
Make necessary adjustments. If one way doesn’t work, try another. Sometimes, all you can do is fiddle with the dials.

December 9
Sun square Neptune
It’s a bad day when we confuse unrequited hunger with the soul’s true longing. Those are the days we drink too much or clobber our awareness with distractions until we are in a stupor. The line of least resistance leads straight to a hangover.

December 10
Venus sextile Pluto
The waning of the year, like the waning of the moon, is a time when mystery permeates everything, if you allow yourself to watch and listen for it. Having collectively lost our belief in life’s mysteries we are in the habit of creating excessive activity (not just for the children) which actually creates a false sense of mystery based on our expectations that getting what we think we want will make us happy. This distracts us from our fear of the dark. This year, unlike other years, we are collectively called to a  more contemplative holiday season. Magic is afoot when mystery blankets the land.

(I apologize to those who live in the southern hemisphere. Although your natural surrounding reality is quite different in that you are celebrating maximum light at this time it is still true that you celebrate the end of the year and the coming of the new one at this time. The traditions of the northern hemisphere have come with your ancestors as they colonized the lands on which you live. If I lived down there I would most definitely factor that into my reading of the symbols of astrology which is a very northern hemisphere construct!) 

December 11
Sun trine Mars and conjunct the Moon’s South Node
There is much to say about the ‘eclipse season’ (between a lunar eclipse and a solar one) we are in which is related to the Moon’s nodes. Add a bit of Mars and fire is the thing:
Fire burns even as it illuminates. Fire dances even as it consumes. Fire is the gift that allows us to cook, to purify, to see in the dark. Use what fire you have and use it with care. A good time to respectfully offer things to the fire that feed creativity. 

December 13
Mercury square Neptune
Whatever confuses you (and hopefully you know when the fog of confusion descends upon your perception), just wait and the fog will lift. Maybe there is a purpose to misunderstanding or even our propensity for deception. Maybe it’s just something we pass through, a fact of nature. Today is a poem. It will need to be seriously edited later this week. Today is a dream, possibly someone else’s memory drifting through your consciousness.

     Imagine you are walking along, maybe by the lake or the ocean. Maybe it’s raining. Lightly. Misting.           Suddenly or gradually you realize you are lost. Nothing looks familiar. Possibly you are dreaming but         you can’t seem to wake up. Maybe you have wandered into some else’s dream or memory but you           cannot be sure. Don’t panic. Be interested. Be curious. Be still. But don’t judge what is real or true.           Not today.

December 14
Solar Eclipse, New Moon: 23 degrees of Gemini 11:17 AM EST
Venus sextile Jupiter
Mercury trine Mars
The chaos is deafening at times. Our ability to trust what we are told is seriously eroded. Even our own thoughts, if we are honest, are not necessarily to be believed in this age of mind manipulation. How could we set an intention (for the New Moon) amidst such a froth? All is not lost. We are ever so close to a real shift (although most likely not a blinding flash of illumination). This is how it feels to be on the cusp of change.
Venus says: Look for every opportunity to love, to find beauty in this world. Nature is alive, intelligent and everywhere. She responds to our will, which is to say, our intention.
Mercury says: Let your vision for the future inspire an action. One small or not so small action, one that anchors your intention for a better, more beautiful world.

December 15
Venus sextile Saturn
Venus enters Sagittarius
Chiron stationery direct
It’s like dominoes. First Venus, then Saturn, then Jupiter, Mercury and even the Sun are all changing signs over the next week. Changing signs is akin to shifting perspective, reading from a new script, a kind of initiation. And it’s all the more meaningful as it is happening around the winter solstice which is a time to celebrate the birth of the Sun and the slow and subtle increase of light here in the Northern Hemisphere. What is your threshold? What calls you from the other side of the gate? Can you even let yourself acknowledge that you are here? Initiation requires that we let go and leave something on this side of the door so we can move through what looks like a tight spot to enter a new place. First you must see the door.

This initiation is collective, not simply a matter of your own rebirth or even that of your near and dear. This feels bigger than usual, beyond our inclination to gift those we love with things. This is a time when Earth and all her manifest life forms are dying into rebirth. Possibly a New Age. But it’s not a movie. It takes longer and it cannot be turned off. Don’t expect rainbows (although there will be some, somewhere). Don’t expect anything. Just show up for the change. 

December 17
Saturn enters Aquarius
The last time Saturn was in Aquarius was between 1991 and 1993. Aquarius is all about knowledge. The keywords for this sign are ‘I know’. But Aquarius is also about will. It is a ‘fixed’ sign (occurs in the middle of the season) and signifies a time when we are meant to reach beyond our grasp, use our knowledge which is to say our ideals and aim for the possibilities.
You might say that everything was different the last time Saturn was there. In truth it was just after the biggest oil spill in  history  which happened when Saturn was in Capricorn. It was a significant ‘no turning back’ event for environmental crisis. Here we are again. More important than looking back at this moment (although it is fascinating) is to look ahead. In a couple of days Jupiter will also enter Aquarius to exactly conjunct Saturn on the 21st..This is considered to be a ‘Great Conjunction’ and the beginning of a new series that hasn’t been seen for over 800 years. Things were definitely different 800 years ago. It was the time of the Black Plague which rings a bell for our current pandemic. For now, for us what’s important is to lean into our shifting, rattling, unpredictable, troubled world and con(with) sider(star) where you would like most to turn your attention. Choosing where to focus our attention is one of the few choices we can make. Over these next two year as Saturn journeys through Aquarius we will learn over and over again how much our attention creates our intention and therefore the world.

December 19
Jupiter enters Aquarius
Venus trine Chiron
Sun conjunct Mercury
As we step even further away from the ‘Century of the Self’ (the 20th century) we take and yet another step into the age of Aquarius which is to say the age of collectivity. One thing for sure is that the issue of trauma is not an individual thing. ‘My’ trauma is not really separate from anyone else’s. To be alive is to suffer, sooner or later, but to bear it collectively is an awesome way to lighten the load and move forward. As we learn to do that things will become easier for the ones who follow and not just for the fortunate few who can afford therapy.
Jupiter is here to remind us over the next year that these kinds of things must somehow become part of our ideology, our laws, our systems of government and of civilization, assuming that we intend to continue the course of civilizing our instincts so we don’t completely wreck the joint.
And even, just for today we might find some way to honor this process. It’s not easy for individuals to shift from me to we. But ‘this the season and it is an idea whose time is coming.

December 20
Mercury enters Capricorn
Here, on the last full day of Sagittarius the Sun rises and sets low in the sky, offering us the least of its light (here in the North). We should pause. Even if you live near the equator or down under you could take a moment in honor of the cosmic shift that is happening in the ‘above’. Christmas is coming, so are many other things. This is a time of traditions. Consider yourself an ancestor, one of many creators of a new set of traditions for your descendants: Traditions based not on charity but on commonality. This world is not so much broken although it seems so at the moment, as it is transforming. Changing. We need to sail into that wind not turn our backs.
Mercury is the winged messenger. the god of words and thoughts. Words are windows to other worlds and thoughts have wings. Capricorn is astrology’s reminder that we all reap what we sow.