‘Tis the time to rest and reflect on the core values of our lives
The Solstice is when we seed our new vision
I want to invite you to look at the chart below for this Solstice. Look at it as if it were an abstract painting. See what catches your attention. Don’t worry about reading the symbols. Just notice how they’re arranged around the wheel. Does anything capture your eyes? Other than the Moon in Cancer, serving as an anchor on one side of this wheel, all the other planets are locked behind the North Node in Gemini and the South Node in Sagittarius. The Lunar Nodes are like gatekeepers of initiation for the collective. Both also are in a challenging conversation with Jupiter, which is now in the tail-end of the Aquarius, getting ready to move into Pisces on December 28.
Jupiter in Aquarius has been teaching us how our self-improvement serves both us and the collective. It has called for tolerance and a broadening of our viewpoints. Add the Nodes in Gemini/Sagittarius, and for the past several months, we’ve been locking heads between having to learn to expand our minds, ask questions and search for the proper information (Gemini) while resisting the dogmatism and even fundamentalism as the shadow aspects of the South Node in Sagittarius. These have been challenging lessons.
A Resonance with the Astrology of earlier in 2021
Last December’s Solstice, other than Venus transiting Sagittarius, all the other planets, including the Moon, were caught between the Nodes in Gemini/Sagittarius. It’s as if they were behind the castle walls of the Lunar Nodes, having to grow up as they transited both the last and first signs of the zodiac.
This is the image I want you to pay attention to the concentration of planets in the last signs of the zodiac (Capricorn, Aquarius & Pisces) and the first two signs of the cosmic wheel (Aries & Taurus.) Earlier in 2021, all the planets, including Venus, who entered the ‘castle’ were locked behind the Nodes until Mars broke ranks and ‘escaped’ past the North Node in Gemini in mid-March. This was when most of the world was in some form of lock-down – strict or not. We were all cooking in the collective vessel.
Now, it’s not the same scenario, but there’s a resonance of being behind the ‘castle’ walls of the Nodes as other planetary transitions are taking place. The first planet that will break rank and escape the watchful eyes of the Nodes will be Mercury in late April when it transits the late degrees of Taurus. The image of the planetary archetypes being behind ‘castle walls,’ with only the Cosmic Weaver (and Gossip) the Moon to bring news from the outside world, seems evocative. How can we work with this image?
The last signs of the zodiac: Capricorn, Aquarius & Pisces
We’re living through a decade of endings and beginnings. Longer astrological cycles are endings and beginnings. Planets that have been transiting a sign for years (i.e., Pluto in Capricorn & Neptune in Pisces) will shift signs by mid-decade. This is a paradigm shift in more ways than one, and it’s no wonder we smell the stench of death of our old ways of being and living while the new is still untried and unsure.
The last signs of the zodiac are about maturity, mastery, and focus on something other than ego desires. Capricorn beckons us to mature, grow up, and be counted. With the current Venus Retrograde in the sign of the Sea-Goat, accompanied by the Lord of the Underworld Pluto, we wrap up 2021 and start 2022 in a more somber mood of reevaluation and examination of the core values that are woven into the foundations of our lives. I think of Venus in Capricorn, the realm of Saturn, as lessons in mature love, and how boundaries, loyalty, responsibility, and accountability should also be added to the Love Language list. I like to say that Aquarius’ namaste is: my eccentricity honors your eccentricity.
Aquarius teaches us how my individuality isn’t for my ego satisfaction but to be taken as an important node in the fabric of one’s community and the larger society. With Saturn still transiting through its old home turf, we’re very much learning how our freedoms can only go as far as the freedoms of my fellow citizen. Saturn is teaching us to embrace the much-needed lesson of learning to live in a crowded world.
The work here, and this is a Saturnian word, is to understand that every individual action not only affects but modifies the whole. It’s time we learn to see the whole, be it our family, community, or the world as a living entity. An entity that we’re in a constant feedback loop of communication. In essence, what each one of us does matters to the collective. Saturn calls for responsibility and accountability in these areas.
As for Pisces, the big player of 2022 when Jupiter and Neptune conjoin in April, it speaks to lessons around understanding how the seen and unseen realms are interwoven together in more ways than we can imagine. Pisces teaches us about compassion, imagination, but also the dangers of mass psychosis and lack of grounding and healthy boundaries.
It’s in Pisces, especially with the upcoming union of Jupiter and Neptune, that we seed a new vision for our future, individually and collectively. With planets spending more time in these signs, we can see that the call is for us to mature and expand our outdated consciousness as a collective. Grow up, step up, and be counted – that’s the message.
The first signs of the zodiac: Aries, Taurus & Gemini
Chiron, the Wounded Healer archetype, has been in Aries for a while now. It beckons us to heal our wound around anger, the misuse of our aggression, assertiveness, and even our lack of courage. Aries teaches us the power to take that first step that breaks us away from the pack and starts us off on our pioneering journey. But with Chiron there, we need to examine how we’ve gone too far in slashing and burning our way through the world. The saving balm is to embrace the courage to do the inner work of healing ourselves because my healing ripples out into the world further than I can ever imagine.
Taurus, the big player in 2022 when the North Node arrives in this bucolic sign by mid-January, teaches us to get grounded and practical by following our rhythm. Now our pastoral Taurus has felt twitchy in the last few years due to Uranus electric vibes unsettling us out of our ways. This has been especially challenging in 2021, as Saturn and Uranus have been in a very awkward square dance that culminates this December 23.
Three times in 2021, Saturn and Uranus have been in an exact square to each other, intensifying the awkward exchange between CHANGE & RESISTANCE. Although they won’t be in an exact square again, they’ll be close to it again in October of 2022. Perhaps by then, we’ll have integrated the tough lesson these two archetypes have put forth for us.
Nevertheless, having Uranus in Taurus challenged by Saturn has taught us that the changes we need to make cannot be knee-jerk reactions, for we’re not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Our challenge has been to accept that the change we want had to come with contingencies and safeguards. This was an easier pill to swallow for the more moderate than those who are lovers of change. The square of Saturn to Uranus may have served to curb its hubris of wanting to bring change without properly laying down the foundation. We shall see how 2022 pans out as the intensity of the square between these two strange bedfellows ameliorates.
Lastly, Gemini, the last sign for the first quadrant of the zodiac, teaches us to embrace our curiosity and use it as a pathfinder for us in the world. In the last several months of the North Node traversing the sign of the Twins, we had to learn to ask questions, be curious, and navigate ‘not-knowing.’ The gift of Gemini is in teaching us how to build bridges of connection through curiosity. Look at the areas in your life where you could expand yourself out of your comfort zone by making new connections.
The Moon in Cancer
The Moon is our representative outside the ‘castle walls in this Solstice chart.’ She’ll be responsible for bringing us news and nourishment from the outside during these next four months until Mercury breaks through the barrier. In this chart, the Moon stands opposite Venus/Pluto, giving us a hint that the key to navigating the start of the new year is through a transformation of our ideas and ideals of love, what we value, what we consider worthy and how we must mature in our ability to show and share the love.
This is a tall order, but Moon in Cancer is here to teach us that through creating a space for belonging, we can actually expand our understanding of our ability to love. Cancer teaches us the art of nurturing and creating containers of belonging, which are the necessary vessels for love to grow and transform. It sounds cliche to speak of love, but we must see it not as the romantic definitions of greeting cards but as an expression of a more expansive consciousness.
Love isn’t dove and butterflies. It’s a consciousness of creation, and Venus’ extended stay in Capricorn until March of 2022 will give us ample time to learn how foundational love consciousness is for our path forward. Perhaps that’s why we begin another year with all the planets behind the ‘castle walls’ in retreat.
It’s as if the world is beckoning us to be more reflective and transform the way we have been seeing the world. The Solstice is a seeding time Here in the Northern Hemisphere, the Solstice marks a new beginning. Slowly but surely, day by day, the light will gain ground. Beginnings and endings are filled with vulnerability.
This is a core theme of what I’m calling this COURAGEOUS DECADE. We’re ending long-standing cycles but also beginning new ones. No wonder we feel raw, discombobulated, but also inspired and tickled about the new possibilities. So take this Solstice time to retreat a little, giving yourself time to reflect and connect with your INNER LIGHT. Then do something in the physical world, like lighting a candle, as a ritual to acknowledge your INNER LIGHT.
Remember, it’s not about how strong or bright this light is. It’s about how important it is that we each bring forth our light no matter what because we’re all born as an answer to a question of our times.
