Life meanders like a path through the woods. We have seasons when we flourish and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again. George Eliot.
The days before the shortest day of the year are shaped by the honest starkness of winter. Bare branches etched against grey skies. A russet flash of a fox daintily picking her way across a glistening frosty field. Silent starry nights. Gardens barren and bare. And yet, in the darkness of winter, new life is growing underground.
The astrological sky story speaks of endings and new beginnings after two years of transition as Pluto traversed between the very different signs of Capricorn and Aquarius. On November 19th, Pluto entered Aquarius, heralding a new age for humankind―an app-driven Age of Artificial Intimacy, an Age of Authoritarianism, an Age of Reimagining what it means to be human. Now we stand collectively at the threshold of a new era as we try to imagine the unimaginable—what the world will be like in twenty years time.
As our nervous systems adjust and attune to what is emerging, we may sense a shifting in our priorities as we come to some kind of ending in our own lives.
December’s full moon invokes the mercurial essence of Gemini as we approach the Solstice on December 21st. In the Greco/Roman world, Mercury/Hermes presided over thresholds, crossroads, and boundaries. Air is Gemini’s element. This is the energy of the wind that blows through the branches, shaking off that last golden autumn leaf. The Trickster is an archeype that versatile Gemini epitomises —this energy can be elusive, clever, playful, and infuriatingly inconsistent. This full moon may illuminate those tricky either-or-choices we must make as we stand at those crossroad moments in our lives. Spiritual teacher, Caroline Myss reminds us, “the challenge is for us to decide whether to make choices that enhance our spirit or drain our power.”
Neptune steers direct on December 7th, followed by Mercury direct on December 15th, signifying turning points, new perspectives, choices made, decisions resolved. Now, a coming back to a state of faith and peace as we allow our nervous systems to recalibrate and resettle.
Mars stations Retrograde on December 6th (6° Leo) and will station direct on February 24th (17° Cancer.) A slow-burning Mars Retrograde exacerbates residual frustration as our will may be thwarted by those things we simply cannot control. The intense energy of the Mars opposition to Pluto that has been building since mid-October will stretch across the heavens until January 3rd, sparkling the flames of love and war, igniting volatility as unseen, primal forces are unleashed. If this opposition plays out across your own birth chart over the coming weeks, this potent energy will provide the adrenaline rush, and hopefully a cathartic resolution to a situation that has been simmering for some time. As the sun moves through Sagittarius now, Jupiter is travelling Retrograde through Gemini (October 9th-February 4th.) Jupiter and the sun oppose one another on December 7th, as we review the year gone past, plan for the future, dare to trust and to hope.
Now as we tend to the cherished customs and savour the familiar rituals of this holiday season, may we glance back over the months of this year almost gone and allow those moments of pleasure to glitter across our memory—our daily walk with the dog, a swim in the ocean, a birthday meal shared with a dear friend—or the Big, heart-blossoming, life-changing arrival of a precious grandchild.
“Locking pleasure into our memories through savouring is a skill worth learning, not least because we make our decisions today not so much based on rational pros and cons of a given choice but based on our memories of the past,” suggests researcher and sex educator, Dr Emily Nagoski.
Anchored to the restless tail wind of a year that has seen millions of voters going to the polls, inhuman immigration and asylum policies, and the grim toll of vicious combat in the Middle East and Ukraine, and the ratcheting climate crisis, the last new moon of 2024 falls in the stoic sign of Capricorn on December 30th. This final New Moon of 2024 is a Saturn-ruled lunation. Saturn reminds us that time is is transient: once it’s gone, it’s gone. Emily Nagoski writes, “our body’s energy can be renewed, money comes and goes, but time is limited and fleeting… so I choose to do this with my time.”
Rilke spoke of the winter months as the season for tending to the inner garden of the soul. Now as the sun lies low on the horizon, may we find the courage to gently gather the worst and the best of this year and commit to healing them as best we can. May we generously accept our sadness, acknowledge the brevity of our fragile human lives, feel the fertile substance of our wanting. As we come together this festive season, may we celebrate the dark and the light of this year gone by, and be grateful for those precious times of connection. And in those silent moments, beneath the glittering stars, may we breathe out a prayer of gratitude as we prepare to blossom once more in the spring.
I am gestating a new beginning of my own as I take time to be curious about Pluto’s passage through Aquarius and what this means for humanity. I will be wintering quietly and listening deeply. Thank you all for all your love and support during this year now almost gone. Wishing you a restorative and hope-filled Solstice.
Please get in touch if you would like to book an appointment for an astrology session for March 2024. ingrid@trueheartwork.com
