Celestial Notebook Overview December 2007

For most of December the Sun (), representing of our essence, is in Sagittarius (). The glyph says it all: the arrow that projects itself outward toward a new horizon while gleaning an overview of the entire landscape. Where Sagittarius is in our chart is where we expand our awareness through the gathering of unfamiliar experience – anything goes!

Pluto (), the planet of conquest and transformation, has been in Sagittarius since 1995 where its quest has been the expansion of our consciousness through getting to know the self and finding an inner truth – a truth that remains independent of our external circumstances.

This month we will create circumstances to evaluate how much and in which respect we still invest our identity in our external environment – no thing has ever had anything to do with who we are; in the last instance the whole concept of ownership gets in the way of finding a more complete sense of self. Our Being is ever there- often obscured by our identification with things.

When a planet strays further away (North or South) from the celestial equator than 23° 26’ we view it as out of bounds. The maximum possible declination of the Sun is 23° 28’ which occurs at the solstices. The Moon, Mercury and Mars reach a declination of 27° north, and on rare occasions Venus reaches 28°. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune have practically the same declination as the Sun.

Planets that are out of bounds incite behaviour that is intense and outside the norm. Mars is out of bounds for six months: from beginning October to 25 April 2008. (Only in 1986 and 2001 has Mars been out of bounds this long.) It is at extreme North declination from early December to March next year, peaking on January 8.

The Moon (), indicative of our ability to respond and feel, is also at extreme North declination on 21-24 December and on 17- 21 January 2008. Until 31 December Mars is in Cancer (), the sign of the Moon and we can expect inner and outer storms. Most of the major hurricanes (Katrina, Rita and Felix) made landfall when the Moon was out of bounds.

With Mars (), depicting our will and our main thrust of energy, retrograde (seemingly reversing) we will be revaluing what is important and where we want to expend our energy. Mars out of bounds could point to extreme aggression, emotional outbursts angrily linked to the past, jumping to confusions, bridges burned too hastily! At the very least our frustrations may time and again get the better of us; at the very best we could find the courage to demonstrate our sensitivity. Breathe, stay present and try to find the gift in all situations.

Where 28° Sagittarius is in our charts is where our greatest transformation is taking place as this is the degree where Jupiter () and Pluto () meet on 11 December. The function of Jupiter is the maintenance of faith and the development of resilience; he indicates how we open up to new experiences. Alas, it is also the planet of pretence and pomposity. Pluto offers us a mission: it challenges us to shape our world, but if corrupted it can also be bombastic and dictatorial.

We will be challenged to make a leap of faith and trust what lies within the depth of ourselves. Trust within the depth of ourselves and knowledge within our conscious mind bring a sense of hope when we meet the obstacles and difficulties that are part of life’s experiences. To feel the fear (Pluto) and do it anyway (Jupiter) – the more we trust the process of life, the more our destiny is likely to unfold.

On 18 December Jupiter enters Capricorn where it remains until 5 January 2009. Jupiter is not at all comfortable in Saturn’s sign of integrity and solitude and we will all become bigger on responsibility and duty; the emphasis will be on marrying our true nature and our public identity. Very often when Jupiter is in Capricorn the world experiences changes in ethics and in governments.

A day later Saturn () turns retrograde (seemingly retracing his steps) at 8° 34’ Virgo. With Saturn forging ahead we attempt to minimise our vulnerability in the outer world by creating appropriate limits and self-discipline. While Saturn is retrograde we will be building our inner strength; to do that we will be exploring our relationship to our inner authority figure.

Mercury º (communication) joins Jupiter in Capricorn () on 20 December and the Winter solstice when the Sun enters Capricorn is at 6:09am on 22 December. Between 23 and 26 December there are no less than four planets within a few degrees of the solstice point at 0° Capricorn preparing us for Pluto entering this sign on 26 January.
As Pluto starts its sojourn in Capricorn it heralds a new era in the history of the world – and this month we need to assess to what extent we have been able to bring new levels of celestial consciousness into our relationship with the material world.

Before we achieved though hard work and stress; the time has come to diminish the wanting. What we do in the present moment needs to remain the focal point of our attention: to be engaged in activity through which we are connected to others as well as to the whole.

When we are able to feel our self as part of a process, the wanting falls away: we then are able to manifest what we by now believe we have. We can then find what we are missing in what we already have.

‘This is Serious,’ said Pooh. ‘I must have an escape.’ A. A. Milne