Sunday 12/22/2019: Winter Solstice; News and More News
…and a happy Winter Solstice to you.
The Moon is in Scorpio, supporting efforts to plumb depths of knowledge and emotion. How will you become more empowered as a result? Moon goes void at 10:27 PM ET — and won’t enter the next sign — Sagittarius — until MONDAY at 11:34 AM ET. Roll with the twists and flakes that may disrupt your quest to move forward in a straight line. If a crisis crops up, chill!
Once the Moon enters Sagittarius, see if you notice the shift. A Sagittarius Moon facilitate righteous opinion, pushing boundaries, getting outside your usual comfort zone. Take a gamble or a gambol.
Note that we are near the end of the lunar cycle, which may be accompanied by a feeling of listlessness or restlessness. We sense that something new is just around the corner, but we don’t know what it will be. That “something new” is scheduled to be planted on the New Moon in Capricorn on THURSDAY at 12:13 AM ET. This New Moon is a solar eclipse — and will be discussed in the next forecast.
Meanwhile…
Last night at at 11:20 PM ET, we said goodbye to the Sun in Sagittarius and hello to the Sun in Capricorn. In the Northern Hemisphere, days will be getting longer and nights will be getting shorter. If you live in South Africa or anywhere else south of the equator, you are celebrating the first day of summer. If you live in Australia, summer came way too early and has already overstayed its welcome, with record-breaking temperatures.
With the Sun in Capricorn, we move from big-picture thinking (Sagittarius) to practical application. What will we build that will materially define our collective philosophy? Time to take care of business — and think corporations, governments and maybe The Junior League. Think status and ambition.
Here’s what you need to know about the first day of any season — i.e., equinoxes and solstices — from an astrological point of view. The first days of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter correspond with the first day (or first degree) of Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, respectively. Got that? Good. These four signs are called cardinal signs of the zodiac. Cardinal signs initiate. They come up with the idea and put it into action, which leads to necessary change. “Cardinal” suggests (from the Latin root of the word), “that on which something turns or depends.” So the first day/degree of a Cardinal sign is a turning point. In astrology, the technical term for the first degree of any Cardinal sign is the Aries Point, just to confuse people who are not professional astrologers.
Equinoxes and solstices are also prominent. We make a fuss over them, right? In Japan, the first day of each season is actually a national holiday. How cool is that? Thus, in a horoscope, a planet or angle at the Aries Point needs to be prominent. Cancers Elizabeth Warren and Meryl Streep, Capricorn Ted Cruz, Libran Stephen King and Aries William Shatner were all born with the Sun at the Aries Point. They’re pretty prominent in everything they do, don’t you think?
Here’s a bit about the science behind the reasons we celebrate the winter solstice.
A chart for a new season suggests the game plan for the next three months. Set in Washington DC, we note that chart ruler Mercury is highly engaged, but not at its best in Sagittarius, where it’s likely to err on the side of sloppy righteous opinion, as opposed to critical factual details. Mercury is separating from a square to Neptune, which reflected any magical or otherwise idealized and/or duplicitous thinking and (mis)communication experienced last week.
This applies to your own personal world, as well as the headlines:
- two Carnival cruise ships collide in Mexico
- Boeing’s attempted flight to the International Space Station fails because of “an improperly set clock.”
In the solstice chart, the Capricorn Sun is ready to make things happen — bigly — as we see by its approaching meet-up with Jupiter in just a few days. We can anticipate exuberance and expansion — maybe in the markets, as we have seen in past Sun-Jupiter conjunctions.
The Scorpio Moon is at the same degree as the Moon was at in the chart for P45’s inauguration, in all of its ruthless, power-consolidating glory. It’s just amazing how planetary patterns for these Washington DC charts continue to refer back to this and other key horoscopes. The Moon’s next stop is a meet-up with action hero/warrior Mars, suggesting continued crusades, for better or for worse.
Meanwhile, a sextile between this high-functioning Mars (in Scorpio) is further supported by a harmony (a sextile) with power broker Pluto. A nearly exact square between Venus (women, social expression, arts, money) and rebel Uranus, offers an opportunity for unconventional alliances, greater tolerance for differences and innovation. Both of these patterns were exact today, at 8:29 AM ET and 9:28 AM ET — but will be in effect for the next few months as the blueprint of the Winter Solstice.
And so it goes, with the background hum of January 12th’s Lean Mean Meet-Up of Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn, as noted in prior forecasts. That’s the pattern being reflected in so many headlines reflecting the authoritarian potential of being “under his eye” or Big Brother. Examples: the NYT’s superb series, “One Nation, Tracked” — which has helpful tips on how you may safeguard what’s left of the privacy your smartphone has taken away. Also in the NYT: an interview with a former Republican congressman who says he doesn’t agree with P45 on many issues, but — like many of his colleagues — quit Congress rather than stay and fight. Why are so many in Congress afraid to speak up?
Silver lining: you can apply the extreme streamlined ambition of the Lean Mean Meet-Up with integrity to projects in your own personal world. If you have planets around 22 degrees of Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, you are especially encouraged to do so. Consult your astrologer for details.
And now, the news.
I have over 40 stories on my list — which ones to share…?
The Virgo Moon was not void at 8:52 PM ET on 12/18, 2019, when Nancy Pelosi pounded her gavel and made the impeachment of P45 an official event. Kudos to Stephen Colbert for preparing for the historic day weeks in advance. If you didn’t see the brand-new animated holiday classic, “Once Upon Impeachment,” here it is.
It’s not surprising that House Speaker Pelosi is delaying sending the articles of impeachment over to the Senate, 1) because Speaker Pelosi is smart; and 2) pressure in P45’s horoscope reflecting that level of stress is more evident starting in February, than rightthisminute. Speaker Pelosi did invite P45 to deliver his State of the Union address on the evening of February 4th, and patterns in his horoscope that day include transiting Mars in Sagittarius, conjoining his toxic South Node-Moon and opposing his Gemini Sun. Translation: the need for strong assertion and/or aggression, similar to patterns last experienced around the Autumnal Equinox and the first week of May 2019, but with the added stress of transiting Saturn and Pluto on his natal Saturn (authority/structure/ambition).
Meanwhile, it is indeed curious how many Republicans in Congress are parroting the same dismissive comments and defense re: the impeachment as…Vladimir Putin. Seriously. Putin made headlines this week by hinting that the Russian Constitution could be amended to allow a president to serve more than two terms.
In other news, there have been way too many awful headlines about certain men behaving badly. Here, I’m thinking about in-depth investigative reports on how sexual predators have lured underage victims via chat rooms in online gaming forums ( and the avenging angels who are working overtime to bring them to justice. I’m also thinking about the ongoing revelations about abuses involving the usual suspects in churches, schools, etc. — and Jeffrey Epstein (we haven’t heard the half of that one yet). One planetary pattern reflecting this toxicity now demanding our attention is Chiron, which just turned direct last week — close to the Aries Point. The flood of information was anticipated here back in February
Meanwhile…
Saturn refers to time, age and endings. Pluto is also connected to decay and transformation. Put them in Capricorn and you’ve got a business concept and an NYT Sunday Magazine cover story: “Living With Death.” It’s about “a growing home-funeral movement that believes families can benefit from tending to — and spending time with — the bodies of their deceased loved ones.” Over at WaPo, its homepage headline about an octogenarian couple torn apart by the streamlining of elder care facilities in rural America just broke my heart. It’s called “Traveling the Loneliest Road.”
On a lighter note…let’s talk about the innovative potential in food and fashion, suggested by this week’s square between Venus and Uranus:
- “What environmentalist Rob Greenfield learned from growing his own food and foraging for a year in Orlando, Florida”
- “Can recycled rags fix fashion’s waste problem?”
In other news, I did watch a portion of the last Democratic debate and — true to the spirit of Venus-Uranus square — I did appreciate Andrew Yang’s assertion that men become “morons if they are left alone.” Here’s the video. We do have a birth time for Yang — and that remark beautifully expresses his horoscope. He’s a Capricorn driven by a wonky Moon in Aquarius. His Sun is at 22 Capricorn — and it’s going to be hit by next month’s Saturn-Pluto conjunction and by a Jupiter-Pluto conjunction later in the year. His Moon is conjunct Venus and Mercury — a strong statement of idealism…and all three are square to Uranus. Thus the potential for innovation, humor and disruption. His Ascendant is 4 Capricorn, so he certainly looks like a take-charge executive authority. We need to keep an eye on him around the Vernal Equinox, when Mars crosses his Ascendant and activates the lunar eclipse happening this Thursday at…4 degrees of Capricorn.
In a related story, when asked to choose between asking for forgiveness or giving a gift, only the two women candidates said they would ask for forgiveness. Had the men been left alone for too long?
If you missed the debate, you can watch SNL’s take on it here. They hit it out of the park last night, as one might anticipate, given the wackiness of the Venus-Uranus square, the inspiration of Mercury-Neptune, the depth of Mars-Pluto and the expansiveness of Sun-Jupiter. Watch the whole show and your day will be merry and bright. Or happy — if you’re celebrating Hanukkah.
Thank you for reading this forecast. Thank you for the contributions to my Cosmic Tip Jar. Thanks especially to those of you who have pledged to support this work on a monthly basis, now that I’ve created an easy way for you to do so. I appreciate that you find these words of value. To schedule a consultation about your horoscope and its potential for 2020, here’s the 411.
Lastly, thanks to Maria Teneva at Unsplash for her fab photo of a Greek mountain goat. Opa!