Friday 12/24/2021 & the Weekend: Catching Up on the News; Merry Christmas, Everyone!
It’s been a while since we covered the news, so let’s do it.
Plus, I can write while tracking Santa’s trek around the world, courtesy of Norad’s Santa Tracker. Ho, ho, ho!!! Also inspiring: “Good King Wenceslas,” performed by The Roches — along with their entire Christmas concert from 1990 — and what I wouldn’t give to be caroling right now. Damn you, Omicron!
Oh, well.
Let’s start with a recap of the forecast for the weekend:
- SATURDAY. Christmas Day dawns with the second of three Venus-Pluto conjunctions. There may be an extreme need to slash and burn in social expression and values. Venus-Pluto contacts suggest stormy weather, including emotional storms and “witchy-bitchy” women. Your coping strategy — especially with Venus retrograde — is to count to ten before lashing out. Even though you may want to cut straight to the heart of something you recognize you can no longer tolerate, try to remember a few social graces, e.g., “please” and “thank you.” You can find a way to excise whatever it is you can no longer tolerate in a less Plutonian (i.e., burn it all to the ground) manner, yes? You may be feeling the urge to cut to the quick more personally if you have a planet or angle around 26 degrees of Capricorn, Aries, Cancer, or Libra. For a real-life example of how Venus Rx in Capricorn conjunct Pluto compares to last year’s easy-going Venus in Sagittarius, check out this post on my Facebook page that I’ve made public.
- SATURDAY: Communication flows easily along practical lines as the perfection-seeking Virgo Moon trines Mercury at 3:08 PM ET. Over the next 24 hours or so, we may notice efforts to make a dream come true. At 6:07 PM ET, Moon opposes Neptune, facilitating a need for a perfect escape, mulled wine, sweet music, or words misunderstood.
- SUNDAY: Night owls can benefit from the potent creativity of the Virgo Moon’s trine to Venus and Pluto, exact at 3:11 AM and 3:39 AM ET. Everyone may benefit from the ensuing long Moon void, offering double permission to sleep in on a Sunday without consequence. Moon enters Libra at 11:23 AM ET, shifting gears into the realm of relationship, especially harmony, fairness, and balance. A need for idealism may be revealed around 4:28 PM ET, as Mercury sextiles Neptune. At 9:23 PM ET, the Libra Moon’s need for fairness is challenged by the Capricorn Sun’s objective of getting things accomplished Just Because. Happy First Quarter Moon!
If you’re not taking Monday off, there’s no Moon void to excuse any oversleeping.
And now, the news…
…which has been an avalanche over the past few weeks, hasn’t it? In no particular order, we’ve seen:
- “Tornadoes Leave Trail of Devastation Across Six States; Scores Dead”
- “193 Stories on the Impact of Climate Change Around the World” — impressive reporting by the NYT
- “Christmas travel chaos as airlines cancel more than 3000 flights.” But we were anticipating a disruption in networks/connectivity, in the wake of the Saturn-Uranus square, exact at 2:17 AM on Friday, right? And the rapid spread of the Omicron covid variant is disrupting much more than airline connections, yes?
- Saturday Night Live sent most of its cast and crew home last weekend after several tested positive for Covid. Still, the show went on — and what did air was pretty darn good — here’s the cold open w/Tom Hanks, Tina Fey, and Paul Rudd & a few surprises.
I can’t remember who said this to me a couple of weeks ago, but I found it insightful — and comforting. “Covid wants to live,” they said, “and if it keeps killing its hosts, it won’t survive. Therefore, we should expect Covid to evolve into a form that is annoying, not fatal.” What do you think?
Meanwhile…
December 9th – 17th was an active time because Mars and Jupiter were at 27 degrees of Scorpio and Aquarius, respectively. Any planet at those degrees activates the reeeeeeallly long lunar eclipse we had at 27 Taurus-Scorpio on November 19th. Thus, anyone with significant planets at 27 degrees Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius could have been thrust into the spotlight, as follows:
- Joe Manchin (D-WV) shocked some by announcing on Fox “News” that he could not support President Biden’s Build Back Better bill, citing new concerns about inflation — but the only thing inflationary that I can see in his horoscope is transiting Jupiter inflating his mindset (Mercury at 26 Leo), worth/pocketbook (Venus at 27 Leo) — and next week, his ego (0 Virgo Sun).
- Rick Perry — with his 27 Taurus Ascendant — is believed to be the author of text sent to former WH Chief of Staff Mark Meadows one day after the November 2020 elections which “pushed a plan to undermine the 2020 election results,” as Heather Cox Richardson explains.
- Mark Meadows‘ horoscope was discussed in March 2020. Without a birth time, we can only speculate at what’s happening in his horoscope — likely from transiting Saturn and/or Uranus to his Taurus Moon and/or his Ascendant or Midheaven. But it’s heavy, as it’s now been discovered that he was the guy that Sean Hannity and other Fox “News” personalities were madly texting on January 6, pleading for TFG to stop the storming of the U.S. Capitol. Meadows also turned over a 38-page PowerPoint detailing exactly how Team TFG planned to prevent President Biden from taking office.
- The “ubiquitous, ranting presence” known as Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) has been asked to appear before the House 1/6 Committee to explain in detail his communications with TFG on the day of the January 6th attempted coup. Jordan has Sun-Mars-Saturn at 25-28 Aquarius, and we have discussed his horoscope before.
- FYI — if you’d prefer to get the latest on the attempted coup via video instead of print, may I recommend this thorough and compelling recap by PoliticsGirl (a.k.a. Leigh McGowan). I wish we had a birth date for her — but nothing yet. She’s had quite an extraordinary life, as she explains one-third of the way through the linked podcast. After the birth of her child ten years ago, she was told she had only two years to live. Guess what? She’s still here — and well worth a listen.
Another horoscope activated by a recent eclipse was Reality Winner, first discussed here back in 2017. You may recall that Winner was given the harshest sentence ever for leaking an intelligence report — about Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections. She was released in June and on December 5th, the day after the New Moon in Sagittarius eclipsed her 12 Sagittarius Sun, she was interviewed by 60 Minutes — and here’s the video, if you missed it. Mars will trigger that eclipse on New Year’s Eve, and Jupiter will trigger it at the end of February. Let’s see how she makes headlines then.
In other news…
Venus in Capricorn conjunct Pluto suggests women, money, art, and social expression in the EXTREME. Pluto can make it feel like a matter of life and death.
- “He paid $30 for a drawing. It could be a Renaissance work (by Albrecht Durer) worth millions.”
- FDA eases access to abortion pills by mail…even as efforts to restrict abortion rights in many states continue.
- Mr. Big has a heart attack and dies in the premiere of “…And Just Like That,” HBO’s eagerly-awaited sequel to “Sex and the City.” But wait — there’s more! A reporter interviewed a cardiologist, who blamed the show’s heroine — Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) — for Big’s demise. What should Carrie have done (and what should YOU do when faced with a similar medical emergency)? Here’s what the cardiologist said.
- But wait!! There STILL more — because not only was actor Chris Noth‘s character (Mr. Big) deep-sixed, but now several women are accusing Noth of sexual assault. Clearly, there are things going on in his horoscope...including Pluto at 26 Leo and his 12 Virgo Ascendant and 8 Gemini MC eclipsed in recent months — and all triggered this month.
Avid Readers will recall that obituaries reflect planetary patterns. Here we have a sampling of Venus-Pluto in Capricorn, combined with the disruptive potential of Saturn square Uranus:
- bell hooks — “trailblazing writer, activist and cultural theorist who made a pivotal contribution to Black feminist thought”
- Joan Didion –87 — “unsparing observer of US culture, politics and public life won huge acclaim for her memoir The Year of Magical Thinking”
- Grace Mirabella — 92 — the editor who “brought Vogue down to earth”
- Anne Rice — 80 – — who spun Gothic tales of vampires
- Shirley Zussman — 107 — “indefatigable sex therapist”
- Lina Wertmuller — 93 — “Italian director of provocative films”
- Eve Babitz — 78 — “hedonist with a notebook”
Finally, SNL‘s Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon nailed certain emotional extremes of Venus-Pluto in Capricorn in a brilliant sketch about what grandmothers really want for Christmas. Sound familiar?
Merry Christmas to all! And to all, a good night!
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Thank you for reading this forecast.