I promised in my last newsletter that I would cover the lunar cycle and give you a forecast for 2022, but as I gathered information I realized I couldn’t possibly cover it all in one post. December is an exciting month, especially for the United States, so let’s take a look at the wisdom of the New Moon on December 3, 2021.
Total Solar Eclipse
The Sun and Moon come together at 12 degrees, 22 minutes of Sagittarius. The USA Ascendant is at 12 degrees, 21 minutes. That’s right, the total solar eclipse occurs smack dab on the USA Ascendant! Furthermore, this lunar/solar conjunction is the apex of a Finger of God – two quincunx planets separated by a sextile – with Uranus at 11 degrees of Taurus in the 5th House at one arm, and the USA natal Sun at 13 Cancer on the other, in the 7th House.
Total Solar Eclipses happen when the Moon and Sun unite on, or close to the ecliptic and near one of the Moon’s nodes. In this case the New Moon is in a wide conjunction to the South Node in the 12th House of the collective unconscious.
So we have our two luminaries – the Sun and the Moon – Spirit and Soul, landing on the degree that speaks about our collective self- image, the way we appear to others, the personality through which we interact with the world. This is a South Node event and therefore has to do with the past, but it is at the degree of rebirth for the USA! If we’re going to slip gracefully into our new skin, we best dump our baggage, lighten our load and let go of the past. The South Node portal is open and ready to take up our discards.
Finger of God
The name suggests a pointing figure, indicating where to go or look. “Look at that!” the finger says. But it’s also like the finger of God reaching out to man on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It suggests that Spirit is reaching out to us to lend a hand. Clearly the suggestion is that we take a good look at our self-image and the behavior that arises from it.
Face it – we have a split personality! It doesn’t look as if it will heal soon, but this eclipse initiates the Rebirth of America and it all begins with our dream. Our Nation was seeded with the Declaration of Independence in which we stated our belief that all men are created equal, have rights which include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Somehow those values got subsumed by economic concerns. We evolved into a money-seeking, wealth-hoarding, fearful society in which it’s every man for himself. This is where our current paradigm has led us.
We have avoided looking at ourselves for a long time. We make up stories about how we’re the greatest nation on Earth, the wealthiest, the most powerful. Bully for us! The rest of the world either pays homage to us, relies upon us or hates us. Egad! What if you were this person? Wouldn’t you want some self-improvement?
This glorious experiment in Democracy is being challenged now. Next February Pluto makes its return to its location at the time the Declaration was signed. We have seen the devastation of Pluto in its passage through Capricorn beginning in 2008. Pluto clears the path for evolution. Whatever isn’t working will be revealed and if we don’t address it, it will be swept away. Just about every system is broken – healthcare, education, justice, infrastructure, social welfare, economics not to mention politics which is the science of living together. It’s not supposed to be a competition for power. Politics involves taking on the responsibility of serving the nation and its citizens’ needs. We seem to have forgotten that.
We are crossing the threshold of the Aquarian Age, yet the world is slipping backward into Authoritarianism. Our Democracy is on the line. What kind of future do we want? Some are declaring that Democracy doesn’t work, but the truth is we don’t work it. Democracy is what we make of it and it isn’t just our right to do whatever damn thing we want. We have a Covenant with one another. Covenants carry responsibility.
Our Constitution is our Covenant meant to assure and protect the rights of all citizens, but it is also our agreement to live in accord with our shared values. The problem right now is that we no longer share the same values. Furthermore, in recent years we discovered that our Constitution doesn’t fully protect us from despots. When the President and his cabinet disrespect our laws and spread rancor and discord, it only serves to destroy our Union, thus weakening our Democracy. We have even lost respect for the truth. Worst of all, we have lost civility which is the foundation of civilization.
I would love to see an amended Declaration for the Aquarian Age – a Declaration of Interdependence – in which we state clearly our belief in our Oneness, and dedicate ourselves to consider the welfare of the whole in every choice we make, because we realize that we cannot succeed as a civilization unless we work together. We are interdependent on every level.
I declared in the title of this post that this eclipse is a wake up call for the United States. Uranus at one arm of the Finger of God is providing the energy for change and the resonance of independence. This energy is electric, and eager to provide insights. Uranus is applying pressure to expand our consciousness into what is unknown, unseen. That would include the future. So we are asked not only to look at our self-image as a nation, but to wake up and make the necessary changes.
The other arm of this Finger of God is the U.S.A’s natal Sun in Cancer. We truly have family values in which we nurture and care for one another, in which we provide security and support to our children, and embrace our extended family. That’s our identity. We care, we love, we feel deeply, we empathize. That is our essence.
The message I see here is that it’s time to get in touch with our human family values, to see how far we have strayed from our original spirit. With a Sagittarian Ascendant, we are a nation of dreamers. We dreamed of crossing this country in covered wagons. We dreamed of going to the Moon. We aspire! Now we have the greatest opportunity yet – to aspire to our Founding Father’s original dream – to form a more perfect Union.
We can clearly see now that we have lost our way. Aspiring to be rich, powerful or famous can only come from a mind mired in our dysfunctional, patriarchal, capitalistic paradigm. That’s a lot of alarming words that trigger ego defenses. I could write a book about the bastardization of the English language and the redefinition of the most important words in our political lexicon. Don’t worry. I won’t.
Eclipses are portals opening up to undreamed-of possibilities. We can enter new realities by opening our minds, picking apart our beliefs, asking probing questions. Who are we? Who were we? Who do we want to be? We can do better! And now is the time to take responsibility. I love this word – our ability to respond, but it has taken on the onus of unwanted chores. Whine, whine – do I have to be responsible? Yes, you do! But you can rejoice in that, because it means you are reclaiming your agency, your sovereignty. Responsibility is the path to maturity. We are an adolescent society and in 2022 the focus is on growing up. The more responsibility we take, the more agency we have in our world, meaning the more personal power we gain in creating our reality.
Vesta, Chiron, North Node
The Solar Eclipse is 3 degrees away from Vesta, guardian of the Sacred Flame that burns within our hearts. Vesta forms a grand Fire trine with transiting Chiron at 8 Aries and the USA North Node at 6 Leo. There is a real opportunity for healing. The effect of an eclipse can last for months or even years. They are initiatory moments that result in dramatic shifts. Look at the 2017 Total Solar eclipse that bisected our nation, deepened the rift between our political parties and resulted in the greatest conflict of values since the Civil War.
We can’t know what this eclipse will produce, but what Astrology can do for us is reveal opportunities. We can choose which energies to work with. We can see the potential in this Grand Trine and realize we can devote ourselves (Vesta) to Healing (Chiron) and fulfill America’s destiny (North Node) to be loving leaders (Leo) toward a better future.
The Nodes work together. We ingest at the North Node as we flow into the future. Having harvested the wisdom of our experience, we eliminate the chaff at the South Node to make room for the new. This is how we digest personal and collective experience. This is how we evolve.
Mars
Mars at 23 degrees of Scorpio is assisting the Plutonian breakdown of the past. Mars is square Jupiter at 25 Aquarius in the 3rd House. Jupiter is about growth and expansion and emits a lot of energy, so a Mars square to Jupiter is a powerful force. With Jupiter in the 3rd House, we may gather new information, see the bigger picture, peer through the Neptunian fog of misinformation to the truth behind the veil. Jupiter is conjunct the USA goddess of Wisdom, Pallas, and the USA natal Moon stimulating both our need to think for ourselves, and our need to connect with others. What we learn will not only increase our wisdom, it will bring more optimism and faith.
Mars is also trine to Neptune. Next March, we will have another exact opposition of Neptune to his natal position. In the 3rd House Neptune is confusing us. We don’t know what to believe. What do we make of all this conflicting information? While this seeming chaos is anxiety-producing, we are learning to be more comfortable with uncertainty, we are learning to accept not-knowing. We are developing Beginner’s Mind which is exactly what a newborn needs.
Mars is Qunicunx, or 150 degrees away from Eris, planet of “stirring things up” and creating discord. We must resist the temptation to get caught up in the fracas. This will be challenging because the Supreme Court is hearing testimony on abortion rights. The majority of people, not just women, but members of varied political parties, believe women should have sovereignty over their reproductive rights and their health in general.
The Republican party seeks to weaken the status of women, to subject them to biblical and patriarchal values. They have worked for decades toward this moment, packing the court, testing the system. I am deeply disappointed that the media are covering this as a lost cause. It only fuels defeat in the collective consciousness and makes women lose hope. But a ray of hope came from Justice Sotomayor who asked her fellow justices if the Supreme Court could survive the stench of political manipulation. What legitimacy will the court have, she asks, if it is seen as a political body? Admittedly this is what it has come to. Each political party in turn installs justices not for their legal acumen, nor their Constitutional scholarship, nor their dedication to fairness and justice, but to vote along their party lines. Just one more system that needs reform.
Venus
Beautiful Venus will play a leading role next year, but for now she reaches her greatest brightness on the night of the eclipse. Do not miss her in the evening sky. She is so bright we can actually see rays of light emanating from her surface. I saw her last night and decided it must have been Venus at her brightest that beckoned the 3 Wise Men to Nazareth. Saturn and Jupiter are also in the evening sky. Currently they lie in a straight line. Venus is the brightest, then Jupiter and dimmer Saturn lies between.
Venus entered Capricorn on November 6th and crossed into the USA 2nd House on Thanksgiving. She will remain in Capricorn until March 6th, so we have a couple of months to examine our values. She turns retrograde on December 19th and meets up with the Sun on January 8th to begin a new cycle. Much more to come on that subject.
We have been redefining our values for the past 13 years. The Pandemic put us back in touch with our families, with the comfort of free time, with a longing for connection and the return of good will to our nation. This eclipse insists we examine the American character, warts and all. We certainly have seen the dark underside of our collective consciousness. Now it’s time to recall the values of the men and women who founded this nation. Do we still believe in their dream? Hold their values? What adjustments do we need to make? And I suggest we go beyond the wisdom of our founders to the wisdom of the indigenous people who lived in peace and harmony with nature for millennia before the white man arrived. We have something precious here that we have too long taken for granted.
I’ll be back for the Gemini Full Moon and at that time give you a sneak preview of the changes coming in 2022 and the energy shifts which will open up new opportunities. Until then, here are some key dates for the first half of the Sagittarius lunar cycle:
Key Dates:
Dec. 1st – Neptune turns direct
Dec. 3-4 – Total Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius
Venus reaches maximum brightness – open heart
Dec. 7 – Mars square Jupiter – a test of faith
Dec. 11 – Sun square Neptune –higher octave of love
Venus conjunct Pluto – transformation, initiation
Dec. 13 – Mars enters Sagittarius – ideals, vision, aspiration
Mercury enters Capricorn – practicality of mind
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