STARFIRE

December 2009

December 2009 - Winter Solstice 2009
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Winter Solstice 2009

After a long, hard year of Saturnian accountability, Winter Solstice brings us a time of creativity and play. Our minds (Mercury) may still be on our careers, and Saturn may still have us working longer hours than we like, but the trend is shifting now.

The Moon is void in the Winter Solstice chart, so we can only plan for the unexpected for the winter season. The Moon in the New Year’s chart will make a trine to Uranus, the trickster, as its final aspect. So get out your skis or your bikini and shift vacation days to the winter months if you have that option.

Jupiter and Neptune are conjunct in the 11th house (hopes, wishes, dreams, friends, lifetime goals) and the Moon touched them before going void. Uranus is in the 12th house, putting it in mutual reception with Neptune by both sign and house. So creative planning in the 11th house now can draw on both Neptune and Uranus, at least sequentially. It’s time to choose a big dream, and almost impossible but wonderful project and spend the winter finding ways to make it happen.

Whatever you do this winter, plan for changes in your plans. Do your strategic planning by sketching in major goals and opportunities and letting the details and methods unfold step by step. Anything else is a waste of time this winter.

Seven planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto) funnel their energy through Mars, which is retrograde in Leo in the 5th house (recreation, creativity, everything childlike). When Mars is retrograde, it’s Scorpionic, transforming and changing everything in its path instead of taking direct action like an Aries warrior. Expect plans and projects to crash–and rise again from the ashes stronger and better than the original vision.

But don’t think you can avoid change this winter. And don’t stand in its way trying to hold things together. Pluto is the most elevated planet in the chart, and Pluto is always about death, rebirth, transformation and permanent change. The Sun is only two degrees from conjunction with Pluto, which suggests that most of us will lead ourselves into unexpected transformation and change this winter. When a planet is that close to the Sun, it’s as if the Sun incorporates the energy of the other planet.

Although the chart is passionate and transformational and tricky, it’s not especially crisis-prone. There’s no planet in the same degree as the nodes, and Mars isn’t in a critical degree. Only the Sun is in a critical degree, and the Sun in a critical degree is the basis for this chart, so we don’t have to give its degree much weight in looking for crises. Mars retrograde in the 5th isn’t pretty, but it’s more likely to be the end of a long-standing critique group or musical group than a global tragedy.

Financially, Venus in the 9th promises an improvement in our international monetary standing. Mars retrograde in the 5th, however, warns against speculation of any kind.

So why am I recommending big dreams and then telling you to avoid risk? Big dreams only appear to be risky when we’re blocking them. The biggest dreams are so true to our own selves that they’re really the safest way to direct our lives. Only external conditions and personal fears persuade us they’re risky. When we start taking small steps toward our biggest and most important dreams, they often turn out to be the least risky and most profitable work we’ve ever done.

How much risk is involved in turning off television for an evening and playing with ideas for a book or an invention? Oh, yeah, there’s the cost of a couple of sheets of paper and a pen or pencil. And you might miss a rerun. Or you might end up with a screenplay or a marketing campaign that launches your own business.

The first step in developing a major vision this winter seems to be expanding on it, but can also involve research and education. Jupiter is always about making something larger, but Jupiter’s process often involves study or expanding knowledge as a basis for success. Pluto in the 9th is the epitome of research and transformation of a life that begins by transforming a mind. Of course, there’s still a choice between expanding a mind by study or research or adventures and life experience.

If foreign travel appeals to you this winter, be prepared to be flexible. You may head for Rio and end up somewhere you didn’t plan to go–and there’s the adventure that changes everything for you. Just prepare for changes of direction before you leave, and remember that mechanical things like cars and bikes tend to break down when Mars is retrograde.

Mars retrograde in Leo in the 5th house increases the risk of mechanical failure for off-road and other recreational vehicles. Children’s toys with moving parts are endangered this winter, and it’s not the year to buy someone a new car for Christmas. Holiday shopping will go better if you shop early; electronics and jewelry should be safe purchases this year.

Another good word for the winter would be unconventional. This might be the year to give up traditions that are more habit than cheer and create an unusual holiday for yourself. Gather up your family and volunteer to serve the holiday dinner at a local homeless shelter. Treat someone you love to a romantic holiday in a nearby bed and breakfast or spare yourself the stress of driving and plan a train trip for the holidays. Anything out of the ordinary is bound to fit the mood of the season this year.

Mary O’Gara, Ph.D.