Vision & Consideration
We enter the dark days of the year as we enter December. As the days grow physically shorter and the nights lengthen, families used to move inside and slow their pace, tending to aspects of life that had been neglected during the busy growing and harvest seasons. It was a time of reparation and preparation.
Modern life often conspires against the natural rhythms of the seasons, on which the zodiacal year is based. With the holidays, we have holiday celebrations, office parties, gift shopping, guests, family obligations, and travel. Many emerge on the other side of the holidays more frazzled and exhausted than when they began.
This year I’d like to invite you to enter into this time of stillness, especially in the later part of December. Find a place of quiet and solitude to honor the year that is passing and set your intentions for the year to come.
Particularly apt days to honor the passing of another year stretch from December 18th (the day after the full moon, when its light begins to wane)—including the Winter Solstice itself on the 21st (the shortest day of the year, when the Sun enters Capricorn)—through December 31st, which is both the last day of the lunar cycle for this month and the last day of the calendar year.
Somewhere in there, find some hours to yourself for yourself—not for your kids, not your beloved, not your friends, coworkers or family—just for you, and turn inward. Recognize and honor the year that is passing, bless it and let it go. Make room for growing light and growing life. Only then acknowledge your deepest wishes and seed your intentions so they can bloom and grow strong in the following cycle.
December 2nd – 7:22pm EDT, New Moon at 10° Sagittarius 59’
What a lovely way to kick off the month: a new moon in friendly, enthusiastic, upbeat Sagittarius. Possibilities feel endless in this sign and it loves to socialize and be in the thick of things.
Support from Uranus brings a touch of brilliance and unconventionality to this moon, so pay attention to ideas from leftfield or sudden insights that crack things open. Issues tied to freedom (or lack thereof), living according to one’s ideals and morals/values, and the need for new experience become themes this month. Where does your world view need a breath of fresh air?
Jupiter, the ruler of the new moon, ties in with both Saturn and Venus, pointing to the capacity to develop a vision and develop an executable plan, as long as you keep your extravagance in line. Take advantage of this month’s ability to see the big picture and move forward.
Sagittarius’ shadow is self-righteousness: rather than seeking truth, it begins to think it has a corner on it. If you find yourself needing to be right—and making the other party wrong—then pull yourself up short and expand your understanding. One key way to do this is by asking questions and listening.
Questions allow you to see more of the terrain: how a person might have come to his/her viewpoint, the environmental or experiential factors that have informed his/her choices. Tuning in like this can allow you to find common ground and share your knowledge and optimism for the future in a collaborative, constructive way.
December 4th – 9:42pm EDT, Mercury enter Sagittarius
Mercury, the planet of communication, enters irrepressible Sagittarius, known for its proclivity for foot-in-mouth disease. Between the speed of Mercury and Sagittarius’ famed forthrightness, sometimes words are flying out before you’ve really thought them through. Mercury here can be a little fast and loose with language.
Mercury is rational and loves detail and data. Sagittarius is optimistic and more interested in possibilities than the actual facts. When the two get together, there’s a tendency to gloss over details and go for the big picture, which might lead to slop factor or an overly optimistic assessment or two.
Focusing on what could be works well right now, especially if you want to get a bit outside-the-box. Just wait until Mercury moves into Capricorn in late December to nail down all the details.
December 7th – 3:41pm EDT, Mars enters Libra
Usually Mars stays in a sign roughly six weeks, and then moves along. This Mars, though, plans to come for an extended visit…until July of 2014. Those of you with planets in Cardinal signs—Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn—can plan on an active eight months ahead. Mars, traditional planet of war, doesn’t really know how to relax. He’s driven and on the go. You know, he wants to do something, one of the many reasons why he’s not at his best in gracious, tactful Libra.
Peace-loving, relationship-driven Libra prefers to work cooperatively with others. Mars, our warrior, just wants to do what he wants to do and really doesn’t pay much attention to how it impacts everyone else. He expects others to take care of themselves just as he takes care of himself. See the rub? Imagine Libra’s horror when Mars shows up sweaty, in gym gear, for her exquisitely planned dinner party or how frustrated Mars is sitting at a table with endless silverware and everyone talking about post-modern art for hours.
In short, these two aren’t an easy mix. Mars works better when he can blow off steam and move on, but Libra doesn’t want to offend. When Mars is in Libra, we may find we have no easy outlet for our frustrations and they begin to simmer.
Tensions in relationship can rise during this period as our own needs for agency conflict with our needs for connection. People can be a little irritable and more easily frustrated. What’s more, this is a period where we don’t get to go it alone, where we are required to compromise and accommodate those around us to get things done.
More ominously, Mars will begin interacting with the Uranus-Pluto square we’ve been experiencing and can trigger explosive interactions. December 21st through New Year’s Day are pressure-cooker days, when people are at their most frazzled, irritated and short-tempered.
These are also days when people can be more reckless, hair-triggered, and accident-prone, so pay attention to when you’re feeling tense. Don’t begin violently chopping vegetables right after Aunt Mary describes your new holiday dress as a “muumuu,” lest you take off the tip of your finger, and take a few deep breaths if you have to get in the car after a particularly frustrating encounter at the shopping mall.
Be gentle with yourselves and gentle with others during the last week and a half of the year. Don’t let little irritations and upsets build. Give yourself permission to compassionately express what upsets you. Lastly, err on the side of generosity. For the most part, no one is intentionally making you crazy.
December 17th – 4:28am EDT, Full Moon at 25° Gemini 36’; 12:39 pm EDT, Uranus stations direct
This full moon asks us to discuss and share our ideas, ideals, and principles, and do a bit of fact checking. Sagittarius’ famous big-picture visionary meets Gemini’s restless intellectual. At worst, we are inundated with details and unable to focus or become so obsessed with our truth we ignore the facts. At best, we begin a conversation that enriches both our understanding of the world (and the meaning we find therein) and exposes us to information that enables us to see where our vision could be more completely developed.
Working together both these signs can help our world become bigger, less isolated, and bridge disparate points of view. When at odds, we scatter our attention and lose ground.
Continuing the theme of the new moon, Uranus plays a big role the day of the full moon, as it stations (appears to stop in the sky). Conversations with others around the full moon point can revolutionize your thinking and your beliefs. Sudden events can turn your perspective upside down. Innovation, breaking free of limited ways of seeing the world, revising our ideas, and overthrowing old, rigid philosophies all are positive outcomes of this influence. If you have ideas or moral codes that prevent you from being true to yourself and taking greater risks, this full moon can illuminate them.
December 21st – Sun enters Capricorn (Winter Solstice), 12:11pm, and Venus turns Retrograde at 28° Capricorn 57’
With Sun entering Capricorn, we encounter the shortest day of the year on the earth’s annual journey around the Sun. Capricorn is a Saturn-ruled sign, and as such it requires us to be accountable and responsible for our decisions and actions. Take a moment on this day to review the year. Where are you? Where did you want to be? Acknowledge the distance you’ve traveled and whether your efforts advanced or hindered your goals. Then honor the past and let it go.
Do you have goals for 2014? If not, use this day to think about what you would like your life to look like in 12-months’ time. Saturn rewards hard work, effort, and planning, so begin to map your 2014 journey, though detailed strategies might need reviewed after Mercury moves into Capricorn on December 24th.
Venus turns retrograde on the same day, underscoring the need for internal stocktaking. Ask yourself, “What really matters? What is it I genuinely value? What brings me joy and pleasure?” Let the answers from these inquiries help guide your 2014 goals. Think about how you might balance your duties, your need for play and connection, and your values in 2014.
On a more practical level, you may want to hold off buying big-ticket items until after Venus turns direct. To give you a sense of the problems: I once bought a car during a Venus retrograde and quickly regretted my decision. The second day I owned it, my husband backed into another car in a parking lot. No damage other than cosmetic problems, but that theme continued while I owned the car: it was keyed, gently rear-ended, rolled into by shopping carts that cracked parking lights, and so on.
December 24th – Mercury enters Capricorn, 5:13am EDT
Mercury in Capricorn excels at structured, organized thinking. All the ideas and possibilities that you’ve explored during Mercury’s time in Sagittarius can be anchored, planned and made practical. Now is the time to create a process for actually achieving your goals. Capricorn’s capacity for strategy and setting priorities can focus your vision and make it more doable.
Toward the end of the month, especially between December 28-31st, be careful that your words don’t land you in hot water. Mercury joins the Sun and becomes entangled in the volatile Uranus-Pluto square, which also triggers Mars. If we get too identified with our ideas, we may find ourselves eating our words or tangled in unpleasant exchanges with others. At best, this configuration will shake up our thinking and tear down mental patterns that keep us stuck. At worst, it points to ugly, reactive confrontations that aren’t easily repaired.
2013 December Horoscopes
If you know your rising sign (the sign on the ascendant at the time of your birth), read that description as well as your birth sign. If you don’t know your rising sign and would like to find out, click here for instructions.
As always, a broad analysis such as this is no substitute for a personal astrological consultation based your full birth data. If you are interested in setting up an appointment, please email me or call me at 800.604.0299.
ARIES TAURUS GEMINI CANCER LEO VIRGO
LIBRA SCORPIO SAGITTARIUS CAPRICORN AQUARIUS PISCES
Gemstones: Blue Agate
This month you have the opportunity to rethink your personal beliefs and expose yourself to information that revolutionizes the way you see yourself or your ability to impact the world around you. Move your attention from what you want to do to why you want do it; in short, focus on where the power lies. Dissent and unease in your communication, community, or career provide clues and access points. Listening carefully lets you to step in as an innovator and enlist others to support your larger vision or values.
Gemstones: Onyx
December creates an opening in which the past can be discarded and the fears which have prevented you from being fully alive can be released. All you need to do is surrender: your need to control, your need for self-reliance, your need to be safe. Your point of liberation? Facing the ghosts of the past and placing them in the hands of a greater power. There’s a reason they’re called leaps of faith.
Gemstones: Citrine
This month, lean into your discomfort. Listen for people’s certainty and challenge it in a friendly way; let your curiosity lead you. While you’re at it, ask yourself what you believe in. Not what you’re interested in, but what you know. Your direction forward pivots between these two points: what you question and what you believe. Moving forward requires you to take a creative risk.
Gemstones: Carnelian
As the planet of faith reaches midway through your sign, now might be a good time to take stock. As tensions increase between private and public you, your trigger points become career and your day-to-day routines. Something has to give. Liberation comes from declaring yourself publically and allowing others to see what you’ve been thinking privately. What secrets need to be revealed?
Gemstones: Topaz
December can be a time of creative renewal, especially if you risk airing your ideas with others. Intense exchanges can be especially fruitful, if you don’t dig in your heels or take others’ input personally. Your point of release? Letting go of what you think you know and listening as if you were a child — from a place of wonder and openness. This month it’s not so much what others say but how you hear.
Gemstones: Lapis Lazuli
Up for evaluation this month? Your conditioned beliefs about family, home, your past, and who you are. In particular, those secret hopes and dreams you harbor about yourself. This month the world around you wants to give you feedback. Don’t discount it. How do others see you? How does it differ from your private view of yourself? Persons you meet can act as oracles, seeing into you deeply and helping you see your future self.
Gemstones: Agate
With cranky Mars moving into your sign for the next eight months, things could get tense. It’s time for you to get clear on what you want or you’ll find push back from the outside will force you to get clear. Pay attention to communication. This month is about unexamined beliefs. Surprising encounters with others will bring in different viewpoints that challenge you to decide whether your position is worth defending.
Gemstones: Jade
Money and values are bedfellows this month. In particular you may find yourself confronting undercurrents and differences concerning money and examining your beliefs about it. Unresolved issues can ambush you if you’re not willing to discuss these subjects more directly. Going through the motions won’t cut it nor will indirect action or passive aggression. Change your daily action and you change your life.
Gemstones: Peridot
Happy birthday, Centaur! The month starts with you in your element. If you want the momentum to continue, circulate and elicit ideas from others. Pay attention to where you feel resistances from/to those with whom you talk. These point to places of growth, where you need to question what you know. Once you have a bead on your discomfort, call on your creativity. Someplace between your truth and your discomfort is a bridge that leads to a whole new world.
CAPRICORN
Gemstones: Smokey Quartz
This month listen for subterranean noise, like a tape running in the background where you can’t make out the lyrics. Could have something to do with money versus your need to be free. This month allow yourself be a bit of a rebel and erase those messages you’ve internalized. Where do you feel overly responsible, maybe even resentful because you have to be strong? Where do you refuse to pony up because it’s easier to blame your family? The new order lies in between.
Gemstones: Labradorite
This month focus on your vision for the future. Share it with friends and listen to what they have to say. Someone has information that can unlock possibilities you’ve not yet considered, if you’re humble enough to listen. Your place of liberation is to speak up, to say the radical if unpopular thing, not because you’re invested in that opinion but because it needs aired.
Gemstones: Kyanite
If you’ve been unclear about your direction or overwhelmed by possibilities, December can help separate the wheat from the chaff. Make it a fact-finding month. Feedback from family and those closest to you can help reveal information previously hidden. Friends can help you suss out values that need considered. The answers that emerge can liberate you financially or turn your values on their head, revealing new paths to explore.
TO FIND YOUR RISING SIGN (the Ascendant):
You’ll need the following information: date of birth, place of birth, and, most importantly, time of birth. Go to the following webpage and select “Extended Chart Selection” at the bottom right section of the page.
- Select the bar which says “Click here to show the chart,” which is to the right and above the “Options” area of the page.
- You should find yourself at another page. Select “Click here to go directly to data entry page.”
- You’ll be taken to the data entry page. Enter your birth data and click on “Continue.”
- Your natal chart with the positions will appear. At the upper left, look for the information in red text. Your rising sign appears after the word “Ascendant.”
- You can print the chart if you like, too.
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