I’m aching for the light. Warm tendrils of sun kissing my skin alive enticing my freckles to come out to play. Soft fluffy clouds, blue, blue sky and acre upon acre of daffodils. I miss the scent of spring and summer, the apparent ease of life. I want to run to the beach and dig a hole to Australia like I believed I could when I was a child and emerge into a blaze of sunshine.
Jack frost taps his sharp nails on my window.
I can’t pretend it isn’t happening. I can’t pretend that darkness isn’t here. In the last few days it’s been all too real and present. The massacre that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the children knifed at a school in China on the same day has raised the question in my mind “What the hell is going on?”
I shed more than a few tears for the victims and then removed myself from the media, too overloaded with fingers pointing blame in all directions and grief upon grief. I have to say a little voice inside me whispered “it’s true – the world is ending“…just not in the way the doom-sayers are suggesting.
Astrology in no way excuses or gives justification for individual actions. We choose the actions we make and must be responsible for them. But astrology does show us symbolically the energy available and the possible manifestations of that energy. It’s what we do with it that counts.
The Sun’s transit into Capricorn marks the moment of the Winter Solstice in the Northern hemisphere and the Summer Solstice in the Southern hemisphere. Capricorn is a sign associated with qualities such as responsibility, structure and tangible results.
In the solstice chart, the Sun is in a wide conjunction to Pluto, intensifying the mood. The square between the Sun and Uranus disrupts and shakes us up – kind of like being woken from a long winter sleep. The Sun here then is triggering the ongoing Uranus-Pluto square. A soft sextile from the Sun to Neptune shows there is an opportunity for peace within chaos. Somehow we need to find the eye of the storm.
What stands out in the chart is the yod made up of Saturn sextile Pluto both quincunx Jupiter in Gemini. This yod was active at the time of the shootings and is horribly symbolic. Gemini is associated with school and education, Jupiter with teaching. Saturn is deemed the Greater Malefic in traditional astrology and connected to painful lessons. Pluto has associations with violence, destruction and rage. With both in irritated quincunxes to Jupiter, the energy is volatile. Jupiter is normally seen as ‘the great benefic’ but let’s not forget he was also the God of thunder and has the power to escalate. With the finger of God pointing to Jupiter it’s as though all the destructive potential of the two base planets is filtered to the gas giant which in one manifestation has had devastating results that have permeated the minds of millions. As a society, we are up in arms about the right to arms.
Jupiter is in detriment in Gemini as it is opposing the sign that it rules. Jupiter in Gemini finds it difficult to function. Idea upon idea flutters around but nothing seems to make sense. Here Jupiter finds it hard to pull together everything it knows into a meaningful whole.
Saturn and Pluto are supporting one another in a sextile and mutual reception at the base of this yod so it isn’t all doom and gloom. This can be productive – establishing solid structures and rebuilding those that don’t work. Saturn is a social planet as is Jupiter. Pluto has generational influence. The need for changing structures has gone beyond the personal. Jupiter rules our morality, the law, publishing and politics amongst other things. Saturn and Pluto are pushing us towards irrevocable change. We as a society must shift. What we believe is being called into question. In the chart of the shootings, Jupiter was on the sabian ‘An Airplane Performing A Nose Dive’. This pretty much says it all and has the awful symbolic link of being ‘shot down’.
I like to think of the world as a good place. I try very hard to have positive thoughts. I have great faith in the potential of us as a human race. We humans can do amazing, wonderful and beautiful things. But the shooting of innocents brings these optimistic thoughts crashing to the ground and I’m left trembling between Saturn and Pluto thinking ‘Hell isn’t a mythical place – it’s here’.
And I’m not so naive to think that this isn’t happening in other places with less media interest than the States. I know that children are dying everyday in other countries too – mostly because of our poisonous wars and annihilation of Earth’s resources. But sometimes certain stories stir us and ram home that there’s work to be done.
Now in the solstice chart, Jupiter is on the Sabian “A Quiver Filled With Arrows”. It’s time to get clear on the target, the end goal because once you let loose an arrow and it hits it’s mark, its very hard to remove it. There’s also an element of choice here too – which arrow to use? Is it the one marked with hate or love, revenge or compassion? What’s your aim in life?
Of course these arrows may be wasted on picking out new targets to destroy – there are fingers pointing everywhere and the internet is alive with chatter about whose fault it is. It’s the guns, it’s not the guns, it’s the parents, it’s not the parents. It’s the mental health system, it’s the media, it’s computer games. We all have an opinion, myself included because we all know it could be better than this. Each of us want to look our neighbour in the eye without fear. Each of us want to trust that this world can be a better place. The sextile from the newly born Capricorn Sun to Neptune is encouraging us to build a better dream for ourselves.
What also stands out in the solstice chart is the Venus has manoeuvred into an opposition with Jupiter, making this a boomerang yod. All the energy from Saturn and Pluto flowing to Jupiter is bounced back to Venus. Perhaps this is about showing love even when we have a difference of opinion, belief or political stance.
Society is made up of each one of us. Society is you and me. We all have a part to play and the time has come to step up. The finger of God is pointing at all of us. In a drastic way, the fates have shown us the real and present darkness. Now we must seek to tend to the light.
Because when it comes down to it, Jupiter in Gemini is asking us to make a choice. We can choose excess and greed or we can choose benevolence and joy. We can choose to accept a dysfunctional society and make merry whilst we can or we can learn a different way of living, one that benefits us all. We can choose to be defeated or choose to change. But until we choose as a society which way to go, until we stop pointing fingers and start looking to our own backyards, the future of our children and our children’s children may be stolen away.
Questions and Reflections for the Winter Solstice
What can you do today to bring some light into the world?
What do you believe about fate and freewill?
Who or what brings you joy?
How can you bring more joy into your life?
Who are you when you are alone in the dark?
Do you blame someone or something else? If so, what would it take to heal this?
Do your choices reflect the real you?
If you were King/Queen/President for a day, what would you change?
Jupiter photo thanks to HubbleSite
Illustration picture thanks to artists on Deviant Art (Stock Images) and Flickr (Creative Commons)
Dove by Solstock
Hand by BrilliantlySimple
Vintage Child by juliana-1
Lightning by snowpeak (on Flickr)
