Winter Solstice 2009 and the Birthing of Light

On December 21st we experience the return/birthing of the light here in the Northern Hemisphere, and the beginning of the descent of the light in the Southern Hemisphere.  Remember, we are all on this little ball spinning through the vastness of space, yet orbiting around our Sun, the source of our light.

The Sun is our hearth-fire.

It warms us and keeps us alive in the midst of such enormous darkness that we dare not dwell too long on such implications for fear of unraveling into the madness of those who have succumbed to its icy embrace.  Alone and abandoned in nothingness is truly a dark and fearsome thought.  Is it any wonder that we try to escape from that subconscious fear this time of year through all sorts of collective distractions like heavy partying, shopping madness, and the attempt to fill our time with hurrying and scurrying every which way but in?

What if we were to stop and be still?  What if we were to take the time to just be?  This is the time, my friends, to do just that.  Even if you live in the most frantic of places, it might be a good idea to put out the electric lights, light a candle, and just sit in quietness with that one flame, and meditate upon what the past year has meant to you.  What have you learned from your experiences in 2009?   From that awareness where do you want to go next?  What is the spark of light within you that now wants to grow again into full blossom six months from now at the Summer Solstice?  Of course, you folks south of the Equator are ready for the reverse process.  We truly do need to think global now.  We are on an earth-ship in space, and our earth-ship is round, not flat.  Let yourself take that in more and more in these coming months, because we still have a lot of folks at the top of the heap who seem to think only in linear terms.  There are no straight lines except those conceptualized and created by humans.  It’s good to think in waves, in cycles, in curvatures as the rhythms of life move us in these cycles and spirals through time and space.

Let’s now look at the imprint of this point in time, the Winter Solstice Chart.  This imprint exists for just a flash in the full spectrum of time and space, and then it evolves into something else.  We astrologers love to look at these maps and see potential meaning.  The Solstice Chart for 2009 is different from the one in 2008, or 2007 and back.  It portends a certain type of unfolding yet to occur.  You might want to print this chart out and see how it relates to your own birth map.  Where is 0 degrees of Capricorn in your own blueprint?  This is the point every year where you get to stop, pause, and experience the return/turning of the light.  For me it falls on the 12th house side of my Ascendant in Capricorn.  I feel a strong need to withdraw into nature, meditation, or some kind of stillness before the Sun crosses over my Ascendant and propels me back out into personal action once again.  If it falls in your 7th house, for example, you may be drawn to explore its meaning with your partner, and actually do something together rather than alone.  There are 360 degrees of possibilities here in terms of its placement alone around the birth wheel.  By finding the birth map location of this point and others in the great yearly cycle, you may live more in balance and harmony with the cyclical rhythms that you are part of.

Solstice for the Collective

We can also just look at the map itself and see what it portends for the collective.  I have drawn this chart shown for America’s seat of government, Washington DC.  We can see that Venus is rising ahead of the Sun, and then comes Pluto at 2 degrees, 56 minutes of Capricorn.  How can our values (Venus) as a collective deepen the meaning of life so that we transform (Pluto) our purpose and goals?  Will we, as a collective, learn in time to sustain ourselves with our earth (Capricorn) body?  We are a part of earth, after all.  Saturn in Libra is now teaching us to work with more Venusian principles of cooperation, diplomacy, and true partnership.  (For an excellent in-depth analysis of the Saturn/Pluto dynamic in Cardinal signs, visit www.shamanicastrology.com and read their two-part article entitled: Saturn Squares Pluto by Sao. Just click on Astrological news at their home page).  Can we release our sense of separateness, cleanse our psyches of the need to dominate, or be victims of domination, and return to a state of oneness with all that is before we self-annihilate?  The Sun/Pluto configuration is already beginning to form a square aspect to Uranus.  By next year’s Solstice, this will be the most pressing dynamic and change will be upon us with swift, powerful, and unpredictable force.  In 2010 we still have time to re-evaluate our position within the whole and either begin to humbly return to right relationships of balance, cooperation, and harmony, or get ourselves severely whacked out of our hubris later in the year as Uranus and Jupiter join forces in the fiery sphere of Aries.

There is still a great deal of hope and buoyancy alive in this years chart as shown by that stellium in Aquarius with healing (Chiron), visionary (Neptune), optimistic (Jupiter) feelings (Moon) as a collective potential.  Will this group energy continue to rise and swell creating opportunities to trump the elite powers of supremacy (Mars in Leo opposite the stellium) who conspire to continue to ‘have their cake and eat it too’ without consideration for third-world peoples, indigenous peoples, and the struggling masses within the developed nations who suffer the monetary weight for generations to come of the plutocracies hidden agendas for further war game plans and the continued pursuit of selfish greed?  Leo is the shadow side of Aquarius.  Mars in Leo opposing especially Neptune/Chiron in Aquarius can also symbolize the absurd double-talk that somehow pre-emptive strikes, perpetual wars without end, and the ‘right to might’ are all designed to maintain the peace.  This is the wounding that the majority continue to passively bear.  Keep in mind that the planetary archetypes are neither good nor bad. Mars is war and fighting, but also potentially in charge of growing crops. Neptune is both vision and fantasy.  Chiron is both healing and wounding.  Saturn is always the antidote to Neptune’s illusions, and it now takes a healthy Saturn in Libra to re-evaluate the lies and deceit perpetuated by mass propaganda to keep the general populace compliant and unaware.  As Jupiter leaves Neptune shortly we will see the enormous bubble of illusion dissolve, and once it joins Uranus later in 2010 people will become really hopping mad at the treacherous betrayal of all of their freedoms.

Yes, all of this is embedded in the symbolism of this one small frame-work in time, the Winter Solstice chart of 2009.  What else can you see blue-printed here?

SEVERAL OTHER KEY DATES LEADING UP TO THE SOLSTICE

Leading  up to this moment have been several other key dates which slow a progression of energies.  The first was the Full Moon announcement by the US President, Obama, that 30,000+ more troops would be deployed into Afghanistan.  After studying that chart, it’s easy to believe that some consulting astrologer was employed by the power elite to give them the most effective possible time to announce their plans.  That speech was delivered with the Full Moon in Gemini right on queue with Obama’s own two-faced, silver-tongued Moon in Gemini, and aligned with the United States Uranus in Gemini (perpetual adolescent ‘law unto itself kind of attitude).  The US Mars is also in Gemini making a tight square to Neptune in Virgo.  This nation has a penchant for moving into murky wars which are endless and dissipate into no-win situations ( i.e.Viet Nam).  Mars in Gemini should, quite frankly, stick to video games.  Real war is messy, bloody, polluting for generations to come, and now more destructive than ever.

The next chart of significance is the opening day of the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen at 10 am on December 7th.  This chart shows the purpose to be solidly with Uranus (chaotic times ahead) as the Sun in Sagittarius applies to a square with that shock-wave of a planet.  The Sun is also quintile Saturn implying that highly creative solutions can be implemented, or highly destructive solutions.  Which one will it be?  The Saturn square Mercury/Pluto conjunction implies a locking of horns over policies, and a depth of disagreement over the right course of action to take.  The polarization is extreme as shown by the enormous opposition between Jupiter/Chiron/Neptune in Aquarius and the Moon/Mars in Leo.  This struggle, however, shows that women (the moon) are very energetically and dynamically engaged in their willingness to fight for a future.  We’re not talking about a better future here.  We’re talking about a future world, period, for our children, their children, and all future generations of children.  I’ve been impressed with the force and intelligence of these women from third world and emerging countries.  They are eloquent speakers and they are very angry.  The lack of fairness, equitability, and climate justice is evident, and they are speaking out in larger and larger numbers.  Will there be a resolution that benefits the whole?  As Bill McKibben of the www.350.org movement says, “The biggest thing to come out of Copenhagen will be a Global Peace Movement.”

And—yes—the issue is getting hotter (Mars/Moon in Leo).  The market-based solutions of the wall-street dominated nations are rife with potential fraud, corruption, and deception, but the smaller nations are now showing amazing courage to stand up to the goliaths of the planet around equity issues (Saturn in Libra).

The final chart I would like to explore is Obama’s acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway on December 10th at 1:44 pm.  By now the Moon has moved from Gemini (in his Full Moon announcement of furthering, and deepening the war) to Libra.  The Moon is sobered by Saturn in Libra, and both are solidly squaring Pluto/Mercury in Capricorn.  Who ever penned his speech was quite artful in trying to justify war as peace, but is anyone seriously going to believe this?  How can a nation with the greatest military might of all time on this earthly planet justify going to war in a land where it has been shown only about 100 potential enemies are hidden in a poverty-ridden nation besieged by endless wars of conquest?  Are we still going to roll the drums of 9/11 as justification?  The Sun is strongly squaring Uranus in this acceptance chart, portending the coming storm/backlash that this furthering of endless wars in the name of peace will undoubtedly unleash in the months and years ahead as Americans, in particular, possibly wake up to the fact that they’ve ‘been had’ once again by a plutocracy feigning democracy.  The obvious is, once again, Mars in Leo (war) opposite that Neptunian trio where deception lurks within and without through the fog of war masquerading as peace.

Straight thinking is needed now.  None of us have to be ‘experts’ in politics or economics to realize what is really going on.  Our hearts have an intelligence that knows the truth.  Our bones feel it.  Is what is going on right and good?  Is it honorable on any level?  Is it fair to the greater whole?  Is the highest good of all considered in the formula?  Who will pay for all of this?  And who will profit?  How will climate change and all of its issues enter our consciousness and demand new actions?  All these issues are upon us as the Winter Solstice deepens our ability to look wihtin and regain the light.

This light is also consciousness, and consciousness exacts a price.  It’s not always the easy light fantastic journey of bliss that creates consciousness.  Prometheus knew this when he stole the fire from the gods.  It takes a certain kind of courage to want to get conscious and face ALL that is. Whole vision demands encompassing it all, and then with some kind of compassion going back out towards others and doing what is possible to make a difference and help to create a better world where true principles of fairness and equability are honored not just for the few at the top of some kind of pyramid scheme, but for all.  For all.  May this Solstice time be a true ‘soul-searching’ time.  We simply can not afford to mess around any longer.  Too much is at stake now.  We are moving ever closer to ‘the edge’ as we approach 2010.