Winter Solstice 2011

For thousands of years the Solstice turning points of every year have been honored and celebrated on this planet.  We know this because concrete evidence still exists in ancient stone circles, mounds, and sacred sites such as Newgrange in Ireland that people honored the relationship between our earth, the sun, and the moon at key phases during the year.

Now in our modern world of the 21st Century we come to yet another turn of the wheel and many of us will be celebrating the return of the light that is the Winter Solstice.  I will be gathering with a group of women on a beautiful horse ranch here in the Sierras.  We will share food, music with drums, rattles, and bells, and do ritual together releasing the old and bringing in our intentions for the new, yet to unfold.  What will you be doing where you are?  Those of you south of the equator will be celebrating the peak strength of the sun and the longest day of the year as you prepare for its slow descent.  Let’s hope that all around the globe people of all persuasions are gathering together to make sacred and celebrate together this special time.

In the United States the Solstice occurs on December 22nd at 12:30 AM EST.  The Sun’s entry into Capricorn comes in the deep darkness of night with the Moon waning in Scorpio.  There certainly seems to be ‘a chill in the collective air’ regarding a lack of warmth and light, thus the trine from Sun to Jupiter holds rays of hope that abundance is a strong potential if we will only perceive it anew and shift our consciousness away from what we don’t have to what we do.

This is a fascinating chart in that you can visibly see an enormous bowl pattern bordered by an opposition from Saturn in the 1st house to Jupiter in the 7th. Every planet within this bowl links through both easy and challenging aspects to other planets.  Only Mars sits alone in the 12th without aspect save a strong square to the Nodes.  Perhaps it’s a good thing to shelve our aggressiveness for awhile and look more consciously at ways to make peace.  The bowl pattern is symbolic of holding something which can be given to others, and this chart seems to indicate that deep within each of us as souls there is a profound longing to belong, to be held and nurtured by ancient themes that run solid in our blood, to deeper truths that speak of oneness with the earth and thus the cosmos.  If we can hold that place sacred within our core selves, then we can radiate that out into the world and nurture others.  It can be a chain reaction of giving.  Yes it can.

This is a Libra rising chart for Americans.  Somewhere else on the globe a different sign will be rising as the Sun enters Capricorn.  For this country, however, Venus in Aquarius sets the pace as ruler of the chart.  She represents women and women’s issues, and all social factors relating to unions of partnership as well as children.  She represents the arts with its entire plethora of artists, musicians, dancers, and entertainers and even sports where arenas for entertainment occur.  She also presides over peace negotiations and diplomatic resolutions.  Venus is very strong in this chart holding the apex of a T-square with Saturn and Jupiter, as well as sextiling the Moon and Uranus who are in trine with each other.  She’s a wowie!  She basically says we can pull together, we can organize; we can hold the tensions of opposition if we are willing to be tolerant and open-minded enough to realize that each individual is important within the embrace of the whole.  We are each different but equal. That’s Venus in Aquarius.  So American women are increasingly getting stronger in their voices and activism which is probably a good thing for this country, but this Venus embraces everyone and says let’s be creative, have fun, and stimulate each other for better things than beating up on each other.  Let’s take advantage of Mars in the collective closet.  Let’s make love, not war!!

This chart is a tightly woven net-work of grace and grit all held together by the two extremes, Saturn and Jupiter.  Good thing the Sun sextiles Saturn and trines Jupiter.  Sun in Capricorn is willing to work for a goal, an aspiration.  Mercury in Sagittarius conjoining the North Node, rising ahead of the Sun, and finally direct after back-tracking retrograde this past month says “Stay focused on your goals, your aspirations, and don’t look back.  Keep going forward.”

The trines from Uranus in Aries to the Moon and Mercury indicate the rising tide of revolutionary spirit that Sun/Pluto squaring Uranus must harness for positive change rather than regressive control.  We each have an opportunity to imprint this energy to release the past, which keeps us chained to oppressive patterns, and harness the energy for positive growth into a future where we all contribute productively to the whole and benefit from that whole.  Pluto gives power to regeneration if we use it for that ends.

Finally, this chart shows Neptune and Chiron still connected as a dream of potential healing linked with Jupiter, the Sun, and Saturn, yet squared by the Moon in Scorpio.  Can a dream of unity inspire us to keep going and work for a better world, or will our fears of defeat and oppression hold us back?  The choice is ours.

This Winter Solstice gives us an amazing pattern to work with.  Its basic statement is about integrating energies that can further transformation (Sun conjoining Pluto).  The message of Capricorn is always about holding light during the darkest of times.  So I’m encouraging all of you to gather together and bring in the light!