A Blessed 2018 Capricorn Solstice to YOU!!

We arrive at that pivotal point of the year when O degrees of Capricorn Sun launches the return of the light in the Northern Hemisphere, and the descent of the light in the Southern Hemisphere.  Wherever you are, may you experience some special blessings!

This Solstice chart in the North shows Cancer rising with the weight of the Capricorn Sun/Saturn/Pluto/South Node all opposite indicating a need to pay attention to ‘the other’.  Relationships will be important in the months ahead.

Saturn now reaching the second decanate of Capricorn calls forth both fears and ambitions.  There is the fear of authority and the ‘state’ whom many no longer trust; the fear of deprivation and destruction of all that we feel is safe.  There is also the ambition to build, gain control, and ultimately take responsibility for what is possible.  The sense that time is running out is voiced by many authorities now.  Saturn implies a sense of urgency to DO something about it.

The cluster of Neptune/Mars/Chiron surrounding the very top of this chart presents either an umbrella-like chaos and added confusion, or a genuine opening for great healing and compassion to engulf us.

The Moon in Gemini in the 12th creates an ever shifting T-square with the Pisces’ planets and an opposition with Jupiter/Mercury in Sagittarius, but also leads us inevitably towards a Full Moon in Cancer the following day.  That Sagittarius energy keeps us moving right along in our quest for truth.

The Sun does trine Uranus, still retrograde, bringing us the promise of plenty of awakenings and surprises yet to come.  It reminds me of our little  grandson on his 3rd birthday bash a few days ago saying before each present was opened, “What could it be???”  

Let’s now look more deeply at the polarity of Cancer/Capricorn which the coming Full Moon will emphasize.  Both signs are part of a continuum which is designed to preserve and retain traditions that range from the single family to the broader collective family comprising the State.  These two signs are conservative in nature with the one being exceedingly home-loving as it gives rise to the ambitions which create strong structural powers that hold and maintain institutions of governance.  One is ‘the Mother principle’ which is womb-like and feeds and nourishes the growing new life from within.  The other is ‘the Father principle’ which concentrates a more authoritarian force to build outer boundaries of protection hopefully, rather than restraints and limitations.  The hermit crab shown below amuses me in it’s graphic description of both signs in one.

Here’s an interesting quote from an astrology text by Marcia Moore & Mark Douglas written way back in 1975.  “The United States is a Cancerian country, born on the fourth of July.  Therefore, in many of its homes, the authority of the father is overshadowed by a dominant mother figure—even the Statue of Liberty is a woman.  The fluidity of this water sign has caused the United States to become a melting pot in which differences of race and class are dissolved into a recognizable ‘American type.’  Nevertheless, the process of breaking down barriers has turned out to be far from simple owing to the separatism fostered by the influences of Saturn and Capricorn operating in the background.  In many respects, the southern zone of the United states with its emphasis on good eating, leisurely living, and family traditions, typifies Cancer, while the northern zone with its emphasis on austerity and thrift bears the imprint of Capricorninan puritanism.  Globally, Cancer rules the fertile equatioral band while Capricorn rules the icebound poles.  Therefore, people in the northern areas of all lands have a Capricornian overlay, regardless of their individual and national horoscopes.”

I’m sure some of this quote brings a smile to your face!  We are facing today such strong polarities and divisiveness as we also witness the literal melting of the ice-bound poles and the shifting weather patterns exacerbated by a fossil fuel ridden world.  The ‘state of the union’ is certainly fragmented even as the backlash towards patriotism and the desire for stronger boundaries and outer structures continues unabated.

So where do you fit with this continuum, as I like to call it?  Is your family strong and unified?  Do you feel you belong?  Are you nourished and cared for by others?  Do you extend the same gestures in kind?  What we need is that healing energy implied by Neptune/Mars/and Chiron in Pisces especially at this turning point in the year when so many feel left out, forlorn, and and unappreciated.  

I know many of you are actively engaged in the work of creating strong and loving communities, and also doing your best to engage in civic duties and activism.  The best of Cancer/Capricorn is responsiveness and responsibility.  I see this in most of the good folks I know.  Do you?  

Pluto tends to demolish the old as it rebuilds and renews simultaneously.  It is a process.  All of this kind of transformation has been going on in the sign of Capricorn for a very long time now.  Good examples of this are sites of antiquities totally demolished in various parts of the world as if the powers in control wanted to wipe out all remnants of the past, yet the urge for new life ever repeats the pattern and we also see resurrections occurring.  Death and life are often intertwined in any birthing process.  The squeeze is on!  You may feel you’re going to die, but you’re actually going through the birth canal or pushing that new life forward.

Uranus is the crowning moment when new life appears archetypally.  Here comes Uranus in that most fixed of signs, Taurus!  And this Capricorn Solstice Sun likes that.  :). New forms and structures are coming.  We need to get ready because rigidity will only backfire as trauma.  The more flexible and willing we all are to change with the times, the better.  

Yes, there is chaos right now as punctuated by that crazy Mars in the middle of Neptune and Chiron in Pisces.  We hear and see the word almost daily now in the news.  So here’s one image of it.  

But here’s another!  Have you ever been in a very busy classroom full of young, eager to learn, children?  Then you know that chaos can be creative! For out of some chaos comes new life!

Let’s keep this in mind as we stand at that pivotal time of year once again.  It truly is a blessed time.