The winter solstice
has always been special to me
as a barren darkness that gives birth
to a verdant future beyond imagination,
a time of pain and withdrawal
that produces something
joyfully inconceivable,
like a monarch butterfly
masterfully extracting itself
from the confines of its cocoon.
Gary Zukav
The Winter Solstice on December 21 at 5:00 pm EST
signals a time of integration - when we acknowledge what we have learned and plans we have been oontemplating solidify. We come to release the past and fully embrace what is dawning in our life. There is renewed confidence to embark on the adventure that is calling us, and a foreshadowing of the big shifts that will arrive in the first months of 2023.
Sun square Jupiter
Moon oppose Mars Retrograde
Venus trine Uranus
South Node at apex of Yod with mars/Chiron
Herald of 2023
Multiple planets crossing 0 degrees of a sign
Recent months have revved us up and slowed us down. We have felt inspired to embark on a new adventure and yet have needed to slow down to make necessary shifts in perspective and plans. In retrospect, we will appreciate what has been gain through the delays in launching our life in a new direction or having plans move forward in the timeline and way we had originally hoped. We may be feeling a measure of restlessness, impatience, and/or mental exhaustion as we release the past, open to new possibilities, and bide our time. The solstice gives us the boost, as the light of the solstice Sun dawns with possiibilities that had not been available before now.
At the Solstice, the Sun stands still, having reached its furthest declination degree on the ecliptic and prepares to shift its direction. In the Northern Hemisphere, it is the Winter Solstice while our friends beneath the equator are celebrating their Summer Solstice. At the Winter Solstice, the sun is reborn and it is the birth of a new light and a new year.
Solstices and equinoxes occur when the Sun arrives at 0 degrees of a cardinal sign (Capricorn, Aries, Libra, Cancer), collectively known as the Aries point. The Aries point is potent in its capacity to ignite, initiate and propel us into action. A planet crossing the Aries point point is a herald, announcing that some potential is emerging that wasn’t there before.
The Sun's arrival at 0 degrees of Capricorn is the moment of the December solstice. In the Northern Hemisphere, it occures on the shortest day of the year, when the dark of night lasts longer than the light of the day. Cultures and traditions worldwide have annually honored this day when the seed potential of the coming year takes root. In modern times, peoples worldwide observe that a new light emerges from the darkest of days. Major traditions such as Hannukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa are celebrations of light.
Winter is the time of sacred balance
and rejuvenation of life
in preparation for the coming spring.
Noelle Vignola
A 12-Year Cycle of Growth Begins
Jupiter at 0 Aries
Jupiter has a 12-year cycle, spending roughly one year in each zodiac sign. Through 2022, Jupiter has gone back and forth forth over the last degrees of the zodiac wheel (28 and 29 Pisces) and across the early degrees of Aries, the first sign of the zodiac. Its presence in this area of the sky proclaims 2022 as a time of endings and beginnings
This past year has been a transitionary period, giving us the opportunity to integrate, complete and distill the wisdom from the last 12 years of growth so that we are ready to fully embrace the new cycle that officially begins within hours of the solstice. Now is the time to get our affairs in order, align with our heart's desire and gather the confidence to invest ourselves in a new 12-year cycle of growth.
A chapter of our lives has just come to a close. We officially turn the page and face a page that is blank. Yet within us we can feel the movement of how we want to begin the story of what this chapter of our lives will be about.
Last summer we may have felt that we had turned a corner, turned a page and that we were ready for the new adventure to begin. But then, it fizzled or did not lift off in the way we imagined. We have been afforded time to repair our self-confidence and faith to boldly move forward into unchartered territory.
As Jupiter returns to 0 Aries on December 20, hours before the eclipse, the new chapter is officially launched. There is renewed strength and courage to commit ourselves to move in a new direction. The Solstice Sun arrives on its heals to illuminate and fortify the dawn of a new era.
The Light of the Solstice Sun is Amplified
Sun square Jupiter
It is notable that Jupiter is in an exact square to the Sun at the Solstice, as both are residing at 0 degrees of a cardinal sign, the degree of ignition. While the Jupiter in Aries can be impatient to get going, the Capricorn Sun tempers the enthusiasm so we can realistically assess our the timelines of our plans and what it will require to fulfill them. The boost in our confidence is coupled with a tactical approach that has us recognize that the next phase of life is not a sprint, but will require the stamina and tenacity of a marathon.
Jupiter’s fire amplifies the energy of the Solstice Sun. It amplifies our enthusiasm, while also infusing it with the pragmatic and strategic qualities of the Capricorn Sun.
We are open to breaking away from familiar routines and habits that have once brought us a measure of comfort and stability. We are ready to enliven and reinvigorate our relationships by doing something out of the norm. We are open to meeting new people and having new experiences (Venus trine Uranus).
I prefer winter and fall, when you feel
the bone structure of the landscape –
the loneliness of it;
the dead feeling of winter.
Something waits beneath it,
the whole story doesn’t show.
Andrew Wyeth
Trusting the Dawn of New Potentials Calms Impatience
Mars Retrograde oppose the Moon
Mars Retrograde (October 30 – January 12) engenders frustration and impatience. If we trust that the shifts and changes we wish to make are unfolding in the right time, we can relax more into the opportunities this retrograde cycle offers. We may feel angry at ourselves, at circumstance or towards another (Mars oppose the Moon), but if we take the energy to reflect and not vent, the resulting realizations can lead to beneficial adjustments in our perspective and communications that have us more empowered. Rather than wishing our life were moving forward at a faster pace, we can lean into the this time given us to regroup, re-evaluate, integrate and make adjustments. 2023 is going to be a big year, and this is the time we are given to prepare for what will surely come.
Make Peace with the Past
Yod: South Node at apex of Yod with Mars and Chiron
To embark on a new adventure in the best way, we need to release and leave the past behind. If we don't, the new chapter may give us something new in our life, but it will be tinged with the same issues we had hoped we would not need to revisit. We are supported now to find resolution to fears and wounds that have shaken our confidence and had us shy away from potential opportunities. By desiring to simplify our life, we can find ways to dispel the drama or intensity around some aspect of our life.
Days Preceding the Eclipse: Integrate, Ready, Prepare
Both the Moon and Jupiter will cross the Galactic Center and immersed in the waters of Pisces from December 17-20. This is Juptier’s last last dip in Piscean territory and will return again for another 12 years. In our bodies we may feel a shift, an acknowledgement of ways we have grown and what have learned over the last 12 years. We are wiser, having found a more expansive perspective of ourselves and the life we are living.
There can be a release of something we have been holding or working through and a sense of completion as we ready to turn a corner. It is more visceral process, and may not be something we can articulate or easily point a finger to. We are shedding the skins, the behaviors and trappings of what no longer serves. In some way, we are letting go of who we have been and what we have been about. The arrival of the Solstice is the turning point, where the next phase of our life dawns.
A Departure from the Status Quo to Discover New Life
Solstice Heralds 2023 - A Year that Marks a Departure
2022 has been a year of undertaking personal work necessary to initiate a new cycle in the best way possible. We have had insights that have led to resolving old wounds and fears that have freed up vitality and given way to a resurgence of courage and confidence. Emerging from this process, we are better attuned to clearly discern what we are called to do next.
More Planets Passing Over the 0 degrees of a Sign. Five consecutive New Moons in a row are at happening at the first degree of a sign, beginning with the last New Moon. New Moons are about beginnings and what wants to grow and bloom over the next month. To have five New Moons in a row at the first degree of a sign, we are cued to expect and begin something new.
New Potentials to Emerge in the First Months of 2023. The Solstice Ruler, Saturn will move back and forth over 0 Pisces throughout 2023, beginning March 6, 2023. Pluto will arrive at 0 Aquarius on March 23 and hover over the 0 degree for two years. In May, Jupiter come to 0 Taurus. 2023 will be marked by these planets changing signs and passing over the 0 degree point.
These three planets, Saturn, Pluto and Jupiter were conjoined in 2020, marking a time of deconstruction of the status quo, breaking down what will not serve or support us in the future, The grand conjunction between these three exposed areas that are vulnerable or lack integrity, calling us to renovate our lives in some substantive way.
These three planets have each moved forward in their journey, and as they each travel into a new sign over the coming months, 2023 promises to bring new initiatives and new, even surprising developments. Circumstances and events that will create a further departure from the status quo or what we have grown accustomed to assuming what just part of our lives. 2022 has been a year to gain clarity about what we really want, and not what we will settle for. In identifying our next steps, we are to move beyond what society will recognize or reward, and even what will be the most financially rewuarding. We are to strip away everything that clouds or compromises our heart’s desire so that we can align and powerfully trust in ourselves. Our heart's desire is to be our trusty rudder to successfullly navigate the pathways that 2023 will open to us.
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