Sun into Capricorn, Change Taking Root

Snow covered cars stranded on white roads in the Midwest, icy tree limbs buckled across frigid streets in the Northeast and even a roaring fireplace to stave off the unusual cold here in Los Angeles herald the onset of winter.  Though the Solstice is still a few days away, on December 21st at 4:04A.M. PST, the annual pull inward into stillness is at hand.  And given that the Sun’s journey through somber Capricorn marks the ending and the beginning of the year and the return of Light, some quiet reflection on the past and the future is wise.  What have we learned during the past year?  What will we create in 2009?   Capricorn offers ambition, pragmatism and stamina, and this year six planets will gather in this cardinal earth sign.  We have a rare opportunity to experience the fullness of this enterprising dedicated energy and to harness its industrious and long-ranging powers.  

December 27th offers a new moon at 4:22A.M. PST and is the day on which six planets will meet in Capricorn.  This is an extraordinary day for contemplation, prayers or ritual for what we want to see manifest in the short and long term.  Remember that now that Pluto is in Capricorn our deepest drives and dreams can meet reality, or reality checks.  This Pluto cycle is 15 years long, so the plans you activate internally or externally at this time can have very long lasting effects.  Assisting this down to earth magic will be Capricorn’s ruler Saturn in fellow earth sign Virgo.  

While the hefty economic changes the world has undergone since this Saturn transit began in September of 2007 may have given it a bad rap, it has been such a crucial and necessary journey.  This has been an exceptional time to get our business in order, to learn money lessons and to consider the impact of our materialism.  And in case we have more to understand or refine, Saturn goes retrograde December 31st through May 16th.  We’re going over the facts and figures, and the books, thoroughly, one more time.  By the time Saturn goes direct we should begin to see the light at the end of this economic downturn tunnel, and 2009 will see Saturn move into Libra in late October. In the meantime, with Pluto now firmly lodged in Capricorn, and Mercury (January 1st) and Jupiter (January 5th) heading into humanitarian-minded, innovative Aquarius where they will join spiritual Neptune and healing Chiron, the higher good that these sea changes are ushering in is in evidence. 

Have you ever turned on the “news” and wondered what entity could possibly describe our world with such vulgarity and distortion?  You’ve likely tuned out the unyielding stream of war, human depravity, suffering and division.  You’re not alone.  Last week the Tribune Company, owner of 12 major daily newspapers and 23 television stations, filled for bankruptcy.  The story behind the story is that on a very large scale, we the people are rejecting this appalling and unbalanced view of ourselves and our lives.  We’ve migrated to the Net, to our social networks, to images of hope, help and connectivity.  And have you been noting the appointments to the incoming Obama cabinet?  This will be the greenest administration in U.S. history, and it will be greeted by a welcoming world eager to heal the planet.  While the fount of fear and violence was being turned off, European leaders were formally embracing the 2020 initiative.  This is a comprehensive plan to obtain 20% of all energy from renewable sources by the year 2020.  

The moon is full on January 10th and the first of 2009’s four Mercury retrogrades begins on January 11th, lasting through the 31st.  The Sun enters Aquarius January 19th and Inauguration Day is of course on January 20th.  Why do I bring this up now?  Because now is the time to begin thinking about the future.  No doubt our world is experiencing colossal changes.  We voted for change.  Our consciousness is our key and our compass for navigating these peacefully.  Are you clinging to an outmoded paradigm or shifting with the tide?  Some believe that a Divine hand paints our world, much like an artist with a canvas.  On Inauguration Day trickster Mercury, ruler of thoughts, dips back into Capricorn, the sign it is in as we begin this winter.  Much like commissioned artists of a bygone era who put little jokes into their work for amusement, Spirit paints Mercury into our current sober scene, asking us to think about what’s going on in our daily lives and in our wider world, and to begin designing balanced paths for ourselves and our planet.  And if we honor winter’s call to look within, these awesome and honest Capricorn energies will help us begin bringing harmonious visions into reality.