The Astrology Blog 19 December 2022
All times in GMT
“I’m going to continue doing what I want to do… I don’t want to spend my life wasting my time.”
Jake Gyllenhaal – 19 December 1980, 42 today
https://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Jake_Gyllenhaal
“There’s only so much a heart can endure
You gave it your best, forgive yourself
You can’t hold on anymore
It’s not as far as it might seem
Now it’s time to let go of old dreams
Every heart for itself
Swim to the nearest distant shore.”
Nearest Distant Shore – Trisha Yearwood, Songwriters: Gary Harrison / Tim Menzies
ASTROLOGY CALENDAR
These are lovely, and the perfect Xmas gift for others or yourself! Designed by an astrologer for astrologers, this year’s new and improved Astrologers’ Calendar is printed on high-quality Conqueror paperstock. Arranged by zodiac sign, rather than by calendar month, and showing new and full Moons, planetary ingresses, station points and retrogrades in red for easy reference to guide you through the astrological year from this year’s Winter Solstice through the astrological year all the way to Yuletide 2023.
£15.00 + £5 p&p. You can order direct from Jill Shearer jill_shearer@icloud.com
WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK?
Here’s your “at a glance” picture of the week, with Jupiter dominating the Solstice and the Capricorn New Moon –
Tuesday 20 December
- Jupiter ingress Aries 14.33
Wednesday 21 December
- Sun ingress Capricorn – Winter Solstice 21.49
Thursday 22 December
- Sun 0 Capricorn square Jupiter 0 Aries 00.52
- Venus 15 Capricorn trine Uranus 15 Taurus 09.48
Friday 23 December
- New Moon 1 Capricorn 10.18
Sunday 25 December CHRISTMAS DAY
- Mercury 22 Capricorn sextile Neptune 22 Pisces 01.19
JUPITER INGRESS ARIES
Jupiter has a 12 year cycle and we have 12 signs of the zodiac, so it’s easy maths, Jupiter spends a year travelling through each sign. This is never just A to B in a straight line though as Jupiter always has a retrograde period (a backwards loop) every year that covers the previous 10 degrees and which lasts about four months.
This means that Jupiter can sometimes slide in and out of two signs in any given 12 month period which is what happened in 2021 and also this year –
| Date | Jupiter turns Retrograde | Jupiter turns Direct |
| 2020 | ||
| 14 May | 27 Capricorn | |
| 13 September | 17 Capricorn | |
| 2021 | ||
| 20 June | 2 Pisces | |
| 18 October | 22 Aquarius | |
| 2022 | ||
| 28 July | 8 Aries | |
| 23 November | 28 Pisces | |
| 2023 | ||
| 4 September | 15 Taurus | |
| 31 December | 5 Taurus |
Here’s the sequence that has been playing out since May –
- 11 May – Jupiter enters Aries 1st time
- 28 July – Jupiter turns retrograde at 8.43 Aries
- 28 Oct – Jupiter slides back into Pisces
- 23 Nov – Jupiter turns direct at 28.48 Pisces
- 20 Dec – Jupiter enters Aries 2nd time and won’t return to Pisces for another 12 years
The change of sign is a very welcome transition, moving Jupiter from the last degree of the zodiac 29 Pisces, sign of The Fishes and the position of a Fixed Star called Scheat, associated with suffering and marine disasters.
Last week the giant tower aquarium in the Radisson Blu hotel in Berlin exploded, spilling one million litres of saltwater, flooding the hotel and nearby streets. Nearly all of the 100 different species of 1,500 fish died and two people were injured by falling glass. It was quite miraculous that the injury count wasn’t a lot higher but this was down to the tragedy happening at 6am, before the hotel or the streets were busy. The other costs are horrendous, in terms of damage and the fact that the aquarium cost over 12 million to build. All washed away in one huge explosion. Last night a Thai navy ship was caught in a serious storm, it sank and the crew are still being rescued. So far three of them are in a critical condition.
I wonder how many people have been going through something similar in symbolic terms this week, reaching some kind of saturation point or going through the finale or big reminders of a personal loss. I know of several, two of them Pisceans and one with a Sun – Neptune conjunction in the 7th House of relationships. It’s what made me think of the haunting song quoted at the top, Nearest Distant Shore, which is about drowning in a relationship turned toxic and how it really is okay to jump ship if you’re destroying yourself in the process of trying to hang on.
In recent weeks I’ve also definitely noticed a bigger than usual theme of dealing with guilt, in several different guises. My colleague Ingrid Hoffman calls guilt the most toxic emotion of them all and in terms of parenting my sister used to say that guilt was born along with the baby. In my own client work it’s noticeable that, along with the emotional draining, men struggle more with the sense of responsibility. I’ve got another three stories on the go that have been dominated by these issues for a long time, two of them for many years, BUT they are now all moving on. The shift is happening.
Jupiter has been on 28/29 Pisces since the end of October, and of course was there earlier in the year too, in the first week of May, just before moving into Aries for the first time. What nearly happened for you then, but didn’t? What did you intend to do, but couldn’t, for whatever reason? Start thinking in terms of huge second chances. This time Jupiter really means it.
To move then from 29 Pisces to 0 Aries is to mark the shift from endings to beginnings, especially in terms of any journey that has involved themes of guilt, grief, suffering, sadness, victim role (either type, genuinely because of matters beyond our control, or the “poor me” doormat variety), sacrifice, loss of identity, focus or purpose, or the end of any matter which you can no longer change, eg loss of a job, the breakdown of a relationship of irreconcilable differences etc.
As I said back in May Jupiter the Greater Benefic arriving at 0 Aries, sign of the self, is a massive and passion filled fanfare for the ego, as in returning to a healthy ego state. It’s time to choose what is right for you, especially if you’ve been living your life in a way that suits others but is making you personally miserable.
This is not selfish in the pejorative sense of the word. We probably and unfortunately all know selfish people – the ones who are the last to offer to help, the last to go out of their way, the last to put their hands in their pockets, the ones who get in touch only when they want something, the half hour conversations that are 2 minutes about you if you’re lucky and 28 minutes about them, and so on. This is negative and controlling.
To be “self”ish in a positive and proactive way is entirely different, it’s about not sacrificing yourself. It’s about recognizing your own human rights, your individuality and sense of entitlement. Anita Moorjani (author of Dying to be Me) is huge on this subject, that the most powerful spiritual law is to embrace your uniqueness and personal magnificence. Only then can you be of true value to anyone else.
So the time is right for examining your own excuses for not doing the things you secretly long for or the real reasons for putting off vital tasks. So often things boil down to low self esteem or lack of confidence or fear of failure or being overly risk averse – and so on, you get the picture. Try saying out loud, “I want …” and see how it makes you feel!
Big, bold and exuberant Jupiter tends to work well in the fire signs. In particular look out for brand new starts or second chances in relation to Jupiter’s concerns –
- higher education, any kind of learning
- foreign travel, foreigners, all matters linked to overseas
- publishing
- legal matters
- arbitration, peace, liberation
- personal freedom
- generosity or any kind of opportunity, particularly those that feel gift wrapped from the heavens, simply because the time is right
Pay close attention to what unfolds for you on or from Tuesday as any kind of beginning, whether it’s a new love, a new job, or anything that fires your imagination or jump starts your energy, will have a lot more to come.
My colleague Lynne Ewart posted this on Facebook last week which I loved, as it captures for me the quintessential Aries dynamic that spins around that “just do it” immediacy –
The 5 Step Release
- One thing I’m anxious about today
- One practical thing I can do to prevent or prepare for it
- One reason it’s probably not going to be as bad as I fear
- One reason I know I can handle it
- One upside of the situation
THE WINTER SOLSTICE
So in the Northern Hemisphere the Summer Solstice is the longest day and the Winter Solstice is the shortest. Whichever hemisphere you’re in, the Summer Solstice is the moment that the Sun reaches 0 degrees Cancer and the Winter one is the moment that the Sun reaches 0 degrees Capricorn.
Capricorn is one of the two signs that belong to Saturn (the other is Aquarius, which is also co-ruled by Uranus) who is the opposite principle to Jupiter. Optimistic Jupiter says could, pessimistic Saturn says should, Jupiter loves boundlessness and saying yes, Saturn likes to know where he stands, he likes limits, boundaries and saying no.
So it’s intriguing that this Winter Solstice is rather Jupiterian! I don’t normally list lunar aspects as there are so many of them (Moon moves through all 12 signs every 28 days) but on the morning of the Solstice, less than 24 hours after Jupiter’s change of sign, the Moon arrives in Sagittarius, one of the signs ruled by Jupiter. The Moon’s first aspect is then the harmonious trine to Jupiter (ie sharing an element with both being in fire signs), and the Sun’s first aspect is the square to Jupiter.
As the New Moon is that moment every four weeks when the Sun and Moon conjunct each other this means that both the Solstice and the New Moon are square Jupiter –
Wednesday 21 December
- Moon ingress Sagittarius 07.14
- Moon trine Jupiter 21.49
- Sun ingress Capricorn – Winter Solstice 21.49
Thursday 22 December
- Sun 0 Capricorn square Jupiter 0 Aries 00.52
Friday 23 December
- Moon ingress Capricorn 07.51
- Moon 0 Capricorn square Jupiter 0 Aries 08.15
- New Moon 1 Capricorn square Jupiter 10.18
Saturn is nowhere to be seen but is there in the flavor of the sign Capricorn. So there are mixed messages here as the Sun squaring up to Jupiter shows two principles at odds, a kind of work versus play mismatch, or too much of one at the expense of the other.
The winter surges in Covid may be part of this as the Sun is our life force and links to health issues. Squares of any kind to Jupiter can also be anything carrying an “over the top” tag, including financial costs or numbers getting out of control, such as large crowds or queues, but also having a lot of fun is in there too! Watch out for the drama at the works Xmas party lol and allow plenty of time for your travels, especially as Mercury is now slowing right down in preparation for turning retrograde in 10 days time.
Christmas socializing could turn out to be good for business though. New Moons, new cycles, new faces, and in Capricorn you can include new projects of all kinds. Look out for the word of mouth opportunities or meeting someone who can pull strings for you.
MERCURY & VENUS
Both of these planets continue on their way through Capricorn too and midweek Venus links to Uranus at 15 degrees of their respective signs, Capricorn and Taurus. This puts Venus on the benefic Fixed Star of Wega, as discussed last week when Mercury did the same thing. As Mercury will soon turn retrograde and come back again that means that Mercury will repeat that aspect (8 Jan and 30 Jan) but for Venus it’s a one off. Brilliant for parties and any kind of group event, including romantic opportunities.
Also look out for the continuation of any news or story that took shape at the end of last week or over the weekend. I’ve suddenly (Uranus) got a lot of written work (Mercury) to do this week as am putting together synopses and samples for new book ideas. The ideas aren’t new, it’s all material from my own work that has been begging to be written up for ages, but to have a publisher interested is just what I needed. I have a natal Mercury conjunct Saturn, give me an advance and a deadline and I can move mountains! And of course Jupiter’s change of sign is timely for this too. Mercury rules books and the writing, but it’s Jupiter who rules publishing as mentioned earlier.
Because of Mercury’s imminent retrograde loop this means that he’ll also be making a series of three aspects to slow moving Neptune – who is even slower than usual at the moment having just turned direct at the beginning of the month, has therefore been “stuck” at 22 Pisces for all of Nov/Dec but is gradually starting to move in the right direction.
The first link to Neptune will be exact in the early hours of Christmas Day, and is therefore the key aspect for Christmas Eve. Mercury – Neptune combinations are very soft and sensitive, either in the sense of making magical and meaningful connections, or the flipside of getting touchy, tearful or over nostalgic, especially of the “sad wine” kind. Never forget that Neptune rules the booze!
The aspect repeats 2 January and 6 February, so it’s going to take a while to play out. As ever with these sequences pay close attention to what unfolds for you, who you spend your time with, who you meet, what you hear and so on, especially if you have planets or Angles at or very close to 22 Pisces (or the opposite sign of Virgo) or 22 Capricorn (or the opposite sign of Cancer).
Next week’s first aspect will be Venus repeating this link to Neptune, exact on Wednesday morning, followed by Mercury catching up with Venus but then immediately turning retrograde for the following three weeks, and I’ll be talking more about this scenario next time,
Until then wishing everyone a wonderful Yuletide,
With love from Greece
Joanna
