Take the first step in faith.
You don’t have to see the whole staircase,
just take the first step.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Solar Eclipse at 12 Sagittarius on December 4, 2021, magnifies that small still voice inside that helps us navigate the slings and arrows, the opportunities and potentialities. Faith in ourself and the direction of our life is renewed. Our ability to effectively respond to what emerges is strengthened.
The Last Two Weeks – Preparation for the Solar Eclipse
A Lunar Eclipse occurred on the Full Moon, November 19 at 27 degrees Taurus. Opposing this earthy, practical Moon, were three planets in Scorpio (The Sun, Mercury and Mars). Scorpio, a water sign, is fluid, malleable, its course directed desire. The Taurus Moon Eclipse invited the transformational energies (Scorpio) to be contained and give way to a shape. Earth holds water and the eclipse encouraged us to embody who we have become, and release all we no longer are.
My Father's journey this past month exemplifies the spirit and power of this eclipse season. On the November 19 eclipse, I was traveling with my 93-year old father across the country after a week of packing his belongings and loading them on a pallet to be freighted across the country. The eclipse was big for my Taurean Father as he said goodbye to 70 years of living within yards of the Pacific Ocean.
He let go of the life he had built and loved that no longer was a match for his current needs and desires. In the wake of the Lunar Eclipse, he has opened himself to the form his life wants to take that will be best suited to him now. On the day of the Solar Eclipse on December 4, the moment of new beginnings, he will move into his new home, an assisted living facility near me in the mountains of North Carolina. We can be inspired by his eclipse journey and similarly look at what we have been called to let go of - which perhaps at one time meant everything to us, and even shaped our identity - so we can embrace and embody a way of living that is a match for who we are now and for who we are becoming.
The New Beginning is Rooted in Earned Wisdom
Solar Eclipses are about beginnings, where something becomes possible that wasn’t available previously. The December 4 eclipse is the final eclipse in Sagittarius and Gemini over the last 18 months as the north node (the potential future) has been traveling through Gemini. We have been prompted to re-examine our beliefs about life, ourselves, what we want and where we are going and to allow new information and experiences to reshape our beliefs. We have been encountering deeper truths about life and these truths have served to reshape our outlook, priorities and life. If we hold on to beliefs that once guided us, but now no longer serve us, we will inevitably experience mounting agitation; standing in and for an outworn belief will feel more and more like standing on shaky ground.
Sagittarius is the fire sign that occurs at the end of the fire cycle. When we build a bonfire, the initial lighting of the fire produces flames that rage high and strong. This is the Aries fire: bold and daring. Then, as the evening wears on, we tend the fire so that the fire is sustained. This is Leo. At the close of the evening, the light and flames of the fire may be low, but it is now producing the most heat. The embers glow red. Aries is the Warrior, Leo is the King and Sagittarius is the Sage.
Sagittarius is the wisdom that has been gleaned from life experience and reflection. More than knowledge, it is the quickening of our inner knowing. It is the truth that emerges having proven the test of time. Sagittarius has a thirst for learning and for sharing what was learned. Similarly, at this New Moon eclipse in Sagittarius, there is a newfound wisdom, a newfound strength in our ability to trust ourselves and our inner guidance system as we seek new experiences and embark on a new life adventure.
We are Divine enough
to ask and we are important
enough to receive.
by Wayne Dyer
The Next First Step
Some way of life or way of relating has come to completion. We stand at the doorway to some new adventure. We are to trust ourselves and the impulse to move towards what we want. The eclipse signifies something emerging that we are to welcome and embrace that is a departure from how we have operated. Note what inspires and motivates us at this time and feed it. It is a powerful time to write an affirmation of what we want to manifest in the year ahead, and to take an initial action to making it a reality.
We are to remain flexible and open-minded. We cannot easily discern the details of how things will go but are invited to simply trust our inner guidance system to respond to what is unfolding as we take a step in the direction we wish to head. (Mercury conjoined the Solar Eclipse)
This new beginning as a good chance of being grounded and stabilized (Saturn sextile the Solar Eclipse).
Our intuitive sense of something changing can have us feeling excited, but also nervous or anxious. It may be difficult to relax. We may feel on alert. Something unexpected may occur to catapult the change that we are needing. It can be a change in our routine, in a relationship, or with some plan. Again, we are to trust the change and our ability to navigate it wisely (Uranus quincunx the Solar Eclipse).
We feel the urge to move forward, undaunted by circumstance. Mars is just behind the eclipse in the sky, fueling a dogged determination and spirited perseverance. We recognize that there is no going back, so it is time to press on (Mars in Scorpio).
Our thoughts, desires and the frequency we broadcast will be amplified (the eclipse conjunct with the Great Attractor, a gravity anomaly in intergalactic space that is as dense as thousands of Milky Ways). With the alignment to the Great Attractor, our ability to manifest is magnified and so it benefits us to be intentional with our thoughts and actions at this time.
For insight around where we are each discovering a newfound self-trust and readiness to embark on a new course of activity or endeavor, we can look to the activities of the house where 12 Sagittarius resides in our natal chart. For those of us with planets at 12 degrees of a mutable sign (Sagittarius, Pisces, Gemini, Virgo), this can be a time of big change. Scheduling a Transit/Progression Reading can illuminate how the eclipse, year-end energies, and 2022 dynamics will illuminate and stimulate your life.
Jupiter, Ruler of The Eclipse – A Vision of Our Future Self
For the last year, Jupiter has been traveling through Aquarius, the sign of freedom, independence and far-reaching vision. As the planet of expansion and growth, we have had visions of our future self. Having distinction at this eclipse, Jupiter's presence amplifies what is unique about us and emboldens us to walk the path that only we can walk to fulfill our soul purpose. Our life has been especially designed just for us and we have been developing the eyes to see its purpose more clearly.
Holding on is believing
that there’s only a past;
letting go is knowing
that there’s a future.
Daphne Rose Kingma
We Navigate December’s Big Energies
with Faithfulness to our Personal North Star
Tension Between a New Way of Operating and Holding on to Habit and the Familiar
Building pressure and culmination of Saturn square Uranus
Saturn and Uranus both interact with the Eclipse, stirring the pot of what has been stewing all 2021. The 3rd and final square between the planet of stability and the planet of change will happen on December 23. We have been feeling the tension between opening to the new and yet feeling entrenched or attached to an old way of operating. We may know what we want to have happen and yet the mechanics, the structure of our life does not easily allow for it. Thus, we have been stewing on how to make something happen and what needs to give way to allow for it.
At the Eclipse, Saturn supports and helps stabilize a new beginning that is grounded in self-trust and the utilization of earned wisdom. We have some anxiety around our intuitive sense of how things are changing (Uranus quincunx the Eclipse) and so we feel somewhat vigilant, ready to respond to what cannot be predicted.
The final square between Saturn and Uranus on December 23 will bring the year’s energies to a head. We may make further decisions around what to release and let go of in our life to accommodate something new that we see as possible. The Eclipse gives us a push towards the resolution of the tension we are feeling about releasing an old way of living and taking that step towards a new, unproven, and yet desired something for our life.
Venus Conjoined Pluto, Readying to turn Retrograde on December 19
The Planet of Love, Pleasure and Value has saddled up alongside Pluto for the better part of December. Pluto is the first planet the Sun doesn’t reach, so it is in the dark. It reveals what is hidden within us, buried in our sub or unconscious. The motivations, desires, fears and compulsions that can drive us are amplified as Venus hangs out with this Underworld Giant.
Venus and Pluto are both in Capricorn, a planet that personifies structure, responsibility and achievement. We will be looking at how our unconscious beliefs and motivations around love, money and relationships shape our life. Capricorn is focused on long-term results and building something sustainable, so we will be looking at the full scope of how we enter into and engage relationships with others. The Venus Retrograde (December 19 – January 28), will spark a period of deep questioning about how and where we are putting our energies. We will be reviewing our beliefs about what makes a good life.
We will be contemplating, “What am I responsible for and what am I not responsible for?” We will gain insight as to where have we given way to societal or familial expectation and assumed responsibility for things that we are ultimately not responsible for. We may have a pattern of yielding to external pressure to please another, fill a need no one else is addressing, or to maintain peace. Simultaneously, we will ponder what we sacrificed in our own soul path because there was a lack of external validation for it, and thus how we have abdicated responsibility for something we cherish, like the development of our own worth, gifts or health. We will look to restructure how we approach responsibility and priorities with an eye to long term results and what we truly wish to build. We will trim away what is extraneous, look to conserve our energy and our money as we re-evaluate priorities, values and future direction.
Healing our Connection to Spontaneity, Courage and Self-Trust
Chiron in Aries turns Direct on December 19
Chiron shows us where we are undertaking a journey to heal what was lost or wounded. In Aries, it is the facility to follow our impulses and not seek outside validation for what we feel is the right way to move, act, or speak. As Chiron completes its Retrograde cycle this year and turns direct in a couple weeks, we may feel empowered with a strength of self that feels new and enlivening. Better able to stand up for ourselves and act independently of what others may think of us, we can harness the eclipse energies that offer us a renewed faith in ourselves and our ability to move through life with courage, grace and tenacity. We are less susceptible to fulfilling expectations inappropriately placed on us, and more inclined to live up to the standards and expectations we set for ourselves.
The joy of life comes
from our encounters with new experiences,
and hence there is no greater joy
than to have an endlessly changing horizon,
for each new day to have a new and different sun….
Don’t settle down and sit in one place.
Move around, be nomadic,
make each day a new horizon.
Jon Krakauer
In Summary
The Sagittarian Solar Eclipse brings renewed hope and a renewal of faith in ourselves to meet circumstances with integrity, courage and fortitude. We are invigorated and inspired by the Solar Eclipse to trust ourselves and move towards what we want to see happen. We feel freer to be authentically ourselves, to trust the design of our life and believe we have the inner fortitude to engage what we encounter without shutting down or abandoning ourselves. It is time to shed who we once were, and embody who we have become and stand by ourselves as never before.
The month of December, astrologically, will be a time of recalibration, realignment and potential change. The 3rd and final square between Saturn and Uranus, and the coming Venus Retrograde may bring challenges, frustrations and shifts in perspective. We can successfully meet and respond to these energies by remaining true to the inner fire, the inner spark that lights our way.
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