The Transformative Power of the Winter Solstice

Sunday's Winter Solstice is a powerful one and deserves a special mention, not least because this same day also represents the significant turning point of the Capricorn New Moon, taking place just a few hours later. Additionally, the extremely close Uranus-Pluto square and Eris-Jupiter trine are still quite active, as they are for the entire month of December. But first a few words about the Winter Solstice itself, that ancient festival of the returning of the light that is still celebrated in Western culture with its survival into modern times as the Christian and Jewish holiday season.

Just as the New Moon represents the beginning of the monthly lunation cycle, based on the relationship of Sun and Moon, the Winter Solstice represents one important beginning of the yearly cycle of the Earth's relationship to the Sun, when the daylight reaches its lowest point, and begins to rise again. Another important timing is of course the Sun's "Aries ingress," of the Spring Equinox, also considered a yearly starting point when the length of day is equal to the length of night. The Winter Solstice is also known as the "Capricorn ingress" of the Sun, or entrance into the sign of Capricorn, as he completes and initiates another yearly cycle. Astrologers therefore use the chart for the Winter Solstice, the timing of the shortest daylight period of the entire year (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) as the opportunity for taking a symbolic look at the year ahead.

And this is indeed going to be a vitally important year, as indicated by the strong presence of Uranus and Pluto is these December skies. We note that Venus is still within orb of a dramatic conjunction with Pluto, indicating the power of love to move mountains, both within and outside of ourselves. Then too, in the timing of this Winter Solstice configuration, Uranus has, on this same day, stationed to direct motion, only about ¼ degree away from their perfect square. This signifies the greatly increased power of this once again forming alignment that has been so voluminously discussed, its powerful symbolism a mandate for individual and societal transformation, creating forward movement for proceeding with a revolution in values and in tactics that is already underway.

The Moon is also closing with the Sun, forming to the New Moon of 5:36 PM on the West Coast, yet still in the last degrees of Jupiter's sign of Sagittarius, where it aspects Saturn in the final degree of Scorpio. There is also a powerful Jupiter presence, greatly highlighted by its exact trine with Eris, the new planet past Pluto, that bespeaks coming from the power and intensity of our deepest soul intention. This is a darkly optimistic time, a time when we all begin to really get it. We understand more completely what it is that we need to do, in a very practical way, to bring about necessary change in our lives and in the life of the surrounding culture.

The Sabian symbols at this turning for Uranus and Pluto are very interesting and revealing. For Uranus, in the thirteenth degree of Aries, we find "An unsuccessful bomb explosion." This seems scary, perhaps, although of course is intended to be taken symbolically. Something has not quite come off, and once it does, it will change everything, and this reminds us of the process of radical transformation that we find ourselves in the midst of, not yet complete. Marc Edmund Jones echoes this sentiment: "a dramatic rejection of any accomplishment falling at all short of a very deep or hallowed purpose." For the Pluto degree of this Winter Solstice configuration, the thirteenth degree of Capricorn, we have: "A fire worshiper" for which Jones remarks "the degree [represents] extraordinary skill in enlisting every resource of the world for the exaltation of self and the consummation of [his or her] ambitions." We would add that the truest sense of this ambition comes from deep inside you, and is meaningful in the context of what you, and only you, can supply. Thus the sum of all individual actions — especially those that are in total alignment with soul purpose — remakes the world around us, continually happening in each moment, like breathing.

The Transformative Power of the Winter Solstice

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Chart for the on December 21, 2014

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