December Horoscopes

Astrology of December
Current Configurations
Past Months

Aries	Libra
Taurus	Scorpio
Gemini	Sagittarius
Cancer	Capricorn
Leo	Aquarius
Virgo	Pisces

December 2007

Current Astrology

	The Sun is in Aries
	The Quarter Moon is in CancerThe First Quarter Moon is in Cancer: All day
	Next Mercury Retrograde Apr 21 - May 14

December Horoscopes

by Henry Seltzer

The Astrology of December features Mars, newly retrograde, Uranus and Neptune, with the star attraction a forming Jupiter – Pluto conjunction in the last degrees of Sagittarius, signifying transformation of perspective on a massive scale, both individually and collectively. Mars has been backtracking through the sign of Cancer since mid-November, opposite to the Winter Solstice sign of Capricorn, where the Sun is currently heading. They will meet across the Zodiac in the very dynamic Full Moon configuration of December 23rd, aided and abetted by Jupiter in the first degrees of Capricorn, conjunct the Sun. The Jupiter – Pluto conjunction that perfects in mid-December also remains very active during this period.

Mars retrograde in Cancer implies that we will be looking under the covers of our familial and nurturing behavior over this entire end-of-year time that is replete with reunions. This retrograde period lasts until spring counting the retrograde shadow period, with his station to direct motion coming at the end of January. We are conjoined during this period to temper our outward urges with corresponding inward-turning self-analysis; it is better to reflect than to react. What we may find in so doing is that the root causes of our anger and other distressing emotions lies not so much in the present situation as with past conditioning. We benefit when we refrain from shooting the messenger.

In the mid-month period, the December 9th New Moon represents yet another chance for the powerful and transformational energies of the outer planets to interact with our personal lives. This New Moon in mid-Sagittarius squares Uranus, now in direct motion, and sextiles Neptune, while Jupiter and Pluto are coming quite close together in the heavens, only about half a degree apart. Relationship-oriented Venus also makes its ingress this month into Scorpio, Pluto�s sign. This is a time of sudden epiphany, and the awareness of the numinous and otherworldly side of the mundane world that opens us up to larger reality.

The Full Moon configuration of December 23rd, taking place two days after the Winter Solstice, brings these ideas together even more strongly, as the Full Moon unites Jupiter in early Capricorn with Mars, now in the very early degrees of Cancer and about to cross backwards into Gemini. The chart for New Year�s Day has these same factors still powerfully present, and in some ways more pronounced, as Mars swings into late Gemini to perfectly oppose Pluto. Mars opposite Pluto in the chart for the New Year presages that violence and the roots of violence will be on all our minds as we explore our lives, both individually and within the collective, in this extremely volatile year of 2008.

During this entire month we may well feel the evolutionary pressure mounting for massive change, as is indicated too by the current political and economic climate. In the larger picture of what we as a society have to deal with, things have been getting scary, and are likely to be getting scarier still in the years leading up to 2012. But it is an ill wind that blows no good, and what we as individuals must do is rise to the occasion. �When the going gets tough, the tough get going� was never truer than it is today and will continue to be over the next few years of our remarkable collective transition.

Transits to the U.S. Chart

Last month we stated that more and stranger revelations were likely to emerge regarding the state of the war, and that the information might appear quite suddenly. Of course the most surprising news last month was the November 26th announcement � during the Thanksgiving Recess of Congress � that there will be permanent American bases in Iraq per agreement with the al-Maliki regime. Since the U.S. put al-Maliki in power, that is similar to the Bush administration making an agreement with itself. Certainly no congressional oversight was part of the plan, even though the Senate has the constitutional prerogative to oversee treaties with foreign powers. The agreement also stated that along with the bases, an American presence of 50,000 troops would be required. This reverses the attitude of many in Congress, and many all across the country, that the war be ended soon and troops withdrawn. The suddenness of the announcement has not been matched with an equally sudden reaction on the part of the American people, as yet, since the holidays are now in full swing.

This month the transits are still extreme, and may in fact presage that reaction. December�s New Moon is accompanied by a Sagittarius line-up, including Jupiter-Pluto, in the First House of the U.S. chart, which in an individual would indicate a new understanding of self coming though a powerful process of transformation. The Jupiter-Pluto conjunction also sextiles U.S. Moon and squares the U.S. Midheaven (government), while Saturn trines U.S. Eris (violent reactions) and squares U.S Uranus (sudden insight), as transiting Uranus remains trine the U.S. Sun. It�s bound to be an interesting and powerful time; perhaps even a time when the public might finally become fed up with the so-called powers that be and stage the beginning of an attempt to take back control. The most important development in all this remains the growth in consciousness, which absolutely necessary, and which in the end represents the only way out of the wilderness that we as a nation have landed ourselves in.