An Interesting and Intense December

December's astrology is extraordinarily wild, even in the midst of the series of intense months we have been seeing lately, and features Venus, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. This is the month that Venus turns retrograde, which only happens every two years or so, each time ultimately introducing a new vision of the feminine. The Venus Retrograde begins on the very day of the Winter Solstice, December 21st and Venus remains in Capricorn about four months in all, until early March. With the heliacal rise of Venus as the Morning Star that takes place on January 17th, Venus begins her Capricorn cycle lasting for 584 days. This is a no-nonsense business orientation for the feminine planet that implies the further empowerment of women in our culture. Just as it was in the sixties, feminism is on the rise, as a definite rousing element of the ethos of these fractious times.

Jupiter, have recently changed to retrograde motion last month, is coming into a renewed opposition with Pluto that becomes activated by month's end. This makes for a very strong ending to the year as both Mars and Jupiter line up in their respective opposite signs to Uranus and Pluto. Additionally, in the current month, with the timing of the First Quarter Moon of December 9th, Jupiter makes a Grand Trine with Saturn and the Moon. This indicates that while we might have a rocky beginning to the month in many ways, the resolution is nearer to hand then we might imagine and depends on emotional connection and faith that the universe actually has our back.

In this regard, it is interesting to note that one of the cosmos' best messengers, the planetary archetype of trickster Uranus, is highlighted this month by his station to direct motion that happens at the time of the December 17th Full Moon. Uranus is thus standing nearly stock-still in the sky for the entire month, and is very much emphasized. All in all, Uranus occupies the same degree, and almost the same minute, within ¼ of a degree, for the entire month. With such a strong presence of Uranus in the sky all month long, what is available to us now is a powerful sense of intuition and also the occurrence of surprises leading to unexpected enlightenment.

Uranus, as it stations, also strongly aspects the planetary archetype of Chiron, the Wounded Healer. This implies that intuitional information is also available for detecting where you could have been wounded in your self-esteem in the past, and how such ancient trauma might be currently affect you to this day, becoming lodged somewhere deep inside yourself and seldom consciously accessed. Simply increasing your awareness of these dark and hidden places within you can lead to healing.

The big news this month is, again, Uranus and Pluto. Their square, still close and now intensely triggered, speaks to necessary transformation coming down, in the life of the collective, and in our individual lives as well. Pluto is the wrecking ball, acting in concert with Uranus, symbolizing the vision that supports taking drastic evolutionary action. I know that this message seems a bit like a broken record, always the same thing, repeating. It is an important message nonetheless and speaks to our times, both collectively and individually. The aspect is tight over this end-of-year period, and is triggered by the December 2nd New Moon right at the very beginning of the month. The Uranus-Pluto archetypal combination then returns to greater significance by the time of the Last Quarter Moon of December 25th, Christmas Day. In this final mid-week of December, Uranus in Aries is opposed by Mars in Libra while Pluto is widely opposed by Jupiter, with the Sun and Moon also in Cardinal Signs. This is a very powerful configuration, as is also the chart for New Year's Eve a week later on, presaging a difficult beginning for 2014.