As the editor of the Astrology Arizona newsletter, I compose an overview of each month. Today we take a look at the primary factors for the month.

The Overview for December

In 2024, the month of December puts the focus on the Sagittarius, Capricorn, and Aquarius sectors of our chart. We’re now firmly in the Pluto in Aquarius era for the next 20 years!

The month begins with Mercury retrograde and Mars turning retrograde at 7 Leo. Immediately after Neptune goes SD at 28 Pisces at the same time that Venus makes the first conjunction to Pluto this year, again at the crucial 1 Aquarius degree of the Grand Mutation.

So this is a month with planets changing speeds and reversing motion. While Mercury’s retrograde the first half of the month, research, rehearse, review, and prepare what you’ll need to move into the future in February. With Mars going retrograde AND Mercury retrograde through mid-month, slow down, be more deliberate, plan in some delays, and enjoy what you can.

Mars will be retrograde through late February, so pay attention to the change of pace, and work on things which will be a support for your efforts in the future. Often things bog down from around the time it enters its Shadow Zone to the opposition of the Sun with Mars in mid-January, which marks Mars’ slowest rate of speed. Be patient and cautious between now and late January! After the opposition Mars will speed up until it goes SD at 18 Cancer in late February.

Whatever we understood during the September/October Grand Water Trines will be integrated and released in dynamic ways in December as Mercury RX and the Sun form an offset T-square with Jupiter and Saturn in early December. This is a dress rehearsal for a much tighter T-square in late December. This will bring tension to those with planets in the last degrees of Cardinal signs, the early degrees of Fixed signs, and the middle degrees of Mutable signs.

Mercury went RX at 23 Sagittarius, the same degree it went SD last January. That means we’re now getting a look back at the themes of the entire year which involved us entering a new land, “immigrants on Ellis Island.” Mercury will go SD at 7 Sagittarius in mid-month, beginning the 2025 theme of a renewal of life and love!

This month features the New Moon at 10 Sagittarius on December 1 which will accelerate our striving, because it’s a degree of “if we’re ambitious, we win the prize.” It’s a time to spur oneself and quicken the pace. As it septiles Pluto, it’s another “fork in the road” month in our lives!

As noted, it will be a time of the Sag energies squaring Saturn and opposing Jupiter, showing the need for order and organization without worry or being fussy. Being trine Chiron, December is a good month for healing, mentoring, and being mentored. Allow yourself to strengthen your heart fire, as this aspect is regenerative. Venus is also trine Uranus, showing great practical harmony and organized elegance.

This is the final month in a long period when Saturn has quintiled Uranus. This month’s squares to Saturn can release that “quintessential gift” via the planets in Sagittarius, as per my October talk in how to use squares and oppositions to best advantage. As I gave you last month, affected areas involve 1-3 Capricorn/Cancer, 5-9 Aquarius/Leo, 11-15 Pisces/Virgo, 17-21 Aries/Libra, 23-27 Taurus/Scorpio, and 29-30 Gemini/Sagittarius.

Pluto leads the outer planet occupied span through early 2025. Each year we have major oppositions between July and November to Pluto, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus. We’ve now completed our oppositions to those planets for the year, with the exception of the very intense oppositions between Mars and Pluto. We had our first opposition in early November, and will have two more in early January and late April 2025.

Because Jupiter’s in Gemini, it gives a Gemini backdrop to planets we have in Sagittarius and Pisces, as well as the houses where these signs are on the cusp. Jupiter in Gemini brings new information and perspectives to those things it rules. Still, the conjunctions to Jupiter when it was in Taurus rule the coming year until the conjunctions with Jupiter in Cancer in June 2025.

Saturn went SD on a degree of showing courage as we focus our spiritual will. We’ve reviewed the span between 20 to 13 Pisces since June, and have now turned toward the future as we finish the main lessons of Saturn in Pisces as we flow with a third transit of its 2024 Shadow zone between now and February 2025. We have seen the promise of that which nourishes us “at the end of our day of labor,” and having found a renewed inspiration because we practiced “before the battle,” we now have what we need to express the spiritual power we’ve trained for up to now.

With Neptune going direct, this marks a “sea change,” with abundance promised as we turn to head toward Aries. Saturn’s direct and Neptune’s direct, and they’re both headed to Aries. We now move through the part of Pisces which is “the end of the end,” so keep flowing through these strange times and have as much compassion for yourself and others as needed. As I gave you last month, the primary Saturn theme for the rest of this year and early 2025 is going to help us finish some things, forgive some things, and bless some endings.

The Spiritual Field

We continue to be blessed by the closest Neptune sextile with Pluto in 30 years, with Uranus joining the “three note chord” by the Summer of 2024. With Uranus in late Taurus, Neptune in late Pisces, and Pluto in late Capricorn/early Aquarius, we will have a very strong “double sextile/trine” which should favorably impact all planets we have in the last 5 degrees of Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, and Pisces. The Spiritual Field represented by these outermost planets is helping stabilize our late Earth and Water sectors in the spiritual sectors of their signs.

This is preparing us for an entirely new experience of Spirit and Life in 2025 when these Spiritual powerhouses shift out of Earth and Water into Fire and Air, Life and Spirit expressed as a new inspiration, joined by Saturn when it enters Aries creating a “three note chord” of harmonic consciousness. That means 2024 and 2025 will spiritually harmonize planets we have in late Earth and Water signs, while in 2025-2026 they will do the same for planets we have in the early degrees of the Fire and Air signs.

Uranus will occupy the third decan of Taurus for the rest of this year through early July 2025. This is a Capricorn sub-influence with an added dose of Saturn, so there’ll be more structure and discipline and less micromanagement of details. The Cosmic Awakener promises us a new life and a “genuine rejuvenation” and life renewal as a result of what we went through in August and September.

We’ve been moving through an individual and spiritual awakening which marks the beginning of a long term regeneration and renewal wherever we have late Taurus. This is the next step of the new 2 year cycle where we have 27 Taurus in our charts resulting from the July Mars/Uranus conjunction.

Neptune at “the end of the end” of Pisces is giving us all a sense of vast feelings and finality. We’ve been in a review of “our dream to come” these past few months, and now move forward into a “dream of abundance” on our way to a new Neptunian field in Aries. Keep dreaming the future you want to see become manifest. This year we begin to finalize our experience of the vast unifying field as we prepare to move into a more fiery collective energy in 2025.

With Pluto having left Capricorn for hundreds of years, we are living on the cusp of historic change. As it went stationary retrograde at 3 Aquarius, we’ve begun a wild ride into a time of defiance, rebellion, with many refusing to follow what they believe to be authoritarian control systems. Be open to “regrasping past experience” and see it from a different angle of understanding due to a “sharp self-examination.” Be fearless in making the decisions you need to make.

We also have several long wave Aries cycles in play. Jupiter launched a major healing and mentoring cycle when it conjuncted Chiron at 15 Aries on March 11, 2023. That began a long wave Chiron cycle which will last until the Summer of 2036. And we just finished a 2 year Mars/Chiron cycle and began a new one at 23 Aries.

Not all Chiron cycles are the same length. When Chiron transits between Aquarius and Gemini, it moves relatively slowly and has conjunctions with Jupiter about every 13 years. However, it can take 19-20 years for the next conjunction after Gemini or Cancer. That means once the conjunction at 16 Gemini happens in the Summer of 2036 we won’t have another conjunction of Jupiter and Chiron until the Spring of 2056 in Aquarius, which will launch another long term “expansive healing/mentoring” cycle.

Mars

Mars is now going retrograde at 7 Leo so as I offered earlier, adapt to the slowing pace, and if you can’t get something done in a timely way, work on something else which will support that effort when it’s time to pick it back up again. Be patient as things will continue to slow through mid-January. Just redirect the energy, get behind inhibiting factors, try to keep things from blowing out of proportion, and practice efficiency. If appropriate, go inward and feed your heart fire, or find alternative ways to strengthen your heart.

Mars is squarely in its long term occupancy of the area between 18 Cancer and 7 Leo, so get used to it! This month is about seeing permanent patterns and your unique “constellation of Being,” followed by another pass at practicing how to admire differences without getting into hostile confrontations, taking a long view of the timeline of how to accomplish something, and taking time to figure out the sequence of chess moves you will do in the future.

This month Mars activates the house(s) where we have 3-7 Leo. The first three weeks of the month activates 6 and 7 Leo, and the last 10 days of the month activates 3 to 5 Leo. So for the first period we will see an agitating effect on planets between 4 and 9 degrees of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius, and the last part of the month between 1-7 degrees of the same signs.

As I’ve offered before, when Mars is within a degree of forming or separating from a hard aspect with a planet, slow down and show deliberation and caution in how you use force. Hard aspects to/from Mars always require that we moderate or antidote impulsiveness and impatience.

We’re Actors On A New Stage With A New Set – The Bigger Picture

We’re still in the initial years of a new era in human evolution. The Grand Mutation of Jupiter conjunct Saturn at 1 Aquarius began a new 20 year Aquarian Era in December 2020, as well as a new 200 year era, moving global energies out of Earth and into Air. We’ve begun to grow beyond the materialism of the past 200 years and have entered two centuries of Air emphasis, with its qualities of relatedness, receptivity, versatility, movability, lightness, and cooperative ideas, visions, and ideals.

We’re still "under the beams" of the Solar Eclipses we experienced in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 and these “cosmic recyclers” continue to remove what we no longer need in our lives. Take note of where you have 1 Cancer, 24 and 13 Sagittarius, 20 Gemini, 20 and 30 Aries, 11 Taurus, and 2 Scorpio, since we’ve all had to let go of many things related to these sectors the past few years. You can find out more about Solar and Lunar eclipses by going to my numerous articles in the archives on how eclipses work.

The April-May 2023 eclipses have begun to work their magic on our Aries and Libra sectors for a long time to come. The Solar eclipse at 30 Aries and the October 2023 Solar eclipse at 22 Libra are also shutting down parts of our lives where we have those signs. We now have the Solar eclipse at 20 Aries added to the list, as well as the current Solar eclipse at 11 Libra.

As we study how successive Eclipses have affected various areas of our charts and lives, we can get a sense of the utility of these “Cosmic Recyclers” in removing what we no longer needed in those areas, creating a void which attracted new life experiences. They invite us to look back, and then forward, to see the continuity of “letting go, taking in, letting go, taking in” across the years.

Primary Action Beats for the First Half of the Month

December begins with the New Moon at 10 Sagittarius square Saturn and opposed Jupiter, anticipating the multiple T-squares in early and late December. As the Lunation is conjunct Mercury retrograde and trine Chiron, there will be excellent opportunities to be inspired as we express our Higher Self. These will anticipate things to come in 2025.

The intensity increases December 3 and lasts all week with Mercury opposed Jupiter, the Inferior conjunction of the Sun and Mercury both square Saturn, Mars going retrograde, Venus conjunct Pluto, Sun opposing Jupiter, and Neptune going Stationary direct! However, with Venus trine Uranus and then sextile Neptune all week before conjuncting Pluto, it should be a pleasant time for those who have the right self-image, with easy interactions.

In contrast, the second week of December shows a lot of favorable aspects, with only Venus opposed Mars retrograde on December 11/12 to spoil the fun! Still, stay focused, as Mercury is sextile Venus thus harmonizing Mars and opening favorable realizations and productive opportunities in any planets we have around 4-10 Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, and Aquarius. The insights may be about how to undo something, or re-do something, or understand that something different must be done before something else we’re doing can move forward.

The first week of the month has the Moon moving between Sagittarius and Pisces, and between Pisces and Gemini during the second week of December. Favorable Lunar aspects are found on December 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, and 14. As the Moon is “coming to Full” beginning on Dec 9th and there are so many favorable aspects, get as much done as possible, knowing there may be some “awkward moments” of tension due to Venus opposed Mars. Still, with Mercury harmonizing that, keep the lines of communication open in a spiritual of discovery.

Primary Action Beats for the Second Half of the Month

The third week begins with the Full Moon at 24 Sagittarius/Gemini, promising tremendous happiness for those who can find the correct “rhythm of movement,” ice skating through resistances and using the power to find recreation even in “cold” circumstances. As that’s square Neptune, use Virgo energies skillfully while understanding this is an anticipatory Full Moon which will bear major fruit in May!

Mercury goes stationary direct at 7 Sag on December 15, promising a quickening of all things Mercurial and the stirring up of a greater love of some kind where we have 7 Sag in our charts. Though that week brings Sun square Neptune (be alert, be clear, and navigate the fog!), we are blessed by Venus trine Jupiter, bringing a very benign energy to all planets we have in the middle degrees of Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, and Aquarius.

The fourth week of the month begins with the Winter Solstice, marking the end of Autumn and beginning of Winter. Please come to the Dec 14 Solstice gathering to find out more about the 13 weeks of Winter! The last 10 days of the month bring Jupiter square Saturn and Sun quincunx Mars on Dec 24/25, with a tight Mercury opposed Jupiter and square Saturn on December 26/27, showing the need to get beyond worry and figure out a plan which works for you. Those who can read the trends will accomplish things which will bring recognition.

We finish the month with Venus square Uranus on Dec 27/28, Chiron going stationary direct on Dec 29, and Mercury trine Chiron on Dec 30/31. The third week of the month has the Moon moving between Gemini and Virgo, and the last 10 days has the Moon moving between Virgo and Capricorn. So the first half of the month the Moon is waxing, and the second half of the month the Moon is waning. Favorable Lunar aspects are found on December 16, 18, 19, 22, 23, 27, and 31.

A final note: those of you who attended the October talk and/or bought a copy of it have a very valuable tool to help you navigate the intense squares and oppositions made by the Sun and Mercury with Jupiter and Saturn. Some of these involve oppositions with sextiles and trines, as well as the ability to invoke those energies when confronted with oppositions so the squares can release positive energies. Have fun using the precepts of that class to find a greater awareness and understanding which can help you move productively through those T-squares.

Evolutionary Development

This is the seventeenth month of the North Node in Aries era! This is a time of our greatest development being served by self-initiated activity (Aries) shown through our balanced response (Libra) to an ongoing transfiguration toward an ideal. So we grow through focused action and demonstrate it through expressing our Archetypal Self, whether in the world of inner space or outer affairs. We build through Aries and release through Libra, so adopt a pioneering attitude that is expressed with grace and diplomacy.

Our wise friend Saturn continues to teach us through the vast feeling experiences from its time in Pisces, and now we’re seeing what is to be perpetuated into the new era in 2025. We are still learning disciplines of forgiveness and compassion, and this month continues our need for courage in focusing our spiritual will.

The Sun in Sagittarius is a time to see the Light of flying free into the world of larger ideas, larger views, larger truths, and a more satisfying future. In Scorpio we learned focus, leaving behind the obsolete and extraneous, creating voids which will attract new life substance in the near future. Prepare for an intense Sagittarian wild ride breaking free of the old cocoons.

Keep moving forward, adjusting the pace to cooperate with Mars retrograde, where many things will slow down, stop, or even seem to reverse course. Much will be reviewed early December before we feel like some things are moving forward, even though the main forward motion won’t begin until mid-February.

We are now finishing our fourth year of the new Aquarian era, with a new iteration of that future-oriented energy set into motion in February. Jupiter in Taurus helped us get a new grounded expansive view of how to sustain the Aquarian unfoldment into the future which is finding forms of expression while Jupiter is in Gemini. We’ve all entered a new land. Let go of the lesser, accept the greater, and the new land you’re in is going to be far more enjoyable than the old land you’ve had to leave.

Because we’re about to begin the fifth year of a new 20 year and 200 year cycle, remember a new era has dawned. Have courage and take the initiative to leave the Earth and fly free into the Air of what’s opening as the Grand Mutation expands its promise into the Divine transfigured ideal of a more just truth and future. While it may not look like that now, it’s just the beginning!

Even though the ideal is far away, we are the midwives and mid-husbands to a new way of relating to Life, Energy, Consciousness, each other, and the Earth Herself. Because our essential nature is Loving Wisdom, remember to lighten up, play a little, and be willing to explore new arenas of effective activity where you can work and play with other Light Spirits. This is the time to take heart as we navigate the dawning of the Pluto in Aquarius era.

We are now collectively transfiguring into a greater vision of the one Light/Life we all are together. Continue to find your heart strength and new forms of genuine happiness appropriate for who you are now, and who you are becoming relative to just a few months ago.

We now navigate the cosmic time-space between endings and beginnings so bless and forgive much to flow down the time stream. The past is over and we all have begun our trek into a new world of new potential, new adventures, and new ways to enjoy being ourselves while doing our work of Destiny. Open to the abundance of the process of growth, since we are all on a rocket ship to the stars!

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Since I also include this in the newsletter, I’ll offer it to you here:

PLANETARY MOTIONS IN DECEMBER 2024

(All the degree values listed in the next three sections are computed the same way Sabian Symbols are read; we always round up. 9+ = 10; 19+ = 20; 29+ = 30)

SUN – 10 Sagittarius to 11 Aquarius
MERCURY – 21 Sagittarius back to 7 Sagittarius and forward to 20 Sagittarius
VENUS – 24 Capricorn to 28 Aquarius
MARS – 7 to 3 Leo
JUPITER - 18 to 14 Gemini
SATURN - 13 to 15 Pisces
URANUS – 25 to 24 Taurus
NEPTUNE – 28 Pisces (all month)
PLUTO – 1 to 2 Aquarius
CHIRON – 20 to 19 Aries
TRUE NORTH NODE – 5 to 2 Aries

SIGNIFICANT ASTROLOGICAL OCCURRENCES IN DECEMBER 2024

(Bold entries are the ingresses, stations, and lunations. Non-bold are significant aspects.)

MERCURY STATIONARY RETROGRADE; November 25 at 23 Sagittarius
VENUS SQUARE CHIRON; November 27 at 20 Capricorn/Aries
NEW MOON; December 1; Sun and Moon at 10 Sagittarius
MERCURY RX OPPOSITION JUPITER; December 4 at 17 Sagittarius/Gemini
SUN SQUARE SATURN; December 4 at 13 Sagittarius/Pisces
INFERIOR CONJUNCTION OF MERCURY/SUN; December 5 at 15 Sagittarius
MARS STATIONARY RETROGRADE; December 6 at 7 Leo
MERCURY SQUARE SATURN; December 6 at 14 Sagittarius/Pisces
VENUS ENTERS AQUARIUS; December 6
VENUS CONJUNCTION PLUTO; December 7 at 1 Aquarius
SUN OPPOSITION JUPITER; December 7 at 17 Sagittarius/Gemini
NEPTUNE STATIONARY DIRECT; December 7 at 28 Pisces
VENUS OPPOSITION MARS; December 12 at 6 Aquarius/Leo
AAZ MEETING; December 14
FULL MOON; December 15; Sun 24 Sagittarius; Moon 24 Gemini
MERCURY STATIONARY DIRECT; December 15 at 7 Sagittarius
SUN SQUARE NEPTUNE; December 18 at 28 Sagittarius/Pisces
SUN ENTERS CAPRICORN/WINTER SOLSTICE; December 21
JUPITER SQUARE SATURN; December 24 at 15 Gemini/Pisces
MERCURY OPPOSITION JUPITER; December 26 at 14 Sagittarius/Gemini
MERCURY SQUARE SATURN; December 26 at 15 Sagittarius/Pisces
VENUS SQUARE URANUS; December 28 at 24 Aquarius/Taurus
CHIRON STATIONARY DIRECT; December 29 at 19 Aries
NEW MOON; December 30; Sun and Moon at 10 Capricorn
VENUS ENTERS PISCES; January 2
MARS RX OPPOSITION PLUTO; January 3 at 1 Leo/Aquarius
MERCURY LEAVES SHADOW ZONE; January 3 at 23 Sagittarius
MARS RX ENTERS CANCER; January 6
MERCURY SQUARE NEPTUNE; January 6 at 28 Sagittarius/Pisces
MERCURY ENTERS CAPRICORN; January 8

Again, please consider joining Astrology Arizona to get all this and a lot more delivered to your email inbox at the beginning of each month. Members get to advertise their business on our website for free, there’s free access to the fantastic documentary Changing of the Gods, and discounts on recorded talks as they are available.

Reprinted on crystalwind.ca with written permission from Robert Wilkinson. Copying this article to other blogs is strictly prohibited. It is copyright protected. 

© Copyright 2024 Robert Wilkinson

Again, please consider joining Astrology Arizona to get all this and a lot more delivered to your email inbox at the beginning of each month. Members get to advertise their business on our website for free, there’s free access to the fantastic documentary Changing of the Gods, and discounts on recorded talks as they are available.

Posted with written permission. The original article is copyrighted by the author listed above and is posted on CrystalWind.ca ©2024. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or use of this content, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission. Discover the wisdom of CrystalWind.ca! Since 2008, we've been dedicated to awakening, enlightenment, and self-help to empower your spiritual journey. Dive in and grow with us—your next step awaits! #CrystalWind #SpiritualJourney