What’s Happening in December 2023 - January 2024

New Moon coming soon! The next month will be a time when we go deeper into our relationships, take a look back at how “tuned in” we are, and can use “the power of spiritual ancestry” to anticipate new roles, new tasks to do, and new adventures to embrace!

This Lunation introduces a new focus wherever we have 21 Sagittarius, bringing the opening of new social and emotional vistas as we take a look back at the old year and prepare to move forward with vigor in January. This brings a new way to learn, a new intuition, a clarity about the roles we’re playing, and a bit of friction as we return to “ancient sources of Being.” This brings a deeper sense of connection with friends and allies, with major productivity as we “lift ourselves to surer foundations.”

We are now in a time of the Sun shining Light on all of us in our Sagittarius sector to allow something which has been “cocooned” to fly free into a new realm. This is a look forward and a look back, with a new identity and new power coming in January and February, since we’ll have Mercury in direct motion then as well as a lot of Aquarius energy set into motion with Pluto’s return to that sign AND the Mercury, Venus, and Mars conjunctions!

An Overview of the New Moon

Today we’ll do an overview of the Lunation and some of its primary qualities. In part 2 we’ll cover Sabian Symbols, aspects, distributions, and patterns.

This liberating, educative, deepening and sensitive New Moon at 21 Sagittarius occurs at 3:32 pm PST, 11:32 pm GMT on December 12. This features Mercury on its retrograde station, which is the same degree as its direct station in January 2023. The themes related to 9 Capricorn have “bookended” the entire year, showing this is a pause to reflect as well as a promise of a greater adventure just weeks down the road.

Saturn in direct motion and beginning to speed up, setting up the third pass of Saturn through the first 8 degrees of Pisces, making our “life renewal” real by February! We spent 5 months of Saturn retrograde teaching us to “hear the call.” We now can see the protection we’ve had and/or the protection we need as we move into a period of give and take as we deepen our connection with Self, others, and Source.

Recent eclipses have already removed parts of our lives where we have 30 Aries, 22 Libra, and both 6 and 15 Taurus/Scorpio. We’re all learning to refocus our methods and our area of effective expression, and can see the world of the 5 senses and the mind as “the playground of God and Soul” as we continue our work of bridge building. We now get new ways to care for others, and many things in the next few months will constitute a “tearing away from the known and familiar, gambling everything on a great dream.” This Lunation helps us “learn through imitation” as we go back to ancient sources within to find a revelation of things to come.

We are now freed of many old limitations and concerns. The Libra eclipse is showing us the value to surrender to the new ways of life we’re already living. What is the purpose to what you leave behind and what you’re moving into? This will substantiate many eclipse effects, helping us redirect our magnetism to the new day which has already dawned in our lives.

Jupiter is still retrograde, expanding on the major themes of 2023 involving the understanding that old answers can’t solve the current questions and old methods won’t get the job done. Still, as Jupiter brings its energy to the sign which enjoys life to the fullest, accept the expanded capacity for a greater joy taking birth, this month shaped by Venus in Scorpio showing us the value in a group consciousness which is emerging.

This New Moon will jumpstart Sagittarius energy wherever it falls in our chart. As Sagittarius will be a focus of activity, refocus your higher mind, your truths and aspirations, seeing it as an opportunity to rehearse “flying free” in January and February. While there will be some adjustments as we learn a more liberated perspective, get clear about what role(s) you’re playing and give voice to what others may not understand. Show humor, see the irony in situations, and try to laugh when things are most serious.

So What Rules the Lunation?

This New Moon in Sagittarius has Jupiter in Taurus as its ruler. As Sagittarius is in the axis of the Archetype of the Questor/Magician, this month encourages us to explore “the experiment of being a Spirit in the material world.” We are on a quest this month, so see everything as an opportunity to understand the spiritual principles at work in the natural world and human interactions.

So the Lunation is ruled by Jupiter in Taurus, which is ruled by Venus in Scorpio, which in turn is ruled by Mars in Sagittarius. Besides these, Mercury is ruled by Saturn which is ruled by Jupiter. Mars in Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, Saturn is ruled by Jupiter, Uranus is ruled by Venus, and Pluto by Saturn. As it has for many years, Neptune still occupies its home sign continuing as a long wave “standalone” dispositor of itself, ruling the fogs and mists of the current collective consciousness.

So this month all the planets are ruled by a “Chain of Dispositors” involving Jupiter, Venus, and Mars. These three rule all the other planets except Neptune. You can find out more about dispositors in general, chains of dispositors, and mutual reception by going to dispositors and Mutual Reception at the link.

The Sun/Moon Sequence and Its Shifts

There are two patterns: one with the Sun in the same sign as the Sun in the following Full Moon (New Moon between 1-15 degrees of a sign), and one with the Sun in a different sign than it’s in at the following Full Moon (New Moon between 16-30 degrees of a sign). I term these the “Natural” pattern and the “Alternate” pattern, since the Natural pattern shows a continuity of the Light, whereas the Alternate pattern bridges the Light across two signs.

25 months ago we began the pattern which ended in April 2023 where the New Moon Sun was in the same sign as the following Full Moon Sun. Each pattern has its importance in the Soli-Lunar sequence, and at the end of the Natural pattern we shifted into a pattern which “bridges the Light” across two different Light signs in the Lunation cycle.

The New Moon Solar eclipse at 30 Aries was the first in the new sequence, as the subsequent Full Moon Lunar eclipse was at 15 Taurus/Scorpio, indicating the Light of the seed forms of that New Moon was illuminated in the next sign energy two weeks later. This month the New Moon Sun is in Sagittarius while the Full Moon Sun is in Capricorn. This indicates that while the seed forms of the New Moon are of a Sagittarius nature, the fulfillment in form at the Full Moon illuminates Capricorn energy. This New Moon falls at 21 Sagittarius, and the Full Moon two weeks from now falls at 5 Capricorn/Cancer.

The New Moons and Full Moons are “God’s footprints in time.” Each shows the next in the 12 phases of how things come to be each year. The cycle could be described as follows: Life energy is initiated in Aries, substantiated in Taurus, explored in Gemini, grounded in Cancer, renewed and creatively expressed in Leo, refined and ordered in Virgo, balanced and made pleasing in Libra, purified and focused in Scorpio, expanded in Sagittarius, organized in Capricorn, solidified into a vision in Aquarius, and ended/perpetuated in Pisces.

Jupiter and Saturn

This is the tenth New Moon of the Saturn in Pisces era. We are now moving toward the fifth year of the cycle set into motion at Saturn’s rare and very powerful conjunction with Pluto in Capricorn in January 2020, which I discuss a few paragraphs down.

Taking a look back, 2020 brought a “cosmic visitation” which mobilized us to “escape from adverse conditions.” That year Nature challenged us to listen, look, and learn that we are not separate from Her, and evaluate what parts of our Self-disciplines and duties work and which ones didn’t. 2021 involved learning techniques of spiritual acceleration by getting a vision and a plan, as well as “the way within to outer success.” “New mutations arising from Cosmos” came forth in late 2021 and all of 2022, unrelated to past or local conditions.

We hit a threshold in our emergent Aquarian work in June 2022, when we began to learn how to administer “spiritual power” effectively. That took us through the trials which forced us to "rise to some emergency" and overcome something which threatened "to burn out of control" between October 2022 and March 2023.

One of Saturn’s divine qualities is understanding as a prelude to wisdom. With Jupiter’s transit through Aquarius leading the Saturn transit, Saturn tracked what Jupiter opened. As Saturn traverses the span where Jupiter has danced, it will crystallize its understanding of what that span of experience is about, and how we can use it wisely if we find the right structure and discipline. This year and next Saturn structures what opened when Jupiter was in Pisces.

Jupiter in Aquarius gave us a broader awareness which we’re learning to feel more deeply in Pisces. The new initiatives we’ve launched since May 2022 have taken flight by now. We’re definitely on a 20 year journey into Aquarius experiences based in the two 2020 conjunctions of Mars/Saturn and Jupiter/Saturn at 1 Aquarius.

As Jupiter is now RX at 7 Taurus, we’ve hit a major turning point in the emergent Aquarian process which is stabilizing on the social and emotional levels of life. Jupiter is currently reviewing what it has already gathered what it will need to expand its focus next year in Gemini. It’s now giving us a new look at our dedication to a larger cause or mission related to the larger Aquarian era launched in December 2020.

Since the Sun/Mars conjunction, we have Mars leading the Sun. With Mars in Sagittarius as the “gateway to the Light” it indicates “entry to illumination” involves an awareness of “the power of our spiritual ancestry,” with a sense of the continuity of our “genetic wisdom” as we see it in its timeless context. Mars will continue to lead the Sun (except when the Moon is between Mars and the Sun) until the next Inferior Conjunction on December 22 at 1 Capricorn just after the Solstice, when Mercury will again be the gateway to the Light. The study of which planet leads the Sun is a crucial but often overlooked part of understanding how the planets work in sequence.

Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend

Because Saturn now sails the open seas of Pisces, the part of us learning how to be spiritually mature and grateful for our understanding of healthy boundaries and self-disciplines is now in a seascape of the collective feelings of all humanity over all time. Though no longer dominating the stage of Life from its home signs of Capricorn and Aquarius, it’s still a powerful force wherever we have early Pisces in our chart. Saturn now leads us in a Master Class in compassion and forgiveness practices, and learning a sober view of the collective human condition.

As this is the tenth New Moon in 5 years where Saturn hasn’t ruled itself, Pluto, and sometimes all the other planets except Neptune, take a moment to reflect on what you’ve learned since 2018 and how you’re more spiritually effective than you were. Saturn is our wise friend and guide who brings us out of ignorance and fear into understanding and “response-ability.”

Making friends with our inner Saturn is the most important thing we can do to fulfill our spiritual destiny. If you want to know more about your power to throw off oppressive chains, limitations, and fears, please give yourself the timeless gift of my book, Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend. We all need to make friends with our inner Saturn if we would claim our power to fulfill our higher purpose for being alive as Spirits in the material world.

This book shows you the way to take command of your power to steer your life in a conscious way, using Saturn’s strengths and skills to be led to mastering life on our own terms. As Saturn is such a dominant energy at this time, by owning our ability to manifest the best of Saturn's virtues in our world, we take command of our destiny and become the living purpose we were born to make manifest!

It was written for both astrologers and non-astrologers, and will assist your understanding of how your life experiences assisted your Soul growth and power to turn away from unhelpful karmic cause and effect patterns. Each time you re-read any part of it you’re sure to find undiscovered gems of insight helping you throw off attitudes which frustrate your ability to live your higher Purpose on your own terms.

A Look Back - The Great Compression of 2020 in Capricorn Still Affects Us

As I mentioned earlier, we’re now ending the fourth year of a long term focus wherever we have late Capricorn and early Aquarius in our charts. In the first 90 days of 2020, we had a “Great Compression” of planets involving Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto all making conjunctions in the last decan of Capricorn, setting off a number of Saturn cycles, one of which will last 33 years! We then began an accelerated phase of our collective spiritual evolution which will take us from the threshold of the Age of Aquarius into the Age itself.

You can find out more about the very powerful Sun, Mercury, and Saturn's conjunctions with Pluto by revisiting The Great Compression of January 2020 – Mercury, Sun, Saturn and Pluto all Conjunct in Capricorn. That lays out the long wave patterns set into motion then.

Because of the Capricorn conjunctions set in motion in 2020, we reorganized our lives wherever we have late Capricorn in our charts. These cycles will impact all of us for some time to come. Especially with three Jupiter conjunctions with Pluto that year, it’s easy to see that for better or worse things were “expansively purified.”

When Mars conjuncted Saturn at 1 Aquarius on March 31, 2020, it set a cycle into motion which began to expand into a global system at the December 2020 Grand Mutation on the same degree. That Jupiter/Saturn conjunction launched both a new 20 year Aquarian cycle AND a new 200 year era of Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions in Air signs. That means less materialism than the past 200 years, with more focus on our commonality and ability to share ideas over the next 200.

Saturn in Aquarius led us to understand a more timeless role to play to help create a better world. What is your purpose? What structures and self-disciplines do you need to fulfill the ideal of that purpose? We began work on those structures in 2020 which led us to a greater vision in 2021.

Saturn in Pisces now brings a more compassionate set of lessons which affects how the 2020 conjunctions will express at this time. Saturn’s still a major player behind the scenes, which impacts all conjunctions in Capricorn and Aquarius, past and present.

Is the Grand Irrationality A Factor in this Full Moon?

No, and blessedly, will never be a factor activating the collective for the rest of our lives. This was a 30 year phenomenon which has now passed out of orb, and we are finally back to Neptune sextile Pluto and the coming Uranus sextile Neptune and trine Pluto. The spiritual field has shifted for the better!

If you want to know more about this hard edged Special Evolutionary configuration in play for three decades, I created an article which sums up the three versions of the Grand Irrationality in play during those years. I discuss what it is and which zones of the zodiac have been most impacted and when. You can find all you need to know about this configuration associated with widespread irrationality and hard-edged “forks in the road of destiny” we’ve all confronted at various times by going to The Grand Irrationality is Over (1993-2023).

This evolutionary configuration has been activated over the years when any planet moved through any of the hot zones of the configuration. However, even though it’s ended remember that almost everyone on Earth born the past 30 years has this in their charts! And all the eclipses these past years have also had it, including the April and May eclipses. So we’ll still have it working in the background for years to come. I’ll speak more about the aspects when I cover the special configurations.

Neptune in Pisces and Chiron in Aries

In this chart, Chiron is retrograde at 16 Aries preparing to go stationary direct. We’re now in a Chironic review, so healing can be found in finding a new inspiration by getting away from the world. It will go stationary direct in late December at 16 Aries. So from late March to late July Chiron has transited from 16-20 Aries, and now we have finished that review.

In the bigger picture, Jupiter’s conjunction with Chiron in early 2023 began a very long wave healing and mentoring cycles wherever we have mid- Aries. Because Chiron’s last direct station was at 12 Aries, those themes have been very important all year. That means in 2023 Chiron has mentored us and taught us how to heal into our Higher Self through seeing the trajectory of “the flight of our Soul” linked to other Souls sharing our flight path.

This continues our adventure related to Chiron’s healing and mentoring energies in the second decan of Aries. We now have two major Chironic themes in play: one was set into motion when Mars conjuncted Chiron in Aries last year, which I explained in Mars Conjunct Chiron at 16 Aries, and the other was set into motion when Chiron went stationary direct, which I wrote about in Astrology Healing Cycles - Chiron Stationary Direct at 12 Aries.

So Aries continues to dominate the Mars/Chiron cycle, with a new long wave Chironic pulse added at the recent Jupiter/Chiron cycle which began at 15 Aries on March 12. This began a new cycle of “the expansive healer,” “opportunities to mentor and be mentored,” and "healing and teaching through humor." The last Jupiter/Chiron conjunction happened in late Aquarius in 2009, and this one lasts through 2036 when they meet again at 17 Gemini. This is an important cycle which will help us “heal into our Higher Self” at crucial points over the next 13 years.

Neptune now approaches the end of its depth immersion in its home sign of Pisces, and now is in its long term stay in the last decan, ruled by Scorpio with an added dose of Mars. This is “the end of the end” of the 360 degree “Whole Cycle,” and so encompasses all of the ghosts and unfulfilled mysteries of this past 150 year cycle since it was last here. It also allows us to purify and forgive much of the past and move into a deeper compassion regarding suffering humanity.

This New Moon shows Neptune still on its direct station at 25 Pisces, a platform of purification so that our Soul may shine through our personality in a clearer way. We’re still in the season of “abundance” which was Neptune’s SRX degree, helping us harvest all which is perfect for our individual needs. Look at the “aliveness” in the world around you, as well as your “garden of Life and Mind,” and listen to the Earth – you could find a deep mystery which will lead you to abundance in 2024! The end of Pisces allows us expanded “non-local knowing.”

Summing Up - The Big Picture

The Capricorn conjunctions of early 2020 continue to condition the long wave cycles unfolding since then even as we simultaneously build a new Aquarian social-spiritual ideal. Jupiter raced through Pisces and Aries at perihelion after its time in Aquarius and opened infinite potentials which will be actualized over the next 20 years. What Jupiter opened in 2021, Saturn crystallized in 2022, and the promise of fortunate endings made when Jupiter was in early Pisces May through July 2021 and again in January 2022 is now being made real by Saturn.

Recent Solar and Lunar eclipses continue to remove old elements of our previous “field and focus” so we may move into new ways of doing our Being. This continues the shutting down of old ways of “doing our Being” in our late Aries and Libra sectors, as well as our early Taurus and Scorpio sectors. Continue to release, “let go, let god,” and get clear about where your heart’s loyalties are.

We’re still hearing Saturn’s “call to self-renewal,” with a need seeing our permanence, our mastery, our archetypal Self, and our part to play in the bigger picture of our spiritual journey. With Saturn in Pisces, while endings may feel heavy, the immediately lightness which follows will help us move easily into a new life adventure. Find protection as you grow into a new life.

We are revisiting the last echoes of the dying Pluto in Capricorn era, with new days dawning and new lands appearing. This is a turning point in our relationships, so express your heart, your play, your creativity, and see how all of these are related to relationships in the past. There is uniqueness and high specialization in the air, and those who use their creative imagination may catch glimpses of new dimensions of Being. Again, this period promises powerful inspiration and releases of heart energy, as well as illumination of things past by a new look at what comes up!

We are now on a new adventure! Having set a lot into motion since 2020, we now get to settle into a somewhat comfortable groove as Jupiter continues to sextile and quintile Saturn through May 2024. This eases the pace as we anchor the dawning Plutonic seeds of the emerging Aquarian era, so things will be very “transitional” from now through 2025.

All of us are learning “to read the tea leaves” as we find our enduring “core of Being.” We’ve glimpsed the indestructible parts of who we are, and now stand in “the marketplace of life” where we can approach life from a different angle of bargaining. We’ve been in a year of learning that the old answers will not be adequate “to confirm the new conditions of existence.” The old ways and explanations no long apply, and now that we’ve been challenged to rise to some occasion, we can follow what we’ve seen or heard and find a newer way of living life.

Summing Up – The Immediate Picture

Because we have planets spread out in half the zodiac with 3 clustered in Sagittarius, the primary focus for the next month is in the 58+ degree span between Venus in early Scorpio and Mercury in early Capricorn. As per the Nodal positions, we’re solidly in a new era with NN in Aries and SN in Libra. Aries wants to get it in gear, and Libra wants to look good doing it! As the North Node is in Aries, be willing “to boldly go where you’ve never gone before.” This is the time to move in new directions as we receive a concentrated dose of spiritual energies.

From this point on, the planets will all begin to compress with maximum compression happening in mid-February as all the planets are within about 108 degrees! That will make for a very crowded house wherever we have Capricorn and Aquarius in our charts. Between late December and mid-May, all the planets except the Moon will occupy the span of the outer planets, showing the end of last year’s cycles and the beginning of the 2024 cycles for Pluto, Saturn, Neptune, Jupiter, and Uranus.

Final Thoughts

Due to our training in 2021-2022, we know how to use spiritual power and/or magnetism wisely. During that time we cultivated new heart strengths as a result of “spiritual linkage through emotional stress” and “the blessings which come forth after the death of useless things.” We’re now living new roles in new relationships as we play our part in the Aquarian energy field growing stronger by the month.

Continue to ride the waves of a gigantic future opening to you wherever you have Aquarius, Aries, Taurus and Scorpio in your chart, allowing a natural transmutation to take place as you shed old skins and reclaim being true to some love you have long held. There is distributive Fire with wisdom and fellowship on the table these next four weeks, with the need for festivity, group performance, relaxation and refreshment, and a focus on permanent rather than transient matters.

Sagittarius naturally fills the voids left from our time in Scorpio, so face the future and remember enlightenment is a verb, not a noun, and our connection with the World Soul allows us to act in harmony with “All That Is.” The Natural is becoming the Supernatural, and there is a revelation of the future in the vision being awakened these next 4 weeks. Welcome to a new freedom, and a reconnection with your ancestral wisdom which is related to what was awakened in 2018 when Mercury’s theme was related to the Mars degree in this New Moon.

Because of our total immersion in Aquarian energy in 2021-2022, we’ve received innovative ideas and know who our spiritual allies are. In the past 2 years we’ve broken away, broken free, and broken through whatever used to block our flow. We approach a new cooperative era, and the next few weeks substantiate the positives in play since December 2020!

We’re still becoming more conscious of our interrelatedness within the spiritual field and moving through an immersion in a new sensitivity to the generic human condition. The new era dawning will show us that we are in fact individual sparks of Light within an infinite ocean of Light. We are not separate from any other thing, since all things are Light and therefore we are one with All.

This is the beginning of the beginning of a new 200 year era. The powerful forces being released at times may be chaotic, violent, intractable, and irrational, but there is power in our unified vision of a better future. Stay clear about what your vision is, and let go of all which prevents you from flying free with your Spiritual Brothers and Sisters into a better future. Keep the course steady despite the compressed tensions of this time, and know we’re on our way into the future together!

And now, a word from our sponsor!

Because Venus occupies 10 Scorpio and is one of the “chain of dispositors” ruling all the other planets besides Neptune, She has tremendous power behind the scenes. While She is very intense and sometimes goes where She shouldn’t go in Scorpio, she is on a degree of the emergence of group consciousness as a result of prior experiences shared in common.

As She leads the occupied half of the zodiac, She is the entryway to the Bowl Jones pattern which I’ll discuss in part 2. She is a unifying force in this Lunation, and counsels us to hang in there and not settle for lesser things when greater things are at stake, as well as put our best Self forward even when we might not want to. Once She moves across the Lunation degree, we’ll see the value in the new adventure or truth which requires our ability to imitate something. All of this will show in the house where we have 21 Sagittarius.

If you want to know more about Venus in Scorpio and all the other signs, as well as explore your ability to change what and who you attract to your lives, finding your heart’s desire and a lot of joyous relationships which fulfill your Soul, please consider getting your copy of my book, The Magic of Venus: Friendships, Soul Mates, and Twin Flames.

It’s the most comprehensive book on Venus ever written, and takes a deep dive into how our Venus shapes why we like or don’t like the people and things we do, and how we can change our patterns of attraction to make future relationships more fulfilling. It explains the world of relationship from the angle of psychology, astrology, spirituality, and worldly experience. I’ve heard it has helped people find strength to turn away from unhealthy relationships and understand how not to attract anything similar in the future. It examines the qualities in healthy relationships and friendships, and offers tips on how to create long lasting personal relationships and friendships, why Soul Mates come into our lives, and how to know the difference between a Soul Mate and our Twin Flame.

It has chapters on the qualities of each sign’s natural mate, the qualities of Venus in each sign, and when crucial choices and changes are made, affecting who we attract in the future. It was written for both astrologers and lay people, and as it has a thousand gems for better relationships, with self, others, and Source, please consider getting your copy by going to the link above! (And when you’re done, please leave a review on Amazon, since it helps the book and all other books on astrology as well!)

See you soon with part 2, which will cover Sabian Symbols, Jones patterns, element distribution, and a whole lot more!

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

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