December starts out with the companion Solar Eclipse to November’s spectacularly beautiful Lunar Eclipse. And, fortunately, this eclipse has some easier aspects accompanying it. The Sun and Moon will be joined by Mercury in Sagittarius, making the energy of this New Moon more intellectual, curious, and expansive in nature. Sagittarius is a great sign for presenting new ideas to a team, refining your communication skills, or broadening your social media reach. Saturn will provide a supportive 60-degree sextile aspect to the New Moon and Solar Eclipse, strengthening whatever you do on this day.
Uranus will still participate with this eclipse by forming a 150-degree inconjunct aspect with the Sun and Moon. An inconjunction signifies an adjustment and is considered a minor aspect. Many astrologers barely look at this aspect and a lot of people may not even notice it is energetically happening. Nevertheless, on December 3 (or 4, depending on your time zone) Uranus is offering us a subtle opportunity to keep an open mind.
Venus continues to form a conjunct aspect with Pluto all month. This is an aspect that speaks to the supply chain crisis and shortages of goods this holiday season. Venus turns retrograde (looking like it is moving backwards in the sky) on December 19th, so absolutely plan on having your Christmas shopping done by then. Both the conjunction with Pluto and Venus’ retrograde motion ask us to examine our value system and identify what is truly important. We’ll have a while to mull this over when we revisit the exact conjunction of Venus and Pluto again at the end of February and beginning of March.
December’s Full Moon arrives on Saturday, December 18th, the day before Venus goes retrograde. Jupiter and Saturn will form wide trine aspects to the Moon , which is supportive and stabilizing. Neptune will be forming a 90-degree square aspect to both the Sun and Moon. Neptune brings in an idealistic and somewhat wistful energy. You may be feeling extra nostalgic on this Full Moon. Or you may feel the desire to stay home and enjoy a low-key week leading into the official holiday.
I often suggest that people use the Winter Solstice as a time to reflect on what they really want to create in the coming year. It may be the shortest day, but it is also one of the most powerful days of the year (along with the Summer Solstice—the longest day of the year). There is a particularly nice 60-degree sextile aspect between Jupiter and the Sun that day so let your imagination go and dream big.
The third exact square of 2021 between Saturn and Uranus takes place on Christmas Eve, Friday, December 24th. This aspect is considered the astrological event of 2021. Saturn represents tradition and the status quo while Uranus represents change and chaos. Historically, the hard aspects between Saturn and Uranus have been referred to as the Clash of the Titans. We often see periods of social change follow these aspects. Previous Saturn-Uranus square aspects took place in 1999-2000 (think of the tech revolution that followed, as well as endless war in the Middle East), 1975-77 (end of the Vietnam War, but still in the Cold War era), and 1929-32 (the onset of the Great Depression and Hitler’s rise to power in Germany).
On December 24th Saturn will be at 11 degrees of Aquarius and Uranus will be at 11 degrees of Taurus. Eleven is considered a mastery number in numerology. Right now I think we are being asked to level up the conversation around justice, equality, and what constitutes a democracy. We have one more exact square between Saturn in Aquarius and Uranus in Taurus and that will occur at the end of September 2022 when Saturn is at 18 degrees of Aquarius and Uranus is at 18 degrees of Taurus. We probably won’t really see how this particular Saturn-Uranus square plays out for a couple of more years. But, as with anything involving the planet Uranus, we can expect to be surprised.