FULL MOON

The Full Moon on 12 December in Gemini is in a degree that connects with numerous planets, giving it a complex energy. In general, Gemini is about information and communications, logic, and basic learning. The lunation forms a T-square with Neptune in Pisces, in other words a square with the Gemini Moon and another square with the Sagittarius Sun. Squares say it all between these mutable signs. The Moon in Gemini is about data that could be of an emotional nature. The Sun in Sagittarius suggests focusing on philosophy and belief systems. Neptune in Pisces is out in deep space, literally and figuratively. Pisces is the natural ruler of the zodiacal 12th house which I call the house of "angels and demons." Neptune is its modern ruler, and as the King of the Sea, he's all about an environment far different from the real world. Thus, conflicts between these signs is a given. Piscean idealism and delusions clashing with hard data or belief systems in one way or another is pretty easy to see. You will feel this the most if your birthday is within a few days of the one mentioned above.

Also connected with the lunation are quincunxes from Saturn, Venus, and Pluto. Those three comprise a tight, rolling stellium in Capricorn, a sign that is quite loaded this month. Saturn is in dignity there where his authoritarian, disciplined nature fits right in to the domain of governments, corporations, authority figures, and the like. Venus is a bit off key in this sign where her usually warm nature chills out significantly. This Venus will be taking inventory of her precious gems, monitoring stock market behavior, and checking her bank balances and possibly real estate investments as well. Pluto, God of the Underworld (regardless of being demoted to a minor planet) relates to power and control which can be of a rather dark nature. He does excel at finding and rooting out corruption, however. He first went into Capricorn in January 2008, though retrograde motion returned him to Sagittarius from mid-June through November of that same year. Since then he's been camped out in Cappy. During this time he has been stirring up all sorts of controversies by doing what he does, i.e., exposing corruption, which has largely been in government and corporate activities, which of course are target-rich environments. I find it interesting that since that time numerous television shows with a similar theme have been popular, particularly digging for hidden treasure, exposing secrets, and so forth. How are those quincunxes going to influence this lunation? Those energies are going to be combined, especially given the tight conjunction between them. In a nutshell, those in authority will be digging up dirt and you can bet that there will be some repercussions in the financial markets and economy.

Jupiter recently went into Capricorn from Sagittarius where he was his jovial, expansive, philosophical self as its ruler. Now he's in a sign where he's in a condition known as "fall" which means it's his least favorite venue of all the zodiac signs. Why? Because his nature is restricted with boundaries, rules, regulations, laws, obligations, and all those fun things. It's somewhat ironic he goes from the sign he rules to the one where he's in fall. That's gotta be a cosmic hangover if there ever was one. Furthermore, he's trining Uranus in Taurus, another unhappy planet, also in the sign of his fall. No doubt they are commiserating about their sorry circumstances. The question, however, is how is that misery going to splash on us? Both are equally crippled which makes it difficult to figure out what they might do. People who have either been injured, been through surgery, or thrown into an unfamiliar environment can be particularly grumpy and unpredictable and I suspect these planets will be of similar mind.

Looking at each separately may help clarify the effect. Jupiter in Capricorn is squashed and dysfunctional. This is like holding back a child who's literally a genius from passing a class because his handwriting is sloppy. Okay, so that's a bad analogy since penmanship is no longer taught in most schools. But you get the idea. He can't do what he's best at and will thus probably go find a dark corner to read old issues of National Geographic. Uranus rules such things as technology, electricity, innovation, rebellion, flashes of brilliance (e.g. genius), breakthroughs, sudden change, disturbances, disruptions, nervousness, etc. etc. etc. He is inherently unpredictable. Whatever you expect him to do will be wrong. He is likely stifled in Taurus, a practical Earth Sign who eschews change and demands security. One area this could be a favorable placement for, however, might be drawing power from the earth in some way. He could also mess with something like earthquakes. Over the Thanksgiving holidays there were two house fires near where I live which had electrical origins in bad wiring, which fit Uranus in Taurus quite well.

So expansion of various things is likely to slow down (courtesy of Jupiter's placement) while technology is likely to be less innovative and more practical (thanks to Uranus). Both are in Earth signs which like to be well-grounded and secure. If Jupiter reverts to being philosophical in a practical way, this could promote practical technology, for example, things that will be useful on an everyday basis as opposed to strictly glitz. Maybe it will bring much needed upgrades to our infrastructure such as the power grid, dams, highways, bridges, and so forth, many of which were built early in the 20th century and in desperate need of maintenance or replacement. Or here's a good one, looking at technologies that will help scientists protect our planet from an asteroid collision annihilating us. Mercury is debility in Sagittarius is quincunx Uranus, which will help brainstorming between Jupiter and Uranus, at least for now.

Mars is trining Neptune, both in Water Signs, imbuing them with a lot of emotional energy. This suggests a lot of energy and passion for pursuing your dreams, the cosmic expression of the lyrics from the song "What a Feeling" where it says "take your passion and make it happen." Those of you born around the middle of your particular sign are most likely to feel this one.

NEW MOON/SOLAR ECLIPSE

The annular solar eclipse stretches as far west as the Middle East, across the Indian Ocean to the tip of India, then across Singapore and Manila and out into the Pacific. An annular eclipse is different than a total eclipse and usually occurs because the Moon is too far away to appear large enough to block out the entire Sun. For example, for the total eclipse visible in the USA on 21 August 2017, the Moon was 370,210 km from Earth while for this one it will be 384,353 km away. Nonetheless, it's an eclipse, which is like a lunation on steroids. It's #46 in the eclipse family known as Saros Cycle 132. It's not a particularly friendly family which, according to eclipse guru, Bernadette Brady, often relates to the sudden ending of associations or a relationship. It has an emotional component and a sense of transformation. These characteristics are reinforced, at least as far as the "sudden" component is concerned, by the fact that the eclipse (comprised of both the Sun and Moon) is conjunct Jupiter with all three trining--you guessed it--Uranus. Venus is squaring Uranus as well from Aquarius, which implies female involvement.

Mars is still happily cruising through Scorpio as its traditional ruler. He's sextile Pluto in Capricorn. You may have been told at some point that sextiles and trines are "good" aspects while squares and oppositions are "bad." Well, that's not quite how it works. It only means the energy exchange is either "good" and thus strong, or "bad, in that it more of a collision of energies than an easy merger. What I'm getting at here is that Mars and Pluto are malefic planets who are often up to no good, so when they get together it's likely to bring some degree of trouble. On the positive side, if you were using the trine mentioned earlier between Mars and Neptune to pursue your dreams, this connection with Pluto could bring an opportunity for someone in a position of power to assist with that endeavor. So if there's a favor you can call in somewhere, by all means, give it serious consideration. This could be a nice application of the energies. On the darker side, it could represent someone with scorpionic ambitions hooking up with someone in a position of power who can assist them and thus not do you any favors in the process. Your best bet is to use the energy to help prevent it from using you.

OTHER COSMIC INFLUENCES

There are no new retrogrades stations this month. Jupiter went into Capricorn, which was covered possibly too thoroughly above. The Sun goes into Capricorn on 21 December. Since this has already gone on long enough and most of you have probably not made it this far, anyway, I'll call it quits rather than get into the ingress chart and anything it may be hinting at for the coming season. I hope each of you enjoy your holidays and can look forward to a good year ahead. Since that eclipse hits my natal Sun like a train, I've gotta say I'm a bit nervous.