Uranus Direct, a Capricorn Solstice and the 0 Capricorn New Moon

A mosaic made from multiple copies of 'Optimal Motion' by Henrique Matos

(oil on canvas, housed in a private collection, no date given)

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The days prior to Uranus going direct are always a bit... quirky.... unusual... in a way which is singularly vital yet unpredictable. Uranian times call upon our adaptability and flexibility - generally when we least expect it, which would also be very Uranian.

In our current cosmic case of situation, Planet Uranus is going direct on December 21st at 22:46 (10:46 p.m.) UT/+0 time. And considering how that time is negligibly (certainly in celestial terms) prior to the Sun entering Capricorn at 23:04 (11:04 p.m.) on that very same day, for all intents and purposes these two events are generally unified.

So what might that mean in a metaphysical sense? Considering how the Sun’s Capricorn ingress is astrologically our moving into a zodiacal mode which focuses most of all on the world, our identity in that world and efforts being made to mold, change or re/create the terms and rewards for that standing, it seems a tiny bit odd that human society has apparently managed to schedule it’s largest annual slew of everybody-gets-a-holiday events throughout the first half of Capricorn - though that does of course reflect how our current calendar year was organized, and just who did the organizing.

In other words, we all tend to favor our own priorities. It’s natural. Not necessarily right for everyone, but yes - entirely human.

As for this next little period ahead, there are actually not two but three different astrological events happening in quick succession: Uranus goes direct at 10:46 p.m., the Sun enters Capricorn at 11:04 p.m. - and just about two-and-a-half hours later (which would now be December 22nd), we get a 0 Capricorn New Moon at 1:37 in the morning.

Taking these items one by one (at least to begin with) Uranus going station-direct is always a sign that the changes we have been undergoing on a personal, internal, intimate or psychological level will now be ‘turning outward,’ meaning two things. One: we will ‘bring out’ of our selves (or reveal) that which has changed about us over these past few months. And two: we will adapt and proceed with some sort of renewed focus (positive or negative) going forward, dealing with unpredicted external circumstances as we go.

So far, so good ... not exotically complicated. Even the idea that Uranian station periods (which here would minimally cover December 19th through the 23rd) ask us to be flexible about things isn’t hard to understand or deal with, though Uranus stations do on occasion manifest as ‘outbursts’ and ‘venting’ of various kinds - be that an explosion, that jolting cheer which produces utter shock when you walk through the door into a surprise party (hopefully for you) or some very lucky break which takes the pressure off of some system which would otherwise have ‘blown’... or someone who simply ‘blows you off’ in some unexpected, even erratic manner.

As for the degree of this station - 12 Aries - that has a very home/homey quality coupled to a rebellious, stand-alone quotient with any one of us preferring ‘the known.’ Wherever we see 12 Aries we tend to see people prioritizing those they think of as ‘their own,’ be that their family, a profession or professional organization or anything else, be it  members of your own culture, fellow citizens of a nation or those who believe any given religion. Given this, and given Uranus’ tendency to bring out that which is unique whether that uniqueness is good or bad this is a station which will bring out that which is wonderful and special, that which is quirky as well as that which is entirely dislikable or even despicable.

It’s just not predictable - and that’s the Uranian point. Uranus teaches us awareness through disrupting our status quo, through events which embody the old saying ‘the only thing which is a constant is change.’

This is an energetic about adaptation and about not getting into a rut. In fact, the more dedicated to some rut we tend to be, the more problematic Uranian periods become - which is probably why the person who introduced me to astrology (long, long ago) defined Uranus thusly: Uranus is everything which guarantees that if you live in a rut you will occasionally be forced (or inspired) to redecorate that rut.

In other words, even that which lasts a long time changes its methods... or its packaging from time to time.

As for Uranus in this 12 Aries mix, it pays to remember that Uranian energy can break some current momentum or emphasis and turn us towards whatever its position (in this case, 12 Aries) describes ... and then again, Uranus can break us out of whatever situation degree lore would describe.

Plus since this is Uranus, nothing about the actual dynamic (the energy which does the ‘changing’ of things) is predictable - hence why Uranus is equally associated with surprises and shocks.

Speaking of shocks, Uranus is often also associated with any and all things electrical from static electricity and light bulbs up to and including power grids, lightning storms, electro-magnetism and the internet ... inclusive of piracy and everything else which can be transmitted or done through internet or other electronic means. Uranus is associated with the formulation as well as the disruption of groups, income streams and associations, be they that seen in an alliance, partnership, marriage, government or corporations or situations like that Sony Pictures. The entire Sony fracas, from the hacks to the thefts to the spilling of information and everything else - all of that, especially in its broad-scale nature where everything ‘explodes’ from a single nexus - is typically Uranus, just as all the back and forth and need to ‘manage’ the problems caused by the Uranian hack is very much Juno, with Juno having just gone retrograde at 17 Leo earlier this week, its forward to retrograde motion in this (Sony) case at least the indicating a shift from a real world, real time actual ‘what’s happening, what’s happened, and is it still going on?’ phase into a more internal and internally reflective ‘what am I going to do about what has happened’ Juno retrograde mode with the intersection of same (what is management doing to manage this?) occurring during Juno’s station complete with legal communiqués going out as Juno went retrograde trying to ‘retrograde’ (read: mitigate) damage already done.

But even though they did that - and this is a classic lesson in astrological asteroid-versus-planet thinking, though the legal demands were made, as Juno’s station ended the story ... and the damage, disturbance and disruption ... remained (and remains) unsolved, continuing to ‘vibrate’ as it creates not just the kind of prickly insecurity Uranus - a planet whose symbolism always has something to do with something beyond our control - is uncomfortably famous for, but also the need for ‘updating,’ focus and modernization (adaptation to what the world is at this point) which Aquarius is all about ... and which Uranus and Uranian events tend to enforce.

A summer Solstice Sunrise over Stonehenge (photo credit: Andrew Dunn, June 2005)

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This even applies to an even more basic point: as more and more of our lives and our businesses (personal, national and international) become electronic, the more everyone should pay more attention to Uranus cycles ... And considering how we are now in the Aquarian Age (albeit still in the clarifying period of its increased dawning) ... Uranus is bound to be astrologically more important, seeing as it’s now the ‘outcome’ ruler of the Age.

And of course the other ruler (the baseline and foundational ruler) of Aquarius is Saturn - so all the issues of responsibility and rules and the debating going on about who has violated whose right to what is also very emblematic of so much which is goes on, far and wide ... and in our own lives.

All of this means that whenever we see Uranus ‘doing anything’ (astrologically, that is - let’s hope the actual planet doesn’t do anything odd) we should think Aquarian and think societal and think electronic, systemic and in terms of ‘whole’s versus factions and the energies of resistance against those for unification. Amidst this, stations and pattern junctions (such as Saturn moving into its 2015 shadow as Jupiter goes on station) are moments when things ‘take a turn’ and thus when sometimes things unseen come to light. So with Uranus now going direct, in particular because Uranus and Saturn energetics are linked in things societal, corporate, marketplace, income-oriented, mass market, systemic, universal and Aquarian ... we are going to see a continuance of odd - and sometimes tragic events.

It’s a balance, the good with the awful. But even more importantly, with the astrological subject being Uranus, it is that which we refuse to see which is at the crux of our problems collective and individual.

With Uranus in Aries, especially now with Uranus conjunct the lunar South Node, which at 16 Aries says it’s easy (and likely) that most of not many of us are neglecting our part in things (or in the cause of things) or some other internal and personal attribute which we don’t want to, or simply haven’t thought through. With Mars (ruler of Aries) sitting at 12 Aquarius as Uranus goes direct there’s an indication of friction and fractious-ness which is born of some inability to reconcile some idea with some action - be that wholly on our part or in terms of what someone else has already done.

Some will sit around and puzzle through their quandaries. Some will simply be distracted now. Others will act, motivated by what they think of as some shift or change which is their ‘opportunity.'

Then again, there are some who will simply cut and run. That grand trine in fire we have been talking about throughout the month is still with us...

...and in parallel with that ‘still with us’ comment is representing a continuing if somewhat painful ‘enlightenment’ (Eris) process which with the Jupiter (learning) process now pointing to what we have to learn - all of us (no exceptions) - is itself a highly Aquarian (and therefore Uranian) process.
We matter. But so do ‘they,’ ‘them,’ and ‘that’ (whoever or whatever ‘they, them or that’ are in your world). And we know that - plainly we all have some vision in our heads or souls as to what could or should be, and Ixion-Ras Alhague-Echo speaks to the conversations on that ... specifically conversations and ‘Echo’ed conversations meant to either (Ras Alhague) hurt or heal, depending on who we are and what we’re talking about, with Ixion providing us all with just that certain twang of gut-niggling as we wonder whether we’re fixing things, or screwing them up (again).

Eventually we will break out egocentric patterns. Uranus is part of that process. But it may not be now ... (read: the grand trine we keep discussing in its many and varied forms doesn’t dissolve until just before New Years) ... and we may not be ready to deal with the Self we would be if everything was open for above-the-table examination.

We will get there in time - even if that above-board examination we make is with our Self about our Self and how we have or haven’t been (Juno) doing things, (Saturn) earning the right responses and/or (Jupiter) thinking them through from all the perspectives we need to be considering.

But yes, it is a process - part of which involves this Uranus/Solstice connective.

As for the Solstice side of things, being that the Sun is changing signs mere minutes after Uranus goes direct there’s virtually no difference in the chart or aspects being cast within that horoscope. But the idea of solstice does add something of an ‘at extremes’ note to Uranus’ station seeing as that’s what the Solstice is - an ‘extreme’ of perspective on Earth (or earth-bound, mortal matters) as we ‘view’ them from our mind - you know, the Sun.

(About now, those of you who read my fiction work are beginning to go ‘oooooohhhhhh....’ and yes, life is about what’s in our Mind.)

But fictional and epic fantasies about getting to know your own Mind aside, Solstices are another form of ‘change of direction’ in that whether they’re the Solstice which in your hemisphere marks the shortest night and longest day, or that which marks the longest night and shortest day, we humans have, as a race learned to have faith that things will change once we move past this point in time. 

A 'yearly' diagram of the Earth's orbital tilt

(diagram credit: Tau'olunga)

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In the case of the Capricorn Solstice, this is the zodiac’s shift from the six signs which lie to the right of the “natural zodiac wheel” (Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius) to the six signs on the left: Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini - which is both a shift from a more collective interactive style to one which is ‘me ... world’ and on which asks that we think of things more in terms of who we are, what we stand for and what we are seen as, who we can be on our own and how the uniqueness which is that can be brought to bear on opportunities and problems...and what it takes to be the individual individual (yes, it’s back to that Aquarian collective/individual theme) and learning how to do (or choose to do) just that.

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So there is a note of ‘getting past’ some point or perspective involved here, though how that manifests is going to be highly individual - and because a Solstice is a truly ‘global’ function, in combination with Uranus going direct we should expect a lot of changes ... some of which we will initiate, some of which will be initiated for us (by circumstance, by realization, by any of a number of means) ... and any (or all) of which may come together as a change of our own (Sun) conception of who we are.

Or who we can be when all the shells are broken away from any ‘fixed’ identity we may have held on whatever level ... and why any of that matters at any ... if not every level. Gone will be the temptation to wile our whiles away on some notion we want to dither or tinker with: Capricorn is earth, Capricorn is pragmatism, Capricorn is all about consequences and results, the paying of the piper as well as the being crowned with accolades which goes with so many layers and doings and considerations within the intricate inter-weavings of our lives.

And thus with our individual consciousness set to ‘realistic’ as our world goes all earthy and bottom line we meet December’s 0 Capricorn New Moon.

The 0 Capricorn New Moon (text chart)

December 22, 2014 - 1:35:49 a.m. (UT+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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The 0 Capricorn New Moon (glyph chart)

December 22, 2014 - 1:35:49 a.m. (UT+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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The image for 0 Capricorn given by the Sabian symbols is ‘An Indian Chief claims power from the assembled tribe,’ which astrologer Marc Edmund Jones referred to as ‘the power and responsibility implied in any claim for leadership’ and which astro-philosopher Dane Rudhyar elaborates on by pointing out that the word ‘chief’ comes from the Latin ‘caput’ for “head,” and that from this flows a situational fate which we must all face in some way in our own lives - the taking on of responsibility over (or for) others, and how that is both a conversation within the Self as we govern our own use of whatever power is accorded us as well as an ‘ultimate’ form of test as to how we view our friends, our society, our world.

Which yes, does sound Aquarian, except for the fact that it is what we do and who we are under the auspices of Capricorn (and thus the lunar month delineated by the Capricorn New Moon) complete with our ability to regard our friends, our society and our world which is the ‘cause’ which creates the Aquarian ‘effect’ ... and since both signs are ruled by Saturn (Capricorn wholly, Aquarius as a foundational imperative) ... that means that what we feel we need to do or which our feelings drive us to do over the next ’ for power will contribute to what happens after that.

You know, when the Sun (life) moves on into Aquarius.

As for the horoscope for this New Moon, it too has an image of ‘standing apart’ as the Sun and Moon conjunction doesn’t aspect any of the other planets in the Ptolemaic sense (i.e., using standard aspects only).

And that rather suggests that the feelings which come upon us around the time of this month’s New Moon will be mostly those associated with the degree itself, which lore tells us will be centered in our most inner concept of who we are. Therefore, what with this being a Capricorn degree with Capricorn being all about the determination to ‘get it done,’ whatever ‘it’ may be, whether we are or aren’t supported, whether others do or don’t agree with us, many if not most of us are likely to remain structured by an inner notion which (at least at the moment) is colored by Capricorn’s ruler - Saturn - being at 29 degrees of Scorpio, a degree which ‘compiles’ and which tends to hold onto things until the very last moment - which may account for some of which we’re all going through right now as 29 Scorpio is also where (at the moment) we find fixed star Toliman.

Known alternately as ‘Bungula’ (which sounds a bit like a board game gone awry), Toliman is typified by Ebertin as having a ‘Jupiter-Venus’ nature, though whether this represents a very (very) good thing in a chart or something which is sufficiently unmotivated as to be or become overburdened (or ‘confronted by fortune’) seems to be highly individual and much the function of what house this star falls in and the planets (etcetera) which aspect it. Along with that of course, there is the question of the degree Toliman is currently resident in, which in this case is 29 Scorpio, a degree known for its powers of observation, investigation, research and insight (and the like), all of which are employed in the furthering of some personally attractive focus.

Toliman has been in 29 Scorpio since 1962, a fact both educational for those interested in generational differences and donated to this effort as a way to think through why those born prior to this time (the earliest of the Pluto in Virgo tribe plus everyone else born prior) are reacting to things now as they are (in present time) and why, as we seem to be hearing and seeing around the globe, attitudes seem to differ among those born since that time.

(And in case you’re wondering, Toliman will change degrees again in the 2043: set your calendars.)

As for Saturn being in conjunction with Toliman, that rather depends on whether you have come (in)to this time being someone who has been holding back (or not) and specifically how that relates to your aims. This combination will tend to add a certain 'coolness' to certain interactions - which can be fine despite what we tend to think about Scorpio.

Well, actually exactly because of it. The whole Scorpio mythos works best when it's applied thoughtfully in order to evoke useful emotion, not when we're reacting to it  - unless of course, we're just stirring others up in order to avoid facing some truth (read: emotional or emotion-provoking truth) about our Self ... in which case, monkeying with others is merely a way to set ourselves up for an apt case of karma. 

Any Moon - new or otherwise - in Capricorn does carry with it a message of assertiveness and some degree of tendency to de-prioritize some of the traits the Moon is best known for: tenderness, kindness, compassion ... all those things. It’s not that they don’t matter, and it’s not that someone isn’t capable of quality emotionality - it’s a matter of priorities. Lunar qualities seem to be a ‘best fit’ when the metaphysics of such energies surface as feelings which reflect what is going on. And because Capricorn tends to be a sign which is both (a.) visible and (b.) of the tendency to be of an ‘do first and reflect later’ ilk, that can make for a few challenging moments -  and moments of being challenged, whether by others or some factor not yet taken into account.

And when it comes to the ‘unaccounted’ of this New Moon moment - which may account for where we are and may point to what we need to do either separately or as pieces of a process - at the moment (of this New Moon) two things would seem to stand out, as imaged by two New Moon t-squares:

Ordinarily t-squares are shown in red - I used yellow on the second

just to make them easier to see.

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The more ‘obvious’ of these two t-squares is the one in red which begins with the North Node in Libra and moves ‘through’ a ‘t’ (the challenge) which is composed of Venus-Pluto at 12 and 13 degrees of Capricorn ... with the ‘object’ of our effort being Uranus-South Node in Aries (read: getting to where things are easier for us to accomplish).

This sounds like a short term goal, and that shouldn’t surprise us, seeing that this is a lunation cycle we’re talking about. Uranus will go direct now and be direct for months and the Capricorn Solstice is one of only two solstices Earth experiences every year. Against this, lunar cycles are multiple and many, representing our daily lives and the steps we take (forward or backwards) in our effort to solve larger puzzles and reach larger goals. They’re important as they represent our being ‘present’ in our own lives and thus focused on our own opportunities.

But in the end, lunar cycles will always have a quality of transience, the ‘fleeting’ of moments amidst all else which is life.

This month we’re apparently transfixed on something (which is probably represented by fixed star Vega at 15 Capricorn and very much part of this t-square) which we hold dear. With Saturn (ruler of Capricorn) at 29 Scorpio, we both want the cooperation of others and fear what we will think of ourselves if we don’t get that and thus aren’t able to proceed upon some path or with some aim - good or bad - which we are (Pluto-Venus) passionately embraced by.

The lesson of any t-square is to understand how what is important to you is also important to everyone else - and that means everyone.

There are no ‘sides’ in t-squares, in other words. If it isn’t important to ‘them’ or isn’t consistent with the viability of all involved, the t-square quandary isn’t yet solved.

One other thing about t-squares: they join objects in signs of disparate type. In this first New Moon t-square we’re looking at air, earth and fire, but no water.

That’s another thing to understand: no water means no emotionalism or ‘feeling nature,’ which may seem antithetical to a lunar cycle, but is really only a descriptor which suggests that getting past or through the given question (this Nodal-Venus-Pluto-Uranus reference on our aims) doesn’t involve or shouldn’t involve a lot of emotionalism. And Pluto is involved here ... though we tend to react passionately where we see Pluto involved, that’s seldom a productive choice. (Read: very seldom.)

As for the other t-square, that one starts with Sedna (retrograde) in Taurus and which is challenged to  move ‘through’ or ‘past’ Jupiter (retrograde) at the ‘t’ in order to reach Pallas in Scorpio - the meeting of the dispassionate perspective and emotionality which seeks a feeling of competence, belonging and approval of and (importantly) from others, though not for its own sake, but so we feel at home and comfortable with and within our Self.

This is a t-square with no air in it. So we will either not think about something we should be thinking about (or thinking through) and that’s the problem ... or we’re supposed to go with the vision without a ton of over-thinking.

And which one is which ...? Well, that’s about you. If you encounter problems, you now have a crib sheet to get you through your day(s), even though part of the challenge of something like Uranus-South Node (which is going to be with us for a wee bit, by the by) is that while there may be great leaps of ability and great accomplishments, there can also be a little jumping too soon and snarling before you find out that what you’re protesting is actually something you like and probably want.

With that said, have a nice Uranus station and enjoy your Solstice - may they bring you good news and surround you with the best of all things: those you care about and who care about you.

Just don’t be surprised if something surprising happens. It could.

Then again, you never know ... you just may be the person who surprises themselves about now.
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