Full Moon Lunar Eclipse December 31

At 2:14pm (EDT) was a lunar eclipse. I say "was" because I am posting this about 3 hours after the fact. But the effects are still in play.

As you know a lunar eclipse is a Full Moon where the shadow of the Earth masks part or all (depending on your vantage point) of the moon. There is usually a POP that we feel somewhere in our life depending on where the eclipse takes place in our chart. Look at your own chart and see where 10 degree cancer lies. Do you feel down? Do you feel unloved? Do you feel a bit off? Yeah, that's all eclipse stuff.

Of course, the energy of this full moon will be felt for about 3 days.
A bit crabby, a bit melancholy, a bit 'what's the use', a bit down. But under the sadness or low energy is something more important. We are being asked to take more responsibility. If there are things in our life that aren't working, what disciplines can we activate that will help us get the life that we want? Responsibility and rebuilding our lives is very Capricorn. And remember, the Full Moon happens when the Sun is opposite The Moon. The Sun is at 10 Capricorn, reminding us that we can accomplish much if we just start doing the work. Bit by bit.

Additionally, This full moon has a beautiful conjunction between the Sun and Venus and Pluto and a wide aspect with Mercury. There are a lot of tools at our disposal---if we use them. If you want to lose weight you have got everything from Weight Watchers to friends who are dying to exercise with you. If you need to meet a mate, Match.com or one of the others is just a few clicks away. If you need to bring in more money, what skills or resources in your own life are you neglecting? There are tools there for you, use this full moon to find them.

one other note, in Mountain Astrologer, Stephanie Austin indicated that this Full Moon eclipse is similar to the one we had on December 30, 2001. Are you revisiting topics from then?

Mercury is retrograde....but you had to have already known!

On December 26 at 9:38am (EST)---Mercury turned Retrograde.
I'm sure you guys are already feeling it. I know I am. Confusion about dates and people's expectations, lost glasses, batteries broken, miscommunication...yeah, I'm already feeling it.

Back on New Moon I wrote the following:

Mercury Retrograde

Well, what the heck… in the middle of this Sag Lunar cycle where we are redefining goals and stretching for more and then adjusting ourselves, we get a big fat Mercury Retrograde. On December 26 Mercury will Retrograde 9:39am (21 Cap 47). This is a pragmatic retrograde. I think it is quite ironic that the Sag lunar cycle is about bringing in MORE and Expanding our world but Mercury in Capricorn is about “practical application” Construction and building something from the ground up . God knows we all understand how Mercury goes backward and we can’t find our keys, our computer freezes, emails are lost, things go screwy but when Mercury is in Cap we are going to have to slow down and really make sense of our life. Is the theory of our life way too big and misguided than the practicality? Yes, I want to be healthy but if I do not have a structured exercise program than how is it going to be accomplished? And if my computer freezes or my car breaks on a Mercury retrograde, I gotta ask, “should I have bought a new computer years ago but was unwilling to do it?” Or should I have taken my car to get a tune up in August but skipped it? Practicality serves our minds and our worlds greatly during this retrograde.

Also, the Sabian Symbol for 22 degrees of Capricorn is “ A General accepting defeat gracefully.” Obviously, when we learn from experience (Capricorn word) we can cut our losses and move on to more fulfilling environment.

And for those who like to follow the shadow period-----
9th December 2009 - 13:37:39 - Mercury shadow began (5 cp 33'16")26th December 2009 - 14:38:07 UT - Mercury stationed retrograde (21 cp 47'43")15th January - 16:51:49 UT - Mercury stations direct ( 5 cp 33'16")4th February - 07:03:55 UT - Mercury shadow ends (21 cp 47'44")

For more information on Shadow go HERE.

How was your Christmas?

As most of you may remember, on Christmas Eve we had our annual Sun conjunct Pluto event.
Last year was our first run of the two in the sign of Capricorn.

And then on Christmas we had a big old square between the Sun in Capricorn and Saturn in Libra. If any of you got out of the holidays without a fight with your husband or wife, without a huge brawl with your family and without a completely miserable experience then consider yourself one of the Lucky Ones! It was a shitty couple days.

And no surprise to any astrologer that during that two day period there was the flight between Amsterdam and Detroit with the cuckoo terrorist-lite jerk.

Now, if you look back on your Christmas and feel really yucky, do yourself a favor and plan next year's Christmas now. What would it look so that it is an improvement on this year? What would make it more meaningful? What changes do you need to make? Capricorn is a pragmatist--so in order to make the most of the this year, get practical. Get out your 2010 Calendar and write down exactly how you want Dec 25 2010 to look. Do it now. Don't hang on to sadness, bitterness about this year get PROACTIVE for next year.

Many Apologies.....

My last post was one week ago. Please forgive me, I had relatives in for the holidays and it was pedal to the metal entertaining.
I had meant to get here every day but ended up going to bed out of sheer exhaustion!
I will attempt to make up some lost time.

Jupiter & Neptune

We have been discussing all year the relationship between Jupiter and Neptune.

And in fact back in May we talked about how they were on top of each other.

Well, they are back for their final Groove Dance today. This is no small thing. Jupiter which does everything it can to expand is meeting up with Neptune who does everything it can to dissolve. Interestingly they are the two planets that rule philosophical issues. Neptune when it is evolved is the most inspired. It hears a message from above and knows that it is completely in sync with The Universe. Jupiter when it is evolved will look at any task and know that it can be accomplished. No matter how Herculean. This is the evolved sides of the planets.

When they are not evolved? Neptune wants to hide out in a bottle of Vodka and Jupiter wants to yell obnoxious righteous things from a bully pulpit.

I don't think it is at all an accident that the Health Bill passed The Senate at this time. Turn on any television news organization and you will see the Bully Pulpit at full volume and we are all left questioning a lot. Expand and Dissolve.

Personally, see where 25 degrees of Aquarius lies in your chart to reconfirm where you feel like you want to expand and bring in more? Where you would like to dissolve and hide? Where you would like to accomplish more? Where you feel inspired? Where you feel lost? Where you would like to shoot off your mouth?

Solstice

And so it is Winter Solstice.

12:47pm (EST) is the first day of winter.

Of course for those of us slogging it out there since Pluto moved into Capricorn (Fall 2008) it has been feeling Winter for awhile. Sigh. But let's not get bogged down in the negative.

The first day of winter is the first day of Capricorn. Of course, on Capricorn New Moon (January) we will speak in more detail about the sign Capricorn but right now what you should know is that we will are moving from parties (Sag) to practicality (Cap).

We will want more substance and mettle. In the summer, fisherman fish. In the Winter fisherman fix their nets. This is the energy of Capricorn.

How are your nets?

On this shortest day of the year we need to remember the sunny days of summer and know that they will return. Turn inward, find your faith today, and find ONE good thing about your life. From this one small bright spot more will come. A single candle can light a world.

Flame on.

Mars Retrograde

On Sunday December 20 at 8:26 am (EST)

Mars the planet of action, speed, anger, soldiers, warring through and getting some place....will turn around and go backwards. Every couple years ago Mars will retrograde. Normally Mars is in a sign for about a month or so. But in the case of a retrograde Mars we will be experiencing Mars in Leo for a very long time. It moved into Leo mid October and normally it would have been out of Leo in November. Not this case, it turns retrograde today at 20 degrees of Leo and will slog backwards until March 10 when it will turn direct and then sometime around June of 2010 it will finally move out of Leo into Virgo. Basically we are getting this Mars in Leo experience for about 9 months. That is a long haul.

As I wrote earlier this week on the Sag New Moon---

On December 20, Mars will turn retrograde. Normally, Mars moves pretty fast in a sign but this is one of those times when it is in a sign for about a year forcing us to get the message of the sign. Leo teaches us how to personalize things. How to own it and make it our’s. Mars in Leo is a lot of actions based on personal desires. Yep, Leo is also about EGO and I’m sure there will be some loud noisy braggarts who are going to get their asses kicked while Mars goes backward (until March 2010). But at the same time if there are some of you who are shy and don’t share your valuable traits and talents and hide in shadows---well, knock it off. Did it occur to you, that shyness is hurting others? Still fighting me on it? Then don’t blame me when your hiding comes back and bites you in the ass too.

Can you help?

Dear Friend,
So many of you have been kind to me and sent me emails or posted to me that you have found my column very helpful. For that I am grateful. As you know there is no fee with my column nor a tip jar. But if you could do one thing for me I would be so thrilled...
Over on Mothering.com community board is HOLIDAY HELPERS. Every year we try to help our Families in Need. We either send Gently Used items..or we send Gift Cards. If you have got an item you can send or if you can send a GC that would be great. I swear a $20 gift card can go very far for a Family In Need. It can make the difference between a terrible Christmas and a Tender Sweet one.

For example...One mom on disability has one 9 year old son and this is his needs..

Child #1:Age and gender: male age 9

Clothing needed (size, type): size 12 jeans and sweatpants,
prefers black or dark blueHats/gloves needed? yes, waterproof gloves for
snow

Shoes/boots needed? (size, type): yes, size 5 Sketchers
athletic shoes, wide width if possible to accomodate orthotics (Sketchers are
the only shoes we've found that fit his feet and orthotics well)

Toy preferences: legos, Nintendo ds gamesBook preferences:
Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, audio books

We have got a whole bunch of other kids with some basic needs. Anything going their way will be appreciated. Go to www.mothering.com and find Holiday Helpers. If you can't find it then post here and I'll get the data to you.

Thank you
smooch

Tracy

Venus Square Uranus--Saturday December 19

Saturday December 19 8:52pm (EST)

Venus in Sag squares Uranus in Pisces. Although this aspect is exact on Saturday evening I think we should start to feel it today. With Sag and Pisces we are dealing with matters of spirituality, religion and basically, "Where we fit in the Universe." With Venus and Uranus it is matters of love and money that go topsy turvy which then makes us question if the Univese is even our friend. The angels feel sad.
Perhaps we are invited to a party and someone says something to us that shakes us up (Uranus) or we try to buy a few Christmas gifts and find that our money set aside for the holidays evaporates before we get to store #2. A wave of sadness or ennui can color the day. BUT remember, this is a pretty quick aspect. It will be gone by Sunday evening.

Sagittarius New Moon---December 16

On Wedesday December 16 at 7:02 am EST --- will be the New Moon in Sag.

I gotta say I have a love hate relationship with the Sag New moon. First of all, even before I started writing New Moons and used to read them and learn about them with my old teacher Buz Myers, I used to get overwhelmed by Sag. It is such a busy time of the year and to focus on all that Buz had to say was often just too much for me. Which I have to say as a Sag made me a bit sad. There is so much value in Sagittarius energy but it can get overshadowed by the events of the day. People are running around, buying gifts, going to parties, making cards, visiting relatives.. it is just hard to squeeze in the value of Sag.

Having said that, I have written a lot about this moon. I am going to ask you to really take the time to read it all. It is just that important. A lot is going down and if you can only hear people when they shout at you then you will miss the value of whispered information. There are some whispers in this lunar cycle that I don't want you to miss.

As always you can find the whole article on Margaret Wendt's sight.

Here's a snippet:

The Big Picture

Sagittarius is the philosophical sign of the
zodiac. But left to roam without a bridle those philosophical passions and
desires can evolve into the most righteous sign of the zodiac. Religious
nut jobs can have pronounced Sagittarius planets (or crazy 9th house).
There need to be right is so strong that they must lay down the law on
everyone. (Anyone seen Bin Laden’s chart? Six words: “Saturn
in Sag in the 9th!”) But even when Sag is bad and righteous,
“My way or the highway” or good, “Let’s take a look at it from another
perspective”—Sag is THE “Big Picture” sign. This is the reason why Sag and
Virgo can have problems. Virgo sees the small and close up stuff
---The details. And they ask hard questions like, “How can that happen?”
or “How can that be accomplished?” While Sag is over there saying,
“I don’t know the ins, ands or buts ..I just know we need to look at the big
picture and figure out what we want. “ And if a Sag does not have
his or her arrow up in the sky zoning in for a target, he is then shooting off
his mouth to a fellow human. And that hurts! Not just the person who
is the subject of the comments but to the person saying it because they start to
become disillusioned about their fellow humans. Sigh.

Now on
this New Sag New Moon, The Sun and the Moon are in beautiful angles
(relationship) with Venus, the planet of love and resources, Neptune the planet
of spirituality and Great Mystery, Mars the planet of action, Jupiter the planet
of luck, abundance, expansion and Chiron ruler of Healing Old Wounds.

Look at that paragraph again. If you count, you will see
that the Sun/Moon are making music with four planets and Chiron. That is a lot
of good news. But that doesn’t mean you get to sit back, push the ON
button on your Margarita Blender, sit back drink to your heart’s content and
wait for the goodies to fall. It doesn’t work that way. Especially
with Sag who becomes totally useless and a detriment to society if he does not
have boundaries.

Remember, I said if “Sag is left to roam without
a bridle”. Quick history lesson----Next to harnessing Fire, one of the
other key evolutionary benchmarks for MAN was when MAN got on the back of the
horse. When Horses were harnessed people were able to move to
distant lands (Sag theme) and they were able to move timber, rocks, etc..Horse
driven power is still important in most of the world and even our cars are
defined by how much Horse Power they generate. Sag benefits by a
harness. Okay, so, where is the harness and bridle for this Sag New
Moon? The answer is URANUS.

So.... Tiger Woods.....

Schwwwwwwwing.

I was looking at my Scorpio New Moon which I posted about a month ago (way before Tiger's news) and I noted what I had to say about the Mars aspect for the scorpio lunar cycle.

Make mine Mars

Interestingly as we ping
pong between personal power and group activities we will also get a challenging
aspect from Mars. Mars is the warrior and he is extra snarky in loud mouth Leo
especially while he fights with lovely Venus. Venus in Scorpio is
sultry and sexy and she slithers along taking care of her orgasms and her
wallet. Mars in Leo who normally likes to get it on with Venus is not
digging her energy this cycle (square). Judging her sleazy and conniving
Mars is staying away from love. He would rather get his army together and
fight for a big dramatic purpose. Venus of course doesn’t get what the
hoopla is about and feels like a fish out of water when no one responds to her
usual tricks and so she gets sneaky. Since Venus rules money and values
(especially in Scorpio) we should expect some underhanded activities this month
due to her fight with Mars. But since Mars has all the dogs in this fight,
be prepared ---cheaters will be exposed! If you feel
like cheating, don’t do it. If you feel like going through the back door
on something with the thought it will get you to power or to money
quickly---here’s some help--- it won’t. Don’t believe me?
Watch what comes up in the news and you’ll be happy you listened to me.
Especially since Mars is also in Opposition to Jupiter in Aquarius.
Jupiter rules the internet and television so there will definitely be a public
brawl. And expect the same public scrutiny if you screw up.

No, surprise Tiger's news came out during this cycle.

The Weekend

As you all know I write about New Moons and their 8 phases HERE but on this particular blog I do not really focus on Lunar aspects.. "i.e. Moon moves into Scorpio, Squares Mars". I opt out of those postings because last time I looked there were about one trillion bloggers who do it and there is no way on God's green Earth I am going to offer anything remotely different in terms of a daily lunar voice. My emphasis is the planets outside of the moon... Give me a Saturn Square Mars and I'll talk volumes.
Having said that, there are no planetary aspects this weekend worth noting. All aspects are lunar but since I'm here, I will tell you that of those lunar aspects Saturday is a much more harmonious day than Sunday. Lots of crunchy aspects with the Moon on Sunday.

I would like to wish those who celebrate Hanukkah a Happy Holiday and may you receive an extra crispy latke (my favorite).

Sun Trine Mars

Thursday December 10-- 8:18pm EST

About twice a year we get a Sun Trine Mars and such is the case on Thursday, We should feel the energy bloom as the two planets tangle. Since it is taking place in fire signs you can expect a lot of sparks and fiery conversation. Not necessarily arguments, more like 'spirited debates." Our enthusiasm will run high. And as a Sag you know I am totally looking forward to Thursday.
Frankly, I think we all need a little boost. For the last year we have been dealing with Saturn and Uranus opposition which has rattled many of us to our core. What used to be up is now down, what used to be left is right. And adding injury to insult, starting in November Saturn began its long square to Pluto. Great, more Yuch on Yuch. So, given that environment, when we have a day like Thursday where the Sun and Mars are harmoniously aspected ---well, you don't have to tell me twice to have fun, get energized. Get proactive. Do what ever it takes to get up off the couch and be someone fabulous.
Oh, and you might surprise yourself with a funny quip or two.
Sag is known for her wit. Be witty and charm yourself somewhere glamorous.

Peas out.

This Monday--- We're a little Dorothy Parker-ish

December 7 Mercury Conjunct Pluto 4:12 am EST (Cap)

December 7 Mercury Square Saturn 9:35 pm EST (Cap vs Libra)

When Mercury gets on top of Pluto for its annual romp, there ain't much foreplay. Mercury's tongue is quick and Pluto is razor sharp. Does that sound like fun? Nope. But it is clever. (That's the Dorothy Parker part) Now for the good news. Your "business mind" is exact. Everyone will be cutting to the chase even when there isn't a chase. If there are any hurdles at work, they will be dissolved with one swift email. Of course, Capricorn is a bit of a downer so if you are feeling blue, just blame sour dour Capricorn. But if you have got shit to take care of and you have been dragging your ass...today is the day to take care of it. I, for one, will call the medical company that has sent me a bill, once a month for six months which I have deliberately avoided dealing with because the thought of calling their red tape circus has left me moribund.

But tomorrow, I will call them and clear it up for ever. That is what this energy is about.

"Great, I get it, I can lance the wound and clear out the disease. But what about Mercury Square Saturn?" Well, we may be a bit negative in the night. Perhaps the work we did in the morning exhausts us. If we get a shit phone call from anyone, blow it off. Saturn is so strict and stern and Mercury who likes to be light and frivolous can't get it's rocks off today to save himself. So, guess what---that is why god created phone machines. Phone Machine on? Check. Eat Dinner? Check. Pour drink? Check. Bed? Check.

Razors pain you; rivers are damp; acids stain you; and drugs cause cramp. Guns aren't lawful; nooses give; gas smells awful; you might as well live.

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) U.S. short-story writer and poet.