Forecast by Armand Diaz
This December, the celestial weather changes from a rather boisterous Sagittarius season to a more serious, and if not exactly subdued, Capricorn vibe. The first part of the month might be a lot of fun, but it’s not a great time for serious business. After mid-month, we get a more sober, and perhaps solitary feel, as the Moon wanes at the Capricorn solstice. We’ll have some dark nights right around the shortest days – a good time to do a little year-end assessment and planning for 2023.
With the Sun square to Jupiter in Aries at the solstice, sparks could fly – and solstice charts work for world events for three to six months. Aries is associated with competition, action, and unfortunately, war. Although the Sun and Jupiter get along well and both are comfortable in Aries, it remains to be seen how this energy will express itself: especially with both planets angular just to the east of Kyiv, Ukraine, at the solstice.
Forecast for December
November draws to a close with Venus opposite retrograde Mars, an aspect that’s exact in the earliest hours of the 1st. The tension is between commitment and free expression of passion, although in the signs of Sagittarius and Gemini, neither planet is looking to be shoe-horned into a confining situation. Try to open things up and be a bit playful in your partnerships – taking things too seriously could backfire.
The beginning of December is colored with a vague, nebulous energy. We’d like to know what’s going on, but it isn’t easy with Mercury and Venus both square to stationing Neptune from the 1st to the 3rd (the day Neptune stations).
Avoid practical decisions until after the full moon on the 8th. You might want to know what’s happening – in relationships or anything else – but the answers are likely to be elusive. Uncertainty can be unnerving, and at an extreme can breed paranoia and its younger cousin, jealousy.
On the other hand, if we can have a bit of Sagittarian faith and let things go for a few days, this could be a very pleasant time. Use it to get lost in a fantasy, take long meandering walks, meditate, and generally let the world go by. Play with the celestial energy – don’t try to bend it into a hard reality. A Venusian trine to Saturn helps keep us a little more anchored than we might otherwise be, hopefully fending off any extreme negativity.
Fresh from his silver-tongued square to Neptune on the 1st, Mercury squares Jupiter on the 5th. Be careful not to say too much. By all means express yourself, but be aware that you might leak out more information than you intend, and could even say more than you know. Some folks are going to bluster pretty hard from their Sagittarian soapboxes in the first week of December, so take what they say with a grain of salt and keep a skeptical eye.
The full moon on December 8th is in Gemini, and closely opposite to retrograde Mars. This keeps the polarizing energy of the past few days going strong, especially in the collective. There’s potential for explosions with a full moon next to Mars, but hopefully in Gemini they’ll be confined to the verbal realm.
Relationships will catch some of that energy as they come back into focus on the 8th and 9th, with Mars squaring Juno as Venus squares Jupiter. Mars in Gemini is arguing for expanding sexual energy, while Juno is more focused on the spiritual side of our connections. Venus and Jupiter always get along well, especially with the signs involved (Sagittarius and Pisces). This is a ‘go with it if you’re enjoying it, leave if you’re not’ kind of vibe that hopefully will see most of us having a nice time.
Venus climbs into Capricorn on the 9th, setting a slightly serious tone to socializing for the rest of the year. Formal occasions and holiday office parties are favored with this placement, and we might take a more sober approach to personal partnership. It’s also a reminder to be a little cautious with holiday spending.
On the 14th, an unrealistic vibe prevails as the Sun squares Neptune. Things might seem much better or worse than they otherwise would, and we could shuttle between high hopes and panic around this time. The 13th to the 15th is a great time to do some meditation and introspection, although even in the interior and astral realms we’re liable to misread some situations.
The Sun enters Capricorn on the 21st at 4:48 p.m. Eastern Time, marking the Winter solstice and the start of his long trek northwards in the sky. It’s the shortest day of the year, and as the new moon is only two days later, it will be a very dark night as well. A solar square to Jupiter – who’s just a day into the Sun’s favorite sign of Aries – is the light of faith burning at the end of the tunnel.
Chiron, the ‘wounded healer’ asteroid is stationed direct on the 23rd, the day of the Capricorn New Moon. This could lend a heavy energy to this period of time, as we are drawn to assess our successes and failures.
Mercury stations to go retrograde on the 29th – the usual caveats apply when it comes to this Cosmic Gremlin.
Rounding out the year, Venus is once again the planet that gets our attention. She trines Uranus on the 21st/22nd, opening up new possibilities for socializing and romance. Then, from the 23rd to the 28th, Mercury, Venus, Juno, and Neptune all aspect each other, helping us to work through relationship potentials in a realistic, but soft-focused, way. Make the most of it – in the early hours of January 1st, 2023, Venus meets with Pluto, and it’s time to make some heavy decisions.
Wishing You A Happy New Year!
Armand