The Day of the Supernatural: Birthdays and Planet News

If Your Birthday is Wednesday, Dec. 25
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Capricorns need to identify with some kind of ‘Great Work’ to feel satisfied: personal objectives that inspire total commitment. Whatever outstanding issues must be resolved to clear the decks for the future you envision — that’s your priority this year. A degree of reverence is appropriate. Approach closures with appreciation for lessons learned. Focus on where you know you must go, so tying up old business feels less like a burden and more like exciting preparation.
— by Victoria Emory

Written in the Planets for Wednesday, Dec. 25 — Solar Eclipse on the Horizon

Overnight Wednesday to Thursday, the Moon and Sun form a conjunction in Capricorn for the New Moon, which will also be a solar eclipse. This is exact Thursday at 12:13 am EST / 5:15:00 UTC (Wednesday at 9:13 pm PST), with the eclipse peaking a couple minutes later.

This is an annular solar eclipse: meaning that when the Moon lines up between the Earth and the Sun for the Capricorn New Moon, it won’t hide the Sun completely. Instead, there will be a ‘ring of fire’ — the Sun shining around the edges. (If you live where it’s visible, you’ll need specifically made protective eye wear to view it so you don’t damage your eyes.)

The Moon enters Capricorn at 4:45 pm EST today. Until then, the Sagittarius Moon lends some buoyancy, optimism and sociability to the holiday. But there will still be some advanced pressure from the eclipses.

Note that sometimes an eclipse New Moon can feel like a Full Moon, with that highly charged tension waiting to break, and a little extra dose of insomnia.

Sun, Moon, Pholus, Jupiter

Astrologically speaking, the Sun and Moon will be tucked between the transformational centaur Pholus (small cause, big effect; generational patterns) and Jupiter (expansion, faith).

Their proximity to the lunar South Node (karma, releasing comfortable habits) is what signals the eclipse.

Also in Capricorn are the asteroid Ceres (grain, nourishment, emotional bonds), and the Saturn-Pluto conjunction. Yet you don’t have to look at a chart to understand the feeling of this moment: there’s a sense of imminence and pervasive uncertainty, some of which can be traced to political and environmental events and how they’re altering reality while we watch.

Time feels short. It often does this time of year, between the sandwich of holidays and the end of the civil calendar. Yet we’re also turning over a new decade, and the years between 1999 and now have witnessed unprecedented changes in our communication technology; digital life moves faster.

Saturn-Pluto Conjunction Close at Hand

Saturn and Pluto in their approaching conjunction (exact Jan. 12) describe much of this pervasive mood. This and the eclipse are describing a turning point. Having so many planets in Capricorn describes how your choices exist within certain established structures: how you’ve built your life thus far, and how others have influenced its construction.

Yet the planet the Sun and Moon are closest to at the moment of the New Moon and eclipse is Jupiter. If you use the “two hands on a potter’s wheel” analogy, Jupiter is the hand creating space in the center of the vessel, widening it (Saturn is the other hand, keeping the clay from flopping too far outward). As you let fall away that which it is time to release, you’ll be creating space in your life for more of who you are becoming.

You won’t flop over, or disintegrate, or lose all sense of direction. You will, however, need to choose consciously what you want to steer your life toward, and what new patterns you begin setting. What shape would you like to make with the clay of your life?
— by Amanda Painter, with Eric Francis

Almanac: The Moon enters Capricorn today at 4:45 pm EST.
The Capricorn New Moon and annular eclipse of the Sun is on Thursday, Dec. 26 at 12:13 am EST.