The Sun is now in Sagittarius, joining Mercury and Pholus. Sun + Sagittarius in the Northern Hemisphere is the extreme waning phase of the Sun: the days are approaching their shortest length of the year. Sagittarius is the last sign of autumn in this hemisphere. It is a mutable sign; the mutables are always the last signs of the season (for example, Virgo is the last sign of summer).
As the Sun makes its way across this sign for the next four weeks, it will align first with the Great Attractor at 14+ degrees and then with the Galactic Core at 27+ degrees. This to me is the origin of the feeling that time is moving especially fast this time of year: it comes under the influence of some incredible gravitational forces, and we feel it as acceleration.
This is enhanced psychologically by the approach of the holidays and the shortest days of the year; the feeling that “time is running out.”
The Sun reaches solstice declination on Dec. 20 and holds that position on the horizon for five days before beginning its northward journey. December is a wonderfully complex month astrologically, — but we’re not there yet; details soon (for subscribers, with Tuesday’s December monthly horoscope edition).
There will be an exact conjunction of Mercury and Pholus today, which looks like energy opening up a conversation, or many conversations, that will not end until it they are resolved. Pholus releases; it inspires one to follow curiosity; it talks about a small cause and a big effect. If we apply this to Mercury, we get the feeling of an idea with plenty of extra influence — one we did not realize could move energy the way that it does: through thought or concept. In Sagittarius, it has the ability to reach the world, or to reach to us from a global condition; in any event it speaks of a planetary thought process.