By Len Wallick with Eric Francis
First a bit of song to be sung to the tune of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”:
Retrograde for Christmas,
Mars and Mercury,
Shades of us,
In Aquarius,
And Aries Point history.
Murphy’s Law is ruling,
Cars and batteries,
But retrograde for Christmas,
May not be what it seems.
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It’s Christmas Eve and thank you for reading. Given the pace of things lately, it’s a very good sign that you are alive and have a moment to take things in. Right off the top, the Sun conjoins Pluto in Capricorn today for the first time in two and a half centuries. The Sun is conjunct Pluto once a year, though this is the first winter solstice with Pluto in Capricorn (that would be summer solstice down under).
That’s a century before Dickens penned A Christmas Carol and at least 50 years before “The Night Before Christmas” was composed. Ben Franklin was risking not only pneumonia and electrocution but also hanging as he networked a bunch of young men who had nothing in common except that they stood to lose their hard-earned wealth to a crazy king. A lot of water under the bridge since then.
Also a lot coming back as Uranus builds to a big (temporary) exit in the sign of water running deep — Uranus is beginning its transition from Pisces to Aries, though in uranian style we’re a little ahead of ourselves here. That happens int he spring.
Also conjoining in Capricorn this day are Mercury (in ‘storm phase’, slowing down to a third of a degree a day, stationing on Saturday) and Rahu, the north lunar node (within spitting distance of next month’s partial solar eclipse — the nodes tell you approximately where and when the next set of eclipses is going to be). Also called the ascending node (because it’s the point where the Moon crosses to the north of the ecliptic) and the dragon’s head (a term of European origin, by the way) it carries a positive implication in Western astrology with overtones of Gemini.
This is not speculative. If you check the rulerships chart used by the great Elizabethan astrologers, a relic of the ancient days, the North Node is exalted in Gemini.
This conjunction two days before Mercury stations back implies opportunity for conscious communication tempered by emotional limits we would be advised to honor. In other words, balance between the emotional and the mental levels is necessary to keep communication both authentic and safe for both partners.
Recognize that there is a layering process involved in communication. Some people enter the matrix more easily through the emotional layer; some through the mental layer; eventually the conversation, if it’s a real one, must reach both.
The North Node implies reaching into the future; both Cancer and Mercury retrograde imply the past. There may be hints of the future coming from a review of the what we’ve already seen and where we’ve already been.
The Moon today enters Taurus and reaches first quarter, on its way to a partial lunar eclipse (visible from Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia) in one week, the commonly observed New years Eve. For today (and tomorrow too), look for the opportunity to share what food and earthly comforts you have. A week from today, ease up, slow down and allow yourself some quiet time to take in the energy of Luna, at once full of herself and in our shadow.
As you settle in tonight, with kerchief or cap, for a long winter’s nap, please give a thought to the fact that there is an asteroid out there named Child, in the latter part of Leo, in a trine aspect to the Galactic Center. You are that child. As yourself, what could say Christmas any better than that?
Offered In Service
My best wishes for the holiday to everyone at PW
I love reading the blog- and sometimes participating…
As I sit here at a hospice in Buffalo on Christmas eve- with my 89 year old father – leo
sun , pisces moon- I see the past flying by as he does not have much time on this plane.
I feel the wise words of the post very deeply.
My prayers for the 19 year old with cancer,
Yes, wishing peace to your querant, Eric. Hooray for an Aries Moon in action! Aries Moon thinks she can reboot at 32, 54, 69, 77…
In my part of the world, we’re awaiting a rare white Christmas. Huzzah. Feels like a reboot to my spirit.
Here’s hoping everyone at PW has a blessed day off wherever you are.
thanks Len and Eric. Blessings to the 19 year old with cancer. I’ve been thinking that Aries is the one being prepared for the role of leader and teacher. Learning to lead experientially is never easy, but necessary if one is to lead with grace and humility.
Thanks Sara, that was a beautiful quote. Thanks too to Len for a soulful evaluation of the Christmas Eve sky. I’m thinking you were thinking ahead, in true Aquarius-speak, to the bullish day after Christmas!
As the Moon tries to balance herself with the somber Saturn, my memories of Tiny Tim’s “God Bless Us Every One” beg to be repeated. Thanks for being out there.
be
Hah! I too have erred: It was Grace Horsley Darling (24 November 1815 – 20 October 1842) who according to Wikipedia “was an English Victorian heroine on the strength of a celebrated maritime rescue in 1838.” I will leave the rest to those interested.
The song in my head was as performed by the Limeliters on a recording made in 1962 called “Through Children’s Eye’s” – and album I grew up on. Wow. Was that a different world then or what.
Len,
First I’d most like to thank you for replacing the “Ballad of Faith Darlin'” that was replaying in my head over and over with your little Christmas Retro Ditty. Very nice. — and far more appropriate for the season! (No, no idea whatsoever why an english drinking song got into my head – it’s a story of a strong woman? rowing out into the ocean ? – to save a crew of drowning men? any astrology in there?! 😉
Love and Thanks to you and to all PW-ers..Best wishes for the Holiday Season and Merry Christmas; may it be safe, happy and blessed.
Linda
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, everyone!
Inspired by ashawf’s comment, I was reminded of a passage from Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes that I refer back to often in moments of pain and intensity. They have been words of hope of late! They are (with one small omission to contextualise them):
“It is true, I will not lie to you; it is easier to throw away the light and go back to sleep. It is true, it is hard to hold the light out before us sometimes. For with it, we clearly see all sides of ourselves and others, both the disfigured and the divine and all conditions in between.”
Here’s to living with paradoxes, tension, and the joyous, painful multi-layered beauty of who we are.
Sarah x
Thanks Len for yet another insightful article.
Merry Christmas to you, Eric and all my PW friends.
2009 for me as a cancerian has been emotionally very intense. I am very surprised but grateful having made it this far. More importantly the faith in Love and compassion has become more solid and strong, what more can any one ask for!
for 2010, my another favorite astrologer Jonathan has said that I will be in the middle of esoteric upheaval. Hey I have been on one since 2007 !!!, no one said journey of self discovery is going to be easy.
Thanks to all the help and insights I get from you folks at PW that helps put things in an inspiring perspective and make the journey worthwhile.
Merry Christmas, Happy new Year.
Thank you Len! Awesome and insightful work as usual!
“The North Node implies reaching into the future; both Cancer and Mercury retrograde imply the past. There may be hints of the future coming from a review of the what we’ve already seen and where we’ve already been.”
I’ve definitely noticed this in my life. I’m currently redoing (in a relationship) or revisiting what occurred during the May 2009 Mercury retrograde. It feels like I’m going backwards and now, with all the knowledge and experience I gained over the summer fall and through the eclipses and Saturn/Pluto transists and sign changes, re-tackling the relationship. But the form is different because during the past 6 months we became good friends and now we’re trying dating again but it can’t be the same as last May. Where we’re starting from isn’t the same and where we’re going isn’t the same.
len….have enjoyed your writing immensely……..and we all do indeed read taurus for aries………..or capricorn for aquarius…….the chart of elvis presley is my own preferred area of error……. it is a saturnine thing……..!!!
but that is sometimes a freudian slip…………perhaps a desire to earth all that is gone before….a trine and an inconjunct…….. may well be preferable to a square and an opposition……..!!!
“there is many a slip between cup and lip” … to quote the housekeeper from stratford upon avon…….!!
has anyone ever really looked at willie the shake’s astrological freak beats…??
this could lead the dons of las vegas to invent a new gambling device… “astrological poker”
“I’ll go 20 bucks on a stellium in cancer trine moon in pisces…..!”
you do however seem to have that libran balance between content and endgame……. this is refreshing…….!!
seasons greetings…….
ph
Oops! My bad as well, as the Editor.
I just had to do a horary reading on a 19 year old woman with cancer. The Aries Moon factored prominently into the reading: indicating youthful vitality and a long life, despite the coming aspects to Pluto and Saturn.
First a thanks and then an erratum.
My thanks to Eric and all of the Planet Waves community for the gift of graciously allowing this fair-to-middlin’ amateur a chance to develop and improve doing what he truly loves to do. It is an authentic fact that i have never be happier doing anything in my nearly 57 years on this planet.
As to the erratum – OOPS! the Moooon just entered Aries this morning (not Taurus). Eric has admonished us not to accept excuses from flakes during Mercury’s retro period, so this old flake will not attempt to excuse himself for not being able to distinguish one horned glyph from another. The spirit is not all that different. Aries and Taurus are next door neighbors in the first quarter of the year. Aries would be younger, more spontaneous in its passion and (when it trines Mars tomorrow) hotter. So, find a way to channel that heat and convert it to light and the holiday should open up like a…, well – you know. Best wishes to all.