The Winter Solstice 2021

On December 21st at 7:59 AM PST the Sun arrives at 0 degrees Capricorn 0 minutes, heralding the first moment of Winter! Get your snow boots on and get ready to build that snowman! After all, Capricorn is all about building in the material world, and this is one way to get in the spirit;)

This is the shortest day, longest night of the year for us in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the beginning of the Winter Season and brings us all indoors to create. Capricorn is a Cardinal Earth Sign and begins the first month of Winter with a bang! The Earth energy inspires practical physical ambitions, and lends us a serious, disciplined drive to accomplish our goals. Under this influence, we wish to contribute something to society and can persevere through hardships in order to attain our objectives. This detached power helps us to have clarity about our destination.

As we cast the chart for this moment in time, there are other planetary influences at work here. This is a Solar Event; the changing of the guard whenever one “Sun” dies and another “Sun” is born. Moving from Sagittarius to Capricorn we leave Autumn behind and enter Winter. The Sun at 0 degrees Capricorn is sextile Jupiter at 28 degrees Aquarius. This is a blessed aspect, bringing inner harmony, confidence and big dreams to us all. It is like a doorway with Jupiter, which is the ruler of Sagittarius, expanding our awareness to include dreams worth dreaming.

The Moon on this day is in the sign of Cancer at 27 degrees. Venus at 20 degrees Capricorn and Pluto at 25 degrees Capricorn oppose the Moon. Yikes! This can bring conflicting emotional desires and needs. The good news is you can come to the conclusion of just what do you really want in a love relationship? A parent or a lover? With the Venus/Pluto conjunction at work, we are driven to discover our own true values and release ourselves from the limitations of the past. This conjunction delivers a serious and cautious feeling in relationships, where we desire deep, genuine and lasting love.

There is also a tense square between Saturn at 10 degrees Aquarius and Uranus at 11 degrees Taurus. Saturn, Capricorn's ruling planet, is the strict disciplinarian, the law maker, the builder of structures. Uranus, Aquarius’s ruling planet, wants freedom, no rules, no structure. So there’s a struggle to balance these principles. How to create a new structure, built upon freedom.....We all are experiencing these influences, from ourselves to all of humanity. It is time to recreate, built upon a new principle: LOVE.

That seems to be the answer to everything. The more we admit to ourselves who and what we are in this world, we begin to see our own light and follow it to the end of our rainbow. From this process we find we love ourselves and we are up for changing for the better; we can all always improve. No matter how many times we find ourselves at square one again, we can see how to step up our game. We can enhance our lives by letting our ego take a back seat and objectively look at the new ways we can move forward. For life is a spiral, and we will find ourselves at similar points on that spiral time and again; but we needn’t fret. Learn from the past.

So, as we move into the new calendar year of 2022, let us do it “clean.” Take the time to sort through WHATEVER needs looking at, from deep within, to the outer world. Set your “New Years Resolutions” high this year, and as they say, if you set it, you get it!

Happy Solstice!

Judy Crescenzo

judy@skypatterns.com

Full Moon in Gemini 2021

On December 18th at 8:36 PM PST, the Sun and Moon oppose each other; the Sun stationed at 27 degrees Sagittarius 29 minutes, and the Moon stationed at 27 degrees Gemini 29 minutes. This Full Moon is the culmination of the Eclipse season of Sagittarius/Gemini, and sets the stage for graduation.

This Full Moon is ruled by Mercury, and we are being led into the arena to fight for what we think is true. We have all been down this long road of consciousness; finding out who we are in relation to our world, under new circumstances. We have been forced to “reframe” our reality, to see it differently than before. With Gemini ruling our communication abilities, from speaking to reading the news, the “fake news”, social media and the internet, our neighborhoods and education, all of this has been under scrutiny. The need to be right has raised arguments between those who would normally agree upon subjects. Thoughts and beliefs are what it’s been all about, with the word “been” taking on greater importance now. This Full Moon should exaggerate this topic possibly even more.

The main theme of this time has been “Transparency.” This can be a scary process for all of us, from watching others telling their “truths” while others dispute it with a vengeance. How do we get to the real truth about what we want to know about? We have awakened to the idea we have been lied to, and will continue to be lied to until we research the truth on our own. Through this period we have gained skills in finding the truth, endlessly searching until we find that feather of truth to set our compass to. It is knowing that we’ve reached our ultimate understanding and the peace that comes with it.

With this Lunar Event we have some additional help and challenges. To begin with, Jupiter at 28 degrees Aquarius sextiles the Sun and trines the Moon. Jupiter in this Air Sign exaggerates by nature, and here it expands our awareness and enlists our generosity. The key is to keep things in check and not let ourselves overdo it.

The Sun and Moon are both square Neptune at 20 degrees Pisces. This can make it difficult to really see the truth, as Neptune can cloud our thinking and push us emotionally to act. We can easily be ushered into dreams, fantasies and visions of the future. It opens our creativity to reconsider our options, and inspires spiritual remedies. We can use this energy to springboard us from disillusion to clarity, if we don’t fall victim to trying to avoid or escape the hard realities of life.

Simultaneously, there is a powerful conjunction between Venus at 26 degrees Capricorn and Pluto at 25 degrees Capricorn. This conjunction began December 11th, and with the direct/retrograde movements of Venus will ultimately end March 3rd, 2022; and will be joined by Mars to an exact degree. This planetary relationship brings into question our values, who/what we love: (Venus) and power, manipulation, possible deceit and control: (Pluto). This makes us reevaluate those we love and are in relationships with. This conjunction brings us irrational feelings, compulsive behavior, and passionate and intense experiences. It's the proverbial tipping of the scales to throw us out of balance and acting out. You may experience both the agony and the ecstasy in love, and will be changed in a deeply fundamental way. This may come about through painful and difficult confrontations and separations, and can happen in friendships as well as love relationships. Don’t turn away, run from the truth; but admit your part in whatever is happening and “tweek” your behavior to be more in line with your truth. And if breakups are necessary, then you’ll really know.

Soon after this event, on December 21st we have the Winter Solstice. This is the shortest daylight of the year, and with it comes the Dreamtime of Winter. Time to hibernate and dream in our next version....so bring your awareness forward to recreate your consciousness to be more aware, alert and awake to our new reality.

Judy Crescenzo

email Judy for a private session judy@skypatterns.com

*photo credit: Forever Conscious

New Moon TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE! 2021

In my last article I spoke at length about the Taurus/Scorpio axis Eclipse cycle beginning. But this article is about the culmination of the Gemini/Sagittarius Eclipse cycle, ending with the New Moon/Total Solar Eclipse in the sign of Sagittarius. This occurs December 3rd, at 11:43 PM PST.

This cycle began with a Lunar Eclipse in Sagittarius on June 5th, 2020. By this time we were well on our way into the pandemic, and the changes in our thinking and belief systems were underway. This was followed by:

Lunar Eclipse in Gemini 11/30/2020

Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius 12/14/2020 Lunar Eclipse in Sagittarius 5/26/2021 Solar Eclipse in Gemini 6/10/21

This Eclipse cycle drove home the messages having to do with our thinking minds, Gemini, and our beliefs and philosophies, Sagittarius. Being presented with the startling events of this period, we’ve been forced to take up new conversations, change our way of thinking, look to new truths to live by. Gemini is an Air Sign, ruled by Mercury, and like Mercury is the Messenger of the zodiac. Air Signs value intellect, transmitting information, and imparting knowledge. It is a flexible energy being a Mutable Sign (last of a season ready to change). Gemini energy is aloof and cool, where Sagittarius is a Fire Sign, anything but cool. Ruled by Jupiter, everything is exaggerated, larger than life. This opposite energy inspires a fiery temperament, which can be used creatively, or at times frustrated and angry. It’s all about the proper outlet.

We have been learning all about what we thought was true changing. Our right and left brains have had a real workout; the good news is Gemini and Sagittarius are both Mutable signs. This flexibility to see, categorize, and learn with the different stimuli from the news, to the internet, to daily conversations changing, has led us to the crossroads; culminating with this Full Solar Eclipse. What do you know to be true? What do you believe is true? Time to list all of the new understandings you have now, having been shoved through the eye of a needle to this new reality. It has been a truly enlightening time; but all of this is about to change with the Taurus/Scorpio Eclipse cycle beginning.

A Total Solar Eclipse is a powerful event. It opens up a portal for us to see beyond our current situation. What do we wish to dream into being? Let us culminate with some powerful changes in how we see the world. We are a spark of the Divine, and with that spark comes creativity. The shut down of our world gave many the time and interest in exploring their creativity, from writing to building, to improving their lives in skills they never developed before. Many got the idea to “homestead” or “live off the grid”, feeling confident in the adventure life offers us. Others lost or quit their professions, forced to look in new directions for their livelihood. When you look at this past period of time you will see the changes it brought to your life as well.

We are at the point of graduation, having been shown and learned this topic very well. We are about to move on to new lessons, but first, let's REALLY celebrate this moment. There are some planetary influences at work here, adding to this event. The Sun and Moon are conjunct at 12 degrees Sagittarius, and Mercury is not far away at 15 degrees Sagittarius. This adds even more power to this already mental occasion. In this sign the focus is on higher learning, religion, philosophy, long distance travel...an extremely positive time for studying and writing.

These luminaries are also sextile Saturn at 9 degrees Aquarius, bringing an electric quality to our thinking, making us susceptible to inventiveness and original ideas. Saturn helps to bring these insights down to Earth, into new structures.

Last but not least, the Sun and Moon are inconjunct Uranus at 11 degrees Taurus.

Taurus is all about the physical world, our comforts, money, and being very grounded. Sagittarius is the visionary, not always grounded but shooting the arrow into the sky to see where it lands. We are being asked to adjust our needs to better reflect our vision of our future. We are encouraged to not fear change, but to be able to adapt where before we may have held on tighter to our old lives.

So, leading up to, and on this date; take a trip down memory lane. Look over all that you have learned about yourself and the world in this last Eclipse cycle. Give thanks for the insights you’ve gained, and create a new life built upon an open mind. Let go of old limiting thoughts and beliefs, fears and phobias, and release it from your body. It will feel like you’ve been wearing a cement overcoat; so heavy and restricting.

Let your mind soar and connect with the bigger picture.

Judy Crescenzo

judy@skypatterns.com