Seeds are lying dormant at the Capricorn Ingress, which falls this year at about 9:30 PM on Dec. 21st.
The Sun is conjunct Pluto, trine Jupiter, square Uranus and sextile both Saturn and Neptune, thereby making a major aspect to every inter- and trans-personal planet. Missing are any “classical” aspects to the personal planets (Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars). Yet the bucket pattern has Mars as the handle, so your passions will pull you in all directions.
Fitting, too, to the theme of developing seeds is that, for the West Coast, nearly all the bodies are below the horizon, with only Uranus and Jupiter still in plain sight. The question, as always for a Capricorn Ingress chart, is what is the theme of the seeds themselves?
Sun conjunct Pluto suggests some significant transformation is necessary. Pluto always asks (some might say compels?) us to let go of something that we thought was important. Indeed, at one time it may have been. But Pluto declares its usefulness is over, that it’s time to release the old to make room for something new. A good and necessary process and often not an easy one. In completing this roughly annual cycle of aspects from the Sun to Pluto (conjunction, square, opposition, square and back to conjunction), we need to look at the set of aspects for clues.
The continuing square of the Sun to Uranus reinforces the energy to jettison what’s old and established, although Uranus often doesn’t care whether it’s still useful or not, so caution is advised! And, since the Sun is making an easy trine to Jupiter we’ll have a tendency to go overboard, no matter what. While it will take some thoughtful energy, the Sun’s sextile to Saturn can help to slow down the urge to metaphorically (or metaphysically?) clean house. In fact, the Jupiter Saturn opposition, while a bit wide and out of sign, sets up in this chart an inherent push-pull energy, further slowing down the possibly wild expansion.
Adding to the mix is Neptune, which sits sextile both the Sun and Jupiter and is opposite Saturn. Neptune brings along our highest hopes and dreams, and our easiest self-deceptions, so we need to be alert to which is which, and go with the dreams that are attainable. The contact with Saturn can help there, as the old School Master will be sure to cause us to do our homework! Just try to do that before giving free rein to Jupiter’s push to push us down the road, regardless of which road or where it goes. Saturn, still in Libra, still wants us to consider our options, to weigh them in the scales. Here, too, is a suggestion that we don”t consider just the potential results to ourselves, but also examine how our decisions may impact our partners, on whatever level may be appropriate. Sometimes our dreams are just passing fancies, and by evaluating their potential impact we can sometimes realize that, and let them go.
These connections between the Sun and all of the planets from Jupiter out also suggest that some of this Ingress’ seeds deal more with social issues and less with personal ones. Jupiter and Saturn are sometimes called “inter-personal” planets, and can illustrate how we deal with people around us. The “trans-personal” planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, when not connected closely to the personal planets, will have something to say about how we relate to the so-called “generational” themes. So looking at the Ingress as a personal transit asks us to examine our attitudes toward broader issues, and contemplate how such attitudes might play a part - enabling or disabling - in how we interact in a social context. Spend some time thinking about how your prejudices, biases and cultural mindset might hamper or enhance how you “get along” in the world. Do you “go along to get along”, or do you become active in communicating our values? Do you stand up for your convictions, or just “let it go” when you see something you think is unjust? We all have our blind spots, pre-conceived notions about how things are or should be. But do those attitudes still hold water? Or do they merely hold us back? Neptune’s dreams, the Uranian urge to do the unexpected, Jupiter’s desire to expand and Saturn’s drive for self-control and personal responsibility all connect to the Sun, here representing our consciousness, so we have lots of energy to use on this. By bringing these issues into our conscious awareness we can become empowered to have a positive influence on these areas.
While the personal planets don’t make major aspects to the Sun, they don’t make them to each other, either. Mercury and Mars, in fact, make no major aspects at all, while the Moon only aspects Uranus and Neptune. Unaspected planets often seem to lack the moderating influences that contact with other planets can provide, and can sometimes seem to run amok, operating, as it were, in an out of control mode. So be especially careful in how you communicate and in how you take action. The communication issues could go astray in either direction - in how you talk to others and in how you (mis)understand what you hear, see, or read. Mars unaspected will have a tendency to take action without due regard for potential consequences. Nothing like flooring the gas pedal without knowing which way the wheels are turned to ruin a trip to Grandma’s for the holidays! Yet even though Mars is the handle swinging this bucket of energy around, he is in Virgo, which somewhat tempers his normal rash behavior. Precise - or perhaps precisely focused - action is favored.
As the energies of this Solstice chart start to manifest, keep in mind the aphorism “Think globally, act locally.”
