Winter Solstice 2011
22nd December, 05.30 Universal Time (GMT)
click on chart to enlarge
Jupiter opposing Saturn – going nowhere fast
An opposition between retrograde Jupiter and Saturn, which began on November 25th, forms the ‘backbone’ of the chart for this Winter Solstice. The opposition lasts until 25th February 2012, but will be somewhat eased when Jupiter turns direct on Christmas Day – our ‘gift from the gods’.
Normally, Jupiter represents the ‘accelerator’ and Saturn the ‘brake’ to our forward movement. Whenever they are in opposition, this creates a push-pull situation in many areas of our lives; now it is manifesting particularly in the areas of finance, and our ability to further our vision for the future. Trying to make forward progress, with Jupiter retrograde, is often having the opposite to the desired effect.
Jupiter, in the very first degrees of Taurus, wants to manifest a new vision for our future, particularly in relation to the material world. Saturn, in the last few degrees of Libra, is reaping the fruits of our past relationship with the material world, and will continue to do so until it enters Scorpio in early October 2012. At this Winter Solstice, Jupiter and Saturn are both making a T-square pattern with Venus in Aquarius. She is calling, imploring and pleading with us to put our relationship with the material world, and with our finances, into the context of Aquarian Age principles and ideals.
It is plain for all to see that the old financial-material paradigm, and our relationship to it, is just not working. We only have to turn on the news, or catch the newspaper headlines, to see the latest futile attempt by confused and bewildered politicians to deal with the on-going ‘financial crisis’. If it were not so serious, it would be almost farcical in its proportions of ineptitude and missing the point.
Venus brings the need for New Values
At winter solstice, Venus is making that point very clear – collectively, we need to find a totally new relationship with money, what it represents, and how it is managed on the world stage, and in our personal lives. Saturn is showing us, in no uncertain terms, the fruits of our old relationship with it – disastrous. Jupiter has yet to come up with a new vision that can work, because it is still trying to deal with the aftermath of the old ways. Venus is requiring some lateral thinking for us to completely shift where we place our values.
All the while, everyone, in their own way is struggling to negotiate their way around the still bloated and overfed elephant in the room, pretending not to see that it is the source of all the mess that we are up to our necks in!
It was the banks, the speculative markets, and the failure of the credit ratings agencies to anticipate the financial crash of 2008, together with the ‘blind eyes’ turned to all of this by governments, which got us into this mess. Now, each decision being made by governments, as attempts to get us out of this mess, is immediately reacted to (mostly negatively) by the banks, the financial markets and credit ratings agencies. It is as though we have been collectively ‘mugged’ by three thugs, but are continuing to negotiate with them how much more we are prepared to give them control of our lives, in the hope that they will eventually stop mugging us!
On the one hand, Europe descends down a path that is eroding more and more of the democratic autonomy of each country, placing unelected ‘technocrats’ in charge to deal with those failing economies - Greece and Italy so far, but watch this space. For ‘technocrats’ read “financial experts who have been appointed to dance the dance of the ‘three thugs’”, with rapidly-diminishing regard for the democratic process. So now, the Greeks and Italians can heave a collective sigh of relief, knowing that they have someone in charge, who knows how to play the game – phew! And as for democracy - well, why should the Greeks be bothered about that, it’s not as if they invented it or anything…oh wait a minute!
On the other hand in the UK, David Cameron, in a magnificently futile assertion of being thoroughly (upper-middle class) British has succeeded in shooting himself, his deputy, and the country in the foot, splitting us off from Europe and splitting his own government, all in the name of…protecting the ‘three thugs’ that run the City of London.
Meanwhile, the credit ratings agencies are calling the shots, downgrading the status of countries and banks that they deem to be unstable – these are the same credit ratings agencies that failed to see that the banks were making increasingly outrageous decisions about levels of lending in the lead-up to 2008 - decisions that even a 10-year old would have regarded as madness. So the very agencies that failed to stop us from falling into this mess still have a powerful influence over whether we will ever get out of it. It’s a bit like allowing the doctor who damaged you during surgery being the one who is called upon to repair the damage, whilst reassuring us that he now knows how to do it now. It cannot have escaped everyone’s notice that the most influential of these agencies is called ‘Standard and Poor’ – perhaps their mission statement for what they hope to achieve for us all?
So, what can be done about this mess, and the layers of danger, lurking within it? A radical shift of values and what we value – that is the message of Venus this Winter Solstice.
The Sabian symbol for the position of Venus, at 2° Aquarius, is “An unexpected thunderstorm” – something is going to have to give, in order to release the tension. Meanwhile, the Sabian symbol for Saturn is “A man in deep gloom. Unnoticed, angels come to his help” – this speaks for itself, the man in deep gloom being the world situation, and the self-perpetuating belief around lack, which is being fed daily by governments, financial institutions and the media. But, unnoticed, angels are coming to his help – we are not seeing what is happening at other levels, and the opportunities that the current ‘crisis’ is bringing. If we can turn our attention away from the belief in lack, we might remember to appreciate the sheer abundance of Life, which continues to flourish all around us in the natural world, and in the world of the spirit.
The Sabian symbol for Jupiter is “A clear mountain stream”, which is what Jupiter can bring, once it turns direct on Christmas Day. When the thunderstorm breaks, this will provide the water to fill the clear mountain stream.
A Cradle of Abundance
Suspended beneath the opposition between Jupiter and Saturn is a ‘Cradle’ pattern, formed by the Sun on one side and a conjunction between Neptune, Vesta and Chiron, on the other. Something new is gestating out of the chaos and confusion around us, ready to emerge, when the light of the Sun returns after the Solstice. It will be born from the healing qualities (Chiron) of Unconditional Love (Neptune) as we allow it to flow freely into our hearts (Vesta). These qualities of Vesta will begin to awaken and become more fully conscious in the human heart, just as the NASA probe ‘Dawn’ is arriving close enough to asteroid Vesta, to send back some very interesting data. It is showing that this small world that was believed to be a mere rocky asteroid, is actually like a mini-planet, with and iron core and hills and mountains and valleys, and was once covered in volcanoes and lava flows.
This is interesting when we consider that Vesta is the goddess of the hearth and the inner fire of the heart. She is also the goddess who connects us to the inner creative fire of the Earth – like the Hawaiian Pele. How apt then, that planetoid Vesta was once flowing with volcanic fire, and trying to accumulate enough material from the other asteroids to become a fully fledged planet. It was only the huge gravitational field of Jupiter, which prevented this from happening.
So, this Winter Solstice, the most important thing we can do, is to withdraw from all the chaos that is going on in the dysfunctional aspects of the world, and re-connect with the warmth, inspiration and life-giving creative fire of our hearts, so that we can heal ourselves in order to birth something new, loving and wonderful to help carry us through the deep transition that awaits us in 2012.
A Note about Time
Many of you may have been feeling that time is doing weird things, and that it cannot possibly be Christmas already. This is another manifestation of Saturn in opposition to retrograde Jupiter. Jupiter should be enabling us to feel that we are moving forward; Saturn is the great Timekeeper. Retrograde Jupiter is distorting our perception of Time. The good news is that it turns direct on Christmas Day, so on Christmas Day we should all finally feel that Christmas has arrived - just in time!
