December 2009 is a busy month in the sky above (not to mention the earth below), as the planets change signs, moving forwards and backwards and clustering together in all kinds of interesting arrangements. The kicker is a Full Moon eclipse in the sign of Cancer (the second of two full moons this month), taking place on New Year’s Eve. So what does  this high octave rearrangement of the cosmic forces mean for you and for those you love?

As Venus settles into Sagittarius tomorrow (December 1^st) and the Full Moon lights up the sign of Gemini (also December 1^st), this is as good a time as any to embrace the sacred art of storytelling.

As an astrologer, part of my job is to weave a story of power, possibility and hope for my clients using the threads of their natal charts as the basis for the important themes and cycles that will shape their lives. But ideally, I can go even further and encourage people to track the movement of the stars and planets on their own, in this way they can begin to weave their own stories about their charts and their lives.

So think of my “star story” for December as a template for you to work with, a way for you to begin to develop your astrological literacy and move forward in the direction of shaping your personal planetary narrative.

The starry landscape of December is a paradoxical story, one that tells of change and awakening, but also stops and starts. Uranus, which goes direct after a five month retrograde period, is like an arrow shooting outward into the Piscean realm of imagination, creativity and spirituality. We now are free to explore the realms of possibility, having received the steady hand and focused attention of Saturn in Virgo, as it opposed Uranus in Pisces over the last year. Jupiter, the ancient ruler of Pisces and the modern ruler of Sagittarius, the archer, is further accentuated now as Venus joins the Sun for a month long visit with this expansive and optimistic fire sign.

So at first glance it would seem that all systems are “go, go, go”, yet mid-to late December, brings us a bit of a “no, no, no” vibe, slowing down our flying arrow of change and asking us to reconsider, regroup and re-energize both our thoughts and our actions. As Mars in Leo goes retrograde from mid-December until March of 2010, we have to keep our hands on the reigns of our desires. This will be a time to really explore whether our hearts are driving our will or vice-versa. Mercury retrograde in late December adds to this internalized energy, encouraging a time of introspection. We’re asked to put the breaks on now and slow down a fast moving vehicle, curbing its speed and directing a force and power that may at least appear to be out of our immediate control (Saturn/Pluto square).

This landscape of planetary possibility during the Winter of 2009-10 is only the backdrop for a larger story, a collective cosmic tale that may shape and effect your own personal narrative, but which also has a power all on its own. As you track the movements of the stars and planets in relationship to your natal chart, use your imagination to integrate the archetypes and myths of the sky into the day to day events of your life. As the days grow shorter and the nights longer, ask yourself, “What is the story that you want to tell around the Solstice fire? What is the story that gives your life meaning?” The story that warms you in the dark? This is the story that will help you keep your inner fire and light alive through this season of darkness and this is the story that is yours alone to tell.

The Star Stats

December 1

Full Moon in Gemini

Uranus in Pisces (23 degrees) goes direct

Venus moves into Sagittarius

December 20

Mars in Leo goes retrograde (19 degrees)

December 26

Mercury in Capricorn goes retrograde (21 degrees)

December 31

Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Cancer (10 degrees)

But longtime readers and astrology afficiandos know that though Saturn can sometimes seem like the “bad guy” of the zodiac, the ringed planet is also the most effective teacher when it comes to helping us give boundaries, structure and form to our dreams and visions. The cost of Saturn’s grounding, stabilizing energy is the currency of: commitment, hard work, self-discipline and focus. When we are undergoing the transits of Saturn to our personal planets, we can feel somewhat limited, constrained or blocked. That is, until we bite the bullet and begin to work within the structures of this ringed planet.

On a collective level, Saturn’s influence on tomorrow’s full moon may cause us to develop a more serious attitude to our beliefs and hopes for the future. We may become more aware of the hard work we need to undertake to manifest our goals, and possibly feel constrained or even depressed by any challenges we see ahead, letting Saturn’s shadow side overwhelm us.

If we want to try and glean the best results from this full moon we can choose to “homeopathically” take on the characteristics of Saturn in Virgo. To “dose” yourself with the Saturn in Virgo medicine, look to those areas of your life that could use more: focus, details, planning, organization, time management, health maintenance, and precision.

You may on the other hand be “overdoing” Saturn in Virgo, and need a dose of Sagittarius energy: play, optimism, expansion, adventure and education. Or perhaps Gemini is your special brew right now: communication, connection, listening, questioning, and integrating.

*Look to planets and house cusps between 13-19 degrees of Virgo, Sagittarius, Gemini and Pisces for amplified effects of this full moon, and also the house in which this lunation falls for more details on how it plays out in your personal life. Also, you may have noticed these themes and issues have already made a strong presence in your world, if this is the case, the Full Moon tomorrow is your opportunity to use the light of awareness that the moon offers to see more clearly. Though things might feel strained or at a peak of energy now, this will subside as the moon shrinks down again. Look to the two weeks following this Full Moon for resolution, answers and understanding.

An opposition is both a challenge and an opportunity. Are we willing to stretch and grow? To take a little Fool’s leap and do something different?

This Full Moon in Virgo offers us up a distinct menu of choices with an opposition involving the Sun, Uranus and Saturn. In one corner we have the Moon in Virgo, signifying our collective mood and the feeling tone in the air right now. With the Moon in Virgo, we are interested in the details of life, the mundane, the practical. Our bodies, our health, our dry cleaning and all the little errands that once completed, will make our lives run just a little bit more smoothly.

The Moon in Virgo lasts for another day or so, and occurs with the planet Saturn, which will remain in Virgo until the Fall of 2009. Saturn next to, (or conjunct), the Moon, makes us particularly alert to and aware of Saturn’s qualities at this time. Saturn is the planet who teaches us about: patience, commitment, persistence, stability, structure and tradition. But also, limitation, fear, constriction, anxiety and endings.
We feel Saturn today, like a breath (or perhaps a big wind), swirling around us, we are attuned to Saturn’s presence more sharply. Look to Virgo planets, or the house cusp of Virgo in your chart to see where this lunation falls and gain more clues as to how it effects you in particular.

*(Remember that the effects of this full moon will be felt up until the next New Moon in March in Aries.)

But the Moon and Saturn are just one part of the story. For the full picture we need to turn to the planets opposing the Moon and Saturn. So if we look to the other side, and the far, far reaches of space, we can reach out to those planets sitting directly opposite the Moon and Saturn, and there we find two rather interesting characters: the Sun and Uranus.

There they are, sitting side by side….Can you see this funky duo? The Sun, who lights up our lives, feeds our soul, and gives us a sense of meaning and purpose? The Sun shines, radiant and alive, full of potential. There close to the Sun, by about two zodiacal degrees, is the wackiest planetary body in the zodiac, that trickster, fool and radical change expert, Uranus. So there they are, these two powerhouse planets, moving in their own special way, vibrant and alive, and shimmering right now with a watery Piscean light.
The sign of Pisces brings us closer to god, and god in the Pisces sense is whatever that means for us individually. This isn’t some kind of organized religion thing, there’s no intermediary, no morality, no right and wrong. We either feel it or we don’t with Pisces. Pisces is pure faith, devotion and mystery. Now imagine what that means with Uranus dancing through this sign right now (and for the next year or so, as we near the end of Uranus’ cycle through Pisces). Pretty weird right? Maybe unexpected in a completely perfect way, as we sense a certain “rightness” in what is coming to us at this time in our lifes. We can’t explain, delineate or define it, really. Not to ourselves or anyone else. This is an experience that must be felt, intuited, gently grasped. This is not Virgo’s clarity, order and routine. This is different.

So they stand, face to face, or back to back, opposite. Earthy and real and practical, getting the work done, Virgo says, I’ve got a purpose, I know how to help, let me do my work. Pisces says, I inspire, I seed the work you will do in the world. I bring, the magic, mystery and life essence, the spark that feeds the flame of creativity and life purpose.
Right now Virgo and Pisces are doing this opposition dance, offering us the chance to feel and witness the differences between them, to see ourselves stretch out between these polar opposites, and to imagine what it means to alchemically blend these energies in a new form, a new way. As we respond to the challenge, we have the potential to use both the span of our vision and the work of our hands to together create the future we imagine.

Full moon in Scorpio/April 20, 2008 at 3:25 am pdt

Spirit versus Matter. Are they compatible or conflictual, or perhaps a bit of both? The full moon tomorrow morning highlights our awareness of the differences between these two modes of being.
This lunation is the first of two full moons this month, both in Scorpio. With the sun newly in Taurus, the earth sign ruling sensuality, finances and accumulation of resources, our attention is focused on those areas of life that are right in front of us. Anything that can be touched, smelled, tasted, heard or seen is important now.

Scorpio, which rules the unseen, and energetic patterns rather than physical ones, calls our attention also, particularly in the emotional and spirit. We may feel torn between what we think is real, and what we feel or intuit as real.

Perhaps you have had a strong feeling lately that a particular relationship, job or project would turn out a certain way, and yet you see no signs of your inner knowing manifesting in the outer world. Feelings of self-doubt and confusion are a natural outcome of this process, and to be expected given the current planetary weather.

With Saturn, the planet of physical manifestation, retrograde since earlier this year, many of our outer plans may seem on hold. Saturn retrograde is a time to do the work that our spirit demands, even if we are not reaping the external rewards. When Saturn goes direct the first week of May, we may see more of the results of the spiritual work we have been doing made manifest in the outer world.

Until then it is important to continue finding the balance between what can be seen, and what can be felt, and trusting in the truth of both these ways of being.

Alternately it is possible to use this dynamic energy to shape a questing, adventurous and curious focus, that also contains a sharp attention to detail, practicality and service. By performing this juggling routine, balancing and keeping contradictory forms moving and flowing, we are able to work with the lunar cycle in a creative and proactive way.
The Sun and three of the four outer planets (Saturn, Uranus and Pluto) are in mutable signs (Pisces, Virgo, Gemini and Sagittarius), and so we are experiencing a collective journey together, learning about bridge building, merging and synthesizing. The full moon emphasizes our understanding and awareness of this mutable nature. Mutable is changeable, flowing, moving from one extreme to another, creatively blending sharp polarities into new forms, forms that are more easily understandable and accessible.

As we navigate this mutable terrain, going more deeply into the essence of mutable nature, we may find ourselves surrounded by echoes and synchronicities that support our understanding of our own mutable signs. Identifying the planets that are in mutable signs (Sagittarius, Gemini, Virgo and Pisces), in our charts and observing their behaviors is one way to stretch and grow in response to this full moon.

Experiencing the potent, buzzing tension of paradox can be exciting and creative or stressful and chaotic. This full moon in Aries (September 26, at 12:45 pdt), is likely to have you feeling all of this and more as opposite signs and opposite planets interlace with the light and dark polarity of the Equinox. Bringing us a peak awareness of diversity, this fiery Fall Equinox moon evokes: Venus/Mars, war/peace, beauty/strength, alone/together, single/partnered, Spring/Fall, self/other, love/lust, Yin/Yang, Shiva/Shakti, and hunter/gatherer.

Showcasing the most quintessential expression of masculine and feminine energies, the Libra Sun and Aries moon calls for reflection and awareness of our primary mode of being in the world.
Each of us, no matter what our gender or sexual orientation carry these energies within us, manifesting them in different ways at different times. We may cycle through particularly masculine periods in our lives, and then enter into a more feminine awareness, or come into points of balance between the two. It is a rare individual who is able to hold these two expressions of energy in perfect balance at all times. Noticing what your pattern of male and female expression has been throughout your life and what it is currently, can be a powerful way to work with the present lunar phase.
This moon echoes back to Spring Equinox 2007 (March 21), when the Sun was in Aries and the Moon was in Libra. Reflecting back to your own balance of energies, activities and interests at that time, and noticing how your particular mode of expression has shifted since then can be helpful. Are you experiencing life from a softer more Yin perspective, allowing events to unfold naturally, responding gently and magnetically attracting what you need and want? Or are you taking charge, passionately expressing your desires to others, and fiercely focused on your goals and projects? How have things shifted since the Spring, for you and your community?
The Spring Equinox was a time of new beginnings, when we welcomed the great surge of life force energy into the world, celebrating the fragility and innocence of life. Fall Equinox is a time to honor what has grown since then, to notice the distinct personality and essence that has been shaped through mistakes and victories, and to appreciate the diversity that is inherent in different life forms, as we prepare to enter the darkness once more.
As the great white globe of the moon hangs in the darkness of the Autumn sky, use its light to reflect on the paradox of life that exists within you, witnessing your own inner diversity and honoring the fullness that you bring to life.