WINTER SOLSTICE HOROSCOPES
DECEMBER 21, 2023, 10:27 PM EST
image and text created by Shane Powers
originally published in Table Magazine
The Sun enters the first degree of Capricorn on December 21st marking the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere. At this moment the waxing Moon is simultaneously at the auspicious first degree of Taurus, near Jupiter who is retrograde, both forming a near exact configuration with the Sun known astrologically as a trine. Trine relationships between planets are said to be of the quality of Jupiter, the gracious planet of blessings. The Sun in earth sign Capricorn initiates clarity around tougher realities alive within our culture while the Moon in Taurus emits an optimistic glow of emotional intelligence illuminating ongoing ecological matters.
Astrology aside, the year ahead will likely be one of the most emotionally resonant in recent history as we approach a crossroads exploring the shape of virtues, ethics and diplomacy within our country and beyond. Awareness is the first step in making preparations and cooperative action. The Moon in astrology signifies the collective. As it transits Taurus, reflecting sobering Capricorn light at solstice time, we sit rooted in knowing there are steep slopes ahead to steady our country, Earth and global community into a holistically sustainable condition. Within a week after the solstice, Mercury, still retrograde and Venus enter Sagittarius, Jupiter’s preferred zodiac sign where Mars is also present. With three classical planets in Sagittarius, this year closes and another opens with a sense of raw transparency, hope and the colossal power of empathy for our intersecting beliefs.
Finally, as the new year begins both Jupiter and Mercury conclude their retrogrades, and now all seven classical planets are moving forward through the zodiac. While we must discern flare ups of hypocrisy, moralism and flagrant self assuredness, the astrology surrounding the solstice and new year ahead is robust with astute optimism whilst crying for the restoration of our faith in the greater good. With compassion we’d be wise to listen wholeheartedly to a blistering Earth and the barbarity amongst each other if we are to bridge the illusionary gaps between humanity, nature and the unknowable.
The new year is an ideal time to book an astrological consultation. The horoscopes I write offer broad strokes. Natal astrology consultations express much finer detail particular to your sole astrology. Whether you have met with me before or not we can look back, in the present and future together.
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ARIES
Winter begins with your planetary ruler Mars in Sagittarius in your ninth house. At this time you may feel hungry to understand more about our world, its mysteries, myths, religions and philosophical perspectives. This could be in the form of furthering your education, a far away journey, or a novel spiritual pursuit that dares your beliefs, prompts questions and expands your worldview. That said, Mars in Sagittarius wants carte blanche to explore with abandon. Furthermore, Mars and Sagittarius share an inspiring fiery relationship that can quickly become hubris, tunnel vision or unhinged dogmatism. Mars is applying to a tense aspect with Neptune in Pisces in your twelfth house of isolation and self undoing. Heated internal conversations burn within you this winter exploring specifically what is the most alimentary intellectual diet you could imagine. Neptune veils lofty visions with illusions and distractions wilting your high minded aspirations. Key to this season and especially throughout the holidays is to be sure that your desire to broaden your horizons is not minimized by a compulsion to be right.
TAURUS
It is common to stretch ourselves in relationships, recognizing fractals of ourselves aligned differently within others. Like a funhouse mirror our lovers and friends reflect our most remarkable qualities in unusual yet familiar forms. But relationships, like mirrors, can crack, shatter and twist our sense of reality. Yet it can feel agreeable to idle in habitually stressful partnerships for the sake of savoring the few crumbs of comfort they provide. Venus, the planet of love, is at 20° Scorpio in your seventh house of relationships at the winter solstice. Here Venus, your guiding planet, asks what seemingly comfortable relationships are kept for the wrong reasons. Meanwhile the Moon and Jupiter in Taurus are about to join in your first house of the mind, body and identity. The Moon and Jupiter here are a reminder that inherently you alone are habitually resourced to create the reality of your dreams. Do not abandon yourself in relationships. This winter, with an uncompromised imagination, dream of your quintessential self within relation to others. Cultivate a love that you, your partnerships and the spirit born free of them will mirror your unique beauty.
GEMINI
We all carry stories alive within our memories. Some glow like mystical dreams and others harrow like nightmares There are stories impressed upon us and stories we tell ourselves. Some stories shape shift in the sand dunes of time. Winter solstice begins with your ruling planet Mercury retrograde and about to join the Sun in Capricorn in your eighth house of things we fall heir to. Mercury retrograde with the Sun rekindles inherited stories buried inside memories of self, partnerships, home, and family. Although subjective, we all share a primordial connection to a family or origin archetype. For better or worse these stories cut facets of who we are becoming. But memories, good or bad come with a yearning to understand and make new sense of the past. During this darker quarter of the year spend time with those memories and rewrite your own stories like fables embedded with timeless messages reflecting your follies and weaknesses. The unique stories you tell yourself are the most significant; eternally growing, blooming and passing on the tendrils of your memories, ensuring more to be told.
CANCER
As winter begins your planetary guide, the Moon is waxing, or increasing in light at 0° Taurus in your eleventh house of hopes, dreams and wishes. You have been tirelessly at work on a long term vision that will be of great support to you. You’ve scanned your social landscape listening for clues of how, when and why to bother pursuing this goal. Hesitant, you may ask, is there any purpose in doing so and will it be received well? But quietly the Moon who is exalted in Taurus offers you special privileges this winter and is applying to the conjunction of bountiful Jupiter who bears generous blessings in your eleventh house of friends and benefactors. Empowered by some healthy resistance, the pay off you will soon receive is maturing unnoticed thanks to your dedication and considered risk taking. It has appeared not much was visibly growing but below the surface nutrient rich soil has created deep roots upon which your dream may stand tall. Like many winter vegetables, feel fortified to fulfill your aspirations this season with a frost tolerant constitution.
LEO
On December 21st your planetary ruler, the Sun, crosses the solstice point into Capricorn. Meanwhile Mercury, the god of messengers is retrograde and applying to a conjunction with the Sun. You have been spinning your wheels. This winter you are outgrowing how you spend your vital life force in your professional life. Perhaps you have been idling in a self-defeating concept of what your higher capabilities are. Most importantly where, when and what spaces you feel most empowered to do so. Over extended, you may feel creatively burned out and most likely the work environments in which you find yourself no longer feed your sense of purpose. Time to change gears. As it is said, the only constant is change. Change takes self perception, effort, a little magic and patience. Like gears which redistribute speed, weight and time into a mechanical advantage, consider where in your life you can discover paths to self fulfillment through modes less unnecessarily strenuous. Work smarter not harder. With Mercury and the Sun in a supportive aspect with the Moon in Taurus, keep your efforts aligned with soul fed integrity.
VIRGO
With Mars guiding your third house of communication you are stealth with language and able to craft piercing observations into cutting revelations. You give the sharpest read on anyone or any situation, walking a fine line between thoughtful observation, sarcasm and criticism. As your ruling planet Mercury who is retrograde applies to join the Sun at solstice time in your fifth house of pleasure, parties and good times you are encouraged to consider what a sense of play could bring to your otherwise particular approach to voicing your point of view. As this festive time of year offers more gatherings than you are naturally comfortable with, challenge yourself by leaning into awkward social interactions as an opportunity to stretch your communication style. With the Sun guiding your twelfth house of hidden things there is a reservoir of unique insight to share when you’re feeling confident. Allow others to lead the conversation and surprise them with your undercover wit. This winter is an auspicious time for you to make new connections while conversations flow, setting in motion new feedback loops between your heart and head.
LIBRA
Venus, your guiding planet is in Scorpio at the dawn of winter solstice in your second house of sustenance, finance and material goods. Penetrating here, Venus can be the bittersweet discomfort that comes with reflection upon the motivations behind your wants, needs and desires. It is a gift of life to be fed not only with nutritious food but beauty as well. Beauty in our material possessions but also beauty in fantasies and illusions we tell ourselves. It can spark creativity and hope but also delusion. As Venus is guided by Mars in Sagittarius in your third house of the habitual, it is notable that Mars in fire signs can burn holes in our wallets. There is a contradictory theme here where at once you may feel compelled to hold onto creature comforts while reconsidering what material comforts can cease to exist. At a time of year when undue consumption is encouraged, be aware of spending hangovers. Balancing your needs versus your wants this winter is a good reminder that when we are in control of those desires we bring to light freedom elsewhere.
SCORPIO
As winter begins, Venus, goddess of affection is in a potent configuration with the Moon, Jupiter and Uranus in your seventh house of compromise and relationships. The seventh house is associated with the western horizon where the Sun sets into the underworld. Therefore the Moon, Jupiter and Uranus setting in this portion of your chart invites you to surrender and rest in the most imaginative and unimaginably tender idea of what relating to the world could be. The guide of your seventh house, Venus, who governs connection is rising in your first house of mind and body implying the idea of love is on the tip of your mind this winter. Love for yourself and this solstice especially, the enigmatic self. Venus in scorpio asks that you be courageous as well, cutting the grass to see the snakes in your relationship dynamics. Then as Venus is applying to an aqueous configuration with Neptune, dare to love with boundless compassion and bare honesty. Any unprocessed emotions and desires within relationships that have gone to seed will need to rise, open and appear.
SAGITTARIUS
Generous Jupiter, your guiding planet is retrograde in Taurus in your sixth house. Our sixth house will let us know when we need to take better care of ourselves, be it our physical vitality or situations that create distress. Also present with Jupiter in Taurus is the Moon where they are about to join suggesting a priority this winter would be paying close attention to the needs of a hale and hearty lifestyle. Health is relatively subjective but there are other factors in the astrology of this moment that indicate you are burning the midnight oil physically and mentally. There is also evidence that you have good intentions while overdoing it but in fact may be passively ignoring its self defeating effects. As this winter deepens, actively give yourself quiet time where you may rest well. Consider long term and sustainable lifestyle habits versus quick fixes that become squandered efforts ending in disappointment. Jupiter and the Moon in Taurus are an auspicious pairing for lasting commitments grounding the mind and body far past the fickle resolutions so eulogized at every new year.
CAPRICORN
You willfully hold the weight of tradition among family, friends and community. In your heart is the key to a library containing oral histories, genealogy, and heirloom observances. Saturn, your planetary guide is in Pisces in your third house of religious observances, extended family and habitual practices. With earth as Saturn's element in a mutable water sign this solstice season you are realizing where traditions have become obsolete and non inclusive. As generations pass, traditions rooted in time ideally attune to new perspectives relevant to their unfolding environmental circumstances. The Moon was said to rejoice in the third house due to its reliably inconsistent movement through the sky. Also its location, as the celestial body closest to our home planet thus represents things that are familiar. The Moon is well placed in Taurus in your fifth house of creativity making a generative aspect to Saturn offering resourceful approaches to established family practices. This festive season and throughout the new year reconsider where family and communal traditions have become empty gestures rather than soulfully woven hallmarks in time shared together.
AQUARIUS
You are quietly enamored with the impression others have of you. Also of the value your offerings give to the world. But especially in your career or calling right now you possess a pleasurably bitter sense of self assuredness. Like when you’ve kept a well maintained appearance for something that gives you a dazed sense of security. It may also be a passing time within your career that feels simply like a means to an end. But with the Moon and Jupiter about to join in your fourth house of home, remember that your appearance in the public eye is a fragment of your personae but can easily eclipse your entire self identity. The Moon in Taurus is separating from a favorable aspect with your guiding planet Saturn in the deep southern hemisphere of your chart referred to as the “subterranean place” where instinct and intuition coalesce. Pay close attention this winter while developing other sensory experiences (i.e. cooking or indoor gardening) within your private spaces that will over time reveal information about the value of your rich and abundant inner life apart from the gaze of others.
PISCES
Dreams are on the tip of your mind. Not necessarily the lofty dreams of status and recognition. More so the dreams that question your sense of reality or the ones that feel awkwardly out of reach yet aspirational. At winter solstice the Moon and your guiding planet Jupiter are in Taurus in your third house, a portion of the Earth that rotates just past midnight from the darkest portion of night carrying messages through the dream realm and into waking life. Like in still life paintings where objects are selected for their symbolism, look around the house and cobble together a group of objects that symbolize your intentions for the coming year. For example, consider a fork for the recipes you wish to try. A stone for the more time in nature you intend to spend. One book that exemplifies your ideals for the coming year. A candle as a pillar of burning focus. Banal as these items may seem, together they embody material signifiers synthesizing your dreams into a talismanic reminder of where you would like your time and energy to converge this coming year.