Mercury is quite active in December, bringing us another communication retrograde cycle. With three aspects each to Mars, Uranus and Saturn, Mercury asks us to get down to the bottom line of what we desire and how we are going to create it.

We have spent the summer and fall, during the Mar’s retro cycle and six-month passage through Pisces, redefining our desires. Now Mercury helps activate things. For some, we are facing major changes with regard to our evolving desires, and Mercury will generate the clarity to be realistic in achieving what we want.

The year-long yod formation between Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune interacts with this Mercury retro cycle as well. Adjusting, changing, compromising, evolving – the mantras to any planetary yod aspect. With this yod, our beliefs and the realities we create from our beliefs, are facing major upheavals that we will spend years reflecting upon and understanding.

It is up to each individual soul as to the positive or negative nature of these changing times. As Uranus and Neptune in Aquarius have been telling us since 1998, what we energize we create. If you like what you are creating, energize it even more. If you are unhappy with your life, where do you need to shift your energizing emotions, thoughts and beliefs big-time?

Only you create your world. That simple awareness and understanding means total self-responsibility and – total freedom. What are you choosing to create?

The Sun is in Sagittarius and the Evolutionary Astrology mantra is: I understand the relativity of truth with others. Sag quests for truth. The limitation, and therefore lesson, is settling for part of the truth and becoming invested in a certain version of the truth for security reasons. I am right and you are wrong. My way is better than your way.

The quest for truth is about desiring the whole truth, timeless truth, especially when it asks us to let go of old limited versions of truth. There are many paths home to the ultimate truths. Our willingness to let go of old security-based limited versions of the truth for evolving, ultimate truth and understanding is the annual lesson during the solar Sag month.

May you always be open to considering another belief, another truth, in case it is your next step Home.

Mercury makes the first of three waning sextiles to Uranus on December 1-2 at 29/30 degrees Sagittarius-Aquarius. The degree to which we can let go of old attitudes is the degree to which new ideas and possibilities can come in. For six months Uranus has activated the last degree of Aquarius and the first degree of Pisces. All three waning sextiles to Mercury take place there, with Mercury in the last degree of Sag and the first degree of Capricorn.

De-condition, break free and liberate – the messages of Uranus and Aquarius, the sign it rules. All year long, we have been given the chance to look at things differently than before, to really detach and see things as never before. Left-brain (Mercury) is open to the messages coming up from the deep, unconscious right-brain (Uranus).

Where is your soul giving you repeated messages to let go? To move forward? This first Mercury-Uranus waning sextile can set the stage for the next few weeks. Go within, trust yourself and listen.

The next day, December 2, Mercury moves into Capricorn. Time to fine-tune all those Mercury in Sag ideas that came through and focus on a few ideas that we can make real. Prioritize with Mercury in Capricorn. We will do just that during its retro cycle December 17 through January 6, 2004.

The Sun makes a waning sextile to Neptune on December 3 at 10/11 degrees Sagittarius-Aquarius. The potential is surrendering, dissolving our boundaries and merging into wholeness with our higher self and its connection to Source. Lessor-evolved souls draw lines in the sand and defend their boundaries based upon unconscious fears of being consumed by others.

Where are you holding on to the past for security reasons? What is the fear that prevents you from the next merging step with God/Goddess? What inspiring ideas are trying to break through?

Venus makes an opposition to Saturn retro on December 6 at 11/12 degrees Capricorn-Cancer. An aspect traditionally associated with pain and loss in love. For souls evolving on the path to greater self-reliance, this Venus-Saturn opposition can bring awareness of what we can do to take better care of ourselves.

In Cancer-Capricorn, the love messages revolve around family and the love patterns we learned in our families of origin. Are you still looking for that someone on the outside to love you, or are you learning to love yourself that way? The love you receive from others is identical to the love you give yourself. What is your next step in the process of maturing your love patterns?

The Full Moon of Gemini is December 8 at 16/17 degrees Sagittarius-Gemini. This is the annual time to realize the relativity of truth. The Sun’s annual passage through Sag emphasizes the soul lessons of questing for truth that we are individually and collectively learning via Pluto’s long passage (1995-2008) through Sag. The Sun is a few days away from its annual conjunction to Pluto.

As the Moon travels through Gemini and opposes the Sun and Pluto, we have a chance to emotionally intuit truth versus lies. The political consensus state in the United States has been passing laws that will do the opposite of what is claimed. Citizens are being fed lies as truth. Can you recognize this?

Where else in your own personal life are suppressions of truth coming out? Can you face what is real, or do you try to suppress things again in order to feel secure? May you face your own evolving truths coming through.

The Sun then makes a waxing square to Jupiter on December 10 at 17/18 degrees Sagittarius-Virgo. This aspect symbolizes a crisis in action, and with these planets/signs it is about moving forward with new understandings about life. Jupiter in Virgo is about sending out hurtful energy or healing energy. Do we move forward at the expense of others, or in ways that support others as well as ourselves?

This Sag month is opportunity for all souls to make new realizations about themselves and the planet. We can move deeper into our lies, or break free into new understandings of truth. How is this happening for you?

There is potential for major steps forward in spreading real truth and healing energy when Sun waxing squares Jupiter.

Venus makes a waxing trine to Jupiter at 18/19 degrees Capricorn-Virgo the next day, December 11. We can find “shop till we drop” materialistic energy here, and we can realize our possessions makes a poor, temporary substitute for the love we really desire.

Inwardly asking how we can love ourselves better is a daily question and quest. Let this Venus-Jupiter aspect help you find what really matters for you. Try giving others your love this holiday season.

Sun makes its annual conjunction to Pluto on December 11/12 at 19/20 degrees Sagittarius, an annual rebirthing of truth within our souls. What have you realized over the last year as limiting to your soul’s growth? Can you let it go? What beckons on new horizons?

We want our quest for truth to create a circle so large we can include every one and every thing. Patriarchal energy excludes. Matriarchal energy includes. Too much of either energy results in extreme unbalances. Unity in diversity that harms none and nourishes all is not only possible; it is what will save the circle. May your circle of truth deep within your soul grow this next Sun-Pluto year.

Mercury makes its first of three oppositions to Saturn retrograde on December 13 at 11/12 degrees Capricorn-Cancer. Mercury spends almost the entire month in opposition orb to Saturn, turning retrograde itself opposing Saturn retrograde.

Mercury symbolizes the left-brain, analytical, conscious mind. Saturn represents the individuated consciousness in space/time reality. The Mercury-Saturn opposition is about getting real. With Cancer-Capricorn, it includes the realm of home and the world.

Cancer-Capricorn also includes lessons of inner security and outer security. Those souls caught up in outer security are hard pressed to find it in today’s lightning-strike changing world. The quest here is to create deeper levels of inner emotional self-reliance (Cancer) that allow us to then create an outer social self-reliance (Saturn).

Healing your own nest will help heal the world’s nest. These Mercury-Saturn oppositions will most likely point out how a safe nest doesn’t exist for most of the world. This in turn feeds directly into the Jupiter-Saturn-Neptune yod formation, demanding we evolve our spiritual and social beliefs and customs.

The next day on December 14 Saturn retro makes the second of three waxing inconjuncts to Neptune at 11/12 degrees Cancer-Aquarius. (See list of yod aspects at end of forecast.) With Saturn in Cancer, our family and social communities desire emotional security. It seems like the detached Aquarian world, and religious gods, are quite ruthless these days. We are inclined to lash out and exclude, versus understand and include.

Evolutionary Astrology strives to understand and help different evolutionary states of the soul evolve their next step. Consensus state souls (approximately 70% of souls) have the hardest time with any planetary aspects. This Saturn retro waxing inconjunct to Neptune has them fearing everything. Security is outwardly based for consensus state souls, so the world is a very scary place these days.

Societies with different beliefs and customs (Neptune in Aquarius) are very threatening and there are attempts to convert, and force, societies who are different to be just like their oppressors in order to feel secure. We see this example with the United States actions toward Iraq and vice versa, or Israeli actions toward Palestine and vice versa.

Consensus state souls seek to impose their beliefs rather than understand those who have different beliefs. Saturn in Cancer creates protectionism attitudes and as Neptune in Aquarius asks for unity in diversity, there is rejection and the compromise is dollars for more bombs instead of schools.

As souls evolve into the individuated state (approximately 20% of souls), the shift from outer security to inner security begins. The early stages of the individuated state creates major havoc as these souls do not fit into the consensus state anymore, and yet, they do not know where they do belong. It is still easier to reach for outer security until that inner self-reliance is actualized.

So Saturn retro in Cancer creates major emotional insecurities as jobs, families, communities and countries go through necessary changes in evolving toward the global village (Neptune in Aquarius). To the degree individual state souls learn to grasp and understand their real security lies within, then they are able to make the adjustments in their lives that allows them to create a world they feel safe in.

The individual state is where souls question what is truth rather then just believe what they are told. This is where souls realize the limitations of human-made religions and search for what is natural spiritual truth. These Saturn-Neptune waxing inconjuncts still push security buttons big-time, and that itself serves to help the individuated state reach for greater inner security.

When souls reach the spiritual state (approximately 5% of souls), they understand natural spiritual laws and principles, the timeless truths. They realize the interconnectedness of everything. The Neptune in Aquarius “unity in diversity” theme is consciously searched for. The waxing inconjuncts from Saturn in Cancer are understood as the lessons in eliminating fears and separating desires.

Life and its lessons still continue to happen. However by the spirituated state, souls recognize they can only look to themselves when insecurity buttons get pushed. Here is where inner security is full grasped and actualized as the spiritual state realizes ultimate security comes from God/Goddess itself.

There is a natural sense in helping the others understand the larger picture of Saturn in Cancer, which is that we are all one family of many species and many countries. Evolving Saturn in Cancer realizes that love is a building block with more power than force. Evolving Neptune in Aquarius realizes that for all our different beliefs, customs and taboos, we are one human species and we relate to one Source regardless of how many names he/she is called by.

Where are your insecurity buttons pushed this month and this winter? What is your next step in inner self-reliance? How do you need to evolve and grow in expanding your beliefs?

Mars moves into Aries December 16, the sign of its rulership. Whew, six months in Pisces with all its displaced emotions thrown back in our face through Mars’ retrograde cycle there. Most of us have reached a new level of understanding in any desires based upon illusion and delusion. Hopefully, we have released those separating desires that are not in our best interests.

Mars relates to the conscious desires of the soul and through it’s retrograde cycle in Pisces it has taken half a year to clarify those desires that exist deep within. Now Mars in Aries wants to charge forth with new evolving desires. It’s like letting the bucking bronco out of the pen. Where it goes is less important then just being free to move! Listen to your instincts. What feels like the right direction for you?

Interestingly, or perhaps synchronisticly, just as Mars wants to charge forth, Mercury, the planet of communications goes retrograde on December 17 at 12/13 degrees Capricorn. Mercury is pretty practical in Cap. It focuses on being direct and getting to the point. A Mercury retro cycle in Capricorn means there is a deeper bottom line yet, and mentally we have to get to it.

So, it will be easiest for Mars in Aries, to really listen to its instincts and allow Mercury some time to bring things into greater clarity. If ideas are going forth easily, that is fine. If there seems to be more coming into the picture, pay attention.

Mercury appears to go backwards, or retrograde, from our geocentric (earth-centered) viewpoint three-four times per year for about three weeks. It is the most common, and bad-mouthed, planetary retrograde cycle.

TMI – too much information can drive us all into confusion. It is necessary to review and throw out the fluff periodically. We do it every night in our dreams. We do it when Mercury goes retro.

So what appears to be limiting you in Capricorn ways, i.e. money, society, career, authority, family? Remember to breathe the middle of this month, and discern what you get to review. Those desires that have survived, and are continuing to evolve can be fine-tuned during this Mercury retro.

Remember, remember: outer security comes from inner security. Mercury retrograde in Capricorn points to Cancer (and Saturn in this retro cycle). Address your own emotional needs and lessons. Minimize projections on to family and career as much as possible. Realize that your home and work environments are only reflecting what is going on within you. Change yourself to change your world.

Venus moves into Aquarius on December 20/21 for a three-week plus passage. Venus detaches here and loves with the head instead of the heart. Being able to detach and be objective in love is a trait many of us need more of. However, we must then come back into our bodies and participate however it is best for us.

Utilize Venus in Aquarius to help you evolve your ability to love equally. Can you love those who give you fear? Can you love the political leaders who make decisions you would not make? Venus in Aquarius is another reminder that what we energize we create. What emotions do you choose to energize?

The Sun makes a waning sextile to Uranus on December 21 at 29/30 degrees Sagittarius-Aquarius, another chance to let go of old beliefs and attitudes and allow new ones to come in. We can make so many realizations here. We can also remain stuck in reinterpreting things the same old way. Dare to be different, to think differently, to believe differently than you have in the past.

These last few days of Uranus in Aquarius can bring many ah ha’s if we are open to the messages coming up into consciousness. Past, present and future – what are you realizing about yourself?

Mercury retro makes the second of three oppositions to Saturn retro on December 21/22 at 10/11 degrees Capricorn-Cancer. Continually, almost all month, emotional fears come up to be addressed, healed and evolved. It is time to throw off excess. The materialism of this time of the year is so conditioned. Can you see how you get emotionally sucked in? Do you really need it? Do your children?

Are the messages coming in this year to just love and be loved during the holidays? Is family time more important than the financial stress of blowing your budget? Get to the bottom line of what is important for you and your families of origin and choice.

Both Mercury and Saturn retro in Capricorn-Cancer can help tear down years of wall building in our families. Heal yourself, heal your family, and we will heal the world. How many times can you say “I love you” during this Mercury retrograde cycle? How many times can you say it to family members? Can you say it to the people that are the hardest ones to say it to? It doesn’t mean you have to agree with them or live with them, just love them as they are.

The Sun moves into Capricorn on December 22, initiating the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. The Evolutionary Mantra for Capricorn is: I achieve my goals with emotional self-reliance. We want to be on top with Capricorn. We want to master the outer world, especially career. The degree to which we are successful is the degree to which we master our inner world of self-reliance.

Capricorn teaches us self-determination, self-responsibility and social maturity, usually via our careers. So many times we try to control and manipulate the outer world to get what we want. What a lesson for Capricorn energy to realize inner creates outer. May you realize your inner growth ultimately determines your long-term outer success.

The New Moon of Capricorn follows on December 23 at 1-2 degrees. The annual new moon to determine what we will do with our lives. Moon in Capricorn likes to bury, deny and suppress those emotions. It is when Moon in Capricorn embraces the emotional world that it conquers it in the healthiest ways and creates foundations in the world that really last.

Venus makes a waning sextile to Mars at 5/6 degrees Aquarius-Aries on December 25. Here is some really nice energy to let go of those old emotional blocks and just make an effort to love. Whether you are loved in return matters less than making the effort. How can you love yourself better? How can you love others better?

We have created this religious holiday as a symbol of new birth. Make it your symbol to rebirth love wherever it is needed in your world. Love is the most important gift you can give. Give the gift of love in unexpected ways to those who least expect it from you.

Mercury retro makes the second of three waning squares to Mars on December 26 at 5/6 degrees Capricorn-Aries. More messages on what really counts with our evolving desires. Frustrations here mean you are trying to push the past forward. Let it go. Maybe it is time to let a desire or two go as well.

We are trying to figure out what really serves us now. Prioritize all those desires and give the most energy to those that are the most important.

That same day Mercury retrograde makes an inferior conjunction to the Sun at 4/5 degrees Capricorn. This is the highlight of a Mercury retro cycle and the time for answers. The frustrations raised by Mercury’s waning square to Mars allow for a focus on what counts when Mercury passes back over the Sun.

The mental messages are coming via Capricorn: practical goals, prioritize needs and desires, and reevaluate financial situations. Touch base with those Cancerian emotions to know if you are mentally on track. Accept the reality of your situations and operate from the foundations you have. What is really important? Where can you take your next maturing step?

The Sun then makes a waning square to Mars on December 29/30 at 8/9 degrees Capricorn-Aries. More of the above. Utilize any frustration and anger as feedback to where you are projecting responsibility on to others. Accept complete responsibility for yourself and your life. That is the first step in creating real power. Ask for your own higher power to guide you forward.

Uranus finishes up a seven-year journey through Aquarius, its sign of rulership, on December 30 and moves into Pisces for the next seven years. It will be another 84 years before Uranus visits its own sign again. The last time we had Uranus in Pisces was the Roaring 20s.

When the outer planets (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) change signs it is a major archetypal shift as these planets move so slowly. If we live to be in our mid-80s, we can actually have a Uranus return in our natal (birth) chart.

Part of the reason for emphasizing Uranus in Pisces is that it moves there while Neptune, the ruler of Pisces, is in Aquarius, the sign Uranus rules. It is called mutual reception when two planets are each in the signs the other one rules. Uranus and Neptune will have mutual reception with each other for the next seven years, until 2010.

As the last sign of the zodiac, Pisces represents completion, fruition and endings. Pisces and Neptune are about dissolving all barriers that prevent merging with the Ultimate Source. Uranus in Pisces offers us a change to liberate from whatever holds us back spiritually.

We all have desires to merge with Source, and yet we all have a desire to be secure in our sense of self. To let go and let God/Goddess is the hardest thing we will ever do. We find so many excuses to procrastinate re-merging with Source, such as fulfilling all the separating desires we can create. Sooner or later, we exhaust our separating desires and the re-merging, more evolved and whole, begins to gain momentum.

For some souls, the desire to merge with Source will quicken as Uranus moves through Pisces, and yet we will still procrastinate as we face our fears of apparently losing ourselves. For the many of us, even in the spiritual state, we will get to face the separating desires we still strongly identify with in order to feel a sense of self-wholeness.

The majority of souls will be caught up in many separating desires, fulfilling and exhausting them only to replace them with another separating desire. Pisces relates to addictions, and substance addictions, both legal and illegal, represent escape from reality as well as a shortcut to Source, among other things. Today’s usage of substances has, however, an effect of separating us from God/Goddess instead of bringing us closer.

Uranus represents the individuated unconsciousness, containing the past in all its detail, suppressions in the present, and the blueprint of the future. To experience a Uranian moment, is to receive messages into our conscious mind from our unconsciousness. Sometimes, we use substances and/or accessing methods, to break down those barriers to the unconsciousness.

As Uranus travels through Pisces, we will naturally tap into our individuated unconsciousness, and the collective unconsciousness. We will also desire the substances (remember the Roaring 20s) and techniques to help us get below the surface at will, and escape reality. Every archetype contains both positive and negative symbols, and we each choose how to activate the archetype.

Uranus in Pisces will take time to understand. Everything unconscious will rush to the surface and that in and of itself is scary and threatening. We will reach for security even more. It will take time to recognize the past that is unconsciously pushing our buttons and perhaps sabotaging where we desire to evolve. The promise is that Uranus is all about de-conditioning and breaking free to be who we really are.

Uranus in Pisces is here to dissolve those barriers of separation and teach us that we are all connected. May you be successful in realizing this wherever it is necessary for you.

Also on December 30, Venus makes a conjunction to Neptune in Aquarius at 11/12 degrees. The lower, personal octave of love meets the higher, universal octave of love in the sign of brotherhood/sisterhood. This year, New Years Eve may be more meaningful than Christmas.

Venus conjunct Neptune is an annual rebirthing of love. Since 1998, Neptune has been teaching us “unity in diversity” love. Loving the contrast of what is different for what it teaches us. May you be successful in loving those who are different from you.

Mercury retro makes the second of three waning sextiles to Uranus on December 30 as well at 0 degrees Capricorn-Pisces. Again, conscious mind is receiving messages from our individuated unconscious mind. What are you realizing at the end of this year? What reflections are leading you forward into the coming new year with a new beginning? What are you personally being conscious of with deeper understanding?

Mercury retrograde then moves back into Sagittarius on December 30 as its retro cycle goes back for more insights. From practical Capricorn to intuitive Sag, Mercury gets to revisit some of those great ideas it had earlier. More info is ready to come through, and ideas get to be meditated upon for greater understanding.

Make time for some end-of-year conversations and listen to the feedback, really listen. You may receive major new insights.

Finally the Sun makes its annual opposition to Saturn retrograde on December 31 at 9/10 degrees Capricorn-Cancer. The highlight of any planetary retro cycle is its interaction with the Sun. It is the time period for answers to that planetary archetype.

Since Saturn went retrograde on October 25, we have been reflecting on the changes to our realities. Career, family, society, and especially the countries we live in – emotional changes are occurring. Here is your chance to find that emotional self-reliance and security from deep within. Sun shines through and lets you find the self-love so necessary to your survival and complete happiness.

Capricorn’s outer success comes from our personal emotional success. Saturn retro in Cancer is trying the best it can to help you find emotional maturity. Just as the planets spiral forward in their never-ending circles, so we move forward and evolve to the degree we are willing. Saturn retro is about getting in touch with going forward rather than crystallizing in our limited securities.

May the end of this year fill you with insight in loving yourself as deeply as you can. May you be filled with creating a life of love, a family of love, a community of love and a world of love.

May God/Goddess bless you in December!