As you likely know, yesterday (Saturday night) we experienced the Capricorn New Moon, which was also a partial solar eclipse. So that puts us into ‘the eclipse zone’: the two weeks between eclipses that can be especially useful for releasing that which is no longer needed, and for initiating new patterns that support your growth, goals and desires. Sometimes the eclipse zone can feel a little like a parallel universe, where life takes unusual turns.

Surfer at Blockhouse Beach, Florida; photo by Rusty Clark / CC BY 2.0

At the end of the two weeks, we get the second eclipse in this pair (they usually come in twos; sometimes we’ll get a trio). That will be the Leo Full Moon (with the Sun in Aquarius) and total lunar eclipse on Jan. 20-21, depending on time zone.

Eclipses are currently in the process of moving from the Leo-Aquarius axis (where they were last summer) to the Cancer-Capricorn axis. You may notice a corresponding shift in the areas of your life where change beckons, where opportunities emerge, or where your most pressing questions crop up.

The standard Planet Waves approach to eclipses has long been to ‘look where you want to be’ — a slogan Eric and I once spotted on a surfer’s T-shirt. It’s not just a key principle in surfing; it also sums up perfectly a great way to handle eclipses — whether you feel like a giant wave is crashing around you, or like you’re paddling along a calm lakeshore.

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We have just published the INTELLIGENCE readings (part one, RESET 2019), so I’m going to keep this note short and sweet, and invite you to explore the new website, and to read your extended monthly horoscope as well. I’ve got a new audio Q&A feature that’s easy to find.

Photo by Lanvi Nguyen.

The New Year holiday arrives with a burst of energy, mostly supplied by Mars entering Aries Monday at 9:20 pm EST. This puts some heat onto the Aries Point, that sensitive spot where the wider affairs of society intersect with our individual lives.

There’s plenty of mojo focused there right now, with Pholus (a propulsion source) right in the first degree of Capricorn (an extension of the Aries Point). I’ll come back to that in a moment.

One influence this week is that we’re approaching a partial solar eclipse in Capricorn. Whatever influence this eclipse might seem to lose for being a partial, it compensates for by being right at the midpoint of Capricorn. (For those born under the sign Capricorn, I address this in your birthday reading.)

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Right on the solstice and hours before the Full Moon, the U.S. federal government was shut down over whether $5 billion should go to “the wall” along the southern border. Just wondering — do we really need that much money for a wall, right now? This very minute, such that it’s worth closing dozens of departments and putting hundreds of thousands of people out of work?

Chart for the shutdown of parts of the federal government, at midnight Saturday morning, with the Sun a quarter of a degree into Capricorn, and the Full Moon about 16 hours behind.

Here is something interesting that I’ve just about always found to be true, as in dependably so. Full Moons tend to release an impasse. In this case, however, that didn’t seem to work — the problem being that even Republicans in the Senate were not interested in funding “the wall.” One week ago I wrote a caution about unusual developments in government, and how they could open up a kind of cascade effect.

The shutdown occurred in advance of the Full Moon, so the spring had not yet sprung — and has yet to do so. What we’re hearing as an excuse for this action is unrelated to the actual issue; that is something deeper. We could say that the problem is government by tantrum, which is not government at all. We are not seeing a shutdown but rather a meltdown.

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We’re about to experience a Full Moon on the Northern winter solstice. This is a lunation in aspect to the Aries Point (the first degree of the zodiac), and no matter what, that promises to deliver something unusual. The most ordinary Full Moon has a way of breaking deadlocks and getting the energy moving.

Full Moon over the Acropolis, Greece. Photo by Anthony Ayiomamitis.

This particular Full Moon, however, is in aspect to Pholus, the second-discovered and by far the most energetic of the centaur planets. When the Sun enters Capricorn on Friday, the first thing it will do is make a conjunction to Pholus. Then the next thing that happens is the Great Wave of the Cancer Full Moon, opposite the Sun and Pholus.

Anything in the very early cardinal signs is in aspect to the Aries Point — that dependable intersection between the individual and the collective (or as I used to say, where the personal is political).

Without overstating the case one bit, this is a big one. It’s also a proving moment for Pholus, a moment when we get to see a relatively new planet in action, activated simultaneously by the Full Moon and the Aries Point.

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Composite image showing the Smith Cloud, an immense cloud of hydrogen gas, making its way toward our galaxy at nearly 700,000 miles per hour. Image by Saxton/Lockman/NRAO/AUI/NSF/Mellinger.

This will be another week of unusual astrology, which will intensify over the next five or six days. I’m going to provide a rundown of the basics, with some practical ideas and philosophy. We all read a lot on the internet, and the stream of ‘content’ goes by so fast it’s difficult to remember what you learned. So, I’ll send this letter out again on Tuesday evening, as a reminder.

The current astrology may enhance the condition of forgetting what you learn, or what you know, and arrive with various forms of false certainty, including the notion that you’re not really so vulnerable (when in fact we need to be monitoring our vulnerabilities carefully this week).

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This week’s astrology is an episode out of Twin Peaks — full of intrigue, the whispering of secrets, and the dream plane blending with physical reality. There are extreme contrasts between dark and light, hope and fear, reality and fantasy; at the same time these things seem to blend in consciousness.

Before I get too deep into the details, first I’m here with a travel advisory.

Photo by Divine Reflections.

Astrology tonight and into tomorrow calls for the utmost care when driving. That means eliminating distractions, such as conversation in the car or on the phone.

Leave yourself plenty of time so that you’re not rushing, which is a form of distraction. If you’re using a maps-type program, name one of the passengers navigation officer so that the driver is not doing that job.

Honor precautions for public transport as well: have your paperwork (electronic or otherwise) verified and in order and check with all people in your traveling party long before you leave, and before you go through security. Double-check and leave all potential contraband behind, before you get to the airport.

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If the ground you’re on seems to be shifting, consider our dramatic moment of astrology. Venus has just moved to direct motion; Mercury has just moved to retrograde motion. And two planets have mounted the mutable cross: Mars has entered Pisces, after seemingly endless months traversing Aquarius, and Jupiter has entered Sagittarius.

This is a sweeping change in environment, in contrast to what we’ve been accustomed to the past seven or eight months. I think that many of us are still picking up the pieces from Mars retrograde. Just about everyone I know went through something unusual, life-changing or destructive. Anyway, that is behind us, though I would encourage you to still keep doing any necessary repair and cleanup work.

Right now, almost anything is available. Any potential is within reach, particularly if you do that Sagittarius thing and keep your focus on what you want.

A lot of pent-up energy is going to be released with Mars in Pisces, after the long retrograde, and Mars somewhat out of sorts in Aquarius. It will be necessary under this astrology to keep a grip on your emotions, on your sense of wounding, issues of betrayal, and desire for revenge. There is a time for every purpose under heaven, and this is the time to be a little chill about all those things, call them what they are, and find appropriate ways to address each of them.

The aspect to watch on this topic is Mars conjunct Nessus, exact Sunday, Nov. 25. But this will be a slow burn as it approaches. If you’re getting together with a family where there has been a lot of abuse in years or generations past, this is a trigger warning. If this keeps happening, get yourself a copy of A General Theory of Love, so you understand what’s going on.

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This is a busy week in the neighborhood. I’ve already said most of what I have to say about the confluence of events that are underway, published with the November Monthly Horoscope. I’m going to republish a portion of my lead article here, in case you didn’t see it — or want to give it another layer of study.

Swirling clouds in Jupiter’s North Temperate Belt, captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft. Image by NASA/JPL/SwRI/MSSS/G. Eichstad/S. Doran.

It’s taken me a while to figure this out, but astrology is a story that never resolves.

There are points of resolution, though there are so many cycles running at once that one tends to lead to another, or three or four are going off at once.

That said, this has been an unusual year, with one inner planet retrograde after the next, both of which involved elements related to Scorpio (which tends to make people squirm, though I am personally a fan of those born under this sign, as it comes with its own special je ne sais quoi).

My listing of events below does not include aspects, only stations and ingresses. There is, however, a particularly interesting aspect coming: Mars in Pisces square Jupiter in Sagittarius, exact on Monday, Nov. 19 (which will be the topic of next week’s horoscope). That’s an aspect entirely different from anything we’ve experienced this long slog of a year. Mars-Jupiter has got some fire to it, and it’s building as we speak.

However, we’re still in the very last days of Mars in Aquarius, which means Mars anaretic: a sensitive spot, referencing potentially invisible vulnerabilities. Pay attention as that happens. Venus direct and Mercury retrograde the same day — that one’s a gem as well. A lot of information will shake out.

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