Note: this post is the full members’ issue, complete with your Moonshine horoscopes by Len, the Create feature, and more.

Dear Friend & Reader:

Today’s Cancer Full Moon takes place in direct contact with several major planets around the zodiac. On one level, it’s a symbolic illustration of how life feels right now: issues pushing and pulling us from all directions, each insisting on immediate action.

Photo by Amanda Painter.

The challenging thing about such a situation is often deciding what takes priority.

For example: If you’re tuned in to numerous calls for social justice, plus you work a full-time job with many responsibilities, plus you actively foster a creative passion, plus you care for a family, plus you try to keep up with social media, life quickly becomes a real juggling act.

You need to decide on an order of operations. Sometimes that means doing a little of everything daily; other times, that means allotting certain days to focus on some things rather than others. Occasionally you must drop your plan and respond to an unexpected demand; but we live in a world where, increasingly, everything seemingly demands our immediate attention all the time.

That’s a little what this morning’s Full Moon chart looks like to me. The Moon in Cancer opposed the Capricorn Sun at 6:33:55 am EST (11:33:55 UTC), with both luminaries at 22+ of their respective signs.

Meanwhile, Eris is at 22+ Aries (with Uranus and Ceres within two degrees on either side). And Jupiter is at 22+ Libra.

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Note: this post is a full members’ issue, complete with your short January horoscopes, the Create section, and usual features.

Dear Friend & Reader:

Welcome to 2017! This first week of the new year also ushers us into the final days of the current Mercury retrograde. And while this could mean that you’re feeling some difficulty in launching (especially if you’ve had significant time off for the holidays), there’s a deeper and more distinct message when Mercury stations direct this weekend.

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Dear Friend and Reader:

To understand the astrology of 2017, it helps to start on Dec. 21, 2020. That’s when Jupiter and Saturn form their once-per-20-year conjunction in the first degree of Aquarius. It seems like a long time from now, though not at the current blinding pace that time is moving.

Mt. Rainier — more than 40 miles away — taken from Tacoma, Washington. Photo by Aaron Pedersen via northtacoma.net.

The Jupiter-Saturn conjunction is like Mt. Rainier if you live in the Seattle area. It’s the biggest, most dominant force on the horizon. With something so vast, it’s not really possible to judge distance or scale, though it’s good to know that it exists, and that we’re all heading toward it.

I am viewing the astrology of 2017 as preparation for the events between now and then, most of which take place in Capricorn. What we have for the next four seasons are a series of experiences that are focused in mutable signs Sagittarius and Pisces and, of course, the continuing Uranus-Eris conjunction in Aries.

Let’s go through these one at a time.

Uranus-Eris: Social, Emotional, Digital Chaos. The lead story from 2016 remains one of the lead stories into 2017 and beyond. Uranus has come around the Sun to meet up with Eris for the first time since 1928. Eris is the planet that got Pluto ‘demoted’. Remember that? It turns out that Eris was ushering in the age of digitally infused identity chaos.

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Dear Friend and Reader:

Mercury retrograde is in full effect right now. Each one of these phases, which happen about three times a year, has its unique pattern, its own distinct feeling and its special challenges. Currently, Mercury is retrograde in Capricorn, and on Jan. 4 will track back into Sagittarius, changing to direct motion on Jan. 8.

One interesting thing about this Mercury retrograde is the dance that it’s doing around Pluto. The two planets formed an almost-conjunction, before Mercury stationed retrograde and backed off for a while. That happened Monday, Dec. 19, the day that the Electoral College installed Donald Trump as the next president of the United States.

Mercury will complete the conjunction to Pluto on Jan. 29, after the retrograde and after the inauguration takes place. That looks like a real ‘oops’ moment, complete with various forms of ‘we should have known’, ‘what were we thinking’ and ‘I wish it wasn’t too late’.

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“The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.”
— Donald J. Trump, in a tweet

Dear Friend and Reader:

Many people have noticed that Mercury stations retrograde the day that the Electoral College votes, this coming Monday, Dec. 19. I’ve been asked a number of times whether I think that this will influence the outcome of what the electors do.

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Note: This piece, published on its own earlier today, is standing in for Eric’s originally planned essay. The full issue, with horoscopes and the CREATE feature, is in this post; if you commented on the earlier version of this piece, that post is further down the page.

Dear Friend and Reader:

Although the particulars will vary between individuals and among communities (both in-the-flesh and online), we seem to be in a moment of rich awareness and potential for participating with purpose. Issues like the standoff at Standing Rock and post-election developments are commingling with people’s usual end-of-year charitable giving habits and, of course, both religious and secular ideas about the spirit of compassion inherent in Christmas. Even if you do not celebrate Christmas, if you’re in the U.S. (among other countries), you’re surrounded by its themes.

Standing Rock encampment at Cannon Ball, ND.

Dear Friend and Reader:

I’m taking a week off from a big article to focus my efforts on The Book of Your Life annual readings. Thank you to all the people who have pre-ordered.

I want to alert you to one vital issue developing in the news: the North Dakota governor has threatened to forcibly remove the Standing Rock protest camp, the one that’s there to block the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Encampment at Standing Rock protest, Cannon Ball, ND.

I suggest we take this threat seriously. I do not like the chart. It looks like a massacre. You’ve never heard me refer to a potential future event in this way.

I am not making a prediction. I am saying what I see in the chart, and understand is politically possible. And it’s something that we can take the power to prevent.

The single most important thing to do is to focus awareness on what’s happening — make sure that people know. Pay attention to the news. Listen for updates each day on our affiliate Democracy Now!.

This is a real standoff, and both corporate and public officials are angered that the movement has gone on this long, or become as big as it is.

This, despite the fact that it’s getting next to no coverage anywhere but places like Planet Waves, Democracy Now! and other ‘alternative’ news sources. I cover it extensively in the newest edition of Planet Waves FM.

There are several key features to the astrology of 2017, though we’re currently living with the most significant of them: the rare conjunction of slow-moving planets Uranus and Eris.

If you’re still feeling mystified by this, please take a few minutes and read up about it. This article from June is short and succinct; it’s called Uranus, Eris and the Riddle of the Internet.

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“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”
— John F. Kennedy

Dear Friend and Reader:

When things get as rough as they have this year, and when the world seems turned upside-down like it has this month, gratitude can feel like the last thing one might turn to. Yet the simple act of expressing thanks and appreciation for even mundane blessings can have a profound effect on your emotional body and perspective — and on the ability to take action.

Photo by Amanda Painter.

I know many people who could use that shift at this time. And as we forge ahead, we’ll all likely need to pause and refill the well regularly.

Whether you celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday or not, whether you live in the U.S. or not, thank you for being tuned in and willing to share your creative energy with the world.

The microcosm of family; your local community; your online associations; cultures on other continents; the very trees, water and non-human beings alive with us; planet Earth itself — everyone and everything benefits when we put the gratitude JFK speaks of into practice.

Sometimes that is easier said than done. But in the attempt, I do believe we learn, grow and heal in ways we cannot always predict.

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