By Amanda Painter

First things first: today is the winter solstice, and Mercury is in the throes of its storm phase as it prepares to station direct tomorrow. While another astrological event happening currently is arguably ‘bigger’ or more important, Mercury stationing is the one that’s probably having the most noticeable — and possibly frustrating — effect in your regular, everyday life right now.

Photo by Amanda Painter.

If you feel as though your decisions, statements and attempts to get things done are like the equivalent of Jello or a rubber band at best — or a revolving door or banana peel on the floor at worst — that’s what’s going on. To have Mercury stormy and stationing so close to a major holiday, especially one that often involves a great deal of shopping, planning and travel for many people, is challenging.

So, this is your reminder to take everything with a grain of salt; if you can’t seem to stay focused, you can at least try to stay flexible. Patience and a sense of humor will help a lot — and that will be the case all the way through Monday. Luckily, having Sagittarius involved should help in keeping attitudes and expectations on the lighter side. Remember that laughter is probably closer to the spirit of the season (along with gratitude and generosity) than perfectionism is.

That is: You are enough.

As mentioned, today is the (winter) solstice: when the Sun enters Capricorn to begin the new season, which occurs at 11:28 am EST (16:28 UTC). It’s the shortest day and longest night here in the Northern Hemisphere, though it takes a while for any increase in daylight to be noticeable. Seasonally — despite cultural expectations — we’re being urged to draw inward, conserving energy for the longer days ahead.

And yet, Capricorn is a cardinal sign (a sign of initiative); and the first degree of Capricorn is connected to the Aries Point (the first degree of Aries), where the political and personal meet. This year, Saturn is waiting for the Sun in the first degree of Capricorn, where it arrived on Tuesday.

The Sun and Saturn make their exact conjunction in this first degree of Capricorn today at 4:08 pm EST (21:08 UTC), which offers an interesting counterpoint to the messages we seem to be getting from the natural world on one side (stillness), and the world of culture and commerce on the other (buy and party!). That is, the Sun plus Saturn on the Aries Point in Capricorn speaks strongly to the idea of rolling up your sleeves for some good, hard work toward a specific purpose; that self-discipline is what leads to fulfillment and acquiring power of some kind.

Of course, this can be done with honesty and integrity, and with an eye toward serving the highest good. It could also take the shape of using unscrupulous means — although that route may very well lead to a reversal of fortune and fall from power. You may find yourself facing the question of which path to tread in your own life as Saturn makes its way through Capricorn these next two and a half years or so.

One look at the news will remind you that these dynamics of how power is accrued and used, and how people choose to accomplish their goals in relation to the wellbeing of others, are always at play. Between things like the atrocious tax bill that just slimed its way through Congress, the repeal of Net Neutrality, the #metoo movement and more, it should be obvious how the issues of the collective, in ‘political’ form, intersect with and impact your life.

There is plenty to get to work on in the spirit of the Sun and Saturn in Capricorn, even amidst the holidays and Mercury getting jiggy. It’s easy to think of social justice issues as being separate from, or a distraction from, holiday celebrations and ‘having fun’ or ‘doing what you love’. But is it, really?

I’d like to pose a question: In what ways does working hard at what you love the most — as in, whatever truly makes you come alive with joy — make you even more invested in the rest of the world and the people around you, rather than less so? In other words, do you feel a connection between the level of commitment, integrity and responsibility you bring to one part of your life, and how you approach your engagement in your community (however you define ‘community’ for yourself)?

It is interesting when we start to connect the dots between love (in the sense of agape, rather than romance) and responsibility. I think that’s when we start to approach dharma: acting as if to hold the world together. It’s not about ‘saving’ the world or sacrificing yourself; it’s about recognizing what you can take responsibility for (and what you can’t), and then doing so with a sense of individual and collective purpose.

That might even have something to do with a pair of events on Friday: Venus making a conjunction to the Galactic Core (with Pholus nearby), and then about four hours later Mercury stationing direct at 8:51 pm EST (1:51 UTC Saturday).

Venus conjunct the Galactic Core says to me: Let your heart-light shine. Think E.T. in that 1982 movie: his heart and fingertip aglow as he tries to “phone home.” What is your spiritual home? Where do you locate that sensation in your life, and how do you contact it? If you could speak to it on the phone, what do you imagine you would hear?

That might be what comes through when Mercury stations direct. Mercury stationing is often a ‘truth comes out’ moment, when a missing piece of information is revealed. Something completely pedestrian yet useful might come through for you. Then again, maybe some version of ‘home’ will phone you.

The Art of Becoming, the 2018 Planet Waves Annual by Eric Francis, will be your best guide to the major astrological shifts ahead. If you pre-order now, you’ll not only get all 12 signs of the written reading for $99, but we’ll include three extra videos covering the forthcoming sign changes of Saturn, Chiron and Uranus.