FULL MOON - DECEMBER 18, 2021

The Full Moon is on Saturday, December 18, at 10:36 pm CST in 27° Gemini. This sign is lively and social, with a strong desire to communicate thoughts, ideas, and philosophy. The polarity of the Moon in Gemini and the Sun in Sagittarius will illustrate the distinction between people who get the gist from reading the headlines and those who enjoy reading longer articles and books.

The chart of the Full Moon includes Venus at its stationary point going retrograde on 12/19 at 26° Capricorn.  Not a good time for major purchases - things turn out to be of less value that they first appear.  This position of Venus puts it conjunct to Pluto. Emotionally, this aspect symbolizes strong desires and possibly jealousy and envy a few days before and after the Full Moon. Can you temper those with wisdom?  Or at least stop watching those commercials where people get a new car in their driveway with a bow on it for Christmas?

The Winter Solstice takes place on December 21st at 9:59 am when the Sun is at 0° Capricorn. It marks the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the beginning of a new quarter of a year astrologically. Within the chart of the Solstice, Saturn is coming up to square Uranus (the exact square is a few days later on December 24).  It is important to reflect on the past year to see if we've learned to handle our internal Saturn and Uranus conflicts (sorry, there still might be outer events beyond our control no matter how internally balanced we are).

The past dates for the Saturn square Uranus were February 17 and June 14th.  Look back at those periods of time to get a sense of what might be happening on December 24th.  One theme for Saturn square Uranus is rebellion (Uranus) against authority (Saturn).  Another is the feeling of our new ideas being squashed by tradition.
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I've written in the past about how the approaches to the pandemic exemplify this aspect. Wearing masks is a practical way to prevent the spread of airborne diseases. Yet, there are many who feel so rebellious that they act against their own interests by not wearing a mask. The same thing is illustrated in the opposite way as Uranus indicates innovation in science like the vaccine which can ultimately bring us freedom from the confinement of pandemic restrictions. Saturn then represents the resistance of those who are reluctant to being vaccinated. 

From my perspective as a human who is trying to find peace and practice compassion, I need to be able to balance the emotions that arise in these types of situations and also to decide if it's necessary to take action to get my needs met.  I like the Serenity Prayer:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference.

To be honest, most of the time we can't change other people, only ourselves. Knowing that there's a stressful aspect on Christmas Eve gives us the opportunity to resist the temptation to criticize others and their beliefs (Saturn) or to toss edgy ideas into the conversation that we know will get a rise out of others (Uranus).

Coming Up:

My astrology talk "Your Spiritual Journey with Astrology in 2022" for the Temple of Kriya Yoga will be online this Sunday following the noon meditation noon here: www.yogakriya.org/sunday-services.html and will be available there the rest of the week.
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My previous noon meditations and those of other Temple swamis are here:
https://www.yogakriya.org/sunday-service-recordings.html

​Online:

Ray Grasse studied astrology with my guru Goswami Kriyananda and my guru's guru Shelly Trimmer. Ray is featured on the latest Astrology Podcast:
​https://theastrologypodcast.com/2021/12/07/the-practice-and-philosophy-of-astrology-with-ray-grasse

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