Catching Our Breath
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Losing My Religion
My parents weren’t religious, but my dad’s mother was very devout, so each Sunday morning my siblings and I were sent to the country Nazarene church down the road. This was a real fire-and-brimstone scenario, where a one-armed, red-faced minister shouted at the congregation and penitents flocked to the altar to be saved.
I was about six or seven years old, I guess, the morning I’d finally had had my fill of being shouted at for sins no child could have committed. In the middle of the service I stood up, walked out, and went home, where I announced to my mother, “I’m not going back.”
There’s a vast difference between deeply held beliefs, the ones you’ve come to through your own searching and inquiry, and societal mores that have been imposed upon you. This Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius (Dec. 14, 2020, 8:17 am PST), the sign of religion, philosophy, and meaning, is a moment for questioning the beliefs that we hold – and if necessary, standing up and walking out of the church. (For more about how this eclipse affects your chart, check out my Moonshadow Eclipse Report!)
An exciting stranger
You can love someone for a very long time, really think you know everything there is to know about them… and then one day, they surprise you. They use a word you’ve never heard them use, or share an anecdote you’ve never heard. And just like that, it’s like being in love with an entirely different person.
When Venus is in Sagittarius (Dec. 15, 2020, 8:21 am PST – Jan. 8, 2021), we’re enchanted by anything novel, different, or foreign. Especially after long months in quarantine, in which we’ve memorized every square inch of our homes and every quirk of the people who share it with us, we may be craving new food, new company, or just a change of scenery. Sagittarius is a vagabond sign, too, and Venus in this sign loves to travel, which has of course become difficult in pandemic times. Today, when a Facebook friend posted an old photo of himself standing in an airport terminal, I nearly swooned with nostalgia.
While Venus is in Sagittarius, we can still gain enjoyment from the unfamiliar, even if we don’t venture far from home. Try cooking a new dish from an unfamiliar cuisine. Download an app that will help you learn a few phrases in a foreign language. Pore over maps and plan future adventures. And keep your eyes and ears open for those happy little moments when a loved one of many years suddenly becomes an exciting stranger.
Breathe
For two and a half years, Saturn has mostly traveled through the sign of Capricorn, the sign of its rulership; and since Dec. 2, 2019, Jupiter has been in the same sign, which is the sign of its fall. And I would say that while one is strong and the other weak in this sign, neither one has been particularly happy there. Partly, this is because they’ve been joined by Pluto, a notorious killjoy.
But this week, within the span of just a few days, the unrelenting Capricorn dark cloud of 2020 begins to shift and the clouds to part, as Jupiter (on Dec. 19, 2020, 5:07 am PST) and Saturn (Dec. 16, 2020, 9:04 pm PST) leave Capricorn for Aquarius. So many planets have been in earth signs this year that it’s felt like being buried alive; weeks would go by with no planet other than the Moon in air signs, and the persistent refrain – from COVID to George Floyd – was, “I can’t breathe.”
2021 should make up for that, with so much emphasis on Aquarius, an air sign. And as Jupiter and Saturn enter Aquarius at last, we should finally begin to catch our breath. Jupiter wants to have an adventure, and that impulse is better served by Aquarius than by Capricorn. And Saturn, while at home in Capricorn, has felt the weight of responsibility in that sign perhaps more than anyone else. So like anyone who has been cooped up and confined for a long time, these two planets are going to feel a little bit rebellious, and want to make exciting plans for future adventures and ambitions. We’re moving into a year dominated by Aquarius, but bear in mind that this sign is ruled by Saturn in traditional astrology. So look ahead to a brighter future, but with the caveat that progress is slow and doesn’t come without an effort or a price.
To-do
Between Christmas and New Year, I enjoy a ritual of sitting in front of the fireplace with my scheduler, a blank notebook, and an ephemeris, to do some business planning for the coming year. Nothing pleases me more than making neat to-do lists with my favorite purple Sharpie and setting goals for the next twelve months.
You’d almost think I had Mercury in Capricorn (I don’t, but Mercury is opposed Saturn in my chart!), which loves planning, to-do lists, and systems. Mercury symbolizes the way we gather, analyze, and communicate information, and Capricorn favors a simple and pragmatic approach. So while Mercury is in Capricorn (Dec. 20, 2020, 3:07 pm PST – Jan. 8, 2021), you might enjoy sitting down with old-fashioned pen and paper and mapping things out – even if you normally favor organizing your appointments and goals using online systems.
Writing and collages © 2020 April Elliott Kent
Jen and I explore all the week’s highlights in our latest podcast episode,
060 | Sagittarius Solar Eclipse and Coins in the Couch
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