Insomnia Jeopardy, Deserters, & Ghosts
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Insomnia Jeopardy
To offer insight into the Last Quarter Moon in Virgo (Dec. 18, 8:57 pm PST), I needn’t add much to this cartoon from the New Yorker. Oh, Insomnia Jeopardy! Who among us hasn’t occasionally found him or herself awake at 3 am, tortured by thoughts of “ways in which people have wronged me,” “strange noises,” “diseases I probably have,” “money troubles,” “why did I say/do that?”
The Last Quarter phase, like the first, is a time for taking action toward a goal conceived at the New Moon. Both Quarter Moon phases require courage – at the First Quarter, because we must act without a lot of context or precedent; and at the Last Quarter, because while we’re better prepared, we’re also fully aware of what can go wrong!
The key at the Virgo Last Quarter Moon is to avoid dwelling on that, and on what you perceive as your deficiencies, and focus instead on what you can do that will be helpful and practical.
Cost of success
Now and then, an opportunity comes your way to take constructive action that will enhance your reputation, elevate your status, or move you closer to a goal. Such an opportunity comes as Mars makes a sextile to Saturn (Dec. 19, 2 am PST). But throughout the same day, Mercury is building to a square with Neptune (Dec. 19, 8:19 pm PST); have you really thought it through? Are you thinking big enough, or too big for your britches? What looks like fuzzy-headed indecisiveness – like mere stalling for time – is, in fact, saving your butt. Because by the time Mars sextiles Pluto (Dec. 22, 6:32 am PST), you’ll know what that opportunity for success is likely to cost you. That doesn’t mean it isn’t worth doing! It’s just that it’s always better to know exactly what you’re getting into.
Deserter
Back in March, when Venus last entered Aquarius territory and squared Uranus, I explored it at length in this essay. For some insights into Venus in Aquarius (Dec. 19, 2019, 10:41 pm PST), this essay is worth revisiting.
This time around, Venus squares Uranus (Dec. 22, 5:30 am PST) from 3 Aquarius and the Sabian Symbol, A deserter from the Navy. Which reminded me of a photograph of my dad in his navy uniform, posing by a ship’s wheel. I grew up seeing that photograph and thought I knew that story. But as I found out decades later, he had, in fact, left the service abruptly and prematurely.
Dad was born with Venus in Aquarius, opposed seafaring Neptune, plus Mars in globetrotting Sagittarius. I always suspected he joined the Navy to see the world. But with that Venus in Aquarius, and no doubt his tight Sun/Pluto opposition, I suspect he wasn’t any fonder of taking orders than his children turned out to be. My guess is that one day he got fed up with some sergeant getting up his grill about something and just said, “Yeah, I don’t think so,” and powered out.
Sort of the way I left my last day job, after my boss decided it would be a good idea to yell at me. The minute she left my cube, I picked up the nearest box, tossed my personal stuff into it, and walked out, never to return.
When you’re committed to something, there will be times when that commitment is tested, and you need to stick it out. But when your gut tells you that you’re trapped in the wrong situation, you have to leave – like a deserter from the Navy, or his daughter, who proved that the crabapple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Ghosts
Four times each year, the Sun enters a Cardinal sign (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) and initiates a new season. At the Capricorn Solstice (Dec. 21, 8:19 pm PST), it’s winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer down south of the equator. But as I wrote in this essay from my archives, it’s all Capricorn:
Winter solstice is a time of emotional reckoning and self-examination; like Scrooge, each of us must confront his or her own ghosts of the past, present, and future. In the long, dark days of winter, there is a lot of time to brood about what went wrong in the past and what might go wrong in the future.
Our fourth house/Cancerian selves are the foundation on which all happiness is built. It’s why Bob Cratchit, with his loving family, is wealthier than Scrooge, who has a lot more money. But we can also learn from Capricorn that money and success are not synonymous with soulless selling out – unless we create that false dichotomy. Sometimes what’s needed is simply to redefine success. (Read the fully essay)
© 2019 by April Elliott Kent
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