Happy Winter Solstice 2013 - Part 2 (And A Great Solstice Ritual For Cleaning Out the Old and Welcoming The New!)

by Robert Wilkinson

In this article we’re going to cover more significant factors in the Winter Solstice chart, including Sabian Symbols and Jones Patterns. As I promised, this article includes a ritual I do every year at this time that helps me let go of the old and welcome the new that I want to see in the next year! Yes, it’s fun!!

First, more on the Solstice chart. Saturn, ruler of the Sun and Pluto, is at 20 Scorpio as one of the primary trio of planets anchoring the Grand Irrationality. Rudhyar states this degree symbolizes the “courage needed to enlarge sphere of being,” “readiness to press beyond self,” and “ the ‘woman’ within, opening the gates to Spirit.“

Over the next 90 days Saturn will show us how to go deeper into our faith, and act upon that. As Saturn is in Scorpio, we continue to learn a technique of deeper relationship with ourselves and our patterns to achieve a cleaner and clearer focus.

Now that we’ve paid our dues in 2011 and 2012, and gone deeper in 2013, we’ve embraced a deeper communion with life, the Earth, each other, and our Divine potential of living. Let go of all that you no longer need to bear as you remember you’re on a pilgrimage up a sacred mountain with the rest of us also walking that walk.

These qualities of life will continue to be revealed from now through March 2, after which they will have to be seen or understood from a different angle between then and mid-July 2013. In the coming season there will be crucial points when the Grand Irrationality parallels events that show us our ability to choose our destiny.

Saturn will help us go beyond egocentricity, beyond dualisms, beyond fear, into the unknown that lies behind the Veil of Isis. Have courage, show faith in your actions, and you can generate magnetism like you’ve never known before.

Much will be revealed after this season is past, once Mars goes direct in May and then crosses these important Scorpio points in August. Hopefully we’ll have mastered these energies by their final activation in October 2014 as we prepare to move into unknown zones of Saturnian mastery when it leaves its “shadow zone,” or span of its retrograde period that month.

The Sabian Symbol for this degree is "A woman drawing two dark curtains aside,” showing the need to enter into the unknown. Dr. Marc E. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, states that this symbol is one of “the enduring values …. behind the outer façade of everyday existence,” and of the human need to move into deeper and “more worthy dimensions of experience.”

We are told this is a degree of “the courage of the Soul” as it crosses threshold after threshold of temporary limitations. Here we “gamble” on our ability to “break on through to the other side.” He says the keyword is DARING, and when positive this degree is “the psychological indomitability with which the human spirit plunges ahead in every new adventure of accomplishment.”

This implies that the ruler of the Light/Life of the next 90 days is telling us to go deeper, go farther, with courage, into the unknown. Here we continue the work of feeling a deeper communion with our Divine Self as well as others, and open to a newer, deeper social or emotional connectedness to enter into unknown spiritual zones. As Saturn is septile Pluto, this will bring our world to the edge of critical choices, and the coming season will determine how our world will move forward while old forms literally melt down and disintegrate.

This chart has much in common with the Venus retrograde chart, so you can find out even more by consulting the articles I’m doing on that phenomenon. To know more about the current “Splay” Jones pattern, please consult the recent Full Moon articles.

The Moon is at 17 Leo, making it a Disseminating Moon at the Solstice. This phase disseminates information, and is assimilative, associative, and distributive. We can expect to do a lot of evaluations, for the point of innovating and synthesizing the past with the creative NOW. This phase releases new ideas, and so we can expect a lot of the ongoing “rebirth” theme of the Moon in the Scene of Release to introduce new creative impulses to our world.

However, the pride and inflexibility of Moon in Leo does not mesh well with the intense inflexibility of Saturn in Scorpio. This square shows many extraordinary critical decisions will be made, and it will be important to make sure the “rules” are functioning to serve the “need” of the times. The square indicates the need for positive Taurus and Aquarius energy, so keep it simple, pleasant, straightforward, idealistic, with the focus on the greatest good for the greatest number within a larger vision.

Creative management in action is required by this square, as is the ability to get it in gear while seeing which way “the winds of destiny” are blowing. Some will need protective mechanisms to protect “their gold strike,” while others will receive clear and definite “gifts from Spirit.”

The Moon Sabian Symbol shows that we are all getting a dose of togetherness at our metaphoric “Church Choir,” where we “participate in the mysteries,” and find “joy in faith.” Dr. Jones says this degree involves participation in a broader community activity, where in our activity we find “respect for others” and are encouraged to “an ordered self-expression.” The keyword is COMMUNION, and when positive this degree is “the effective quickening of man’s heart through interests which have been expanded to a point of real concern for his fellows.”

Feelings will run very high this season, though much will be driven by our dedication that reveals itself during this time of the Full Moon in Sag/Gemini, due to Mercury occupying the exact degree of the Full Moon Sun. We will lead with a search for new information, new understanding, and new vision. The trick will be to allow your feelings and experiences to lead you to get information and a clear vision that allows us to act clearly based in simple facts. Learn to identify how and what you feel and experience after a decision and action, since feelings will allow new perspectives to come forth.

Given what’s happening in this Solstice chart and the fact that all of humanity confronts choices in each individual’s “forks in the road of destiny,” I will again offer you something I’ve given you in past Solstices. It’s a few lines from my favorite song, "Two Different Roads," written by Capricorn legend and music pioneer Michael Nesmith:

You might think that I'll wait, but he who hesitates is lost, this is not just a game,
It's the problem of creation and only meditation can make your mind and age the same,
I know, 'cause this all happened once before....

(I found the song last year, so enjoy the music to some of the best lyrics I’ve ever heard. The busted links in that birthday celebration have been fixed, but you’ll have to wait until Dec 30 for this year’s birthday celebration of this remarkable man for the ages!)

So even as you learn to feel your way to knowledge and visions that enable you to decide and act, eliminate whatever you need to keep moving with courage into the unknown to get beyond whatever used to be but is no more. We’re now square in the middle of a very volatile and conflicted era, but I’ll also state (using one metaphor making the rounds) that those of us who have trained are already moving more easily through 4D and 5D reality, and so the transformation probably won’t be as jolting for some as for those who haven’t trained in spiritual practices up to now.

The collective field is becoming more dense, and we who have been striving to live in higher awareness of our Oneness and connection to All-That-Is are finally at the threshold of seeing the dawning of a new Age. It may take years or even decades to see the concretization of the New Era, the externalization of the Spiritual Fellowship of Brother and Sister Masters of the Wisdom, as well as know which part of the New Group of World Servers we’re here to work with and within, but make no mistake, the advent of the adventure in consciousness is NOW!

On a final note, in the Northern Hemisphere the Winter Solstice ushers in a season dedicated to "seeds in latency," those that will sprout in March when the light force is stronger, the ground is warmer, and Spring is on the way. Whether in the Northern or Southern Hemispheres, the Solstices and Equinoxes are special points in the year cycle, marking the end of one season and the beginning of the next one. They are great for getting clear about our resolve, and what we want to see made manifest in times to come.

And now for the fun part!

This brings us to the ritual I mentioned at the beginning. Whether you're in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, there is a special ceremony I do each year that yields some fairly spectacular results. This is not a very elaborate ritual, but it's very powerful in its simplicity.

The Solstices mark points of transition from an old "half year" of the Sun moving South or North (depending on where you are on the Earth) into the opposite direction. In the Spirit of this "coming or going," I first take a moment to note what has left my life the past year while saying goodbye on deepest levels. This creates space for that which is more appropriate to my evolution and well-being.

Then I make a list of everything I want to leave my life in the coming year, and A) find a disposable object associated with each thing (or person, or personal habit) I want to see leave, or B) I draw a picture that represents those things, people, or habits. Then I burn each individual picture in a fire, one at a time, while saying goodbye to each of those. (I make a duplicate list to check the next year to remind me of what I wanted to see leave.)

I also make a list of things I want to see come into my life in the coming year. I try to make it realistic, but also allow my imagination to bring forth what might be or could be, even if improbable. After all, it's supposed to be fun! I play with possibilities, and write them down, without getting hung up on specific forms. This is about content more than form.

Then I draw pictures symbolizing those things, and burn them, one by one, in a fire, welcoming in those better things than I've known up to now, putting it up and out into the "Spiritual atmosphere" so that Divine Mother can bring it forth in the coming months. I also make a duplicate list to check the next year.

Over the years I've done this ritual, I find very often that every single thing I want to leave actually does leave. And, I usually see most if not all that I want to appear show up in the following year. Even when one or both lists falls short by a thing or two, overall I've seen great progress year after year.

It's also very interesting to note how my lists have changed over the years, with some concerns falling away and new things presenting themselves according to my intention. And sometimes, when I have not received what I thought I wanted, it became clear why it wasn't good or necessary for me to have that which I thought I wanted.

So in this time of transition from the old year into the Winter of the new, take a moment to note what has left your life the past year, thus creating space for that which is more appropriate to your evolution and well-being. And if you feel like doing a Solstice ritual, whether this one or another, open to your greatest good and highest possibility of happiness, and you just may find a measure of that in the coming year.

As "they" say, Mahalo, Aloha, Namaskarams, Aum Namah Shivaya, Happy and Merry Solstice, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmastide, Joyous Christ Mass, and Happy New Year!

© Copyright 2013 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[steve]

Thank you, kind sir. Happy and safe holidays to you and your loved ones and all your readers here and everywhere.

I have a question: could it be that when a person looks at transits from planets and/or asteroids to a natal chart, mainly conjunctions, they're actually seeing, in certain transits, a mirror, if you will, of their intuition working at an extremely high level, as if step by step, until the possibility of an event finally comes clear in view?
Am I making sense?

[chickie]

Many many thanks and good holiday wishes to you and yours, Your Highness!!!

[Tolly]

Thanks, Robert. And happy solstice!

[debbie]

Thank you Robert, it never ceases to be heartwarming that although our individual "ways" of belief and understanding differ, that the astrological understandings bring it all together to make sense no matter the "individual way" or "understanding" giving the opportunity for sacred union no matter what and I hope in future that Astrology in its truest scientific purpose, becomes once again embraced in its true value. Namaste!

I sense to share something, and hope it is understood I am only sharing in case it may help someone, that was "passed through me" by what I refer to as a "heavenly teacher" which I am humbled to recieve the privilege of from time to time as I teach, this was in 1999 regarding what some of my students were sensing re a global direction change and they questioned this teacher as to which direction to go, this way or that? His response was, "follow the sun" they responded with, "Ok, but do we go towards the sunrise in the east, or the sun set in the west?" Once he had finished chuckling at the question (he was a very humourous energy) he replied "I respect you have been taught that from the perspective of the earth that the sun is from the east and goes west and that this may cause some confusion as to which road to take, however, I suggest that there is in fact only one direction to follow the sun....UP" :)

Blessings and Happy Winter Solstace as we celebrate the Summer Solstace down here.

Saturn at 20 Scorpio is trine by 2' my natal Uranus and 4' my natal Mars both in Leo 10th house and I feel good, the fear Saturn is triggering is miniscule compared to the past thus completely workable and doable, onwards and upwards, he he that sound soooo over the top but it is fun!

[H]

Happy Solstice Robert & All in this wonderful community :) Namaste H