by Robert Wilkinson
In this article we’re going to cover more significant factors in the Northern Hemispheric Winter Solstice chart. 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. This sketch will be brief, since I’ve explained a lot in the recent Mercury retrograde articles, and will revisit the bigger picture in greater detail in the coming New Moon chart articles coming next week.
The Sabian Symbol for the Ruler of the Solstice
Saturn, ruler of the Sun, Mercury, and Pluto, is at the 21st degree of Sagittarius, "A child and a dog with borrowed eyeglasses." In the original Jones notes published in The Astrology of Personality, Rudhyar says this symbolizes "usefulness of make believe," "Rising to situations through the imagination," and "assuming a part ahead of natural development."
We are told in the Astrological Mandala that this symbolizes "the use of imagination and make-believe in anticipating higher stages of development," where "by imitating features belonging to a level of consciousness as yet unreachable," we accelerate growth. This is "growth by identification with a 'Master' or guru" where by wearing "a Shaman's mask" we become the power associated with that role.
Here we learn through imitation. He says it falls in the span of "Detachment," and it's the first degree of the emotional-cultural level of the scene of Transference in the Act of Group Integration. So Saturn, backdrop for the Light, also leads the Light teaching us how to transfer energies through imagination that helps us practice a form of identifying with a "higher power."
According to Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, states this is a degree of humanity's "unimpeachably universal spirit," and where we realize there are no boundaries between our "higher and lower life." Here our consciousness requires "supplements" to develop as we enter into reality using our insights.
He offers us the keyword EXAMINATION. He says this degree, when positive, is "an exceptional skill in the analysis of personal opportunity throughout the many dimensions of experience."
This implies that the ruler of the Light/Life of the next 90 days is telling us to use our imagination to identify with a teacher or higher power or a way of being that anticipates a higher level of development. Find “a new pair of glasses,” or a new way to view things. Look at the limitless growth of your life from ignorance and fear to awareness and courage, and go for eternal knowledge rather than transitory or superficial thinking and interactions.
While Saturn is in Sagittarius, we continue to learn to open to wider vistas of truth and understanding, and find ways to crystallize a new higher awareness of the interrelatedness of all things. This opens the doors to a more mature spiritual individuality, as well as ways to fulfill Dharma and expand our Ring Pass Not.
As I mentioned, this chart has many aspects in common with the Mercury stationary retrograde chart, so please reference those articles to know more about the configurations in play at this Solstice. And as noted, next week’s New Moon articles will also have many things in common with this Solstice.
The Moon
The Moon is at 5 Libra, making it a Third Quarter Moon at the Solstice. This phase is focused on team building, institution building, and we are told it is future oriented and inventive. This is about organizing, whether one’s personal philosophy or a socially effective group. We are told it is good for “applying universal and spiritual principles to practical affairs.”
The Moon Sabian Symbol shows that we will get to put our truths to the test. Having found our allies who share our heart fire, we can now participate in “greatness calling its own to itself.” This is “knowledge and experience put to the test,” and “distrust of appearances.” Show the truth of the teaching you follow. This is action that culminates individual and personal transfiguration into an ideal!
Dr. Jones says this degree involves “the inviolability of all genuine inspiration, and the opportunity offered every individual to reach out” to others through joining with them in everyday experience, and share our “deeper insights to them through common responsibilities.” He continues that our “integrity of being lies in (our) continual self-orientation” to others and the world “in terms of ultimate potentialities.”
He offers us the keyword AFFINITY. He states that when operating in a positive manner, this degree “a genius for understanding and calling out the underlying realizations by which human character comes to know itself at its best.”
Other Factors
Inspiration and idealism will run very high this season, with practical reflections and renewed understanding coming for those who have shown “tender care” for their dreams and efforts up to now. The Saturn trine Uranus stabilizes strong inspiration bridging the old and the new, and Venus trine Jupiter is truly beneficial for our relationships and receiving new forms of inspiration once we take a break from the white noise of the world.
As noted yesterday, the Moon triseptile sets the Grand Irrationality into play for the next 90 days! There will be major shifts into cooperative effort, whether toward a better ideal or toward a deeper group think into delusion.
Don’t get distracted by superficial things, be realistic in your assessments, and be willing to suspend judgment, since Mercury retrograde indicates things are about to be thrown into reverse, and things may not look anything like they do now by the time late January comes. Again, show care, be precise in your outreach, and find ways to “lift yourself to surer foundations.”
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," (check it out when you're done here!) 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....
So even as you open to new truths and life adventures, keep it grounded, stay in touch with what you’re experiencing on the deepest levels of your existence, and keep your information up to date. Get a new idea, a new vision, a new person to talk to, and let your ever-deepening awareness guide you back to your natural home. Learn ways to merge your inner nature with Nature, and you will begin to find freedom from fear.
Humanity continues on its voyage into unknown zones of human experience set into motion about 4 years ago. We may be living in a very volatile and conflicted era, but it’s also the birth contractions of a new era. The old ways do not yield easily or quickly, but the greater “Field of Collective Awareness” gets stronger by the day, and those who learn to tune into that collective Field can feel their separateness slipping down the time stream. Those who have trained are already accustomed to 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 ritual, after a message from our sponsor!
Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend
Because Saturn plays such a large part in any December Solstice chart, if you haven’t gotten your copy already, please considering getting a copy of my new book, Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend. We all need to make friends with our inner Saturn if we would claim our spiritual maturity and live in a way that fulfills our higher purpose for being alive as Spirits in the material world.
This book takes an entirely new look at our inner Saturn and the power it gives us to take command of our lives and destiny. If Saturn represents all that limits us and holds us back, it’s only because we must master those lessons so we may become spiritual adults and fulfill our purpose for being alive on Earth. By knowing our Saturnian strengths, we can overcome fear and any sense of victimization or powerlessness.
It was written for both astrologers and non-astrologers, and gives the reader the power to understand why some things happened when they did. Throughout the book, it offers ways for us to “make friends” with this part of our existence and take command of our destiny. As you read each chapter, you’ll become more aware of all the factors assisting Soul growth through understanding how our Saturn lessons relate to Dharma (our Highest Spiritual Function) and various types of karma, both those we cause and those which are "Sacred Wounds" leading us to a greater compassion and understanding.
And as you've just sampled, we explore the concept of Saturn representing our Ring-Pass-Not, or that part of us which is limited while we learn certain lessons related to our understanding of who we are and why we can or cannot do certain things. As our Saturn expands its understanding and wisdom, then our Ring-Pass-Not expands so we can find purpose and meaning in each chapter of life. It is the secret to our power to guide our own evolution as we become conscious of the meaning of why we are on Earth.
The second part of the book examines how Saturn cycles mark major points of choice and change throughout life, and what we can expect when Saturn makes conjunctions, squares, and oppositions to our planets and Ascendant. There are tables assisting the reader to know when Saturn was in each sign, so even those with little or no understanding of astrology can track the timing on their major life changes. There is an entire chapter dedicated to the Saturn Return, perhaps the most important times in life when our decisions profoundly shape our future.
Part two closes with a chapter on one of the most crucial factors in our personal unfoldment: how the progressed Moon and transiting Saturn cycles track each other throughout life and relate to our emotional growth, and a chapter on a global phenomenon happening since 2003 impacting everyone on Earth. The Epilogue offers a few insights about living “the spiritual life,” and opens dimensions of higher and broader possibilities of personal evolution, regardless of which path to Truth we may be on.
This is a book you will reference many times for many reasons, and each time you pick it up you’re sure to find undiscovered gems of insight on each page. This book can help you throw off all the attitudes and memories which have held you back from finding and living the life and purpose you’ve been searching for since you were young. Welcome to the journey of self-discovery, and finding your power to live your life on your own terms, fulfilling your reason for being alive as an Eternal having human experiences!
Please order your copy today! You can go to the Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend page and order your copy of either the paperback or the ebook. I’ve been told that people who live overseas can get their copy much faster by going through Amazon. And if you would, please write a review on the Amazon site, since the more reviews, the bigger the boost on their site.
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 2016 Robert Wilkinson
Blessings be and thank you Robert.
Posted by: Nic | December 22, 2016 at 03:09 AM
Steve Jobsformillions and his band Obsolete Oil just signed with Chinstrap Productions
and plan to have ronald dump and the greedy old paedophiles dancing ...
Blessings and PEACE
Posted by: sue | December 23, 2016 at 05:27 AM