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 New Moon articles, with more to come in the next two days as Mercury goes stationary direct.
The Sabian Symbol for the Ruler of the Solstice
Saturn, ruler of the Sun, Moon, and Pluto, is at the 1st degree of Capricorn, "An Indian chief demanding recognition.” In the original Jones notes published in The Astrology of Personality, Rudhyar says this symbolizes "Mastery of a situation through purposeful planning and venturing,” “bold rising to opportunity,” and “extreme of self-confidence.”
We are told in the Astrological Mandala that this symbolizes "the power and responsibility implied in any claim for leadership.” He states this degree is about an ideal materialized as the power to lead a community as a result of group energies being stabilized. He offers that we each have the ability at some point to accept responsibility for power, whether over others or situations, and this degree asks if we are ready, willing, and able to accept this power “effectively and responsibly.”
He states this symbol “refers to the capacity latent in every individual to claim and assume authority in a vital group situation. He says it falls in the span of Illusiveness, and it's the first degree of the actional-physical level of the scene of Crystallization in the Act of Capitalization. So Saturn, backdrop for the Light, offers a picture of its essential power in its own sign showing us it’s time to accept responsibility for an effort or a group, and indicates a season of many people vying for power and recognition.
According to Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, states this is a degree of “extreme fidelity” to “everyday or accepted values of life, and of (our) uncompromising inner integrity when it comes to meeting any situation.” He offers that this degree is about a “determination to maintain every advantage gained by birth or through experience, and to grasp every opportunity for genuine self-expression.”
He states we are unhappy unless we can “feel secure in the place (we) have made for ourselves,” and offers us the keyword INFLEXIBILITY. He says this degree, when positive, is "an ever-effective authority following from a single eye of vision and a consistent dignity of character.”
This implies that the ruler of the Light/Life of the next 90 days is telling us to claim our power in some social or group context, be faithful to our inner integrity, and use your gifts, both innate and developed, to grasp opportunities for a more focused and potent self-expression. Find where you want to make your stand, and be strong in showing the power of your personality with dignity and intention.
The Moon
The Moon is at 7 Aquarius, making it a New Moon at the Solstice. This phase is focused on instinctive self-expression, and can be impulsive and somewhat subjective. This is “the new born” who projects their inner vision upon the outer world, interpreting everything in terms of the instinctive self, whether the lower self or the Higher Self.
The Moon Sabian Symbol is at the degree of “a Child born out of an eggshell,” promising the emergence of new “mutations” from cosmos rather than Earth bound forms. Who knows? Maybe this is behind the recent news about UFOs coming back into the public focus. The is the power of “the great unrealized” to bring forth new forms unbound from previous patterns or rules.
We are told this is a degree of “spiritual protection” and an ability to perform beyond previous expectations. So expect things that don’t resemble the known and familiar, since we will be experiencing things from the great unknown that are products of the cosmos rather than local views and customs. The focus is on the emotional, social, and cultural level of how all of reality contributes to evolution.
Dr. Jones says this degree involves “the illimitable potentialities to be found in each immediate moment of Self-realization.” He continues that we can find enlightenment in projecting ourselves “indefinitely into what has been or what may be, but (our) assurance is in the ever-present sustainment of the auric egg or self-matrix in which existence continues to create itself in its own image.”
He offers us the keyword ESSENTIALITY. He states that when operating in a positive manner, this degree “a highly individual and completely unlimited resourcefulness.”
Other Factors
Efficiency and pragmatic thinking and planning will run very high this season, with forms of ancient wisdom to be seen and understood, and new ways of understanding previous experiences and times that will help us have a more abundant faith once we learn to calm the mind. We are being called to a deeper dedication to a collective ideal, accepting a greater responsibility or role to play in society. This helps us accelerate our transformational process, and accept some things that may seem premature, but which we need to learn to do if we are to rise to the need of our times.
Blessings are all around us, and the promises we’ve been waiting on for the past year and a half are about to be made manifest a few weeks from now. We have Venus and the Sun quintile Neptune, and Mars and Jupiter trine Neptune, so the flow should be self-evident, and those who have done their disciplines of Self-realization will find their intuition working brilliantly despite the fogs and cross currents.
As Mercury is retrograde and about to go stationary direct, expect things to develop very quickly after a slight delay. As the focus is on “the power of spiritual ancestry,” and our ability to “feeling read” the collective field will be very high, use the coming season to sharpen your emotional intelligence, reorient as needed, accept your burdens with good humor and maturity, and see it all as a completely unique time that doesn’t look like anything that was or anything that will be.
Given what’s happening in this Solstice chart and the fact that all of humanity again confronts an incredibly important choice at a major “fork in the road of destiny” because of the Sun and Saturn in an exact septile to Mars, 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. After you’ve gotten a new understanding on old perceptions, ideas, and visions, feel your way to a decision, and then act on it! You’re going deeper, so 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 5 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 get your copy of my book Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend. By making friends with our inner Saturn, we are led to a greater spiritual maturity and effectiveness in our world which fulfills our higher purpose for being alive as Spirits in the material world.
Saturn gives us the power 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 and come out of fear and any sense of victimization or powerlessness. It was written for both astrologers and non-astrologers, and as you read each chapter, you’ll become more aware of all the life lessons that helped you claim your power to steer your destiny, transmute various kinds of negative karmic experiences into positive karmic powers, and transcend all that has limited you up to now.
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. Over time you will 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 on Amazon and this should be all you need to order your copy. I’ve been told that people who live overseas can get their copy much faster by going through Amazon, which now has the page up. 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.
To answer a question asked in previous Solstices, yes, you can do this ritual at any point before, during, or after the Solstice. Even if you can't do it on December 21, just find a time, clear your head space, make your lists, and offer your burnt sacrifices to Father Time and Mother Earth. A sincere desire to eliminate the old or welcome the new is sure to be heard by the Cosmos, since you and Cosmos are inextricably linked through all time.
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 2017 Robert Wilkinson
Thanks Robert, Happy Solstice to you with the new light it brings.
Blessings be to all.
Posted by: Nic | December 21, 2017 at 06:17 AM
Thanks and Happy Solstice for all your wisdom dear Robert...
Posted by: sue | December 21, 2017 at 08:31 AM