On The Erotic Ecliptic for December 2023

Igniting Hope in Darkness

Photo by Nicola Fioravanti on Unsplash

3^rd: Venus in Libra square Pluto in Capricorn, 8:29 am ET

4^th: VENUS ENTERS SCORPIO, 1:51 pm ET

5^th: Venus in Scorpio trine Saturn in Pisces, 5 :51 pm ET

6^th: NEPTUNE DIRECT IN PISCES, 8 :20 am ET

7^th: Sun in Sagittarius trine Chiron in Aries, 7:12 pm ET, Mercury in Capricorn trine Jupiter in Taurus, 11:09 pm ET (HANUKAH BEGINS AT SUNDOWN)

9^th: Venus in Scorpio opposite Jupiter in Taurus, 10:35 pm ET

12^th: NEW MOON AT 20 DEGREES OF SAGITTARIUS, 6:32 pm ET

11^th: MERCURY STATIONS RETROGRADE IN CAPRICORN, 2:09 am ET

15^th: Mars in Sagittarius trine Chiron in Aries, 5:55 pm ET

16^th: Sun in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces, 10:43 pm ET

18th: Retrograde Mercury in Capricorn trine Jupiter in Taurus, 9:28 am ET

21^st: Venus in Scorpio opposite Uranus in Taurus, 2:04 am ET, SUN ENTERS CAPRICORN/WINTER SOLSTICE, 10:27 pm ET

23^rd: RETROGRADE MERCURY RE-ENTERS SAGITTARIUS, 1:18 am ET

25^th: Venus in Scorpio trine Neptune in Pisces, 12:15 pm ET (Christmas Day)

26^th: FULL MOON AT 4 DEGREES OF CANCER, 7:33 pm ET, CHIRON DIRECT, 10:10 pm ET

27^th: Retrograde Mercury in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces, 2:43 am ET, Sun in Capricorn trine Jupiter in Taurus, 10:28 am ET, Retrograde Mercury in Sagittarius conjunct Mars, 7:31 am ET

28^th: Mars in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces, 5:16 am ET

29^th: VENUS ENTERS SAGITTARIUS, 3:24 pm ET

30^th:  JUPITER DIRECT IN TAURUS, 9:40 pm ET

MERCURY DIRECT ON JANUARY 1^ST!

A note of apology for the egregious lateness of this forecast: I had (am still having) an exquisitely intense pre-retrograde shadow experience, leading to a 3-day migraine. While visiting my parent this past week, the refrigerator, car, and washing machine all broke down. I knocked down a painting, shattering the glass encasement on the floor, just one small detail amongst an evolving comedy of errors. I planned to finish and post this forecast on Friday, but instead, I got STUCK IN A GODDDAMN SHOPPING CENTER for hours because there were two accidents on the road out of the parking lot. Suffice it to say, you can’t make this shit up re: Mercury Retrograde, and astrologers, no matter how well they plan, are not immune to the vagaries of the stars. To make up for this, my paid subscribers will receive richly detailed sign-by-sign 2024 yearly forecast, in both written and audio format. I was not planning to make time for this, but because of how late the monthly is, you’ll be getting a big, fat, juicy yearly during the last week of December.

I thank you for bearing with me; onward with your forecast!

Here we are almost at the end of a year like no other. How are you? How is your heart? Are you tending to your softer spots, so you can be a steward of your beloveds and your community, to our world full of people in pain, and the earth itself? Allowing ourselves to be vulnerable with those we trust is essential work as we approach the Winter Solstice and bear witness to a war we cannot control. Sagittarius Season, that time of teaching and learning, reminds us that under every truth there is another question, and if we dig, something better may emerge in a deeper layer. To me, that’s the shape of hope. I’m praying for the bombardment to end, for the hate to end, for the antisemitism and Islamophobia to end.

December brings a powerful tonal shift to our lives, personal and collective. The final month of 2023 may offer us select moments to breathe here and there (especially during the first ten or so days). This is perhaps a chance to soften our cramped stances, locked in positions we’ve held since early October, so our muscles can relax, our sinews can stretch, our chests and shoulders can briefly unclench.

This process began in fits and starts in late November as we exited the bloody afterbirth of Scorpio season. As December progresses, we might feel like we’re finally able to turn a dial that’s been glued in a fixed position for the last 8 weeks. However, the dial is reversed as Mercury stations retrograde at mid-month, forcing us to retrace our steps and review where we’ve been. With so much trauma flooding into our lives in recent months, that process may hurt quite a bit.

If October and November had us in a jagged, harsh, dry Martian terrain, the final precipice of the year puts us in the more flexible arms of Mercury, which just moved tentatively into Capricorn on the first day of December. We’ve lived in and through a Mars phase like none other since the planet of war squared Pluto on October 8^th from Libra, then transitioned into Scorpio shortly after, moving into sharp alignment with the Mars-Pluto conjunction in the natal chart for the founding of Hamas and into opposition with the Sun in Taurus in Israel’s natal chart. To be clear: December is not a Mars-free month. This malefic will demand to be heard as it squares Neptune and receives a conjunction from retrograde Mercury late this month.

Mars in domicile, as we just witnessed, provided us with the darkest glimpse possible into the nature of this malefic when at its strongest and most unstoppable – especially when provoked by other planets along the way. When I think about Mars, I think about what is raw and unbridled and furious and roiling and boiling and on fire within us. Like all the planets, Mars lives somewhere in our charts and in our bodies. When it is unhealthy, it often erupts as violence and destruction.

When it is channeled appropriately, it can be precision and pointed passion – especially in Scorpio. But it is always relentless, like a heat-seeking missile to a target. It can only see one thing. It has no space for nuance. There are no greys – only the raw desire to claim a victim, object of passion, or an enemy. The thing about Mars is that it cannot help itself – there is no logic, there is only propulsion.

But back to the now, and how we can make sense of it all. With Mercury in Capricorn, even though it is trending toward its retrograde station and not at its best, we can focus on the practical bits of our lives. This may be a much better time to think about New Year’s Resolutions (if that’s something you go in for) than the last week of the month, because by then, frankly, we’re stewing in a bit of a hot mess.

The friendlier aspects on the near horizon include Venus in Scorpio trining Saturn in Pisces and Neptune stationing direct on the 5th and 6th. Even though the planet of beauty doesn’t love being in Scorpio, I imagine her cleaning up after her cosmic consort Mars and his trail of blood, because that leaves us with a sweeter taste in our mouths after all the consuming, relentless drive we’ve been mired in for months. Here we can perhaps see the other or the “the enemy” as a person – a being with human needs, just like we have.

One of our last chances for healthy and joyful communication comes on the 7^th when Mercury trines Jupiter in Taurus. If these conversations are fruitful, especially with lovers and romantic partners, we can squeeze and press that fruit into a delicious elixir on the 9^th, as Venus in Scorpio opposes Jupiter in Taurus. This may be the yummiest, most erotic moment of the month, when the benefics are juiciest and most accessible.

Things may feel a bit out of control at the New Moon in Sagittarius on the 12^th, happening just a few hours before Mercury stations retrograde in Capricorn. This lunation is also pretty close to Mars and square Neptune, so the chaos factor could be high. Setting intentions at New Moons is usually a good practice, but we may be so all over the place and unclear about our feelings, decisions, and future – and the future of the whole trembling world – that we might find it challenging to think ahead into the next six months. Sagittarius energy can connect us to hope and optimism, and remind us to believe in something bigger than ourselves. Yet this particular lunation may knock us off any high horses we’ve been riding on, showing us that the things we believe in stridently may be more layered and complex than we’ve allowed space to digest.

The Winter Solstice is always a time to weave magic, including kitchen witchery and other home-based rituals. In the Northern Hemisphere, we can celebrate what’s beautiful about the darkness on this shortest day of the year. The nighttime is the right time for our welcome to Capricorn Season, and inviting Saturn into our homes is wise – because when he knocks, if we don’t let him in, he may blow the whole house down. Venus in sultry Scorpio opposes Uranus in Taurus on the same day, adding an “anything goes” vibe to our erotic adventures. Venus then trines Neptune on Christmas Day, potentially making our love lives an occasion for sexy soul-merging.

The Full Moon in Cancer on the 26^th might feel like a time to cocoon and hide out from the world, as we may feel utterly vulnerable and in need of nourishment. It coincides with the direct station of Chiron in Aries, perhaps helping us to bring a healing journey we started six months ago to a close.

Brace yourself for one of the messiest days of December on the 27^th, when retrograde Mercury squares Neptune and then conjuncts Mars. Honestly? Yikes. Don’t have difficult conversations and avoid holiday travel if you can. The exact Mars square Neptune aspect perfects on the 28^th, but we’ve already been in the window of this exhausting, depleting energy for days on end. When it’s over, if we haven’t yet found a resolution to what is confusing us, at least we might be able let go of any rage we’ve been holding onto in our bodies.

Venus moves into Sagittarius on the 29^th, potentially making love and romance fun again, especially if our erotic lives have felt fraught and intense during the last few weeks. This energy makes it possible to laugh at the absurdities of our sex lives, even while in the middle of having it. A fit of giggles after an orgasm is another way to release what we’ve been holding to too tightly.

The year ends with quite a bang as Jupiter goes direct in Taurus on the 30^th, where it will keep moving forward until it moves into Gemini in May of 2024. The Taurus-ruled house of your chart is about to get filled up like a hydrogen balloon. That might be amazing or too much, depending on what you’ve got going on there. Mercury finally stations direct in Sagittarius on New Year’s Day – this one may really feel like a new beginning.

Sign-by sign horoscopes are now up! If you’re digging this so far, you may want to sign up for a paid subscription, which comes with lots of other perks. I’m continuing the discounted rate on my annual subscription — for just $36 bucks, you get a lot of unique content from the author of the forthcoming Sex and Your Stars (Sounds True, 2024) that you can’t get anywhere else.

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