Astrologers Say The Winter Season Is Going To Be Anything But Quiet

December 1, 2021 — 21:39 PM

Hoping for a quiet holiday season? Tuck that wish away for another year. Not surprisingly, 2021 will serve up one of the most cosmically active months of the year, right from the start. 

You could call it the month of “one more thing.” The sky gods manage to squeeze in one more eclipse, one more challenging planetary square (between Saturn and Uranus), one more retrograde (Venus, the planet of love and harmony). Is this some kind of spiritual test from the stars—or a galactic Grinch trying to steal Christmas?

Eclipses can be abrupt, leaving us zero time to “think it over.” They sweep away things that no longer serve us—despite how hard we cling. We’re in the tail wind of the November 19 Taurus lunar eclipse, heading into a final Sagittarius solar eclipse at the December 4 new moon.

Not only are we in high eclipse season, but all of the December planets and nodes are clustered in the winter and spring signs, from Sagittarius through Gemini. There are no planets in the zodiac signs from Cancer through Scorpio. It’s not unheard of, but it does mean we’re missing the more mature energy that the late summer and autumn signs can bring—a grounded and measured perspective. 

A similar pattern occurred prior to the 2020 U.S. elections, a time that was tainted with grandstanding and mudslinging. Now, a new virus variant has disrupted our premature plans to travel and celebrate with pre-pandemic fanfare. 

This lopsided lineup, along with the intense transits of the month, means we’ll need to stay on our toes while also keeping our soles firmly planted on the ground. Triggering moments and button-pushing people will crop up like naughty elves, beyond the usual seasonal mischief.

Be firm about your list of off-limits topics at the holiday table—with the same fervor that people are bringing to mask mandates. “Emotional contagion” is a proven phenomenon, so why spread anger and pain when the world is already carrying such a heavy load?

Here are a few of the highlights of December’s stars that are especially impactful.

International turmoil, travel restrictions, pundit spewing grandiose claims? It’s par for the course as we reach the final eclipse in a series that’s thundered across the Gemini/Sagittarius nodal axis since May 5, 2020.

Gemini and Sagittarius are the signs that rule communication, media, travel, and neighborhoods, and we’ve spent the bulk of the pandemic focused on these themes—from attacks on journalism to widespread disinformation to travel lockdowns.

The December 4 Sagittarius solar eclipse puts the spotlight on global matters, like, oh, a pandemic. Yes, it’s delivered one last blow to the hope that travel—the Sagittarius domain—would open up again, at least for now. And since it’s following a lunar eclipse in Taurus, the sign that rules the financial realm, we’re seeing economic shake-ups worldwide as well. No surprise, at least from an astrologer’s POV, that the omicron variant would show up between these two eclipses. 

But eclipses are teachers and awakeners. So rather than wring your hands or point fingers at this final Sagittarius eclipse, it would be more productive to look at where we’ve left our collective work unfinished. As the nodes prepare their shift onto the Taurus/Scorpio axis on January 18, 2022, we have another six weeks to do that.

Every 18 months, Venus, the goddess of love, grace, and goodwill, takes an abrupt sabbatical from her hostess duties, turning retrograde for six weeks. This can make people less likely to extend the benefit of the doubt to each other and more prone to squabbling and starting dramas.

Venus retrograde particularly disrupts relationships, shining a harsh fluorescent on anything you’ve swept under the rug in a relationship, causing a flurry of celebrity (and civilian) breakups and, since retrogrades rule the past, bringing exes back into the picture. 

From December 19 to January 29, Venus will be retrograde in committed Capricorn, weakening our willpower and making us second-guess who we want to spend the long term with. Even harsher? Venus retrograde will be conjunct (together with) intense and secretive Pluto on Christmas Day.

Old family wounds could come up for processing, along with power struggles, toxic dynamics, and people projecting their baggage onto each other. It may be standard holiday fare for many of us, but this combination could really bring up some raw old stuff that might better be processed privately or with a professional than under the Yuletide spruce.

Part of 2021’s charge has been supplied by three intense squares between rule-maker Saturn and rule-breaker Uranus. This tense configuration has tempted us to rip up the floorboards and reinvent some part of life from scratch—while also cautioning us not to throw away the metaphorical baby with the bathwater.

On February 17 and June 14, we experienced the first two squares. Now, on December 24, we’ll undergo the third and final Saturn-Uranus square of 2021, a moment that will demand the balance of opposing forces. 

Your FREE horoscope delivered daily.

You are now subscribed

Be on the lookout for a welcome email in your inbox!