Christmas 2011
Posted on 19 December 2011 | No responses
Sickness and circumstance prevented my delivering a ‘Your Stars’ for December. Apologies to my readers, and thankyou for your enquiries and support. Now that Mercury has turned from its wretched retrograde cycle, here, appositely, is a post. Not much of one I’m afraid, just enough to bring the news that I will shortly be supplying full Sun sign forecasts for the year 2012, and further news that there will be a price tag involved.
Festive greetings and Christmas blessings to all.
Your Stars November 2011
Posted on 3 November 2011 | 31 responses
Happy new year. The Celtic festival of Samhain on 31 October – aka Halloween aka All Hallow’s Eve – marks the end of the Celtic annual calendar. To our ancestors, the new year started when the seeds were put to bed ready for winter’s long sleep. For an agricultural community, it makes perfect sense.
November’s stars certainly make a decent picture for ringing in the new. Any time one of the three ‘outer’ planets is heavily involved in the planetary cycles – that’s Pluto, Neptune and Uranus/Prometheus – events in the economic, political and cultural realm are prone to turbulence, often of an extreme kind.
Neptune, now returning to forward motion, is a tricky case to call. Deception, illusion, glamour, oil, pharmaceuticals and mysticism all figure among its bewildering symbolic remit. And, of course, the oceans.
On a more practical level for most of us, oil barons aside, the imminent retrograde of messenger Mercury between 24 November and 14 December is a cue for members of all signs, but especially Sagittarius, to clear your agenda swiftly, and either shop very early for Christmas or wait until after 14 December. Contrary to the impression that astrologers sometimes give, life does go on under Mercury retrograde, but you have to make double sure of arrangements, especially purchasing upscale gifts.
Scorpio
Hurry up! Mercury and Venus are almost out of your skies (that’ll be the gossip and flirtation of recent weeks), plus there was just a new Scorpio Moon on the 26th, about which your astrologer failed to give you notice (mea culpa). You still have most of a birthday month left in which to smooch, being imperious and mysterious, but the next couple of weeks come more highly prized. Be aware that the full Moon of the 10th and 11th doesn’t make a time for cool debate with partners or for emotional decisions (dressing up a super-Goth, fine)
The month’s main message is to exult in your powers. You are not a sign to go through life without trading a few blows, and in the impersonal world of your career you work best in the role of scrapper and scene-stealer. Mars calls for your fighting powers, especially around the 21st.
Domestically it’s more slippery – we’re talking iffy flats and dodgy drains – but not indefinitely. If home is an issue, you’re at a positive turn-round point, with issues that were active back in January back on the agenda. Partners, significant others, summer arrivals on the romantic front, swell folks with lots of dosh all remain in play this month as Jupiter rewinds. As you are mercifully out of the line of fire where this month’s more challenging aspects are concerned – a total solar eclipse for example – cruse on. For romantics, the last few days of the month hold promise.
Sagittarius
Aha! Odd, action-packed times lie straight ahead. Venus, trailing parties and dates, arrives on the 2nd for a swift three week stay – a chance to flaunt even before it’s your birthday. Then comes Mercury on the 3rd. The presence of the great communicator is with you into early 2012, meaning words and emails have power, and that during Mercury’s pesky retrograde cycle – the 24th to December 14th – you can expect to be called out on promises, asked to renegotiate and must be prepared to improvise Plan Bs.
Then there’s the total solar eclipse that accompanies the Sag new Moon of the 25th – very pertinent as a harbinger of change if that’s your birthday, otherwise don’t get too alarmed. In fact, you look like quite the mover and shaker, albeit that terms and conditions apply.
One of said conditions is that from mid-month Mars arrives at the peak of your ‘scope, a useful prompt to get out on the professional stage…and stay there! Peeking ahead to 2012 finds the red planet in residence in your career zone for several months. Still, what do a few professional battles matter? The important thing is to keep your personal vision of your worth and ambitions strong, especially now, when the planetary picture is in your favour. Work solo if you need to.
That new Moon of the 25th is an ignition point for both carefully nurtured plans, and out-the-box events that follow in its immediate wake. Though you’ll have to be patient until mid-December, Saturn promises that well-laid long-term plans regarding property and work come to fruition before the new year. The involvement of Uranus/Prometheus at your new Moon promises fireworks at a more personal level – go with the metaphorical flow, Centaur.
Capricorn
Work! You love it (you’re a Cap!) and the prestige and riches it brings, yet even you wonder sometimes why you let it impinge quite so heavily on your life.
Given that your ruling planet, Saturn, continues to break fresh ground until February, it looks likely that you’ll have to hang in there with the status quo for now. Even if you are changing/have recently changed jobs (pretty likely if you were born in 1980. ’81 or ’82) you will have to keep saluting the grey forces of the establishment. The chance to slacken your professional chains arrives early in the new year. This month mid-January birthdays are those feeling Saturn’s inexorable pressure, not just with work, but with any life-changing decisions you took 14 or 29 years back. It could be time for a reckoning.
The month of Scorpio, what’s left of it, is broadly obliging nonetheless, especially when dealing with colleagues, professional groupings and jolly sporting organisations. Jupiter in your fifth solar house continues to smile on your expansive, social side. The full Moon of the 10th is good for making whoopee, and for emotions to turn super-intense.
The month of Sagittarius offers a rather different picture. With the total eclipse of the 25th (a new Moon) in the most private, indeed secretive, zone of your ‘scope, what accompanies it is probably no-one’s business but your own, and may need a reclusive moment for a decision. Put the words ‘down time’ in your ever-packed schedule.
Venus popping over your horizon on the 27th brings a sweeter, more mellow mood in the run-up to Christmas and, as importantly, your birthday.
Aquarius
The chances of living la dolce vita have looked pretty slim recently – not that life can’t be/isn’t fulfilling and purposeful, but a combination of Mars in opposition and Saturn urging you to bring property and professional plans to completion is not a picture of ease.
The first half of November maintains this pattern and adds to the need to cut a more public presence in your working life (good for show business types!). Mercury’s presence in your zone of networking and favours that are extended (and returned) puts you in a good position to schmooze and cut deals – indeed, you can make some dazzling contacts in the week following the new Moon of the 25th. The messenger planet’s backwards spell between the 24th and 14 December is time to ease back and evaluate; if you force the pace too hard then, you’re likely to be spinning your wheels.
In mid-month Mars also gets off your case – any time after the 11th is good for burying the hatchet with people with whom you have recently been on the outs. Best not try too hard before then – Mars makes a brief opposition to Neptune in your skies, with a hard-to-call outcome. Aquarians will be reading a lot about Neptune from some other astrologers; suffice to say that your writer thinks said planet is a player mainly for birthdays 16-18 January. Said folks can breathe a sigh of relief at mid-month, when Neptune begins its final pass over your birthday Sun. Neptune represents the glamour factor; you can do some serious self PR this month, but don’t start believing your own hype.
The full Moon in operation over the 10th and 11th brings issues of home and hearth into focus for all Water-Bearers. Whether by relocating, expanding the family (including flatmates), or swishing up your gaff, you’re being invited to enhance your personal space.
Pisces
Planets in other water signs are invariably obliging for the zodiac’s Fishes. The Sun in Scorpio until the 23rd is therefore good news, favouring your zest for adventure, travel and learning. That makes an interesting backdrop to other unfolding planetary events. Venus passing over the apex of your ‘scope brings a nod of recognition from one of your more humane (probably female) bosses.
Your ambitions in the outer, public world are the focus of several planetary events. Mercury’s presence in your career zone for some nine weeks promises plenty of action in the area where you forge your life path. That said, the planet’s retrograde patch between November 24 and December 15th obliges you to rethink your plans and expect some twerp up top to present you with an impossible-to-fulfil schedule. With Mercury, the more study and detailed attention you pay to what’s offered/agreed/promised, the better you handle the planet’s awkward retrograde.
A new Moon at the pinnacle of your ‘scope (on the 25th) would normally be a cause for simple celebration – a chance to relaunch yourself on the world stage! – but as that of the 25th is also a solar eclipse, it’s a wait-and-see moment, especially given Mercury’s indecision. If you feel blocked, here’s the time to deftly remove what (or even who) is in your way. Ganesh, the Indian god of astrology, is known as ‘the remover of obstacles’ (which is why he’s on the front of every temple) – that’s the positive way to consider this eclipse.
Mid-month’s change of gear also includes Mars moving into opposition for a stay of several months, a cue to tiptoe round your other half rather than move into crockery-smashing mood. A Mars-Chiron opposition on the 10th/11th definitely has the making of an ‘ouch!” moment. Be wary whom you pick a fight with (or who picks one with you) – you don’t want a piece of siege warfare over the winter.
Aries
Hmmm, there’s so much to play for before the new year kicks in: individualistic, self-made success, coping with the drab forces of officialdom (including the forbidding ‘ex’), against the odds laying hands on a haul of loot, and somewhere along the line, having fun.
Saturn in long-term opposition is a classic ‘no fun’ signature, yet with your totem planet, Mars, wildly on your side until the 11th, you have a window of opportunity to display your zest for life; parties in loud clothes! Salsa and rum! A bright new canvas! Planets moving into Sagittarius, a fellow fire sign, are similarly good news. Late November and December have a lot to say about what George Bush called ‘the vision thing’ – ethics, utopian ideals, education – and similarly inspiring geographical vistas. All of these topics are covered by an active solar ninth house featuring a total solar eclipse, plus a lengthy Mercury transit, fuelling your powers of communication and zest for travel.
Look upon Mercury’s prickly retrograde cycle– from Nov 24 to December 14 – as an opportunity to take stock and finish up old business and it shouldn’t trip you up.
That solar eclipse also involves tricksy Uranian energies, the same ones that have given many Rams a roller coaster ride in 2011. Those born just after the spring Equinox have been gripping the sides of their seat especially tightly. The eclipse – also a new Moon don’t forget – promises to be something of a boon, a kick start for the far wilder ride of crazy ol’ 2012.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Mars, your uncontested ruler, marches into your sixth house of work and health on November 11th and stays there for, oh, months and month, signifying that your ‘play hard’ streak comes with a built-in ‘work hard’ proviso. Jupiter, the money planet par excellence, remains handily poised in the zone of your ‘scope where you locate cash (and likely spend it instantly). The full Moon of the 10th/11th promises to be a glittering affair. Get out the house that weekend with an optimistic heart and a determination not to get over-excited.
Taurus
‘Woolly Bully!’ as the old song says. As your astrologer pointed out last month, Scorpio is not always the kindest month of the year to Taureans, it being your opposite sign and all. And indeed, with the mighty Sun in opposition until the 23rd, best take especial care not to be run-down or to fall victim to one of those throat-strangling infections to which noble Bulls are prone.
Still, with your totem planet, fair Venus, moving out of opposition on November 2nd, your chances of easy-win situations increase. Plus, with swell-hearted Jupiter buoyant in your skies through to your birthday, you look more unsinkable than ever.
The squall of planetary action in Sagittarius in October and December does you no kind favours but does invite you to look way harder at all matters financial, not just your earning power but the way you can generate wealth through property, mortgages, Great Aunt Annie’s bequeathed oil paintings and so on. Taurus is the sign of economics – over the next nine weeks you have to prove your canniness. That will involve using the irksome retrograde of Mercury (24 November – 14 December) to renegotiate those rascally corporate contracts and generally re-adjust and re-view your place in the fragile world economy. Oh, and to make sure that the solar eclipse of the 25th doesn’t involve a sudden void in your bank account!
The Taurus full Moon of November 10th is, of course, a cue to ensure you don’t get too carried away, especially in discussions over cocktails with your better half. Prepare to be out-ranked if need be. Don’t confront – dance.
You’ll be doing an awful lot of dancing over the next few months (literally or metaphorically). Mars moves into your fifth house from the 11th for an exceptionally long stay. This is the planet that likes to compete, win, celebrate and conquer. The 17th may provide a clue to what’s on offer in the months ahead.
Neptune remains an enigmatic factor in your affairs, especially your public profile. Here, a touch of glamour is what’s you’re after, the key word being ‘touch’, unless you’re thirsting for the poisoned chalice of ‘celebrity’.
Gemini
Now here’s a pretty pickle: on November 2nd your ruling planet, Mercury, takes up opposition for the next nine weeks. Usually Mercury whizzing through your complementary sign of Sagittarius is no big deal, signifying no more than a few hot discussions with you know who. However, with the planet backsliding between 24 November-14 December, a period of deliberation and negotiation is signalled, requiring first of all that you are not hasty with your promises or threats – what you put out there comes back to haunt you soon enough. At the least you can expect for significant others to be ambivalent and change their minds.
Still, with Venus also moving through the Centaur’s skies during November, those of you who are interested are also promised a head-turner or two. However one approaches the planetary picture, relationships seem to be at the heart of most of the action. The total solar eclipse of the 25th is a potential game-changer – a good moment to get rid of someone if that’s your intention, especially to lose the attention of a rival or an unwanted ‘ex’. As outlined in last month’s forecast, the ongoing march of Saturn is also raising questions, perhaps uncomfortable, about where your commitments lie and how sustainable is one particular romance.
For those of you who are settled, however, and even for those in an uproar, Saturn is also in a highly obliging spot if you are trying to bring property deals to a conclusion, or engaged in a long-term creative project. Bustle on, bearing in mind that there are better times to sign contracts during dear ol’ Mercury Retrograde.
In the run-up to the 24th, the current lunation smiles on all health and spiritual pursuits; detoxes, workouts, meditation retreats, cleansing your workplace and suchlike. The full Moon arrives on the 10th, but Luna is still potent over the weekend of the 12th/13th, when she passes through Gemini’s skies – bonzer couple of days for celebration, showing off or, erk, getting far too carried away.
Cancer
Your ‘scope seems determined that both work and play must play their part in your current operations. As the latter quality has been in short supply for much of 2011, the more freewheeling climes promised by the Sun in Scorpio until the 24th are not to be taken for granted. Self-advertisement in all forms is favoured. The full Moon of the 9th and 10th works in your favour for all meet –and-greet, handshaking, glass-chinking scenarios. Act and feel like a player.
The socialising and running around doesn’t end when the Sun changes sign at the 24th, but may have to get more…purposeful. Anything that involves you in the role of student or teacher gathers momentum in the run-in to the new year – the period from the 16th to the 23rd may provide hot tips on what direction you can pursue.
Work likely comes as a four letter word thanks to the fidgety retrograde of organiser Mercury from 24 November to 14 December. Get prepared with an immaculate clear-out of your paperwork, and a readiness to accommodate at work, where you can expect to have to tidy up other people’s blunders (not yours, obviously!). Remember that old work is as good as new during this brief phase. Eclipses of the Sun (on the 25th) and your planet, the Moon (on December 10th) likewise suggest a realignment of your job or the manner in which you do it.
The three heavyweight planets that have been trying to bully you this year remain in place (bah). Those of you born close to the Summer Equinox are the principal targets for Plutonian and Uranian energies, both of which can be keen on transformational experiences. The good news is that come new year you will be operating under different climes. Pluto retreats and Uranus livens up your career path.
Something similar involves Saturn, planet of the old grouch and the careful planner. The next three months keep the pressure on, especially for birthdays from mid-July onwards (or anytime in ‘82/’83), but also allow you to achieve as never before – a big, difficult project fits the bill nicely, providing it is not in the fantasy realm.
Leo
Been keeping out of trouble? Mars in one’s sign has a habit of handing out a few bumps, bruises and red-mist moments, though hopefully without long term consequences. The warrior planet remains in your skies until 11 November, meaning there’s still time for a prank or two. The opposition between Mars and Neptune – exact on the 7th – is one to bear in mind, especially for birthdays circa August 20-21; a perfect recipe for an encounter with a dreamboat…or a slippery conman!
In general, however, your horoscope has much more constructive ideas in mind for you in the run-in to the new year. Right now, Leo’s planet, the Sun, is pushing you to get things done in house and home. Jupiter, the planet that is promising big things for your career in coming months, remains nicely sited to introduce you a few captains of industry or scene-shakers – people almost as grand as you in fact! Waiting in the wings is the wild-card planet Prometheus to bring some boundary-busting vistas to your view of the planet, or at least, to make your patch of it slightly larger.
Here and now come Venus and Mercury in Sagittarius – a fellow fire sign that in your solar scope represents many of the things that make Leo’s motor tick: performance, parties, festoons of bling and a big-hearted participation in human society. Venus’ parade is brief, until the 26th, but messenger Mercury lingers until the new year, including a heel-dragging retrograde period between 24 November and 14 December, the right time for you to reconsider your options in matters of romance, recalibrate your attitude to your offspring and revise that masterpiece in your bottom desk drawer.
A total eclipse of the Sun on the 25th shifts the rules in all such interests; it’s something of a slate-cleaning moment, so be prepared to restart your campaign for glory come mid-December. Your personal realm, especially siblings and chums, is under examination. Or rather, your attitude to such personal bonds is under scrutiny – you can remain, a delightful Tigger (as always, honest!), with an extra bounce to your mane on the Moon-in-Leo days of the 17th and 18th.
Virgo
Busy-ness – as opposed to but not excluding business – is the default mode for most Virgoans. Utter inertia, especially of a pleasurable variety, also appeals, though for those other than dark-side Virgoans (yes, they exist), not for long.
Your November stars thus present you with a chequered picture. The Sun in Scorpio until the 23rd definitely favours you running-round, scene checking, indeed being downright nosy. Mars marching into your sign for a rare and epic sojourn -until summer 2012 – clearly has much to impress upon you about all aspects of self-assertion (not a natural strong point) and how to face down other people who dare to mess with you (not usually a problem).
You better get used, in short, to being more pushy than your innate politeness allows. Hunger for action and admiration is, contrary to your rep as goody two-shoes, a big feature of the next few months. You come with a big advantage if you recognise that the retrograde of your ruling planet, Mercury – 24 November-14 December – is a time for pause and reflection, even though the hunger is upon you. It’s an irritation, not a stopping block.
Much of the planetary action in November and December concerns the root of your solar ‘scope – the place and family you’re from, and the people with whom your currently live. There’s a probably lengthy and detailed discussion involved here, as you jockey for position among your flatmates or leasehold rivals. You prosper by being astute, withholding, meticulous and, if pushed, legally minded. It’s a two way conversation so you must listen as well as dictate. That said, don’t underestimate you power, which gathers as the year goes on.
Accruing necessary funds isn’t easy with Saturn in your second house, but shrewdness and austerity help. Oddly, perhaps, stacks of loot do not seem to be much of a driving factor right now. Emotional satisfaction is the force in motion, and the one likely in coming months to deliver security.
Libra
Odd fact: time marches on, but not always at the same pace. You have an object lesson in the ambiguity of temporal experience this month. The planet foremost in Libran lives, Saturn, courses onwards, asking all Librans, but especially those born mid-October, to face less than palatable truths. Own up to your failings, be prepared to shed stuff, even people, in pursuit of your long term aims. With regard to such heavyweight matters – Saturn is nothing if not heavyweight – your birthday month likely offered more home truths than you anticipated; ask Prime Minister and Libran David Cameron.
Saturn is the planet of achievement, however; hard-nosed resolve, opting for the difficult decision rather than the easy way out, always pay dividends where Saturn is involved. Forget trying to please everybody; do what’s right for you.
Your ruling planet’s recent shift into Sagittarius enhances your appetite for the social whirl, and with Mercury spending a couple of months in the same sign, plus a total solar eclipse there at the new Moon of the 25th, it could be time to refresh your circle of acquaintances and fellow travellers. The retrograde of Mercury, from 24 November – 14 December, suggests you look up a few old chums.
For creative Librans, the flurry of activity in the Centaur’s skies asks you to re-boot a creative project. Your way with words is of especial importance now. Neptune’s current prominence in your ‘scope adds a further glow to any masterpieces that are under construction. For those of you involved in education it’s also an important moth, when you can readjust your schedules or even your syllabus.
Jupiter’s ongoing presence in Taurus helps you find money – the full Moon of the 10th offers illumination as to just where the treasure is hidden.
