[Astrology] Happy December Solstice 2022!
By: Janette Dalgliesh – Confluence Daily is your daily news source for women in the know.
Solstice represents a fascinating phenomenon for us.
Solstice – June and December, longest day/night (this one is on 21 December at 4:48 pm, US Eastern time)
Equinox – March and September, equal length day and night.
Solstice marks the moment when Sun enters Capricorn (December) or Cancer (June).
And it represents our human ability to simultaneously experience utter difference, AND commonality – which is what we need if we are to truly accept each other without feeling the need to assimilate, change or dismiss each other’s cultural, political or spiritual roots.
Familiar Western (Hellenistic) astrology sprang, along with so much of our familiar Eurocentric mythology, from the Northern Hemisphere, where the December Solstice is all about winter.
But of course, for the other half of the planet there are millions of us who will journey through Capricorn and the December Solstice at the height of summer.
You, dear reader, may be rugging up for extremes of cold weather and longest night, while I plan for sweltering and (frankly) enjoy the relief of long, warm evenings.
Come June, the roles will be reversed. You’ll be enjoying sunshine and beach time, while I huddle in my blankie in front of the heater.
During the March / September Equinoxes – literally “equal night” – all of us will experience (more less), an equal day and night, as we head into spring or autumn respectively.
But here we are at Solstice, all on the same rock hurtling through space, all looking up at the night sky and witnessing the sun moving into the same part of the sky – and yet half of us are experiencing it as deep winter, and half as high summer.
There is something profound about this simultaneous global moment of radical difference, yet common experience.
No matter how extreme our differences might seem, even those measurable, and “real“ differences, such as the length of a day or the nature of a season – we are still all in this together.
And that fits so neatly into the Capricorn vibe.
This most grounded of signs – ambitious, savvy, powerful – leads us into the final trio of the zodiac; the social signs which help us to understand how we relate to the community around us.
In Capricorn, we take everything we learned so far – about ourselves, about how to relate to other humans one-to-one, about our wildest dreams – and we learn to navigate the rules of society, so we can bring our true purpose to the world.
(Anything which suggests Capricorn is merely about hard work and perfectionism is a highly questionable fragment of patriarchy, late-stage capitalism)
Capricorn is associated with the idea of figuring out what mark we came to leave in our community, and how to function within it effectively.
It leads us into Aquarius (where we bring new paradigms and ways of doing things; new rules of engagement) and Pisces (where we finally, fully realise that we are all one with every part of the universe around us).
This year, Capricorn / Solstice ushers in a flurry of highly change-oriented astrological weather: Mercury Rx awakening rebellion via Uranus, North Node and Chiron; Jupiter finally settling into bold adventurous Aries; and Mars finally turning direct in curiosity-obsessed Gemini.
That means we might feel some tension between our urge to climb the cliffs of ambition, and an upwelling of ‘gotta rebel’ which seems to muddy the waters.
Think of it as bringing opportunities, people and concepts from your future AND your past (the Lunar Nodes)
During this period, while you are integrating and replacing old thought patterns or outdated ideas with new ones, don’t try and rush things.
There are desirable new paradigms coming (Uranus and Aquarius), but you can’t force it, you can’t make it come together by pushing at it, and you can’t avoid it. It’s most likely to come together when the third alignment happens, which is not until late January – by which time Sun will be in Aquarius.
How to make the most of Capricorn 2022 season:
- practise the art of celebrating every teeny tiny achievement – start by writing down THREE things you’re proud of yourself for, every night)
- start asking ‘whose rule is it anyway?’ every time you hear an assumption in your own head, about how the world works, what you’re supposed to do, or how you’re supposed to fit in
- be open to the possibility that you won’t know exactly how you want to be an authority in your own life, until the Mercury/Mars dust has settled, around 18 January
Happy Solstice!
PS if you’d like help navigating Capricorn, it’s not too late to join the party at Liberation Zodiac where you can get group coaching any time, get a cleaner understanding of this brilliant and often-misunderstood sign, and learn life-changing practices specifically designed to counter any patriarchy BS which might get inflamed this time of year.
Exact times (US Eastern Timezone)
Solstice – 21 December, 4:48 pm
Janette Dalgliesh is a gifted life coach based in south-east Australia. She helps women of all kinds, from all walks of life, to set themselves free from the unconscious, toxic BS of the patriarchy in which we all grew up – through the twin lenses of neuroscience and astrology. Her signature group coaching program is Liberation Zodiac, and you will find her at www.janettedalgliesh.com
