Week 48: December 2022 Week 1, The Week Ahead Horoscope
Mutable Madness fills the first week of December. Mercury + Venus opposes Mars and make a square to Neptune. This week brings lots of fluctuations, contradictions, the need to be adaptable & flexible.
Introduction بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Monday, Nov 28th
[3:05 AM ET] The Moon in Aquarius sextile the Sun at 06º03’ Sagittarius
[12:55 PM ET] Mars Retrograde in Gemini trine Saturn at 19º42’ Aquarius
[7:39 PM ET] The Moon in Aquarius sextile Venus at 16º01’ Sagittarius
[7:48 PM ET] The Moon in Aquarius square Uranus Retrograde at 16º07’ Uranus
[11:25 PM ET] The Moon in Aquarius sextile Mercury at 18º16’ Sagittarius
On Monday, the Moon will be moving through the sign Aquarius after entering on Sunday afternoon ET. The Moon in Aquarius is moving through a fixed sign which emphasizes the enduring, fixed, and stable nature of the Moon, while blending the Air element of ideas, socialization, and communication.
Monday starts off with the beginning of this new lunar month as the Moon sextiles the Sun which starts things off a little smoother, seeking friendship, support, and allies as the Sun and Moon are in agreement. This is great for seeking recognition, visibility, to be seen, acknowledged, seeking knowledge, clarity, and sharing our charisma with others. The Moon will move from the Sun over to Venus who offers pleasures, delights, enjoyment, laughter, and the need for freedom in relationships and adventure in our day to days live. Getting philosophical about love, relationships, and pondering is the meaning of love in our day to day lives becomes important, not just today, but throughout the entire week. The Moon will then make a sextile to Mercury in Sagittarius who is able to provide information, answers, an outlet to communicate and give language to our pleasures and desires. All of these talks about love, relationships, communication, and recognition come as the Moon is in Aquarius, highlighting the confines of society and the ways in which our self expression is inhibited or repressed. Jupiter desires freedom whereas Saturn creates constraints.
The Moon is in reception with Saturn who is making an important aspect today though which is Mars and Saturn trining (120º) each other for the second out of three times. Mars receiving the overcoming trine from Saturn it conceals Mars’ actions, motives, and intentions. Saturn in the 9th position brings hidden knowledge to light, hidden plots, motives, and attacks. Because Mars is Retrograde, there might be the revelation of some attack or plot that was planned, in regards to government + media since Mars is in Gemini and Saturn is in Aquarius. These revelations can be from things that happened in late September (Sept 28th) when Mars and Saturn made their first trine. Mars being retrograde shows there is a rebellious, out of control, and unrestrained sense of expression that is concealed being revealed. Saturn does represent governments and Mars represents labor, protestors, fighters and its likely we’ll see some sort of agreement between these two be revoked since Mars going Retrograde is going back on previous behavior or actions, revoking whatever decisions it previously made. The trine emphasizes an agreement that is trying to take place. It isn’t until March 30th, 2023 that these planets will come to a consensus and agreement as they make a trine once Mars leaves Gemini, enters Cancer, and Saturn leaves Aquarius and enters Pisces. Their trine will be especially felt throughout Monday and Tuesday as the Moon can witness both Saturn and Mars. Lots of tension and hostility within social interactions can be present with both malefics in Air signs. Pay attention to the houses Aquarius and Gemini rule in your chart. They are relevant this week.
Tuesday, Nov 29th
[1:30 AM ET] The Moon in Aquarius trine Mars Retrograde at 19º31’ Gemini
[1:53 AM ET] The Moon conjoins Saturn at 19º44’ Aquarius
[3:30 PM ET] Mercury in Sagittarius opposes Mars Retrograde at 19º18’ Gemini
[7:15 PM ET] INGRESS: The Moon enters Pisces
[11:17 PM ET] Mercury in Sagittarius sextile Saturn at 19º48’ Aquarius
On Tuesday, The Moon will be ruled by Saturn and will be moving towards a conjunction to Saturn through the Morning, highlighting the Mars/Saturn trine exactly. The Moon makes a trine to Mars and conjoins Saturn within 23 minutes of each other. Usually the Moon conjoining Saturn brings revelations around limits, blockages, boundaries, and obstacles set in our path. It brings somber, serious, melancholic, and depressing news and moods. Sometimes it talks about death, the dead, ancient, or old things. It can bring up old rulers, old people, and elders as main topics. Saturn can have this influence where it makes us freeze up and especially in Aquarius, a lot of this is mental freezing. Excessive contemplation and thought that leads to us feeling frozen in our ability to take action. Saturn also provides us with crystal clear insight into structures, government, systems, the status quo, orthodoxies, and the people who are in power that uphold and maintain certain hegemonies in society. Mars offers an element of challenging the consensus and status quo. Ultimately this conjunction brings a much more serious vibe that sets the tone for the entire day.
Mars is really the planet that is highlighted this week as Mercury will also make an opposition (180º) to Mars that goes exact today. Mercury is our speech, how/what we communicate, and an opposition to Mars inflames our speech & brings words that rile people up. It can indicate harmful language, words that are attacking, and vindictive. Arguments, debates, and conflict in our speech/communication style fill the air, especially as the Moon grows and increases in light. Mars in connection with Mercury indicates loudness, shouting, and screaming. Mars turns up the volume on everything.
Mercury with Mars can also be indicative of protests, yelling, screaming, and sharing a truth that is being refused to be listened to. This aspect is very contentious and it highlights talks about fire, iron, labor, and illness (all Mars ruled things). Mars can have us be impulsive and have sudden violent outbursts of verbal expression with this transit. Think about the IMPACT your words have and how they can cause harm to others Think about how ideas/ideology can be used as a weapon to further divide people
Mars inflames an already fired up Mercury, so adding more fire might make things more tense and overwhelm the nervous system (Mercury). Venus is nearby, offering an opportunity to cool down and soothe the inflammation. This could also be referring to lungs being inflamed. Mercury is in Sagittarius exiled & opposing Mars in its home sign. What false truths & narratives are being believed (Mercury in Sagittarius, contacting a malefic) because people are being fed disinformation (Mars Retrograde in Gemini)? How does this create an air of hostility when people are not dealing with reality or the truth or reality of our circumstances around capitalism, the climate crisis, labor, exploitation, and class inequality? The extremely rich and extremely poor is government by Saturn: all limits of the extremes are where we find Saturn.
Disinformation feeds false narratives that are vindictive & cause harm. Neptune is in this square to both Mercury and Mars which makes things confusing and less clear. Getting all the details might not be possible now, but making noise that something is urgent and needs action is what the Messenger brings. Things will feel very tense over the next week, and it may require you to speak your truth in an uncomfortable but blunt manner.
Mercury with Mars also brings a quickness to our speech as well. Especially in the mutable signs who are constantly changing. Wait to get more information before erupting into rage. This is a time to tap into what you are angry about, but impulsivity can backfire. Do you have mechanisms & tools that help you constructively channel rage? How have you been conditioned to communicate rage? Is there anything you would like to change about how you communicate anger? Where is the root of your pain? This is the time to be extra discerning about how you engage with media/news in particular. Is media (whether it be news or social media) inflaming and harming your nervous system more than supporting it and offering solutions? Mars in the ancient world was a planet that was violent in nature. It violated social order. Violating relationships and agreements, or tainting the respect towards others. In this case, our words are used as weapons. Whoever said words aren’t that deep is lying. Words have the ability to soothe us and calm us down (Mercury when with the benefics) but the can also be the source of deep pain, harm, and damage. The words that are spoken to us and then we internalize as harmful self talk. Words can do damage. Keep this in mind. Especially since this is Tuesday, the day ruled by Mars, and Mercury is making an aspect to the day lord. Fights and conflict are abound.
Mercury also makes a sextile to Saturn during this time, which offers restraint, restriction, and the need to slow down after our minds have been accelerating due to Mars. Mercury and Saturn are working together to think about long term issues. Saturn values longevity and Mercury allows us to communicate what we think are sustainable solutions. Mercury and Saturn in agreement shows some wisdom, knowledge, and insight that is found from elders, older folks, the ancients, the dead, and the past. By looking into the past and studying it deeply, we can understand how it has shaped our present reality.
Venus is following behind Mercury and will also oppose Mars later this week too, which should offer some balm and soothe the tension through justice, fairness, and seek efforts to restore balance. The Moon will leaves Aquarius and enter Pisces where it finds a little more freedom and search to move past limits and obstacles set in our path. The excess of rigidity starts to release as the element of Water fills our day, giving us a good outlet for emotional release, compassion, trust, and honesty. The Moon will not connect with any planets for today, but a conjunction to Jupiter (who has since stationed direct) is in sight.
Tuesday is definitely one of the more eventful days in the week, but just you wait until you see what Thursday has to offer.
Wednesday, Nov 30th
[9:36 AM ET] The Moon in Pisces square The Sun At 08º21’ Sagittarius
On Wednesday, the Moon will continue swimming through Pisces, and along its journey it encounters a harsh square to the Sun in Sagittarius. Both the Sun and Moon are in signs ruled by Jupiter so there is some reception by being influenced and ruled by the same planet. This makes the square a little less tense, but still the Sun and Moon are in conflict with each other. Our will and our circumstances, or as some put it free-will and fate, are at odds with each other.
Thursday, Dec 1st
[12:27 AM ET] Venus in Sagittarius opposes Mars Retrograde at 18º47’ Gemini
[3:42 AM ET] The Moon in Pisces square Mars Retrograde at 18º44’ Gemini
[4:07 AM ET] The Moon in Pisces square Venus at 18º58’ Sagittarius
[9:23 AM ET] The Moon in Pisces square Mercury at 21º57’ Sagittarius
[10:35 AM ET] The Moon conjoins Neptune at 22º38’ Pisces
[8:08 PM ET] Mercury in Sagittarius square Neptune at 22º38’ Pisces
[9:44 PM ET] The Moon conjoins Jupiter at 28º54’ Pisces
[10:09 PM ET] Venus in Sagittarius sextile Saturn at 19º55’ Aquarius
[11:40 PM ET] INGRESS: The Moon enters Aries
TW: Mention about abuse + love + family trauma.
Thursday is an eventful day of the week, and of course it is the beginning of December. The final month of the year. We made it yall (finally). We start off with Venus in Sagittarius opposing Mars Retrograde in Gemini. Venus is the planet of love and unity while Mars typically represents discord and fighting. For this Venus in Sagittarius transit, I’ve been thinking a lot about what love means, and how we can define love. I’ve been reading all about love by bell hooks, and it’s offered answers that I think everyone should read and explore to deepen their relationship to love. If we understand Venus is the principle of love, we need a solid definition. Mars we typically have a concrete definition for: violence, harm, and pain. These planets opposing each other show the contention and challenge between these two forces but also our information and understanding about them because they’re located in Gemini/Sagittarius, the knowledge seeking axis.
When we understand love as the will to nurture our own and another’s spiritual growth, it becomes clear that we cannot claim to love if we are hurtful and abusive. Love and abuse cannot coexist. Abuse and neglect are, by definition, the opposites of nurturance and care. Often we hear of a man who beats his children and wife and then goes to the corner bar and passionately proclaims how much he loves them. If you talk to the wife on a good day, she may also insist he loves her, despite his violence. An overwhelming majority of us come from dysfunctional families in which we were shamed, verbally and/or physically abused, and emotionally neglected even as we were also taught to believe that we were loved. For most folks it is just to threatening to embrace a definition of love that would no longer enable us to see love as present in our families. Too many of us need to cling to a notion of love that either makes abuse acceptable or at least make it seem that whatever happened was not that bad. - bell hooks, all about love, Chapter 1, Page 6.
I find that this passage exactly speaks to the configuration going on in the sky between Venus and Mars. Mars in the ancient world was not viewed in the way more contemporary astrologers understand Mars. You’ll read definitions in astrology books about Mars being related to sex, to passion, to drive, but what do these definitions all really mean? In the ancient world, Mars was a planet that was violating in nature, deriving from the word violent, breaking or transgressing an agreement or commitment. Mars was often associated with infidelity for this reason. What does it say about our cultural understanding of love and even sex when it is attributed to a planet that is known for violating boundaries and commitments? It goes back to bell hook’s writings on love, that too many of us cling to a definition of love that accepts abuse as a part of that definition. This shows up in contemporary astrological writings too, but not in the ancient world. I think it reflects a twisted understanding of how capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy, and imperialism have made abuse more socially acceptable than love. These philosophical and truth seeking musings about love and abuse is the dichotomy that Mars and Venus talk about in opposition. The Moon is able to bring the activation of this transit very swiftly as the square Mars and Venus both at the same time, making a Mutable T-Square in the sky.
This Pisces Moon was us outpouring all of our feelings but urges us to move towards compassion, open mindedness, and building trust between others. The square to Mars does bring for contention and conflict with understanding and perspective. Jupiter and the Moon seek the truth, and Mars in Gemini has been twisting information, creating lies, and contradictions throughout this sign. Things can get pretty heated and tense as the Moon passes through this part of Pisces, which can cause us to feel thrown off balance, tired, and lethargic as the Moon squares Venus. Venus can offer some aid, balm, and soothe the tensions. Whereas Mars brings fights and conflict, Venus brings compromise, unity, and resolution.
The Moon makes a square to Mercury in Sagittarius which brings challenges with communication, information, details, and facts. The challenge that comes with the Jupiter ruled signs is the broad generalizations that don't allow room for nuance. Consider how a lack of nuance is effecting our ability to properly discern between what is false and what is the truth. Mercury square the Moon brings tension in communication. The answers you seek might not make sense, but during this time what does make sense? Things are especially confusing as the Moon is pulling the square between Mercury and Neptune closer together as it goes exact today. Brain fog feels like one of the big interpretations for this aspect. But a moment of clarity and disillusionment is on the way as Neptune gets ready to station Direct on Saturday. This will require you to break out of existing notions and beliefs that aren’t grounded in fact or reality. Neptune tends to distort our understanding of things in a way that creates illusions or a mirage of desire and possibility. It’s kind of like the expression, are you falling in love with the thought of someone, or for who they actually are? The idea of things might seem nicer than the reality. Over-indulgence can lead to distorted perspective of things as Pisces is commonly recognized as one of these signs that tends towards excess of comfort and indulgence. What are the ways that indulgence is used as a coping mechanism to escape the reality of the contention between justice and harm?
The Moon conjoins Jupiter once it gets to the end of Pisces, and after all the confusion, contention, and fights, Jupiter offers us wisdom, hope, and the truth. It is an opportunity towards acceptance, towards compassion, and to find clarity in the Mutable Madness. A full outpouring of emotions is brought as the Moon reaches the end of a very stressful transit. Revelations on what can help support our spiritual wellbeing is abound towards the end of the day. Jupiter is now direct after being Retrograde since July 28th, and this is the second and last time the Moon will conjoin Jupiter after its return back to Pisces for November. Last time the Moon conjoined Jupiter was when Jupiter was Retrograde, which re-introduced revisions, changes, and unfinished business in the house that Pisces rules in your chart. With this conjunction, the Moon and Jupiter get together to postulate on how to resolve, wrap up, and bring this story of Jupiter trying to remove limits, restrictions, and bring freedom to the house Pisces rules since it initially ingressed on May 13th, 2021. This liminality between beginning and endings is what we are transitioning into in December as Jupiter gets ready to make its final exit out of Pisces until it returns back on April 15th, 2033.
After this takes place, Venus will go from the harsh opposition of one malefic, bringing tension with justice and violence, and move towards a sextile to Saturn in Aquarius. When Venus and Saturn connect, usually the conversations revolve around setting boundaries, limits, or firming commitments in relationships. Saturn doesn’t play the short game, it plays the long game. The Lot of Union is actually taken from the distance of Saturn to Venus (reversed at night) and projected from the Ascendant. The ancient astrologers used the combination of these two planets to emphasize stability and commitment being brought to love and relationships, to make it enduring, long-lasting, and stable. Both Venus and Saturn are in a sextile (60º) so there is harmony, agreement, and the willingness to work together between these planets. However, some ancient astrologers do say it also brings a lot of seriousness and even somberness in relationships. Maybe coming to realizations about limits and endings since Venus and Saturn are at the end of their individual cycle that started when they conjoined back on March 28th, 2022. We also have to realize with Venus, it is more than just romantic relationships. Any connection you have with someone is a relationship that you can chose or chose not to maintain. Thinking about defining clearer boundaries in those relationships fills the night (ET).
To bring a reset to the mutable madness the Pisces Moon has brought us, she moves into Aries, the sign of new beginnings, fresh starts, the first zodiac sign. The Moon will not connect with any planets for the rest of the day, but she will be moving closer and closer to a trine to the Sun which goes exact on Friday.
Friday, Dec 2nd
[7:09 PM ET] The Moon in Aries trine the Sun at 10º47’ Sagittarius
After Wednesday and Thursday brought a lot of the double bodied, changeable, adaptable, and fluctuating influence into our lives, the Moon in Aries seeks to take action, exclaiming urgency, and taking initiative. The Moon makes a trine to the Sun today which offers us much wisdom, insight, knowledge, and clarity into our lives. The days the Sun and Moon are in agreement tend to be a lot better and smoother of days as our willpower and our circumstances are in alignment. This can look like receiving a revelation of the truth, of honesty, opportunity for adventure, freedom, and to explore. The Sun in Sagittarius also highlights prophetic messages, dreams, divination, astrology, and anything related to seeking answers from the divine. In fire signs, there is an agreement in action and in sharing knowledge, sharing wisdom, and sharing our truth. Seeking affirmation, recognition, and understanding of the self is what this transit brings for us. We are able to find it as well, because the Moon is in the exaltation of the Sun, connecting with the Sun. This will be the only aspect that goes exact today, and it makes Friday more chill than the rest of the week. Well not really chill since fire is active, but less scattered and all over the place.
Saturday, Dec 3rd
[8:11 AM ET] The Moon in Aries sextile Mars Retrograde at 17º54’ Gemini
[12:05 PM ET] The Moon in Aries sextile Saturn at 20º01’ Aquarius
[3:56 PM ET] The Moon in Aries trine Venus at 22º06’ Sagittarius
[7:15 PM ET] STATION: Neptune stations Direct at 22º38’ Pisces
[10:53 PM ET] The Moon in Aries trine Mercury at 25º51’ Sagittarius
Through the weekend, the Moon will continue to move through Aries and it pulls together the trine between Saturn and Mars as the Moon is able to sextile both planets. The Moon is in Mars’ sign and it is able to connect with its domicile lord, but also push the nature of Mars’ domicile over to Mars, offering some assistance and support for us to take initiative, action, act on our impulses, and it emboldens our hearts, acting without fear and hesitation. Saturn offers us an opportunity to slow down and find some restraint even though Mars makes us swift in action.
The Moon will make a trine to Venus, who is in the overcoming position, and it brings us to seek our pleasure, desire, love, laughter, freedom, and it heats thing up in a very sexy/spicy manner. Venus invites us to expand our understanding of where we experience pleasure, and to be adventurous, experiment, try something new. Move outside of your comfort zone. It brings fearlessness in our ability to love. The Moon then makes a trine to Mercury who brings news, letters, messages, and information our way. This news is less contentious since Mercury and the Moon are in agreement with each other, and with the Moon moving from Venus to Mercury, these revelations about love invite us to redefine what gives us pleasure. Through learning, through education, and studying our truth of what brings us joy and pleasure, we can practice being more honest with each other on the nature of our relationships and connection. This is what Mercury and Venus in close connection with each other bring, talks about love. The Moon brings revelation and understanding about these topics.
Sunday, Dec 4th
[12:46 AM ET] The Moon in Aries square Pluto at 26º51’ Capricorn
[2:12 AM ET] Venus in Sagittarius square Neptune at 22º38’ Pisces
[6:37 AM ET] INGRESS: The Moon enters Taurus
On Sunday, to wrap up the week, the Moon will make a square to Pluto which can unearth challenging feelings of self autonomy with restriction and control. The Moon can bring a frustrating feeling and butting heads, bringing deep seated wounds and pain to the surface. A lot of this mixes with confusion in our relationships as Venus makes an exact square to Neptune today. This week is really filled with shattering illusions and false perceptions of understanding especially in the dynamics between others in relationships. We’ve talked about this earlier in this edition of the Week Ahead but its finally on Sunday we can move past these confusions (and some of it: delusions). The Moon will enter Taurus, which changes the vibe as the Moon moves from the fiery, active, sign of Aries into the Fixed, Earthy, grounded, and stable sign of Taurus. The Moon will be ruled by Venus in Sagittarius, who just separated from this square, and with the abundance of Fire, Water, and even Air planets, some Earth can help provide more grounding, slowness, less fluctuation, and concrete understanding. This will be the first time the Moon has returned back to Taurus since the Eclipse in this sign last month of November 8th, so the Moon’s return back to Taurus will activate some of the major culminations the Eclipse brought to the house that Taurus rules in your chart. We’ll cover this more in next week’s edition of the newsletter though. For now, take time to rest, do some self care, nourish yourself, your friends, and those close to you.