Astrology for Saturday, 21 December 2019:

Today is the Winter Solstice in the northern hemisphere. It is the shortest day of the year, giving way to the longest night, marked by the Sun’s ingress into Capricorn. It is a time to draw close to loved ones, to stoke the fires that will see us through the darkest times, to meditate on mystery and what it means to survive. But before this major turning point, the Moon in Libra makes a sextile to the Sun in Sagittarius, offering clarity and understanding to the ways we move toward and hold one another. The Moon then ingresses into Scorpio, the sign of its fall or depression, and quickly into a fixed T-square, opposing Uranus in Taurus and squaring Venus in Aquarius. This is a confrontational configuration. If we risk feeling into our own vulnerabilities, the fears and wounds beneath the surface of our emotional responses, we may find that our habitual ways of knowing and sharing ourselves with others are shaken. How might you show up differently in your relationships if you were to stay present with your fears and wounds and to share them with others who have proven themselves trustworthy? The Moon then makes a sextile with Jupiter in Capricorn, reminding us that whatever has been disrupted beneath the surface is part of a larger cycle of growth. Finally, the Sun enters Capricorn in the final hours of December 21. As we move through the longest night of the year and enter these cold, bitter months, I meditate on what it means to survive, and I recall the words of Alexis Pauline Gumbs:

“Survival references our living in the context of what we have overcome. Survival is life after disaster, life in honor of our ancestors, despite the genocidal forces worked against them specifically so we would not exist. I love the word survival because it places my life in the context of those who I love, who are called dead, but survive through my breathing, my presence, and my remembering … My survival, my life resplendent, with the energy of my ancestors, is enough.”
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On this solstice, may you know that you are not alone. You are held by those who came before, who persist with you, and those who will survive because of the life you are living.