Every time that wheel goes 'round / bound to cover just a little more ground
—"The Wheel," Grateful Dead
December 2017 Astrology Forecast
Last month at this time, I introduced the idea that late 2017 through 2018 brings a new era astrologically. While things are constantly changing in the sky (no two days are alike, and one day to the next can be distinctly different), what happens over the next year or so happens only rarely. This is when a series of slow-moving planets change signs around the same time.
The last time something similar to this happened was 2010 into 2012, when Chiron, Uranus, and Neptune changed signs in fairly close sequence. We were also experiencing a meeting of Uranus and Pluto in a 90-degree aspect. Think back on those years. They include the BP oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico (which started the day Chiron entered Pisces), and the multiple meltdowns and nuclear plant explosions at Fukushima (which happened the day Uranus entered Aries).
These were two irrevocable incidents that changed the world, damaged the environment, and set the tone for the era that was to come. In those years, we also experienced Arab Spring, the Wisconsin labor protests (please let's never forget these), the Occupy Wall Street movement, and the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
These were eventful years. We are on notice that things do indeed change and they do indeed fall apart. We see the limits of protest as a mode of social expression; in particular, the way that Arab Spring descended into tyranny and war.
Note that UFOs did not land on the White House lawn. The world did not end. Humanity did not ascend to the fifth dimension; most of humanity, however, did transform into the astral world of the internet, and we're now sharing an out-of-body experience through our touch-screen phones.
In the Background: Uranus Conjunct Eris
In the background of all current astrology is a world-class conjunction: Uranus conjunct Eris. This is an approximately once-per-century event; it last occurred in 1927 and 1928. Uranus conjunct Eris is on the magnitude of events in 1891 (Neptune conjunct Pluto), 1927-28 (Uranus conjunct Eris), 1965-1966 (Uranus conjunct Pluto), and 1993 (Uranus conjunct Neptune). Note that the same names keep coming up.
These are the slowest-moving planets recognized by mainstream astrology. (Eris, discovered in 2005, is still not getting the attention she deserves, which,if you know mythology at all, is not a good idea. It also demonstrates how astrologers tend to do their work looking into the rearview mirror of tradition.)
There have been many significant aspect patterns since 1891, though this series of conjunctions is in a class by itself. And we have one operating in the background right now. I say background because these aspects tend to color the environment in a way that's difficult to perceive. The background always is; we tend to notice the features dancing around on the stage, in the spotlight, or on TV.
I have covered many times in this space the relationship of Uranus conjunct Eris to electric media and, in the current era, the overwhelming digital environment. That would be more meaningful to those who have some clue as to our plight: the way that drowning in digital has restructured our minds and our society.
Again quoting Eric McLuhan, son of 20th-century media philosopher Marshall McLuhan, "The body is everywhere assaulted by all of our new media, a state which has resulted in deep disorientation of intellect and destabilization of culture throughout the world. In the age of disembodied communication, the meaning and significance and experience of the body is utterly transformed and distorted."
The body includes all levels of identity on the physical plane. Meditate on the words, "deep disorientation of intellect and destabilization of culture throughout the world." Remember them when you're seeing all this chaos unfold on TV, whatever that chaos might be. When you look at the world and think, This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever! say them softly to yourself.
Saturn Ingressing Capricorn on December 19
Saturn was last in Capricorn from February 1988 through February 1991, its own momentous time in history, associated with the 1993 conjunction of Uranus and Neptune. It was a formative time for the world in which we are now living, including a similar phase of deconstruction and collapse prior to the "new world order" taking hold (borrowing a phrase from then president, George Bush the elder).