Additionally (and more importantly), Mercury retrograde in Sagittarius increases questioning and soul searching. Are potentials and expectations shaping up, or is it time to take aim elsewhere?  Do you feel greater restlessness, along with a sense that greener pastures are calling? The hunt for better prospects, solutions, or more answers increases.

Take extra time to get yourself sorted out. A pause for reflection/more introspection is always a good play when a retrograde cycle is underway. Pay heed to intuition, gut reaction, and premonition. A first impression can provide all the information you need, but even so, it will take longer to gain sure footing. Use the next couple of weeks and the next couple of months to feel your way along. Experience is your best informant. 

The midpoint peak of the cycle happens on December 5 when Mercury aligns with the sun (by inferior conjunction). The second half of the retrograde cycle shifts the momentum and launches the next phase of interplay and integration. Whether you feel it as subtle or see it working in an obvious way, something you see, hear, feel, or download sets a domino into play. 

If you cannot find what you are looking for, if control or viable options are out of reach, take it as a sign. It is the universe/your soul advising you to slow down so that you may get into step with better opportunity. Allow time do its job, to iron it out and reveal the pathway forward. We are working under extended planetary timelines that will continue unfold through spring.  When the aim is on target, the right things/the best things can and will happen.

 

December 1 – 8:

Energized by a new moon in “take-flight” Sagittarius (Nov 30), the first week of December sets a quick sprint, then shift gears backdrop. Venus/Uranus kick off the month on December 2 with something fresh, social, spontaneous, or unplanned. December 4,5 moves the dial forward in an informing, productive, or push through the turnstile way.

Mid November to the end of December completes a whole Mercury/Jupiter (opposition) cycle. At December’s start, we are already into the thick of it. Expect the full to the brim track to continue and to incorporate more coming and going, back and forth, and sidetracks or sidesteps along the way. Book-ending the month, watch December 4 and 26, (and the few days nearby) for an upswing. These dates are well set for moving on or along. The entire 6-week Mercury/Jupiter cycle sets a timely backdrop for travel, research, marketing, exploring options and avenues, and for putting feelers out.

 

Mercury in Sagittarius: Nov 2 to January 8:

Mercury retrograde began on November 26 and continues to December 15. The midpoint peak of the cycle happens on December 5. This is when Mercury retrograde meets with the sun. Whether subtle or obvious, this apex point shifts the retrograde cycle onto a next phase along the current action, implementation, or information track. Something you see, hear, feel or download (a premonition, insight, discovery, conversation, news) can set a domino into play.

December 6, 7 hosts a cluster of planetary influences. Saturn/Mercury (square) can move a circumstance through a turnstile, past an impasse, deadline, or finish-line. These few days could be productive regarding a labour dispute, a legal, business, or banking matter, a plan, talk, or selection process.

On the same day that Saturn/Mercury reach a surpassing threshold, Venus begins a four-week stint in Aquarius, and Mars in Leo begins a three-month retrograde cycle.  At present, both Venus and Mars hold heightened karmic potency. (They have continued to stir up the karmic track for the past 18 months in a front and center way). Also on a sign advance, Asteroid Ceres (a resurrection archetype and seeding influence) begins a three-month tour of Aquarius.

Feeling overwhelmed or stretched beyond the reasonable, manageable, or doable? Mercury’s opposition to Jupiter piles it up high. The transit started in mid November and continues to build to December 4 (first phase). You could feel yourself or the situation to be way off course, that you are not speaking the same language, that you have taken it as far as you can go, that your interests are at complete opposite ends.  December 4 – 6 could be the start of a turning point. Of course, there are a variety of ways for any one transit to play out. You could feel just the opposite, that doors are opening, things are falling into place quite nicely, and that same page or like-mindedness is easily found.

Mercury opposes Jupiter and squares Saturn on December 4 -6, and again on December 26, 27. Watch for a shift regarding economic trends and tides, the social climate, the conversation, and your daily get-go.

 

Venus into Aquarius, December 6; Ceres into Aquarius, Neptune ends retrograde, December 7:

Both Venus and Ceres take an exit out of Capricorn (archetype of the past) and into Aquarius (archetype of the future). In so doing, they hit an acceleration track. Joining forces with Pluto, the Great Transformer, Venus in Aquarius can (abruptly) revamp an evaluation process, a financial status, or a relationship involvement.  Also, Venus/Pluto (December 7) can shift the motivation, need, and desire. The planetary pairing of Pluto, the agent of the soul, and Venus, the magnetizing principle, puts you deeper in touch with what is at the core and holds power over you. Most importantly, this planetary pairing launches a one-year self discovery, circuit-breaking cycle that will introduce you to new facets of yourself.  When you look back a year or so from now, you will come to recognize last year, this year, and next as a major work in progress, as a time of significant and accelerated change.

Ceres in Aquarius is a revitalizing influence. It can reawaken parts of yourself that have been sitting untapped or dormant, or that you may have identified as extinguished and gone. When the Aquarius archetype powers up, it can infuse you with fresh juice or jolt you into an awakening. Both Venus and Ceres are temporary influences, but Pluto in Aquarius will set the revolutionizing trends for the next 20 years. This transit serves to accelerate bigger picture evolution. A great gift of the Aquarius archetype is the re-discovery and revitalization of skills and talents brought forward from past lives. (Pluto asks of you: why live an ordinary life when you can live an extraordinary one?)  The transit will also call forth key people who have a prominent role to play in your life.

Coinciding with Venus and Ceres on the move, Neptune ends a 5-month retrograde cycle on December 7. This subtle shift can go mostly unnoticed but know that it also adds to the karmic potency of the circumstances on brew.

 

Mars in Leo stations retrograde December 6:

Only the best/your best will do when Mars in Leo is at play. This Mars transit sets creativity, leadership, and courage into action in a “can’t top this” way. Assisting Trump to a landslide victory, Mars in Leo launched on the day of the USA election.

Typically, Mars spends about six weeks on tour through a sign, but due to its retrograde cycle (December 6 to February 23) Mars extends its tour through two signs. It will start retrograde in Leo on December 6, and back track into Cancer from January 6 to February 23. Following the retrograde cycle, Mars continues in Cancer to April 17, then revisits Leo to June 17, 2025. Think back to September, October, what gained attention then?  Expect this circumstance, incentive, or challenge to be a primary focus through May/June of 2025.

Mars fuels instincts, impulses, and desire. When Mars is in Leo, the activation prompt is that of “I desire, and I deserve.”  It is a time to gift yourself more. When Mars tours Cancer, the focus is directed toward improving safety, security, and self preservation.  When Mars travels retrograde through these two signs, it switches off auto-pilot and adds more kindling to the fire of desire, ambition, and involvement. The intention of a Mars retrograde cycle is to shift the way you approach and participate, so that you bring more of your whole self to the table, so that you show up for yourself in a more self consistent, self-honoring way. The intention aims to help you to realign with more awareness, effectiveness, and better targeted intention setting.

What incentive has kept you going strong these past couple of months? Since September, the stars have been stage-setting. From December 6 to February 23, Mars retrograde takes you through the next phase.  Don’t race out the door before you do a good check-in with yourself. Carve out quality time to listen to your heart, to observe yourself in action, and to recenter as you feel called to do. Mars retrograde in Leo can assist you to get a better fix on your best bets, on what could potentially add up to greater fulfillment, happiness, success, and reward. As stated above, the start of Mars retrograde is accompanied by Mercury retrograde in Sagittarius (to December 15), a questioning and soul-searching cycle. Both are befitting for a step back from the hustle and bustle. Play/enjoy a little more, worry a little less. Prioritize your personal well being, your personal life and gift your loved ones with the best side of you.

Phase 2 also encompasses Mars on backtrack of Cancer (January 6 to February 23). This “finger on the pulse” time is well used to feel your way along to greater security, to research, qualify, to clear away lingering doubt or uncertainty, and to get ready for the spring-forward phase. In addition to matters of safety, security, and self preservation, Mars in Cancer also spotlights home, family, real estate, and a revisit of the past. Mars will continue in Cancer to April 17. (Mars in Cancer also spotlights matters to do with domestic and national safety, security, and defence.)

Mars in Leo (April 17 to June 17) is well positioned as the follow up to Mars in Cancer. First, comes the wrestling with inner and outer insecurities and needs. Then comes the awareness, creativity, and bravado that is needed to align with more fruitful endeavour and to call forth more lucrative potential.

 

December 15, Full Moon in Gemini, Mercury ends retrograde:

Thanks to the transits of Mercury in Sagittarius, Jupiter in Gemini, and the full moon on December 15, the Gemini and Sagittarius polarity sets the signature backdrop of the entire month. How do you stand in two worlds at once – yours and other(s): your inner and outer realms?  How do you bring both worlds together (the realms of the rational mind and the intuition of visionary heart)? Both are explorer archetypes.

Coinciding with the end of Mercury retrograde, watch for the full moon in Gemini (December 15) to be mobilizing in some unforeseen way. It could produce a second wave, another go around, another influx. Of course, it puts everything to do with the holidays into full swing. In addition to the added volume everywhere, watch for an increase of announcements or news. Financial markets and trends stay active too. Although the plan or need may be to cut back, it is easy to spend more, do more, or get pulled into more. Keep an eye on December 19. Venus/Jupiter (trine) marks this day as the most lucrative, pleasing, rewarding, or heartwarming of the week (perhaps of the entire month).

 

Solstice, Sun enters Capricorn, December 21, 2024:

The sun’s entrance into Capricorn, the solstice, marks the longest night of the year for those in the northern hemisphere and the longest day for those in the southern hemisphere. The solstice points mark a shift regarding the natural rhythms of our creative process and consciousness. They are considered as potent activation portals for the shedding of the past, for awakening, renewal, and personal growth. The Capricorn solstice prompts introspection into the nature of your inner and outer reality. It marks a threshold crossing time between past and present.

The sun’s entrance into Capricorn is accompanied by the moon in transit through Virgo. The backdrop is well set for a pause for reflection. What remains unfinished? What needs more work, attention, or healing? What can be eliminated, what is it that you can do without? The Capricorn solstice adds fresh creative input to the ongoing Saturn/Jupiter transit (beliefs that build reality’s framework; social/political/economic cycle). This planetary pairing holds court over the shaping of reality for a ten-month period (August 2024 to June 2025). As of December 24, we will enter phase two. This is when Saturn and Jupiter form the second of 3 (square) alignments (dates: August 19, December 24, 2024; June 15, 2025).

 

Pre & post Christmas and Hanukkah:

December 24 to 26 is ideal for putting the outside world on pause. There is no place better for you to be than right where you are. Minimize on the unnecessary, do not buy into the hype or the pressure. Instead, prioritize quality time with loved ones and/or on your own.

Hanukkah will extend to the start of the new year, but Christmas can come and go quick. One and done, for many of us, Christmas can feel like a thing of the past the very next day. In general, we will not be in the mood to linger long over this one.

For both Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations, the stars are less dynamic/notable than in comparison to other years.

 

New moon in Capricorn, December 30, and end of month wrap up:

The first week and last week of December are bookended by similar run of stars (Mercury/Jupiter, Mercury/Saturn, Venus/Uranus). Overall, they are apt for the shift of attention that comes with this time of year. In general, start to finish the month of December can be viewed as a temporary interlude or sidetrack before getting back to the task at hand (the to-do list). December 30 delivers a new moon in Capricorn. The new moon puts the focus on better self discipline, control, and organization.

Right out the 2025 starting gate, Mars retrograde in opposition to transiting Pluto (second of 3 oppositions Jan 2, 3) will be pushing the agenda forward.

Wishing you a peaceful holiday! Blessings, Rose

I will be back next month with my annual forecast for each sign. In the meantime, here is a briefing on Mercury retrograde and Mars retrograde for each of the signs: