Uranian Intimacy

A Valentine for People with Planets in Aquarius or Aspects to Uranus

© 2019 by Joyce Mason

Welcome, fellow weirdos! We know who we are and why we can’t give up who we are, even for our sweet dream of belonging. We are the people with planets in Aquarius or close aspects with Uranus. We are ahead of our time, hear a different drummer—or as my late husband used to say in extreme cases; some people hear a whole different orchestra. (Uranians could use some new metaphors. These are getting old, and you know how we hate that.)

Like most people who are on a different wavelength from the general public, I have spent my life trying to figure out how to fit in while retaining my own unique identity. Sound familiar? Recently I had the pleasure of traveling home to Chicago and spending time with many friends and family that still live where I grew up. I had been unable to travel for years due to my husband’s care needs. As Tim got close to passing last year, I began getting strong feelings about spending more time in my original home sweet homeland. In fact the sensation was so strong; I wondered if I was getting a cosmic nudge to move back after 46 years in Sacramento.

Two weeks in the cold climate and I was over any ideas of moving, but I discovered many interesting things about intimacy on this trip. First, being adopted, I was reminded that all my formative relationships were based on heart and mind connections. There were no biological likenesses to feed my sense of belonging. But I have to say, I never even recognized that I was different in some essential ways from my relatives until I was in my twenties. To their credit, my family never made any distinctions about me based on adoption. I was one of them. In fact, I was in utter shock and disbelief when, at 8 years old, I learned that my parents weren’t my biological mom and dad.

My family was as loving as I could possibly imagine. Then why did I still feel somewhat like a misfit? One thing is clear. It wasn’t them; it was me.

We all have needs on a continuum of independence to interdependence. On top of that, sometimes those needs shift at different times in our lives. Like many things in my life and chart loaded with Libra planets,  I am generally split almost down the middle on that scale—until something of substance comes up and I have to tell my truth or suffer severe cognitive dissonance, a great discomfort, when what I believe and do are not in harmony. Integrity might as well be my middle name. I cannot abide doing anything but “what’s right” according to my own inner compass. In those times when my truth is tested, I’d say go from 51% indie and 49% inter to 75/25, high on the side of independence.

Why are we so scared of being ourselves, especially when we’re a bit unusual or on the far ends of the bell curve? Rejection, of course, made more obvious by certain early life experiences like the sense of abandonment that comes naturally with adoption. I feel like a bell weather on this issue. Will they still love me if they know the “real me?” Worse yet, will they love me and leave me?

The truth is, it is impossible for anyone to really love you unless or until they know the real you. Warts and all. After seven decades of living, I have discovered that most truths are conundrums. They are paradoxical. Acceptance is one of the biggest paradoxes of all.

Second point of vacation learning: We saw the Disney animated version of The Adams Family. Expecting something a little scary (is this OK for my five-year-old great grandniece?), all of us were pleasantly surprised at how sweet it was and what a powerful statement it made about belonging and accepting differences.

To blurb the plot without giving away too much (it’s a must-see), there’s a real estate agent bent on creating a homogenous community full of Stepford- like compliance, using all kinds of questionable methods to ensure conformity. Enter the oddball Adams Family who takes over the deserted insane asylum on the hill. Through a series of interactions and exposure to one another, the paradoxical truth is revealed. Conformity doesn’t lead to great community. Each person being who they are, with acceptance by others, does that. To get acceptance, you’ve got to give it.

Think of every small town you see on your favorite TV shows. (Examples of mine are Stars Hallow in Gilmore Girls, Cabot Cove on Murder She Wrote, and Cicely on Northern Exposure.) The characters are quirky, some of them truly annoying, and all of them in their way pretty lovable once you get to know them. This ideal is presented to us in show after show. It is achievable. We just have to quit being scared of people who are different from us. Do we really want Stepford lives—or the adventure of discovering all kinds of interesting people and ideas?

Besides our concerns about being rejected, what other fears drive leaving others out? Many people do a lot of work to form their lives around a certain worldview. People whose very being challenges some of our foundational beliefs feel threatening. (What if I’ve got it wrong? What would be the domino effect on reorganizing my life?) Yet how else do we learn about our options? As a bumper sticker popular with Unitarians at the church I used to attend states, “To question is the answer.” The quote “Religion is the opioid of the masses” does not refer to all people who have religion. It refers to those who buy religion hook, line and sinker, without using the blessing of their brains to examine what parts of the chapter and verse are truths for them personally and what parts they can leave alone. Nothing is one size fits all. No religion. No philosophy. Are the hardliners lazy and change-o-phobes? Maybe. But you can choose not to be one.

My Catholic background is the foundation of all the spirituality that has enriched my life, even though I am not religious. Jesus hung out with lepers, whores, the dirt poor and treated everyone with love and respect. (And to those you may encounter with anti-Semitic leanings, a reminder that he was a practicing Jew who did not invent Christianity. People after him did that. And did I mention his dark skin?) WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) is still a pretty good thing to ask yourself regardless of your beliefs. The story may be ancient, but his message was for the future—a vision of the people we could be if we open our hearts, mind and ears.

The biggest challenge for intimacy for Uranians is to become so comfortable with yourself; you just go into situations without hesitation and carry on. You don’t have to put your differences in anyone’s face to prove something. You just have to love yourself first and others will follow.

But what if they don’t? I am not so naïve or airy-fairy to believe that we can love ‘n’ light everyone into seeing how much more alike we are than different. Some relationships demand to be let go—the toxic ones, the draining ones, the ones that diminish us. There is nothing sadder than an adult who is still broken-hearted that the fairy tale family is not theirs. This is a hard disappointment to overcome. When we do, we create our own family of friends. I am living proof that you don’t have to be related by biology to be family.

Finally, one more truth, another conundrum. To get along with others, you have to get along with all the different parts of yourself. This takes work—getting over perfectionism, talking yourself out of putting yourself down, even in the middle of what the world defines as a major failure.

Uranians are supposed to be afraid of intimacy. There is nothing more intimate than forgiving yourself your trespasses and oddities. Maybe the sometimes “distant” behavior of Uranians and Aquarians is just a council meeting of their complex parts. They have a lot of segments of themselves to check in with, and while they’re at it, maybe one of those bolts of insight they are also famous for may come out of their “parts exchange” at the summit.

And, besides, ever wonder why Valentine’s Day occurs when the Sun is in Aquarius? Everyone has something to learn about love from those Uranian inner summit meetings. It’s called integration, respect and equality for every aspect of yourself. A really great foundation for being able to do that for all the parts of another person.

~~~

Photo Credit: © Sergey Krotov | Dreamstime.com

Radical Repost: The Winter Signs

A Quiet Contemplation of Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces


Article © 2013 by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved

If you covet your alone time and replenish yourself with things such as meditation, quiet reading, or writing your innermost thoughts in your journal, you are an introvert. If you charge your batteries among people, the more the merrier, you are an extrovert. Vive la différence. 

I call these distinct orientations Innies and Outies.  Some of us are a bit of both, but the true test is the battery charger. If the last place you want to go is to a party when you’re tired and need replenishment, you are an Innie. If you avoid crowds like a computer virus--Innie. Can’t stand to be alone for very long, even when you’re blue? Outie.

These perspectives have a lot to do with managing winter.

The Innie 500

Extreme introverts usually have no problem identifying themselves as such. All their lives they have been called shy, wallflowers, reserved or withdrawn. People more in the middle of the two extremes, but who are introverts by the recharge test, often don’t realize this fact about themselves until later in life. I know many people, myself included, who tested in their younger days as extroverts on the Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory.  Later, as they individuate and express who they really are, they are surprised to go from an “E” to an “I.” The Inventory tests your preference on four personality pairs:

• Extraversion or Introversion E or I
• Sensing or Intuition S or N
• Thinking or Feeling T or F
• Judging or Perceiving J or P

The reason some introverts ever tested as extroverts is because the Western world rewards extroversion and most introverts adapt their behavior toward outgoing to reap the rewards of their culture. Go-getters get the job, not those who are a man or woman of few words who enter the interview in a calm, meditative state. Americans, especially, love people with big personalities.

The majority of introverts become very adaptable, feigning extroversion to survive. This switch of orientation is rarely asked of extroverts—unless they become inner seekers and learn the value of stillness and listening to their own thoughts. The great gurus and avatars tell us every truth we ever need to know is within us.

Going within is the reason for winter, the most introverted season of the year.

Annual R&R

Winter asks us to slow down, regardless of whether we’re Innies or Outies. It’s a time everyone needs to recharge, even if society doesn’t support it—and even if you’re an extrovert with little experience directing energy inward. I’m not saying you need to quit your job or go on a retreat from Winter Solstice till Spring Equinox; however, a retreat sometime during these three months isn’t a bad idea, and creating at least mini-retreats during this time is crucial to remaining a well-functioning human being.

It occurred to me that the winter signs would have some hints about ways we can do that in an optimal way, complementing the Sun’s movement through each sign during the dark months of the year.

Winter into Spring is not just the name of one of my favorite New Age albums by George Winston; it’s a good tagline for the winter signs, as it grounds us clearly in the process Capricorn through Pisces represents, going from most dark to the cusp of increasing light—from slowdown to “springing” into new activity. Here are some thoughts on how this works.

Capricorn.  (Dec. 21, 20012 – Jan. 18, 2013.) As the Cardinal sign that “opens” for winter in the carnival of animals in the sky, a Goat greets us as we plunge into the darkest night of the year. It’s a great time to learn more about the mythology of Capricorn. You’ll learn about Pricus, father of a race of sea-goats who live near the seashore. They are intelligent creatures who think, speak and are said to be favored by the gods. (Hear that, Caps? You’re smart and lucky!)

Chronos, the god of time, created Pricus. Chronos is also Father Time, the old man dressed as Death as another year passes and the baby New Year is born. I’ll leave it up to you to read the full tale in the link, but it has to do with manipulating time. When the Sun is in this sign, every January 1, we change calendars to a new year. It’s a great time to ponder where you’ve been and what you’ve been doing with the days, months and years you’ve been allotted—and if the sand is more on the bottom than the top of your hourglass, a time to prioritize and ponder if you’re going to get done everything you set out to do this lifetime. Touching base with time is very therapeutic and important to pairing your purpose with progress.

 

My New Year ritual includes a systematic review of the year that just passed. Capricorn (my Moon) loves organization, structure and getting serious about things. As an Innie, I keep a journal, writing down dreams and observations throughout the year. I relish New Year’s Day, when I review the previous year’s journal. It is often revealing about where I’ve been and where I’m headed. I’m often too busy in the doing to understand the nuances of what I’ve been through and how much I’ve grown. This annual review is the literary equivalent of my height recorded periodically as a kid in pencil on the pantry door. I recommend this or any other kind of evaluation of where you stand in time against what you want to accomplish, modified by asking yourself the most important final question, Am I happy? Happiness trumps any amount of shoulda’s.

Aquarius.  (Jan. 19, 2013 – Feb. 17, 2013) This time of year suits extroverts, since the sign of Aquarius is friendly, communicative and loves groups. As the middle month in the winter cycle in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s the best time to take a bit of a break from the slowdown to celebrate love on Valentine’s Day and to think about your friendships and community relationships. Both Outies and Innies do this best by being with people, then taking some contemplative time later to ask if your friendships and community are serving you well—and how you’re serving them. This would be an ideal time for looking at synastry between your chart and your closest friends. The same works for groups. If you volunteer for a charity, it had a start date (usually when it filed its nonprofit papers) and a birth chart. Same with your neighborhood or community. When was your city incorporated? Are these friends and communities of various kinds in your life still a fit? Are there areas of stress that need repair?  Sometimes the detached, astrological viewpoint can be a guiding light for making changes during the livelier months of the year, if you reflect on them during the most natural season of downtime.

Pisces.  (Feb. 18, 2013 – Mar. 19, 2013) When the Sun is in Pisces, it’s “the dark of the Sun,” parallel to the dark of the Moon—the last weeks before the darkest season of the year fades and life bursts forth into the light of spring. It’s a time of endings and dying. This is perhaps the most important time all year for quiet and rest. It is the end of the cycle of the natural year which is born anew on Spring Equinox. Think of the Pisces Fish and go underwater.

This is a time to contemplate your emotions, sensitivities, dreams, and whatever brings you bliss—meditation, prayer, music or silence. What ingredients do you contribute to the cosmic soup? How do you lose yourself in others or because of them? How are you doing with saying those necessary noes? And what does it feel like to be lost? Let yourself be directionless and egoless for a while; allow yourself time in the fog. You’ll pick up all kinds of information on intuitive levels that you’ll bring with you into spring. It can be a true balm to simply float and let information come to you from the inside out. Innies are probably already very familiar with this process. Outies may be surprised at what you’ll discover.

Late winter can be a time when we’re more prone to illness and need much more rest than normal. Plan your life to embrace this need and postpone new projects and amped up activity until late March. Relish this time of final gestation before for nature’s rebirth—and yours on the Spring Equinox.

Whenever you honor the wisdom of winter, your spring is bound to be a clean slate and a true, new beginning. This cycle of beginnings, fulfillment and endings is the continuous gift of life.

~~~

Photo Credits: Winter Sky © THesIMPLIFY - Fotolia.com; Zodiac Signs ©  stokkete - Fotolia.com- Fotolia.com

Postcript: The Jung Typology Test or Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory, like astrology, can explain a lot about you. I’d encourage readers who haven’t already to take the test and read some of the write-ups about your configuration. I’m an INFJ. Please comment and share your four!

Radical Reposts: The Planets – Sun

Let’s start our year of reposts by topic in the usual way we speak in astrological sentences—by planet, sign and house. (I’d normally say, for instance, that I have Sun in Virgo in the 5^th House or Moon in Capricorn in the 9th.) Given that natural order of astrological conversation, I’ll start this blog bibliography (blogography) with anything I’ve ever posted on the planets, signs and houses in that order. Later we’ll get fancier with aspects, aspect configurations and the multitude of other topics covered here over six years.

Numerous posts are about all 12 Sun signs, comparatively. I’ll put those in a separate recap when we get to signs, because they cover much ground about the entire zodiac. Many of those offerings are humorous. This first grouping will be more specific to exploring your Sun in particular—not emphasizing how it relates to the other Sun signs.

While some posts recapped are specific to a year or timeframe, I have listed those with at least some generic information about the Sun or Sun in a specific sign within the article, poem or post.

Generic Planets

What Planet Are You From? (30-Aug-09)

A tour of the planets to reassess your resonance and determine which planets influence you most.

Who Would Play Your Planets? (20-Jul-09)

A new way to envision your chart by assigning famous people the roles of Sun, Moon, Mercury, etc.

 Generic Sun

And the Sun Stood Still  (17-Dec-13)

A Winter Solstice poem about the power of the Sun’s “putting on the brakes” to herald the introspective time of year. What do we do when the Sun goes down?

Summer Solstice: “Let the Sunshine In”  (13-Jun-09)

The Sun and Summer Solstice. Summer is primarily a celebration of the signs Cancer and Leo. American schools may get out in Gemini and go back in Virgo (so appropriate as the Mercury-ruled mental signs), but most vacations and the bulk of summer occur when the Sun is in Mom and Dad. That’s right! Mom and Dad.

Sunny Side Up!

 These articles help you explore your Sun or explore the Sun in a particular sign.

Explore Your Sun

Planetary Fishing: The Sun  (1-May-13)

Welcome to our first planetary fishing expedition! Today we'll examine the Sun in the sky—and the Sun in your chart—more deeply.

Starstuck: Overcoming Performance Anxiety (15-Aug-11)

Leo, ruled by the Sun, tells us performing has something to do with fire—with being stoked. How the Sun and the 5^th House play into performance anxiety with practical suggestions for overcoming it.

Your Solar Return and Solar Return Meditation (7-Jun-09)

Once a year, the transiting Sun returns to the exact same position it held in the sky at the moment of your birth. This happens at a different moment each year, within a day or two of your birthday. This fun-omenon is known as your Solar Return. A guide for harnessing your Solar energy!

Sun in Specific Sun Signs or Sun Sign Archetypes

Aries

Aries Auntie: Learning Astrology through Children (31-Mar-14)

What I learned about astrology from observing my Aries niece and nephew—and how children often are the best teachers about astrological archetypes.

“God is Not an Aries” (26-Mar-09)

A tongue-in-cheek editorial on why God cannot possibly be an Aries. For starters, the answers to our prayers and most manifestations take much longer than an Aries would wait. Unfortunately, most of us are pretty “Aries,” Aries or not.

Cancer, Leo and Virgo

The Summer Signs (6-Jun-14)

Revisiting the trio of signs that make up any season helps understand the quarter of the year we’re entering and how to make the most of it. Welcome to the cusp of summer—winter’s complement and the extroverted time of year.

Virgo

Virgos of the World UNITE! Get Radical (21-Mar-09) The Radical Virgo blog launch post. The vision behind The Radical Virgo and why you don’t have to be a Virgo to play in this sandbox made of star-stuff.

The Radical Virgo (11-May-09)

A reprint of my article after which this blog was named, first published in The Mountain Astrologer in 1992. The response to my new vision of Virgo has been overwhelmingly positive and timeless. If you have any planet in Virgo, here’s the reason to get radical—or to the root (what “radical” means) of your Virgoness. Even if you have none, find out why the world needs the sign of Virgo more than ever—now!

The Radical Virgo Revisited (13-Sep-13)

An updated expansion of the original article, “The Radical Virgo,” with a focus on information synthesis and global service. When I speak of a Radical Virgo, I mean the word radical in these dictionary senses, the Virgo energy carried (1) to the utmost limit, extreme; or a Virgo known for (2) favoring or effecting evolutionary or revolutionary changes. I want to add to this definition, (3) A Virgo who expresses the very root of the Virgo archetype, because radical also means root.

The Virgin Myths (11-Sep-13)

Exploring the rich mythology of Virgo, “a nurturing mother to all the earth.” How the Virgo Maria and these archetypal maidens round out our understanding of the V-sign: Demeter/Ceres, Dike, Astrea and Erigone.

Wordgo: The Virgo Way with Words (25-Apr-09)

Why are Virgos in love with words? For years, I have used the Celestial Influences astrological calendars. There is a two-word affirmation for each sign every month. The I-statement for Virgo is “I Analyze.” That job would be really difficult to do without words—lots of them!

September: Old Home Month on The Radical Virgo (1-Sep-13)

Prelude to exploring the sign of Virgo and the cusp of autumn in some of the articles, above.

Libra

While this article isn’t about Libra per se, it’s about one of the major Libran concerns—relationship.

Finding Love in Later Live—or Whenever Venus is in the Neighborhood (15-Oct-13)

All the wisdom this Venus in Libra has accumulated in many years of a complex love life, written at the request of a reader, full of tools on how to manifest your relationship … even how to help romantic issues through the use of flower essences.

Scorpio

Scorpio for a Day (26-Oct-09)

This popular Halloween post is much more than a laugh-a-minute and a virtual costume party. You’ll learn more about Scorpio than you ever wanted to know by seeing how all the other signs dress up and act like one!

  

Sagittarius

Jumpin’ Jupiter! Happy Thanksgiving (23-Nov-09)

No holiday could be more “Jupiter” than the typical American Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving in the USA is perfectly placed when the Sun is in Sagittarius, ruled by Jupiter—the pre-game warm-up to the most Jupiterian of all holidays, Christmas. Holy Sag! It’s your time of year.

Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces

The Winter Signs (30-Dec-12)

A quiet contemplation of Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. Exploring the introverted time of year, as well as introverts and extroverts, the Myers-Briggs Personality inventory, and the gifts of being an “innie” and the inward time of year.

Stillness: Our Retrograde Winter 2014 (2-Jan-14)

Winter starts with Capricorn. Cap sways to rhythm of Saturn, the planet that rules time itself. Winter forces us to face: the sand keeps running in our hourglass. All those questions about fulfillment are more poignant, indeed more urgent, when there’s more sand on the bottom than the top. The gifts of winter and retrogrades revealed.

Aquarius

 

The Chart of HAIR ~ Why We Should Care (14-Oct-10) .

“This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius!” —From Hair by Gerome Ragni and James Rado. Have you noticed? The peace sign is back—and not just on The Radical Virgo logo. The peace sign celebrated its 50th anniversary and Chiron Return in 2008, the same year as the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. The psychedelic movement has weathered its midlife transits!

The Astrology of Independence (2-Jul-14)

Often cited as the archetypal independent sign, Aquarius is often too busy with issues of society to get too close to individuals. Not to mention, with Uranus as its ruler, Aquarius is about as predictable and constant in relationships as lightning in a summer storm. Changeability is deeply woven into the Aquarian nature, and like Sag, Aquarius does not like fences or “shoulds.” On the other hand, when Aquarius—or any of the more independent signs—is there because he or she wants to be and isn’t pressured to commit until ready, Aquarius can ultimately thrive in relationship and learn to relish interdependence.

Pisces

A Prescription for Planets in Pisces: SoulCollage® Your Natal Chart

(7-Mar-11)

Would you like to increase your understanding of how the astrological archetypes express themselves in your life? The abundance of planetary activity currently in Pisces suggests you might find your answer by creating a set of SoulCollage® cards based on your natal chart. This may appeal to people with natal planets in Pisces or other “artsy”Astro-signatures. It’s like a personal Astro-tarot deck.

Mercury Retrograde Stellium in Pisces, Void Moon (26-Feb-13)

A poem of a near-drowning experience in the Pisces archetype. It starts:  So quiet on the Western front. I hear the ear-splitting echoes of my own thinking.

Late Pisces

The Tail of the Fish (13-Mar-13)

Explore the late degrees of Pisces. In a previous article, The Winter Signs, I referred to the Sun's sojourn in Pisces as “the dark of the Sun,” parallel to the “dark of the Moon.” This refers especially to the last days before the Sun cycle starts over. It's a sacred threshold.

~~~

Photo Credit: © Jut - Fotolia.com

Radical Recommendation: Revisit The Top 10 Posts of All Time!

The Winter Signs

A Quiet Contemplation of Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces


Article © 2013 by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved

If you covet your alone time and replenish yourself with things such as meditation, quiet reading, or writing your innermost thoughts in your journal, you are an introvert. If you charge your batteries among people, the more the merrier, you are an extrovert. Vive la différence. 

I call these distinct orientations Innies and Outies.  Some of us are a bit of both, but the true test is the battery charger. If the last place you want to go is to a party when you’re tired and need replenishment, you are an Innie. If you avoid crowds like a computer virus--Innie. Can’t stand to be alone for very long, even when you’re blue? Outie.

These perspectives have a lot to do with managing winter.

The Innie 500

Extreme introverts usually have no problem identifying themselves as such. All their lives they have been called shy, wallflowers, reserved or withdrawn. People more in the middle of the two extremes, but who are introverts by the recharge test, often don’t realize this fact about themselves until later in life. I know many people, myself included, who tested in their younger days as extroverts on the Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory.  Later, as they individuate and express who they really are, they are surprised to go from an “E” to an “I.” The Inventory tests your preference on four personality pairs:

• Extraversion or Introversion E or I
• Sensing or Intuition S or N
• Thinking or Feeling T or F
• Judging or Perceiving J or P

The reason some introverts ever tested as extroverts is because the Western world rewards extroversion and most introverts adapt their behavior toward outgoing to reap the rewards of their culture. Go-getters get the job, not those who are a man or woman of few words who enter the interview in a calm, meditative state. Americans, especially, love people with big personalities.

The majority of introverts become very adaptable, feigning extroversion to survive. This switch of orientation is rarely asked of extroverts—unless they become inner seekers and learn the value of stillness and listening to their own thoughts. The great gurus and avatars tell us every truth we ever need to know is within us.

Going within is the reason for winter, the most introverted season of the year.

Annual R&R

Winter asks us to slow down, regardless of whether we’re Innies or Outies. It’s a time everyone needs to recharge, even if society doesn’t support it—and even if you’re an extrovert with little experience directing energy inward. I’m not saying you need to quit your job or go on a retreat from Winter Solstice till Spring Equinox; however, a retreat sometime during these three months isn’t a bad idea, and creating at least mini-retreats during this time is crucial to remaining a well-functioning human being.

It occurred to me that the winter signs would have some hints about ways we can do that in an optimal way, complementing the Sun’s movement through each sign during the dark months of the year.

Winter into Spring is not just the name of one of my favorite New Age albums by George Winston; it’s a good tagline for the winter signs, as it grounds us clearly in the process Capricorn through Pisces represents, going from most dark to the cusp of increasing light—from slowdown to “springing” into new activity. Here are some thoughts on how this works.

Capricorn.  (Dec. 21, 20012 – Jan. 18, 2013.) As the Cardinal sign that “opens” for winter in the carnival of animals in the sky, a Goat greets us as we plunge into the darkest night of the year. It’s a great time to learn more about the mythology of Capricorn. You’ll learn about Pricus, father of a race of sea-goats who live near the seashore. They are intelligent creatures who think, speak and are said to be favored by the gods. (Hear that, Caps? You’re smart and lucky!)

Chronos, the god of time, created Pricus. Chronos is also Father Time, the old man dressed as Death as another year passes and the baby New Year is born. I’ll leave it up to you to read the full tale in the link, but it has to do with manipulating time. When the Sun is in this sign, every January 1, we change calendars to a new year. It’s a great time to ponder where you’ve been and what you’ve been doing with the days, months and years you’ve been allotted—and if the sand is more on the bottom than the top of your hourglass, a time to prioritize and ponder if you’re going to get done everything you set out to do this lifetime. Touching base with time is very therapeutic and important to pairing your purpose with progress.

 

My New Year ritual includes a systematic review of the year that just passed. Capricorn (my Moon) loves organization, structure and getting serious about things. As an Innie, I keep a journal, writing down dreams and observations throughout the year. I relish New Year’s Day, when I review the previous year’s journal. It is often revealing about where I’ve been and where I’m headed. I’m often too busy in the doing to understand the nuances of what I’ve been through and how much I’ve grown. This annual review is the literary equivalent of my height recorded periodically as a kid in pencil on the pantry door. I recommend this or any other kind of evaluation of where you stand in time against what you want to accomplish, modified by asking yourself the most important final question, Am I happy? Happiness trumps any amount of shoulda’s.

Aquarius.  (Jan. 19, 2013 – Feb. 17, 2013) This time of year suits extroverts, since the sign of Aquarius is friendly, communicative and loves groups. As the middle month in the winter cycle in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s the best time to take a bit of a break from the slowdown to celebrate love on Valentine’s Day and to think about your friendships and community relationships. Both Outies and Innies do this best by being with people, then taking some contemplative time later to ask if your friendships and community are serving you well—and how you’re serving them. This would be an ideal time for looking at synastry between your chart and your closest friends. The same works for groups. If you volunteer for a charity, it had a start date (usually when it filed its nonprofit papers) and a birth chart. Same with your neighborhood or community. When was your city incorporated? Are these friends and communities of various kinds in your life still a fit? Are there areas of stress that need repair?  Sometimes the detached, astrological viewpoint can be a guiding light for making changes during the livelier months of the year, if you reflect on them during the most natural season of downtime.

Pisces.  (Feb. 18, 2013 – Mar. 19, 2013) When the Sun is in Pisces, it’s “the dark of the Sun,” parallel to the dark of the Moon—the last weeks before the darkest season of the year fades and life bursts forth into the light of spring. It’s a time of endings and dying. This is perhaps the most important time all year for quiet and rest. It is the end of the cycle of the natural year which is born anew on Spring Equinox. Think of the Pisces Fish and go underwater.

This is a time to contemplate your emotions, sensitivities, dreams, and whatever brings you bliss—meditation, prayer, music or silence. What ingredients do you contribute to the cosmic soup? How do you lose yourself in others or because of them? How are you doing with saying those necessary noes? And what does it feel like to be lost? Let yourself be directionless and egoless for a while; allow yourself time in the fog. You’ll pick up all kinds of information on intuitive levels that you’ll bring with you into spring. It can be a true balm to simply float and let information come to you from the inside out. Innies are probably already very familiar with this process. Outies may be surprised at what you’ll discover.

Late winter can be a time when we’re more prone to illness and need much more rest than normal. Plan your life to embrace this need and postpone new projects and amped up activity until late March. Relish this time of final gestation before for nature’s rebirth—and yours on the Spring Equinox.

Whenever you honor the wisdom of winter, your spring is bound to be a clean slate and a true, new beginning. This cycle of beginnings, fulfillment and endings is the continuous gift of life.

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Photo Credits: Winter Sky © THesIMPLIFY - Fotolia.com; Zodiac Signs ©  stokkete - Fotolia.com- Fotolia.com

Postcript: The Jung Typology Test or Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory, like astrology, can explain a lot about you. I’d encourage readers who haven’t already to take the test and read some of the write-ups about your configuration. I’m an INFJ. Please comment and share your four!