And an equally Happy Summer Solstice to those “down under!” The 2021 Northern Hemisphere Winter Solstice/Southern Hemisphere Summer Solstice happens at 7:59 am PST, 3:59 pm GMT December 21, 2021. This is the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, and the longest in the Southern! In the North the Solar force will begin to get longer and stronger, a welcome relief for those of us who need lots of sunshine to keep our dispositions equally sunny. The Winter Solstice is a special time for me, where I do a specific ritual every year that yields great results which I'll explain in part 2. For now, let's discuss the Solstice chart.

It has been put forth over the centuries that the charts done for the Solstices and Equinoxes give snapshots of what we can expect during that season. In this article, I’ll offer you some insights about the Solstice chart, and discuss how this Solstice relates to the very important past Winter Solstices which were conjunct Pluto (and in both 2017 and 2018, Saturn!) at the Galactic Center, since those profoundly impacted how we will experience the major shifts happening at this Solstice.

Southern or Northern, We Enter A New Season

We are now at the end of Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and the end of Spring in the Southern. If you’re wondering how I reconcile the seemingly opposing energies between the hemispheres, when you’re done here please take a look at The Mirroring of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere Year Cycles in Astrology. It may help readers “down under” see how the important points of seasonal change, though opposite in physical manifestation, actually have similar challenges at each point of shift.

There is an old tradition that offers us two times when "the year begins," one at the Vernal Equinox, the other at the Autumnal. Perhaps that tradition came from explorers who saw the seasons flip between the Northern and Southern, going from the beginning of warm to the beginning of cold as they moved up and down the latitudes.

This is an excellent time for looking at what has ended, what is emerging, and making decisions about how we want to live in 2022. We up North have now reaped the harvest of what we've done and not done, and can figure out how we want to express our power in 2022. In the Southern latitudes, you've finished your "Spring planting," and will now see how these labors will come to fulfillment over the next 90 days.

Whether North or South, keep following through on the emergent archetypes you've already begun to live, since this is the time to embrace personal power in some public way. Regardless of where we live, what follows explores elements we all can expect to experience over the next 13 weeks.

The Grand Mutation, Aspects, and More!

As mentioned, the charts for the Summer and Winter Solstices provide guideposts for what will follow in the 90 days after those points in time, just as charts for the Vernal and Autumnal Equinox each show what will follow in the period after those points in time. In last year’s Solstice chart, the HUGE factor dominating the entire chart was the Grand Mutation of Jupiter conjunct Saturn at 1 Aquarius which began a new 20 year Aquarian era, and a new 200 year Air era!

This year’s chart will be a “back to the future” type of energy. Because of the aspects and degree placements there will continue to be major friction, adjustments, and sacrifices due to Saturn square Uranus and a Yod with the Moon in Cancer as the focus, as well as major productivity, forks in the road of destiny, and multiple spiritual realizations because of the prominent aspects and configurations.

Obviously, since the Sun is the key to the Solstice, the aspects it makes are extremely important. In this December 2021 Solstice chart, the Sun has Mars in Sag as the entry planet to the Light, indicating the next 90 days will be highly active along future oriented paths teaching us skill at “playing the game.”

The Sun is quindecile the Venus retrograde/Pluto conjunction and sextile Jupiter, with the big news being Sun novile Saturn and binovile Neptune, with Saturn novile Neptune. This sets three points of a “9 Pointed Star of Spiritual Realizations” into play, primarily affecting 1-3 of the Earth signs, 9-13 of the Air signs, 19-23 of the Water signs, and 29-30 of the Fire signs. This guarantees revelations galore related to Saturn and Neptune, and because the Sun makes waning aspects to both, this one completes realization cycles begun when the Sun conjuncted the former in January 2021 and the latter in March 2021!

Since the Solstice Sun is ruled by Saturn in Aquarius, like last year, it’s opening the doors to greater visions and spiritual touchstones which will outlive us. Saturn is on a degree of getting away from the world to receive a new inspiration, in the individual and spiritual part of Aquarius related to “Contribution.” This Solstice, like the one a year ago, is entirely about new ideas, new ideals, new contacts, new vision, and new collective directions. As Saturn rules every other planet in the chart, it will dominate the Stage of Life these next 90 days.

Because we have the Sun, Mercury, Pluto, Venus RX, and Saturn all in a very compressed span of experience between 1 Capricorn and 11 Aquarius, that will be the focus of our lives wherever that falls in our chart. With Saturn still in tight square with Uranus, this season continues the conflict which dominated 2021. We continue to be in a time of learning to set aside personal interests and work for a greater good with others who share our vision.

While I’ve given you a lot about the aspects in other recent articles, I’ll recap here. We are moving into another compression of planets in the next few weeks. That means all the aspects are “interior” since soon all the planets will be within a very narrow span between Capricorn and early Taurus. We now face the final Saturn square Uranus for this year which will soon be out of orb, though it will reappear for a few weeks in late 2022.

The aspects mainly indicate an intensification and purification of our Venus function, expansions through sacrifices due to the Yod created by the Sun, Jupiter, and the Moon, the spiritual realizations mentioned earlier, and Mars triggering the Grand Irrationality through a septile to Venus, a triseptile to Uranus, and a biseptile to Neptune, activating four points of the “7 Pointed Star of Destiny.” Zones most affected by this powerful evolutionary configuration are 5-9 Sagittarius, 27 Capricorn-1 Aquarius, 19-23 Pisces, 10-14 Taurus, 1-5 Cancer, 22-26 Leo, and 14-18 Libra. If you have something in one of these zones, your destiny is one the move!

So What Brought Us to Here and Now?

In a brief nod to what “brought us to this dance” in years past, the conjunction of the Sun with Pluto was exact or very close when Pluto was exactly conjunct the Galactic Center between 2006-2009. This set some extremely long wave energies into play on our Earth, and marked a huge renewal for the next 250 years, mas or menos. We are now solidly launched into that new Era.

The Sun square Uranus was close or exact on Winter Solstice 2010, 2011 (exact!) and 2012. So the seed forms created by the Sun and Pluto when they powered up the Galactic Center energies for the next “season of the Millennium” back in 2006-2009 were moved into revolutionary newness by Uranus in the first sign of the zodiac in the years after that Plutonic once-in-250 years event.

Pluto offers us seeds to sprout or seeds of future weeds to be pulled before they grow, and so the years Pluto spent at the GC sent the world “galactic seeds” that were hidden until 2017. The 2017 Solstice brought those hidden seeds into manifestation via the Sun conjunct Saturn at the Galactic Center; those structures began to be modified at the 2018 Solstice. We have now turned the corner as a planet and humanity relative to the Galactic Wisdom we have been learning to know in seed form these past 15 years.

This is the fifth year of a new era which is setting long terms structures into play. The 2017 and 2018 Solstices codified some of the Galactic energies because of the conjunctions of the Sun and Saturn on the GC. In December 2017 Saturn was exactly 1 Capricorn, and in December 2018 it was 11 Capricorn. The 2019 conjunction of the Sun and Jupiter had Jupiter at 5 Capricorn, indicating our Saturn response to the new GC outpouring of 2018 and 2019 opened many doors in 2020 based in how much we’ve accepted Jupiter’s opportunities. This year Mercury is at 1 Capricorn conjunct the GC, showing “the Guide of Souls” will weave GC consciousness into our lives these next 90 days.

Other Factors

This is the second December Solstice with Saturn in Aquarius, which still dominates the stage of Life from its home sign of Aquarius. So besides the Sun shining a big light on the Galactic Center, we also have Saturn as a major player, ruling all the other planets in the sky until Jupiter slips into Pisces. Because Saturn is the ruler of the Sun, the next season (and year) will open us to newer, more idealistic and visionary forms of Aquarian energy and expression in our lives wherever we have the second decan of Aquarius in our charts.

2016 was about the lessons of 11 Sag, while 2017 featured the themes of 21 Sag. Those years restructured wherever we have Sag in our charts. 2018 was about the lesson of 1 Capricorn. 2019 was about the lessons of 11 Capricorn, and 2020 featured lessons related to 21 Capricorn. The 2021 Solstice saw Jupiter and Saturn conjunct at 1 Aquarius, while this one is about the lessons of 11 Aquarius, so study up on where the emphasis was in your charts for those years. (Yes, you may find some interesting information by putting the Solstice chart on top of yours, and see where those transits fall.)

Saturn ruling the Sun is a primary dispositor influence, and so Saturn always plays a big part in the December through March season. On this Solstice, Saturn makes only spiritual aspects except for the square, showing that as Saturn brings us realizations, we can act through the square to Uranus to make our realizations effective. Still, with the Grand Irrationality in full swing, we’ll all be moving through emergent forks in the road, closing forks in the road, stuck in the middle with Jupiter at 29 Aquarius in the Transfiguration Zone! We’re completing our emergence from our cocoon as the general weirdness continues these next 90 days.

Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend

Because Saturn plays such a large part in any December Solstice chart, if you haven’t gotten your copy already, please give yourself the timeless gift of my book, Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend. We all need to make friends with our inner Saturn if we would claim our power to fulfill our higher purpose for being alive as Spirits in the material world.

This book shows you the way to take command of your power to steer your life in a conscious way, using Saturn’s strengths and skills to be led to mastering life on our own terms. By knowing how to become the best of Saturn in our world, we take command of our destiny and become the living purpose we were born to make manifest!

It was written for both astrologers and non-astrologers, and will assist your understanding of how your life experiences assisted your Soul growth and power to turn away from unhelpful karmic cause and effect patterns. Each time you re-read any part of it you’re sure to find undiscovered gems of insight helping you throw off attitudes which frustrate your ability to live your higher Purpose on your own terms.

So if you don’t already have a copy, please order your copy today! You can go to the Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend page on Amazon and this should be all you need to order your copy. And if you would, please write a review on the Amazon site, since the more reviews, the bigger the boost on their site.

Enjoy digesting the information in this article, and I’ll post part two soon!

As "they" say, Mahalo, Aloha, Namaskarams, Aum Namah Shivaya, Happy and Merry Solstice, Happy Hanukkah (slight return!), Merry Christmastide, Joyous Christ Mass, and Happy New Year!

Reprinted on crystalwind.ca with written permission from Robert Wilkinson. Copying this article to other blogs is strictly prohibited. It is copyright protected. 

© Copyright 2021 Robert Wilkinson

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