And an equally Happy Summer Solstice to those “down under!” The 2020 Northern Hemisphere Winter Solstice/Southern Hemisphere Summer Solstice happens at 2:02 am PST, 8:02 am GMT December 21, 2020. 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 2021. 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 2021. 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 this chart, the HUGE factor dominating the entire chart is the Jupiter conjunction with Saturn at 1 Aquarius, “the Grand Mutation” ushering in a new 20 year Aquarian era, and a new 200 year Air era!

This year we also have the planets in very important degree placements making very important aspects indicating both meltdowns and blessings, productivity and forks in the road of destiny, concentrated doses of spiritual energy streaming in amidst the general chaos. This opens the door to a wider future with a focus on our interrelatedness as we begin to end a lot of things which have no more life or power, and don’t need to be perpetuated anyway.

Obviously, since the Sun is the key to the Solstice, the aspects it makes are extremely important. In this December 2020 Solstice chart, the Sun is immediately behind Mercury after their Superior Conjunction at 29 Sag, making a quindecile to Venus, a semisextile to Jupiter and Saturn, and a trine to Uranus.

This means major themes of the next 90 days involve a tremendous potential to continue to cultivate a forward looking vision of greater ways to contribute to a greater good through a group effort. This is the division of past and future, since now the Solstice Sun is ruled by Saturn in Aquarius, opening the doors to greater visions and spiritual touchstones which will outlive us. This is an extraordinarily mobilizing season, activating major growth in a very compressed span of experience between 8 Sagittarius and 1 Aquarius.

With the Sun yielding the stage to Saturn, this Solstice is entirely about new ideas, new ideals, new contacts, new vision, and new collective directions. It’s going to be a year of rapid growth and expansion, but also impending conflict due to Jupiter and Saturn in a wide forming square to Uranus. This is a year to set aside personal interests and work for a greater good with others who share your vision. We stand at the beginning of the construction of a great visionary ideal of some sort, so allow Venus in Sag leading the Light to open you to honesty, adventure, and greater possibilities which will result from the major inner changes indicated by Venus.

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 Mars square Pluto, with impending squares between Aquarius and Taurus which I’ll discuss in early January.

The aspects mainly indicate unique gifts and interactive serendipity between those doing a greater work. There are tremendous inner changes going on in the next 90 days, with a sense of major endings and beginnings due to the Moon in late Pisces with Mars at 24 Aries. We’re all going to get concentrated doses of spiritual energy stream into our consciousness from time to time, so enjoy feeling alive!

Venus in a waning septile to Jupiter and Saturn indicates the next season is anticipatory, and that the seeds of the old which we’ve valued up to now will yield new life in February. This is a liberating initiative which begins at deep levels, so be open to noting the inner changes as you begin to claim your power in your areas of expertise. Add the Moon is septile Jupiter and Saturn, but not biseptile Venus, and you have a wide “destiny producing” evolutionary configuration activated by the Moon, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. Those most affected by these septiles have planets or points near 7-11 Sagittarius, 29 Capricorn-3 Aquarius, 20-24 Pisces, 12-16 Taurus, 3-7 Cancer, 24-28 Leo, and 16-20 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 14 years.

This is the fourth 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 first 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, conjunct in a “Christmas Star” with Jupiter, lighting up the skies for centuries to come! Because Saturn is the ruler of the Sun, the next year will open us to newer, more idealistic and visionary forms of Aquarian energy and expression in our lives wherever we have the first decan of Aquarius in our charts. Because this year Jupiter conjuncts Saturn, this marks the beginning of centuries of Aquarius energy to come. Expect major developments wherever 1 Aquarius falls in your chart.

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. This Solstice sees Saturn at 1 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 is sandwiched between the Moon and Venus with them making septiles to Saturn and Jupiter. Emergent forks in the road, closing forks in the road, stuck in the middle with Jupiter! All in all, not a bad thing, though it portends more weirdness 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 on Sunday!

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!

© Copyright 2020 Robert Wilkinson - https://www.aquariuspapers.com
Reprinted on crystalwind.ca with persmission from Robert Wilkinson.