The Sun entered the third decan of Sagittarius today at 3:27 am this morning — get ready, it’s time to beat the dead horse!

Wait, what?

Amusingly enough, that’s Austin Coppock‘s name for the third decan of Sagittarius, the horse’s skull. But when we think about it, it sort of makes sense — the sign of Sagittarius is a centaur, or half-man/half horse. The last third of the centaur is the horse’s ass — and the horse’s ass is the mansplainer engaged in the belaboring of old ideas, and the rehashing of long-running arguments with no obvious outcome which change nothing. If we flog a dead horse, of course, it’s exhausting work, but the horse feels nothing from the exertion.

As I’ve noted in other columns in this series, the Third Decan is the realm of Anangke, the Hellenistic-era super-deity whose name means Necessity — as in “necessity is the mother of invention.” Depicted as a snake wrapped around an egg, the goddess’s power alternately crushes and relaxes tension on the surface of the egg, shaping and re-shaping what is within. When the egg is understood to be the cosmos, the whole universe inside of which we live, the Sun’s presence here indicates that we may find our behaviors shaped and changed by outside forces over which we have no control.

Planetary Placements

The Sun, as noted, is in Decan III of Sagittarius, in the second natural house — signifying growing concern with money and possessions, particularly that money which is aimed at some purpose of acquisition or goal. The Dead Horse points to an obvious challenge: everyone already has everything they need, so how do you buy an appropriate gift? Anangke laughs as she presides over the full parking lots — outside circumstances drive ridiculous behavior from everyone. It’s painful exertion, and tedious and repetitive…but no one knows how to stop.

Co-present with the Sun is Mercury, in the position that joins them to the Solar sect, as daystar rising before the Sun. In the first Decan of Sagittarius they hold an arrow with a poison-pen letter wrapped around the shaft, tied in place with a bit of silken thread. The Hellenes associated this placement with disease and with cures— communications about illness and sickness, and their relief, will have a role to play in the next ten days.

Still below the Ascendant but rising before Mercury, is Mars in his own sign of Scorpio in the first house — you may find you have greater drive and commitment to purpose in the next ten days, and this will have an almost-sensual nature. However, this drive is likely to be hot, and being thwarted (or thwarting someone else) is likely to lead to dispute. It’s a good time to stay out of one another’s way.

The Cluster in Capricorn… ah yes, Jupiter has just entered, and rapidly approaches conjunction with the South Node, who rushes forth to receive the king. This conjunction may be briefly akin to the oubliette, the place where prisoners are thrown for a while “to be forgotten” — that conjunction will occur on the 7-9 January. Saturn is just beginning to fall away from Venus, who rushes ahead into the third decan of Capricorn in the third house, toward a fateful meeting with gloomy and dreadful Pluto on December 13, under the watchful eye of the Hellenic Tolma their chaperone — a goddess of accounting and good management, watching over the king’s throne and the CEO’s executive desk. Saturn still keeps company in the face of Hygeia, the goddess of cleanliness, while Jupiter tarries in the house Asklepius the doctoring deity who makes dream-calls. All of them together in the natural Third House signifies challenges among intimates, in your immediate neighborhood, and potential upheavals in your partner’s family and your own.

The Moon alone among the visible planets hangs out on the opposite side of the chart. Just past full, she wanes in a nighttime sky, at the height of her power in Gemini. In this placement, she serves as the head upon the shoulders of Orion — the winter warrior briefly transformed into a feminized princess, just in time for the new Mulan movie. The Queen of the Night keeps company with Scheliel, the angel of the Seventh Mansion, who provides abundance and success… but only when we ask for it and pray for it with gratitude for the giver for their beneficence. In opposition to the Sun, and in the Eighth House in Gemini, she speaks to the growing disconnect between the legacies of the past and the promises of the future — and the fulfillment of more-morbid desires.

Uranus, retrograde in Taurus, discomfits our natural partners with upheavals in their greatest comforts. The North Node in Cancer promises more writing, more talking, more travel and more academic debate. Neptune in Pisces in the natural Fifth House indicates a degree of mindless dissolution in our pleasure-seeking, as the run-up to the winter holiday season nears its inevitable end.

Rising Sign Horoscopes

Scorpio: Mars sits enthroned at the midpoint of his own house, like the furnace at the center of a system of hot water pipes, circulating and re-circulating both heat and anger. It’s below the surface for now, but could explode soon. A lot of things are darker than expected, but a bright flashlight should be turned on and pointed into the strongbox and bank account. The Capricorn puppy-pile suggests messy entanglements with family and close friends before the holidays officially begin; while Neptune rains out any plans you might have made for yourself. Your partner experiences unexpected challenges at work, but could make some decent money. The Moon promises legacies delivered from family and career — but ask for what you want, or you won’t get it.

Sagittarius: Keep any anger bottled up for now; it won’t serve you well. Meditation is unlikely to be a happy escape, with Mars turning up the heat in the yoga room to unbearable levels. You’re likely having a hard time separating self-worth from bank account right now; and you’re worried you’ll have to turn to family members, who seem caught up in a massive wrangle themselves, to sort out money problems. Home ought to be where the fun is — and instead it may feel like a never-ending range of tasks and duties. Your partner is likely going through some financial challenges of their own — and the Moon is dangling resources in front of them, but the asking for them will be hard, and the thanking…? even harder. Traveling to family feels more like a chore or duty for the holidays than enjoyable, especially all that way.

Capricorn: Running on all cylinders right now? Feeling magnanimous, practical, disciplined, studious, creative, celebrated, honored, and righteous? Has someone given you a pitcher of the good stuff? Yeah, that’d be all the planets in your sign of self-hood, all at the same time. Saturn is probably delivering a hard-wearing cold and dry/sore throat that isn’t quitting; Jupiter’s fall is delivering a combination-punch of triumph about one thing and despair about another (like a promotion at work and a sudden weight-gain, or a new responsibility compounded with extra work you weren’t counting on… and the raise maybe mysteriously vanished between initial discussion and final offer?) More creative, certainly — but Pluto is not famous for making someone likable: are you sure you’re not the principal jerk in this family? A usual source of neighborhood fun is suffers from a weather event. Maybe you can pray away a minor health-issue — but it’s not a superpower, and don’t get cocky; temporarily favorable conditions don’t lead to permanent results.

Aquarius: All your powers of reflection, of insight, and capacity for forward thinking, are likely in a tangled mess with that meeting of the powers in Capricorn. Their natural inclination is to turn your thoughts toward sibling-troubles or the turmoil in your community, whenever you’re alone. The trouble is, you’re often alone — you’re identifying with your house the way other people identify with their favorite jeans. Are you getting out enough? Guess what? That lunatic Moon has the power to make happiness happen all around you — but you’re going to have to ask for it, and then do the work to make it happen. The mess in your career? You’re going to have to cut through the red tape. That nasty issue circulating among your friends? You’re going to have to shine a light on the central problem (possibly not without cost to yourself).

Pisces: Your own entertainment is the order of the day, with your self identity wrapped up in your own pleasure. Makes sense, right? — Especially since all of your friends and allies seem to be making a complete hash of their own lives and trashing the very places they like to hang out. But really, there are cutbacks at work to consider (and maybe you’re the one who has to do the pruning?), and you’re finding reasons to get militant about spiritual matters. Here’s a clue: don’t. Mars isn’t going to linger here too long. Settle it down, and see if the trouble passes.

Aries: Your partner’s relationship to your money may go through a sudden upheaval in the next ten days, as you review what your financial situation is. A sibling’s health issue may require prayer — as well as thought on the genetic legacy which you may also carry. Mars is passing through your own eighth house while below the natural ascendant— a sign of a potential financial or health obstacle lurking below the surface. Don’t be hypochondriac, but is it time to see a doctor or an accountant? The Sun and Mercury urge you to go take a class or watch a few videos about something you want to learn. It’s been a pain-point long enough: study the thing you’ve been avoiding learning; get a recommendation from a business colleague. Then again, maybe not. That pile-up in Capricorn is sitting on your boss’s chest, and trouble rolls downhill; as they break up that problem into smaller pieces, some will tumble into your lap. The tendency is to mourn alone, considering all the way your problems smear themselves onto every issue; but remember that messes are always cleaned up a little at a time.

Taurus: Your world is upside down right now, with the issues you thought were emerging, really retiring into the sunset; and other problems you thought were off the radar (and possibly the table) are emerging at a rapid rate into the light. There’s money to be made from the situation, but first you have to get over your affront that making money is something you have to do. The Moon is well placed to ask for financial assistance right now, but it’s not something to delay. Meanwhile, Mars is well-placed to do your partner some injury at home — invite them to take more caution with sharps and with flame than usual. The legacies of the past deserve a spotlight, but a laborious search for hidden treasure may be fruitless: this is, perhaps, the dead horse you should stop beating. Recent learning objectives are completed; can it be turned to good use? What do you dream of doing, for real? You can manifest some dreams right now, but it takes enactment to make them real.

Gemini: The Moon’s temporary power is to give you some portion of what you want for yourself; but you have to be prepared to receive it with more gratitude than you currently hold. You’re likely experiencing an upswing in your finances but it comes at the cost of overwork and loneliness, which are themselves risky sources of emerging injury. Your partner shines a light on this problem, and communicates clearly about it — try not to see this message as poisonous, but as a genuine attempt to help you. At the same time, though, ancient or ancestral limits are being reified — that means, turned to concrete or set in stone — and it’s establishing family roles for you and your siblings that are going to be difficult to break free from, later. You’re likely both enjoying and slightly frightened by the boundless career possibilities you’re facing… some boundaries would be useful, really. You never thought you’d want them, but now at least one or two would be nice.

Cancer: You’re almost certainly picking up the slack from your partner, who probably has a mountain of challenges right now, many of them coming directly from family or “like a brother” relationships. That Capricorn-cluster is raining challenges down on their head. It’s not to say you don’t have challenges of your own: you’re getting burned by your entertainment plans, and cuts to the communications budget are likely affecting your work. Your prayers for peace and quiet are likely to be answered, but a surprise offer from a friend can be turned into a financial reward. There’s also a chance of an unexpected trip.

Leo: You have such amazing news to share with ‘family’ (however you define that) during the upcoming holidays. Yet you’re aware that a whole web of troubles surrounds that group at the moment — health issues, legal troubles, financial stresses, creative blocks, and toxic emotional relationships. Don’t feel like wading into that mess? It would be easy to race off in other directions, and find a way to be warm in a sunny place, on your own. Yet your kinship-web needs your attention, your gratitude and your grace right now. In fact, if you look around, you’ll find plenty of places to target your good energy, and one of them is on making peace with the dead. The challenge is figuring out whether to answer your own personal needs or to keep the whole in mind — and realize that a snub could slash-and-burn more than just the Yule log this year. A partner is trying to articulate a dream or a goal for the coming year — best pay attention, because it has the potential to touch all of your shared resources. If you know your boss’s partner or spouse, it would be good to keep an eye on that relationship; favorable but sudden changes there, could bring good fortune your way.

Virgo: A partner is dealing with their challenges with a fair bit of artificial courage or mystery medication these days, and it’s cutting into your own enjoyment of life. The situation is made more icky by a trine relationship with aggressive Mars playing off family resentments and an overly-rigid sense of personal identity. The Sun’s placement shines a light on what you ought to think of as “home” and “family”— and the Moon offers another way out, through a road trip that never quite makes it home. Uranus — in the natural seventh, or your rotated ninth — indicates that a unexpected journey is likely to bring both good fortune and turbulence in your relationship…but a sunset is possible in this realm anyway. The counterargument is this — all of your personal pleasure and enjoyment is currently tied up and tangled in the thickets of Capricorn, and it’s difficult to see a way out of an old problem, when all of your creative and cohering juice was used to make this situation in the first place. Some of this mess isn’t going away even if you make a run for it — it’s in your luggage, and you’re going to have to re-pack before you can dash off on a new adventure.

Libra: A lot of people feel lonely this time of year, but try to keep in mind that it’s a temporary state of affairs, even for you in the next ten days. There’s a chance that a sudden chop or conflagration may affect your finances, as Mars brings some steam-heat to bear on otherwise well-directed flows — or shuts off a source that used to be reliable. This may feel like a personal affront, but shine a light on the personal resources of some of your siblings and ask if you can help in some fashion. The Capricorn-tangle means that the house is cold, there’s legal issues that have to be addressed, there’s decorative elements that feel wrong or out of place, and there’s potentially poisonous perils yet to be managed and mitigated. What dreams may come of future happiness are worth trying to manifest, as there are few limits to what can be achieved— but don’t go after the farthest-out goals imagination — pick closer targets.

Colophon: Sources & References

I use iPhemeris for my charting software, and screenshot it to make charts. I use Christopher Warnock‘s The Mansions of the Moon as the basis of my Moon placement delineations, and Austin Coppock‘s 36 Faces as the basis of some of my planetary delineations. Neither gentleman endorses me.

Any errors in these columns are my own.

If you want to read some of my poetry, To the Mansions of the Moon is a collection of hymns to the angels of the Mansions mentioned in these columns. For the Behenian Stars is a collection of hymns to the first/brightest sixteen stars. The Sun’s Paces are hymns to the thirty-six Hellenistic-era deities and ascended souls of the Greco-Egyptian Decans-calendar. While not astrological, Festae contains hymns to some of the older Roman gods and spirits from the calendar created by Numa Pompilius, the second ancient King of Rome.