December 21, 2022 is also the Capricorn Ingress over Washington, DC, and this year we had an Ascendant in Gemini, a Mutable sign at the Aries Ingress — meaning that the chart gets renewed every three months over the course of the year. WE’re now at the fourth ingress of the year, covering from mid-December until mid-March at the new Aries Ingress in March 2023.

Mundane, or Judicial, Astrology, begins by looking at the position of the Sun, the Moon, and the Ascendant in order to understand the role of the national leader (Joe Biden at the time of this writing), the broader population as a whole, and the political noise of the loudest part of the population. It then looks at each of the houses from 1-6 in order to understand the position of the typical American household and the state of the economy; and houses 7-12 to understand the political and social framework of the nation.

With the Ascendant in Cancer, the role of women and particularly mothers and children is likely to be much on people’s minds in the last three months of the year. It may be that the respiratory virus and the ongoing pediatric medical crisis in the US remains a significant problem throughout the next three months, and no actual decision will be made.

The Sun, representing the President of the United States, is in Capricorn — suggesting that Biden or his successor will be paying a great deal of serious public attention to repairing and managing alliances. The presence of Venus, Mercury, and Pluto suggest a marriage of convenience between economic, social, and intellectual goals. Capricorn is often the sign in American charts that represents Russia, and there’s consequently a suggestion that containing and limiting Russia’s prosecution of the war in Ukraine remains a significant US policy objective, with the European Union a target of ongoing lobbying and influence by US and NATO policy wonks, military and civilian advisors, and politicians.

The Moon in the sixth house indicates significant political noise and influence exercised by US working class interests. With the Imum Coeli in the third house and Mars and the Moon in nigh-opposition, it’s entirely possible that we will see parallel worker strikes among health-care professionals and rail workers for better pay and working conditions after years of mistreatment due to the pandemic and bad policy. the Moon is within a degree of conjuncting the malefic star Antares, suggesting that a rail strike is likely to result in some amount of violence against the strikers… ‘strike-breaking’ may not be a metaphor in this case. It’s certainly the case that a swift and unexpected working-class tumult is likely to occur in the next three months.

The First House represents the larger part of the population. With the Moon ruling this sign, the concerns of women and children are likely to be on everyone’s mind, even if their political power is unlikely to be well-directed or focused on achieving specific aims. It’s more likely, with the Moon inconjunct in Sagittarius, for the role of women embedded in working class families to be highlighted and noticed — but for the husbands and fathers to receive the lion’s share of political attention.

The Second House represents the financial sector of banks, lending institutions, and community wealth. With the Sun inconjunct and Saturn in opposition from the eighth house, there’s a suggestion that the economic climate is going to experience a natural downturn and people will have to tighten both their belts and their wallets. With the Moon approaching its waning dark, this may appear as part of an effort to strengthen the president’s bargaining position with strikers, but it’s more likely that regulators are asleep at the wheel when the crisis comes.

The Third House represents logistics, highways, communications networks and companies, and the Postal Service. Virgo ruled by Mercury experiences a practical trine from its ruler in Capricorn. The last year has seen considerable upheaval in this space, and this placement suggests ongoing efforts to sort out the best paths for all the goods and services to travel from origin point to destination.

The Fourth House represents real estate, agriculture and farming, and the rental markets of the US. Ruled by Venus from the seventh house, we can expect winter management of these resources to proceed in a practical but ruthless way, where the most-favored markets continue to rise in value, and the least-favored markets experience a decline. In one of the debates, then-candidate Joe Biden talked about the K-shaped recovery of the US economy, with considerable value going to the already-wealthy, and more wealth-extraction from the poorer elements of US society. This suggests that this process will not reverse in the next three months, though some half-hearted efforts at restoration may occur.

The Fifth House ruled by inconjunct Mars represents fashion, entertainment, the minority party in the legislature, and the economic and social aristocracy. Ruled by Mars, there’s an indication of a great deal of violence in action movies coming out in these three months. I think we’ll see more of a disconnect between the actions of the leaders of the minority party in Congress and the potential violence of their followers and supporters — an increasing willingness on the part of official leadership to condemn political violence, but also a failure of that leadership to contain or limit that violence. In fashion circles, winter and spring collections are likely to have military and masculinizing themes — but these collections are likely to be poorly received or criticized; the Balenciaga fiasco is likely just the beginning.

The aforementioned Sixth House represents factory workers, the rank-and-file of the military services, mine workers, and professions engaged in heavy labor like construction. The position of the Moon indicates a great amount of upheaval in these sectors of the US labor market, with some partial closures of matters at hand.

The Seventh House, representing foreign affairs, has the greatest number of planets in it, indicating tremendous focus by the US business community (Pluto) on overseas markets such as the European Union and South America. The Sun in Capricorn is often a tumultuous period in Russian and Ukrainian historical events, and this year is likely to be no exception— and the US president (Sun) along with his official advisors (Mercury) and influential unofficial voices (Venus), is likely to be strongly invested in monitoring the situation in these nations.

The Eighth House, representing the US government’s bureaucracy and the overall health of its population, is the sign of Aquarius which is currently home to Saturn in the third decan. Respiratory illnesses are likely to take a significant toll over the winter, but as Saturn passes out of Aquarius in late March 2023, it’s likely that this is the last such winter for a while. All the same, precautions will still be necessary this winter to avoid illness. The bureaucracy is likely to remain hampered and hindered by changes over the last three years, and by limitations that the government is currently unable to overcome.

The Ninth House represents travel, tourism, and higher-level academia (colleges and universities). With the sign here being Jupiter-ruled Pisces, and with the sign’s ruler in inconjunct Aries, it’s likely that these sectors of US public life will be pulled in diametrically opposed directions — universities may reinstitute health precautions this season, while airplanes and trains will still be a significant source of illness. Hotels and motels may figure out how to keep guests from getting each other sick, but tourist destinations will still not be back to normal. Neptune here promises an enormous amount of misinformation and deliberate disinformation, making decision-making in this sector of the national life quite difficult.

The Tenth House represents the Government as a whole, ruled by Mars from the Sextile. There’s an indication here that the US government is thinking strategically about moving to a war footing. They may not have made the decision to put troops into the European Union, much less Ukraine — but plans for overseas military operations are being considered at the highest levels of government, with an eye toward head-butting significant opponents — doing unto the enemy before they have done unto us. It’s not a very Christmas-like message, but it bears thinking about. Jupiter in the tenth in its own term and dignified as a triplicity ruler in fire signs suggests significant efforts to bring about policies favorable to the general population, and the exposure of corruption.

Uranus in Taurus in the Eleventh House indicates significant disruptions in the House of Representatives. The most recent election changes the majority party in early January; this party claims to represent a large share of the US population, but really represents gerrymandered land rather than population. We can expect significant but short-lived and symbolic actions that create a lot of trouble but don’t actually change conditions much in the country as a whole. At least, not yet. More significant shifts are likely in state legislatures and local communities, where a long-term upheaval is under way — these will not fully yield fruit until 2025-2026, at a guess.

Mars retrograde in the twelfth house suggests deep shifts coming in the realm of law enforcement, the courts, and health care in the US. These decisions are being made in a strategic way at the moment, but are likely to be moved to the tactical level in the near future — early January to mid February is likely to see the shift begin. Some of this may involve strikes in hospitals and among nurses and other health care professionals, or a general withdrawal of experienced professionals from an envionment that has exhausted them during the pandemic. Before the positive changes begin, a great deal of negativity has to be surgically cut away, and these strategic decisions are likely to be occurring all over the country in every courthouse and hospital in the land.

Overall, the framework of the next three months indicates a fair bit of housecleaning before the Republicans take control of the House of Representatives in early January, followed by some complex chess games of politicking around the political and economic fallout of union activity at home, and foreign issues in Russia, Ukraine, and elsewhere.