Update: I just appeared on the What Magic is This? podcast for the second time, this time talking about astrological magic and how to actually do it — the system of techniques and tools, the underlying philosophies, and how you should prioritize learning the material: https://whatmagicisthis.com/2023/12/11/astrological-magic-with-andrew-watt-continued/

The Sun enters Sagittarius III, The Horse’s Skull (according to Austin Coppock‘s naming conventions) on 12 December 2023. T. Susan Chang called this decan Weight of the World paralleling the Golden Dawn name for the Tarot card assigned here, the 10 of Wands or Lord of Oppression.

The last decan of Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter but administered by Saturn. That ‘administrator’ role carries an outsized importance for Saturn here, since he rules the last decan of Sagittarius and the first decan of Pisces — making the stretch from 20° Sagittarius to 9° Pisces 59′ the longest period in the Zodiac where any planet has substantive power and dignity. Additionally, Saturn is the slowest of the planets and the most obstreperous, the most prone to creating obstacles, and the most deliberate about putting roadblocks and speed limits on our path. Sagittarius is also one of the signs of Long Ascension, making the Sun’s movement here a particularly slow part of the calendar year, made slower by the Sun’s approach to the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere. In short, it’s a season of a slog.

To put this in perspective, Saturn entered Sagittarius III on 21 December 2016 — and will exit Pisces I on March 1-2, 2024. That’s seven years, two months, and two weeks of Saturn passing through areas of his personal strength, bringing delay, drudgery, and tedium our lives. When we add in Saturn’s power as a triplicity ruler in fire signs, that level of dignity extends his period of influence all the way back to Christmas Eve of 2014 —a full 100° of arc and nine years in which Saturn plays the grumpy old man even if the face of Jupiter’s generosity and kindness. The only planets which have anything like that level of dignity are Venus and Mars. Venus has the arc of Virgo through Scorpio, where she has triplicity rulership or domiciled power — but she’s in exile in Virgo and in detriment in Scorpio, and for her, 90° of arc usually takes her a mere three months to cross…. which is hardly a winning combo. On the other side of the chart, Mars with his domicile role in Aries and triplicity rulership in Water and Earth signs, has the 90° swath from Pisces to the end of Taurus… but again, Mars will be here for about three and a half months in the first half of 2024. He’ll cause heat and friction and fury, but only for a limited time. Saturn, by contrast, has been causing delays and sending waves of weariness onto us since before Donald Trump walked into the White House for the first time.

Sagittarius III is associated in Hellenistic calendars with Anangke, the goddess of Necessity — a powerful being that some sources described as “the goddess of the gods and goddesses.” As mortals worship the gods, so do the gods worship Anangke, seeing in her the reality that no matter how much they might wish things to be other than they are, some things must come to pass because they are written into the cosmic order from somewhere beyond it. Anangke’s symbol — she was never, to my knowledge, depicted in human form — was that of a serpent wrapped around an egg, nudging it and squeezing it in a way that likely produced unusual experiences for the individual (or Cosmos) within the egg — but which the plasm within the egg could neither influence nor control. So it is with us — we may be aware of vast and peculiar forces at work in our world, far beyond what mortal conspiracies or strategies can conceive… but we have no power to influence those courses of action.

Perhaps part of the reason that Saturn gets nine long years of dignity out of every thirty, is to remind us of how little we are in control relative to the much vaster forces of Nature, and of Necessity. Sometimes, things happen because they must.

This season also has potential relevance to modern-day pagans of the Hellenic persuasion — The New Moon occurs at 6:45 pm on December 12, 2023 as the Moon conjuncts the Sun in Sagittarius III, which may have prompted the Dorian Greeks to perform rituals in honor of Artemis the Moon. While in Sparta these gradually became bloody coming-of-age rites, in other parts of the Peloponnese these were honored with gifts of cheese, and games of chance and skill where winners received cheese as a reward. Maybe you should break out your charcuterie board and have a little celebration of your own?

Planetary Positions

With Mars enclosed by the waning Moon and Sun in the Third House, we’re looking at a Night Chart in which both malefic planets are cadent and limited in their spite. The result is that the separating opposition between Venus and Jupiter has a chance to play a greater role in the next ten days before the Winter Solstice. The Sun is all too aware of the burdens imposed by family in this last season of the year, while the Moon is flighty and delighted by all the wonderful things that might come her way from family and friends. Between them is the harsh cut of Mars, promising a break between what we desire and what we actually gain from the coming gift-giving frenzies; and a similar break between what we think people owe us, and what they actually deliver. Be clear with family and friends about what you want — but try not to get mad at them in a few weeks when your psychic messages and subtle hints have failed to land.

The Moon’s Mansion is number 20, The Beam, a rough and ready roadhouse for truckers on the edge of the wild, popular with hunters and where the bartender serves strong liquor to the folks who come in with broken handcuffs on their wrists and prison jumpsuits on their bodies — he also isn’t above making a call from the back room so they get picked up by local law enforcement in the parking lot, but he doesn’t make trouble while they’re in his taproom, either. (And if they can trade clothes with someone and slip out the back door, he ain’t sayin’ nothin’ to the cops). It’s easy to condemn the folks who frequent this place; they’re troublesome and troubling, and find it easy to cause hefty expenses even to friends. Mind that you hold on to your wallet or purse as you shop, and be careful about fraudulent transactions.

We also must remember the roundabout triangle of dispositorship, where Venus in Scorpio answers to Mars in Sagittarius who answers to Jupiter in Taurus who answers to Venus…. Both Sun and Moon play into this three-way model of deference most immediately and with bemusement; while Mercury and Pluto defer to Saturn, and Saturn and Neptune defer to Jupiter… Venus in Scorpio is in detriment here, though, and Mars is besieged, and Jupiter is peregrine — which gives considerable deference to the Sun. It’s a bit like all of the planets are advisors who have bad news to give to the king… but they’re all deferring to him, even as he’s growing more and more impatient. It’s telling that the Sun’s next ingress will be to enter Capricorn, where he’s inconjunct his own domicile and at the lowest point of his cycle in the Northern Hemisphere: we’re entering a season of dithering. The decisiveness will have to come from you, because the heavens are not providing it.

Mercury meanwhile is slowing down for their retrograde. The great communicator goes retrograde on December 14, and stations direct again late on January 1, 2024. We’ll go through the entirety of the holiday season managing our expectations, holding our tongues, biting back rude comments, and otherwise managing our relationships with family; the transition back and forth between Capricorn I and Capricorn II will feel a bit like mixing a party atmosphere with frustrations at being so complicit in our own oppression. Pluto is likely to exacerbate that wild mix of rage and joy — remember to spend some time over December being in charge of your own happiness, even if that means driving around listening to the radio, and playing chicken with #Whamageddon.

Saturn and Neptune are each making a favorable aspect to either the Ascendant or the Midheaven — implying that the work you do on a daily basis is having an effect on your body (remember to get up and stretch often, and drink more water!) and on your reputation in the workplace. The workplace status is particularly challenging, though — Neptune likes it when you work as part of a collective and devalues your individual contributions; but like generative AI tends to hallucinate your non-existing failings into reality, and shoves your real successes into the memory hole. Spend some time documenting your achievements before the end of the year, and send in a written self-report to your boss to counteract some of this.

Jupiter and Uranus in the Eighth House remain retrograde, promising that you’re re-hashing a lot of old ground in your efforts to complete responsibilities by year’s end. The separating opposition between Venus and Jupiter indicates tedious difficulties between creating a joyous celebration, and paying for the celebration that you want to remember — and the inconjunction or aversion between these two planets and the Sun-Moon-Mars stellium in Sagittarius suggests that a lot of that contention is not ultimately going to be important to your closest friends or your widest set of ‘family’: Jupiter suggests that concentrating on old family recipes and nostalgia is better than lots of new gifts, Uranus invites you to overthrow old expectations by reviving some of the religious meanings of the holiday…. and that Sagittarian stellium urges you, instructs you, commands you to get appropriate portions of both work and rest in the coming days, especially if that means snuggling up as a family for movie night with popcorn, holding a party at work, or otherwise breaking the tedium of end of the year busy-work.

Horoscopes by Rising Sign

Decan I of any sign (usually covering the 21st of the month to the first of the following month) is free to all visitors; Decan II is only available to Patreon and Ko-Fi.com subscribers; and Decan III is available to Patreon, Ko-Fi, and MailChimp subscribers.

Libra:

Scorpio:

Sagittarius:

Capricorn:

Aquarius:

Pisces:

Aries:

Taurus:

Gemini:

Cancer:

Leo:

Virgo:

Colophon

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I have a Patreon account for those who want to support this column as it continues its third year. Those funds support artists, artisans and thinkers that I regard as contributing to the well-being of the world. You can also buy me a Ko-fi in $3 increments; any column I write after receiving a Ko-Fi donation will be open to the public). .

If you want to read some of my astrologically-oriented poetry, the largest collection is called A Full Volume of Splendor and Starlight, available through my Etsy shop, and containing poems and hymns to the planets, constellations, decan deities, and Moon Mansion angels. 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.

I use iPhemeris for my charting software, and screenshot it to make charts. I want to thank the team that develops iPhemeris for the addition of Terms and Decans to their charts. I also use Hugh Tran‘s Physis typeface to craft logos for this blog, as well.

I use Christopher Warnock‘s The Mansions of the Moon as the basis of my Moon placement delineations, and Austin Coppock‘s 36 Faces for much of my planetary delineations. Neither gentleman endorses me.