This Sun through Capricorn cycle seems custom-made for those who like to spend the final part of the year reflecting on the past and the earliest days of the new one putting aspirations into action. Part of the planetary activity will take place in mutable signs, aiding release, and another in cardinal signs, supporting those first steps into new endeavors. Throw in a nostalgic full Moon in Cancer on the 26th, Mercury’s dance between mutable Sagittarius and cardinal Capricorn, Jupiter’s station and an important new Capricorn Moon on January 11th, and the theme of clearing out the old to make way for the new solidifies. It all gets underway on December 21st when the Sun enters industrious Capricorn under a productive, waxing Taurus Moon. The earthy character of this combination will resonate throughout the cycle as planets in Capricorn conjoin and make constructive trines to Jupiter and Uranus in Taurus. For instance, on the 22nd, the Capricorn Sun will conjoin retrograding Mercury, just before the intelligent planet slips back into Sagittarius. On January 4th Mars will enter Capricorn and trine Jupiter on the 12th, and on the 19th Mercury will trine Jupiter after re-entering Capricorn on the 13th. This pairing of Capricorn ambition and persistence with Taurus resourcefulness and stamina, plus added assertion from Mars, should give New Year’s intentions an enhanced sense of attainability. The planets transiting Capricorn will also benefit from helpful sextiles from structuring Saturn and visionary Neptune in holistic Pisces.
From mutable Pisces, persevering Saturn has been doing double-duty. Its mutable squares have been highlighting the sectors of life where sacrifices need to be made, and its practicality resonates with the Sun, Mercury and Mars as they travel through the sign of its rulership. Along with Neptune, the taskmaster has also been indicating where some plans are no longer viable. While in Sagittarius, Mercury, Venus and Mars form squares to Saturn and Neptune. Austere Saturn’s squares tend to feel harsh and dreamy Neptune’s gentle. Either way, guidance is being delivered. Venus will square Saturn on January 1st. Mercury will square Neptune on December 26th and January 8th, Mars will square Neptune on December 28th, and Venus will square Neptune on January 19th. Known for her grace, Venus will trine Neptune on December 25th, just ahead of the full Cancer Moon of the 26th and prior to leaving emotional Scorpio on the 29th. Clingy Cancer often has a hard time letting go of the past and of those who have outgrown its nurturing role. The beneficence of the Venus Neptune trine should ease the strain of any difficult choices presented at this time. The Mercury Mars meeting in perpetually optimistic Sag on the 27th will point to positive new potentials and the Cancer Moon’s opposition to Pluto on the 28th should bring resolutions. This full Moon and Pluto opposition may leave many feeling profoundly and inexplicably moved. After 2024, Pluto will not return to Capricorn until February 2254, and the next full Moon in Cancer to oppose Pluto will not arrive until December 2255. More broadly, Pluto is set to complete its Cap transit in November of 2024, Neptune will begin easing its way out of Pisces in March of 2025 and Uranus is poised to begin exploring Gemini in early July of 2025. The realization that these three major outer planet cycles are nearing their conclusions should imbue Pluto’s final opposition to this full Moon with Cancer’s sentimental emotionality.
Next, Jupiter will emerge from its 4-month-long retrograde on the 30th, and Mercury will follow suit on New Year’s Day, when it also stations direct. While 2024 will begin with Mercury focusing minds on the future and Jupiter unlocking withheld resources, musings about the solemnity and gravity of the larger moment at hand are apt to linger. On January 11th the final new Capricorn Moon that will will conjoin Pluto will occur. To be clear, the Moon will conjoin Pluto two more times, on September 14th and November 7th, but this is the last new Capricorn Moon that will conjoin Pluto. Insights from it and the preceding full Moon will color this Sun sojourn and have implications for near and long-term decisions.