Here's the country club set, circa 1957, kickin' back with their
Ethan Allen Colonial Revival furniture and a couple of cold Schlitz beers
in front of the toasty fire. Of course, the Christmas packages came
from Halls, or Swanson's on the Plaza. (I'm channeling Mr/Mrs. Bridge
now.) Hey? Wanna play a game? I bet Ms. Yellow is with Mr. Blue Vestie and the Pink Thing is honeyed up with The Suit. (I always wonder who's who in these pictures.)
Anyway, you can't beat their attitude of conviviality.
This Christmas is doesn't offer much in the way of spontaneous conviviality, but there's plenty of push-power in the air. You know, keep a stiff upper lip and hold your integrity kind of power. A retro dignity, for sure.
Here are the players.
Mr."Reality Check" Saturn hovers in the background over Libra, the relationship/balance sign. And he's still in negotiating with Sir Pluto. This means hard-nosed talks about how we relate to one another --how fair are we to others --or ourselves? Capricorn Sun arrives to throw a little light on Sir Pluto, and you might actually see into the dark corners of your issues with authority --Mom, Dad, or the Bank of America-- the back room deals that led to some of your relationship expectations. Indebtedness is a habit of relating we share with our family and the good folks who underwrite our credit cards. ("I'm into you because I'm into you...for about 20 grand.") Gotta get past the panic and obsession though. This one can be a hard call.
The day after Christmas, Mercury goes retrograde. Time again to rethink, redo, reboot, review. If this is going to be a "retro" Christmas, I'd look back to '94/'95 and '82/'83 for similar themes in the background. This definitely fits my personal history. But these are Pluto cycles, too, so you might not immediately recognize the link --it's shadow-y stuff. Maybe secrets you didn't know about the family until y-e-a-r-s later.
On Christmas day Mercury, the Sun, the North Node, Pluto and Ms. Venus will all join together in Capricorn. Tra-la-la-la-LA!
This would NOT be a good day to tick off a Capricorn, let me tell ya. That Sun/Pluto/Venus combo square Saturn in Libra is a hot number. So if you dis' your rich Aunty Bernice the Cappy this season, don't expect to be fondly remembered in her will. Pluto is doing a number on Caps these days, particularly those in the first few degrees of the sign. And Mercury retrograde often prompts folks to rewrite things like wills...so tread carefully. Besides, Caps generally abhor bad manners. Breach a boundary this season and Cap won't forget it.
Mercury's about to go retrograde and conjunct the North Node, too. The North Node is the point of progress, and with Mercury going retrograde with the North Node, some folks will be inclined to think about rewriting a part of their futures. Christmas, for instance. How would you like to celebrate your holiday fun in the future, maybe so that "fun" actually shows up? Or what new rituals would you like to create?
Not surprisingly, Congress is trying to push the Health Care Bill through before Christmas --an attempt at health care parity in this country-- but with Mercury already in it's shadow phase, it's not a done deal --either that or something will emerge we didn't count on. But this is a perfect illustration of the Sun/Pluto/Mercury/North Node all in Capricorn (the sign of government and big business) negotiating (square) radical restructuring of a significant relationship imbalance (Saturn/Libra). Only Venus is missing, and she'll arrive on Christmas day --when Congress has already gone home for Christmas. Hm.
A word about those post-holiday sales in a retrograde: keep your receipts and be sure to read the fine print about returns at least twice before buying anything expensive, especially electronic goods. I always regret any serious discretionary spending during a Mercury retrograde, mostly because I've re-evaluated my needs by the end of the retrograde period --and it turns out I didn't need what I bought. If you can, hold off on bigger purchases until January 15th, or better yet, February 3rd, when Mercury passes the last degrees of it's echo phase.
Have a rockin' retro Christmas everyone!
