Cazimi Jupiter & the Christmas Eclipse

Well, well, well, here we are at the bottom of the year.

This is where we find the solstices: winter in the north and summer in the south.

Either way, it is a time of extremes.

The New MOON occurs on December 25, Christmas Day, 9:12pm PT, at 4 degrees CAPRICORN. This is an auspicious yet challenging New MOON. It encompasses the brand new SUN, reborn at solstice, conjunct 'fresh-out-of-the-box' JUPITER in CAPRICORN, framed by a Ring-of Fire solar eclipse.

This is the launch of JUPITER in CAPRICORN, which will take us until winter solstice of 2020.

At this New MOON eclipse, JUPITER is approaching his annual meeting with the SUN. He is under the beams of the SUN, heading imminently towards cazimi, where he will have an audience with our great, solar king. Cazimi is a term that refers to a planet being within 1 degree of the SUN. The closer a planet is to the SUN, the more powerful the cazimi is.

After their intimate meeting, JUPITER burns back through combustion, and remains under the beams, not shining his own light, until mid-January.

Until then, JUPITER has a hard time acting independently from the SUN.

In this state, JUPITER is temporarily outshined by the brilliance of the SUN.

He's still capable of bringing expansion and coherence to the part of our lives he is touching, but it's harder to see what he is doing. However, JUPITER is enormous on an internal level right now.

The SUN creates 'invisibility' by obscuring other planets that are close, with his light. 'Under the beams' extends to 15 degrees away from the SUN, on either side.

This is called a synodic cycle, and is the language of light and darkness, visibility and invisibility.

Combustion is closer than 8 degrees to the SUN. A planet that is combust is being metaphorically burned by the SUN, it's 'on fire.' We can no longer see it in the sky.

While combustion (8 degrees) is traditionally seen as debilitating for the planet, cazimi (1 degree) is a powerful intensification. Cazimi, which is a perfect alignment with the SUN, is both the beginning and the end of a cycle. The SUN reinforces that planet's agenda. The Emperor gives his seal of approval to whatever JUPITER is doing. In this case, he is bringing us fortune and blessings when we work the CAPRICORN vibe.

The pattern is: under the beams (slight debility), combust (intense debility), cazimi (bonification), then back out. It's a ritual purification where all the dross and confusion that have accumulated in the planet's time away from the SUN, is burnt away by the power of the SUN; bringing the planet back to its core truth. Only then does it return to the world.

With this Christmas Ring of Fire-solar eclipse, JUPITER is well underway in this purification process.

This is a significant gateway of change that we have entered, and CAPRICORN is what is being changed. SATURN ruled CAPRICORN requires that we work hard on our alignment, our authenticity, that we embrace reality, and do an outstanding job. "The way you do anything, is the way you do everything", CAPRICORN says.

Any planet in CAPRICORN is answering to SATURN, the ruler of CAP, and we currently find him at home, quite powerful, and able to do what he needs in his home sign of CAP. This circular equation asks us to take a deeper dive into the sign.

From Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, book 4

"In her shrine, Vesta tends your fires, Capricorn:

and from her you derive your skills and callings.

For whatever needs fire to function and demands a renewal of flame for its work must be counted as of your domain.

To pry for hidden metals, to smelt out riches deposited in the veins of the earth,

to fold sure-handed the malleable mass—these skills will come from you, as will aught which is fashioned of silver or gold.

That hot furnaces melt iron and bronze, and ovens give to the wheat its final form, will come as gifts from you.

You also give a fondness for clothes and wares which dispel the cold, since your lot falls for all time in winter's season, wherein you shorten the nights you have brought to their greatest length and give birth to a new year by enlarging the daylight hours. Hence comes a restless quality in their lives and a mind

which is often changed and floats this way and that;

the first half of the sign is the slave of Venus, and that with guilt involved,

but a more virtuous old age is promised by the conjoined fish below."

"Capra is the term used for the goat genus; Capricornus means a billy-goat's horn. The Constellation has the head of a goat, the tail of a fish, and is said to be the symbol of a climbing-goat ascending from the waves.

CAPRICORN represents the winter solstice, where the SUN reaches its lowest point on the ecliptic (the Tropic of Capricorn). From there, the SUN pivots and starts to climb back upwards towards the northern hemisphere, appearing higher and higher in the sky each day.

An analogy can be drawn between this pattern and a goat climbing a mountain. Because goats always ascend the hills in search of food; they are natural climbers. The SUN behaves in like when it arrives at CAPRICORN; it begins to climb up the sky; hence the goat was adopted as a symbol to represent the climbing motion of the sun. The fish-tail was significant of the rains and floods of the winter season, and the Sea-Goat is said to express the more esoteric nature of CAPRICORN."

"CAPRICORN rules the 10th house in astrology, representing the CAPITALS of countries. The midheaven, which opens the 10th house, represents the climax of one's achievements. The goat aims is to reach the top of the mountain, often CAPPED with snow."

“The he-goat is a lascivious animal, butting and always eager to mate; his eyes look sideways on account of wantonness, His nature is so ardent that his blood dissolves adamantine stone [diamonds], which can be overpowered by neither fire nor iron."

-Anne Wright, 2008

So we have a New MOON in CAPRICORN, JUPITER cazimi the SUN, just post the longest night, on a solar eclipse. Eclipse season opens a portal where things are accelerated and intensified. This one is conjunct KETU, the SOUTH NODE of the MOON, telling us that in the area of your chart that it lands (where is 4 - 8 degrees CAP in your chart?) is where this deep churning is taking place. What old structure can you let go of to create a lot of new internal space, in which to rebuild something new, something that is reflective of who you are NOW? This is the work asked of us now. And as many of us will be with family on Christmas Day, there is a natural implication suggesting the shedding of old calcified family/ancestral structures. Just because it's the way we've done something for a long time, doesn't mean it should continue. The New MOON's trine to URANUS in TAURUS helps speed up the process by flashing a very bright light on things, so you see them in a new way, that you cannot unsee. It's time to make willing changes to the structure of your life, that will be healthy longterm. Where can you perceive calcification in the structures of your life?

Start there.

As always, I don't recommend looking at eclipses visible in your area, as they are considered somewhat malefic in their effects. Here is a Vedic chant to listen to while it's happening, to off-set any ill effects.

Lastly, the following link tells the story of the great Reindeer Goddess who carries the SUN through its treacherous passage, through the dark nights of winter solstice, in her antlers. It's one of the most delightful, informative and magical things

I have ever read. Enjoy.

Doe, A Deer, A Female Deer: the Spirit of Mother Christmas