"Oh, the tangled webs we weave...." And the weaving continues, as the Titanic ship of state steams along through iceberg-laden waters.

Dominant signs for the month are Sagittarius and Aquarius, both universal and both freedom-loving. They are also both concerned with idealistic institutions and social groupings, Sagittarius from the standpoint of compatible affiliation, and Aquarius from the standpoint of doing something to improve life.

Sagittarius is a mutable sign (see December Sign of the Month), which means it is flexible. It can move wherever it is called, and sometimes has a hard time making up its mind. Aquarius, on the other hand, is a fixed sign—and fixated especially on its ideas of reform. The need to understand is an imperative for both these signs.

Universal means that both the entire world, and the inner consciousness of each of us, are greatly stimulated this month. Our awareness of worldwide human connectedness grows, and activities which tie into our basic humanity prosper.

Both Sagittarius and Aquarius are political signs, and this bodes well for political entities which reform now. E.g., Serbian elections are scheduled, the U.S. Electoral College meets, and the new Mexican President is inaugurated. Perhaps Israel and Palestine can reach new agreements.

Many other groups are now organizing in a desire to be heard and to have more clout. For instance, a labor-media alliance will meet this month to establish channels of communication for the purposes of education, information, and solidarity.

The drive for freedom focuses on both philosophical freedom, and on individual desires for freedom of choice and for freedom to have a decent life. What are the roles of family, business, and government—our traditional institutions and rule-makers—in this struggle for individual expression? Capricorn has a lot to say about this.

Those roles are being changed and redefined by the current set of eclipses, which began last July 1 and will last through December 2001. The polarity emphasized during this period is Cancer-Capricorn. It represents the basic social unit, the family, and all family ramifications and projections, including the family of humankind. The family is where we find and create our security. Cancer is comforting Mommy and Capricorn is taking-care-of-business Daddy. This is the major polarity in the United States chart.

Eclipses catalyze bigtime change in a polarity over the time period during which they occur. Thus the United States as a nation, as well as each of us individually in the world, are undergoing major changes in family, business, government, and all kinds of "family" group identifications—everything that relates to our basic security—as a nation and individually.

We have a pair of these eclipses this winter—one on Christmas Day—in the midst of this massive push for greater freedom. Both Cancer and Capricorn like rules, tradition, predictability and authority, and the eclipse changes in the midst of the current expansionist, reformist zeitgeist will not be easy. Individually, people may struggle, for instance, between job changes and family disruption. The family constellation over the holidays may represent a new grouping.

However, eclipses are a major way through which the forces of evolution speak, and these changes now cannot be denied.

PLANETARY INFLUENCES ARE INTENSE

Pluto and Neptune, the two outer planets now driving the machine of universalization—in contrast to provincialism—are very well supported during this month of December, especially during the first half of the month. This means jumps in growth of consciousness, often shifting us into unfamiliar ways of viewing the world and our place in it.

Neptune, the dreamer, trines expansive Jupiter during the entire month (exact Dec. 9) and lends an air of unreality to the month, as though we are living in a dream. We may be. Neptune is the master of both confusion and denial, simply because it is difficult to pierce the veils of "reality," Neptune’s task. It may be the Solar Eclipse on Dec. 25 in the hard-headed sign of Capricorn which brings us down to earth.

On the other hand, visions which we have during this wonderfully imaginative month can fuel the fires which drives us for the next two years.

Sagittarius and Aquarius both support truth. Make an effort now to look through Neptune’s veils and find your truth. They are also both political signs, and the truth of politics is becoming more apparent every day.

Pluto, the ultimate realist, will help us get to the bottom of our search for truth, but we may have to paw through the garbage to find it. We will see major manifestations of the century’s signature conjunction, Pluto, Lord of Evolution, joining Chiron, who leads us into new dimensions, highlighted from Dec. 4-17. During that fortnight, both Sun, the director of the whole show, and Mercury, the communicator, conjoin Pluto and Chiron. Meditate on the activities of this time period, for they are full of messages about our current transformation. The Gemini Full Moon on December 11 comes right in the middle of the Pluto-Chiron show, and will reveal much.

Mercury in the visionary sign of Sagittarius is very busy this month, carrying messages to and fro. That means events change rapidly, and we ourselves are busy. Travel is featured, and airport congestion may be a problem.

Mars, who takes the initiative, is in the balancing sign of Libra, which it entered just before the election. Enough said. Mars continues with its drive towards fairness until the Christmas eclipse. There is some resolution in mid-December, just before the meeting of the Electoral College, but it is likely that nobody will be satisfied.

Constructive Saturn backed up into Taurus in October, for a final settling of our finances and resources before it enters Gemini in April. There is deep and enduring movement on these fronts during all of December. Saturn conjoins the fixed star Algol, which has a history of relating to accidents and problems due to carelessness. Pay attention to your finances.

Lastly—and firstly—Pluto has just conjoined the Ascendant of the U.S. July 4 chart to initiate a major regeneration of the United States. (See article in this issue.)

Most important degrees this month are 5 degrees and 24-28 degrees.