Christmas Decorations at Satya Center, December 2024, photo by Jane Sherry
We're coming to the end of an action-packed year, full of trauma, drama, and surprising reversals of fortune. The geopolitical landscape has changed as a result of major upheavals in the 60+ countries that held national elections in 2024.Donald Trump is the incoming President of the United States, and the Republican Party now has control of both houses of Congress, the Presidency, and the Supreme Court.
Democrats are in disarray and have deployed their signature cure-all for election failure -- the famously destructive circular firing squad deployed against many key constituencies including self-identified "progressives", white males, black males, white women, the Bernie Sanders wing of the party, and working class voters in general.
U.S. Senator Kamala Harris speaking with attendees at the 2019 California Democratic Party State Convention
at the George R. Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California.
Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, courtesy Wikimedia
This file is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
In short everyone is to blame for the Democrats' loss except the candidate and the consultants who ran the ill-starred Harris campaign into the ground while spending more than $1 billion in a few months.
With Mars opposing Pluto at the time of the election, I had predicted a period of civil unrest and lawfare in the wake of the US election, no matter who won.
Fortunately that prediction failed to materialize.
Instead the incendiary, unsettling energy signature of that Mars/Pluto opposition can be identified in a series of unexpected political eruptions around the world since that time.
The Arab-Israeli Conflict, Mahmoud Kahil, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Since the US election we've seen an aborted coup in South Korea; the collapse of the French government; the takeover of Russia's key Middle East ally Syria by US and Israeli backed Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), a terrorist organization originally known as Jabhat al-Nusra, and a direct affiliate of al-Qaeda; continued genocidal warfare by Israel in Palestine; and an election in Romania that was nullified by the mere accusation of foreign interference via social media.
The bad news, astrologically, is that the November 3rd Mars/Pluto opposition was the first of three in a series. The next two will occur on January 3, 2025 and April 26, 2025.
These aspects indicate a potential for further chaos-generating geo-political events, and the possibility of escalation and widening of already existing conflicts in Ukraine and in the Middle East.
Elites may not be watching the Mars/Pluto opposition, but this year, the potential for wider more uncontrollable wars has been obvious to all who have eyes to see.
Jamie Dimon at the JPMorgan Healthcare Investment Conference, 2013
Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
“World War III has already begun," warns Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase. "You already have battles on the ground being coordinated in multiple countries,” he told an audience at the International Institute of Finance in late October. “The risk is extraordinary.”
The main combatants in the Ukraine War, Russia, the EU and the US, are all committed long term to a conflict they consider an existential battle for the survival of their countries.Even if Donald Trump wants to end the Ukraine War, he must overcome the objections of the many neocons like Marco Rubio he has appointed to high administration positions, and he must strike a deal with Vladimir Putin, who is winning the Ukraine War, and who has just demonstrated the efficacy of Russia's Oreshnik hypersonic missile, which is in a class of its own, able to strike at will throughout Europe.
Vladimir Putin fishing in the Republic of Tyva with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, 2013
Kremlin.ru, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
“There comes, in a way, the moment of truth," Putin explained in a speech to the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi in November 2024. "The former world arrangement is irreversibly passing away, actually it has already passed away, and a serious, irreconcilable struggle is unfolding for the development of a new world order."
"It is irreconcilable, above all, because this is not even a fight for power or geopolitical influence," Putin continued. "It is a clash of the very principles that will underlie the relations of countries and peoples at the next historical stage…”
As the Ukraine conflict simmers, and NATO and the US plan to cut social spending and ramp up their military capabilities for the next decade, the Middle East war has been intensifying and spreading.
Israel is de facto annexing a large part of the Gaza Strip, is implementing a plan to neutralize and control Southern Lebanon and has already sent troops into Syria, occupying large parts of the Golan Heights.
During his visit to Iran, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
met with Iranian leader Seyyed Ali Khamenei, 2022
Khamenei.ir, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Syria has been the main supply route for Iranian and Russian aid to the Arab Resistance in Lebanon and Palestine for many years, and with that route cut off, American and Israeli leaders sense vulnerability in Iran.Israeli leaders and US neoconservatives have a long stated intent to topple the Iranian regime, and it looks as though their opportunity for a much wider and more devastating Middle East war has now arrived, just in time for the series of Mars/Pluto oppositions to unfold.
The good news for us, right now, astrologically, is that the remainder of December 2024 looks relatively quiet.
We will all enjoy this much needed break from this year's nonstop trainwreck of extreme climate events, escalating warfare, partisan political firefights, and general mayhem and madness.
Gemini Full Moon, Sagittarius Solar Festival, December 2024 Cosmic Weather Forecast
"Gemini", plate 18 in Urania's Mirror, by Jehoshaphat Aspin. London.
This work is in the public domain . Restored by Adam Cuerden
Neptune is the focal point of this T-Square, indicating that the tension arising between the conscious (Sun) and unconscious (Moon) aspects of our being can be best resolved by focusing on the Neptunian realms of oceanic consciousness.
This mutable T-square favors all creative, imaginative projects, and the energy of this aspect supports all spiritual practices designed to expand consciousness and catalyze transpersonal experiences. The veil between the worlds is thin.
Jupiter in Gemini will be square Saturn in Pisces, beginning on Christmas Eve. This is part of a three part series of squares. The next will be in June 2025, and the final square will be in August of next year.
Although all that may sound like a (Saturnian) damper on expansive (Jupiterian) holiday spirits, this aspect exhibits some very positive possibilities.
The key for us is to harness the intense mutable energy in this Jupiter/Saturn square by honoring the lessons the planets want to teach us this Full Moon.
Gibbous Autumn Moon, photo by Jane Sherry
As we visualize optimal outcomes for the coming year of 2025 in every area of our lives, Saturn square Jupiter asks us to aim for the stars but also to commit to meticulous preparation and implementation of our plans.
This aspect could also indicate that we should prepare for Saturnine limitations to be placed on all things Jupiter during the course of next year.
These limitations will most likely come from situations beyond our immediate control. So in visualizing our life path for 2025, we will want to have a Plan A, where all goes for the best, and also a Plan B, which allows us to pursue our goals and visions within a framework of reduced expectations and reduced support from the Universe as part of a general society-wide contraction of possibilities.
Discernment is essential.
On the other hand, Saturn is sure to reward those of us who accept the limitations of the day and time and work steadily and surely to manifest the best and highest Jupiterian potential in our lives in a spirit of goodwill toward all.
This is the golden opportunity presented by the current series of Jupiter/Saturn squares.
In this quality of time, you may want to pursue communion with Guides, Angelic Presences and Nature Spirits. Now is the time for meditation, visualization and manifestation rituals.
Archangel Gabriel, Magic Lantern Drawing by Jane Sherry
Gabriel is the Archangel of Winter, known as the Messenger of the Lord.
As Messenger of the Lord, Gabriel is the Archangel of Vision, because he brings illumination and revelation and inspires intuitive creativity.
We are pleased to offer you these instructions for obtaining “The Gabriel Initiation", a simplified version of an ancient technique that was originally offered only to advanced students of the Western Mystery School traditions.
Christmas season is always a tug of war between the desire to pursue the path of Spirit and the cacophony of busyness that this great festival generates in stores, on social media, and among our families and neighbors, competing to display their ever more elaborate Christmas lights, trees, decorations, holiday trips, and lawn decorations.
Christmas Lights, Newport Beach, California, Photo by Gautam Krishnan on Unsplash
We live in a rational materialist world civilization.
It's easy to feel disconnected from Spirit, when the greatest spiritual celebration of the year is dedicated to acquisition of gifts and conspicuous consumption.
There is a simple way to reconnect with the Christ within us, and to true Christmas Spirit. That is through connecting to the Divine Mother.
To that end, we offer inspiration for a Christmas Meditation Upon the Divine Mother, the New Isis.
Our Lady of Peace, by Jane Sherry
Jane and I send you love and light and we offer the following prayer for you and yours this Christmas season:
May you participate in the resurrection of the Divine Mother within your own soul during this sacred season.
May you unite your consciousness with the Christ consciousness.
May your heart be filled with the Divine love of Christ, and may your will be united with the Divine will.
May all you do be united with the Divine plan of love and light, working for the liberation of all sentient beings in time and space.
In the aftermath of Christmas, we will celebrate the feast of the Epiphany, on Monday, January 6th, 2025.
Adoration of the Magi by Bengt Alfredson
Commissioned by Adrian Gilbert for his book,
Magi: The Quest for a Secret Tradition
In the 21st Century, most Christians view the Feast of the Epiphany, taking place yearly on January 6, as a mysterious legend, recounted only in the Gospel of Matthew, a perhaps metaphorical tribute to the glory of the Christ child, and a punctuation point marking the end of the Christmas season.
Esoteric Christian Initiates say that the Epiphany is a spiritual festival equal in importance to Christmas itself, a day to celebrate the unbroken tradition of Wisdom School teachings that extends from ancient Middle Eastern sources, through the Egyptian Mystery Schools, extending to the Greek Hermetic tradition and the Gnostic stream of visionary Christianity.
The Esoteric meaning of the Epiphany revolves around an understanding of the astrological symbolism of the Three Kings and relates to the fact that there was a Grand Conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury in Pisces that occurred 6-7 B.C.E.
That Grand Conjunction is thought by many astrologers to account for the miraculous appearance of the Star of Bethlehem heralding the birth of Jesus Christ.
Check out our article on this Mystery entitled Feast of the Epiphany: The Three Kings and the Grand Conjunction in Pisces.
Curtis and Jane at the Old Salem Teapot, Winston Salem, North Carolina, Selfie
Jane and I affirm that we all receive the grace and guidance we require to navigate the uncharted waters we will travel in 2025!
May you all have Peace in your lives, Love in your Hearts and may your minds be bright with the Wisdom of the Mystery School Traditions!
Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!
Meditation Moment: The Miracle of Giving, by D.A. Powell
Twice Christ took the bread apart
with his human hands that he used for
such tasks, once with fish and once with wine,
the grain a pattern of tribute, distribute,
as he worked the division of himself into
feeding others with his body, taken but not taken,
there but not there, it was two times
two times two. Ever body got some body
who will feed them even when there seem hardly
enough to go round. When I hungered the word
fed me. Even so, so many others hungered
he needed a hundred more human hands.
That was when I said here take mine.