Cosmic News: Siriusly Spicy Celestial Seasoning

Dec. 6, 2004 – It's not just because I'm a Sagittarius. Fire is fire. Sag is a candle-lighting sign that loves incense, ceremony and celebration, thanks-giving, prayer and parties. This month features a run of seasonal holy-days, heading across the Capricorn solstice passage, through Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, a Christmas Full Moon and its twelve days of swans a'swimming and partridges in pear trees.
The THANKSGIVING FULL MOON was turbo-charged with the Sun and Moon electrified by Uranus. We just haven't got used to what that odd-ball planet is doing in Pisces yet. A roller-coaster ride under the sea (á la "Finding Nemo" and "Shark's Tale"). Uranus is lighting up the corpuscles in our bloodstreams. Drugs and drink create internal hurricanes and havoc. Live your dreams.
Recommended reading: a review of "The Little Sea Maid," the original Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson.
MERCURY, RETROGRADE as of November 30, plugs into the galactic center at 27 Sag. What's the message? Sabian symbol says:
THE SCULPTOR'S VISION IS TAKING FORM
Oracular interpretation by Lynda Hill and Richard Hill, reads:
You may find yourself in a situation where you are able to manipulate events into something of value and lasting integrity. Slow painstaking work. Concrete creative manifestation.
Downside: narrow mindedness, goal-oriented with blinders.
That all sounds like Mercury retrograde — with a worthy goal: the heart of the Milky Way. What goes on there? My latest vision is that it's the dancing ground of Shiva-Shakti. Sometimes they danced in graveyards, why not the explosive birthing ground of the galaxy? In the last couple of months, extreme gamma ray activity was detected in that area. Extraordinary cosmic rays like a burst of fireworks scintillates through the galaxy. How do we shape it into useable material, creative manifestation? We get some clues from Uranus in Pisces, the Electric Dream Maker, if we can dispose of logic. Mercury is retrograde until December 20, solstice eve. It loops back to the galactic center point on January 7, joined by Venus. The goddess of love is having many remarkable liaisons lately. Are you? What a lovely reunion to look forward to at the heart of the galaxy.
In the meantime, the cosmic union of Shiva-Shakti is reflected in the MARS-VENUS CONJUNCTION of December 5, a long time coming. In May these two lover planets were SO close, then Venus slowed down into retrograde and her rare crossing of the Sun. NOW she is ready for Mars in his own sign of Scorpio, a highly erotic sign, super-charged with compellingly attractive life force. Irresistible. Where in your life is this co-creative fusion taking place?
The Sabian symbol plumbs a deep mystery:
A WOMAN, FILLED WITH HER OWN SPIRIT, IS THE FATHER OF HER OWN CHILD.
The immaculate conception is part of the great mystery of sexuality and the divine. Gods and goddesses seem to do it, but what does it mean to us mere mortals? The Mars-Venus conjunction in a personal chart suggests a life path seeking to experience an inner and outer union of the male-female energy. Relationships will reflect that desire, which can vary between times of intense involvement and solitary processing. In Scorpio, Mars is considered stronger, but when Venus evokes her dark goddess power, that's a match. Just let's not get too heavy metal.
From deep inner emotional connection one can attract an equally emotionally empowered partner, to explore another level of love's dance. In any case, we're drawn into the dance on one level or another.
There is a subtle spiritual tone in this particular degree, emphasized by a Neptune square. It can bring out high aspiration, or the illusion. Those born in 1963-65 and October 8-10, particularly, are right at the center of this Neptune challenge. Don't be fooled by chemistry alone. This conjunction initiates a new Mars-Venus cycle that plays out until their next joining, in the presence of the Sun, all at 2 degrees Scorpio, in October 2006. You heard it here first.
Keeping on the subterranean track, Pluto joins the NEW MOON on December 11, with retrograde Mercury investigating. Inaugurating a new monthly cycle, this could suggest that the TRUTH WILL OUT. Let's share that vision! but it takes deep digging and some time.
Last but not least, BLACK MOON LILITH aligns with Sirius at 14 Cancer. The brightest star we see, the star of the great goddess Isis, Sirius is also the star of the United States, symbolized by the Statue of Liberty. At the same time the Black Moon squares Jupiter in Libra. This suggests a challenge, possibly legal judgment, that is either a championship of or affront to the goddess. This is a test of the soul of the United States and its people. The Sabian Symbol describes the nature of this test:
A VERY OLD MAN FACING A VAST DARK SPACE TO THE NORTHEAST
Again from Lynda and Richard's oracle:
You may be looking for some help or spiritual guidance, but it may be difficult to find through the usual channels. As we become more enlightened there is a greater ability to see spiritual truth. There needs to be a trust and courage that your inner wisdom is in touch with the higher truth. If negative: a feeling of staring into a void, a lack of purpose or a feeing of abandonment.
Does that describe the feeling in the United States? What needs to be done? A looking within, a joining together in new ways, a rapprochement between seeming opposites. What is the common ground we all share? We are likely to find out through the black hole of increasing economic debt. The Black Moon in Cancer is ready to give birth to what the SOUL needs, what the United States needs to fulfill its spiritual service to the world. Cancer tends to take things personally, but the Black Moon brings us beyond that, to face the transpersonal need.
With this Black Moon and the Mercury retrograde, many oracular voices will speaking out. Not only in America, but globally, we are birthing our new vision. There is a need for a strong will, a willingness rather than willfulness, and a joining with divine Will as we join together.

Editor's note: Astrologer for more than 35 years, Kelley Hunter lives on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. She leads stargazing nights and is astrologer-in-residence for the Self Centre at Caneel Bay Resort and for the Omega Institute winter programs in the Caribbean. To be on her e-mail list for monthly articles or for an astrology consultation, write kellhunter@earthlink.net. Explore her Web site here