As December begins, just before the lunar Eclipse, Neptune makes a direct station. The great sea god is so near we can practically smell the salt on his breath.
Do you have natal planets around the twentieth degree of Pisces? If so, you’ve been feeling the confusions and/or inspirations of this slow-moving transit for a couple of years. Planets on that degree of the other three mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo and Sagittarius) have also been thrown off their bearings. They may have
encountered falsehood in some form.
But it is not Neptune’s intention to deceive. It may bring disappointment, but this is a symptom of its deeper purpose — to disillusion us, in the truest sense of the word: to take away (dis-) our illusions.
Neptune is wonderful for artists and tale-spinners, who fantasize on purpose. Anyone who is playing with fantasy intentionally will find their experience enriched and 
deepened. But if we are enthralled by fantasies that we have misinterpreted as reality, Neptune will show its less welcome side. It will disabuse us of lies we did not know were lies (discussed in this webinar).
On Dec 1st, light a violet candle to your own personal muse. To reap Neptune’s rewards, surrender to its creative force, as formless and inscrutable as water.
When the Sun and Mercury square Neptune a few days later (12/6-12) we’ll be reminded that, in this world of Maya, nothing is as it seems.
Responsible disruption
Our sense of reality is further shaken just after the Solstice, when the Saturn-Uranus square is
exact for the third and last time this cycle (12/23-4). Especially stubborn in fixed signs, the planet of stasis (Saturn) and the planet of change (Uranus) have been at each other’s throats since 2021 began.
Peaking first in February, then in June, the collective mind has been in a turmoil of upset and outrage. Our sense of normalcy has been cast asunder. By the logic of retrogradation, the transit’s third pass — the one this month — packs the biggest punch.
On a personal level, Saturn has been enforcing social boundaries (Aquarius), exacerbating the gap between one group and another. It was no accident that Covid-driven social distancing arose when it did. But if it hadn’t, something else would’ve compelled us to be stringently 
selective about friends and associates.
Meanwhile, Uranus has been insisting that we break conventional bonds in the name of freedom.
Our job is to get these two planets to work together. For example, you may have surprised yourself during the pandemic by finding more flexible and imaginative ways (Uranus) of carrying out your responsibilities (Saturn). You may have worked out a way to respect the limits imposed upon you without sacrificing your independence.
Heart of darkness
Meanwhile, Venus (relationships) is conjunct Pluto (merger) pretty much the whole month. Because of her retrograde station (Dec 19th) Venus hangs around Pluto’s degree for weeks, and is
reinforced by Mercury just before New Year’s.
Under this transit, merely liking someone or something isn’t enough. We are driven to either plunge into union with someone, or give our heart to a creative project of Plutonian depth.
Something with a frisson of danger.
Images:
“Friendship” by William Herbert Allen (1863–1943)
Winter Solstice by Gina Litherland
