the time window closes

the december 2003 forecast

contact me at terry@terrylamb.net if you would like to have my latest forecasts sent to you automatically via email as they are published, free of charge.

go to past forecasts.

saturn is retrograde.

mercury enters capricorn	0°00' capricorn	december 2
venus opposes saturn	11°44' capricorn/cancer	december 6
full moon	16°20' sagittarius/gemini	december 8
sun squares jupiter	17°58' sagittarius/virgo	december 10
venus trines jupiter	18°02' capricorn/virgo	december 11
sun conjoins pluto	19°46' sagittarius	december 11
mercury opposes saturn (1st of 3)	11°14' capricorn/cancer	december 13
mars enters aries	0°00'aries	december 16
mercury reverses direction (turns stationary retrograde)	12°34' capricorn	december 17
venus enters aquarius	0°00' aquarius	december 20
mercury opposes saturn (2nd of 3)	15°12' sagittarius/virgo	december 14
sun enters capricorn (winter solstice/yule)	0°00' capricorn	december 21
new moon	1°08' capricorn	december 23
venus sextiles mars	5°16' aquarius/aries	december 25
mercury squares mars	5°45' capricorn/aries	december 26
sun and mercury conjoin	4°44'capricorn	december 27
sun squares mars	8°14' capricorn/aries	december 29
uranus re-enters pisces	0°00' pisces	december 30
venus conjoins neptune	11°38' aquarius	december 30
mercury re-enters sagittarius (retrograde)	29°60' sagittarius	december 30
sun opposes saturn	9°46' capricorn/cancer	december 31

all dates are based on pacific time.

there are times in our life when, without knowing it, we are making choices that will affect us for many years to come. decisions based on seeming whimsy take us on a magical journey or a path requiring the greatest strength to endure to its end. we are just completing such a time as december brings 2003 to a close.

a window on the future

the bubble of time i’m talking about is demarcated by the interactions of mars, uranus, and pluto. it began on march 17^th, when uranus entered pisces, and it closed november 27^th, when mars made its final aspect (a square) to pluto. although other planets were in the game, these were the star players. the reason this is such a powerful time is that, now that uranus is in pisces (or rather once it goes back into the sign on december 30^th) , we are beginning to feel the impending uranus square to pluto.

three processes are at work here. first, although this contact does not reach exactitude until 2012, now that uranus has entered the squaring sign, other planets will carry its energies to pluto by what is called translation of light. all of the fast-moving planets (moon, mercury, venus, sun, mars) plus jupiter will translate light between slower moving bodies. this gives us a much longer orb of influence of a planetary pattern or contact. this usually works to our advantage, because it gives us longer to work things out; however, it also makes the contact more powerful. most long-term planetary contacts go through many translations of light over the course of their interaction. in this instance, mars has just finished carrying uranus’s light to pluto from its position in pisces.

the second process is retrogradation. when a planet retrogrades (something which every planet does except the sun and moon), it covers the same degrees of a sign three times, and this greatly increases the power of any contacts it makes while in those degrees. this is partly because of the three contacts, but is also because the retrograding planet, if it is mercury, venus or mars, stays in its sign for so much longer than it normally does. mars is ordinarily in a sign for about six weeks. it was in pisces from june 16^th, and it will remain there until december 16^th — six months! when mars was retrograde, july 29^th – september 27^th, it covered the first 10° of pisces. while it was there, it made contact with uranus only once because uranus moved out of the way — it “hid out” back in aquarius, to which mars did not return.

the third process in operation is the creation of “tread marks”. when a strong planetary event occurs, it leaves a shadow that will continue to be active for us long after the planetary event has faded. mars created tread marks in the first 10° of pisces, not only because of its retrogradation there, but also because there were other important planetary contacts which occurred at the same time. the most prominent of these was the configuration which formed at the end of august, particularly on august 28^th, which involved mars and uranus in pisces, while the sun, venus, and jupiter contacted them (in an opposition) from virgo. this configuration essentially made the tread marks in our consciousness deeper.

mars’s tread marks in early pisces cover an area of the sign that uranus has yet to cover. this means that as uranus does so, it will recall issues that arose during the mars retrograde. this is the source of what i call a “window on the future”, a sort of astrological time travel, because what happened during the past six months for each of us will play out in a larger way over the coming three years.

the other half of the story

even though mars only left tread marks in the first half of pisces, the second half of its transit through the sign is not without portent — in fact, it is just as significant. pluto is at about 19° of sagittarius, a mutable sign just as is pisces. since mutable signs (gemini, virgo,

sagittarius, pisces) are mutually stimulating, challenging, mars triggered pluto as it moved through 19° of pisces. when mars reached pluto, on november 28^th, it completed the translation of uranus’s light to pluto and brought an extra punch with it, but only the first one, not by any means the last. this was made even more important because in august and september mercury triggered pluto three times because of its retrograde. this translation of light will give us clues to what we will experience through 2015, when the uranus-pluto square (that mars was translating) is finally complete.

the uranus-pluto square occurs 1/4 of the way through the 141-year cycle of these two planets. the cycle we’re in now began in 1965–6, and we have since then been exploring the possible manifestations of what we learned at that time. the mid-sixties were a time of experimentation with “people power” and equal rights for all. since then, the path toward fulfilling the ideals of that time has been zig-zag at best. as we approach the square, we can expect these issues to come into the forefront with more intensity, perhaps even a “take no prisoners” approach. many good things will come out of this contact, but there will certainly be pain and challenges as well. (for more on this, see my article to appear in llewellyn’s new mundane annual 2005, to be released in august 2004.)

how does this affect our lives?

now that the time bubble is past, we can look back at what we experienced and use it as a road map for the future. (yes, it would have been nice if i’d realized what was going on earlier and forecast it, but early hindsight is better than nothing.) however, we still have time (till 2015) to work with the energies and ameliorate their effects in our lives.

the first thing we can do is go take an inventory of what we’ve been doing over the past six months. take out your diaries or appointment calendar and look at what you’ve been doing. write down the important events and actions you’ve taken. what were your issues? what have you accomplished? who has been with you? who have you let go of?

answering these questions will give you insight into themes that you will carry forward to work out over the next 11 years. while your perspective will shift substantially in 2009 (when uranus changes signs), your efforts will continue forward from that new position. write down the themes that you detect and put your paper in a safe place so that you can dig it out from time to time when you want to check on your progress. the themes will be more like lessons or big issues that you are working on, such as building a successful career as a film maker, raising a child, writing your first best-selling novel, building a strong working partnership, getting out of debt, etc.

once you have gained these insights, you can choose which ones to empower, which ones to de-emphasize, and which ones you might want to actively try to change by making a shift in your path or direction. it’s never to late to inject the power of your focus and conscious awareness into a situation to create a better outcome.

the rest of december

we’ve had the planetary stations, we’ve had the eclipses and the sagittarius super-stellium — now what? there are lots of planetary events in december, the longest list i’ve had for a while. many of them are noteworthy harmonious aspects that will bring mellow times and positive results from past efforts. mercury turns retrograde on the 17^th, and it make its way backward through early capricorn and late sagittarius until january 6^th. it contacts saturn three times to create its own tread marks (on december 13^th and 21^st, and january 21^st). this will bring a cold dose of reality to us, the first only a suggestion, the second a problem or dilemma, and the third a method of resolution. a mercury retrograde is not a time to stop our lives. it is a time to listen more closely to what mercury is telling us though, as it will be speaking more loudly than usual.

on the 11^th, a new yearly pluto cycle starts, which is of especial significance to people with planets at 19°–22° of the mutable signs. it will affect all of us, however, and key dates are march 24^th, june 11^th, and august 30^th of next year. look for transformational influences to come forward on or around these days. pay attention to what happens on or around the 11^th, and set your intention to create the changes you want to make in your life over the coming year.

on december 30^th, uranus makes its final entry into pisces, where it will remain for seven years. this may give us a feeling of hope and inspiration, and we may even have an epiphany about what life is all about for us and what we need to do in order to fulfill our soul path as we enter the new year.

we end this year on a tone of optimism, but that tone must be matched by the harmony of consistent effort and faithful adherence to our best intentions. with these and a regular dose of honest self-examination, we are sure to make 2004 a fulfilling year. i would like to extend my best wishes to all of you for a year of health, hope, happiness, love, and light!