Astrology of the Week Ahead with Chani Nicholas - The Week of December 8th, 2025: Friction meets focus with Mars and Saturn

Starting point is 00:00:00 Three things about this week. It's going to be tough. It's going to be a little messy. And then we're going to get a little bit of a break. Hello and welcome. I'm Chani Nicholas, your Astro Bestie. This is the Astrology of the Week Ahead podcast. And in this episode, we are talking about the week of December 8th. I'm recording this in the past. It's October where I am. I don't know what's happening in December. I don't know what you all are up to. But I do know this. December 8th is home to some very crunchy astrology. December 8th, Monday is home to the most Monday of astrologies that ever could astrology. Monday is home to a Saturn Mars square. This is a red light on the calendar of 2025. It's not the only one. It's not the biggest one, but it is a one. It's not even going to last for that long. It's actually going to clear. We're going to like clear the cachet, cacet, whatever you say. We're going to clear the decks. By the time we get to the end of Sunday, we are going to clear this because Mars is going to change signs and it's going to go into the sign of its exaltation and it is good. Thanks to you all,

Starting point is 00:01:19 every single year we totally completely sell out of the Chani Astro Planner. and I cannot wait for you to get your hands on this year's. 2026 is full of 300 pages of rituals, of reflections, of details about every single astrological transit that you need to know about this year. This is how you plan for a year of success. This is such a lovely companion to the weekly readings on the Chani app, to the yearly readings on the Chani app, to the Daily Horsescopes on the Chani app, to the Daily Horsescopes on the Chani app to all of it and then some. You get to understand like, oh, yeah, that's what she was talking about

Starting point is 00:02:00 there and here and oh, this is how I see it showing up in my life. It has daily little journal prompts and reflections. It has new moon, full moon rituals. And as always, sets of the cutest stickers you've ever seen in your life. They are the collages from the Chani app. You get to work with them in your little Astro Planner. My favorite is also the monthly pages because you can just get to understand like what is going on for the month week to week day to day, all at the same time. And I extra, extra love the mood of the month section. Every single month we have written out a synopsis of what this month is all about. And then you can do a little tarot card poll, write your tarot cards down for the month. At the end of the month,

Starting point is 00:02:45 you can go back and be like, uh-huh, yes, I was the fool quite a bit, wasn't I? But like I said, every single year they sell out. So go ahead to chani.com to grab yours. Now I cannot wait to see what you do with this year. But this is the tricky week. At the beginning of the week, Mars squares Saturn. That is saying to me traffic jam, red light, foot on the gas pedal. It is a go, go, stop, stop kind of situation. Mars wants to zoom forward, especially in Sagittarius, wants to gallop, courageously beyond the horizon. Not possible, but you know, it's Saj. And then Saturn is there being like, sorry, buddy, you got a speeding ticket. Sorry, this is, this road's closed. Sorry, this is major construction. Absolutely not. And so we come to this time crunch. Saturn is the Lord of

Starting point is 00:03:41 Time. Saturn is like, you don't live forever. That's why your Saturn return is such a major blow to the ego. A good one, though. It's good. It's important. We don't want to live for other. We're not, I don't know. If you're a fair, I'm not a fairy. I'm not going to live. I do not have immortality. So I don't want it in this body. So I do actually want to appreciate time and space and limits because my life is limited. My spirit might be infinite and boundless, but the time that I have here is absolutely limited. I want to know that so that I do not waste it and that I can deepen the things that bring me satisfaction. I can deepen my commitment to the things that bring me satisfaction. I can make sure that I enjoy every single morsel of deliciousness in my life evermore because

Starting point is 00:04:36 I also know they're fleeting. So Saturn is the Lord of Time. Saturn is the planet that's like, not so fast, kiddo. You don't get to just go flouncing around. You got a job to do. Tick-tock, you're on the clock of mortality. And Mars is just like, I don't care. I go off where I want to. Mars just, you know, blazes a trail and causes a scene. So these two energies are very oppositional. They're both called the malefics. When they're in helpful aspect to each other, like, a trine or a sex style, great, we can get a lot done. When they're in a square to each other, it signals a time where things might be a little bit more challenging than we would like them to be. Resources might be a little bit more lacking than we'd want them to be. Stop signs might be a little

Starting point is 00:05:29 bit more frequent. You know when you're like in a rush and you just keep hitting stop sign after stop sign after stop sign and you just feel like it is the end of the world? It's really not. But if you have road rage like I do, it feels like it. It feels like if I could just have a couple of greens, but you don't. You have reds. And that's what we have to deal with this week. We start out with a red light and our pedal to the metal. So it can feel like a little bit of a, you know. And that might be surrounding us. It might not be in our own personal life. This might not be happening to you specifically. If you have hefty Saj placements and hefty or important Pisces placements, especially if your rising sign is Pisces or Saj or Gemini or Virgo, this will feel a little bit more personal because it'll be landing in a part of your chart that we call Angular. So it'll be louder.

Starting point is 00:06:24 So the crunchier part of this will be crunchier. Or if you have planets at the end of Gemini, Virgo, Saj, or Pisces, you'll feel this. it'll be loud in your life if you have any planets or any points at those late degrees of mutable signs. So I've been going on and on and on and on about not over scheduling ourselves, not overdoing it, not overwhelming ourselves, not overcommitting, not trying to learn people's lessons for them, trying to just prioritize the things that are ours to do. What do you have to get done this week? Focus there. I don't come hell or high water. I don't care what else is on your plate. I don't care. What is your priority? Check that off your list.

Starting point is 00:07:21 Move to the next priority. Stay focused. Just keep moving in any little way you can. Even if you're like, I'll never get this work done. You feel like Cinderella, you know? And it's important to think about myths at this time when things do get crunchy. Cinderella, like many of the myths, many of the folktales and many of the myths that we have to work with, Cinderella is given this impossible task. And what happens is the mice come to her aid, right? Nature comes to her aid. There's like a million different myths and folk tales like this.

Starting point is 00:08:01 The main character, usually a maiden, is given an impossible task by an older goddess or queen or evil stepmother. And it's impossible they can't do it. They're set up to fail. And what happens usually is nature comes to their aid. Maybe it's the ants that help them to sort the poppy seeds from the dirt. Or the mice come and help them clean things. or there's a kind of magic, which is, again, to say, a connection to the natural world to the rhythms of nature that comes in and helps the main character. So when all else fails, remember you're just here to do the next indicated action and to remember to ask for help and to connect with something bigger than yourself. We're here to remember that there is a way in which life works mysteriously around us. And if we adhere to the things that we are responsible for,

Starting point is 00:09:05 if we stay accountable, then oftentimes another kind of magic comes in. Or we can kind of relax into, if possible, can we, I guess is a question, can we relax into knowing that we are supported by something greater than us. Now, obviously, I'm not talking about if we are in a completely impossible situation and we actually just need community to come in and help us. And that's also a part of this. When you feel up against a wall, can you ask for help? And do you have people to ask for help? And we don't all have that. And we all, I think, need to kind of to foster that muscle of being like, hi, I've got this. Do you need some? I need this. Do you have some? Like, how can we be in a greater reciprocity with each other as a way of building community and as a way of

Starting point is 00:10:08 building safety and networks with one another when we're in these hard, crunchy times? Okay. So my invitation here is to say, focus on what you know is a priority. and then focus on your next priority and your next priority. Just stay focused. Don't let yourself get overwhelmed with all the bits and bobs and all the particles that will have to get gathered at some point. Trust in your focus on the most important things. And then I also want you to leave space for your life and your life energy and your

Starting point is 00:10:50 community and help to come in from some unknown source. I don't mean you should be thinking magically and, you know, again, focus on your priorities, remain accountable, stick with your responsibilities, and then try to leave space open for some kind of help to come. Like in those myths, like in those tales, what else is here that supports me? Who else is here that supports me? how can I just stay with what I've chosen, focus on doing what I've said yes to you already, and just like keep honing in on the next right thing to do. On Wednesday, the 10th of December, we've got Venus making a square to the nodes. So it looks like there's some kind of important relationship situation that arises,

Starting point is 00:11:45 an important advancement or a corner we're turning in a relationship or something comes up that you're like, oh, this is interesting. This really helps me to understand the shape and the nature of this relationship. Also on Wednesday, Neptune's stations direct, meaning Neptune's finishing up its last couple of months in Pisces. And by January, February, January, I think, but certainly by February, Neptune will be in Ares for good. So again, late degree Pisces, Saj, Gemini, and Virgo placements are getting connected to Saturn, Mars, and Neptune this week in a big way. That means that there's a mix of, again, understanding our responsibilities, grappling with things that are hard and rough and a little challenging, and then also remembering

Starting point is 00:12:43 that when we do stay accountable, we do stay focused and we do stay responsible, we've also got to keep this other door open, which is to say, I don't understand the mysteries of the world. And I'm going to leave space for magic. Not for literal mice, but for like those magical ways in which nature comes to help me. Like if I was a Cinderella, who's my mice in a good way? You know, again, not real mice. Also on Wednesday, Mercury makes an opposition to Uranus. This is not the first time that this has happened recently.

Starting point is 00:13:22 Mercury did this in and around. It's retrograde and now it's back. It's doing it again. It is like, hey, hi, I need your attention. So what has come around again to get your attention? And if you get the message, can you hang up the phone? Take that message, bring it front and center. and move on with something.

Starting point is 00:13:44 Then Mercury makes a trine to Neptune on Thursday, which is lovely for conversations. It's very idealistic. Then it moves into Sajg. Mercury is messy in Sajg, but at least now it's direct. It immediately makes a sex style with Pluto on Saturday, which is helpful. It's like another cathartic, deep, important conversation.

Starting point is 00:14:04 It's quick. These things are quick. And then on Sunday, Mars makes a square to Neptune. This is messy. it's messy, but it's temporary because also on Sunday, Mars leaves Sagittarius moves into Capricorn and there it's in its exaltation. So Mars goes from like obstacles and hard work and confronting reality and doing the tough things to like being messy and trying to get it right and having a hard time and kind of like trying to swim against the current in a way.

Starting point is 00:14:40 and then all of a sudden, by the end of Sunday, Mars is in its exaltation, which is phenomenal, which means we can do anything now, which means we're moved out of the Mercury retrograde fully. Well, it's still in its shadow, but we're really out of it. It ended at the end of November. And now Mars is out of the mess. And Mars is then out of the mess and into a place of its exaltation, meaning we can move. mountains. I think we'll be tired by now. I don't really want to move a lot of mountains by the 14th of December, but it means that there's a kind of freedom in our movement. There is a really nice

Starting point is 00:15:24 setup for the end of the year, and it's a really good setup for the beginning of the year. I need you to know that January 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 of 2026 features Mars in some really beautiful situations. Very, very, very, very, very, very helpful astrology. So for the rest of the readings and the rest of the podcasts in December, we'll be talking about how to work with this gorgeous Mars and Capricorn energy. And then when the year ahead of readings get released, we will notify you and you will be able to make some really good plans month to month to month with the readings in the year ahead section of the Chani app. More on that soon. Okay, now we have the Ask Me Anything section of the podcast. Thank you for leaving us voice memos in the Chani app. You just go to

Starting point is 00:16:22 the menu bar, click it, and it'll show you how to leave a voice memo for us. So here is this week's. Hi, I want to know if there are placements in someone's chart that could inform how they experience leaving home and traveling and what it does to their body or just how they feel about the idea of traveling. I like to travel. My husband does not, but it's because he always gets sick. Oh no. And I do not. And he likes to travel. But doesn't like what happens. Yeah, I wouldn't either. Okay, so travel is all about the ninth house.

Starting point is 00:17:16 The ninth house is the ninth sign from your ascendant. The ninth house is a part of your chart. Everyone has a ninth house. Every single person. Every single person has 12 houses, 12 different domains of life that are in your chart. We all have all 12 signs in our chart because they all represent all 12 houses. So whether or not you've got planets in a house doesn't matter. You still got that house, that section of life is still talked about in your chart. So I would look at the ninth house. If he has planets in the ninth house, they might describe something about the nature of his experience when he travels. The ninth house is about travel, teaching, long journeys, far away journeys, certainly in the ancient world. journeying for long periods of time was super dangerous.

Starting point is 00:18:12 There were robbers on the road. Things were treacherous. It wasn't like there was like convenience stores or hotels. Like you had to be out in the elements. So going into the ninth house or going on a long journey was like, who knew when you would get back? You couldn't text your family or your friends or your spouse to be like, hi, I just got here. Or like, whoof, the airport.

Starting point is 00:18:33 There was no airports. There was no, you were like on a horse or something else. house or by foot and you had to like sleep out in the open like ninth house stuff traveling was treachery so there is that element of it in our psyche still I think and also in a way you know we used to have to really earn the trip now I just get on a plane and I'm you know my whole life I just got a plane them halfway around the world you know 12 hours later I get off and I go to a hotel and Like, I didn't really have to earn it. But for most of human history, we had to suffer. I mean, imagine being one of those, like, jostily carriages for 20 hours. Like, how did you even cope with that?

Starting point is 00:19:20 Or literally, by foot. And in a lot of ways, I'm sure it was amazing because you were, like, really with the earth and the ground and whatever. And then in a lot of ways, it's like, oh, is that a wildebeest in the trees? Like, what's coming to get me at night? So, there is that feeling of danger with the ninth house. So what I would say is that I want to see, like, what sign is his ninth house and what planet rules his ninth house? What planet rules that sign? Where is that planet? If that planet is compromised, like, say, say he has a night chart, meaning Mars is on his team, Venus is on his team, the moon is on his team, and maybe Mercury. But if Saturn, if he has a night chart and Saturn is in his ninth house, then that's a

Starting point is 00:20:10 signification that ninth house stuff might be challenging. It could be fun in some ways and challenging in other ways. Like maybe you love education, but travel is hard. Or maybe you always fight with your professors, but you have a PhD, that kind of thing. Or vice versa. If you have a day chart, you're born in the day and Mars is in the ninth house, then that could just create some kind of like feeling of danger or converse. conflict. And then I want to see if there's a connection between his sixth house of illness. And,

Starting point is 00:20:39 you know, we could say health, but it's really about like what pains us in the body. And the ninth house, they naturally square each other. So say he had Mars in one place and Saturn in another place. I'd be like, yeah, look, there's a hefty connection between those two places. It doesn't mean it can't be turned around and made good. But you can see like, oh, yeah, or if his son is in the ninth house, but Saturn's squaring it from the sixth house. Then it could be like, does he feel like when he goes out into the world, like he's leaving behind these responsibilities that he needs to contend with? Is it hard to manage the fear or the anxiety that comes up when we leave home and go out into the world? And is the body is saying something? So I kind of want to know if there's a connection

Starting point is 00:21:29 between his sixth house and his ninth house. And I also kind of want to know, like, is the ruler of his ninth house and his fourth house? Or is there some kind of connection between home? Because the fourth house is home and the ninth house. Like, I know people that have something really important in the fourth house and something really important in the ninth house. And they have a conflict because they want to be both home and abroad. And so there could be something that happens if there's an internal conflict in him. And I'm just wondering, his body is saying something, right? Like, if we are experiencing something physically painful or difficult every time we do this thing, the body is keeping the score, right? The body always knows. So what is his body trying to tell him?

Starting point is 00:22:22 It feels like the system is like, oh, I can't fend off all of this foreign information. I can't fend off all of these foreign to me, you know, bacteria's or viruses or what have you. So there's something there that he needs to like build up a more robust container, a more robust sense of protection, a more robust sense of like I'm carrying a more robust sense of like, I'm carrying a home with me. But the body's saying something and I want to know. And so I would look again at the ninth house, if there's planets there, the ruler of the ninth house and what information that tells me. I would also look at the sixth house, which is again about ailments and what can cause us suffering. I might also look if there's a connection between the first house and the and the ninth house. It's a natural trine, so it's not a challenging aspect. But if there's something challenging,

Starting point is 00:23:20 like if the ruler of his ninth house is sitting with a planet that's a mollific, then that would. Like if it's ruler of his ninth house is Venus and it's sitting in between Mars and Saturn, then I'd be like, oh yeah, like every time you move out, you have to contend with these harsh forces. So it's really about the combination of planets that are with the ruler of his ninth house or the planets that are in his ninth house. And probably it's both. I really want to know both. And then I want to see, like, can we unpack something for you? What feels unsafe when you move out into the world? What makes you feel vulnerable?

Starting point is 00:23:57 And can we build some kind of tolerance to the new information? Can we build some kind of internal, you know, strengthening of the immune system, literally and figuratively? So that when you go out and you don't have your creature comforts or you're not in your familiar environment, your system doesn't, like kind of go offline. Your system is stays resilient and able to ward things off. I mean, a lot of us get sick when we go traveling, especially in certain seasons. Or if we have children, you know, like there's a lot of different factors, but it sounds like this is like a chronic condition

Starting point is 00:24:37 and something that there's, there's a lot more information. And his body knows something very important and I want to know what that is. There's a memory in there. There's a situation that he's experienced in the past that is getting lived out again and again and again when he goes away from home. So what was the original being taken away from home or being taken out of a safe place or what's the thing that gets triggered in him when he goes out into the world? And is there a way to kind of rewire that response. I hope that's helpful. All right, y'all, come back next week, and we will talk about the new moon in Sagittarius, which will have us galloping off in a new direction. Thank you so much for joining, sending you all the love, all the blessings. Bye for now.

Astrology of the Week Ahead with Chani Nicholas - The Week of December 8th, 2025: Friction meets focus with Mars and Saturn

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