Astrology of the Week Ahead with Chani Nicholas - The Week of December 9th, 2024: Thinking big with the Full Moon in Gemini

Episode Date: December 9, 2024

Episode 208 In this podcast, New York Times best-selling author and astrologer Chani Nicholas discusses the astrology of the week and what it might mean for us all. The astrology of the week of December 9th, 2024, is chatty and charged. Venus (the planet of harmony) opposes Mars (the warrior planet), directing our attention to frays in our connective fabric — and opportunities to seek justice. Plus, the Full Moon in Gemini calls us to go where our curiosity leads. In all, the next seven days pull our focus toward our communications and communities alike. Let’s get into it. This episode covers: Venus’ opposition to Mars on Thursday, December 12th Mercury’s sextile to Venus on Thursday, December 12th The Full Moon in Gemini on Sunday, December 15th The end of Mercury retrograde on Sunday, December 15th This episode was recorded on 10/23/2024. For more, check out your free daily horoscope on the homepage of the CHANI app — now on iOS and Android. The music featured in the podcast was created by Latashá.

Hi, the following episode of the astrology of the week ahead was taped before I knew the election results in the United States of America. So if things sound aggressively positive, given the situation, that's why. I needed to get ahead of the game so that our team could go on winter break and things could happen in an orderly fashion. And this is what happens sometimes. So I hope that the astrology still lands in a really helpful way. I just don't want you to ever think that I don't take an incoming fascist leader seriously. I take the situation that we're in exceptionally seriously. I think it's going to require all of us to do everything we can in every single moment that we can do it. And I'm here with you. We are

in community together and I just didn't want to have you thinking like, wow, is this so spiritually bypassy and has Channy totally lost the plot? I haven't. I'm with you. And in the new year, we're going to be doing episodes much closer to the time we actually air them. But until then, please enjoy and see how the astrology lands as I'm talking about it without knowing the type of world we're moving into. Sending you lots of love always. Bye for now. Hello and welcome. This is the astrology of the week ahead podcast. I'm your host, Channie Nicholas, your astro bestie. In this episode, we are talking about the astrology for the week of December 9th. Yeah, we've got a big, important full moon on deck. I roll my eyes and I'm making.

that face, if you can see me on film, because every full moon has felt so consequential. Maybe we could look back and say, well, that's always kind of the case. But honestly, since July, every single full moon has been somewhat spectacular in terms of the condition that it sits in, in terms of the place it's in. This is why this week's is so fascinating. in true Gemini fashion. It's here to peak our curiosity. It's here to ask a lot of different questions.

And it's here to give us a tremendous amount of information. All right. Mercury is retrograde. It's retrograde until Sunday. It's retrograde until the 15th of December, which is the day we have a full moon in Gemini. Why are these two things connected or how are these two things connected? or how are these two things connected and what is interesting or curious about these two things

happening basically at the same moment? Well, Mercury is the planet that rules anything that happens in Gemini, meaning Mercury is in charge of whatever happens in Gemini. So a full moon in Gemini is always going to be depending on whatever Mercury is doing in order to live out its significations. Now, this is the thing about Mercury. Mercury is influenced by whatever other planet it's talking about. It doesn't really have a vibe of its own per se. It's about what it's picking up and what it is translating. That's Mercury's deal. So right now, Mercury is stationing direct on Sunday. Mercury is stationing direct as the full moon in Gemini happens. So Mercury is in Sagittarius, the style of Mercury and Sagittarius is to be really mythic in its storytelling.

It's to be really grandiose. It's to be on the side of exaggeration to make a point. Facts will matter later. So Mercury is pivoting. It's stationing direct on Sunday as the full moon happens in Gemini, the opposite sign. Now, the thing that's happening. happening with Mercury as it's stationing direct is that it's sitting in an opposition to Jupiter, the planet that rules Sagittarius where it is. So there's a mutual reception going on. So this is good. And Jupiter and Gemini is a lot of information. It's an overwhelming amount of opinions and information. And maybe because Jupiter is a planet of goodness, it's also a planet that brings good news when it's in Gemini. Maybe. Or a lot of different points of

view kind of news. But if Mercury is sitting in opposition with Jupiter and because Mercury just made a sextile with Venus on Thursday the 12th, Mercury makes a sextile with Venus while it's still retrograde, so this is another signature of good news, then it seems that as Mercury turns the corner and changes direction, it's bringing Venus with it. and it's about to approach Jupiter. All that to say, I think this week, this Sunday slash Monday, brings about a turn of events, a kind of good news situation or scenario. As always, I am recording this in the past. I am living right now in October of 2024. I have no idea what is going on in December. All I know is that this compilation with Mercury sitting in a situation that is pretty hyped up.

It's got an opposition to Jupiter. It's got a connection to Venus. It feels loved. It feels cute. It feels ready to bring us good news. And because it's stationing direct, it's sticky and it's clunky, but it is about to move forward. So it is telling us that there's something that's changing about a situation. We've been reviewing possibly the counting of something or the accounting of something or the

ways in which a system works or the ways in which we tally something or the ways in which we understand a situation. It's been messy. Last week, I think, last Friday, I want you to think back to last Thursday, Friday, what was clarified, what was brought to some kind of conclusion or what insights came to you Thursday and Friday that felt like, oh, this is the kind of crystallization of information that I have been looking for. Or maybe that happened in the world. Again, I'm recording this in October. I don't know what's happening in December. But December 5th and 6th, Thursday and Friday, looks like, looks as I'm looking at it now, like some kind of important news. event. It's also the day, December 6th, the day that Mars stationed retrograde. And that

details a prolonged kind of conflict or a prolonged situation that we are going to have to contend with that is irritating. That is some kind of dispute or some kind of cautionary tale or some kind of inflammation in our collective system that is going to be pulling focus until at least, at least the end of February. Mars will be retrograde from December 6th all the way to February 23rd, I believe. So it's a long haul retrograde. It's a good idea to understand what is not worth our energy right now and what we do and don't want to engage in in January and February in the beginning of 2025 because things are going to like move and fits and starts. They're going to be a little clunky and we're going to have to make some very important decisions about what to cut. Mars is the

knife, is the scissors, is the sword. It knows how to separate. So we've got this overarching job about separation in December, in January, and in February. And of course, separation can be really painful. Now, another thing that happens on Thursday is that Venus and Mars make an opposition. Now, Venus is the planet of social cohesion, and Mars, again, is the planet of separation. So this could feel Thursday, there is good news because Venus and Mercury make a sex tile. So I'm going to stick with the last part of the week does bring about good news. But there's something else that happens on the 12th of December that does feel unkind. It does feel like it hurts a little.

It does feel like it separates us from something that could otherwise make us feel good. On the world stage, it could also be Mars types of people opposing Venus type of people. opposing Venus types of people. You can think of that in gender terms if we want. It's often how things are pitted against under patriarchy. We can think of this in terms of gendered violence issues. We can think of anyone who has an intentionally marginalized gender having issues. We can think of this as LGBTQ situations that feel like,

ugh, that's not good for our communities. because Mars tends to attack. And Venus, again, is about how we connect and how we might even discover, create, understand, live out something that feels just and fair. Venus wants fairness. Mars just wants its way. So when they're in opposition to each other,

there's something here that is having to be balanced. But when Mars is in opposition to anything, it's a feeling of attack, whether or not it is that in our personal lives is up to us to understand and dissect and move through. But in terms of living under patriarchy, this could be an attack on Venusian rights. So we're talking about women's rights. We're talking about LGBTQIA rights. We're talking about anybody who has an intentionally marginalized gender feeling attacked by something. So that is one thing. I'll, look out for on December 12th in terms of like laws and policies and what is happening around

that time. And just in terms of people being pitted against each other, this is a moment on the 12th that can feel like it does fray at the fabric of our connectivity. So on a personal level, it's a good moment to be extra thoughtful around in terms of like how we're connecting. How do we actually build community? How do we actually build solidarity? It's usually with people that we don't have so much in common with. How do we find the commonality? Instead of being pitted against each other by the systems we live within and then reenacting that violence and that thoughtlessness with one another, how can we subvert the systems and not fall prey to the things they want us to recreate? How do we not replicate the damage that happens within the systems that we live within. That part we have

power over. That part we can deconstruct within ourselves. And that's a part of how we create spaces where healing and justice can occur. So that's the 12th. That's the red flag of the 12th. Mars is retrograde. We're dealing with conflict. It's making opposition to Venus. We want to be extra thoughtful about how we are treating each other and how we're being manipulated, perhaps to treat one another badly, to take one another down to do all the stuff that we know very well we all do in this culture or we're primed to do. We're positioned to do. Also on the 12th, just to reiterate, Mercury retrograde makes a sexile with Venus. It feels like good news. It feels like something that's like, oh, I'm glad I went back and reviewed that. I'm glad I went back and told

that person how much I love them. I'm glad I shared notes of appreciation with the people that helped me out in some way, shape or form. And then we get to the 15th. We get to Sunday. Big huge full moon and Gemini sitting next to Jupiter. This is an abundance of blessings. It's also an overwhelming amount of information. Mercury is stationing direct. It's a turning of a page. It's the ending of the retrograde. So it very much again feels like a pivotal moment for information to be released or for something to be announced or said or given to us. And I want us to think about this over the course of like Saturday, Sunday and especially into Monday. That full moon is also square Neptune.

So it's a little delulu. That's just the state of everything right now. It's not very good again with specifics. Mercury is in a clunky position. It's, yes, stationing retrograde, but we have to wait a minute. Is that news true? Is this for real? That might be the vibe or the feeling or that might be the reality. Like, what is the news that is coming to light or surfacing? And do we have all the facts? Again, it might take a couple days to all wash out, but this full moon is definitely going to pick up on the transition of something. So collectively, we'll see how that lands.

Personally, this will be very important for the part of your chart that contains both Sagittarius and Gemini. Because both of these parts of the chart have each other's rulers in them, but they're also going through this really important transition at the same time. in the Channy app this week, I've gone into great depth about these parts of your chart. We also talked about it last week because there was such an important aha moment or point of clarity. Again, December 5th or 6th. And then again, on the 15th, 16th, 17th even, 14, 15, 15, 16, 17, there is this revealing or this shift or this exposing of a piece of information that was hidden. So again, where is this happening in your chart? Go listen to your reading on the Chani app this week. Before we go, I just want you to know that we're adding a new section to the week ahead. It is an ask me anything. I will answer your question. And one of the questions we got from our audience and one of the questions I get asked all the time is what happens if I'm born under Mercury retrograde? And I think this is a good question to ask.

right now because we're in a mercury retrograde. Now, I often hear from folks that they like periods of mercury retrogrades when they are born with a mercury retrograde. So great, I love this for you. There's no like hard and fast rule with this. I just want to say that three to four times a year, for three weeks out of time, Mercury is retrograde. So many, many, many people are born when with Mercury retrograde. And in fact, there's a whole section of ancient astrologers that didn't think Mercury retrograde was a very big deal because the planet retrogrades so much. So I do think Mercury retrogrades are important. They usually, again, reveal some sort of pivotal thing that was broken, that wasn't fixed, that needed to be fixed, that was about to break, that isn't going to

work that we need to contend with. It's a really good time to review the ways in which a system of our life works because Mercury is a planet that loves, again, counting accounting systems work. If you're born with Mercury retrograde, it doesn't mean your communications are doomed. It couldn't. That's not how the skies work. But it does mean that you might be really good at investigating things. It might mean that you're really good at research. It might mean that you are really good at going back and making sure that you've gotten all the information that you need. Now remember, it all depends on what sign Mercury was in when you were born. It depends on the house that Mercury is in. And mostly because Mercury is the translator, it depends on what

planets Mercury is talking to in your chart. Is it conjunct anything? Most people have Mercury and the sun in the same sign because Mercury can never travel very far from the sun. It's never going to be more than a sign away from the sun. So most of us also have Mercury and the Sun in the same sign. That's just common. That's just the way the sky works. It's just how it is. But is it talking to Saturn? If so, it might be really disciplined. It might be really good at being critical. It might be really scientific. Again, depends on the sign, depends on the other planets. Is it sitting in some kind of helpful aspect to Uranus?

Maybe you're exceptionally experimental or really good with kind of offbeat antics and being able to say things in a way that are shocking and awakening and helpful for other people to hear. So I would really focus more on the planets that Mercury is talking to in your chart. And if you go to the Chani app and you look at your Mercury, there'll be a section called Gifts and Challenges. The gifts are the easy aspects that Mercury makes to other planets. And the challenges are the hard aspects that Mercury makes to other planets.

And those will tell you what type of Mercury you have. Who is Mercury in conversation with? That is going to be exceptionally important. It also depends on what phase of the Mercury retrograde you were born under. is it right when Mercury is stationed retrograde or is it about to station direct? Is it sitting in a near conjunction with the sun within a degree? If so, you're born with a Mercury Cassini, which is phenomenal. It doesn't matter that it's retrograde. If the sun and Mercury are within a degree, it's like an exceptionally special condition. It's not like so rare, but just know that like,

okay, you've got Mercury retrograde, but is it with the Sun? Or is it sitting with Venus or is it sitting with Jupiter. Like, what else is it doing? Just the fact that it's retrograde is not enough information, again, because it's so common. But it does tell us something. Also, is it going to set after the sun? Is it an evening star mercury? Is it a morning star mercury? If it's an evening star mercury, meaning it's behind the sun in degrees or in sign, then it is about going into underworld journeys. If it's ahead of the sun or if it rose before the sun came up, then it is a kind of more like triumphant feeling. It is on the rise and it is going to like go for information in a much more direct way. All of these factors are really important. So go a little deeper than just I have

mercury retrograde or not. And if you feel like your communications are doomed, then that's just a feeling. It's not a fact. We can work on that. What about your communications feel hard? How can we help you to dissect that lie or that myth that you have about yourself so that we can come to understand the beauty and the real quality and the talent that your mind and your way of communication and your way of articulating things actually has? Because each one of us has a particular gift to give, and it's all going to be different. So what gifts does your mercury possess even if it's retrograde or maybe especially because it's retrograde? All right, y'all.

Listen, come back next week because we have a gorgeous little moment, which is Venus and Jupiter are making a trine to each other. and it's one of the best pieces of astrology at the end of the year. I want us to make the most of it. It's very sweet. It's very social. It's really good for comms. It's really good for getting us to talk to one another and gather. And there's some more excitement in the air.

So come back and we'll talk about that then. Bye for now. Happy full moon.