One’s “solar return” will be either on the same day as or the day prior to one’s official birthday. In my case, birthday is December 19, but the Sun returns to the exact position it held at my birth, at 27°00 Sagittarius, today, December 18, at 12:38 PM, for Bloomington, Indiana. I went into meditation during that time.

27°00 Sagittarius: Sabian symbol:

27° Sagittarius also happens to be exactly conjunct the Galactic Center of the Milky Way galaxy. Frankly, it’s a wonder that I’ve lasted this long in a body (79 years as of tomorrow), given the extreme, nearly overwhelming, fiery ENERGY that my soul decided to work with in this lifetime.

Luckily (and lucky Jupiter does govern both my Sun and Ascendant, and sits in the sign, Cancer, where it is exalted), since I was 39 years old, when I finally let go of my intense, extreme substance abuse addiction to cigarettes (at one point in my 20s, I smoked two packs of Camels daily), I have been on a more and more disciplined path. At this point, this path includes two hours daily of what I call “physical culture”: 3-4 mile walk, + yoga, chikung and taichi. I attribute my relative focused discipline in utilizing and expressing energy to this daily routine. And “routine,” as my mentor told me decades ago, “builds character.” In other words, whatever you DO habitually. you BECOME!

Looking back, I have immense compassion for that fiery little being, who, once her energy was released (it was held in denial throughout my Catholic girlhood) at 26 years old — thanks to almost dying from peritonitis and then hearing a voice say, out loud it seemed, a male voice, and BOOMING: “Live or die. It’s your choice” —  went crazy wild for a number of years. In fact, I’d say that my addiction to cigarettes siphoned off some of that innate fiery energy, or I would have gotten even wilder!

So this year, and keep in mind the Sabian Symbol for my 27° Sagittarian Sun,  “A Sculptor at His Work,” unlike in the recent past, I am not retreating into solitude for the few days surrounding my birthday. Instead, I scheduled a dinner party, with Green Acres Permaculture Village folks and a few others, in which I shall give a “debut performance,” signaling my new passion, SINGING. I’ve written about this once before, and will have more to say soon.

Tomorrow evening, on the day of my actual birthday, December 19th, at my birthday dinner party, I will sing two songs, both of which I have practiced privately every single day for the past month or so, on morning walks with puppy Shadow. It’s not been easy for me to learn all the verses of these two songs. Indeed, it was much easier to actually “bring my voice back” than to memorize these verses. Even now, I’m not sure I won’t freeze up when I actually perform them in front of others, with video camera looking on. Since I’ll probably glitch at least once during this performance, I’m going to release two versions of the performance, one with glitches (Foolish Crone tries to learn how to sing), and one with glitches edited out (Wow, Crone can sing!).

Yep, here I am, a fully-fledged Crone, attempting to learn how to sing two songs well, one of them somewhat difficult, for the first time, since childhood.

And these songs are ones that when sung from the heart, access the soul. Which is the point. We are so inundated with left brain info and disinfo (and which is which?) which we use to construct and/or buttress arguments for or against one conceptual “position” or another, that the human race has split into bitterly divided camps.

But, when we sing, when we open our hearts, those divisions evaporate.

I want to ignite a project called Song Cycles for the Soul, performing (both myself and others) songs that, both in lyric and music, invoke the LOVE that fills and fuels the universe. My performance tomorrow night launches this project, to be continued two evenings later, on the Solstice, the 21st, with a Caroling Party for this neighborhood, wherein those who have agreed to sing with us will sing three beautiful Christmas songs while walking slowly down the middle of Green Acres streets with candles and a soft drum. If and when someone comes to the window or the door, full of wonder that this old holiday (holy day) tradition should be renewed, we will go up to that window or that door, and sing them the song I brought home from Crones Counsel, and which, for the past two years, we have sung at every birthday celebration, and whenever a new person joins us at our weekly Community Dinners. Here are the lyrics:

How could anyone ever tell you

You are anything less than beautiful

How could anyone ever tell you

You are less than whole?

How could anyone fail to notice

That your loving is a miracle

How deeply you’re connected

To my soul

This is the chart for the Full Moon itself, at near midnight this evening, the 18th, relocated to Washington D.C.

Note that for both these charts, the planet Neptune, with signifies above all else, compassion, universal LOVE, is on one end of the horizontal axis of the chart: Ascendant for my solar return, and Descendant for the Full Moon itself. What better instrument for channeling LOVE into this confused, split, suffering human world, than Songs that, through the open Heart, release the Soul?

Here’s the Sabian Symbol for the Sun at the Full Moon itself:

Also, in both above charts, notice the T-cross formed with Sun, Moon, and Neptune. We are asked to blend an expanding world view (Sun in Sagittarius), with our factual orientation (Moon in Gemini), immersing both in oceanic LOVE (Neptune in Pisces), while paying close attention to detail (the missing point in what would otherwise be a mutable cross. Details: Virgo. Practices. Especially physical practices. We are charged, during this Full Moon, with building routines that allow for the channeling of the soul’s full expression.

Laura Bruno (whose Ascendant is in Virgo) gives a more detailed analysis of this Full Moon.