December’s New Moon is a Vegas kind of Moon — big, bold, and dramatic. It heralds a holiday season of screaming headlines, explosive events and probably some wild parties, as well. The entertainment industry, issues of children and youth, especially education, and any kind of gambling, including the stock market, will be emphasized in the coming month here in the USA.

Let’s cover the basic astrology first. (Non-astrologers can skip this paragraph) The chart can be found here. Set for Washington, DC, it features the New Moon in Sagittarius in the 5th, with Sagittarius’ ruler, Jupiter, powerfully placed on the Ascendent in Cancer, the sign of its exaltation, opposing Venus, and widely opposing Pluto, as well. Uranus sits in the 10th house, adjacent to the Aries Point Midheaven, which is opposed by Mars. The Uranus-Pluto square is in full force, and the Sun-Moon conjunction plus Mercury are in a wide square to Neptune. There is a strong trine between Jupiter and Saturn, and between Uranus and the Sun-Moon. The New Moon falls in the fifth house, joined by Mercury and Saturn, and the fifth house rulers are Mars and Pluto. The houses and angles on this chart are specific to the USA, but much of what I say here will be applicable globally.

This is going to be an expansive month, a time when people will want to push the proverbial envelope, to try new things — but they’ll want to do that from a secure home base. There are indicators of self-indulgence, but that energy can also express itself as simply playing the social butterfly, or taking particular care with appearances. Ideally, social gatherings will revolve around something practical, protective and nurturing. Building something beautiful, creating structures of meaning, expanding to include others are all supported by this chart. It will be an inspirational time for artists, especially those whose natal placements have significant interactions with the New Moon chart.

With Mars so strongly in the picture (opposed and ruling the MC, co-ruling the 5th, trine Venus, in mutual reception with and sextile Mercury, dispositing Uranus, Saturn and Mercury), and Uranus directing the show from the 10th, there will be a lot of opportunities for adventure, but be sure you have all your ducks in a row before you go haring off to Kathmandu, or even to the local theme park. This energy can also manifest as explosive, disruptive events, so stay flexible, and expect the unexpected.

Mercury, still in Scorpio, square Neptune, and ruling the third house suggests that we should take care to communicate with forethought and precision, choosing our words carefully — especially this month, they are powerful weapons of change, and also of mass destruction. Many people will be communicating in ways that are meant to confuse and deceive.  Mercury also squares the USAs natal third house Moon, and with the New Moon itself on the USA ascendant and Jupiter so prominent, opinions will be flying as thick as mosquitos in the bayou. Many of them will bite. Monitor your gullibility levels, and take care that you are not complicit in spreading rumors and lies.

We are also likely to see an emphasis on generosity and fun this month. A fifth-house New Moon in Jupiter-ruled Sagittarius with Jupiter on the ascendant is ready to party. Venus in Capricorn oppose Jupiter in mutual reception with the Moon can bring out people’s materialism, or it can bring a careful assessment of one’s values, as well as a desire to meld art and beauty with practicality, and caring. Whether at a charity ball, church social, or office party, beliefs, morals, religion and metaphysics will be ringing like bells in the holiday air, and artistic endeavors aiming to communicate Deep Social Meaning will be thick on the ground. They’ll be both seriously discussed and openly mocked, but change is in the air, and vigorous exchanges of opinion are necessary catalysts.

This is a good month to think about what you believe, and whether or not those beliefs are improving your life or holding you back. It’s a good time to reassess your convictions about how the world works — often, when we look closely, we find that some of our beliefs, ones we hold onto with great devotion, are based on outmoded and disproven information. It can be hard to step back and look at our beliefs objectively, but try this: next time you are in a highly emotional state over something, take a deep breath, grab paper and pen, and have a seat. Take another deep breath (really, it helps), then write at the top of the paper, “What would a person who felt this happy/sad/angry/loving/depressed HAVE to believe to hold that emotion?” Then write, without censoring yourself (no one else needs to see that paper), what someone looking at your life from the outside would figure you might believe to be in this emotional state.

For instance, let’s say you are extremely depressed over losing your job. What must you believe to feel this way? Some possibilities are:

• Jobs are scarce and good ones hard to come by
• You have lost not only your job, but the friends you had at the company.
• You are inadequate, not good enough.
• You will lose the respect of society because you are unemployed. You’ll be seen as a loser.

Try looking at your situation as though it was happening to a friend to get some distance and objectivity. Just scribble down whatever comes to mind — you can evaluate each belief in the next step.

Now take those beliefs — and another deep breath while you’re at it — and test them against what you know as reality.  You might even want to do some research, or ask friends for help. In the example above, you’d want to do research to realistically assess the job market, talk to a friend from the company, review your really rather impressive résumé. But you may also want to dig deeper with some of these beliefs.

For instance, the last point above is based entirely on perceptions. A depressed job-seeker may think she’ll be seen as a loser, but what if  she dug a little deeper into her own beliefs about the situation? Maybe now that she thinks of it, she realizes how much her ideas about how the Universe works have been changing over the last few years, and she can see that the loss of her job might be a sign from her gods/ancestors/the Universe that it is time for a change.

Maybe she can even think of it as a God/dess-given opportunity to work some real magic and turn her life around, finding a job that inspires and delights her. She can think of herself, not as unemployed, but as “between engagements”, as they say in the theater. These ideas all are actually much more in line with her current thinking, and she can see where her worry about being seen as a loser may simply be sourced in a Calvinistic upbringing. She was carrying around an old belief of her parents, one that was not her own, but it was affecting her emotional state and her life.

Examining and changing beliefs can be a tremendously effective way of stepping into personal power, and if you commit to observing, testing and re-examining your beliefs on a regular basis, discarding those that no longer resonate with who you are now, your life will become much more authentic and rewarding.

Once you’ve identified the beliefs you want to hold, then ask yourself how a person who held those beliefs would act — and do it. Even if you don’t really feel, for instance, the perfect confidence of someone who is simply “between engagements” as opposed to unemployed, you can still think of how a confident person would act, and then…act. Both in the sense of taking action, and playing a role. Write the resume, make the phone calls, dress the part. There's nothing wrong with playing the role of someone you want to be — it helps you discover and align with the resonance of your new self. Eventually, those outworn beliefs will crumble and fall away.

One belief you might particularly want to examine this month is whether or not you believe having fun is an important part of one’s spiritual growth and development. You should definitely test this one out. :-)

I’ll be back before Solstice with a look at the Winter Solstice chart. Happy Holidays!