...and good will toward humankind. Wishing you a bright, blessed Christmas!

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It's a magical time of year when adults wear funny hats and ordinary homes turn into a spectacle of colored lights. The heart can thaw and we're more apt to lose the mask of anonymity while out in public. The child in all of us is enchanted. And perhaps because it touches us so deeply, it can make us feel a mixed bag of emotions - from longing and sadness to great joy.

Today's Moon is still in Pisces, the sign of shared magic, and it meets with Uranus (surprises) in Pisces. It's possible to be suddenly touched by something you see or hear, in a way that cracks open the heart. Triggered fears may be off the charts, and this year's kids that are scared of Santa could shriek in glass-shattering frequencies. Magic is startling visuals that tap into our natural sense of wonder. Like the season of lights, today's aspect can trigger a re-awakening of what the eternal child inside already sees. Be good to that child within you today. Especially don't force him or her to sit in the lap of strangers!

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All day, the Moon is in Pisces, just radiating dreaminess on its own, with no aspects to other planets. It's a day for pottering, being with the muse (be-mused), pondering nature's mysteries, or escaping into the Neptunian dark of the cinema. Pisces is Neptune-ruled, and is about voyages into the depths. There can be transcendent experiences, but there's also a danger of drowning.

There's a film out now called Neptune's Return, by the Cosmic Intelligence Agency. The trailer describes Neptune's sighting in 1846 in the constellation of Aquarius. Neptune's discovery in modern human awareness, it's recounted, coincided with things like anesthesia, photography, impressionism in art and communism (dissolving of class structures).

The movie celebrates Neptune's return to its discovery degree of 25 degrees Aquarius. There's a fabulous montage of fashion through the Neptunian eras, from flappers with flair (Neptune Leo) to the big hair and platform shoes of the 70s (Neptune Sagittarius). The narrator gets into the fluid realms of our atmosphere (air, water), and how we're becoming aware of the often invisible toxins that run through them.

It's significant that Neptune's return to its discovery degree coincides with a Jupiter (expansion) and Chiron (healing) conjunction. In 2009/2010, its return heralds an awakening to shared unseen currents, and how we create reality as a collective. It's a time, says the narrator, when we're faced with the choice of whether to sink or swim. "Whether the universe is a dead sea of randomness, or to recognize Neptune's pull to reverence for its turbulent realm. To dance with its ever-shifting currents."

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Two years ago, my Dad -- my first love and a soul mate -- died in early June, and then my sister had a child on Winter Solstice. That first Christmas we missed Dad, but had a tiny dark-haired new life to hold, confirming Carl Sandburg's line that, "A baby is God's opinion that life should go on." Winter Solstice is the longest night in Northern latitudes, but it's also the start of the Sun's return. In the dark, around fires, there's a celebration of the birth of the new Sun.

It's like the Sun's Dark Moon time, and has a similar cloistered-in-the-mystery feel to it. It's the solar cycle's deepest low, where we're wrapped in darkness and all that signifies. We're just three years away from the Winter Solstice of 2012, when the Sun aligns with the galactic center. How will we be changed, when we're mixing with these mysterious cosmic energies?

More than ever, with foundational structures on shaky ground, we're facing the great unknown. In this dying time of the year, we're asked to have faith in the promise of new life, and new beginnings. It's a potent day for rituals, like lighting a candle and making a wish. What would you like to incubate, to bring forward in the Spring?

Even as we're drawn into the womb-like dark, there's a Jupiter-Neptune conjunction today that evokes wonder and awe. This is our silver lining in shimmery Aquarius. That no matter how dark things seem, things can change in an instant. There may heartbreak now with the economy, but there are also miracles happening. These two planets gift us with faith in the dark, that new possibilities can come out of the blue in 2010.

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