Sharing ways to stay resilient in the days/months/years to come, plus a hot Black Friday sale

December 2024 Dates to Note

1^st: NEW MOON AT 9 DEGREES SAGITTARIUS (1:21 am ET)

2^nd: Mercury in Sagittarius trine Chiron in Aries (1:16 am ET), Venus in Capricorn trine Uranus in Taurus (9;43 am ET)

4^th: Mercury in Sagittarius opposite Jupiter in Gemini (5:16 am ET), Sun in Sagittarius square Saturn in Pisces (11:18 am ET), Venus in Capricorn sextile Neptune in Pisces (1:52 pm ET)

5^th: Sun conjunct Mercury in Sagittarius/MERCURY CAZIMI (9:18 pm ET)

6^th: MARS STATIONS RETROGRADE AT 6 DEGREES LEO (6:33 pm ET), Mercury in Sagittarius square Saturn in Pisces (8:53 pm ET)

7^th: VENUS ENTERS AQUARIUS (1:13 am ET), Venus conjunct Pluto in Aquarius (9:08 am ET), Sun in Sagittarius opposite Jupiter in Gemini (3:58 pm ET), NEPTUNE STATIONS DIRECT AT 27 DEGREES PISCES

10^th: Sun in Sagittarius trine Chiron in Aries (12:49 pm ET)

12th: Venus in Aquarius opposite Mars in Leo (5:46 pm ET)

13^th: Mercury in Sagittarius sextile Venus in Aquarius (2:45 am ET)

15^th: FULL MOON AT 23 DEGREES GEMINI (4:02 am ET), MERCURY STATIONS DIRECT AT 6 SAGITTARIUS (3:56 pm ET)

18^th: Sun in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces (9:29 am ET), Venus in Aquarius trine Jupiter in Gemini (9:11 pm ET)

21^st: SUN ENTERS CAPRICORN (4:21 am ET)/WINTER SOLSTICE/YULE

23^rd: Venus in Aquarius sextile Chiron in Aries (7:46 pm ET)

24^th: Jupiter in Gemini square Saturn in Pisces (4 :59 pm ET), CHRISTMAS EVE

25^th: CHRISTMAS DAY, FIRST NIGHT OF HANNUKAH

26^th: Mercury in Sagittarius opposite Jupiter in Gemini (5:48 pm ET), KWANZAA BEGINS

27^th: Mercury in Sagittarius square Saturn in Pisces (2:29 am ET)

28^th: Venus in Aquarius square Uranus in Taurus (2:42 am ET)

29^th: CHIRON STATIONS DIRECT AT 19 ARIES

30^th: NEW MOON AT 9 CAPRICORN (5:27 pm ET)

31^st: Mercury in Sagittarius trine Chiron in Aries (2:41 am ET), NEW YEAR’S EVE

December (and the winter in general) may be a mini-era within an era that history will remember for generations. Although I got the national election results wrong along with most of the other astrologers out there (I believed that Harris would squeak it out) I stand by what I said about the months between now and the inauguration: they may be deeply challenging and unsettling.

Fascism seeks to steal our joy. To make us anxious, depressed, afraid, living always in terror of what might come next, so that we stop fighting, go numb, and become complacent. This pushes us into survival mode, so we’re always in a dorsal state. With our nervous system in lockdown, connecting to our community can feel impossible. This is a tactic to stop solidarity before it starts.

Fascists seek to kill our pleasure. The particular fascists coming into power this winter are techno-autocratic billionaires rolling out the blood-stained carpet for Christian Nationalists, and they are going all in on eradicating pleasure as punishment. They want to create a world in which the only purpose of sex is the procreation of white Christian babies. They will use the Comstock Act and other mechanisms written into Project 2025 to try to inflict this pleasureless future on us by force. My mission is to fight this with every fiber of my being. That’s why I am encouraging everyone I know to get into the habit of cherishing what makes them feel good now, as a daily practice.

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What feels good in your body? What feels good in conversation? What feels good in connection with other humans or animals? What feels good about movement? What feels good as touch? What feels good to smell? What feels good to listen to? What feels good to taste? Gather these experiences now, take note of them, and make time for them every day, several times a day, and know that if you keep it simple, all of these practices will remain available to you after January 20th, 2025. Some people keep gratitude journals, and that’s a lovely idea. I am suggesting that we keep pleasure journals, so we don’t forget how to feel good.

Even if tariffs make everything unaffordable. Even if we witness people we love being jailed or deported. Even if we or people we love are forced to give birth (I will be writing more about this, and ways that we can survive the coming war on our bodies, very soon). Even if we lose health insurance or access to vaccines. Even if the books we want our children to read are removed from libraries. Even if we lose our last remaining sources of real journalism provided by a free and open press that is not owned by the state. Even if all of this comes to be, we can still live freely in our bodies, free in our spirits, and free in our minds to start a rebellion that cannot be quelled.

The New Moon at 9 degrees of Sagittarius is the very first event of December, landing at 1:21 am ET on the 1st. This is the first New Moon we’ve experienced since the election, and there is a way to work with it to give ourselves a fresh emotional start after weeks of heaviness and trauma. Not to make the reality go away (Neptune is far enough away from this lunation, this won’t be possible) but to plug into the fiery fuel of it and initiate a new way to see our future. This can be framed in various ways: what will your next two weeks look like, between now and the next Full Moon? What will your next six months look like, between now and the Full Moon in Sagittarius in June?

There is always optimism bound up in a Sagittarius Moon, but this Moon is square Saturn and opposite Jupiter (presaging the upcoming Jupiter-Saturn square discussed below) and conjunct fixed star Antares. If you’re not familiar with Antares, this bright red star is in the heart of the Scorpius constellation and is known for its extreme power and sometimes, ruthlessness. Antares comes from the Greek “rival to Aries” or “anti-Aries” — it’s militaristic, fierce, and associated with social justice at any cost. It’s a very “by any means necessary” fixed star.

Antares is probably the spiciest fixed star (it’s conjunct my natal Moon in the 3rd, so I’m quite intimate with its workings.) It’s one of the reasons that people who know me are terrified of debating me, and often say, “I cannot argue with you, I’ll never win.” Not necessarily meant as a compliment, but I take it as one. Thanks, Antares.

This gladiator star makes me think about wielding swords. Something I’ve been meditating on lately is cutting ties with fascists. Cord-cutting, of a sort, so we are no longer infected by the toxic desperation of late capitalism and late patriarchy — so we don’t have to engage with it. Again, not to pretend it’s not happening, but to avoid being depressed or weakened by it. Watching millions flee X for Bluesky is one way we can see this happening in real-time.

Mercury stationed retrograde in Sagittarius at the start of Thanksgiving week, and by Friday the 6th, Mars will station retrograde in Leo. These two personal planets both in retrograde motion in fire signs feels like frustrated passion. It feels like stoppages and slowdowns and boiling rage that has nowhere to go, causing harm. It feels like fires. And with the Jupiter-Saturn square flaring again on Christmas Eve after it last was exact in August, it seems like the collective is struggling against forces that are out of our control.

Before we get to the volatility of Christmas week, Neptune stations direct in Pisces on the 7th. This is the same day that Venus conjuncts Pluto in Aquarius. The last time this happened was on Valentine’s Day earlier this year. It’s giving jealousy, met with the urge to deny that jealousy and pull away from the animal body into the analytical mind. This is a moment for poly communities to do some good teaching about compersion, a concept I talk about in the Aquarius chapter of my recent book.

The Full Moon in Gemini opens the other side of the Sagittarius axis, letting all the air out of the bloviating balloon on the 15th, and because Mercury stations direct on the same day in Sagittarius, it feels like a whole conversation has been had since the start of November, when the retrograde shadow began on the 6th. This dialogue, whether it was with the self, a friend, or a partner, has now had a beginning, a middle, and an end. After the backend shadow closes on January 2nd, we’ll get the final epilogue.

The Winter Solstice arrives on the 21st, the shortest, darkest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the beginning of Capricorn season. Now we enter the final quarter of the astrological year, ten days before the start of a new Gregorian year. This is about beginnings and endings and keeping the Yule log burning as we let go of what Pluto ground to dust in the final degrees of Capricorn in November.

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If you know me, you know I don’t exactly vibe with capitalist orgies like Black Friday, but it’s so ubiquitous that it’s become essential for me to participate in my own small revolutionary way. There are three ways to get in on my hot Black Friday deals.

1. I’m offering special pricing on my sessions between now and midnight on December 1st. 60-minute sessions (all astrology readings and clinical sexology/sex coaching sessions) are usually $200 but they’re only $160 for the duration of the sale. Erotic Energy Mapping sessions, usually $250, will be $200 for this limited time. Book any discounted 1-hour session here, and Erotic Energy Mapping sessions here, or if you can’t find a time on my schedule pay via Venmo or Paypal and then email me to set up the session.
2. If you buy a copy of my book Sex and Your Stars: A Sexologist’s Guide to the Erotic Energy of the Zodiac and email me your receipt between now and December 1 at midnight, you can redeem a private 2024 mini-phone reading with me. This is up to a half-hour of time, worth $100. I mean, WOW. And if you buy the book and write a review, we can do a 45-minute call.
3. Love my astrology forecasts but never became a paid subscriber? Between now and Sunday, you can buy a yearly subscription to my paywalled posts, which include monthly Erotic Ecliptic forecasts by sign, for just $30 (it’s usually $44.) The Founder’s price, which includes a whole lotta perks, will be only $125 through Sunday (it’s usually $160). Grab these discounts here.

Some personal news: I’ve been writing monthly horoscopes for my friends at WELL+GOOD for a year, but starting on December 1st, I’ll be creating daily forecasts for them as well, so if you dig my astro content, you’re about to get a big and juicy Jupiterean helping of them. I’ll share those links on my socials in the coming days. I’ve left Twitter for good (good riddance Nazi scum) so you can find me on Bluesky, which is pretty nice so far. But damn, I have lost the 16,000 followers I had in the bad place, so I’m starting again from scratch. Please help a girl out and follow me.

Lovely paid subscribers! Your sign-by-sign forecasts are cooking, and I’ll post them in the chat after I plate them. I haven’t had my Thanksgiving meal yet, as you can probably guess, so I’m gonna go check on my cookies and start eating with the fam.

Big love and decolinized Thanksgiving vibes,

Stefanie