What the Stars Have in Store for Writers This Winter

On December 21, the sun dips down to the Tropic of Capricorn. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, this is the winter solstice: the shortest day and the longest night of the year, the moment at which we start to regain minutes of daylight. The initiation of Capricorn season heralds the official beginning of winter. Saviors from many cultures come to us at the winter solstice; so, too, do CEOs and devils. This is a time of reflection, when everything seems to get quiet. The trick is realizing that this wintery energy is all about utilizing reflection to power external, structural, societal growth. 

In January, we move into Aquarius season, where we welcome the innovators, the scientists, the intellectuals. How will we use the structure we’ve built to change things for the better? This is the Aquarian question. Writers come to us in all seasons, but many of our rule-breaking legends are Aquarians: Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde, Virginia Woolf, Lord Byron, Langston Hughes, James Joyce, Colette, Angela Davis, Gertrude Stein, Kate Chopin, Edith Wharton. The list goes on. In February, we come, at last, to Pisces season: the final sign of winter in which our attention moves beyond our individual selves and toward the collective. But what does it all mean? We progress toward something greater than ourselves. Toward the spiritual, if that word means something to you, but also toward empathy. 

The eclipses come to us, here in the depth of winter, as the world around us teaches us how to cyclically die and rise again, a phoenix from the ashes, renewed. Eclipses are a time of challenge, of shedding; if we aren’t already doing the work, the eclipses will, most assuredly, do it for us, forcing what isn’t working in our life out and ushering new change in. Two eclipses—the first in December, the second in January—will set the tone for 2020, and offers each of us an opportunity, should we choose to take it. 

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Note: Depending on your time zone, the new moon solar eclipse in Capricorn may be on December 25 or 26. I will be using the date for an EST time zone here. 

ARIES

For you, the season starts with a bang. The emphasis is on your career immediately, with a new moon solar eclipse in Capricorn lighting up your career and public image on December 26. There’s barely time to recover from the holidays, if you celebrate, because you’ve got to work on something big, babe. 

There’s a secret to eclipses: they are predictable. They happen every six months. The internet freaks out about them, but they are both a clearing and an opportunity. If you’ve been doing the work, you know exactly what is and isn’t working about your career, and you probably have a bead on the new opportunity that you really need to be pursuing. Eclipses usually only blindside us when we purposefully stick our heads in the sand. The same principle applies for January 10, when the full moon lunar eclipse in Cancer illuminates something about your home and family. 

You gather that there is a theme for you, with this eclipse series that will be hitting you all year long: it’s about that work-life balance, about the public and private, about job security and emotional security. This is the year that major patterns get sorted out.

TAURUS

You’re the first earth sign of the year that’s all about growing; Capricorn is the last earth sign of the zodiac year that’s all about what we grow with the proof of harvest. It’s just a different kind of work, and you are comfortable enough to not be thrown off by this energy. But with a Capricorn eclipse, well: there’s something more to learn here. And the eclipse ties in to learning, too. The new moon solar eclipse on December 26 is all about what you’re learning—and, possibly, publishing. It specifically hits your zone of adventure and higher education, but another layer here, for writers, is published work, so if you’ve got a book project you’re looking to get out in the world, this could be the start of something particularly potent. 

Remember that eclipses are cyclical. Again, you’re a Taurus: you understand how this works. Seed, plant, growth, harvest; rinse and repeat. Eclipses come through every six months to check in and, if need be, raze the field—but if you’re doing the work, you already know it’s coming. 

On January 10, there is a full moon lunar eclipse that also relates to your work. For you, the eclipses are going to be transforming your writing practice (and how it goes out into the world, through publishing) from the inside out. This eclipse is about releasing old work patterns, daily writing routines, that no longer work for you. How have you grown and changed over the last few years? What habits are just rote habits? What excites you? Check in with yourself, and find a way of working with your work rather than against it. 

GEMINI

The next year is going to entail a series of reality checks when it comes to your personal finances, as the eclipses light up your zones of money and value (the Cancer eclipse) and shared resources, which, incidentally, includes taxes (the Capricorn eclipse). This is a part of the work that you might have preferred to sweep under the rug: sending invoices, doing taxes, making a financial plan for yourself. 

First up: resources you share with other people. This might be joint projects, or contract situations. On December 26, the new moon solar eclipse in Capricorn presents you with opportunity: this is about what you’re beginning, the seeds you’re planting, the chance to get new stuff started. (Hire a new accountant!) 

And then, a whammy: a major reality check around how you deal with money, as it relates to your underlying sense of value. The full moon lunar eclipse in Cancer on January 10 is all about illuminating how your spending and saving patterns (even if the pattern is that there is no pattern) relate to your feelings about cash, about what you deserve, about how you grew up. It’s time to do some work.

CANCER

The tension between what you achieve as an individual and what you achieve in partnership: this is what the eclipses bring to your doorstep. Partnership is not just romantic; in this context, it strongly relates to business partnerships—with agents or clients, editors and longstanding writing groups, co-founders and anyone you are in contracted business with. This is a season about discovering what you bring to the table, and how others push you to grow in turn. 

First, the focus is on partnership: the joys and the challenges. There is the new moon solar eclipse in Capricorn on December 26, right after the holidays for those celebrating, bringing to light new opportunities, new growth. New. Lots of new. It’s not a time of year when we’re often looking for new, in spite of the emphasis on the new year and resolutions; job and income stability are strongly preferred right about now, thank you so much. But something is shifting, and you’d do well to consider it. 

Only a few weeks later, you go internal: the full moon lunar eclipse in your own sign of Cancer on January 10 is all about the layers of yourself that you’re shedding. Who have you been, and who are you becoming? Who is the person that you want to be? These are all relevant questions as you move into 2020, particularly potent ones that will stay with you throughout the year. 

LEO

How do your unconscious patterns govern your daily routines? Conversely, how have you become more conscious about integrating spiritual practice and therapeutic work into your everyday, honoring the internal work as a necessary part of the work work? These questions come into the foreground as you move into eclipse season. 

On December 26, the new moon solar eclipse in Capricorn gives a jolt of new life to your everyday routines. This encompasses a wide range of things, from your health to your pets to going in to the office. This is about renewing the little details that make up the day, the connective tissue that is essential to holding things together. What have you been craving more of? Pay attention to your hunger, and feed it.

On January 10, the full moon lunar eclipse in Cancer inspires you to get quiet. Here, the focus is less on what you are initiating, and more on what you are releasing or completing; less on the external, and more on the internal. The work you’ve done in therapy, the work you’ve done in meditation, the work you’ve done in quiet conversation with yourself over the last year: what lessons are you taking into 2020, and what can you say thank you, next to? 

On February 9, a full moon in your own sign of Leo brings an aspect of self to the surface, for consideration and appreciation. Note what you are completing right now, and how it might connect to the new moon in Leo from summer 2019. 

VIRGO

Your relationship to your creativity and your community, and how and where your energy flows, is undergoing a major shift in this eclipse cycle. Where do you find inspiration? Who do you find inspiration with? Who energizes you? What energizes you? These are the questions at the forefront of this eclipse cycle. 

For the last few years, taskmaster Saturn and transformative Pluto have been working over your relationship to your creative energy (which also, incidentally, impacts your erotic energy). Expansive Jupiter recently joined them, and on December 26, a new moon solar eclipse puts major emphasis on what you are beginning in this part of your life. It’s time to take the lessons you’ve learned over the last few years and radically transform them into your latest project. 

Here’s the thing: your work has impact for the collective, even if you don’t believe it. The full moon lunar eclipse on January 10 lights up your community, your friendships, and your broader professional network. What projects are reaching completion here? What relationships, perhaps, to be released so that new ones can enter your life and nourish the rich new opportunities you are manifesting in 2020?

Also! Don’t forget, on March 9, you’ve got a full moon in your own sign of Virgo, encouraging others to see all that you’ve accomplished and helping you really relish and bask in how far you’ve come.

LIBRA

What happens on the home front invariably impacts what’s happening in your career. The behind-the-scenes strains to become public; for you, this is the strain of eclipse season, as you struggle to maintain the balance—or resolve a tension—between the roots of your life and your expansive, long-term vision. 

You value your home and the people you call family, and the new moon solar eclipse in Capricorn on December 26 encourages a kind of new beginning on this front. You’ve been doing rigorous work around your nest—perhaps reshaping your values, perhaps even moving—and this offers the chance to start anew. 

But on January 10, the full moon solar eclipse comes in and reminds you that with new beginnings, there are also endings, releases, and completed cycles. Something has to give, and the something is in your career. You probably know what it is; perhaps it’s a long-time-coming end to a job or contract, or even something more ephemeral, like a goal. The point is, your values are changing, and how you want to show up for yourself and your people is also changing. This means that how you exist publicly in the world will change, too. And that’s okay.

SCORPIO

Your writing routine and even what you publish is directly up for review with this eclipse cycle. (Yes, sometimes astrology is that specific.) You’re no bullshit, so let’s get straight to it.  

First up: your writing. The new moon solar eclipse in Capricorn on December 26 expands on the attention you’ve been giving this part of your life for the last few years; finally, a new cycle opens up. This could pertain to, literally, the subject of your work—the genre, the topic. But it could also be how you do the work that changes. There could be a fundamental change in your routine, the people you work around, or your environment that enables a breakthrough in your work. 

New shifts in your commitment to the work itself, of course, will change how and where it’s getting published. On January 10, a full moon lunar eclipse in Cancer invites you to a ritual of gratitude around the completion of a cycle. Perhaps this is you leveling up. Perhaps it’s you blessing a time that has now passed. Perhaps you are moving on from one way of being in the world, publicly, and are moving toward another. Regardless, we know that endings also open doors to new beginnings. Pay attention to what is changing in your relationship to publications around this time, and the weeks that follow. 

SAGITTARIUS

This eclipse season initiates new realizations around your money and resources. But that’s not about my writing! Here’s the thing: it is. Working writers are small business owners, and how we value ourselves ultimately impacts how we treat our wallets. For you, this next year is very much about getting right with your money.

It begins now, at the end of the year, with a new moon solar eclipse in Capricorn on December 26. You’re inspired to begin making money in a new way, but also probably saving money in a new way. This is about reevaluating your values and your underlying relationship to cash flow: what governs the input and output of this area of your life? Time to set some new intentions. (And follow through on new practices—like sending invoices!) 

The resources you share with other people, as well as taxes, are also up for review. On January 10, the full moon lunar eclipse in Cancer shines a light on anything that needs to get wrapped up. This is the end of a cycle: perhaps folks you have previously shared resources with are getting cycled out of your life. Stay flexible. 

CAPRICORN 

Happy birthday, Capricorn! For you, the focus of this eclipse cycle is on how your identity impacts your work, and also on how your partnerships impact the work. 

This is your season, and the new moon of your season happens to be a new moon solar eclipse on December 26. This super potent energy invites a brand new cycle around issues that relate to your identity and how you put yourself out in the world. Who are you becoming? How does your identity play into your work, and how do you feel about the person that others perceive behind the work you do? This cycle has the potential to be wildly generative for you, and the seeds you put down now will grow to fruition if tended. 

The first major moon of the new year is a full moon lunar eclipse in Cancer on January 10, and it asks you to do some major work with your partnerships. How are your commitments potentially changing, growing, shifting in 2020? These might be contractual agreements with agents or writing partners; they might be looser agreements with longstanding editors or other folks you are in close companionship with. Our relationships are so much of the work, and inform so many behind-the-scenes cogs in the wheel that allow the rest of it to function. 

AQUARIUS

We’re in the early days of winter, and you can feel your birthday season on the horizon. You’ve been doing radically vital work on yourself over these last few years, and whether you realize it or not, it has transformed your work and, indeed, your everyday life in profound ways. This eclipse season ushers in a new stage of that cycle.

You know that the work begins with you. Whether you’ve committed to therapy, spiritual healing, or work that has therapeutic benefits, like journaling or tarot reading, you’ve dug deep within yourself in recent years, finding reflective practices that help you center. These are necessary, not just for rest, but also for the work that’s getting done on the back burner of that brilliant brain of yours. On December 26, a new moon solar eclipse in Capricorn initiates a new cycle that helps you tap into all of this on an even deeper level. On some level, you start to realize what it’s all for. What it’s moving toward. The answers aren’t there yet, but you feel a sense of purpose.

Then, there is a realization of how this connects to the work you do in your everyday life. Perhaps the internal work helps illuminate issues in your routine, or even in your physical healthcare, that need to get flushed out, changed up, revitalized. On January 10, a full moon lunar eclipse in Cancer encourages you to get real about what needs to be released. And don’t forget, on January 24 there’s a new moon in your own sign of Aquarius. This brings life, energy, and attention your way. It’s all about you. Enjoy the energy boost!

PISCES

You’re a winter baby, too, and even though your birthday season isn’t for a few months yet, the work you do now during eclipse season will set you up for success by the time your solar return rolls around. The focus for you? The relationship between your community and creativity. 

You’ve been working on your boundaries around your community for the last few years. You may have let some folks go and even grown new friend groups or professional networks; this part of your life has been getting worked over. On December 26, a powerful new moon solar eclipse in Capricorn initiates a new cycle of growth, focused on community and friendship. The people you surround yourself with, when it comes to your work, is vital; are they supportive, or are they energy vampires? Do they believe in your passion, and can they communicate directly, or are they passive aggressive, letting jealousy eat away like rot? You don’t need that around you. Let the eclipse bring you new, healthy relationships.

Working in tandem, we have the full moon lunar eclipse in Cancer on January 10. Something big is getting released, but it may feel as gentle as a balloon pop. One creative cycle is ending, and now, another begins. Perhaps you’ve finished a project, or your relationship to a project is in a state of wild flux. It’s time to move through it, and embrace what creativity has for you on the other side. Also! A new moon in your own sign of Pisces on February 23 is bound to bring joyful, buoyant new opportunities your way. Mark your calendar.