Thresholds

Even though we're two weeks into January, my feet are still reaching for the ground. I feel like a toddler who's just learned to sit in a chair, but isn't quite sure how to get down. Am I supposed to hold onto the back or the side to make sure it doesn't tip over? Am I 1 inch or 7 inches from the floor? There are things to tend, tasks to organize, people to see and places to go but my balance is unsteady. While a new year tends to bring an innate quality of effervescence and hope, 2026 thus far has felt more like I've shown up to a party not wearing any pants.

Is it the hostile political climate? Unfinished business of 2025 hanging over me? The routine heartache post disbanding of my family unit? Or, perhaps, it's the looming of my upcoming birthday and a full digit into my 50s... Within this buffet of potential reasons, and I'm sure they all are contributing to my feelings of wobbly-ness, I've decided to turn to the oracle in the sky .

What I love about astrology is how I'm able to creatively interpret what the positions of the planets might mean for my own karmic story, as well as for others. I intuit a language ancient civilizations also used to divine information on the season they were in and what was coming. Floods, droughts, wars, peacetime, births, marriages, the list goes on, but for my purposes I look to the stars seeking information on what may effect my own moods and climates, or for the terrain of the person who's chart I'm reading. Being a student of astrology I'm privy to the shape and size of my natal promise, to the life I'll play out in this lifetime. While I don't see astrology as predictive, I see it as a map to a choose your own adventure, with choices on how to respond to the opportunities and challenges. There's a start and a finish line, hurtles and straightaways, hills and valleys. And if you can read the signs, you might get some assistance or forewarnings along the way.

I say all of this not to sell my skills as a developing astrologer, but to explain why it's so often empowering to read the sky, even when the horizon is littered with storm clouds. And as my birthday approaches, its seems like a good time to look up. A solar return is when the Sun returns to the precise position as it was in at the time of one's birth (51 years later) and provides a snapshot of where all of the other planets are sitting in the sky. With the Sun as my "bookmark"for 2026, I then interpret what the positions of the planets and the houses might mean for the year ahead. And wouldn't you know, my personal forecast for the karma to be played out this year using the solar return as my divining tool is about returning to self. A threshold year marked by a reset, re-alignment and re-embodiment. (Did the planets know my word for the year is "ANCHORING?" Were they watching as I journaled my desire to feel centered, grounded and in my body? Or that the image I'm using to guide me through the year is of an anchored buoy rolling with the currents, rooting to the ocean floor, being flexible as she is enduring, self-assured as she is endearing? I mean... you can't make this stuff up.)

You may ask how I know this is what the planets are saying and, mind you, they are saying other things. Not to get too technical, but it has to do with the ascendant degree, aka ASC, as it represents the point on the birth chart marking the native's first breath and where all of the planets were at this moment. For my 51st solar return, the ASC degree of my birth chart and solar return chart are the same! (According to ChatGPT, this occurrence isn't common.)

The ASC resides in the 1st house of everyone's chart and the 1st house in astrology delineates the helm of the birth chart, signifying the identity of the native, her body and soul. You can think of the ASC as representing the character playing out a lifetime, while the Sun symbolizes the plot of the lifetime and the Moon signifies the environment and setting of the lifetime. Maybe that's too much info and too much woo-woo to get behind, but it's kind of wonderful to be validated with a message of realignment from the cosmos, to know that the universe has my back when it comes to carrying out my intentions, projects and passions for the year.

As I shed my last layers of snake skin before Chinese New Year (February 17th) and the fire horse takes over with fresh and wild energy, I'm taking a beat as I land in my finished home and mapping out a plan of action to make space for the creativity, community and learning I'll be leaning into. I breathe a bit easier knowing the planets and mother nature are there to help guide me. And I'll keep on keeping on as I make space for grace, joy and quiet time in the ever-changing tides.

Maybe some of you also are having a hard time touching ground, maybe some of you are feeling secure and rooted, either way I'm thinking of you all in the dawning of this new year. While January surrounds us, be it with snow laden branches or winter winds blowing over turquoise waters, my wish is for our hearts to be hopeful and our intentions to bloom great things.

With love,

St. Sunshine