Why We Celebrate the 2023 Winter Solstice

How the shortest day of the year can give us a glimpse of the events that await us in 2024

The winter solstice is coming! 

The winter solstice is a day of seasonal shift and spiritual rebirth. In this article, I explain the astrological and metaphysical significance of this special day. I also analyze the chart of the 2023 winter solstice in order to give us a preview of the events that await us in 2024. 

What Is the Winter Solstice?

The winter solstice is the shortest day and longest night of the year. On the winter solstice, the Sun is at its lowest point in the sky. At this time, the Sun will appear to stand still for three days and the northern hemisphere will experience its “spiritual rebirth,” the rebirth of the light.

The 2023 winter solstice will occur in the northern hemisphere on December 21, 2023, at 10:27 PM EST, and on December 22, 2023 at 3:27 AM UTC. Use the World Time Buddy to convert to your time zone if it is different.

Moving Into the First Half of the Year - Uttarayana, Lord Vishnu’s Cycle

On the winter solstice, we will move into Uttarayana, which is the first half of the year according to the Vedic tradition. Uttarayana is under the reign of Lord Vishnu, the builder, preserver, and sustainer of the world.

During Uttarayana, the Sun’s light will gradually grow stronger as the world moves toward the summer solstice in June. Uttarayana is the most outwardly expansive and fruitful half of the year which is the best time to establish projects that are of material or worldly consequence.

All of this is of course reversed in the southern hemisphere where the summer solstice is observed in December and the winter solstice in June. For those in the southern half of the world, the December solstice will mark the beginning of Dakshinayana, the Sun's waning (yin) half of the year.

Dakshinayana is the half of the year when Lord Vishnu rests, and Lord Shiva takes over. It is the time to complete what was set into motion in Uttarayana, and it brings a focus on ancestral propitiation and spiritual devotional practices, as well as purifying, strengthening, and balancing our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.

December 18 to 23: The Sun Transits in the Galactic Center - Opening a Gateway to Enlightenment, a New Perspective, and Rebirth

Our Sun, which symbolizes the soul of the world, will transit in the Galactic Center from December 18 to 23, 2023. Known in the Vedic tradition as Vishnunabhi, the Navel of Lord Vishnu, the Galactic Center spans from about two to seven degrees of sidereal Sagittarius.

This center is the source of cosmic light and creative power for our whole Milky Way Galaxy, including the solar system in which we live. Our Sun is recharged and rejuvenated through an “energetic upgrade” when it transits here, just in time for the New Year ahead!

The day of the solstice and three days on either side of it are a very sensitive time for our physical and mental health. It is super important to rest, tune in, spend quiet time (especially in nature), and take extra good care of ourselves during these days. This is not a good time to initiate anything of material import, as I discussed in detail in a recent article titled Vedic Astrology Forecast: December 2023.

More importantly, during the three days after the winter solstice, the Sun and our own planetary nervous system will experience a still-point. At this time, the solstice gateway will be opened, offering us the possibility for a new perspective and rebirth.

...This is the solstice, the still point of the sun, its cusp and midnight, the year’s threshold and unlocking, where the past lets go of and becomes the future; the place of caught breath, the door of a vanished house left ajar...(Margaret Atwood, Eating Fire: Selected Poetry, 1965-95)

The Winter Solstice Chart: A Preview of the Year Ahead

Astrologers employ a wide variety of horoscopes to forecast upcoming world affairs and events. I often use the chart for the winter solstice to create a forecast of the year ahead. The basis for this chart in Vedic astrology is in the Nārada-saṁhitā (Jyotiṣa-grantha). This chart will tell us something about the next year, especially the events that could occur during the next six months.

The solstice chart for the United States has an extremely fiery signature, meaning that the majority of chart points and planets are in fire signs. This excessive fire can be cathartic, passionate, dynamic, temperamental, and metamorphic. The year 2024 will usher in the Year of the Dragon in Chinese Astrology. Dragon years are typically known to have a fiery quality also, in that they bring dynamic and powerful new energies and significant transformations.

The Lord of Karma, Saturn, occupies the seventh house, which does not generally bode well for foreign affairs. Saturn is also in Shatabhisha nakshatra, in Sagittarius navamsa, and widely squares the angles of the chart, pointing to ongoing chaos, tension, and domestic and international conflict. Ketu in the second house reflects the looming financial crisis also connected to the United States Pluto Return occurring now and throughout 2024.

In the solstice chart, Pluto squares the Moon. This can suggest an intense period of power struggles and potentially destructive karmic purging. However, there is some hope that the United States can overcome some of its longstanding problems, as Jupiter may provide spiritual grace and protection. This benefic planet is in conjunction with the Moon in the ninth house, in trine to the ascendant, and in trine to the Sun and Mercury in the fifth house.

Mars and Uranus form an exact quincunx in the solstice chart, also known as a 6/8 or inconjunct, in which Uranus at 25 degrees of Aries is six signs and houses away from Mars at 25 degrees of Scorpio (while Mars in Scorpio is eight signs and houses away from Uranus in Aries). This aspect will in some cases represent rashness, impatience, and lack of forethought which can cause accidents to happen.

Mars and Uranus in a 6/8 can also manifest in abusive relationships, irritability, erratic or rebellious behavior, a distrust of authority, lack of self-discipline, or difficulty tolerating frustration. The aspect will be within an effective orb of influence from mid-December until around December 26. In addition, its effect will also carry some influence into the New Year, given that it is a significant aspect within the solstice/New Year chart.

The chart for the world at large (set for Greenwich, England, shown below) also has a predominant fire signature, and additionally is lacking in the earth element energy. This can suggest the same themes as mentioned above for the United States chart, as well as the emerging worldwide financial crisis, significant reshuffling and disorganization in global governance and international affairs, and overall instability (related to the additional weakness of the earth element).

At the same time, the aspects by benefics Venus, the Moon, and Jupiter offer some relief. In this realm of duality, we have to learn to rise above the evil forces. Fortunately, the benefic planets reveal our capacity and power to do so.

The Solstice Chart Aligns With the Numerology of 2024: It’s Time to Overcome Our Karmic Limitations in the Year of Saturn!

The numerology of 2024 fits with the purificatory fire energy seen in the above-mentioned solstice charts. The year 2024 is an eight year because the digits in the year add up to eight (2+0+2+4). This is the number of Saturn according to numerology. Therefore, Saturn will be the presiding deity for the entire planet in 2024. The predominant influence of Saturn, the Lord of Karma, will surely compel some necessary balancing between the material and spiritual worlds in 2024.

Saturn, or “Shani Devi” according to Vedic Astrology, signifies the work we must accomplish in our evolutionary journey. Astrologer Steven Arroyo described Saturn as the “heat and pressure…needed in order that we can develop what Buddhists call the ‘diamond soul’ or ‘diamond body,’ which is a way of saying our fundamental innermost nature” (Astrology, Karma, and Transformation, p. 73). Saturn therefore signifies the divine impulse which encourages us to overcome our karmic limitations through spiritual humility, discipline, will power, and determination.

Honoring Our Own Rebirth at the Winter Solstice

The winter solstice symbolizes the principle of spiritual birth—which, just as it is found in the universe, so is found within us as a microcosm of creation. We can realize our enormous spiritual potential that lies deep within our own creative energies like a seed. The 'Son' symbolizes the hope of humanity, bringing light to the darkness of our material existence, and reuniting us with the divinity of our own higher nature.

This knowledge is written in the stars [and] in the universe. Celebrating the winter solstice offers us the time to reflect on the greatest mysteries of all—how we came to be, why we are here, and how we can attain the truly spiritual—for those who wish to be 'born again' as children of the Sun. (Belsebuub and Angela Pritchard, The Path of the Spiritual Sun, Mystical Life Publications, p. 156).

Tree Silhouette Against Starry Night Sky by © Robert Llewellyn/Corbis

Winter solstice is the season of death and rebirth when we celebrate the end of the old and the beginning of the new solar year. Now is the most special time of the year to seek the blessed light that shines so brightly within, and to offer ourselves unto this light.

There is a light that shines beyond all things on earth, beyond us all, beyond the heavens, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens. (Upanishads)

With profound gratitude, love and appreciation, I sincerely honor and praise the light that shines so brightly in you, my dear divine friends and followers. Blessings of the solstice and this holy season, and a healthy, joyful and fulfilling New Year to you and all your dear ones.

Please note that this and all my other forecasts are based on the sidereal zodiac used in both Vedic and Western sidereal astrology, not the tropical system used by most Western and a small number of Vedic astrologers. All the astrological charts that I work with and share are calculated according to the sidereal zodiac and Lahiri Ayanamsa.