Where You Light Your Own Way: The Soul Work of the Winter Solstice

Next week, we will experience the winter solstice. One of the four turning points in the zodiac. And this particular solstice positions us to look deep inside ourselves at our own hierarchical way of viewing life—and asks us to dissolve it, if only for a day.

Where Hierarchy Dissolves and the Solstice Calls You Inward

As we move toward the celebration of the winter solstice on December 21, 2025, I want you to go within and seek the place where hierarchy dissolves. No above or below. No duality. No past self versus future self. No competition. No relativity. Just you, in your purest form.

Three other alignments shape this solstice portal. First, the Sun in Sagittarius forming a square to Saturn in Pisces. Second, Mars entering Capricorn for the first time in two years. And of course, a beautiful new moon in Sagittarius.

Let us begin with that Sun–Saturn square: fire meeting water. This alignment turns the work inward. It highlights the difference between internal authority and external authority. And it shows us, unequivocally, that inner authority cannot be handed to you by anyone else. That would be a paradox.

Outer authority can be granted. Inner authority must be claimed.

You want inner authority because, without it, you cannot directly lead yourself. You end up always needing to lean on someone else to steer you. And while that can be helpful at times, if you are dependent on it, there is a huge downside... that you will endlessly lose yourself inside someone else’s visions, goals, and dreams.

Inner authority is invaluable.

One of the biggest blocks to inner authority is the belief that you must wait for someone to give you permission—to do, be, or have something. The antidote is learning how to give yourself permission.

The Door That Won’t Open Until You Decide It Will

For context: I believe consciousness evolves through nature—stone, plant, animal, human. I share that because this story is based on this understanding I have and a belief in my being. There was a time I was deeply blocked and stuck in my life. I remember wandering around my house, lamenting, talking to myself internally, saying, “You can’t do that. You’re not allowed to do that.”

And right as those thoughts were running, my dog pawed at the door for the millionth time. He was stuck because he couldn’t open it. And as that thought whispered you’re not allowed, my hand touched the doorknob, opening a literal doorway to another dimension of reality for him. In that moment, I realized I was his god of thresholds—controlling entrance and exit.

And when I looked at him, I saw myself. Waiting for someone else to open my door. Waiting for someone to say, “Emily, you should do that. That’s a good idea.”

When those thoughts and that moment collided, I understood: I could sit there forever, waiting for a sign or a person who may never come. But when you have the capability to guide yourself, you are also the one responsible for opening your own doors.

That’s when I decided: I can open the fucking door. I can move through dimensions. I can decide it’s time.

This matters because most of us stand at that proverbial door, waiting for guidance that is never going to arrive.

So during this winter solstice—a time of slowing down internally, even as life grows hectic externally—ask yourself:

What do you need to give yourself permission for?

Each winter solstice returns you to the same house in your chart, asking you to revisit its work.

The winter solstice always happens in the exact same house in your chart every single year. This is the part of your life where the light is lowest, but the spiritual spark is most faithful. It’s the place where you must learn to guide yourself and where no one can walk the path for you. Where self-permission becomes a necessary soul skill.

And just as the winter solstice activates one house, all four turning points of the zodiac — the equinoxes and solstices — activate four specific houses in your chart every year.

• Aries at 0° (the Spring Equinox) shows where you will be forced to act as the initiator.
• Cancer at 0° (the Summer Solstice) reveals where your feelings will take over.
• Libra at 0° (the Fall Equinox) is where you must learn to balance your capacity versus your desire.
• Capricorn at 0° (the Winter Solstice) is where you must lead your own way or remain stuck

These four houses are significant to your soul. They are the quarters of your inner temple. The sacred pillars INSIDE, where you experience nature's seasons as a personal experience of consciousness. They show where your growth cannot be outsourced.

How to Get This Magic Working ✨

1)    Download your ⁠Natal Chart Navigator⁠ and save a screenshot to your phone in your photos (so you don’t have to repeat this step each week!).

2)    Upload your Navigator into your favorite AI.

3) Cut + paste the prompt below.

4)    Sit back, read the reflection, and connect to the cosmos <3

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Weekly AI Prompt: 

"Aries at 0° (the Spring Equinox) shows where I will be forced to act as the initiator, Cancer at 0° (the Summer Solstice) reveals where my feelings will take over and show me what is real, Libra at 0° (the Fall Equinox) is where I must learn to balance my capacity versus my desire, and Capricorn at 0° (the Winter Solstice) is where I must lead my own way or remain stuck; using the uploaded Natal Chart Navigator and the house cusps in Table Two, calculate which houses these four points fall into in my chart, and give me one clear, conversational paragraph for each point explaining how the house location of 0° Aries, 0° Cancer, 0° Libra, and 0° Capricorn teaches me to claim my inner authority, light my own way, and understand the deeper pattern of who I am in this lifetime."

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*My entire body of work is based on Western Astrology and the Koch House system.