Ramblings, Reflections and Ruminations of Daniel Giamario | Dec 16, 2025 |
For me, the December Solstice has always been the most important of the solstices and equinoxes. It is without question my favorite astronomical calendric season. I have written and spoken on this numerous times, and here is a link to an oldie-but-goodie Winter Solstice article from many years ago.
The reason I am delving into this topic again is due to the astounding number of astronomical and astrological events converging on this “Southstice” – a term suggested by our colleague Gemini Brett, because the December Solstice has an extreme South declination. After unpacking all this, some speculation on the journey of the Soul is in order, whether in birthing or deathing.
Important Data
The Galactic Center is just now at 27Sagittarius12. The Galactic Cross, formed by the ecliptic plane and the Solstitial Colure, is at 00Capricorn00.
1) The Moon is Out-of-Bounds from December 17-22, and we are still in the extreme Lunar Standstill season. When the Moon, around the New Moon and Solstice, is in Sagittarius and Capricorn, it will be as much as 5 degrees out-of-bounds South declination.
2) On Friday, December 19, 8:19AM PST, the Moon is conjunct Venus at 23Sagittarius41, remarkably close to the Galactic Center. As Venus is now off the world stage on the other side of the Sun, this is not visible.
3) Also on December 19, at 5:43PM PST, the New Moon is 28Sagittarius25, even closer to Galactic Center.
4) On Saturday, December 20, 4:42AM PST, the Moon conjuncts Mars at 03Capricorn56. Mars, now in the exterior underworld, has just passed over the Galactic Center and Cross towards his imminent meetup with Venus and the Sun in January.
5) Also on December 20, at 5:02PM PST, Sun squares Neptune at 29Sagittarius24 / 29Pisces24. As the Sun is on the Galactic Cross, Neptune forms this square, a “crisis in action.”
6) Equally on December 20, at 9:09PM PST, Venus squares Saturn at 25Sagittarius37 / 25Pisces37. Venus is now so close to the Galactic Center, crossing by it on December 21!
7) Solstice Sunday, December 21, 7:03AM PST, Sun exactly on the Galactic Cross: 00Capricorn00.
What to Make of This?
2025 has been a remarkable year in so many ways. Among other things, four outer planets have ingressed into new signs in the same calendar year. The current time frame is even more incredible when establishing the larger context. I have written of this many times, but here’s a summary of the main points:
1) 1962-2034: The Great Turning: end and beginning of an entire Precessional Cycle
2) March 21, 2025: end of the Kali Yuga
3) End of Fourth Sun and/or Fifth Sun
4) Last Lunar Standstill Season in the Great Turning
5) Closest Venus-Mars Underworld Saga at the December Solstice season in 384 years, and the last in the Great Turning.
The TOTAMS / Shamanic Astrology Paradigm approach is to look for cosmic clues as to Great Mystery’s intent. Since the December Solstice Sun aligned with the Galactic Cross (exact date was 1998) is the determining factor for the Great Turning, the seven events listed above that spotlight this Solstice, are surely trying to get our attention!
Beyond this overwhelming focus on the upcoming Solstice and the Great Turning of The Ages, what else is being revealed?
The Path of the Soul
What follows is highly speculative and represents a work in progress. My intuition is that if the ancients took this seriously, it may have great relevance even now, and especially now …
The two Galactic Crosses – Galactic Center (right) and Galactic Edge (left), screenshot from TOTAMS Course 04: Cosmology
Back in the 1980s I researched a variety of sources regarding an ancient understanding of the Milky Way and the stars and constellations aligned with the plane of our galaxy. I explored Egyptian, Polynesian, Central Asian and Australian ideas about this. In all these sources, there was general agreement as to where the human soul enters into incarnation, and that it is through the Galactic Edge – the opposite of the Galactic Center, and where the other Galactic Cross is located. That location, found between the horns of the Bull Constellation and the feet of the Twins, is relatively fixed for long periods of time. It is where the plane of the Galaxy intersects with the ecliptic, which is 00Cancer00. This location is also in the center of the “Sacred Hoop” star configuration known to the Lakota Sioux, a prominent part of the sky featuring Orion, the Twins, the Bull, as well as the bright stars Sirius, Procyon, Capella, Pollux, Castor, Aldebaran, and even the Pleiades.
One Perspective
The ancient understanding was that the Soul enters along the Milky Way at the Galactic Edge, known as the “Silver Gate”, and then journeys up the Milky Way. Entering here required passing just below the Twins constellation, which resembles a large Roman numeral II. This plane of reality, Planet Earth, is a duality university. It must be traversed and then integrated and transcended.
As the soul, moving along the Milky Way, exits the Sacred Hoop, it passes through an almost exact equilateral triangle formed by Procyon, Sirius and Betelgeuse. An Alaskan shamanic tradition refers to this as “Genesis Gate.” The Soul’s journey would eventually reach the “Golden Gate”, represented by the Galactic Center and the opposite Galactic Cross. If the soul travels this way (turning left), the journey passes many constellations far from the ecliptic, finally arriving at Centaurus, then the Scorpion, and finally the Galactic Center and Cross. If the Soul instead turns right, the journey also passes many constellations, including the star Deneb in Cygnus, the only North Star that is on the galactic plane, and towards where the Milky way splits, one path leading towards Ophiuchus and the other path leading directly towards the Galactic Center and Cross.
Another View
Over the last 20 years or so, through the work of Andrew Collins and Gregory Little (see Path of Souls: The Native American Death Journey), in researching the numerous mound structures of the Hopewell, Adema, and other Eastern Native American cultures, a possibly complementary conception of the journey of the Soul has emerged.
Quite recently, as a new group of more open-minded investigators have emerged, the elders of these cultures have been more open to share the secrets. In their conception, at death – be it physical death or shamanic death and rebirth – at quite specific times of year, the soul of the departed goes into the triangle just below the belt of Orion (also the cosmic fire-pit and origin point of the Maya), enters into the Milky Way and turns right to journey up the Milky Way so as to reach Deneb and the place where it splits into the aforementioned two path: one path for “free souls” and one for souls to be recycled back into incarnation. It is not entirely clear which path is which, though members of our school who have been pondering this, as I have also, are speculating that the “free soul” goes into Ophiuchus, while the majority go directly into the Galactic Center at the “Golden Gate” and Cross. Andrew Collins, in his many books, also sees numerous examples of this same conception in Central Asia and Anatolia (including Gobekli Tepe), going back 18,000 years to a time when Deneb was the North Star. In these conceptions, Deneb (always some kind of bird) is like a “judge” to determine which path can be taken.
A Note about Turning Right or Left
Years ago, a passage in one of Graham Hancock’s books, I am not sure which, referenced the Egyptian Pyramid Texts, where it matters quite a lot knowing which way to turn when you reach the lower astral of the Bardo states after death. Many mystery school traditions indicate that what we see from Planet Earth with our senses has the same architecture, though more subtle, in the lower astral.
Another Kind of Journey
Meanwhile, the planets, Sun, and Moon are traversing the ecliptic, traveling through the signs in their natural order, a journey where they pass, for example, from the Twins to the Crab, to the Priestess, and then through the Scales, followed by the Scorpion. At the Scorpion, they pass Antares, the heart of the Scorpion. This star has sometimes been referred to as the gateway or guardian of the Golden Gate. Immediately following that, Sun, Moon, or planets reach the Galactic Center at 27Sagittarius12 and the Cosmic Cross at 00Capricorn00. This is precisely where Venus and Mars are passing during this auspicious time.
What is the Golden Gate?
The TOTAMS Three Worlds Approach holds differing views of what the Galactic Center and Cross actually entail. Keep in mind that the GC is actually a giant black hole, emitting massive amounts of cosmic radiation, and which the countless numbers of solar systems and stars orbit. Our own solar system takes 225-240 million years for one revolution. Amazingly, our solar system is 25,800 light years away from the GC! Talk about coincidence! From a celestial perspective, the Golden Gate can be viewed as a gate of ascension, perhaps a graduation to an entirely different universe … But from a more realistic and an underworld perspective, the GC is also where composting happens. All that needs to be composted will be recycled. Interestingly, in the ceremonies of the mound cultures (and presumably Gobekli Tepe), the Scorpion and the GC were required to be invisible and below the horizon for the ceremony to work.
Our research on these possible correspondences, from around the world, is an ongoing investigation. Certainly one way to gain intuitive clues is to just hang out with the Milky Way under a dark sky, in particular with the Galactic Center and Galactic Edge regions, as well as with the area where the Milky Way splits at Deneb and the Cygnus constellation.
So What About This December Solstice?
My sense is that this Solstice, with all the clues it presents, signifies a peak initiatory time frame for global humanity. It is likely a great turning point. The most intense time, where the greatest amount of inner work can be accomplished, is the time of December, January and February, when Venus and Mars are in the exterior underworld. Special attention should be placed on the out-of-bounds Moon windows, roughly whenever the Moon is near the Solstice degrees in Sagittarius, Capricorn, Gemini and Cancer.
One aspect of this is a requirement for the capacity and willingness to grieve. In particular the authentic grief that there will be no going back to how things used to be. There is also much to grieve with regards to the destruction to the Earth during the materialism of the Kali Yuga and the great loss of our connection to the land, sky and our indigenous roots. Fortunately, much, much longer periods in the history of human beings on this planet – over 300,000 years at least – saw human beings exist in collaboration and partnership cultures, without the dominance of either patriarchy or matriarchy. To help re-imagine a new age and epoch, let’s reconnect to those roots!
This seems to be yet another timeline split, maybe even the greatest one so far. And I sense that this initiatory junction and turning point involves something even more urgent: having to make a clear choice between two possible paths.
1) The belief that the technology of digitalizing everything and the merging of organic human with machines in a scientific technocracy and global hive mind noosphere is the natural evolution and next step for global humanity, that this somehow is progress. This would be a so-called algocracy, a world run by algorithms.
2) The decision to remain “pure human”, in the great phrase of Greg Braden. I highly recommend his recent book Pure Human. I have found no better depiction of what is truly at stake. This path recognizes our divinity, expressed by a natural connection to Spirit, Soul and Heart. Authentic intelligence, not “Artificial” intelligence, which is, after all, an oxymoron.
Pure humans have free will. You can freely choose which path you desire.
I know what I am choosing. And TOTAMS as a school is also making that choice.
We invite you to attend our free-or-by-donation December Solstice Seminars. In the seasonal spirit of giving, we have added a Grand Prize Draw. Click here to register now!
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