Wednesday is Santa Lucia Day, the Swedish Festival of Light, and also the second day of Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights. Hanukkah (meaning consecration, dedication) commemorates a miracle that occurred in 165 B.C. to the Jewish Temple after it was desecrated. There was only one night left of oil for the lamps, but the oil lasted eight days, enough time to recapture and rededicate the temple. And so, like our lighting of the Advent candles at sunset, we also light our menorah (nine-branched candelabrum), one candle each night for eight nights, and one used to light the others.

And so, at sunset, lighting the Menorah, remembering the miracle of the Light. Each night, we light a candle—right, left, right, left, reciting the blessing and prayer, “Blessed are You, O G-d. Who has performed miracles for our fathers. Who has given us Life.” We also light our Advent wreath candles and recite the Mantram of Light:

Let the Forces of Light bring illumination to humanity

Let the Spirit of Peace be spread abroad

May men and women of goodwill everywhere meet in a spirit of cooperation

May forgiveness on the part of all be the keynote at this time

Let power attend the efforts of the Great Ones

So let it be, and help us to know, to do and to anchor our part in the world

I send ongoing prayers to all who have suffered fear and loss in the recent fires.

ARIES: The season’s about to change again, and so must our rhythms in terms of the sun, our health, diets, exercise and plans for our day. Through this Mercury retrograde, we assess and think along new lines, preparing for the coming changes of light, shadows, cold, warmth and color. These changes are reflected within ourselves, too. Relationships need extra tending so loved ones don’t feel cold, alone, withdrawn and left out.

TAURUS: You are learning new things, listening to speakers, gathering information. Always serious and disciplined. Your life’s task is informing and illuminating the minds of humanity. It would be good to consider what is playful for you, what brings enjoyment, fun, what calls forth your lightness and sense of spontaneity. Perhaps you need a warm pool to swim in.

GEMINI: Family, whether biological, friends, group (esoteric?), colleagues, etc. begins to matter more and more. Harmony is your focus with a touch of compromise (not much). Something’s not complete with someone. Maybe you need to talk or visit to bring forth a new step in relationships. Listen quietly to others until you understand their essential message. All of this brings love forth – your Venusian task.

CANCER: Make contact. These two words have a depth most don’t understand. Making contact releases Love. The contact must be true, real and intentional, from the heart, heart to heart, soul to soul. The love being released liberates everyone. However, someone must begin the process and that someone is you. Do this ceaselessly, quietly, connecting with all the kingdoms.

LEO: You must not only create a new plan concerning finances and resources, but a new state of values must also come forth also. You may want to communicate more deeply with close friends and/or intimates who share your values. It’s important to know what values you both hold in common. What are your desires and aspirations for the future, based on these values?

VIRGO: You need to come out of the shadows and into the light. Standing in shadows, perhaps of another, is of comfort to you. However, there comes a time when we each must define ourselves, recognize our own self-identity, realize that we’re capable, summon our confidence, and seek a new support system. Am I speaking to Virgo or Pisces? Both. For they are the shadow of the other.

LIBRA: I saw in a dream a sheaf of wheat. A symbol of nourishment. I thought of Libra, and what nourishes them. Relationships, beauty, friends, equilibrium, balance, love, sacrifice, art. It’s the art of the wheat sheaf that I remember. Librans must get back to their art in whatever form interests them. Some paint, some have galleries, some are collectors. What is your art form? It’s calling you.

SCORPIO: Do you sense restlessness, that there’s a group that belongs to you, that you belong in, yet somehow you can’t find it or they you? As you both search for the other, assess your present-day and future goals. They’ve changed recently or are in the process. So many of us are on the fence, indecisive about the future. We must summon patience. Speak with those close to you. Ask for their visions and goals. Listen carefully.

SAGITTARIUS: The perfect execution of your work will be a priority. It always is, but a new dimension has been added. Multiple ideas flow through your mind; you’re being impressed with ideas that affect your future. There’s an inner joy and gratitude, enthusiasm. Do you need to begin something? Share your ideas with those who can aid and support you. Diplomacy, peacekeeping and subtlety are paramount.

CAPRICORN: What will you do when winter begins? It’s only a week away. Then the holidays. However, something somewhere is calling you from far away. Perhaps it’s a town or city, a village or community, a course of study, somewhere you want to travel to, to visit and discover. Something merry and bright your ways comes.

AQUARIUS: Take extra care with money and resources. Use this time to discriminate between what is needed and what is not. Give away what is not and then give more away. Giving provides us with meaning, a true sense of service and a liberation that allows us to move forward in our lives, no matter the difficulties. The other side of giving is receiving. Receive what’s needed graciously.

PISCES: We must do our best wherever we find ourselves. Many of us are sitting on the fence (uncomfortable), unable to know where we’re going, what to do when we don’t know what to do. It’s important to know wherever we are, eventually our gifts are called forth. We (especially Pisces at this time) are to work at our best in the place(s) we find ourselves. Relationships need compromise. Offer loving Goodwill.

Free will astrology for the week of December 13, 2017.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): According to a Sufi aphorism, you can’t be sure that you are in possession of the righteous truth unless a thousand people have called you a heretic. If that’s accurate, you still have a ways to go before you can be certified. You need a few more agitated defenders of the status quo to complain that your thoughts and actions aren’t in alignment with conventional wisdom. Go round them up! Ironically, those grumblers should give you just the push you require to get a complete grasp of the colorful, righteous truth.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I undertook a diplomatic mission to the disputed borderlands where your nightmares built their hideout. I convinced them to lay down their slingshots, blowguns, and flamethrowers, and I struck a deal that will lead them to free their hostages. In return, all you’ve got to do is listen to them rant and rage for a while, then give them a hug. Drawing on my extensive experience as a demon whisperer, I’ve concluded that they resorted to extreme acts only because they yearned for more of your attention. So grant them that small wish, please!

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Have you ever been wounded by a person you cared for deeply? Most of us have. Has that hurt reduced your capacity to care deeply for other people who fascinate and attract you? Probably. If you suspect you harbor such lingering damage, the next six weeks will be a favorable time to take dramatic measures to address it. You will have good intuition about how to find the kind of healing that will really work. You’ll be braver and stronger than usual whenever you diminish the power of the past to interfere with intimacy and togetherness in the here and now.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” So said Helen Schuman in A Course in Miracles. Personally, I don’t agree with the first part of that advice. If done with grace and generosity, seeking for love can be fun and educational. It can inspire us to escape our limitations and expand our charm. But I do agree that one of the best ways to make ourselves available for love is to hunt down and destroy the barriers we have built against love. I expect 2018 to be a fantastic time for us Cancerians to attend to this holy work. Get started now!

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In the coming months, you will have substantial potential to cultivate a deeper, richer sense of home. Here are tips on how to take maximum advantage. 1. Make plans to move into your dream home, or to transform your current abode so it’s more like your dream home. 2. Obtain a new mirror that reflects your beauty in the best possible ways. 3. Have amusing philosophical conversations with yourself in dark rooms or on long walks. 4. Acquire a new stuffed animal or magic talisman to cuddle with. 5. Once a month, when the moon is full, literally dance with your own shadow. 6. Expand and refine your relationship with autoerotic pleasures. 7. Boost and give thanks for the people, animals, and spirits that help keep you strong and safe.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Deuces are wild. Contradictions will turn out to be unpredictably useful. Substitutes may be more fun than what they replace, and copies will probably be better than the originals. Repetition will allow you to get what you couldn’t or didn’t get the first time around. Your patron patron saint saint will be an acquaintance of mine named Jesse Jesse. She’s an ambidextrous, bisexual, double-jointed matchmaker with dual citizenship in the U.S. and Ireland. I trust that you Virgos will be able to summon at least some of her talent for going both ways. I suspect that you may be able to have your cake and eat it, too.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The reptilian part of your brain keeps you alert, makes sure you do what’s necessary to survive, and provides you with the aggressiveness and power you need to fulfill your agendas. Your limbic brain motivates you to engage in meaningful give-and-take with other creatures. It’s the source of your emotions and your urges to nurture. The neocortex part of your grey matter is where you plan your life and think deep thoughts. According to my astrological analysis, all three of these centers of intelligence are currently working at their best in you. You may be as smart as you have ever been. How will you use your enhanced savvy?

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The classical composer and pianist Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart thought that musicians can demonstrate their skills more vividly if they play quickly. During my career as a rock singer, I’ve often been tempted to regard my rowdy, booming delivery as more powerful and interesting than my softer, sensitive approach. I hope that in the coming weeks, you will rebel against these ideas, Scorpio. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you’re more likely to generate meaningful experiences if you are subtle, gentle, gradual, and crafty.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): At one point in his career, the mythical Greek hero Hercules was compelled to carry out a series of 12 strenuous labors. Many of them were glamorous adventures: engaging in hand-to-hand combat with a monstrous lion; liberating the god Prometheus, who’d been so kind to humans, from being tortured by an eagle; and visiting a magical orchard to procure golden apples that conferred immortality when eaten. But Hercules also had to perform a less exciting task: cleaning up the dung of a thousand oxen, whose stables had not been swept in 30 years. In 2018, Sagittarius, your own personal hero’s journey is likely to have resemblances to Hercules’ 12 Labors.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Humans have used petroleum as a fuel since ancient times. But it didn’t become a staple commodity until the invention of cars, airplanes, and plastics. Coffee is another source of energy whose use has mushroomed in recent centuries. The first European coffee shop appeared in Rome in 1645. Today there are over 25,000 Starbucks on the planet. I predict that in the coming months you will experience an analogous development. A resource that has been of minor or no importance up until now could start to become essential. Do you have a sense of what it is? Start sniffing around.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): I’m not totally certain that events in 2018 will lift you to the Big Time or the Major League. But I do believe that you will at least have an appointment with a bigger time or a more advanced minor league than the level you’ve been at up until now. Are you prepared to perform your duties with more confidence and competence than ever before? Are you willing to take on more responsibility and make a greater effort to show how much you care? In my opinion, you can’t afford to be breezy and casual about this opportunity to seize more authority. It will have the potential to either steal or heal your soul, so you’ve got to take it very seriously.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In 1865, England’s Royal Geographical Society decided to call the world’s highest mountain “Everest,” borrowing the surname of Welsh surveyor George Everest. Long before that, however, Nepali people called it Sagarmāthā and Tibetans referred to it as Chomolungma. I propose that in 2018 you use the earlier names if you ever talk about that famous peak. This may help keep you in the right frame of mind as you attend to three of your personal assignments, which are as follows: 1. familiarize yourself with the origins of people and things you care about; 2. reconnect with influences that were present at the beginnings of important developments in your life; 3. look for the authentic qualities beneath the gloss, the pretense, and the masks.

Homework: Make up a secret identity for yourself, complete with a new name and astrological sign. Tell all at Freewillastrology.com.