Last Quarter Moon: Too Many to Count

monarch butterflies wintering together

Last Quarter Moon in Gemini:
September 8, 2012

At the Last Quarter Moon, we turn the corner from what we've gained to look at what we've lost––or need to let go of. We began with the heart-filled, heart-felt New Moon in Leo, sailed through the misty oceans of the intense Full Moon in Pisces, and now reach the final stretch in this particular lunar race.

Each stop in the cycle presents a challenge. At the Last Quarter, the Moon and Sun square each other, and our resolve to move successfully through the path we've laid out is tested. Are we ready to take the final, and possibly hardest, steps?

With the Moon in bright, active, talkative Gemini, we might be hoping someone will talk us out of it––or maybe we'll talk ourselves out of it. The Moon is conjunct Jupiter, making the temptation to talk fast, tell a few jokes, dazzle the audience, and exit stage left before the tough part could feel overwhelming. Whatever this Moon brings up for us, Jupiter makes it bigger.

The Sun is in careful, critical, analytical Virgo, conjunct Mercury. Mercury has a large presence at this Last Quarter, as he rules both Gemini and Virgo. So, thoughts and speech are front and center now.

The worst options at this Moon include dominating any and all conversations, deflecting important conversations with humor and sleight of hand tricks, offering unsolicited advice, getting lost in overwhelming detail, avoiding important stuff by giving in to easy distractions, and simply talking too much.

The best options include offering our gifts of language and humor in service to others, making new connections between ideas and people we've never noticed before, finding the perfect words to bring healing to others, creating innovative and skillful solutions to knotty problems, and understanding things quickly and effortlessly.

Moving from the worst to the best could be as simple as choosing silence over speech, listening carefully, and widening our perceptions to include things we might usually ignore.

Venus in Leo, holding the space opened up at the New Moon, stands exactly between the Sun and Moon, semisquare to each. She reminds us where we were at the New Leo Moon and how we opened our hearts. Holding that compassionate, vulnerable place will help us turn this corner with grace.

At this Last Quarter, we can see and understand much, if only we can keep quiet long enough to notice what's already here.