Full Moon in Gemini: Eye to Eye with Change

Hermes by Salvador Dali

Full Moon in Gemini
December 17, 2013
4:28 am EST /  9:28 am GMT


The Full Moon in Gemini arrives very early tomorrow morning, which means, in trickster Gemini fashion, the Moon will look most full tonight. Gemini is the crafty one, always ahead of the game, and we'll need that energy to dive into what's ahead.

This Full Moon arrives at 25 Gemini, with the Sun at 25 Sagittarius. For once, there are no major aspects to the Full Moon itself, putting the Sun and Moon out there on their own, facing off, staring each other right in the eye.

Except, of course, that the Sun at 25 Sag is very close to the Galactic Center at 27 Sag. The Galactic Center is the massive black hole at the heart of our Galaxy, absorbing and transmitting incredible amounts of energy is many forms. So, the Gemini Moon is staring that down, too.

Gemini and Sagittarius share optimism, the belief that things will mostly turn out OK even when the outlook is bleak. Gemini's optimism springs from the youthful conviction that something will surely turn up, while the Sagittarian is more based on deep thought and long study, which points up their paradox.

Gemini embodies the archetype of the puer, the child. The puer may be unformed, untried, still wet behind the ears, but he or she is open, not pinned down by a weighty past or too much experience. This can be the hapless, hopeless one who never learns––but is also beginner's mind, the ability to see each situation with fresh eyes.

Sagittarius embodies the senex, the old one. The senex is the voice of experience, the one who's been there and done that, who has things all worked out. Sagittarius is the sign of philosophers, the law, and academia. This can be the hidebound voice of "it's always been done this way" but is also the wisdom that comes with age.

At this Full Moon, the senex Sagittarian Sun has the power of the Galactic Core aligned with it. All the energy of the galaxy, all the endless eons of time, awesome in its power and majesty.

And here's the Gemini Moon, saying, gee, this is cool, what can we do with this?

So the illumination of this Full Moon will focus on where we are on the puer-senex continuum, especially when faced with Big Changes (which we all are, these days).

Are we too set in our ways? Are we too devil-may-care? Are we overly certain or overly naive?  Do we feel at least somewhat able to cope, or are we feeling like David facing Goliath?

The forces of change continue to be strong. A few hours after the Full Moon, Uranus the revolutionary goes direct, shifting out of his current retrograde. He is stationing now, which means his energy is especially strong.

Once he turns, he'll move to catch up with Pluto for their next exact square in April 2014. Astrologically speaking, Uranus will be applying, or moving toward, this square, which will increase that energy over the next months.

Check your birth chart to see where this Full Moon falls. The houses of the Moon and the Sun will be especially illuminated now. Look to see what you have in and around 25 degrees of any sign––these places in your chart will also be affected strongly. Check in to see how your puer–senex balance is in these areas. The Full Moon is likely to offer something to light this up.

This Full Moon is a powerful time to see where we are on the great wheel of change. Looking the Galactic Center in the eye, we know we can't stop it. We can't even slow it down a little. But sitting with the Gemini Moon, we can find a kind of playfulness, a confidence we can find a way, and maybe a bit of the trickster to bluff it out until we see exactly where the path will lie.
    

Soon, the New Moon

planting with the Moon!

Preparing for the New Moon in Sagittarius
Arriving December 13, 2012

We're in the Scorpio Balsamic, let's clean out the gunk, time now ... a great time to peek ahead, imagine the blaze of light to come (soon, very soon) and align with the best in all of that.

Which is a fancy way of saying, we've got something to look forward to!

First, some background on New Moons: Each lunar month, the Sun and Moon meet at the same position in the zodiac. Astrologically, they're conjunct. At this point, the energies of the two luminaries, the lights in our sky, join up, energizing the same point. This merging of energies happens in the dark. The Moon and Sun rise and set at the same time, leaving the night sky empty.

The burst of energy happening in darkness makes each New Moon a seed time, a moment when the cosmos starts something new. Seeds germinate in the dark, so what will emerge is a mystery. We get clues about this mystery by looking at the sign and degree of the New Moon, and the aspect patterns that surround it. This can tell us a lot about what each New Moon will bring.

Of course, our interest tends to focus on our own lives––what will the New Moon bring to me? This is where your birth chart comes in. Knowing how each New Moon will touch your chart, by sign, degree, and house, tells you what might emerge for you.

If you need a copy of your birth chart, go here: Astro-com Birth Data Entry It's free.

Then compare your chart with the New Moon chart. Where does 21 degrees of Sagittarius fall in your chart? What else in this New Moon chart is touching your chart?

Once you have some ideas about that, the New Moon becomes a time for wishing. We set intentions, listen to dreams, explore oracles, and plant seeds.

For me, this is a lunar, magical, co-creative process. I partner with what's already happening. I avoid asserting willfully what I want, and instead explore what is being offered, and how I can best align with that.

WAIT for the New Moon to make wishes. Remember that until the New Moon arrives, the Moon is waning, releasing, letting go. You want to plant your seeds when the Moon begins growing again. The first three days after the New Moon are best, and your own process will be strongest for you.

What about the Galactic Alignment? You may have heard that the world is about to end, described in a variety of scenarios, one of which is a galactic alignment happening on or around the Solstice. So, wishing for stuff might feel a bit ... superfluous.

It turns out that the galactic alignment concept––the apocalyptic one, anyway––doesn't hold up either astronomically or astrologically.

Our Milky Way galaxy has a massively huge black hole in its center. This black hole is named Sagittarius A and, astrologically speaking, falls at about 26 Sagittarius, give or take, since it's really, really, really, really big.

the Milky Way

So, one way of thinking about galactic alignment is to say, when does the Sun (or Moon or any other body or point) reach 26 Sag? This kind of alignment happens once a year for the Sun, once a month for the Moon, and so on for everything else relative to its orbit.

If we look at "alignment" this way, which in astrology is a conjunction, then the Dec 13 New Moon conjuncts the galactic center, being only 5 degrees away, and therefore well placed to transit not radiation to destroy us, but information to enlighten us. This is way cool.

The dire end-of-world predictions are mostly talking about a different kind of alignment, either actually crossing the real galactic plan, or crossing the galactic equator. (Sometimes it's hard to tell.)

Our solar system is way far from the actual galactic plane and will not cross it any time soon. The Earth crosses the galactic equator twice every year, and will continue to do so. If the Earth comes to an end any time soon, it won't be due to this event. Here's the science on that.

What's happening seems to be a confusion between science and symbol. One aspect of this muddle is the idea that this year, crossing the galactic equator coincides with the Winter Solstice––which it doesn't, precisely, as the closest lineup of crossing and solstice happened back in 1998.

We do live in an era when the solstice and crossing the galactic equator are closer than at other times in history. And, given some of the other amazing transits we've got (notably the Pluto–Uranus square), we're living in an incredibly transformative time.

I just don't see any evidence the Earth is going to be zapped out of existence while crossing the galactic equator near the Winter Solstice.

Back to the New Moon. This Sagittarian New Moon will be offering amazing, optimistic, philosophical, adventurous, liberating energy. The biggest challenge will be staying within our limits, since this is a no-boundaries kind of Moon ... we'll look to Saturn for help with that one.

More on the special qualities of the New Moon, tomorrow!