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.
    

New Moon in Gemini: The Council of Me

New Moon in Gemini
Today (June 8) 11:56 am EDT

When the noon siren goes off today in my town (yes, we still have one), it will welcome the New Gemini Moon.

Already, the tribe is gathering––the Moon's emerged from her long void-of-course time in Taurus, waking from her rest deep in the quiet Earth. She's connected with Pallas Athena and Mars, and draws near to the Sun.

With both luminaries, the Sun and the Moon, in Gemini, along with Mars and Jupiter, Pallas and Eris, attention focuses in on me. What am I connected to? Who and what are in my networks? What information is at my fingertips? Where can I find more?

On a national level, everyone in the US who uses a cell phone is wondering how they're connected to the NSA via their metadata.

On a global level, we're chapulling, connecting to the people of Turkey as they connect with each other to stand up against violence and tyranny, and fight for their rights.

This is also a very personal New Moon. We look to see where we're connected outward, even as we're drawn inward.

Mercury, ruler of the New Moon has moved into home-based Cancer, trining Chiron the wounded healer.

How do connections and networks become tribe and family? Does my time looking outward (cruising the internet, say) bring me more security, more nurturing? Or am I dissipating my energy in a search for novelty?

Venus, also in Cancer, activates a Grand Water Trine with Neptune and Saturn. Sometimes trines are so easy, we don't notice them.

But this one includes Saturn in Scorpio connecting to Neptune––together, these two carry strong manifestation mojo––connecting to Venus, goddess of relationships and creativity. I don't think we'll be able to ignore this amount of energy pouring in.

How do my networks support and nurture my creative passions? (Or maybe the first question is, do they ... ?) How does my style of relating and connecting foster deeper, more personal relationships? (Or maybe, does it ... ?)

Sitting with one foot in Gemini's world of bright and shiny, and Cancer's world of soft, safe, and secure, we look through both sets of eyes to see how each supports the other.

And (this is a BIG 'and'), our most vital connections and relationships are within.

The smallest amount of reflection quickly reveals the many voices within our psyches. Whether we think in terms of inner critic, inner child, inner parent; or balancing seven chakras and their various needs; or dialoging with archetypes; or using an astrological lens to connect to our Sun, Moon, Mercury, everyone, we experience ourselves as many.

At this New Moon, I will be setting an intention for a stronger, clearer, more balanced relationship with my own inner council. These last lunar cycles have showed me how impossible it is to ignore the reality of my own inner experience, the memories and patterns stored in my body, the stories (good and bad, true and not so true) that help define my experience of life.

Stepping into the life I want for myself, the one I hope for, calls me into connection with all that I am.

Ancestry, personal history, and life in all its dimensions and realities are within and around me. The strong Gemini energy helps me see my personal web of life, and how it connects to the whole.

Overwhelming? Kind of. And yet, there's power here. Opportunities. Movement. The resources to strength the present connections I wish to keep, and forge new ones as well.

As we move toward the New Moon, where are you feeling connected? Where are things lighting up for you? Look there for the new ideas that can carry you into the next bright shiny time of your life.
    

New Moon in Gemini: Seeing Through New Eyes

a scene from the film Small Change

New Moon in Gemini
June 8, 2013 11:56 am EDT

We've turned the corner, sliding home toward Saturday's New Moon in Gemini.

Tomorrow's Balsamic Moon (4:25 am EDT) in fiery Aries gives us the energy boost we need to keep going, letting go of whatever's in the way.

What will this New Moon be like? New ideas, new connections, new perspectives, lots of energy. Coming in at 18 Gemini, tightly conjunct Mars and widely conjunct Jupiter, the New Moon is also flanked by Pallas Athena and Eris at the beginning and end of Gemini.

Over these last weeks, our world's been turned upside down, more than once. If we're paying attention (as opposed to, say, keeping our heads in the sand), we can't possibly be seeing life exactly as we were before. This is a good thing!

You can never solve a problem at the level at which it was created. ––Albert Einstein

So, at this New Moon, wishes and intentions focused on seeing the world anew will be strongly supported. I encourage everyone to take a new look at your birth chart. Where is 18 Gemini? That's where you will see new ideas and connections popping up––or where you may be most in need of an update.

This New Moon falls in my Tenth House, which is career and who I am in public, and aspects my Mercury–Neptune conjunct in my Third House of communication.

Time for me to rethink how I present myself to the world (... as an introvert, marketing is not my strong suit).

Also time for new connections between my inner and outer worlds, where ideas and inspiration come from and how I communicate.

Gemini is also craft––our skills, how we work with our hands, sleight of hand magic. Gemini is youth and enthusiasm, puer rather than senex. Gemini is humor of the lightest, punniest kind, the trickster at work. Gemini is transactions, exchanges, and deals.

Any and all of these can become the focus of wishes and intentions. Where do we need a lighter touch? Where have we become stodgy, tired and out of date? Where do we have tricks up our sleeve we've been hiding, even from ourselves?

Gemini New Moon energy can point to anything from realizing it's time to get a new cell phone, to suddenly seeing the world in completely new ways. Either one. Or both.

Planets shifting into emotional territory

And ... there's something else important going on here, something we're already feeling, "feeling" being the key word.

Even as the New Moon energies focus strongly in light-hearted, playful Gemini, planets are shifting focus into the emotional territory of Cancer. Mercury led the way, entering Cancer on May 31. Venus joined him yesterday, June 2.

Already, our thoughts are turning toward home and hearth, tribe and ancestry, relationships. The shift brings our emotional connections into the mix, alone side our thoughts and ideas.

Emotions are heightened by Saturn's ongoing retrograde through Scorpio, and Neptune and Chiron in Pisces. Right now, in fact, Venus and Mercury are triggering a Grand Trine in Water with Saturn and Neptune, a pattern that continues through the New Moon and beyond, as planets continue shifting in the Moon's home sign.

So another aspect of this Gemini New Moon focuses attention on how we think about feelings.  Do we listen to our emotions? Do we heed their messages? Do we repress or deny them?

That Grand Trine, especially the presence of Saturn in Scorpio, will make repression and denial increasingly uncomfortable, if not outright impossible. Best to update our emotional life as needed, embracing any changes that are called for, however painful it might be in the short term. As I've written before, Karla McLaren is my go-to author on emotional stuff, check her out!

Emotional excess?

Although we're urged to 'live from the heart,' our modern culture doesn't tolerate emotions well. Tears are only permitted at certain occasions, and only from a few people, for a brief time. The modern pose tends to be detached, objective, ironic, cool. This New Moon will ask, how's that working for you?

In a letter to a young writer, Anaïs Nin championed emotion as a gateway to creativity (quoted in an essay by Maria Popova):

Permit yourself to flow and overflow, allow for the rise in temperature, all the expansions and intensifications. Something is always born of excess: great art was born of great terrors, great loneliness, great inhibitions, instabilities, and it always balances them. 

Check also where the sign of Cancer falls in your birth chart. This is a place where emotion is strong, and where the New Moon will also be pouring energy. We're not meant to live on the sidelines all the time. Sometimes we're called to wade into the depths and dive deeply.

When we see a confluence of Scorpio, Pisces and Cancer––all three Water signs––we're looking at all levels of emotion. In Cancer, we have personal emotions: Our connections to family, ancestry and tribe; our feelings about home, hearth, and personal security. We want to protect those we care about and feel responsible for. We want to nurture them, and be cared for in return. This is a sign of the personal mother, the one who loves us as individuals.

In Scorpio, we enter emotional depths. Scorpio is the place of the subconscious, the primitive, atavistic underpinnings of feeling. Scorpio is where we are deeply connected in ways we can't articulate, the place where we can be hurt the most. This is the Shadow, what we don't want to see or acknowledge.

In Pisces, we connect with all-that-is. This is unconditional love, the heart center, the teachings of the great spiritual traditions. Of course, Pisces is also a place of confusion and delusion, depending on how discerning we are. Getting to the high side of Pisces calls for discipline and honesty.

As the personal planets move through Cancer (with Mercury and Venus already leading the way), we'll have the chance to explore how we connect to the subconscious and the infinite through the personal. This is not always easy. No one pushes our buttons like family.

If you think you're enlightened go spend a week with your family. ––Ram Dass

The emphasis on Cancer's personal emotional sphere will be just as intense as the other zodiac gatherings we've experienced so far this year. Just before the New Moon, Neptune stations and turns retrograde in Pisces, an especially powerful position.

Later in June, Mercury begins his second retrograde of the year, in Cancer. Jupiter will also enter Cancer in late June, bringing his expansive emphasis into that sign. And Saturn continues his stately progress through Scorpio.

This New Moon initiates a process of emotional updates. We can accept with grace, or we can resist. I'd go with the grace option, myself.

The intersection of Gemini and Cancer

When these two energies interact, we can become childish. The eternal youth, the puer, does not handle feelings well. He wants what he wants when he wants it, dancing away from anything uncomfortable. Peter Pan is allergic to responsibility of all kinds.

Or, we can reawaken our childlike hearts through loving and protecting what is young, tender, and in need of care.

One of my favorite films of all time is Trouffaut's Small Change. It's French title, L'Argent de poche, means "pocket silver," a very Gemini kind of image for things that are small, close to hand, and vulnerable. 

This is a film about children and their lives, a series of short, poignant, sometime hilarious scenes that weave together families in a small French city. I was going to link to the Wikipedia article, but it gives too much of the plot away, and makes it sound like a rather boring documentary. Instead, I suggest you watch it––or watch again, if it's been awhile.

In the film, children live the lives of children, and the adults do the best they can to keep up. Towards the end of the film, a schoolteacher who has just become a father makes an impassioned speech about how the rights of children are vital for all of us. This is where family, personal emotion, and society come together.

Turkish emigres in London

In the news now, ordinary people in Istanbul march together by the tens of thousands against brutal police, an action that began to protect trees and grass––an open park slated to be bulldozed. A small action to protect what is tender, expanding into something the world is watching.

As in other people's actions in recent years, we see the importance of new connections (Gemini) between people fostered by new technologies that are not controlled from above, accompanied by an upwelling of feeling for what is near and dear, and the willingness to take protective action (Cancer).

At each New Moon, we're invitation to step into something new. This very Gemini New Moon, accompanied by emotional depths, offers new connections between thinking and feeling. Solving the immense problems facing our world will certainly require both. Perhaps now we can begin with the personal and expand beyond.
    

Gibbous Moon: Imagination Becomes Reality

Janet Echelman's 1.26

Gibbous Moon in Gemini
January 22, 2013

This morning (Sunday, January 21), the Sun has shifted into Aquarius, inviting us to be ourselves, grab onto our craziest visions, dream large, and make things happen. Mercury is also in Aquarius, conjunct the Sun. We've left the heavy pragmatism of Capricorn behind and sail aloft, amazing and magical horizons unfurling everywhere we look.

Overnight, I arrived home after a week at Blue Spirit Resort on Costa Rica's lovely Nosara peninsula, listening to inspiring speakers, moving my body to the ancient rhythms of qigong, walking on Pacific beaches and waking to the roars of howler monkeys. Now I'm ready to change my life!

We live in exciting times, and the Aquarius Sun is ready to celebrate that. Some of us, though, rather like comfort and safety. Change is needed, we can see that, but does it need to be today? And that large ... can't we have small change? So we can get used to it?

The Gibbous Moon arrives tomorrow night to say, no, not really.

This is the square-and-a-half on the way to the glorious Full Moon, the edgy time when we face what our visions are really asking of us. Yes, we want to be, have, and do all we envision. Being human, we'd prefer it neatly packaged, delivered on time, and easy to install.

The Gibbous Moon says, not so much.

We've got the Sun and Mercury together in Aquarius––the vision is so clear, so big, so compelling. The Moon is in detail-oriented, excitable Gemini.

Wait ... since Aquarius and Gemini are both Air signs, shouldn't this be an easy flowing trine? Well, we'll have the trine today, making Sunday afternoon a wonderful time for brainstorming, planning, vision boards, anything like that.

The Gibbous Moon arrives when the Moon is past the fun part and joins Ceres, the Earth Goddess, in late Aquarius. Here we get to "but how is this going to work?" and possibly "oh, no, this is not what I meant to happen..."

There is a trine back to the Sun and Mercury, from expansive, generous, and sometimes overblown Jupiter, which makes our visions seem really big, really important, and really wonderful. And they are all that and more. Still, the Moon and Ceres are working overtime to keep balls in the air and all those plates spinning.

Do we stop? Fall back and regroup? Give up? NO! With Aquarius and Gemini strong, and Aquarian Mars squaring the Nodes of the Moon, this edgy and challenging Gibbous Moon is about embracing challenge and triumphing over it. The challenges are real, and so is the dream. Both are essential.

Synchronicity delivered a wonderful example of this energy to my desktop this morning, courtesy of a friend who linked Janet Echelman's Huffpost blog and TEDtalk to Facebook.

Janet Echelman

Janet makes sculptures that float and change, are permanent, and massive. Turned down by seven art schools, she was inspired by (and worked with) fishermen in India weaving their nets.

She's worked with engineers, software developers, and scientists to bring her visions of transformed urban spaces to fruition.

Maybe we won't all work in this scale, with this success. Still, at this Gibbous Moon, we're likely to face the uncomfortable distance between what we dream and what it will take to actually get there.

Although we're looking at a single lunar cycle (which is about a month), Aquarius reminds us to take the long view. Some of Janet's works took many years to complete, as she faced each hurdle of materials, design and construction.

The title of her TED talk is "Imagination Becomes Reality" and I can't think of a better expression of the challenge and the promise of this particular Gibbous Moon.
    

Full Moon in Gemini: The Union of Opposites

alchemical union

Full Moon in Gemini with Lunar Eclipse
November 28, 2012

Oh, it's been an amazing two weeks, this trip from New Scorpio Moon to Full, solar eclipse to lunar. What was planted in the dark soil of the New Moon will come to light at the Full––except when we're in an eclipse season, all timelines lengthen and we enter a new, much larger cycle.

This is the Full Moon in Gemini, the Moon at 6 Gemini and the Sun at 6 Sagittarius. We're spanning the cosmos, with Gemini breadth and Sagittarian depth. Anything can happen, and all bets are off.

In the ordinary way, this would be a light-hearted Full Moon––Gemini and Sagittarius being the most optimistic of signs, generous, liberal-minded, and looking on the bright side.

Yet the times are challenging, and celebrations reflect this. We might feel the giddy relief of a near-escape, relaxation after having squeaked through something. We might feel deep gratitude at what we have, knowing how chancy this world can be. Optimism, yes, but with an edge, an awareness that it could be otherwise.

Jupiter the philosopher is conjunct this Full Moon, opposing in the Sun in his Sagittarian home. Since the great sage is still retrograde, he brings thoughtfulness and questioning that shift this Moon out of easy, hail-fellow-well-met territory.

And there are challenging aspects a-plenty. The Full Moon is squared by Chiron and Neptune, creating a T-square in the mutable, flexible signs. This also adds visionary depth, an awareness of past wounds, and the potential for healing.

The Chiron–Neptune square connects the Full Moon to the ongoing Grand Water Trine, holding on as Ceres retrogrades away, still within reach. At the Full Moon, Saturn is joined by Venus in Scorpio, a powerful combination that brings us to the alchemical image for this Full Moon: the coniunctio, or sacred marriage.

The culmination of alchemical transformation is this sacred union of opposites, the joining of the male and female.

But (I hear you say) the Sun and Moon are opposite each other when the Moon is Full, not joined. True––this union is one that recognizes the value and uniqueness of each, emphasized in the opposition of the Full Moon.

The coniunctio is sometimes described as the marriage of the red king and white queen, and here we see the Sun in a Fire sign and the Moon in Air.

This is not patriarchal dominance, but a true joining, yin and yang, Shiva and Shakti. Within ourselves, we realize and experience the melding of polarities into a magical one greater than its parts.

This Full Moon is at the apex of a yod filled to the brim with transformative energy: Mars and Pluto conjunct in Capricorn, masculine strength and power, form a sextile with Venus and Saturn conjunct in Scorpio, feminine strength and power, as each pair is inconjunct the Moon.

This uncomfortable set of connections demands resolution, and the answer to a yod lies in what is opposite the apex: In this case, the Sun in Sagittarius. As we embrace our opposites, we are transformed.

The Sun, after all, is catching a fiery trine from Uranus, who pours energy into revolutionary individuation. Uranus is sextiling the Moon, flowing energy both ways.

And now we've brought Uranus into the picture, we see he is forming the base of another yod, in which he and the Moon point at Venus and Saturn. We've looped back around to the melding of masculine and feminine (Venus and Saturn) in alchemical Scorpio. The answer to this yod lies in the sign of Taurus, Venus' sensual and practical daytime home.

As always, look to the house in which the Full Moon falls to see which areas of life are most likely to be illuminate now. Check out any planets in and around 6 degrees, especially those in the early degrees of the mutable signs. Where has change been coming into your life, invited or not? Where have you needed to adjust, or completely remake, your responses? These also are areas affected by the Full Moon.

How can we not be transformed? Surrounded by these energies, the best course is to dive in, go with the flow, follow the muses, and hope for the best. Whatever emerges is bound to be amazing.
    

Disseminating Moon: Life Lessons

Disseminating Moon in Gemini
November 2, 2012

The Disseminating Moon is the square-and-a-half that follows each Full Moon, asking us what we've learned. At this Disseminating Moon, in bright, connected Gemini, we're children sitting on the shore, trying to put the pieces together.

The Grand Water Trine is with us still, with Saturn in Scorpio tightly trine Ceres in Cancer, trined by Neptune and Chiron in Pisces.

The Moon is 8 degrees away from Ceres, and Uranus less than 2 degrees from squaring Ceres––the fierce mother archetype morphs suddenly into something much larger than we've ever seen.

The oceans command our attention today in direct, unavoidable ways. Weather patterns, storms, wind, rain, rising sea levels. Things that are huge. Things we cannot control. Events that change the world as we know it.

Once, years ago when my daughter was little, she and I were caught in a rip tide off the North Carolina coast. It was a sunny afternoon, we were in sight of the shore, many people were around, and help came. Still it was terrifying––knowing I was in a current stronger than me, and I needed help to free myself and protect my child. I had nightmares about it for years afterwards. I cannot imagine facing a storm of Sandy's magnitude.

So, at one level, this Disseminating Moon brings messages about the power of wind, water and tides, and about the limits of human intervention, and also about our capacity for survival, adaptation, courage, hope, and compassion.

As I write this Thursday morning, 2 million people are still without power on the East Coast, over 100 people have died in the Caribbean and across Eastern North America, and more are missing. Many pieces have yet to be put together, to understand the total impact of this storm, and where we go from here.

Those of us not living in Sandy's path send prayers, good wishes, and support, as we think those "what if" thoughts ... because an event of this power brings up issues for everyone.

This Full Moon in Taurus brought us face to face with the gifts of Earth and also her limits, with the power of emotion and intuition, and also its shadows. Like the goddess Ceres, who we know better as Demeter, the Earth goes so far and no farther.

And yet, the Earth is neither vengeful nor angry. We take our place in the great pattern of life, our actions create changes we cannot see, and other things happen––because of what we did, perhaps, but the equation is not a simple one. We live within complex, interwoven systems in which decisions made by others somehow lead to where we stand among tangled strands we try to unwind.

Mary Oliver's poem Shadows closes with these words:

... Whatever
power of the earth rampages, we turn to it
dazed but anonymous eyes; whatever
the name of the catastrophe, it is never
the opposite of love.

And so we pick up the pieces, weave new patterns, and get on with things. We help those who have suffered loss. We honor those whose courage saved lives and homes. We breathe. We understand that love is something we can bring to the pattern, something that changes things, something of great power. 
     

rainbow over NYC after Sandy

Balsamic Moon: Release on the Exhale

Somali woman

Balsamic Moon in Gemini: July 15, 2012

The Balsamic Moon arrives in about twelve hours, just after midnight EDT. This Gemini Moon, nestled among the big Gemini group, has much to tell us about letting go.

This won't be easy, but it's time. Inhale, bringing to mind every idea, concept, thought, meme, phrase, stereotype, and image that no longer serves you. On the exhale, let them go. Repeat as needed.

The Balsamic Moon, at 8 Gemini, it conjunct Ceres, Jupiter, Virgo, and the South Node. This party in mutable Air sparks with energy and connections focused on the feminine, women, girls, mothers, goddesses, nurturing, the Great Mother, the past, ancestors, traditions.

Where have we come from? What images and ideas of women, girls, mothers and mothering did we absorb in our earliest years?

In that heady, unconscious, powerful mix, what is highlighted for us now? What is worth keeping, and what needs to be reforged?

In my morning dream, a father and an autistic baby are in a house. I am with them, in some kind of care-taking role. I answer a loud knock on the door to see a very large, angry woman in a wheelchair with two weedy-looking men. They seem dangerous. I am alarmed.

Kali

She rises up out of the chair, which she no longer needs, and demands the baby, forcing her way in. The father is ineffectual and clueless. I run for help. The woman and henchmen chase me.

Terrified and determined, I run inside an open door to find myself in a building full of steep stairs painted dark red. I run to the basement, staying away from windows so they can't find me. I still need help for the baby. EOD

Yep, I've got my own thoughts and images of the feminine to sort out. It's an interesting process.

lineage

This Balsamic Moon is a half-square away from the Sun in Cancer, bringing light to the feminine. Squared by Neptune and Chiron, inconjunct Pluto, a square and a half from Saturn, the whole Gemini group is under a lot of pressure to change.

Sextile Uranus, sextile Mercury and trine Mars, in this moment, change can happen swiftly, unexpectedly and completely. Uranus and Mercury are both retrograde with this Moon (Merc turns tonight), and both in Fire.

With this Balsamic Moon, eureka moments can arrive with a suddenness and clarity that take our breath away. These are good days to expect the unexpected, and open to experiences of surprise, intuition, and new influence. Time for minds to open.
    

New Moon in Gemini: Airborne!

A Walk to Paradise Garden – W. Eugene Smith

New Moon in Gemini: June 19, 2012

The New Moon in Gemini is about to arrive, shifting energy from the dark of the waning Moon into the dark of the waxing Moon––yes, the Moon is still shadowed and still, we can feel the shift.

Imagine you're in a cave, dark, close, with the sound of water dripping nearby. You came down here for an important reason, and now it's time to find the surface again ... but where is it? Which of these passages did we climb down?

We step into the entrance of each passage. Does it feel right? How will we know? Ahhhh! This one has a breeze. There's a slight push of air against our cheeks, and a fresher scent. Air is moving here. This is the way.

So it is with today's New Moon: Head toward where the air is moving. This is likely to be wherever Gemini and Mercury are focused in your chart, which could be a bit more complicated than it sounds, Mercury being a trickster and all.

Look where 28 Gemini falls in your chart. In my chart, this is the Eleventh House, suggesting this New Moon can shift, energize, reinvigorate my networks, organizational links, and groups of friends and acquintences––or possibly turn them upside down in some lighthearted but effective way.

Which planets in your chart are touched by this New Moon? Look at anything in the final degrees or early degrees of any sign, and focus on the strongest aspect patterns.

This New Moon squares my Sun, trines my Mercury–Neptune conjunction, sextiles my Pluto_Moon conjunction, semisextiles my Uranus–Jupiter conjunction, and is widely inconjunct Chiron. Gulp. I am anticipating a complete reset in how, when and where I think and communicate. A new me, just when I thought I was figuring out the old one.

Now look at your Mercury, who rules this New Moon. He will also be energized in some way, if even he's not aspected directly (as mine is).

Then look at your Third House, which Mercury and Gemini rule. Third House stuff like thinking, communicating, close neighbors, siblings, cousins, early learning experiences and trips close to home can all receive energy from this Moon.

I've got a loaded Third House myself––my Mercury–Neptune conjunction is there along with Saturn, Ceres and Venus.

Yesterday afternoon, I finished moving into a new apartment just a few miles from my last one. Lots of short trips and a new beginning today.

With everything in my chart lighting up like sparklers, I'm awaiting many breaths of fresh air in the weeks to come. This particular New Moon opens the door to a tremendous shift in energy:

• the Summer Solstice June 20 (astrologically, when the Sun enters Cancer, and Winter Solstice down south)
• first of seven exact Pluto–Uranus squares on June 24 ... revolutionary change at fundamental levels
• Saturn stations direct on June 25, moving forward and finally leaving Libra after a loooong time
• Venus stations direct on June 27, shifting into outward relating again

We live in active, some might say hyperactive, times. We're all standing in the dark sniffing the air to figure out which way the wind is blowing. At this New Moon, we're invited to stick our noses in as many directions as we like, testing the air, comparing, contrasting, communicating and playing.

This is a time for wishes and intentions that are lighthearted, youthful, and fun, not only about getting and sending the messages we need. It's a time to ask for curiosity, discernment, and new perspectives.

Speaking of new perspectives, Eric Francis at Planet Waves chronicles the amazing energies surrounding this New Moon while Dana Gerhardt at MoonCircles reminds us that intentional silence is also part of Gemini, and a wonderful way to connect with inner messages.

Our world is filled with an amazing interplay of the miraculous that is entrancing, exciting, exhilarating, frightening and never boring... perfect for a Gemini New Moon!
    

New Moon in Gemini: Both Hands Full of Seeds

New Moon in Gemini: May 20–21 (depending on your time zone)

New Moons are times of planting, sprouting, germinating––seed times when stuff gets started and we can't see where or how it's going to grow. New Moons with eclipses link us into larger cycles, and we're reminded of the long sweep of time in which we dance.

This New Moon in Gemini invites us to plant a million seeds, press the restart button on our lives, and watch the emerging newness with the eagerness and delight of a four-year-old. This is Gemini! Youthfulness, playfulness, trickery, and connections spark everywhere like fireflies on a summer night.

Raven Kaldera calls the Gemini New Moon the "Little Brother's Moon" to highlight its curiosity, inventiveness, energy, and cleverness. This is not the most tender of Moons, having a fondness for practical jokes and streak of sheer cussedness. Think Calvin, of Calvin and Hobbes, or Dennis the Menace (Kaldera's suggestions) or the Weasley twins whose Wizarding Wheezes were the epitome of schoolboy pranks.

So, it's good that Venus retrograde is also in Gemini, and trining Saturn who is still retrograde in Libra, at this New Moon.

Retrogrades help us slow down, something Gemini absolutely hates to do. Venus, present as herself and as ruler of Libra, brings an awareness of others as hearts and souls, not just minds or targets for cleverness.

Gemini is not known for compassion, approaching other people with endless curiosity that often includes a willingness to poke and prod just to see what happens. Venusian sensitivity can be useful here.

Saturn is the old man to Mercury–Gemini's youth, the senex who potentiates and then seeks to control the puer's sparkling life. Saturn understands consequences and values responsibility while Gemini wonders what would happen if you connected these two wires together and flipped the switch. Saturn's presence and connection to Venus help us remember there are long, long consequences to the seeds we plant now.

Gemini is all about options, variety, cross-fertilization, and lots of it. I'm reminded of a book we had when my kids were little called More! More! More! Said the Baby … this is Gemini. With that in mind, here are links to other astrologers' writings on this amazingly open-ended New Moon. Read them all, see what happens!

Gneiss Moon Astrology is a wonderfully mercurial place to begin. April Elliott Kent focuses on the sibling bond at the hear of Gemini.  Molly Hall lists many options for engaging with this possibly scattered energy. For a cosmic perspective, read Anna Chapman's essay at The Cosmic Path.

Then dive into your birth chart. Where is 0 degrees of Gemini? (Probably in the house ruled by Taurus, so look there.) Which house does Gemini rule? (Most likely the next one.) Where is Mercury in your chart, and how strong is how presence?

At this New Moon, Mercury is conjunct Jupiter, both in Taurus, making the New Moon's mercurial energies even bigger and also more grounded than they might be. It's likely (not certain, so check your chart), that Mercury, Jupiter, and the New Moon will all fall into the same house for you. This brings a whole lotta change into that area of your life!

Look also at what the New Moon aspects. Anything in the early degrees, especially in mutable signs, or the very late degrees, especially in the fixed signs, will be strongly stimulated. Planets and points touched by this New Moon might feel as if they've been dipped in the Fountain of Youth, seeing the world with new eyes.

This New Moon arrives just after midnight on the 21st in the UK, where I am. I'll welcome this New Moon on the Isle of Iona, a multivalent, mutlilayered crossroads of time, space and worlds. Communications and connections are crowding in, and trickster-ish surprises popping up everywhere. This New Moon could open up so many channels, we might need new switchboards.

Remember that we're now in the last days of the waning Moon, so if you're already feeling Gemini's impatience to be out of the starting gate and down the track, channel a little Saturn and wait. Look ahead to what this New Moon will offer, and use the next day or so to clear the decks, making everything ready for the bags and bags of seeds we're invited to plant in this New Moon garden.
  

Crescent Moon: Committing to Growth

waxing Crescent Moon

Crescent Moon in Gemini: Wednesday, April 25

Early this morning, we reached the point of the waxing Crescent Moon. If your skies have been clear these last few nights, you've seen her growing in the night sky from merest sliver to visible crescent. The Moon moved from calm Taurus into bright Gemini, seeking connections that nurture growth. The question is, are we ready?

The Crescent Moon is a time of hope and possibility. Steven Forrest links this phase to the ancient Celtic festival Imbolc, that time in the depths of winter when we feel the first stirrings of Spring. Something was seeded at the New Moon, and although we can't see clear signs of it yet, we know new life is stirring underground.

Change, even planned for, welcome change, is stressful. The Taurus New Moon presented that paradox for us quite neatly––offering the promise of abundance and serenity, the New Moon calls for change and, given the choice, Taurus would rather keep things just as they are, thank you very much.

Now here we find ourselves with a Gemini Moon, who can't get enough of change, who requires variety to feel alive, and things might feel a wee bit uncomfortable. Yes, we'd love to welcome abundance into our lives, but couldn't it simply magically appear in our bank accounts? Couldn't peace and plenty drop into our laps? Well, no.

Journeying with the Moon is a constant reminder that we live an embodied life with all its pragmatic requirements and practical details. This may sound like an odd statement coming from an astrologer––isn't astrology about unseen cosmic forces influencing our lives? Yes, and ... the cosmic force of the Moon is the one that anchors us firmly to our human life.

The Moon is the ancient gateway, the liminal opening between the cosmic and the mundane. The Moon was called the Gateway of Man––today we would say the Gateway of Humans. She is the closest to Earth. In an model of the cosmos in which souls descend through the great Spheres, being touched by each on the way, the Moon is the last, the doorway through which we are born into this world.

time to get moving!

So, the journey with the Moon is one of embodiment. In the Mother, our bodies grow. Through her we are born. Our emotions move us through life, motivating action, driving thought and memory, and influencing health––emotions are also linked to the Moon.

The Moon is ever present, ever changing, and not always comfortable. When she's waxing in Gemini, we might feel that even more than usual. Gemini is a bright, flirty, laughing energy, and also one that won't let you be. What about this? says Gemini, and this over here? Oh, and that ... what about that?

I don't know about you, but I've had a hard time focusing these last few days!

The Gemini-ness of the waxing Moon feels stronger because of another aspect pattern present now: a square between Mercury (Gemini's ruler) and Pluto. Mercury, the faster planet, is in fiery Aries calling our attention to the deep, slow, tectonic movements of Pluto in Capricorn. This combination of fiery thought and intense power could lead to explosive arguments, or transformations in thought patterns, but with Uranus close to Mercury, something revolutionary seems likely.

Yet calm is still available to us. The Grand Trine in Earth is still present, with the Sun conjunct Ceres in Taurus trining Mars in Virgo and Pluto in Capricorn. This energy makes it easier to avoid explosions and instead channel transformative power where it can do the most good.

Neptune and Chiron remain important too, still squaring the Nodes of the Moon with Mars, and also anchoring the tip of a Kite pattern as they sextile both Pluto and Sun–Ceres. We are reminded to hold tight to our visions, and embrace healing, as we flow energy into getting things done.

It is time to act: With the Moon waxing, that feeling of Gemini poking and prodding is a call to get moving. The Grand Trine in Earth promises the slow, steady energy to keep going. Our New Moon seeds are planted and safely underground for the moment. What can we do to prepare the way? Let's do it.
   

Moon into Gemini: Speak Truth Wisely

Tuesday morning through Thursday evening
Eastern Daylight Time

Tuesday, March 27

threading the maze

Moon enters Gemini 6:43am
Sun (Aries) inconjunct Chiron (Pisces) 7:44am
Moon square Neptune (Pisces) 10:39am
Moon sextile Uranus (Aries) 4:16pm
Moon square Mars (Virgo) 6:04pm
Moon square Chiron (Pisces) 9:27pm
Moon sextile Sun (Aries) 10:38pm
Moon opposite the North Node (Sagittarius) 11:42pm

Wednesday, March 28
Moon inconjunct Pluto (Capricorn) 2:03am
Moon semisextile Jupiter (Taurus) 8:12am

Thursday, March 29
Moon semisextile Venus (Taurus) 9:36am
Moon square Mercury (Pisces) 10:05am
Mercury (Pisces) sextile Venus (Taurus) 1:42pm
Moon trine Saturn (Libra) 2:05pm
(begin void of course)
Sun (Aries) squares Pluto (Capricorn) 3:55pm
Moon enters Cancer 7:07pm

The Moon steps into trickster Gemini early Tuesday morning, into a day whose patterns may highlight for us all the ways speaking out can trip us up. The Moon in Gemini loves to talk, and today's Moon will feel strong urges to speak up, speak out, and let the chips fall where they may––so it's best to be aware that choosing this course could tear things open in ways we won't expect.

The first aspect after the Moon enters Gemini is the Aries Sun forming an awkward inconjunct with Chiron the wounded healer in Pisces: Do we shine out, speak our truth, and go for the goal? Or do we attend to the needs of others for healing and mentoring? Speaking out can lead to healing, even if its uncomfortable at the time––for us as well as those we're speaking to. This could be one of those "you have to break some eggs to make an omelet) times.

The Moon is squaring the responsive, empathic, careful planets and flowing energy happily with the direct, revolutionary, fiery ones. If you need a boost to say something that needs to be said, today's energy will do that. It's good to be aware, though, that anything we say today will come out as forceful, perhaps more than we intended. With the aspects to the powerful outer planets, anything we say could also have long-term consequences. A good time to remember to think before we speak, which is not always easy with Gemini.

finding the right way

Another option for working with Tuesday's energy is looking for ways to receive and communication intuitive messages and/or healing energy.

Communication lines are open and energized. Remember that words have power and thoughts are things, and channel these powerful messaging capacities in growth-producing directions.

Wednesday deepens our opportunities to look at the consequences of speaking out. The quick-witted Gemini Moon forms an awkward inconjunct with slow-moving, transformative Pluto, and then an edgy semisextile with calm, steady Jupiter in Taurus. This day could show us the consequences for previous rash speech. Or it could begin a process of inner transformation and growth by offering personal insight. Or both, as the two are not mutually exclusive.

Thursday brings its own set of complex opportunities. The Gemini Moon makes an edgy semisextile with sensuous Venus in Taurus, and then squares Mercury in dreamy Pisces, right before Mercury and Venus flow energy together in sextile. Is the Moon feeling irritated that Venus and Mercury are moving slowly? Or does the Moon give voice to the visionary, creative qualities of a Mercury–Venus combination?

Let's go with the latter choice, opening our ears and communicating harmony, beauty and peace––because the Moon's last aspect in Gemini is a stable, supportive trine with Saturn that helps manifest what we envision.

There's plenty of power around Thursday as well, as the Aries Sun squares Pluto today, while the Moon is void of course. Creative transformation is definitely in the air. This relatively brief Sun–Pluto square reminds us that a Uranus–Pluto square is on its way, offering a reminder to prepare.

Thursday evening, the Moon slips into her home sign of Cancer, ready to rest and recoup. While the Moon transits through Gemini, we speak up, relying on Gemini's quick thinking and fast footwork to keep us out of (too much) trouble. We'll walk a complicated maze, with interesting messages available at every turn.
   

Moon into Gemini: The Trickster Says "Really??"

Tuesday night through Friday mornin
Eastern Standard Time

Tuesday, February 28
Moon enters Gemini 10:27pm

Wednesday, February 29

Yajrayogini

Moon square Neptune (Pisces) 12:24am
Moon sextile Uranus (Aries) 4:50am
Moon square Chiron (Pisces) 9:35am
Moon semisextile Jupiter (Taurus) 12:34pm
Moon inconjunct Pluto (Capricorn) 4:54pm
Moon opposite the North Node (Sagittarius) 6:13pm
First Quarter Moon:
Moon square Sun (Pisces) 8:22pm

Thursday, March 1
Moon square Mars (Virgo) 3:54am
Mercury (Pisces) inconjuct Saturn (Libra) 1:33pm

Friday, March 2
Moon sextile Venus (Aries) 3:29am
Mercury enters (Aries) 6:40am
Moon trine Saturn (Libra) 8:14am
(begin void of course)
Moon enters Cancer 10:05am
Moon square Mercury (Aries) 10:33am
Moon trine Neptune (Pisces) 12:11pm
Moon square Uranus (Aries) 4:29pm
Moon trine Chiron (Pisces) 9:04pm

The Moon flies into Gemini tonight, the Mercury-ruled sign of mutable Air. This Gemini Moon will be at her trickster-ish best, ready to take on all comers, teasing the serious minded, challenging the dogmatic, and turning everything upside down in the quest for new connections and fresh perspectives. Looking at ongoing debates as comic theater, this Moon chortles at the emperor's new clothes.

gleeful satire

Wednesday, the Moon challenges everything we think we know, flowing energy with revolutionary Uranus while upsetting every other planet she meets. Neptune, Chiron, Jupiter, Pluto, and the North Node––all heavy hitters––no one is sacred. Caroline Casey invokes wild Voodoo Dakinis to awaken us all in these times. Today we feel their presence.

Wednesday closes with the First Quarter Moon, the square between the Sun and Moon when our commitment to our New Moon intentions is tested. We're getting the first glimpse of what we wished for: Are we on board?

Thursday, trickster energy continues as the Moon challenges Mars and Mercury, the trickster himself, challenges Saturn the Old Guard. Change is in the air, along with a hefty dose of the unexpected, the irreverent, and the satiric. Where are we taking ourselves too seriously?

Friday morning, the energy shifts into direct action as the Moon flows energy with Venus in wild Aries, Mercury enters Aries, and the Moon flows manifesting power with Saturn. When we embrace creative possibility, let go of certainty, and open to new connections, anything can happen!

The morning's energy boost is brief, though, as the Moon moves into the more emotionally guarded territory of Cancer. Mercury will turn retrograde in Aries in a few weeks as well, offering us time to integrate these new shifts in perspective.

With this Gemini Moon, over the next few days, we put on crazy glasses, look at the world with new eyes, see the wild improbability of everything and nothing, and shift.
     

Moon into Gemini: Sleight of Hand

Wednesday afternoon through Saturday morning
Eastern Standard Time

Wednesday, February 1
Moon enters Gemini 2:15pm
Mercury (Aquarius) semisextile Pluto (Capricorn) 2:38pm

The Greatest Show on Earth

Moon sextile Uranus (Aries) 5:54pm
Venus (Pisces) opposite Mars (Virgo) 6:41pm
Moon semisextile Jupiter (Taurus) 7:47pm
Moon square Chiron (Pisces) 9:40pm

Thursday, February 2
Moon inconjunct Pluto (Capricorn) 7:04am
Moon trine Mercury (Aquarius) 9:41am
Moon opposite the North Node (Sagittarius) 12:37pm
Moon trine Sun (Aquarius) 5:01pm

Friday, February 3
Moon square Mars (Virgo) 10:24am
Neptune enters Pisces 2:02pm
Moon square Venus (Pisces) 3:03pm

Saturday, February 4
Moon trine Saturn (Libra) 12:07am
(begin void of course)
Moon enters Cancer 1:04am
Moon trine Neptune (Pisces) 1:06am
Moon square Uranus (Aries) 4:44am
Imbolc: Sun reaches 15 Aquarius 5:22am
Moon sextile Jupiter (Taurus) 6:54am
Moon trine Chiron (Pisces) 8:22am
Moon opposite Pluto (Capricorn) 5:07pm

Ahhh, the Gemini Moon begins this afternoon, beguiling us into a world of intriguing ideas, scintillating conversations, enlivening connections, flirtatious engagements and tricksterish fun. With Mercury (ruler of Gemini) in Aquarius, the outside-the-box trickster in each of us peeks out, ready to play. Never forget, though, that creative play is all about deep learning.

Mercury gets edgy with transformative Pluto this afternoon, and Venus opposes Mars. These sounds like not-fun––more like challenge and work, actually. With Mercury and Gemini, fun is more about risk than safety. Where can we push the boundaries? Where is the new perspective? Mercury is the patron of thieves as well as merchants and loves question like:

"Which is the greater crime, to rob a bank or to own one?" 

(... a tricksterish quote often attributed to Marx, from Bertold Brecht's Threepenny Opera, Mercury at work again.)

Nouvelle Experience

With Venus and Mars opposite in Pisces and Virgo, we're called on to balance heart and hands, soul and body––to keep our soft-focus, peripheral vision open to magic and mystery, even as we work steadily away at the task before us.

Thursday, the Moon continues her changeable path through Gemini, making her own awkward connection with the Plutonian alchemist as she flows energy with Mercury.

The Moon is opposite the North Node today, but Gemini doesn't sit still. Is she really opposite? Or conjunct? Or both at once? The day closes with the waxing trine with the Sun, a time of seeing our New Moon dreams begin to take shape. With all this mercurial energy about, that shape might look nothing like we imagined. Have fun with it anyway!

Friday, the Moon squares both Mars and Venus, bracketing the entry of Neptune once again, and for good and all, into Pisces. The Gemini Moon reminds us to keep our eye on the ball (Where did that rabbit come from? Was that the Queen of Hearts?) as we enter a new world of dreams and visions.

The Moon's transit through Gemini ends early Saturday with a happy trine to Saturn in Libra, a reminder that while some paths are quirky, full of twists and turns, we can still live our dreams and make things happen. Then, she moves into her Cancerian hearth to celebrate Imbolc.

By the calendar, Imbolc happens now, with the Gemini Moon. Astrologically, Imbolc is the moment the Sun reaches 15 degrees of Aquarius. As we celebrate this time of transition, feeling the stirrings of life in the stillness of winter, we remember that Brighid, the goddess associated with Imbolc, is a triple goddess of the forge, of poetry, and of healing. She contains all the energies we experience now.

With this Gemini Moon, we celebrate sleight of hand, here-today-gone-tomorrow, word play, quick-change artists, and transformations that happen even when we're looking somewhere else.
   

Moon into: Gemini: Communicate, Network, Connect

Thursday morning through Saturday afternoon
Eastern Standard Time

Thursday, January 5
Moon enters Gemini 5:44am

merengue!

Moon semisextile Jupiter (Taurus) 6:51am
Moon sextile Uranus (Aries) 7:36am
Moon square Chiron (Pisces) 9:58am
Moon inconjunct Pluto (Capricorn) 8:34pm

Friday, January 6
Moon opposite the North Node (Sagittarius) 6:45am
Moon inconjunct Sun (Capricorn) 12:50pm
Moon trine Venus (Aquarius) 11:40pm
Moon square Mars (Virgo) 11:44pm

Saturday, January 7
Venus (Aquarius) inconjunct Mars (Virgo) 12:26am
Mercury (Sagittarius) sextile Saturn (Libra) 3:12am
Mercury (Sagittarius) sextile Neptune (Libra) 10:14am
Moon trine Saturn (Libra) 1:35pm
Moon trine Neptune (Aquarius) 2:21pm
Moon opposite Mercury (Sagittarius) 2:52pm
(begin void of course)
Moon enters Cancer 4:05pm
Moon sextile Jupiter (Taurus) 5:20pm
Moon square Uranus (Aries) 5:58pm
Moon trine Chiron (Pisces) 8:20pm

The Moon popped into bright, active Gemini this morning, I went to my first Nia dance class, and bright and active it was! I signed myself up for class every Thursday morning, so we'll see if I can make it there when the Moon's in a less sociable sign.

The aspects this morning definitely supported doing something fun and new that brings healing, with an edgy connection to Jupiter in slow-moving Taurus making it hard to get out from under the warm covers, but the sextile to revolutionary Uranus saying "Just do it!" and a square to Chiron the wounded healer saying, how many more times we gonna repeat this pattern?

Tonight's inconjunct with Pluto, well ... he might wag his finger and say I didn't do enough, while that Gemini Moon dances off to do something else.

Friday, the Gemini Moon says, TGIF! Opposite the North Node and conjunct the South, this Moon is looking for fun, not challenge––a feeling reinforced by the inconjunct with the Sun in serious Capricorn. Forget about hitting achievement targets today and focus on networking. This is a much better day for communicating and connecting than slogging through something you dread.

Friday night's aspects send the same message: The trine with Venus in Aquarius says, hey, that person looks different, let's go talk to them ... that place we've never been to, let's go there! The square with Mars in careful Virgo doesn't want to hear why none of that's a good idea.

The inconjunct between Venus and Mars just after midnight reinforces the tug-of-war between taking chances and being careful. The Gemini Moon is not a risk-taker, but not the most cautious sign in the zodiac either, so try some new, intriguing things without throwing caution to the winds.

silk painting: Auspicious Cranes

Saturday will be an even better day for networking and communicating. In fact, if there are important conversations you need to have, think about choosing Saturday. Writing, speaking, connecting in any way, shape or form––this is the opportune moment. Let's look at the aspects:

The Moon is in Gemini, which is ruled by Mercury, so we're already feeling good about connecting.  Mercury right now is in Sagittarius, opposite sign to Gemini, so our communications need to balance breadth and depth, and also maintain awareness of connecting with others while making our own position clear. A Moon–Mercury opposition closes the Moon's transit through Gemini, so this balance is important.

Saturday opens with Mercury sextiling Saturn and Neptune in close succession. The early afternoon brings that Gemini Moon into trine with the same two planets. we've got positive, flowing aspects between the Moon and Mercury to the two planets that, together, help us manifest our dreams. Saturn is the reality guy, the one who can make things happen in the world. Neptune is the visionary, keeping us connected with our biggest dreams. Quite a pattern!

The Moon opposes Mercury in midafternoon. Then, after an hour void of course, enters her home sign of Cancer. This is a time to slow down and rest after the heady socializing of the last few days. While the Moon is in Gemini, with the supporting aspects surrounding her, get your message together, and make those connections. It's time.
   

Moon into Gemini: Change is the Only Constant

Thursday evening through Sunday morning
Eastern Standard Time

Thursday, December 8
Moon enters Gemini 9:53pm

the Space Cowboy

Moon sextile Uranus (Aries) 11:09pm
Moon semisextile Jupiter (Taurus) 11:34pm
Moon square Chiron (Pisces) 11:57pm

Friday, December 9
Moon opposite Mercury R (Sagittarius) 9:07am
Moon inconjunct Pluto (Capricorn) 10:48am
Moon square Mars (Virgo) 11:44pm

Saturday, December 10
Moon opposite the North Node (Sagittarius) 1:41am
Uranus turns direct at 0 Aries 2:04am
Moon inconjunct Venus (Capricorn) 8:02am
Lunar Eclipse 9:32am
Full Moon in Gemini:
Moon opposite the Sun (Sagittarius) 9:37am

Sunday, December 11
Moon trine Saturn (Libra) 2:05am
Moon trine Neptune (Aquarius) 5:24am
(begin void of course)
Moon enters Cancer 8:26am
Moon square Uranus (Aries) 9:40am
Moon sextile Jupiter (Taurus) 9:49am
Moon trine Chiron (Pisces) 10:33am
Moon inconjunct Mercury R (Sagittarius) 4:36pm
Moon opposite Pluto (Capricorn) 9:04pm

What an amazing ride we're in for with this Gemini Moon! It's good this Moon loves connecting and is adaptable, crafty, and able to see the humor in any situation ... we may find ourselves pulling all those qualities and more out of the toy chest in the next few days. Full Moon, full lunar eclipse, and more ...

The Moon pops into Gemini tonight, and moves into an intriguing set of aspects right away––Uranus, Jupiter and Chiron in less than an hour, two "easy" connections and one challenge, and the three big energies lined up in the early degrees of three adjoining signs. "Three planets walked into a bar.." we might say "... and then I found five dollars." Of course, another version of the all-purpose tag line is "... and then my car blew up." Which will it be? Think both/and.

A square to Chiron the healing mentor, with a sextile to revolutionary Uranus and a semisextile to expansive Jupiter says to me something like "the only way out is through." Look for innovative, outside-the-box ways, unexpected solutions, and new perspectives. A good model for this whole Gemini Moon thing.

Friday puts the Gemini Moon into tricky territory. An opposition with Mercury retrograde, and Mercury rules Gemini––what's that about? Followed by a this-feels-awkward inconjunct to Pluto and an outright square to Mars, today we indeed ask ourselves, what's it all about?

We might feel we're walking on eggshells. A light touch will help maintain balance and perspective. If eggs break, make an omelet. Remember to laugh.

Saturday! Take a look at Saturday ... the Moon aligns with the South Node and opposes the North: Where is the balance on our life path? Can we maintain balance by releasing old karma? What can we let go of? Now's the time––right now!

Uranus turns direct at 0 Aries. Boom! The Aries point in our birth charts is where new energies come into our lives. Uranus was here before, then turned back, and now turns forward again. In a retrograde pattern, the first touch is the wake-up call. The second, retrograde, touch tells us this (whatever "this" is) is not going away. The third is the check-in: Where are we now? Have we embraced our epiphanies? Have we made adjustments? Are we different than we were back in March?

The Moon is inconjunct Venus in Capricorn––more awkward feelings, more need to adjust. Are we there yet?

And suddenly, we're there. Here. Somewhere bright, somewhere fully illuminated––except during the lunar eclipse. Full-on, visible in North America as the Moon sets. A gateway to change.

The Moon is Full in Gemini, conjunct the Nodes of the Moon, squared by Mars and Ceres, with a yod pointing at the Moon and South Node formed by Venus and Juno. The Sun and North Node, aligned with our mid-Sagittarian galactic center, are the answer to solving the yod.

What does it all mean? Do I hear someone out there saying "42!"?? Yes, life is a serious business. Yes, there are many perils surrounding us. Yes, there is grave injustice, cruelty, greed, devastation. And ... and ... there is meaning. Warmth. Connection. Generosity. Love. With this Full Moon, we say yes to it all. With Zorba, we embrace the full catastrophe.

The Full Moon Saturday morning is the last aspect that whole day, so bask in the glow of the philosophical, generous, warm Sun reflecting off the spritely, surprising, scintillating Moon.

Sunday morning the Moon trines Saturn and Neptune. These are energies for manifestation. With this Gemini Moon, light something up. Start something new. Share it with the world. If you've been waiting for the right time, it's now.
 

Moon into Gemini: Finding the Best Currents

Friday afternoon through Monday morning
Eastern Standard Time

Friday, November 11
Moon enters Gemini 3:10pm

peregrine falcon in flight

Moon square Mars (Virgo) 3:52pm
Moon square Chiron (Pisces) 4:27pm
Moon sextile Uranus Aries 5:07pm

Saturday, November 12
Moon inconjunct Pluto (Capricorn) 2:31am
Mars (Virgo) opposite Chiron (Pisces) 5:57am
Moon opposite Mercury (Sagittarius) 4:22pm
Moon opposite Venus (Sagittarius) 5:15pm
Mars (Virgo) inconjunct Uranus (Aries) 8:40pm
Moon conjunct the South Node (Gemini) 10:04pm

Sunday, November 13
Moon inconjunct Sun (Scorpio) 8:23am
Moon trine Saturn (Libra) 2:23pm
Moon trine Neptune (Aquarius) 10:41pm
(begin void of course)

Monday, November 14
Moon enters Cancer 2:19am
Moon square Uranus (Aries) 4:06am
Moon sextile Mars (Virgo) 5:28am

This afternoon, on the 11th day of the 11th month of this 11th year, the Moon flies on bright wings into Gemini. Having experienced the calm, steady support of the Taurus Full Moon, showing us that transformation can be experienced and nurtured as natural growth, we're ready to emerge from the chrysalis and take wing.

Gemini is ruled by Mercury, patron of merchants and patron of thieves, god of transactions of all kinds and a trickster withall. As the Moon dances through Gemini, we'll find ourselves in varied company, connecting with people and ideas we might not expect to find, and learning to look at the world from a new perspective.

This afternoon, the Moon squares both Chiron and Mars, mentor and actor. We question the sage and the soldier equally and learn from each. Then this merry prankster Moon sextiles Uranus the arch trickster, and who knows what might happen? Rabbits popping out of hats, new worlds appearing and disappearing, or anything in between.

Saturday opens with an inconjunct angle-of-adjustment between the Gemini Moon and Pluto the alchemist. What will the sorcerer's apprentice tip over today? Mars opposes Chiron today, as each searches for the best ways to serve––practical help or mystical support or both?

Gypsies II by Emilia Bayer

Meanwhile the Moon opposes first Mercury, then Venus. If these two journeyers in Sagittarius have become too set in their path, too sure they know where they're going, the Gemini Moon will shake things up, but lightly, with humor.

Saturday evening, Mars reaches an inconjunct with Uranus. Now we need to think clearly. Do we stop sweating the small stuff? Or do we remember the world lost for want of a horseshoe nail? As we work to get the details and the big picture right, the Gemini Moon makes it easier to wrap our heads around new ways of thinking.

Later, the Moon joins the South Node, reminding us the past––and our past––also has virtue. It's not all about the new; the ancestors still have messages for us.

Sunday morning, the Moon forms an edgy inconjunct with the Scorpio Sun. Lightening the mood of a Sun in Scorpio is no easy task, but this Gemini Moon might be able to pull it off, perhaps by showing how lightheartedness can flow from deep understanding and doesn't always point to an empty head.

Sunday afternoon and evening brings flowing trines between the Moon and first Saturn, then Neptune. This connection highlights our ability to manifest our dreams as the Moon connects with the planet of steady effort and then the planet of visions.

The connection with Neptune opens a void of course period that continues overnight, opening a window to a night of visionary dreams filled with messages. Very early Monday, the Moon steps into her own Cancerian castle, from whence she can meet both Uranus and Mars with safety.

While the Moon is in Gemini, we open our eyes, spread our wings and test the currents. What does the world look like today? What new things can we discover? Look! Something shines ...