Waning Moon Moving into Gemini

Today's notes cover the Moon's transit through Gemini from this afternoon through Thursday evening.

The Moon holds her steady course in patient Taurus this morning, enjoying simple pleasures and sensual delights. My Taurus gift was the arrival of David Abram's new book, Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology. I love his first book, The Spell of the Sensous, and can't wait to dive into this new one, which opens with an invitation to "blending our skin with the rain-rippled surface of rivers, mingling our ears with the thunder and the thrumming of frogs, and our eyes with the molten gray sky." What could be more Taurean?

The Moon challenges the Neptune-Chiron conjunction today (Tuesday), squaring Neptune at 2:39pm EDT and Chiron at 4:32pm. The Moon in Taurus asks visionary Neptune and healing Chiron to stay grounded, channeling their intuitive energies into actions we can see, hear, taste, smell and touch.

At 7:13pm, the Moon flows energy in sextile with innovative Uranus, inviting the trickster and revolutionary to send his flashes of inspiration, but to send gently so we can absorb the message. With that, the Moon enters her time-between-times until she makes a sprightly leap into bright Gemini at 8:19pm.

Now the mood shifts! If you've been staying close to home, tending your garden and reflecting on life with Taurus, the Gemini Moon may bring the world to your door. Gemini energy is lively and social, connecting ideas and people, networking, and looking for the next new thing.

The Moon in Gemini is a great facilitator who knows how to work a room and enjoys doing it. Flowing energy in sextile with expansive Jupiter in Aries at 10:09pm amps up the sociability factor; this could be your night for skyping with friends and family halfway around the globe, updating all your social networking accounts with your latest projects, and stopping by the local coffeehouse for philosophical conversation.

Street Fair, WikiMedia Commons

The Moon sparkles in Gemini through Wednesday, energizing, connecting and networking. A flowing trine with Saturn in Libra (exact at 4:05am EDT) might help get some work done, as long as we remember that Gemini is also a trickster and his ruler, Mercury, continues to be retrograde. So use this trine judiciously and accept Saturn's reminder not to leap without looking.

At 1:22pm Wednesday, the Moon reaches her square with the Virgo Sun, signaling our entry into the last quarter of this lunar cycle. The Moon moves closer to the Earth now, and to Venus, as the energy shifts from sharing our Full Moon accomplishment with the world, toward understanding what this cycle has meant for us. The Gemini Moon, falling in this waning cycle during Mercury retrograde in Virgo, can help us make connections between what we intended, what we accomplished, how the universe responded, and what we are meant to learn.

Underscoring the need to connect our thoughts and our feelings, the Gemini Moon squares Mercury in Virgo at 7:17pm. This Gemini Moon may be more thoughtful and reflective than some, helping us to gather up all the threads of recent experiences and see how they can be woven together in beautiful patterns.

On Thursday, the Gemini Moon brightens Mars in Libra, flowing energy in trine at 12:30pm, perhaps pointing out the perfect idea or person you need to connect with now. At 6:46pm, the Moon reaches her trine with lovely Venus. This evening, conversation may sparkle as relationships and creativity flow easily. This Venus-Moon trine in Libra and Gemini may lighten hearts, reminding us how much we enjoy our connections.

Moonlight, Wikimedia Commons

By 9:26pm, the Moon flows energy in trine with Neptune, opening the door to intuitive messages and listening for something new and intriguing. By 11:06pm, the Moon trines healing Chiron, receiving healing messages that might be unexpected innovative. A square to revolutionary Uranus at 1:40am Friday challenges us to think outside the box about the messages we receive, and also signals the Moon's entry into her time-between-times, before she enters her home sign of Cancer at 2:50am EDT.

The Moon's bright curiosity in Gemini offers the chance to survey where we've been. What new ideas and people have come into our orbit this lunar cycle, energizing our thinking and opening up new possibilities? If we don't like something, the Gemini Moon tells us to flip it over, try another angle, and look for a new perspective. Only connect!

Waning Moon Transitioning into Taurus

Today's Moon notes will review the Moon in Taurus time, which continues until Tuesday afternoon.

The Moon's last classical aspect in Aries was to Neptune at 4:47am EDT, so she is void of course now, held between one breath and another, suspended until she steps into peaceful Taurus at 10:35am. The Taurus Moon brings a sense of calm, an appreciation for the abundance of life, and the pleasures of the senses.

In this waning lunar cycle and the autumn of the year, we feel the poignant beauty of harvest. The year is turning. Each ripe fruit becomes a wonder to savor and a reminder that change brings losses as well as gains. The Taurus Moon serenely accepts both and finds peace.

Each movement of the Moon through one sign of the zodiac begins at 0 degrees and continues to 29 degrees, moving through those same energies each lunar month. The Moon embodies the constancy of change and the stability of its pattern, moving through one sign of the zodiac in about two and a half days, then moving on to the next, and the next, and so on around the circle.

If the Moon were alone in the sky, perhaps the repeating cycles would become stale, nothing more than the mechanical movements of a clock ticking off seconds of linear time. The Moon is not alone. She moves through her cycles as one dancer in the midst of a company.

In this dance through Taurus, the Moon first flows energy in trine with transformative Pluto, reaching him at 4:11pm EDT. Then she reaches a trine with the Sun in practical Virgo at 11:40pm today. This trine with the Sun brings a moment of clarity and understanding within the waning cycle.

The Moon reaches her flowing trine with Mercury, retrograde in careful Virgo, tomorrow (Monday) at 2:39pm EDT. With the Sun and Moon both in Earth signs, and Mercury retrograde in Earth, we may find ourselves connecting with a depth of understanding that flows through our bodies, grounding and centering us.

This deeply grounded feeling helps us maintain our balance when the Moon reaches a challenging square with Neptune and Chiron on Monday 2:39pm EDT. The Taurus Moon welcomes the imaginative visions Neptune and Chiron can bring, but wants to channel those visions into practical, real-world healing and growth.

The Moon in practical Taurus receives a new vision as she flows energy in sextile with Uranus in intuitive Pisces at 7:13pm Tuesday, her last aspect and the beginning of her time-between-times which ends when she jumps into bright, active Gemini at 8:19pm EDT.

We have entered the dance of the Taurus Moon, moving with the slow grace and sensual delight of this Earth sign ruled by Venus. From now through Tuesday evening, the Moon flows with the calm patience and steady loyalty of this sign.

Taurus is a lover of music, with a keen ear and a resonant voice. The Taurus Moon dances the patterns of the universe itself, following the musica instrumentalis of our earthly melodies and song; the musica humana of each human lifetime, and the musica mundana, the "the steady, slow rhythmic movements of the planets and stars." (Thomas Moore, The Planets Within)

The images of ripe grapes and measures from a sonata by Handel are available through WikiMedia Commons.

Waning Moon in Aries

With the impulsive Aries Moon making an inconjunct angle-of-adjustment to Mercury, retrograde in careful step-by-step Virgo, and opposing Venus and Mars in balanced, harmonious Libra, today will be a day to watch how we respond to what life places in our path.

The Aries Moon brings a wonderful energy for breaking new ground, but patience is not high on her list of virtues. If we face delays or disruptions of the Mercury-retrograde kind, we might find ourselves reacting with frustration, irritation, and hasty words. These feelings arising within us offer opportunities for learning and transformation.

Experienced meditators, who have reached a level of practice allowing them to maintain calm even in the face of sudden, loud noise, achieve this balance by becoming aware of their immediate, habitual reactions and choosing another path. Today, knowing the Moon is in Aries, we might be offered the chance to watch our reactions to frustrating circumstances and practice calm.

The dialogue between the Aries Moon, and Venus and Mars in Libra, supports this learning. Venus in Libra values harmony and balance in all relationships, and Mars seeks to act from that place of harmony. The Aries Moon brings the bright curiosity to learn, and the motivation to try a new path.

To learn more about how we can work with our consciousness to create balanced, effective responses to experience, explore the resources available at the Mind and Life Institute website, a place where Buddhist thought and practice interact with Western cognitive science and research. Namaste!

The images of the locked door and of the Dalai Lama are available through WikiMedia Commons.