On Tuesday, June 19, the New Moon reaches her peak at 8:02 A.M. (PDT). This New Moon will be in the last degrees of Gemini (29 degrees), and will be conjunct Polaris, the North Star. Polaris (The North Star) remains visible in the Northern night sky, and has been, for centuries, the seafarer’s guide. With the New Moon in Gemini being at the anaretic (last) degree of Gemini, we will be looking back and wrapping up loose ends as the Moon peaks and transits through this last degree. The Moon entered Gemini in the middle of the night last night, so you should be already feeling the emotional pull of Gemini’s influence as you find yourself trying to pull things together, resolve old issues, debts, and questions, and find ways to complete cycles, end projects, and come to peace with relationship endings and losses. As soon as the New Moon transits the sign of Gemini, it enters Cancer, and we move from the edgy and sizzling mental energy of Gemini into the fluid, passionate instinctual emotional place of Cancer. To understand how the Gemini New Moon is already affecting us, look to the houses/areas of your life that Gemini rules.
This is a place that has already seen a lot of action recently as the Sun is just about to leave Gemini (Wednesday, June 20 at the Summer Solstice). Jupiter has just entered Gemini for a year’s visit, and Venus is in the 8th degree, the transiting Moon in Gemini will make a conjunction with Venus some time today, briefly setting a charge beneath an idea, connection, relationship, or plan. Gemini works beneath the surface of our experiences. While some of us may look to what’s going on outside us, the wise will listen to what is being triggered within the stillness and quiet of the mind, within the stirrings of the heart, within the movement within all systems of the body, mind, emotion, spirit connection as understood through such systems as the Chakra system, the meridians, the neuro-skeletal system, and particularly, the cardio-thoracic system. In other words, listen to what your body is telling you about the whole of your life.
This New Moon in Gemini is also conjunct Artemis, the Greek Goddess of Hunting and Animals. The New Moon symbolizes and coincides with the time of the year when those of us in the Northern Hemisphere celebrate the festivals of the “First Fruits”.Traditionally, first of anything, symbolizes the best. The first children have been and are still revered in family lineage in many cultures (often in line for leadership, obligation, inheritance, or other responsibilities). The first Salmon in the fishing tribes and clans throughout North America, are considered sacred, and are honored with special feasts and rituals. The first animals slaughtered, the first fruits picked from the vines, trees, and fields, the first produce...all are considered special, and this is the time of the year when we wait to see if this year’s crop will live up to our hard work and expectations.
It’s no wonder that Artemis, the Greek Goddess of hunting and animals appears in the night sky and conjuncts the New Moon and the North Star. Not only are we reaping the benefits of our past efforts and hard work, we are lining up our sites to make new plans and choices for our future. The Sun, Moon, constellation of Artemis, and the North Star, all in the last degrees of Gemini, highlight the need to gather our resources as we prepare for what lies ahead.
While crabbing, shrimping, and clamming are best on the Full Moon, the New Moon is an excellent time to stock up, clean up, clear out, and prepare (canning, pickling, preparing for the future). My own nesting and preparing urges are rising to the surface, and I feel the need to plan ahead, be well nourished, and stocked up for the work and activities ahead.
Venus at 8 degrees Gemini, retrograde, is moving on a path away from the New Moon. This indicates that we may still be looking backward, trying to sort out issues, decisions, ideas, and plans. Venus is very important with this New Moon. Archetypal energy indicates our minds will be active, our wills will be strong, there will be turbulence, rebelliousness, and military victories are possible. Victory comes through suffering and arguments are likely due to some of the stressful aspects Venus will be experiencing until she stations direct on June 27. Great power, honor, wealth may be experienced (on both the personal and societal levels) as Jupiter continues to bestow benevolence through those connections and passions to which we have attached ourselves. We need to remain cautious, however, because the South Node (archetype of what we have come into being to overcome) is transiting between Jupiter and Venus, indicating that we might slip into old patterns or be blind to our own weaknesses. It does not mean we have to be acting from our unredeemed nature, but simply means we need to be aware of those areas where we tend to slip up or take the path of least resistance. Now is not the time to try to ignore or seek short cuts.
Venus’s retrograde motion back through 8 and 7 degrees of Gemini, also coincides with a quincunx with Pluto (the Great Transformer) and a sextile with Uranus. The indication is that what we have been learning about ourselves, what the society has been going through in order to transform itself into what it will use to deal with the future, and what has been unearthed in our daily and earthly existence, will rise before us to call attention to where we need to make the necessary changes for adapting, adjusting, and creating the lives we are destined to live. What is important right now is the simple, pragmatic, home-based responsibilities. This is an excellent time, leading up to the New Moon on Tuesday, to prepare ourselves, our homes, and the main areas of our lives for making new choices, plans, and direction that more appropriately reflect the life we have been tempered to live.
If you haven’t already been doing so during this Gemini time, take advantage of the last few days of heavy Gemini energy to learn something new. Gemini quickens the mind, and energizes us to pick up subtleties and follow trains of thought we might not be aware of at other times. Our mental facilities are sharpened, and our minds are captured by many interests at this time. Last month, on May 20th (Solar eclipse), we experienced the first of two New Moons in Gemini. Now as we experience the second New Moon in Gemini at the end of her passage through this sign, it is time to make crucial decisions. Mercury squares Saturn indicating that what we choose to leave behind, allows us to move forward into a new, more productive way. This New Moon activates the final degrees of Gemini, and puts the seal on whatever we have been moving into position or moving away from.
Whatever our deepest desires and our most passionate dreams are planted deep in our being through our spiritual Creator. When we look deep within our hearts, and are honest with ourselves about what we truly desire, and if those desires have the seeds of truth and beauty within them, we can trust that we are being called to fulfill our life quest from the Universal energy of the Creator Spirit that moves within us all.
The archetype of Gemini, is that of the divided self. This symbol of the twins or two part of one, is indicative of our nature. We are capable of feeling and experiencing, of rationalizing and embracing, all sides of an issue, all paths, all choices. While our spiritual nature is capable of feeling, sensing, understanding, and affirming all paths, our material being, this life experience we are in at this time is called upon to use the powers of discernment (spend time in quiet reflection, prayer, meditation, ritual) to honor the soul purpose that is calling you. The archetype of Gemini calls upon us to unite the opposites within us; to find a peace within our diverse nature and with the competing forces and conflicts within us. This is mostly an inside game, although most of us seek to resolve our struggle for wholeness first through our external experiences (relationships, work, art, pathos, activities). This New Moon time calls us to go within and examine the competing voices, conflicts, ideas, and issues that need to first be resolved before moving forward or growing on the edges of our life learning experiences.
Over the next few weeks, there are many changes taking place, and perhaps spending some time in quiet reflection, not trying to clear our minds of thoughts, but instead listening to the thoughts that arise, watching the images that flash before us in our dreams, and contemplating the messages that keep repeating in and around us, we will discover what is truly calling us forward, what is standing in our way, and what is grounding us in the truth of our being.
As one of my favorite astrologers, Dana Gearheart wrote in her column, MoonCircles, “As we head into the next few turbulent weeks of eclipses, silence may be the smartest way to get Gemini on our side. Not a dull silence, but an expectant one, fueled by fresh curiosity. Sit quietly with whatever is true right now. Whether you’re happy, sad, harried, wounded, or somewhere in between, before you ride on the wings of Mercury toward something new, and you will, because that’s what we do in Gemini’s cycle, sanctify your experience of this New Moon with some quiet curiosity.”
This weekend I have been sorting, clearing, creating, and listening. This is as much an internal job as it is a physical one. What is within is without, and what is outside us is a reflection of what is within us. Look around you, and take note of what your space reflects. Look closely in corners and atop out of the way places. What areas are calling for attention and clarity? Use the time between now and the New Moon and then the Solstice, to tune into the stirrings and messages that are being left on your doorstep, flying by or dropping by to visit, or appearing from out of the blue. Gemini is a trickster sign, and the trickster surprises us, mocks us, tries to steal our possessions, and shape shifts to catch our attention. If we don’t intentionally seek to discover what needs to be squared away in order for us to move forward, the Trickster shows up to pull the rug out from beneath our feet. How the Gemini energy has been affecting you, will give you an indication of whether or not you are traveling the path of the open road, the path of least resistance, or the road to nowhere. What do the sign posts say to you? What can you do to address what needs to be addressed at a time when it is so necessary to be clear about your journey? From the Solar Eclipse that fell at the beginning of the Sun’s transit through Gemini until the New Moon on June 19 and the Summer Solstice on June 20, what has been moving, shaking, changing, and coming to the surface to burst into bloom?
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