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| Harbor on the River Catherine Al-Meten |
At each New Moon, we come to a threshold where we are reminded of starting fresh, beginning anew, and setting off in a new direction. We are also faced with the knowledge that with all beginnings come endings. We experience this as part of our lives living within the constructs of limited time and space. How we acknowledge endings and beginnings, is part of our life process and journey. “Perhaps that is where our choice lies -- in determining how we will meet the inevitable end of things, and how we will greet each new beginning.” ― Elana K. Arnold, Burning
New Moon on Wednesday, May 28 at 11:40 A.M. PDT/2:40 P.M. EDT. The New Moon in Gemini begins a new lunar cycle, as the Taurus lunar cycle comes to an end. With the Gemini New Moon, emphasis is on improving our communication skills, learning to listen better, and being more discerning. The New Moon in Gemini at 7/21 degrees forms a nice trine with Mars at 9/30 Libra ushering in some news, information, or intuitive awareness to enhance the start of this lunar month. This New Moon affects the mutable signs of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces, and everyone who has planets, the Sun, or the Moon between 2-12 degrees (5 degrees on either side of an aspect) of any of the mutable signs.
Mutable signs are those energies that prepare us for change. People strongly influenced by mutable signs are growing or excel in being flexible, adaptable, and communicative. Gemini, being both mutable and an air sign, triggers our need for change, stimulation, and intellectual exchange. Wherever Gemini is in our chart/life, we may have an overwhelming need to learn, take in new ideas, or somehow immerse ourselves deep into new ideas, plans, and deeper forms of communication. Gemini energy revs up our awareness, making us overly sensitive to sounds, noises, and whatever is spoken or transmitted to us on some level. We crave understanding at this time, and are more receptive to hearing the songs of the Universe, the Divine Voice within and around us.
Virgo, reflects mutable earth energy, energy that stimulates us to put ideas into some type of concrete form. Notice where Virgo is in your chart/life, and see if this may be an area where you might be needing to bring something into shape, form, or some type of full physical expression. Virgo energy is expressed by honing one’s art, and putting the finishing touches on a project with grace and full attention. Whereas Gemini energy may never be able to get to the point or bring something to a conclusion (for new ideas are always interfering with the ability to create wholeness), Virgo’s mutable pragmatism feeds the need and desire to reach the conclusion, and see one’s art framed, exhibited, and enjoyed. Whether or no you are an artist, notice the place in your life where you enjoy conclusions and displaying the finished product.
Sagittarius, a mutable fire energy, expresses its energy through philosophical and spiritual ideals, acted upon through adventure, travels, and exploring through hands on experience or debate. Taking ideas to their logical conclusion, and back again, Sagittarius mutability is expressed through stimulating conversation and the desire to bring about change in very proactive ways. Notice what area of your chart/life is in the realm of Sagittarius, and notice how this energy affects that area of your life. What kinds of communication is stimulating you to debate, discussion, or action? How are you able to reconcile the past, present, and future now through insightful, intellectual conversation?
Pisces, a Mutable water sign, is concerned with sensing and being receptive to all levels of communication going on around them. For Pisces, the desire is to adapt to whatever situation is at hand, and to be sympathetic and compassionate, is the strongest expression of this energy. Whatever advice, suggestions, or observations made by a Pisces attuned to your needs, is usually accurate and sound. In this area of your life, notice where you are sensitive to the needs of others, and when you are given support from Pisces, be aware that they are so attuned to you, that they will hold the connection, being concerned and mulling over the obstacles and direction you are taking. If you are a Pisces, learn to let go of what others ask of you; if you are supported by a Pisces, let them know when you have made your changes or are out of danger. While Pisces intuition is strong, their intellectual capacity is great, and they will continue working to help you even when you no longer require it. For Pisces, this stressful and anxiety-producing. Wherever this energy informs you, learn to release yourself from whatever is holding you. This New Moon in Gemini may be a time when we are testing our abilities to set boundaries, learn to protect ourselves, and find a way to channel our psychic energy in more healthy ways.
One of the main points about the New Moon in Gemini is the need to discern what is really necessary from the host of ideas, thoughts, opportunities, projects, relationships, or directions we may be able to see or may be drawn toward. Discernment is a large part of understanding how we communicate. If we only talk about ideas, but never listen, we fail to find what we need to understand. If we only try to form others in our own image around our own ideas, we are failing to honor and acknowledge the rights and uniqueness of those in your life. While Gemini time may make us feel that our minds are on overload, it is not necessarily the time to talk non-stop, letting every idea try to escape the confines of our minds. We may do better to allow ourselves to spend more time in stillness, less time trying to act on every idea. We may learn more if we stop trying to figure out why something happens, and spend more time simply being more present with what we are doing right where we are. When we are able to put our full attention on what we are doing right now, we tend to plant deeper seeds of meaning, memory, and purpose.
While the Sun continues its journey through Gemini, we tend to be drawn into areas that stimulate our need to learn, activate our desire to connect with others, and awaken our curiosity. We find we have more ideas and desires than we have time to act on them. Again, discernment is important when we are in such an intellectually active time. People around you may promise more than they can deliver simply because of this period of active stimulation. The growing edge for using this energy is determining what needs to be done, and what may just be a good idea that’s time has not yet come.
One way to handle this energy, is to use this time to write down ideas. Put your ideas and desires in some kind of form so that you can capture the ideas now for pondering and working on later. This is often a time when we can do some good planning, designing, brainstorming, but not necessarily the best time to jump into a project with the hopes of getting it done right away. The energy is too jumpy, and there is too much going on. Slow down and notice how your time is being allocated, and instead of adding more to your plate, consider cutting back a bit, so that something more beautiful, more meaningful will have room to grow in your life. When we fill up every second of the day and night with plans, activities, obligations, and commitments, we leave no time or space in our lives for anything new to grow.
Take some advice from the ancient sacred Wisdom literature of Ecclesiastes 3:1:
To Everything There is a Season
1To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
With the Sun, the Moon, and Mercury all in Gemini, we are being called upon to reign in our energy, and to bring diversity to wholeness. The unhealed Gemini energy is scattered, unreliable, and scattered all over the place. Healing and coming into wholeness allows us to walk on the path of harmony, constantly reflecting between what pulls us in one direction, and then the other. Making the choices to keep in balance, require that we let go of some options and focus more intently on others. The disquiet this will cause those of us who have fewer planets in Gemini, is not a signal to act on every idea or jump into yet another action plan for the future. For everyone, it can be a time of discernment, observation, reflection, and practices that ground our energy.
For the first part of this week, Mercury is transiting the last few degrees of its orbit through Gemini. This may be a time when we receive the news we have been waiting for, and it may also be the time when we put to rest some of the ideas that have been taking up space in our psyches, distracting us from details that need attending to.
On May 29, Mercury enters Cancer, where it will stay until June 17. Mercury in Cancer focuses more on the quality of our communication, and allows us a period of time to experience greater peace of mind. We focus now on whatever we need to make us feel more at home, more secure, and more creative. We connect to those around us now, and seek to enjoy and communicate with those who bring us the most personal pleasure and fulfillment. Our home and all that defines that concept, is now crucial to us. We communicate on a deeper, more intimate level, and seek to find stronger connections and deeper meaning in our own lives, families, friendships, and personal happiness and purpose.
Venus has been in Aries since May 2, and will also change signs this week, moving into Taurus on May 28. In Aries for a few more days, any strong desires, unexpressed feelings, or thoughts that have been in any way repressed, are likely to be expressed with some intensity as Venus finishes this transit through Aries. Acting on impulses and desires, putting oneself on the line, and letting your feelings be known, are all ways that Venus in Aries seeks to connect. Whether or not this is your usual manner, in whatever area Venus has been transiting in your chart/life, you might notice the urge to express yourself as if it were “now or never”. Reign in any impulses that may not be ready for full expression. The lesson of Venus in Aries is to learn to temper thoughts, feelings, desires with some discretion and reflection. Everything you think does not need to be expressed.
Venus enters Taurus on May 28 and transits that sign until June 23. Venus in Taurus is in no mood to wait or to talk about love and beauty. It must express love in actions and concrete behavior. Beauty is a necessity of life, as is the sound, solid commitment and full, physical expression of love for Taurus puts love into action. Our desires for commitment and security take the front seat now, and we are willing, in whatever area of our life we find aspected now, to be that place where we desire and actively work to bring those needs and desires into harmony with how we live, relate, and work. The unhealed aspect of Taurus, stubbornness, possessiveness, and jealousy, are the negative expressions of Venus in Taurus, so reign in the tendencies in yourself, and be on guard for this tendency in others. Possession and love are not the same thing.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, May 27-28 of this week, Venus sextile Mercury finds us caught up in the language of charm and seduction. This is a time when we may make overtures of love, speak oaths of love at the altar, swear our allegiance, or make vows of fidelity and love. On May 30-31, Venus forms a semi-square to Chiron, the Wounded Healer. Chiron in the depths of Pisces, may feel a deep-seated sense of insecurity or something may be said or felt that triggers a sore spot that needs healing. Notice any inner sense of insecurity, pain, hurt, or some other negative suppressed feeling that might be calling for healing. If you can connect to what it was from the past (experiences, memories) or some dread or fear of the future (anxiety), you are capable of naming the hurt and finding ways to heal and repair your perspective.
Forecast for the Week:
Sunday. On Sunday, we begin the day with the Moon in Aries, and then it shifts into Taurus in the afternoon (5:28 P.M. EDT/2:28 P.M. PDT). We may feel more grounded and relaxed as the Moon in Taurus seeks some emotional rest and centeredness. Perhaps a relaxing hike or picnic, a gathering to listen or play music, all revolving out of our emotional need for finding pleasure to help balance us out.
Early in the morning the Sun in Gemini was semi-square Jupiter in Cancer. This may have caused some rising waters or perhaps brought up some deep emotional trauma to the surface of consciousness (dreams, inner movement) during the night. Sometimes this aspect brings up the insecurities that fuel our unconscious drives. We may try to reason our way out of inner conflicts or resolve things ‘once and for all’ simply as a means of meeting the Gemini Sun’s urge to act. This is not necessarily desirable, or even useful. Recognize that moods are stimulated, and energy is tense. Use the influence of the Moon in Taurus later in the day to settle your feelings, channel your energy, and find practical ways to calm your emotions (exercise, meditation, creativity, gardening, music, dancing).
On Monday and Tuesday, the Moon remains in Taurus, and you may find this a good time to settle into a nice routine of enjoying the basic pleasures of life as experienced through the ordinary. Spend more time being present with simple tasks, basic pleasures, and greater freedom of thought and need. On Wednesday the Moon moves into Gemini early on, and then the New Moon peaks at 11:40 A.M. (PDT)/ 2:40 P.M (EDT). The Mercury-Venus sextile in the morning, makes the first stress aspect leading up to the New Moon.
New moons are times of new beginnings, of starting over or anew, and of setting new intentions and assessing one’s direction. Shortly after the peak of the New Moon, the Moon squares Neptune (illusions, dreams, consciousness) then trines Mars in the late afternoon/early evening. What may seem like a bad sign or disturbing emotional situation, may turn into an action that was not only necessary but also perfectly timed for eliminating unnecessary baggage, behavior, relationships, or thought processes. Later in the early evening, the Sun in Gemini squares Neptune in Pisces, again sending us into the watery realms of the consciousness including the subconscious. We are awakening to ideas, memories, fears and visions of what we most fear and our ability to deal with our fears, or not.
At this point, this is a mental game, but it can cause us undue levels of stress if we fail to see how these feelings are simply making their way into our awareness so we know what we are dealing with and how we might cope with things in a healthier manner. What works best during times like these, is to channel our energy into concrete, pragmatic activities. Where we may just have opened a can of worms in our minds, we have opened a channel to allow our ideas to flow into creativity. Without worrying about the artistic quality of your actions, use your energy to paint, draw, mold, shape, bake, design, plot out, or imagine. Use concrete ways of expressing positive expressions of what you are grateful for, or what you count as a blessing in your life. Whatever you do with the energy of the square, that aspect that urges movement or action, is up to you. Avoid, however, wasting it in undue mind games, rationalizations, worry, or feeling sorry for yourself. Squares call us to act according to our highest good. Avoid doing anything during this time that demands perfection, precision, or pin point accuracy, for there seems to be an element of haziness, deception, or delusion, and some actions can cause more harm than good.
The New Moon in Gemini forms a tight square to Neptune in watery Pisces.While we may feel deeply compassionate and understanding under this aspect (carried over from the Full Moon), we need to exercise caution. Be aware that letting ourselves be carried away with compassion and sensitivity requires that we still take care of the details of living. We are no doubt living with a very active imagination, full of fantasies as well as highly attuned perceptions. A thought alone, does not cause an action. There is more to cause-effect than the idea. Use your mind, imagination, senses, and sensitivity to awaken you to potential. Be prepared for the unexpected, and for reality not going according to plan.
On Thursday, May 29, Mercury enters Cancer in the night/early morning. The influence of the New Moon in Gemini is making its first aspects, and semi-square Venus before squaring Chiron. Again, issues related to healing, relationships, our sense of what love is and isn’t, are awakening us both consciously and unconsciously. Semi-squares indicates challenges, obstacles, and blocks, and are helpful to us when we notice them and take heed. We look for signs, but often don’t want to accept the signs we get, especially if we perceive those signs as not such good news. Does a sign, opportunity, or relationship meet our desires and expectations—what we think life should be for us? Does a sign, opportunity, or relationship serve our highest good, or even any basic need, or would we be better off if something did not happen that we so desire? Allowing our connection and faith in a Source beyond our own limited knowledge, understanding, or power, to be the guiding force in our lives, means surrendering our need to have absolute certainty or knowledge about anything, anyone, or any situation.
Gemini energy is about exploring the vast swaths of ideas, thought, intellect, and possibilities— that is its gift. The challenge of the Gemini lunar cycle is to corral some of those thoughts and using the energy and gifts of all the muted signs, channel thought into solid action or loosen the grip on thoughts that are not meant to be more than a passing idea. On Saturday, March 31, the Sun in Gemini trines Mars in Libra. The Sun now lends it powerful energy to Mars—sending deep waves of energy into those areas that Mars has been so systematically and slowly defining within the transit of Libra. This is definitely a time to act as whatever you act on at this point is sure to have been tested and found ready to go. Decisions, actions, and activities undertaken under this influence are to be greeted favorably, and will mark a strong turning point in the area of your life where Mars has been making its way over and over for much of the last year. The challenge, in some cases, has been met. The groundwork has been laid, and the time has now come for moving ahead.
This is actually a time when we swim free of the wake of any major upsets we’ve experienced lately. With so much activity in the first decan of Gemini, this Jupiter-ruled area of our life/chart, we need to be aware that this area of the transits of the Sun, Mercury, and the Moon are in the territory of the famous star cluster-the Hyades. The Hyades, part of the constellation of Taurus, include: the Hyades, the Pleiades, Alderbaran, Perseus. This particular area of the constellation has a fearsome reputation in mythology. Ruled by Jupiter, it heightens the idealism, fanaticism, and activism of those with militant religious and spiritual missions. That, of course is the negative use of this type of energy. The same energy can also be used to promote higher ideals and the individual brilliance, intellect, and power of those with a message.
It is also a time when some in power will use their position and their words to push their ideas into public view. Exercise caution with those whose words are sweeter than honey, but contain the bitterness of poison. Use your own power wisely. If you find yourself taken in by someones’ wit and charm, you may be caught up in the spell of a 1 Decan warrior—out to save the damsels in distress, and to shine like his shining armor to catch your attention. This is all metaphoric, so don’t scour the streets looking for men in suits of armor. Instead, notice how this energy plays out in both extremes—the negative militant using violence as it weapon and anger as its shield or the schmaltzy salesperson who wants to hand your keys to your new shiny chariot. Also note your own tendencies and feelings associated to the 1st decan of Gemini in your life/chart. This is your point of vulnerability—to both act and respond.
Perhaps because Gemini rules my 8th house predominantly, the idea that endings and beginnings are fated experiences that call us each to search life for answers to , I am touched by Pema Chandra’s thoughts:
“Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all. When there's a big disappointment, we don't know if that's the end of the story. It may just be the beginning of a great adventure. Life is like that. We don't know anything. We call something bad; we call it good. But really we just don't know.”
― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
Let yourself be okay with all the unanswered questions that seem to rise up from within now, and seem to be reflected in what we see happening around us. Search for the Truth that grounds you solidly in your best qualities, expresses your highest ideals, and allows you to do and be the most compassionate, creative, and loving person you can be.
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