Gemini New Moon

Gemini New Moon

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Knitting in the Library (ca. 1881) by Mary Cassatt

Gemini New Moon

Gemini is ever curious, changing, quick to respond and capable of transfiguring forms as swift as a change in wind currents. The Sun and Moon uniting in Gemini is an invitation to question, probe, and tease beyond the obvious into the multiplicity of messages circulating underneath the surface of relations. Gemini holds the archetypal image of the twins, one mortal and one immortal, one bound to the necessity of incarnation, one kindled with the soulful spirit of eros. There is a dynamically restless side to Gemini forever searching for deeper meaning and connections, forever curious in its questioning of all things interconnected within our reality and the multiplicity of selves and identities circulating within its human body. Within the mysterious darkness of the Gemini New Moon, new connections within our many inner parts are ready to be forged with a bridging that opens a brightening sense of new possibility.

The New Moon in Gemini on May 30 holds a burning, passionate force within its darkness that will initiate a period of amplified activity and opportunities for taking action aligned with whatever major life changes have coincided with the recent season of eclipses. The Gemini New Moon is the first non-eclipsed lunation since the Full Moon in Libra on April 16, and so will activate a coalescing into more solid form whatever has been dissolving and undergoing metamorphosis during the recent months of the Jupiter and Neptune conjunction in Pisces on April 12, the Taurus Solar Eclipse on April 30, and the Scorpio Lunar Eclipse on May 15. Yet there is simultaneously a theme of stillness, intensified contemplation and discernment as Mercury is in process of slowing down to station direct.

The Gemini New Moon is in the airy domicile of Mercury slowing down in retrograde movement, placing Mercury in position to facilitate mindfulness regarding whatever process of change, loss, and new growth we are experiencing. The divine presence of Mercury saturates the lunation, as Mercury will be experiencing its heliacal rise into visibility as a Morning Star as well as stationing direct on June 3. The fixed, earthy essence of Taurus will be slowing down the tempo of Mercury on top of the fact that Mercury is literally slowing down in order to station in stillness. Thus the intensified nature of Mercury within its current solar phase can help with slowing down the pace of mental pursuits in order to focalize upon practical and tangible concerns, realizing what needs to be reorganized, restructured, rearranged or reordered due to the changing nature of circumstances.

With Venus also present with Mercury within its earthy domicile of Taurus, the arsenal of fertile material resources found within Taurus will be more readily available for the star of Hermes to utilize creatively. However, it’s unlikely to be a time of pure pleasure but rather one demanding discipline, endurance, patience, and artful analysis as Mercury will be stationing direct on June 3 at 26°05’ Taurus while forming a square aspect with Saturn in Aquarius and in range of an imaginative sextile aspect with Neptune in Pisces. Moreover, Saturn will also be stationing retrograde at 25°15’ Aquarius on June 4, bringing an intensified presence of the divine nature of Saturn into taut tension with the divine nature of Mercury. With Saturn bringing its penetrating gaze to bear upon whatever work and plans that Mercury has been developing over the course of his recent retrograde phase, there will be a need to be decisive combined with flexibly adapting to whatever challenges emerge to test resolve. Yet it’s not a time for retreating back to the comfortability of one’s previous status quo, but rather to be receptive to unknown potentials and the way old identities and patterns are ready to wash away as a renewed presence emerges to integrate.

Panel with Horse Heads (11th Century)

The initiation of a new lunar cycle is also coinciding with the initiation of a new cycle between Mars and Jupiter, as Mars formed an exact conjunction with Jupiter in Aries on May 29 one day before the lunation. The conjunction between Mars and Jupiter in Aries will supply an upsurge of passionate, inspirational force that can catalyze brave beginnings and bold actions. With Mercury and Saturn simultaneously stationing while holding the tension of a square aspect, it will be important to be mindful of how we communicate, listen, and respond within relationship especially in situations where there is great uncertainty and fear due to the dissolution of what had previously brought stability and security. While there is potential for an increase of conflict within relationships, it’s important to remember how conflict is often necessary within the process of creation. Within the vast relational field between the personal and collective, the immense uncertainty we feel due to standing at a personal crossroads will be mirroring the vaster collective uncertainty stemming from a process of global structures and systems experiencing a great mutation that will continue to necessitate cultivating a flexible, adaptable presence in response.

Matching well with the powerful creative drive supplied by the conjunction of Mars and Jupiter in Aries is the fact that the Gemini New Moon is close to the projected zodiacal degree of the fixed star Aldebaran. Aldebaran is the bright rosy eye of the Bull whose reddish hue connects it with the planet Mars, as Aldebaran kindles the vitality needed to achieve the ambitious desires stoked by Mars. It’s therefore notable that the Gemini New Moon is in a whole sign sextile aspect with Jupiter and Mars in Aries, as the proximity of the lunation with Aldebaran will amplify the capacity to envision the world and forms we wish to create, develop, and build. While the stationing of Saturn in square aspect with Mercury will demand realistic planning and persevering determination, there is also a quality within the lunation that can facilitate expanding the scope of what can be realistically achieved beyond the constraints of previous conditioning.

In addition to Mars and Jupiter in Aries kindling a potent fire underneath the Gemini New Moon, Venus in Taurus will be approaching a conjunction with Uranus in Taurus on June 11 that can correlate with a break from past relationship dynamics or an acceleration of exciting new developments that have been forming over recent months. Since Mercury will still be in the domicile of Venus and beginning to pick up speed during this time, the union of Venus with Uranus will accelerate developments with dynamic power that may feel volatile while also full of emancipatory propulsion. At the same time, as Mercury in Taurus slowly picks up speed it will pass through a flowing trine aspect with Pluto in Capricorn on June 10 that will allow for a deeper integration of desire and felt sense of how to bring our true desires into reality. As a result, over the course of the forthcoming lunar cycle we can expect that as Mercury begins to separate away from its tension with Saturn, we will experience an unleashing of immense currents of change that can facilitate breaking free from old restraints into a more fully authentic, enlivened presence.

8 of Swords by Pamela Colman Smith

The New Moon in Gemini will arise in the first decan of Gemini associated with the 8 of Swords card illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith. The image is apt for the fears and grief that have been overwhelming to many during the past years of a pandemic mixed with immense political turmoil and warfare, with old sources of security dissolving. The image of the bound woman has been interpreted as the paralysis that comes from fears running rampant within or triggered in present circumstances.  While some interpretations suggest that the same mental swords enveloping the figure could also be used to cut away the fabric of bondage, it is also important to note the moist and muddy fertility of the ground she is standing on. As Jupiter rules the first face of Gemini, the image also reveals how fear can arise in times when a huge new potential becomes available to step into.  As much as it is possible to release fears related to what has happened in the past that are being projected into the present moment, the more gracefully we will be able to flow into the tremendous change that will emerge from the recent season of eclipses.

Austin Coppock in his book on the decans 36 Faces ascribed the image of “The Apple of Eden” to the first face of Gemini, linking Eve’s bite into the apple with emerging awareness of “the duality within all things” including the yin and yang of the self. Coppock described that the discovery of the binary and “the multiplicity within all unities, the complexity in apparent simplicities” unlocks “the capacity to code all things” and display clever skills in all of the arts and sciences. Yet in keeping with the image of the Eight of Swords card, Coppock also declared that this opening to abundant flow also “de-centers and sometimes paralyzes its inhabitants.” Coppock noted that the mental acuity of this decan not only generates all arts and crafts, it also directs its prodigious curiosity to explore the multitudinous found within, both the light and the shadow of the deep Self.

In contrast to the tightly bound woman in the Eight of Swords image, ancient texts ascribed a graceful woman of flowing mind and deft dexterity inhabiting the first decan of Gemini.  Ibn Ezra pictured “A beautiful woman standing in the air, and she can sew,” while in the Picatrix we find “A beautiful woman, a mistress of stitching, and with her ascend two calves and two horses.” Indeed, the Picatrix declares it to be “a face of the art of the scribe, of reckoning, of number, of giving and receiving, and of the sciences.” In keeping with the double-bodied nature of the sign of the Twins, we can imagine how the image of a woman gracefully prodigious in arts and crafts is another side of the first face of Gemini to remember in contrast to the Eight of Swords image.

Fascinatingly, the Hellenistic text the 36 Airs ascribed Tethus, also known as Tethys,  to the first face of Gemini. Since Tethys is the Titan goddess of fresh water which interconnects and nourishes our earth, we can note her appearance in the Eight of Swords image as the water at the foundation of the figure. Tethys was also the wife of Okeanos, the primal sea divinity of the oceanic field surrounding the world where the Sun rises from at dawn and returns to at sunset, and the mother of river, cloud, spring, stream, and fountain spirits. Daughter of Gaia, Tethys fed her children through the subterranean waters of Okeanos as her name is derived from the Greek word têthê meaning “nurse” or “grandmother.” Moreover, she was often depicted in art with a pair of wings on her brow signifying her role as mother of rain clouds that fertilize the earth, revealing her role of supreme creatrix.

In Hesiod’s Theogony Okeanos and Tethys did not take part in the war between the Titans and Olympians, instead continuing to focus on their immense procreative capacity for generating new life together.  The extraordinary power Oceanus and Tethys produce together for creative generation and setting new life into motion resonates with the fertile quality of the New Moon in Gemini. Let yourself open to the world you may create with your life as the way the wider world has been continues to disintegrate and morph into new pathways of possibility.

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References

Coppock, Austin. (2014). 36 Faces: The History, Astrology and Magic of the Decans. Three Hands Press.

Tethys, Greek Titan Goddess of Fresh Water. https://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanisTethys.html

Gemini New Moon: embodied strength and vision

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sigge bergstrom woman praying in forest

by Sigge Bergstrom

New Moon in Gemini

Silent, her Gemini mind rests from weaving together her present thoughts with the ancient words on the parchment lightly held by her fingers. Her elegantly long fingers, equally skilled at composing musical notes as they are at drafting lines in ink, close the tome.  The ceaseless wisdom of the old library with its smell of books no longer satiates her, and so she departs into a sensuous sunset sky of shifting colors signifying the time of transition.  She savors each breath of fresh wind and call of birdsong, finding her way to her favorite field to lay within and dream.  Feeling her hair in the grass, the vibration of earth below her, a waft of pungent sea air overcomes her.  She knows inside what she must do, the challenges she will have to face and the opposition of those in authority she will have to overcome.  She smiles pondering that no doubt centuries before her someone else lay in the same field she finds herself within now, his vision every bit as curious and adventurous, his determination and resiliency equal to hers.

Mercury in Taurus rules the New Moon in Gemini on May 25,  and is applying to a harmonious and dreamy sextile with Neptune in Pisces.   The New Moon also occurs within the bounds of Mercury, degrees of Gemini that the Hellenistic astrologer Vettius Valens described as “practical, musical, and fertile” as well as “calm and gracious, ringing with clarity and intelligence” while indicating “many skills, from scientific thought to true wisdom.”  Yet Mercury finds itself in the home of Venus, and Venus in Aries at the New Moon is in the middle of extremely volatile aspects both dredging up deep issues while offering insights into how to find a sense of freedom and hope in facing the forces of necessity.  Meanwhile, Mars is co-present in Gemini with the New Moon and applying toward a harsh opposition with Saturn retrograde in Sagittarius, an aspect which demands hard work, accountability, persistence, and focus in whatever we wish to manifest and must tend to in our daily responsibilities.

sigge bergstrom woodcut landscape

by Sigge Bergstrom

Mars opposing Saturn

Mars is out of bounds in declination at the New Moon and will continue to be out of bounds in the forthcoming lunar cycle, signaling that Mars has a more unrestrained and rebellious martial force than normal.  However, Mars is facing an opposition with a slow, plodding Saturn moving backward in Sagittarius, suggesting that the wild calls of adventure and discovery will face tests and judgment.  This could in part involve moralistic judgements from those in authority or anyone coming from a dogmatic perspective of how one is supposed to live that does not account for the unique circumstances of the person or situation they are judging.   Mars being out of bounds in the variable, airy, hot and moist sign of Gemini suggests that the energy is present to effectively move beyond the old dogmas of Saturn as long as one is simultaneously taking responsibility and living in integrity with inner principles and values.

Yet the opposition of Saturn to Mars also means that Mars cannot do whatever it pleases without consequences.  It also suggests there are some elements of challenges in our current reality we will not be able to change or control, and instead need to accept and mediate.  The days following the New Moon are ideal for becoming aware of all of the elements of life that need work in order to have a secure foundation from which to launch dreams and goals for the future.  It is an important time to honor one’s own boundaries as well as the boundaries of others, and to listen closely to the needs of others in surrounding community.  It will be helpful to recognize what aspects of current circumstances are out of our control and need to be dealt with, versus other elements that are possible to directly manage and will benefit from working to change.

The opposition of Saturn is the initiation of Mars into a season of purification and challenges that are frenetic and catalytic in charge at times.  In 2016 we went through a long period of Mars retrograde that culminated with Mars uniting with Saturn and Antares at the end of August 2016.  Much has changed since that time and we have had opportunities to discover a new sense of how we exert ourselves with our will force in the world and co-create within surrounding structures.  If the opposition between Mars and Saturn corresponds with disappointed feelings in one way or another, consider all of the growth you have undergone during the past nine months of Mars moving from a conjunction to an opposition with Saturn.  The coming lunar cycle is ideal for building upon the gains of the past with hard work, and hold potential for liberation from past limitations into finding ways to live and create with greater vital force.

 

marie laurencin the amazon close up

Venus square Pluto

Venus is barely separating from a square with Pluto in Capricorn as the New Moon in Gemini forms, but it is significant that she is in fact separating.  This means that the full intensity of Venus dredging up deep Plutonian issues will be felt during the Dark Moon immediately preceding the New Moon.  As a result the Gemini New Moon opens us to a new cycle in which we have already felt subconscious material arise within us, giving us the opportunity to bring awareness of deeply rooted feelings into an exciting and accelerated time period for Venus in which she will form a trine to Saturn and a conjunction with Uranus.  We will have the opportunity during the waxing of the Moon to free feelings from our depths and channel them into creative projects and unions in relationship.  Furthermore, collective events will involve numerous surprising and dramatic twists in storylines as Venus connects the tension of Pluto and Jupiter to Saturn and Uranus.

Venus has now cleared her retrograde shadow zone, formed her opposition with Jupiter, and completed her square with Pluto.  Venus has faced numerous, constant tests and difficulties in recent months.  However, instead of forming a harsh square with Saturn as Venus did when she stationed direct over a month ago, Venus will now be forming a harmonious trine with Saturn bringing the opportunity to embody greater strength drawn from the tribulations of recent months.  After Venus forms an electrifying union with Uranus, she will enter her home of Taurus while Jupiter begins to station direct in her other home of Libra.  Although the lunar cycle begins with tense aspects between Mars and Saturn as well as Venus and Pluto, as the Moon waxes we will find opportunities to practice equity in relationship that fosters freely sharing our essentiality in mutually supportive relationships.   It will not be a time of escaping in a fantasy of relationship, however, but rather grounding relationship in the details of daily reality and finding creative joy in the process.

swords08

8 of Swords by Pamela Colman Smith

Gemini 1 Decan

The New Moon falls in the first face of Gemini associated with the Eight of Swords card illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith.  In the image of a woman appearing to be frozen and tightly bound, many interpret its meaning as being paralyzed by fears running rampant within.  Sometimes the fear of paralysis connects to real trauma in the past that has become triggered by fears related to present circumstances.  While some interpretations suggest that the same mental swords enveloping the figure could also be used to cut away the fabric of bondage, it is also important to note the moist and muddy fertility of the ground she is standing on top of.  In relation to the Gemini New Moon, the 8 of Swords image also highlights how fear can arise in times when a huge new potential becomes available to step into.  As much as it is possible to release fears related to what has happened in the past that are being projected into the present moment, the more gracefully we will be able to flow into the tremendous change opening up at the beginning of this lunar cycle.

In contrast to the tightly bound woman in the 8 of Swords image, ancient texts ascribed a graceful woman of flowing mind and deft dexterity.  Ibn Ezra pictured “A beautiful woman standing in the air, and she can sew,” while in the Picatrix we find “A beautiful woman, a mistress of stitching, and with her ascend two calves and two horses. This is a face of the art of the scribe, of reckoning, of number, of giving and receiving, and of the sciences.”  Austin Coppock in his book on the decans 36 Faces connected the image of the 8 of Swords with older images through the power of the first face of Gemini to “discover the multiplicity within all unities, the complexity in apparent simplicities” which leads to “clever methods” and an opening of abundant flow that “de-centers and sometimes paralyzes its inhabitants.”  Coppock noted that the mental acuity of this face not only generates all arts and crafts, it also directs its prodigious curiosity to explore the multitudinous found within, both the light and the shadow of the deep Self.

Jupiter rules the first face of Gemini, interesting in terms of the forthcoming lunar cycle as Jupiter will station direct in Libra at the same time as the upcoming Full Moon in Sagittarius.  With Mercury in Taurus ruling the New Moon after having moved past its retrograde shadow zone into a harmonious aspect with Neptune in Pisces, there is a lot of visionary and imaginative potential buried in the darkness of the New Moon that will be unearthed as the Moon waxes in light.   Follow your obsessions, passions, and desires where they lead you, as the gifts of the coming lunar cycle will come to those willing to courageously open themselves fully to what life has to offer rather than recoil in apprehension over what fate may befall them from risking their heart in action.

References

Coppock, Austin. (2014). 36 Faces: The History, Astrology and Magic of the Decans. Three Hands Press.

Vettius Valens of Antioch, Book One. (2016). Rendered from ancient Greek into modern English by Andrea Gehrz. Moria Press.