Full Moon in Gemini / Uranus Direct



by Ivan Bilibin

Ok, this Gemini full moon hits exactitude at 26 degrees Gemini on the 17th Dec, around 9:30 am GMT. And then at around midnight on the 18th, Uranus goes direct at 8 degrees Aries after a four-month retrograde period (since July 17). And all this ushers in a very fraught and edgy holiday season.

Let's look at the full moon first. This one appears to be about communication, big-style. The sun will be conjunct Mercury in truth-seeking (but sometimes bombastic and verbose) Sagittarius, opposing the moon in restless, chatty Gemini.

A Gemini moon is not very emotional: it needs mental and verbal stimulation first and foremost. Witty banter, wordplay, amusement, gossip, news headlines, reality tv: it's pretty value-free. It just needs to keep jittering around from one thing to the next - to avoid boredom and stagnation.

Gemini is like the Internet: a network of loosely associated content. You can surf from one link to the next forever but you never exactly get anywhere--and that's the whole point. It's not about getting from here to there or finding meaning or seeking out capital-T Truth - that's what Sagittarius is for. Gemini is more about knitting something together: networking. And shallow as it may seem, nothing really exists outside of this networking. Our minds and lives and communities are emergent properties of the network.

So for example we have a lot of individual trades creating a marketplace, or a community's life emerging from the back-and-forth of individual conversations among people. Or the communication of neurons in the brain collectively creating a mind.

Gemini is about information, communication, commerce. Thought - but the actual physical process of thought, not the products. The leap of a signal across the neural synapse: the intangible, lightning fast transmission. With Gemini, it's not the actual message that matters but the act of messaging. The messenger isn't supposed to read the message or interpret it or act upon it, only convey it.

And this relates to the association of Gemini with twins: in order for there to be a message, there has to be a gap to be bridged: a separation. A duality or polarity, as between two neurons in the synapse. Or the cathode and anode in a battery... Duality is what calls the intermediating spark into being.

(JEDWARD BREAK!!! I'M SORRY.)

Mercury, the ruler of Gemini, is represented as a winged messenger in the mythology, with a cloak of invisibility. A merchant, a trickster and a thief; volatile ('mercurial') and hard to pin down. A real jumpy, nervous, shiny chicken of a god, always rushing around on some errand or another, stopping along the way to perform random little acts of mischief.

Anyway, back to the full moon. This Gemini moon is disposited by (and in opposition to) Mercury in Sagittarius, and this is problematic for our shiny chicken messenger. This is a face-off between the need for distraction, stimulation and networking, vs. a drive for meaning and truth. And Jupiter, ruler of Sagittarius, is in Cancer and trining Saturn in Scorpio--so this is about a sustained, steady drive for emotional truth, deep soul engagement and opening up old emotional wounds so they can heal.

How do you jitter around at paties, relaying gossip and talking about the Kardashians or whatever...and be profound and true at the same time? It's pretty damn hard. It could wind up looking like the Jedward video above. Gemini backed up by Jupiter in Cancer: big spurts of female water & a pair of manic teenagers jumping around singing about true love.

(Ok YES I KNOW, that Jedward thing is deeply disturbing.)

Anyway it's likely people will be playing out the two polarities of this dichotomy in their interactions:

some will be jiggling from foot to foot nervously while others try to engage them in long-winded philosophical dissertations.
Some will be replying to deep and heartfelt revelations with ridiculous and inappropriate jokes.
Some will be going on internet dates and spilling their guts to uncomfortable strangers.
Some will be blurting dark family secrets at lighthearted social gatherings.
Some will be blogging about the esoteric meaning of Gemini in windy Sagittarian style, then inserting Jedward videos to illustrate.
Some will be taking absurd selfies at Mandela's funeral and they are the president of the goddamn United States, show some dignitas already please.

Etc etc.

So awkward! --And hey, what about that guy who was supposed to be doing the sign language at Mandela's funeral and it turned out he was only flapping his arms around? Amazing! That is a Gemini-Sagittarius conflict story if ever there was one. "Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"...except of course it didn't involve sound or fury; it was just dumb.

Anyway, the above examples are pretty harmless and amusing...I'm trying to keep things light, Gemini-style. But Gemini is known for twisting the truth, and the truth is, this stuff isn't really light. For one thing, Mars is in Libra now - the signifier of war in the sign of social harmony - and social faux pas are a big deal. A very very big deal, as Libra moves into cardinal t-square with Uranus and Pluto. People will be very edgy and the consequences of breaches of social etiquette may be severe - and potentially traumatic.

And Uranus, which represents sudden shock, is going direct after the full moon, with Mars in opposition: so things can get explosive and dangerous very quickly. You do not fuck with people under these skies. And if they fuck with you...well I guess you'll have to resist the urge to annihilate them. Unless they really really deserve it, and you are willing to deal with the consequences (such as going to jail for the next 40 years).

Things can turn on a dime and get violent and out-of-control very quickly, so be careful. This is the whole holiday season we're talking about: the second half of December and the first week of January, roughly. The potential for family conflict, with Jupiter in Cancer aspecting Mars, Uranus and Pluto, is very high. There could be breakthroughs as well: big beneficial shifts in relational power dynamics. But these kind of changes don't come without discomfort, and the energies at work here look very uncomfortable.

Anyway, Happy Christmas; Happy New Year. Stay safe and take no chances. Pace yourself, make sure you get enough rest, avoid risky situations. Use your words carefully. You probably say dumb things when you're drunk; we all do. But the consequences over the next few weeks could be serious, so be careful about holiday drinking.

There is a new moon in Capricorn on New Year's Day, and it looks like a doozy. Conjunct the sun, Mercury and Pluto in Capricorn, and aspecting Mars, Jupiter and Uranus in a Cardinal Grand Cross. I'll write more on it later. Suffice it to say for now: things are going to change in a big way this holiday season; there's no way around it. Let's see what happens.

"May all your crises be opportunities!" sayeth thee Philosoraptor

(as he devours yr brain...)