New Moon in Gemini

See here:

This is tomorrow, the 16th June - around 3 pm.

For the past month we've been looking at nearly too much mental energy, frenetic socialising, and a driving need to communicate.

This new moon in hectic Gemini, sign of thought, communication and social networking, continues the theme. We are opening up another very busy 30-day cycle here. One in which anything – really anything – could happen.

– It has all the elements of a good fairy story, really. A seed in the mind coming to fruition...then suddenly it's a magic beanstalk, a road to the otherworld. And later this cycle, we come face to face with the giant – what we most fear maybe.

That's at the full moon in Capricorn in two weeks' time. I'll write about it closer to the time - it's a heavy one. But for now we'll focus on the new moon:

The sun and moon in Gemini will be conjunct Mars in Gemini. And all these planets are disposited by Mercury, also in Gemini, his home sign - and direct since the 11th June.

This is just a lot of busy-bee energy. A lot of jittering around, mentally and socially. People are going to be needing to talk and share information.

The new moon will also sextile the Jupiter-Uranus trine, which is nearly exact now. It will be exact on the 22nd June, but it's in effect. Lightning grace is underway.

It's about bravery, eureka moments, sparkly energy. Creativity, magic words; artistry and mastery. Inspired communciation and derring-do.

Magic, per Crowley, is "the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will". This new moon looks like a pretty good setup for magic. Inspired solutions to old problems, or a new point of departure entirely. An opportunity to turn dreams into realities.

But please remember, magic is not something you play around with. Saturn is back in Scorpio as of this morning.

I've written about this plenty (see the tag-cloud entry for “Saturn in Scorpio” below) and will try not to repeat myself here. But this is a last-chance kind of transit – a three month window (mid June to mid-September) for dealing with Scorpio issues (sex, death, power, transformation, the Shadow, shared resources and energetic transactions).

It's time to take your psychological garbage out – unless you want to carry it for the next three decades or so.

There is great opportunity here - also great peril. Great pain, maybe. This transit feels so somber to me, and final. And frightening. It's not for wusses.

But it's what's required. After all, what is magic worth if there's nothing real at stake? What would a fairy tale be without monsters to fight? What is bravery worth without the possibility of loss and failure?

Saturn currently opposes Mercury – and this new moon is all about Mercury (mind, thought, communication, messages). What this means is, beneath all the surface social energy and activity, beneath all the chatter - there are very weighty, karmic issues preoccupying us. It may seem like a light time because of the Gemini emphasis. It is not light.

Further, Chiron in Pisces – representing an unhealable, inchoate sense of wounding – will be squaring the new moon and Mars. This is quite raw and uncomfortable, emotionally and mentally.

Again, very fitting for a fairy story. What starts a story in motion is dissatisfaction, unease, the sense of something wrong or lacking. Something out of joint with the world, something you desperately want, just out of reach...

Mercury is also trining the north node in Libra – so remember the aim of this story is harmony, balance, justice, right relationship.

So as in a fairy story, there are quests to undertake, dragons to be defeated, risks to be braved, prizes to be fought for...and a big alchemical wedding at the end.

--Sometimes I wonder how anyone could possibly find life boring. It's the biggest, most dangerous adventure anyone could ever undertake. People forget - in the grip of routine or inertia or ego – that the ground of our existence is magic and amazement. Magic is our birthright.

Beneath the 'mundane', socially agreed-upon surface of the world, beneath the scripts and programming we live by, life is a deep mystery and an endless strangeness.

T.S. Eliot, from “East Coker”:

There is, it seems to us,
At best, only a limited value
In the knowledge derived from experience.
The knowledge imposes a pattern, and falsifies,
For the pattern is new in every moment
And every moment is a new and shocking
Valuation of all we have been. We are only undeceived
Of that which, deceiving, could no longer harm.
In the middle, not only in the middle of the way
But all the way, in a dark wood, in a bramble,
On the edge of a grimpen, where is no secure foothold,
And menaced by monsters, fancy lights,
Risking enchantment. Do not let me hear
Of the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly,
Their fear of fear and frenzy, their fear of possession,
Of belonging to another, or to others, or to God.
The only wisdom we can hope to acquire 
Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.


OK, so to sum up: we are living in a weird fairy tale this month. (Always really. But especially so this month, and this summer.)

Remember fairy tales are brutal and dangerous, like life. There are awful people in them who create terrible suffering. There are murderous bridegrooms, evil sisters, usurping kings. There are man-eating giants and wicked witches and monsters galore.

Also fairy godmothers, magical helpers, tricksters, talking animals. And moral laws whereby evil ultimately destroys itself and kindness and humility prevail.

There are quests and follies; there are inescapable realities of violence, injustice, loss... and the possibility of ultimate redemption.

And there are lucky portals of dazzling promise that open at a moment's notice – but you have to be brave or foolhardy enough to step through, into the unknown. To leave your known, comfortable reality behind.

Fairy tales and myths encode the way life actually works. If you're in any doubt on that score, watch how reality twists and morphs this summer.

Anyway...Let's look briefly at the next couple of weeks:

--the sun moves into Cancer the 22nd, followed by Mars on the 24th. Mars (warrior planet) is uncomfortable in Cancer, sign of emotions, nurturance and family. He can get very emotionally reactive, moody, manipulative and defensive here.

Mars will be in Cancer from the 24th June till the 9th August  – the best use of this is to be a warrior, emotionally – to express feelings, to stand up for your emotional truth, to defend those who are in your care. To feed people like a big Italian mama. It is a fiercely protective energy – like a mother animal defending her young. Fiercely focused on family, clan, 'your' people and belongings and emotional security – your home and personal domain.

The worst use of this is emotional warfare, moodiness, clinginess, guilt trips and general emo crap. And getting all butthurt and sulky over stupid shit. Especially family shit. Over-identification with 'your' people to the point where you think you have a right to control and manipulate them.

(Grumpy care bear)

Another dumb expression of Mars in Cancer is comfort eating (or drinking, or drugging). Stuffing feelings down via food or other addictive behaviours:

On the plus side, having Mars in Cancer should help with Saturn in Scorpio's requirement for deep emotional excavation. Intense energy will be available to do the necessary emotional work - it's just a matter of channelling it properly.

In other words, do not get sucked into moodiness and drama. Do not construct a sob story around your shifting emotional states and use it to manipulate others or turn your life into a soap opera.

But do use this energy to understand your moods at their roots. What is going on way under the surface? What is this really about, deep down? When have you felt this way before – what kind of emotional pattern is being manifested here?

Other things happening in the next couple of weeks: Mercury will square Neptune on the 23rd June. This is about intuition, inspiration and messages from the aether. Beware wooly-headedness and delusion though – and imprecise, confusing communication.

At the very end of the month and during first week of July, we have some hardcore loveliness. Venus conjuncts Jupiter and trines Uranus. This is incredibly sweet and liberating and lucky.

But it's also quite powerful and deep. July 2nd, while all this sweetness is at its height, we have a really heavy-duty and dark full moon in Capricorn. It looks emotionally cathartic and intense – like a full-on fairy-tale battle. Dragons and monsters to fight, like I said. And magical helpers with gifts.

I will write it out closer to the time, but it looks like a great story.