Gemini is a jumpy, talky, networky sign. It's into information and communication, and it doesn't like sitting still.
For this new moon, the sun and moon are conjunct at 4 degrees of the sign, and not strongly aspecting anything else – so this is a big dose of jittery Gemini energy. And in addition to the sun and moon, we have Mars in Gemini which is a lot of sharp but scattered mental energy. Expect to be rushing around answering messages and doing a zillion little jobs and errands. It's a busy time with lots of new ideas and options opening up, but it can feel like mental overload and frazzled neurons.
Gemini is ruled by Mercury, the winged messenger of the zodiac, and right now Mercury is in steady, grounded Taurus. This is a good thing! It calms the mental frenzy some, meaning the new ideas and connections coming at you these days have the potential to grow into something solid.
Still, there's plenty of frenzy – a lot of air and fire in the sky at present, and when you put those together you get a conflagration.
Our grand fire trine between Saturn in Sagittarius, Uranus in Aries and the north node in Leo is in full effect, forming a kite pattern with Mars in Gemini. This is nice, symbolic of new visions and inspirations for the future – except for the fact that Mars opposes Saturn (exact on the 29th May).
Mars-Saturn aspects are about blockage and frustration that can express itself as cruelty – it's said to be like driving with the brakes on. As Mars is in thinky Gemini, this is likely to be expressed in the mental realm and in our communications. You may hit a wall mentally.
It looks like a bit of a traffic jam – so beware road rage. If you're trying to make something work but making no progress this month, please try to do your Gemini! Be flexible and adaptable, manoeuvre around the problem instead of meeting it head-on. Or just switch your focus to something else. There'll be plenty of other directions to move in.
That could be hard to believe if you're dealing with an obsession, though -- and you very well might be. The really big news here is that Venus in Aries squares Pluto in Capricorn at nearly the exact same time as the new moon. So the new moon and the month ahead are coloured by this Venus-Pluto square. In addition, Jupiter in Libra is involved, which magnifies the potential nastiness. This is a cardinal t-square, necessitating change. Deep old issues around love, money and values will be coming to the surface to be dealt with this month. Actual exes might come back into your life as well.
This is focused on relationships and it looks pretty heavy. Venus-Pluto aspects are either about powerful love or power masquerading as love. You get the very best or the very worst, no in-between. So this stuff can express itself as rock-solid commitment and love unto death; or as games, triangles, drama, cruelty, jealousy, betrayal.
So all in all, this new moon is interesting. All the mental stimulation and socialising is underlain by an intense frustration and blockage. All the sparkly Gemini instant-messaging stuff is underlain by heavy, dark compulsion.
I think, don't be too fixated this month. Don't be frustrated if you don't get what you want – just pivot. Shift the focus to something else – there'll be plenty of new things to focus on.
The north node in Leo is about creativity, and it is currently disposited by the sun in Gemini – meaning the way through is to think and communicate creatively and playfully. And to be adaptable! To bend like a reed in the wind instead of pushing against resistance and getting yourself all busted up.
We'll have a full moon in Sagittarius on the 9th June, and at that point we'll be putting all the data we've gathered into a narrative and discerning the way forward.
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.
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.
The sun and moon will be conjunct at 27 degrees Taurus. This is a slow, steady, solid, grounded energy. Also utterly determined. Fixated.
Normally Taurus is about pleasure and solidity – it is comforting. A new moon in Taurus is a good time to focus on eating a lot and lazing around in the sun like a simple happy creature. Or to focus on what makes you feel happy and satisfied in general.
In this case things don't look so comfortable, though. This new moon is quite stressfully aspected. This looks like steadiness allright - but of discomfort and pressure.
The moon and sun will be loosely conjunct Mars, now in communicative, mentally hyperactive Gemini – and this speaks of mental and emotional reactivity. Also mental fixation.
The new moon is also opposite party-killing Saturn in Sagittarius, a dour influence on our minds and moods.
Mars and Saturn are known as the lesser and greater malefics...not such easy planets to be caught up with...and Mars-Saturn aspects are about frustration, blockage and cruelty. We currently have an opposition between these planets - it peaked on the 15th of May and is waning now. But this energy colors the tone of the new moon and the month ahead.
Mars is life drive, will, desire, anger...and Saturn is limitation, karma, fear. So with this opposition, we are looking at blocked will, blocked desire, intense frustration – specifically in the realm of communication and self-expression, as Mars is in Gemini. A frustrating inability to say the necessary thing or to communicate, and potential violence and nastiness connected with that. Communication hitting a wall – painfully.
Also, the ruler of Taurus – Venus, dispositor of this new moon – is stressfully aspected. She's currently in emotional, nurturing, motherly Cancer - and opposing Pluto, king of hell (exact on the 22nd May).
Venus-Pluto aspects are about love and power. Also love and death, love and pathology. Love that takes you to hell, toxic love, obsessive love. Dead loves coming back from the grave to haunt you.
At best, Venus-Pluto can be about regenerative, transformative love...but at worst it's about power plays and destructive relationships. Because Venus is currently in Cancer, a sign concerned with emotion – there is some very heavy, hellish emotional stuff connected with this aspect.
Venus is not just about relationships – she also has to do with money, values and self-esteem. These are Taurean themes. So this new moon really highlights a poverty vibe - deep feelings of lack in the love, money and self-esteem departments; frustrated desire courtesy of the Mars-Saturn opposition...aargh.
No satisfaction!
The new moon happens in the late degrees of Taurus, and in a few days the sun moves to sparky, communicative, jittery, social-networking Gemini. So this is actually the opener for Gemini season – and a particularly neuron-frazzling, hyperactive, wyrded-out Gemini season it is. Communication issues and blockages take center stage this month.
Gemini's ruler, Mercury, goes retrograde in his home sign the day after the new moon (19th May). Mercury retrogrades are times of communication breakdowns, glitches, problems with transportation and communication devices...
This retrograde lasts until the 11th June, and Mercury will be in Gemini till the 8th July. So altogether, he will have spent about two months in Gemini and by the end of it I guess we are going to be kinda fried in the brains department.
And Mars will be in Gemini as well – till the 24th June. Mars is moving to conjunct Mercury in Gemini (exact 27th May).
This is nearly too much mental energy and communication. Just zingy as hell, incredibly social and distracted. Intense mental chatter – frazzled synapses. Repetitive thought loops that just go and go and go. A good way to ground this kind of excess mental energy is physical movement and exercise - you pull it down out of your head and into your body. Letting it run riot in your head is a recipe for craziness.
Re. craziness: Mercury will be squaring Neptune in Pisces for much of this transit of Gemini – in fact this Mercury retrograde ends on the same day that Neptune stations retrograde. Mercury-Neptune aspects are about inspiration, intuition, guidance from beyond, creativity and art. But also mental delusion, lies, siren songs, general wooly-headedness...
Gemini is not the most truthful of signs, and Neptune is all illusion – so watch what you say and don't believe everything you're told. The rumour mill will be running at warp speed this month – you might want to turn off the social media, turn off your smartphone, avoid getting caught up in the hype. There will be a lot of frenetic gossip going on, much of it bullshit and insinuation. Try to avoid becoming a source of it.
(Aaargh, silly video. But the song fits.)
This influence will be strongest the last week in May & heading up to the full moon in Sagittarius on the 2nd June – which looks like a bit of a headfuck. I'll write about it closer to the time.
An aside – I was confused about what this new moon meant. I got in my car and turned on the radio, and immediately heard the two songs linked above, which seem to encapsulate the themes – poverty consciousness, frustration, romantic obsession, hectic social chatter, gossip.
Getting guidance from the radio (or billboards, the tv, random things you overhear people saying, or wherever) is a Mercury-Neptune thing. Messages coming from the aether.
This is a good time to pay attention to the messages you get - signs and synchronicities, your dreams, the advertising jingles stuck in your head. All these things can be considered messages from the unconscious – your unconscious mind instinctively hooks onto the information it needs. So don't ignore this stuff – it's valuable.
But use some discrimination too. Not everything is meaningful, not everything is true. Let your intuition be your guide - you'll know deep down what information you can trust (without necessarily being able to articulate why).
All the Venus-Pluto and Gemini stuff is happening as part of a yod - a tricky, tense, uncomfortable aspect pattern, in effect from now till late June. I am not going to describe this yod thing in detail, because my brain will explode...but the apex of the pattern is Pluto in Capricorn, which is about unearthing the truth underlying a corrupt status quo. The point of all this dissatisfaction and confusion this month is finding out what's true - what you really feel, what you really value, what's really fulfilling (all Taurus themes). And acting on your values; voicing them - in order to regenerate situations that have become blocked or ossified...or to do away with them so that something new can develop.
Taurus is supposed to be about fulfillment and comfort. But in this scenario, discomfort, lack and frustration act as spurs to direct us toward what might actually be fulfilling. And our intuition - the Mercury-Neptune stuff - serves the same purpose. There is a guiding design at work here, if we can calm down enough to receive the directions we're being given and act on them.
--Also, Taurus is about what's tangible, what we actually possess. Focusing on what you actually have as opposed to what you lack should help with the frustration. And focusing on the tangible, physical reality of your life can cut through the mental chatter and distraction.
--Forgot to say - drug & booze alert for the remainder of the month and the beginning of June. It's pretty easy to get in over your head with mind-altering substances right now, so be careful.
Social stuff can also function as a drug / addiction / distraction. For example, it's funny how many people I've heard talking about facebook as an addiction lately...I think that will be a theme. If you are overly influenced by social media, it might be good to take a break about now or set yourself some limits, because our circuits will be overloaded enough as it is.
