New Moon in Gemini

This is on the 13th June, around 8 pm UTC.

Gemini is a mutable air sign: communicative, changeable, social, distractable, hyper. Ruled by Mercury, planet of thought and communication, the sign is about the multiplicity of information and choice. It's important to note that Mercury was also a trickster god, patron of liars, thieves and lawyers – with Gemini, the distinction between true and false is not such a big concern.

A new moon is about new beginnings, so this new moon in Gemini is about a new start in the realm of information, communication and thinking. The symbolism here is also of an abrupt shift in values and relationships, as Venus changes signs a couple of hours after the new moon, from Cancer into Leo. It's always significant when a planet changes signs at the time of a new or full moon; it colours everything.

Venus is about love, relationships, aesthetics, values and money. In the regal sign of Leo, she's a prima donna: the queen who expects to be treated as befits her rank. She will not be slighted or undervalued or play second fiddle to anyone.

In this case she's also moving straight into a square with Uranus at 1 degree Taurus. Venus rules Taurus, which is all about physical stability, comfort and security. Uranus is in Taurus as of last month, where he will shake up all these constructs for the next 7 years, roughly. As Venus squares Uranus, we will see people abruptly exiting relationships and work situations that no longer accord with their values or make them feel good. Attractive new options may suddenly appear out of nowhere. Whether those options are real or mirages is another matter – Neptune squares the new moon, which makes for plenty of confusion and delusion about what's real and what's not. Be that as it may, people will be looking to bolt the fences and go after something shinier. (You'll know by the full moon in two weeks' time whether it's fool's gold or not.)

This Venus-Uranus square comes on the heels of a Venus-Pluto opposition last week, which exposed toxicity, power dynamics and betrayal in the realms of love and money. So odds are, someone is feeling undervalued and “done” with something: “I'm worth more than this, I don't have to take this shit!” says Venus in Leo. She's beneficially aspecting Chiron in Aries, which is about a wound to our sense of self. Overall, this looks helpful and healing. Knowing when you've settled for less, coming to understand your true worth and leaving dynamics where you've been undervalued is bound to be a good thing.

We have another shift around this new moon, and it also involves wounded healer asteroid Chiron. Mercury, ruler of the new moon, changes signs the day before it, on the 12th June. He moves from Gemini into emotional, touchy Cancer, where he will square Chiron in Aries. Chiron is about wounds, and Cancer is easily hurt, so this means there's a lot of potential for wounding, emotional communication at this time – especially regarding family issues.

As I said though, there's plenty of potential confusion and delusion at play here, courtesy of Neptune. So if you're upset about something, please take a moment to check that your reaction is justified, and not some trumped-up wounded ego stuff. Think before you open your mouth, as it'll be easy to hurt people.

We are in for some WTF moments this month, as Neptune stations retrograde on the 18th June. This is like brain fog and distraction in warp drive. You may need to retreat from the Gemini stuff (parties, news, social media) to protect your frazzled neurons!

Things are likely to feel kind of edgy and weird leading up to the full moon. Mars will station retrograde on the 26th, and then we'll have five planets retrograde: Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Pluto – leading to delay and frustration. If going to be hard to make things happen this summer. If your progress seems to be hitting a wall, just take whatever baby steps you can and wait the blockage out. Jupiter will station direct in early July, Mars at the end of August, and Saturn in early September – things will gradually be feeling less stuck.

The full moon in Capricorn on the 28th is harsh, there's no other way to say it. The moon will be tightly conjunct Saturn in Capricorn, and this is hard, cold realism about the situation you're in. It'll be a necessary wake-up call after the confusion and delusion of this new moon, but a bitter medicine nonetheless. Chiron in Aries will be involved – very wounding to the thin-skinned, emotional sun in Cancer. Family issues and responsibilities are likely to figure heavily.

There will be blessing and help in the form of a trine to Jupiter, but I think it will be hard to appreciate that help with Jupiter retrograde – it's a behind-the-scenes sort of thing, not very obvious at all.

When conflict comes up, it's important to note that the way forward right now is shown by the north node in generous, open-hearted Leo. Venus will be conjunct the north node for the next few weeks, so if you can muster up some creativity, playfulness and love, you might as well use it! The alternative is Mars conjunct the south node in Aquarius – this looks like chilly, egocentric rage and selfishness, and it will be much easier to access than generosity and heart. Needless to say, things will not go well for you or your relationships if follow this path of least resistance.

Mars on the south node and Venus on the north node spell karmic make-or-break stuff for relationships especially. This is not an easy time. It's confusing, disjointed, abrupt. The full moon on the 28th June is a necessary dose of hard reality after the exciting mirages of this new moon, but it's not fun. The outlook into August is not easy – not terrible, but not easy.

This is to be expected after the sign shift of Uranus into Taurus last month. We are dealing with shake-ups to our sense of comfort and security, it's not supposed to be easy. Weird and uncomfortable is how we're rolling for the next while! So please keep doing your north node in Leo stuff: creativity, heart, a willingness to take risks and a sense of humour will pull you through.

Full Moon in Sagittarius

(by Ivan Bilibin)

OK, so we have a busy sky heading into the full moon in Sagittarius on Friday the 13th June (around 5 am GMT). It's just kinda all over the place and intense. Awkward, complex, brutal, dramatic. I'm not sure where to begin.

I guess we had better look back at the new moon in Gemini a couple weeks ago for guidance. If you recall, that one had something to do with artistic license and inspiration...or on a more mundane level, misinformation. Confusing news coming from multiple sources, unclear new developments. Drunken networking and siren songs.

The Gemini-Sagittarius axis has to do with knowledge vs. understanding. In Gemini, you gather up the raw data. In Sagittarius, you use that information to intuit broader truths; you find the underlying meaning.

So I think this full moon is a scenario where the swirly mists dissipate and the actual landscape comes into view. The truth becomes self-evident: the actualities are all lit up, and they are likely to be quite stark.

Here is Emily Dickinson on having the scales fall from your eyes:

It dropped so low -- in my Regard --
I heard it hit the Ground --
And go to pieces on the Stones
At bottom of my Mind --

Yet blamed the Fate that flung it -- less
Than I denounced Myself,
For entertaining Plated Wares
Upon My Silver Shelf --  

This full moon should light up exactly where you stand with regard to issues of love, money, values and self-worth. Venus in Taurus will be exactly opposing Saturn in Scorpio - and not just to the degree, but to the minute. This is all about the bottom line in relational and financial matters. There won't be much leeway available with personal and shared resources, inheritances and debts (and this means energetic debts as well as the financial kind). You either have it in the bank or you don't, and that's that. It's either the real deal or it isn't.

There is constraint and austerity involved here, which is not so pleasant. But there's a solidity and depth to this aspect that is comforting. Knowing where you stand is always good, even if it involves knowing you're broke as a joke and all your romantic prospects are fantasies. At least you can work with that: it is a bedrock fact.

And if you do possess something solid in the love or money departments – well that's good to know as well, even if it feels like a ball and chain at times.

It may feel like more of a ball and chain than usual, with the moon in freedom-loving Sagittarius aspecting revolutionary Uranus in Aries and an excitable sun in Gemini. This all represents an urge to cut loose, to leave the past behind and strike out alone...but it is bumping up against the reality of limits and responsibilities to others. Especially to family.

The Sagittarius moon is disposited by Jupiter in Cancer, and the Gemini sun is disposited by Mercury (now retrograde till early July) in Cancer.  Cancer is heavily involved with this full moon, and the energies (air and fire for Gemini and Sagittarius, water for Cancer) don't sit comfortably with each other. It's like a really awkward family reunion...everyone is desperate to leave already and do something fun, but they're all held there by the undertow of a shared history.

Cancer is about family and home life, nostalgia, the past. So the emphasis is really on family stuff for now...and this ties in with the Venus-Saturn aspect outlined above.

Where do you come from, what is your bedrock inheritance? What do you owe to your family; what do they owe you? Probably you won't be able to avoid looking at these kinds of issues right now.

(Something from The Onion.)

Anyway, family duties are going to feel damn uncomfortable and constraining when there is such a contrary pressure for freedom, personal expansion, fun and adventure at work. Things look quite uneasy and emotionally awkward: this is courtesy of a whole bunch of inconjunct aspects, which speak of mutually irreconcilable imperatives.

And also potentially violent, shocking and explosive. Sigh. Now we get to the ugly part.

I'm sick of this shit, but this is the cosmic weather we're in: a cardinal t-square involving Mars, Pluto and Uranus, in effect for the rest of June. The god of war vs. the god of death vs. the god of shock and upheaval. Can you see what this might look like in your mind's eye? It's not a garden party.

The Mars square Pluto aspect will be exact at the full moon, and here are some fun key phrases for that: killer rage. Death instinct. Power drive. Intense aggression. 

It is damn uncomfortable. You combine it with a tense aspect to Uranus (shock)...and it's pretty clear you'd better keep your wits about you for the next few weeks...and especially at the full moon (Friday the 13th, ha). Try to avoid bashing anybody's head in, or getting your own head bashed in. Be careful driving, be careful around machinery, try to stay alert, obey your instincts, be ready to jump out of the way of the oncoming train or whatever. Be prepared!

Here are some less scary Mars-Pluto key phrases: physical endurance. Rising from the ashes. A will to transform. Survival instinct. Fighting to the death. 

Nothing about this is pretty or nice: it is a relentless, angry kind of energy, and it demands action. So if you start feeling it, you'll need to DO something with it...hopefully something that doesn't involve decapitating anyone. Run 12 miles, destroy the hell out of something inanimate, chop all your hair off like Katy Perry in this promotional video for the US army, I don't know.

& here is Rihanna gyrating on tanks & blowing shit up in Afghanistan, while we're watching disturbing US army ads.

Well that was disgusting, but so is Mars square Pluto. (They are sex gods too, remember. Very Freudian.)

(sex & deth, yo)

I should probably play a bunch of punk rock to balance out all this pop, because punk rock fits these aspects - and punk involves some level of honesty and integrity.  But I don't feel like it right now. Here's some Destiny's Child instead.

Soldiering through is where we're at.

OK, stupid videos aside, the best use of this energy is transformation. What we are looking at for the next few weeks is an intense rage for transformation of circumstances that seem stuck. Corrupt old power structures, corrupt old family and societal dynamics: these things are going to be glaringly obvious. The rot underlying the old order is going to be glaringly obvious.

Transi tomb: see here

Things have got to change. And what's too far gone to change has to die.

This story has been in the news lately where I live, and it encapsulates these themes perfectly. The hidden abuses of a rigidly patriarchal society coming to light.

Infuriating as this stuff is, I think compassion, rather than righteous fury is the way to go here. Righteous fury will be easy to come by, courtesy of the cardinal t-square. But we also have Mercury and Jupiter in Cancer, which is nurturing and emotional. And we have Saturn in Scorpio exactly trining Chiron in Pisces - again, not just to the degree but to the minute.

This is a grand trine in water signs, emphasizing compassion, forgiveness and deep understanding. The real task here is not to blowtorch the past, but to understand it.

A song for the end of the old order, by Shakespeare:

Full fathom five thy father lies; 
Of his bones are coral made; 
Those are pearls that were his eyes: 
Nothing of him that doth fade 
But doth suffer a sea-change 
Into something rich and strange. 
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell: 
Ding-dong. 
Hark! now I hear them,--ding-dong, bell. 

A sea-change; a transmutation. That's what's required here.

To sum up, I think this full moon has to do with understanding our debt to the past. “The damage that was done and the treasures that prevail”, as Adrienne Rich says in Diving into the Wreck – a poem about confronting collective psychic damage.

I'm thinking too of what Joyce said about history: "History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awaken."

And hexagram 18 in the I Ching, about corruption originating in past abuse or neglect, and the effort of righting it.

Individual freedom is impossible without an awareness of where we came from. We may want to be our own people – but we are products of our social and familial conditioning. There is no getting rid of it; there is only recognizing it and reconciling with it. It's tempting to split off from it and fix upon a perpetrator to blame, but that only absolves us of personal responsibility.

In order to be free, we have to 'own' our roots, in other words. However uncomfortable and ugly this process is.

So all in all, this is a complicated and uneasy kind of cosmic weather we are headed into...and full of danger and drama to boot. Please remember that luck (Jupiter) is attendant here upon engaging with deep emotional and family responsibilities, however much you might want to run away and do your own thing.

And please try to avoid killing anyone, or getting killed!