A Gemini Sun, a Taurus New Moon and Mercury Station-Retrograde

A balloon festival in Chateaux d'Oex, Switzerland

(photo credit: Jynus January 2006)

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Fixed star Algol has a bit of an evil reputation ... one which is associated with how, why and what gets us to respond, whether to others, or something we really don’t like in or about our Self, what we're experiencing, and sometimes in terms of what we need to do, be, accept or recognize our part in (or responsibility for) - maybe as part of some greater relationship with others, but maybe just as part of dealing with our own reactions to our various life challenges.

To put it politely, Algol promotes growling - and this reputation hasn’t been enhanced/made any nicer by its long-term residence at 26 Taurus as 26 Taurus is a degree known for wanting things to be ‘nice’ (which in Taurus reads ‘the way I want them to be’) ... and just as often with little or no regard or though for anyone else or their preferences.

 New Moon at 26 Taurus with Mercury direct and on Station (glyph chart)

May 18, 2015 - 4:14 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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 New Moon at 26 Taurus with Mercury direct and on Station (text chart)

May 18, 2015 - 4:14 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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That would be part of the problem, of course ... with the other part being how wherever Algol is positioned (in the sky or in our chart) that would be an 'area of life' where things (or we are) “designed” to get poked, prodded, prompted, provoked and otherwise rousted from, by or through that devotion to our own perspective from time to time.

After all, how would Algol's presence at 26 Taurus play out if everything was going the way we thought it should?

Another thing about Algol worth mentioning: though Algol is indeed positioned at the aforementioned 26 Taurus, Algol is NOT part of the constellation Taurus.

Instead, it’s part of constellation Perseus. And any time we talk about Perseus, slayer of Medusa, we know there’s some sort of theme in play about being tested against our fears and all we fear most, whether that’s in/about our Self, or otherwise...

-link to post-

Medusa: Through Our Mental Mirror, Darkly

...all of which applies not just to the idea of a New Moon at 26 Taurus (and conjunct Algol) at 4:14 a.m. on Monday, May 18th (UT/+-0), but also to the idea that anything about Perseus refers to times which are going to confront us with some sort of question about our ability ... and (equally) our willingness to get past something we consider ‘fearful’ - whether what matters to us matters to the next person or not.

And that's not all (not by a country mile, as they say ...). That same day ... Monday, May 18th ... is also the date when the North Node arrives at 8 Libra.

-link to post-

To the Degree: 8 Libra

Astrologically, New Moons start cycles - either cycles of activity or cycles of experience, effort, realization or anything which will prompt emotional growth or growth as some sort of ‘maturing’ process which itself may last a month but the values of which (or the values we come to have because of our experiences) last far, far longer.

So just on the surface here, with this New Moon occurring in a responsive, responding, internally testing (and often testy) degree just as the North Node (the ‘do this’ side of the lunar node pair) arrives at 8 Libra ... that would tend to say there is a lot of this next lunar month which is going to be all about how much we’ve really learned in life and how realistic we’re willing to be about things - as opposed to what we want or like thinking, having to say or admit, do or grapple with believing. 

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Most of us just don’t want to do what we need to do, and with the North Node at 8 Libra, some of us don’t even know how we can do what we need to do - which rather gets back to what side of the Algol line we’re standing. Are we on the side which has been threatened by something in life? Or are we on the side which has been doing the threatening, whether purposeful or otherwise?

Much which exists as a consequence of what we have done (or chosen not to do) will now show up through where our lack of being responsible - ultimately for our Self - has been laid aside or rejected in favor of comfort or short term pleasures. These things - which now reflect through circumstances around us (relationships, situations, confrontations, influences) - they all speak of the Libra connection between who we are and how that affects others.

No human is an island, to nudge the old saying. With the North Node at 8 Libra from May 18th through June 2nd, it’s more than likely that at least a few of the things or issues which we have ignored or put off too long - those things will rise again, maybe in life, or maybe in the inner recesses of our eternally tender conscience.

Evidently we need to feel a little ouch, a little disquietude, a little discomfort. Evidently that’s what life thinks we need to get us past our personal inertia. With Mars having moved into Gemini last week (on Tuesday the 12th), much is in motion and much wants to get done.

Was that our wanting to be “too busy” to deal with the things which are going to pop up now and in the days ahead? Was that life moving to throw so much into our days and onto our mental tables that we would have to stop and make sure we were doing what we needed to do - which would be so very Mars in Gemini both from a ‘doing’ perspective and from the Gemini ‘thinking it through and refining my plans’ way?

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Plus all of this is happening with Mercury already on station. With Mercury due to go retrograde on Tuesday the 19th (at 1:50 in the morning), it’s station fully embraces the New Moon and the Moon’s North Node moving into a position where it will set off either a slew of learning through the experience of loss, or through the application of understanding what loss is - and what that means not only to us, but to others, maybe even those we have chosen to ignore.

So this would seem to be a turning point of some sort, although not one which will produce its ‘outcomes’ promptly. Mercury won’t be going direct again until June 11th.

Mercury Station-Retrograde (glyph chart)

May 19, 2015 - 1:49 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)
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 Mercury Station-Retrograde (text chart)

May 19, 2015 - 1:49 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Mercury Station-Direct (glyph chart)

June 11, 2015 - 22 33 (10 33 pm, UT +0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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 Mercury Station-Direct (text chart)

June 11, 2015 - 22 33 (10 33 pm, UT +0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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And with that Mercury station-direct moment overlapping Neptune’s station-retrograde (Neptune goes retrograde on June 12th), some things will still be confused at that point while other things will be in the middle of being ‘dissolved’ or revealed as incorrect (false, untrue, non-viable, unworkable, etc.) at that time... and going forward through June.

But so you know, there are just as many positives to Mercury + Neptune as negatives - it’s all in how you use it. The basic idea being that Mercury represents thought, speech or comprehension and Neptune’s actions melt things away while making them diffuse and fuzzy (or foggy and mysterious ... even magical or mystical) along the way, this combination supports the suspension of disbelief (believing) just as often as it leads to a lifting of a veil which reveals a reality which isn’t what we thought it was.

So while Mercury (plus) Neptune can equal deceit and self-delusion (lying to ourselves), it can also represent anything which is all about ‘letting go’ of some hard or fast shell. Or some illusion about something or someone which really needs to go. This Mercury/Neptune period for some will no doubt be and become a time of joy, of pleasure of all those things we look back on as that memory we so treasure. It can represent a time when we indulge in some ‘suspending of reality’ which is entirely harmless, such as when we read a book or watch a movie, ‘forgetting’ the “real world” outside as we indulge in the story or excitement in the tale.  

As for the planetary ‘layout’ of Mercury’s station, it’s both interesting for what it is, and interesting in what it isn’t - as diagrammed here:

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The above pictures the astrological ‘planetary picture’ known as a kite. This being a day after the New Moon, the Moon (which moves more-or-less a half-degree per hour) has already left Taurus for Gemini. In fact, as Mercury goes direct the Moon is in conjunction with royal star Aldebaran, lending either the specter of hope or need to priorities, actions, statements and choices made in conjunction with this station - and by implication, with all which would be connected to how we deal with and what we do with this entire period ... and all which comes from its influence(s), whether in terms of what happens in the world, what we do because of what happens around us, or who we are to be in this world, part of this world, and a member of the great family of mankind which - whether we like it or not - is charged with the care of our planet and everything about our world, including ourselves, each other and everything other part of Creation.

After all, didn’t we all get taught that what we don’t make we should be responsible for - and certainly not going around breaking?

As for that idea - breaking, breakage or however else it wants to be conjugated, while we tend to think of that as bad, it doesn’t have to be. A ‘breakthrough’ breaks the barrier presented with equal destruction as that which merely damages, it’s just one we like and one we don’t like.

But that very idea - the what we like versus what we don’t like - that is, in part, the very lynchpin being operated on now. So what is good and what is bad - and will we know right now?

Maybe. Then again, maybe not. About the only ‘clue’ we have is that end-of-Mercury’s-retrograde fact that there is a Neptunian moment of ‘letting go’ of (or losing) something which is going to happen or take shape as we move towards and into the middle of June.

As usual, it depends on where we are starting - a position we would find and outline by using your natal, solar and current lunar charts. But barring that (and the particulars of nuance which come with your personal and individual data), one thing we can say: the emotional underpinnings of this month are still going to have a Taurean flavor, whatever else they become. And because of that, considering the New Moon and its Algol-ian ‘ill flavor,’ we are all and every each one of us more than usually prone to being (or at least acting) in ways others will react to (because remember, they’re busy reacting to things in their own Algol-North Node/8 Libra-tinged ways  in ... well, maybe not the most positive of manners. And if we’re not conscious of who we are and why anyone and everyone is doing what they’re doing (including our first person Self), we’re going to respond to their responses with something which will just make everything worse - all because we all tend to have so much trouble with understanding how anyone could like what we don’t like, be it a way of life or a flavor of ice cream.

You know, that Taurus/Scorpio polarity thing.

-link to post-

Sun in Taurus

So let’s think ... are we going to like this process?

Probably not. Between the North Node (which represents that we don’t want to HAVE to do) being at 8 Libra (not the zodiac’s happiest transit point) in a moment when Algol’s snark-snap-bite is being evoked not just for a day but as a background ‘theme’ which lasts the entire lunar month (read: until the Gemini New Moon of June 16) ... it doesn’t exactly sound like a summer peaches-and-cream sort of delight.

Still, that doesn’t mean good can’t come out of these days - or the month which flows from them. It’s just that it’s not going to be easy (for us) to get there ... or rather, it’s not going to be easy for us to want to do the thing which will get us there.

And is that about the difficulty of the moment - or about simply who we are?

Answer: yes.

In other words, your guess is as good as mine here, as that information would come from your personal chart. So alas, only time will tell. And when time does ‘tell,’ (time speaks to many things) those who are listening will have the opportunity for a kind of personal insight which stands us very well in the long run for freeing us from unworkable preconceived notions. 

As for that planetary picture (ye olde kite) Mercury is in a grand trine with Ceres/Chaldea and the North Node, the idea of guarding old ways and general ‘guardianship’ (responsibility of some type) is presented as an ‘ongoing’ issue. But when you come right down to it ... as we start zeroing in or focusing in on things, what we are likely to find is the “full kite” effect - that being a kite which doesn’t include Mercury, but which is valid using the Moon and royal star Aldebaran, the star which guarantees success only where we have not compromised (never mind violated) some integral standard of integrity.

This suggests the possibility of somewhat divergent impulses. One one hand, the Mercury station grand trine speaks to ongoing ideas, standing agreements and existent ways of doing things. On the other hand, there is a need (read: requirement) that we maintain our integrity (particularly our emotional integrity) in our efforts - represented by the kite’s two sextiles, to deal either with our own propensity either for outbursts of aggression or the experience of violence resulting from any other viable, acceptable or applicable skill ... or the finding of something which can harness the ‘untapped’ energies currently manifesting in-or-as something undesirable. Both are ‘sides’ of 8 Aries, a degree which in this moment is conjunct Medea (obsessive, often self-destructive energy) and which even after Medea moves away is going to influence life matters for the next while (until June 2nd).

Lore speaks of this degree as being one which is ultimately bent on getting us to clarify who we are - which would be very consistent with Aries’ typically first person “I/me” energy. The problem lies with getting us there - which given how 8 Aries is being activated by the South Node suggests the way forward is at least in part about working to understand what that North Node at 8 Libra ‘loss’ factor is.

After all, with Diadem involved, there is something of incredible value to be learned - or simply gained. But it’s going to take time. Considering how the ruler of Libra (in which the North Node and Diadem sit) is Venus and how as of May 17th (the date Mercury’s station begins) Venus will be in opposition to Pluto-Vega-Kassandra in Capricorn there are unbelievable (Kassandra) potentials and much fervency and passion being felt on the part of some.

This Venus opposition to Pluto (inclusive of oppositional orb) lasts from the 17th through late on May 27th (in the UT/+0 zone). And while they’re feeling that, others are experiencing a few days of passionate disbelief - or perhaps the disbelief, even the rejection of a level of some passion, should they be an observer.

One other perhaps miscellaneous Mercury note: when Mercury goes direct on June 11th, it will be doing so at 4 Gemini, the degree in exact opposition (polarity) to 4 Sagittarius - which is the degree Saturn went retrograde at back on March 14th.

-link to post-

Saturn Retrograde - Phaethon Direct

Did some sort of (Phaethon) haste ... or determination concreted hastily ‘back then’ lead to where we are now, making the whole of the impending Mercury retrograde somehow about working out where we were and how far we have (or haven’t) gotten since March 14th?

Maybe that’s why we’re going to make a change about something? Or now change something about whatever we were working with or on back then?

It could be. Then again, we could just be doing something more normal and mundane with our Mercury retrograde - like cleaning out the garage or doing our filing (mental, digital or otherwise). Mercury retrograde represents a chance to ‘catch up,’ either with our Self or others, which is why we often hear from people we haven’t heard from in a while under Mercury retrograde, and why Mercury retrograde is also a time to stop and ‘fill in the gaps,’ whether that means doing research, making plans or working on something you need in order to move ahead once Mercury does go direct.

Apart from all that however, is a whole other way to see the kite. Kites often represent a new way to ‘see’ or approach things - and if you think of that  as grabbing the ‘kite string’ which would theoretically be tied to the tail of a real kite, that suggests that there are options and opportunities which require or depend on our willingness (or ability) to go through some sort of North Node, 8 Libra, Diadem sort of experience - maybe in our own mind (we are talking about air sign Libra here, so this could all be a mental escapade) ... or maybe with regards to a relationship, or our ability or inability to relate to some external thing, person, organization or situation.

As Mercury goes retrograde, two other celestial objects are also on station, too. One (Damocles) is going retrograde at 25 Aquarius, a degree which complicates the Damocles nature, that nature being all about the very human habit we all have to critique, criticize and think we could do a better job with something UNTIL we’re the one in the hot seat - at which point we suddenly recognize how what we were being so glib about critiquing is a whole lot harder and far more complicated than we had thought.

And maybe that means we should think a little more before speaking? Or that we should learn a little more about what we’re taking a position on (or talking about) before taking that position? This goes to both the stationing degrees of Mercury and Damocles in that 13 Gemini (Mercury’s position) is all about abilities which though substantial are frustrated by mechanisms/people which are defined (astrologically) as being quite possibly ‘less qualified’ on the specific subject but more ‘acceptable’ and ‘easily grasped’ or accessed. 13 Gemini asks that we bridge some gap, and that gap starts within our Self. To be truly and fully successful, we need to understand within our Self (the retrograde pointing to this being an inner comprehension being sought).

And yet, will we want to? Where we have already done this sort of thing, is that what is now coming to the surface for us to explore and learn from?

In adding in Damocles 25 Aquarius, we begin to see something more of the dynamics here as 25 Aquarius is a social/non-personal third-decanate degree in the airy sign of Aquarius, a sign which is social, systemic and which turns brittle, fracturing wherever and whenever we attempt to bend the universal Aquarian whole into some shape which suits our individual (Leo) ego-defined preferences.

This polarity - the Leo/Aquarian polarity - is about using our ego to develop our Self so that we find a place in society, with the finding part of that process being the Aquarian part. So when we speak of Damocles going retrograde in the latter part of Aquarius, we are speaking of a difficulty we are finding with or in society as we are trying to go about our business or find our personal place/space in this world ... or we are realizing that something about the world’s issues (and our conviction that we can ‘fix that’) is ... well, a bit more difficult and complicated than we thought it was.

And all the experiences which will get us into this space? That’s what we will be experiencing as both Damocles and Mercury go into retrograde on Tuesday, May 19th (UT/+0) ... just as the motion of dwarf planet Orcus turns to direct.

Roman god Orcus represents all that can no longer be changed, and in going retrograde at 5 Virgo, Orcus speaks to several things, all of which are going to operate under the auspices of royal star Regulus, the star which tells us that what we do (our choices, actions, priorities, methods) is only successful when our actions (thoughts, choices, positions, etc.) are in no way connected with any desire for revenge.

At 5 Virgo, Orcus’ current ‘finality’ concerns all which has been done and all the many people and other forms of life which have been operating out of a sense of doing what was required or asked of them.

Something is done ... or something has come to be done. Those who have done the ‘doing’ are either ‘done’ themselves, or they are done ‘doing’ or they are ‘done’ with whatever has been formerly regarded as a serviceable duty. And now all of that is coloring the need to bridge some gap in terms of whatever cannot be changed (or perhaps carried on with or continued in its current form/format) even as Damocles goes into retrograde at 25 Aquarius, a degree which in adding a very distinct and sometimes violently determined energetic speaks to some gnawing at the bit, a bit of biting the hand which feeds us and a whole variety of merry variations on feeling torn about something on the inside while needing to keep moving on the outside.

And yes, those two impulses could be about the very same thing. They don’t have to be about the same thing ... but they could be, in which case the frustration being felt by others would be understandably felt by us, speaking of Algol.

Then again, we could be at a loss. Or thinking about what we may stand to lose ... or need to lose, which with Damocles in Aquarius and the North Node in Libra like as not refers to some (Libra) relationship we have - whether to others, our ability to relate to others, or something having to do with how we feel about our (Damocles) chances of making something work, either in our own mind or in some more interactive or public situation.

And again - all of this is happening under a lunation (lunar month) influence which will tend to make it difficult for us to even want to see things from any other perspective apart from our own, even if that’s where our answer is.

All of this is what it is and takes place within forty-eight hours (between May 18th and 19th). Then we get a day of dealing with Mercury just having gone retrograde at a moment when the Sun is at 29 this-could-be-sticky degrees of Taurus, that being what the Sun has to do before it then enters Gemini at 8:46 in the morning on May 21st (UT/+0).

Sun in Gemini (glyph chart)

May 21, 2015 - 9:44 a.m. (UT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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 Sun in Gemini (text chart)

May 21, 2015 - 9 44 am (UT +0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Sun in Gemini is much like Sun in Taurus in the sense that it’s about the ‘me’ of life. It’s basic and like all three of the first quadrant zodiac signs (those signs being Aries, Taurus, Gemini), it’s about learning to be the person we are (part one), and in time, learning how to be that person to our benefit.

(Yes, we all have things to learn about being who we are - at least metaphysically!)

So as fire sign/first sign Aries is about learning how to ‘be’ and operate our body (eat, sleep, walk, smile, pee, etc.) so that we can in time have a good (Libra) effect on others (or at least the effect we want to have on them) ... and just as second zodiac sign Taurus is where we learn to recognize that now that we exist we have to take care of our Self (leading to all of those Taurus ‘desires’ which tend to manifest as ‘gathering to our Self’ everything we need while working out how to control enough life factors that we feel secure) ... Gemini, as the first of the zodiac air signs is all our experience of ideas - initially as input from others and then as the process of thinking for our Self. Gemini experiences - and all of the many ‘Gemini options’ are about learning how to think, how to think about those things, and about learning to choose from our options those which will work for us. Gemini is about learning to learn and learning what learning how assembling ideas creates knowledge and how putting plural ideas to work in the form of a ‘plan’ can teaches us ever more interesting things - such as how to succeed with others and in the world.

That part of the puzzle (as with all signs) is expressed by Gemini’s polarity sign - in this case,  Sagittarius, a sign which to the Gemini process represents not only another “source” of ideas and options (all of which will test whether we have learned to discipline our thinking and stay on course, on subject, on schedule and on top of things) but reactions to what we say, reactions to what we do and responses from all the way around the mulberry bush with regards to our plans, our goals, our efforts and whatever else we “put out there.”

So with the Sun in Gemini, we live in our heads more than usual. We’ll talk about things in ‘idea form’ more than usual. We’ll discuss what we think of things, we’ll debate the merit of things, we’ll want to see and think through options ... and we’re likely to be both more frustrated - and frustrating - when it comes time to make a decisions (“There are just too many options - I can’t decide!!!”). With the Sun entering Gemini in opposition to Saturn (at 1 Sagittarius), there are things which matter to us and no doubt at least a few things we need to attend to. And as  Mercury in retrograde as the Sun is starting into its annual game of Gemini hopscotch, we’re likely to be ‘stuck’ on something or about something in some way. This doesn’t have to be a problem, but it could be, especially where we (Gemini can sound disoriented when it isn’t, sound organized when it isn’t and otherwise change tack or tactics with the speed of the wind)

Around the end of the month (on the morning of May 30th in the UT/+0 zone) the Sun - in direct motion - meets up with Mercury, still in retrograde, at 8 Gemini, turning the Mercury/Moon kite formation we’ve already discussed into one with the Sun instead of the Moon and Mercury now folded (origami style, no doubt) into the kite. The ‘tail’ of any astrological kite image always being the thing we are supposed to ‘take hold of’ and use for ‘steering’ purposes, this again points us back towards all those things we should be doing or accepting as part of (North Node) life (even if we don’t want to) and either the application or learning about things through difficulties and (most often) loss, whether or not that really ‘costs’ us. The grand trine between North Node, Sun/Mercury and Ceres being an airy one, much of this operates on the mental level, which given Mercury retrograde and its well-earned reputation for making things difficult and requiring us to work through difficulties ... or to wait for them to clear up ... that could help as we hold firm to things we believe in.

Then again, it may make things harder if what we’re holding onto isn’t true or doesn’t work - whether it has before now or not.

About the time Mercury goes direct and Neptune turns to retrograde is when the Sun catches up with Mars at 21 Gemini, a degree which is known for a dissipating or scattering effect, which with perspective-oriented Pallas in opposition may indicate feeling scattered, having disconnected or ‘scattered’ things on your mind or plate to get done. The Mars side of things may speak to a (Mars) impulse or effort to ‘scatter’ or perhaps split something into parts or pieces ... is this because of some (Pallas) perspective we have come to have as Mercury goes direct and Neptune turns to retrograde? Is it because we get some sort of (Sagittarian) feedback or input from someone or some source which gives us some enlightening or possibly important form of Pallas ‘perspective’ on what we’re doing?

With Sun in Gemini what we learn about our Self always (at least over time) puts us in a better position to be productive - however we define that term. There's a nonce of a negative which goes with this ... namely how we’re not likely to be in the mood to be told things, so if you happen to be someone who's been told that you come off 'tougher' than you mean to ... or if you're just natively of an authoritarian bent (or too assertive) ... especially after Mars and the Sun come into orb of conjunction around May 29th (and escalating on from there)... you may want to make an effort over these next weeks (until the Sun moves into Cancer) to soften your tone, lest it set off ill feelings or cause someone to think you’re saying something you don’t mean to be saying at all.

And just to give you a preview, after Mars in Gemini comes Mars in Cancer, an entire month plus (read: six weeks) filled with touches of moodiness. (In other words, plan on dealing with the need to modulate energies and responses through the beginning of August).

The irony of the ‘flip side’ to all this is how we are (for the greatest part) open to conversations and dialogues. And if, or to the extent that we can keep some “Pallas perspective” on what we’re doing without needing to get poked (gently and/or otherwise) by others, we’re likely to find that a light touch and willingness to free ourselves up to hear things we may have been resisting talking about just a short time ago. And give or take the fact no Mercury retrograde ever runs in a straight line (and how by the end of Mercury retrograde the Sun and Mars running in Gemini sync (a fact which from there is going to go on for a while) energies are going to be running high.

Some will use this freewheeling, ultra-airy energy (think: 'free as the wind...') to work through complicated problems. Some will experience this energy as an easy-running period which for whatever reason feels as effortless as the flight of birds riding the passing breeze.

With Mercury traversing Gemini for the whole of the time the Sun is illuminating each of Gemini's degrees, each of them a chance to see a different facet of life through our mind's eye. The restlessness of Gemini energy can have us chasing paperwork or dreaming up fabulous plans at the same times that we're having to look for our car keys because we've gotten distracted (but you know ... who cares?) and when waiting for so-and-so to get back to us with that VERY important information even while attending to ninety-two other things can be terribly irritating - or just the excuse we've been looking for. It’s the sort of combination which can have us thinking we’ve heard what people are saying when we’re really only hearing what we want to hear not out of malice, but because we want so much to bounce ideas around with someone. Like the zodiac’s other three mutable signs (Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces) Gemini speaks to situations and processes best served by being flexible enough to change a few things along the way even while continuing to aim for a previously determined goal. With Gemini being Mercury’s ‘home’ sign, having the Sun in Gemini through June 21st (when it moves on into Cancer) may be a time when there’s too much in our heads and seemingly too much noise to concentrate.

But it’s all meant to get us closer to knowing who we are. Gemini provides options so that we learn how to think and how to put together a life which ‘works’ for us. In doing so, first we ‘set’ our eyes on some far (Sagittarian) horizon ... which may or may not be what we think it is, which may or may not be desirable if and when we get there.

All of which teaches us what our mental priorities are ... and sometimes what they should be instead. When that happens, we react to what we’re learning about our Self, we deal with the million thoughts and questions about what this new information ‘means’ to everything else we know of and work it in among all our other affairs ... or not.

And that’s the Gemini influence, one which this year (at least for a time) will surely be affected in some way by all we associate with the North Node at 8 Libra. With regards to Sun in Gemini, the ‘loss’ implied by 8 Libra may refer to thoughts like ‘last time I tried that and it didn’t work - I’m going to try something else.’ Or maybe someone you are working with isn’t there, meaning you’re going to have to work by yourself and therefore do that Gemini ‘thinking thing’ by yourself since you’ve ‘lost’ the opportunity (at least for the moment?) to do things as you’re used to doing them.

And how does that apply to the myth behind Gemini? Well, to condense the myth from a gallon of text down to a verbal  teaspoon, the story behind Gemini centers largely on this constellation's two hallmark stars: Castor and Pollux.

Constellation Gemini

(image generated using Stellarium software)

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In the story, Castor and Pollux are twin brothers. And when one of the brothers (Castor) tries to win his point using brute strength, he gets utterly struck town - only to be saved by his brother Pollux, a quick thinking (not to mention well-spoken) type who so impresses head honcho Olympian god Zeus (aka astrology's Jupiter) that Zeus agrees to save Castor by turning both brothers into stars, where each would be able to shine in their own right.

The thing to remember about this myth is that we are both Castor AND Pollux: we often try to lead with our ‘strong’ points and strengths, only resorting to more intellectual (read: air sign oriented) solutions once the fact we are going to pay some price (in other words, absorb some loss) has become evident.

All of which makes thinking through this conglomeration of symbols - and all which flows from them - all the more serious, all the more worth thinking through (that would be very Gemini, after all) and exquisitely woven with possibilities.

So ... what are we willing to try?
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Dateblog: May 2015

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So here we are at May 2015 ... Venus and Mercury are in Gemini prompting many a notion worth considering and while the Sun-Mars combination in Taurus we’re starting the month out with can be a wee bit stubborn (a wee bit?), the combination of all (Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars) also typifies the sort of inner core stability we’d expect in those who know where they’re starting from - and given that, what they’re willing to risk.

Or at least think about risking. (Sun and Mars in Taurus can be provoked, no doubt. But this is not a ‘hasty’ combination - just ask Ferdinand the Bull!).

There’s a lot of ‘this and that’ going on in life and the world - that we would expect as a reflection of the ongoing Eta Aquarid meteor shower - not that such ‘sparks of inspiration’ may not lead to something good.

With the Full Moon in Scorpio, it’s virtually guaranteed a few things in life will be coming to a head. They may be joyous, they may be testy - and without question they will in some way be prompting each of us to ask each of us (depending on where we are with our Self) about whether what we thought things were was really right.

That’s one of the things Full Moons are for ... astrologically, they’re all about our checking in our our Self and how we’re feeling about things - the everyday things of everyday life and all the people which go with that. A Full Moon in Scorpio, whether testing or terrific is about that which sticks with us or that which we feel stuck with. It raises the sticky aspects of interactions so we can wonder why things ‘have to be this way’ - or whether they really need to be as complicated as we all make them.

Depending on what we meet up with, we let go or dance our fandango. Then we simply move on, as Full Moons are phases - like days and moments and pre-memory selfies taken by our mind, some of which will last, and some of which we’ll by and by toss in the mental trash.

By the time the New Moon turns up in Taurus on the 18th (UT/+0), Mercury’s being on station to go  retrograde (on the 19th) with Lilith entering Scorpio two days later on the 21st spells reconsideration - or the necessity to do so. Something needs consideration (not that we want to think about it...). With Mercury in Gemini retrograde and Mars having joined the Gemini parade, there’s a lot of ‘noise’ - inside and out. Factors are shifting ... do we ‘tackle the job’ and count on adapting to input on the fly? Or do we continue thinking, talking and gathering data and ideas while wondering apace?

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Not that May is likely to ‘feel’ all that much like April. The spirit, the atmosphere, the general and elemental ‘feeling’ we get about things ... well, with all the emphasis on earth last month, that’s had us being (or becoming) much more aware of (earthy, tangible) realities in terms of what could (fire) happen on many important-to-everyday-life earth/earthy fronts. And now? By the time the Sun exits earthy Taurus for airy Gemini on May 21st (UT/+0) a lot of that earthy ‘drive’ (courtesy of Mars) will have turned into considering of and looking into options - which would be particularly apt, what with Mercury going retrograde on the 19th (UT/+0).

And since just after that upsurge of whatever which occurs around the time of the (Scorpio) Full Moon on May 4th (oh, do have fun...) Venus rolls into Cancer (date: late on May 7th, UT/+0) ... well, the net of all such, plus the Mars which entered Gemini on May 12th being in position to oppose Saturn (in retrograde) as Mercury goes retrograde ...

Expect some stoppages. Whether they are yours, or why they are yours (or aren’t yours or aren’t about you) is individual. But with Saturn opposing Mercury as Venus trines Neptune during Mercury’s (Gemini) station, the concepts of transit, traffic and ‘commerce’ would seem up for grabs ... in any and every form, whether that’s personal, professional, conversational, negotiable, insightful, enlightening, or of any and every other sort.

That much ‘Gemini as many’ we would expect. After all, it is that ‘many’ Gemini quality which forces us to think things through and then choose, which is exactly what Gemini’s about.

And it’s also what the whole process of Mercury retrograde - which means we’re getting a double dose of doubling back on our thinking ... which if you accept the idea that unbeknownst to us, the universe is unfolding as it should ...means we are not just meant to be facing and dealing with whatever we have on our plate(s) at the moment (some people having bigger life tables with more plates on them than others...), but that there is indeed something to be learned from present circumstances. No matter how the circumstance itself goes, metaphysics teaches that we have the option and some opportunity in the Now to be more of who we will ultimately like ourselves better for being - and how that’s the key to the happiness and security we’ve been all balled up about.

But no, it may not be fun - which I agree, is dislikable in the utmost (to put it politely).

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Yet whatever we’re up to, and whatever we’re doing, its hardly set in stone - or if something is, it leads to something so directly (and that may so directly lead to something else) that it appears that we know what we’re doing even though the whole of May is likely to be an endless series of moment by moment decisions - which may sound trying or complicated, but then again, may just point to that rather lovely quality we humans call awareness.

Some will skate, evade and never settle during May. Some will skim surfaces and never get beyond wetting their toes wet in glassy shallows.

Then again, maybe they can’t swim - would you have them drown in something they’re unprepared for?

And maybe all that skating is the performance of a virtuoso, the flawless tacking from point to point while virtuously sailing a metaphysical wind.

Being how all the teal (jade?) color in the chart represents mutable energy, we should expect things to change this month. Change can mean many things to every person, so all we know is that things will change this month, whether we’re the initiator, the participant, the onlooker or just someone hearing some tiny factoid which causes us to change our opinion on something.

That’s a prime astrological verb for May 2015: change. The constant isn’t constant - and if ‘it’ is constant, we aren’t. This can represent some sort of rebelliousness, but it may just represent differences neither good or bad. With Jupiter in Leo moving through Leo’s ‘teen’ degrees, there’s a lot of idealism going around - which might be just fine except along with the idealism is likely to occur an equal measure of hard-headedness.

And that hard-headedness? Though it absolutely feels necessary, it may be necessary ... and then again, we may just be feeling emotionally squishy deep in our innards. (You know, in those inner places we don’t even like admitting to?)

Surely we’re all going to be trying a lot of things and differing tactics this month. Once we get to Mercury retrograde (on the 19th), the better part of our ‘learning curve’ is internal in spite of however much is going on, with the astrological ‘why’ of that - the things which trigger that learning - probably being associated with (starting as) Black Moon Lilith enters Scorpio on May 21st, the day when the Sun enters Gemini.

That date - the 21st - is actually the end of a four (or five, depending on your time zone) day coagulation of events (which will probably be the next post here at the blog) and certainly the most astrologically notable recipe of the month. Between here and there is the Full Moon of the 4th (at 13 Scorpio), Venus moving into Cancer on the 7th and Mars entering Gemini on the 12th - which will be a big breath of energetic air for us all.

And yet ... just about the time that Gemini Mars gets to reflecting in life, revving us up and getting us thinking (if not going) in a hundred different directions, that’s when we reach that Mercury retrograde.

(Plus a few other things ... so stay tuned!)
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