The Gemini Solar Eclipse

Albert Einstein's photo of a 1919 Solar Eclipse

In the moments that June 1st’s solar eclipse forms up at 9:04pm (UT/+0) at 11 Gemini, the world does not change.

The world is already changing.

So what does the moment of the eclipse mark?

Simple…it marks the moment when all which we have been ‘realizing’ becomes a cause for ‘doing.’ And for those more reluctant or recalcitrant on the subject, a time when situations begin forcing our hand, making us do something about such things.

With this eclipse occurring at 11 Gemini, we know the issues are mental. Informational. This is about the ability to learn and learn better and/or the willingness to learn or learn better. Gemini asks us to choose who we will be through what we take on learning about and doing. In its middle (2nd) decanate, it’s all about the fervent longing to know…and the fervency of speech. From poetry to anger, communications express feelings, beliefs and urgings…many, if not most of which we should probably apply to ourselves first.

And yet...this isn't a total eclipse - it's a partial eclipse. That suggests that the effects are a bit more subtle, even if the eclipse hits your chart 'dead on,' as it were. What's the difference in broader terms? Well...maybe it's more like having someone bump into you fairly abruptly as opposed to having the rug yanked out from under you. Or all the lights coming on just as you've gotten really into the movie as opposed to being woken out of a sound sleep by all the lights AND a very loud siren going off in your ear.

In other words, it's not that the status quo isn't changing. It's the degree of....clarity with which the change is announced. Or maybe demanded of you. 

 2011 Solar Eclipse of June 1st - 9:17pm (UT/+0)

Aries Wheel/Location Not Specific

Occurring at 11 Gemini has this eclipse distanced from the lunar nodes (which are positioned at 23 degrees of Gemini and Sagittarius south-to-north respectively) which images what we are thinking as being somewhat ‘distanced’ from society itself, marking this eclipse as somewhat more personal or private than some.

Even thought January’s 13 Capricorn eclipse had the nodes at 2 Capricorn (North) and Cancer (South) the presence of Pluto at 5 Capricorn formed something of a bridge – and in that, gave us a very big clue that the key to that eclipse would be the ‘emotional experience of transformative situations’ (Pluto) involving societal (nodal) Capricorn structures (government, leaders/leadership) particularly where charismatic statements had not been carried out with commensurately satisfying deeds – this last part being all about the eclipse having been conjunct fixed star Vega.

There is no ‘bridging’ planet between the Sun and Moon’s position at 11 Gemini and the South Node at 23 Gemini. What we do have however, are some rather clear statements regarding what life is (or at least feels like) to us at this time.

The South Node (the easy way out) is conjunct Bellatrix, a fixed star known for contentious communication. The North Node (what we should do) is conjunct fixed star Ras Alhague, a difficult star which urges us to take what we have seen and learned and to respond with acts which though challenging, can be or become healing in nature.

It’s easy to see these forces at work in our worldly world. Even our private and personal world. What may or may not be as easy is seeing how these ideas apply to us as individuals.

But yes, that would be the optimal thing to do!

11 Gemini as a degree suggests that we are helped and hindered in doing this very personal work of ‘breaking through mental walls.’ Most of us will see the opportunities we have missed rather clearly – (unfortunately, we’re all pretty good at that!). Fewer of us will realize that those ‘flaws’ we see in ourselves are not finite. Why? Because it’s easier to give up on ourselves than fight whatever shape our defeatist nature may take.

And we all have one, trust me. Some people have a defeatist nature which is turned outward. We think of them as ‘go getters’ who refuse to be ‘beaten down.’ But talk to such people in a most human moment and most of the time you’ll find they’re more scared of not getting the job done than the work it takes to do the job itself. Right or wrong, they’re going to try, because the status quo – the having to live with themselves – is so difficult otherwise.

In the end, that’s who we are and what we’re all about: living with ourselves. Even those of us who are in sublimely secure relationships have to close our eyes at night. And when we do, in those moments or minutes before we fall asleep we are alone…with and within ourselves.

That’s the person we live and die with. And as.

Given that the figure of this eclipse highlights two very important fixed stars - Aldebaran and Antares – we know the balance, the discussion, the ‘debate’ going on within our lives is all about integrity (Aldebaran) and obsessions (Antares). With the Aldebaran end of this natural opposition the part being ‘blacked out’ by the eclipse, we are either now not able to rely on integrity (ours or that of others)…or we need to put exactly that out into the world.

Remember, the image of a solar eclipse has the disc of the Moon (instinct) ‘blacking out’ our source of light (the Sun). Whether this takes the form of your feeling very lacking in ‘enlightenment’ or ideas (Edisona being conjunct this eclipse), there is a certain reality now which directs us to the knowing that when it comes to our life, we’re in the driver’s seat.

If you are someone with a birthday within 5 days of this eclipse, your life is in a radical period of transformation. Your operational parameters are in flux and you should not expect to know what your future really holds for some time to come. Lunar eclipses have a life span…a ‘spinning out’ period which only lasts 3 months. But solar eclipse? They’re another thing again. Solar eclipses evolve over a period of 36 month with the real ‘knowing’ what they’re ‘about’ often not surfacing until rather near this transit’s end.

And this doesn’t mean you just sit around playing tiddlywinks until that moment comes!

If we treat them as such, eclipses are superb vehicles of personal evolution. By stripping away that which we have hidden behind or temporized with, thinking it’s ‘good enough’ or making excuses as to why we can’t change….by eradicating or imploding such 'walls’ we are hiding behind, solar eclipses allow us to in time become the person we know we should be – not that the process of making that change is always all that convenient.

Uh, probably not. Solar eclipses are not known for their genteel nature, so don’t expect a sedan chair to carry you from hither to yon and don’t expect that shedding your old mental life skin is going to come without some period of feeling exposed, tender and insecure.

The idea here would be to use or better yet, recapture the sense of integrity (Aldebaran) in healing your own life (Ras Alhague), preferably so that in going forward along your learning (Gemini) – doing, implementing, growing your life (Sagittarius) road…the idea is to be able to live with a greater integrity not just as to who you are in the minutia, but who you are in this world.

It has to work at both ends. There’s a lot of people who are polarized right now, just as Aldebaran and Antares sit in opposition. Either our external worldly life is working fine but our personal life really sucks…or we’ve figured out who we are but not how to make it work in our personal world or the worldly world.

 June 1st's global eclipse path

We do need to be who we are, no question. But this isn’t just about us. Asteroid Kallisto standing conjunct Aldebaran to the degree tells us there is a difficult passage which is to be endured between the moment when we vow to ourselves to be the person we need to be and that moment when our star rises in our mental heaven. We will get blamed, we will be misunderstood. We must simply continue on being the best us we know how to be: that’s part of what integrity (Aldebaran) is defined as at this time.

Ahead of this eclipse stands Dionysus at 12 Gemini, TNO Chaos at 13 Gemini, Sabine at 14 Gemini and fixed star Rigel at 16 Gemini. This pretty much describes the road ahead.

First, we have to undertake the task of being who we are as if it was a sacred event – and something to be celebrated in our own minds, this fact that we have finally decided to be who we need to be in order to satisfy not merely our mind or not merely our body or society or family, but all that we hold as true (Dionysus).

We accept that there are things about life – and our lives – which we do not know yet. We are willing to be inspired and become more tomorrow than we think we are today (TNO Chaos).

We understand that the world and others in this world will not always understand us, like what we are doing or approve of the fact that we have undertaken the challenge of being a slave only to our sense of inner integrity. They don’t have to agree with us, nor do we have to agree with them. All we have to do is get along and let each one find their way to be their own person in their own life (Sabine).

We know that in the end we are all charged to stand as teachers in this world, if only teachers who have to teach from the tales of personal experience (Rigel).

In last January’s eclipse, Pluto was the intervening factor between the eclipse and the societal nodes – the world we live in. Pluto is a dwarf planet of our own solar system. When I say that there is no ‘object’ which ties the eclipse to the nodes, I’m speaking of no major solar systemic object.

But yes, there is Rigel. A fixed star represents the 'backdrop' in our life...and in our mind.

Rigel…known as Beta Orion for its place in that constellation…is considered a blessing. It’s an emblem of protection and mentorship. It recalls the firm but kind guiding hand which restrains us in order to keep us from harming ourselves and which encourages us so that we do not falter in our resolve.

These energies are all around us in our world now. But more importantly, they’re within us. We have the need to grow towards our own ability to ‘be’ Rigel in our own life, our private or maybe our worldly world… and that’s going to take some effort.

For weeks now we have been feeling and thinking and seeing what needs our better comprehension. What we need to consider and reconsider.

Now we stand in a doorway opened upon a whole new world.

It’s time to step out and be on our way.

Sabine/Panacea: Making Peace with Limitations

From the Peter Paul Rubens workshop, "Rapto de las Sabinas"

(or) The Rape of the Sabine Women (17th century)

In the world of blog titles, that’s a very carefully worded one. After all, you can read it as making peace with (implied: your) limitations, or making peace….with limitations. 

And why am I not being specific? Because both apply.

Sabine being a symbol of ‘capture,’ or ‘rape,’ or  ‘forcible imprisonment,’ with this asteroid moving into Gemini at 4:01am (UT/+0) on April 13th, that tells us that ‘all things Gemini’ are …at least for a while… going to be, become, or need to be limited.

Astrological symbols being what they are, this can mean you’re being forced to limit such things, or are realizing there’s an important reason to limit things – whether that applies to you or others.

Or yes, both you and others – sometimes one, sometimes the other, sometime both.

So what kind of things are Gemini in nature? Well, thinking of this in global terms, options is probably the biggie. Transportation and things which are ‘transported’ or which need to be ‘conveyed’ is the next big group, and this would include cars, mail, information, freight and everything which involves those processes, from airports, roads, ports and train stations to postal workers, telephone and internet systems and such mundane objects as shoes.

Even – yes – socks.

At a whole other level, Sabine in Gemini would be all about not being able to speak out or needing to hold one’s tongue (not literally, one hopes). Feeling bereft of ideas would fit here – as would no one volunteering to speak up or help out…which doesn’t sound particularly helpful in a world which can use help.

Gemini also refers to transacting and keeping records. And parts. Gemini is about conceiving of a schedule and keeping on schedule. It’s about making sure you hit the mark and get things done.

Put all together, does this indicate a shortage of parts somewhere in some transportation system? Or circumstantial problems which get in the way of keeping things moving and on schedule?

That seems likely. And it’s highly likely that all sorts of people are going to feel like they’re not able to speak their mind – or maybe just be heard.

How long is this going to go on?

Well, a while - until July 20th, to be specific.

And that means (among other things) that Sabine will be in Gemini when the 11 Gemini Solar Eclipse comes upon us at the beginning of June.

As a matter of fact…when that eclipse rolls around, Sabine is going to be involved. But turning that around, that also means that the concept of eclipsing Sabine situations is going to be a major giant deal from now until late July.

Remembering that all solar eclipses begin with a breakdown period (think: problematic, filled with struggling, confusion, disruptions, etc.) this would apply to all situations where ‘Sabine dynamics’ are active…and more! We would all think of situations like the protesting and rebellions in the Middle East and North Africa – that’s all about Sabine dynamics. But less obvious would be where someone has duped us, leaving us ‘captive’ to a lie. Or where the power of political, monetary, sexual, religious or other kind of “influence” has left us ‘captive.’ It may be even more subject: someone may have said or done something….or even taken an emotional stance which makes us feel limited.

In other words, in some ways or places we will encounter Sabine limitations. In others we will realize we have been limited.

You may even be struggling with what to do with yourself or your life now that some limitation has finally been vanquished or vamoosed. We tend to think that once shackles come off we can fly away free as the proverbial bird. But that’s not always true. Rebuilding your life takes time. And what if you never had a life – what pieces are there to pick up?

This is something which got talked about when the people of Egypt were rebelling against Mubarak – the fact that the adult Egyptian community has big, valid dreams but no practical experience with putting those dreams into national motion.

A lion cub with its mother in the Serengeti (Tanzania)

by David Dennis (2007)

A whole other version of this same issue is told in a wonderful real-life story of Elsa the lion (“Born Free”) who grew up in captivity and had to be patiently taught how to survive on her own in the bush.

When people lose their jobs, their homes, their professions, when divorces happen, when soldiers overly used to war come home…when children grow up out of abuse, when people pass away or have accidents or illnesses and their whole life suddenly changes…

…there are a lot of ways to end up not knowing how.

You could even say that what the whole world is facing now – a great shift in social dynamics – is leaving many without a clue how to live.

Sabine is about what we have been forced into, or what we have forced ourselves to do. It’s about realizing there’s something else even when we don’t know what that something else is.

It’s not a big asteroid, but it represents a pretty substantial concept – and because Sabine will be in Gemini, sign of thought, these issues will be on our mind during these next few months.

And as the eclipse takes hold we can all expect the Sabine concepts to hit some highly visual – and probably visceral – moments. Last January's solar eclipse in Capricorn, the sign of (among other things) government, those who govern and the rule of force has certainly timed a lot of governmental and world-structural breakdowns.

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A solar eclipse over Hawaii (recolorized)

Now we're heading towards a solar eclipse in Gemini. An eclipse in which Sabine is involved. That's a big deal.

That's also yet to come.

Today is just Sabine entering Gemini. It’s the idea of the thing, like as not. And maybe for you, just reading this blog and reflecting on these thoughts will utilize and use today’s Sabine energy. If the rule is that we use the energy or the energy uses us (and yes, that’s the rule!) then finding some way to use today’s energy – like every day’s energy – is always useful. If you use it to the good, even by just giving your life, your family’s life, your world a little thought…then there’s less of this energy to come back and possibly do the nasty dance giving you problems which would be really-o, truly-o limiting.

And since Panacea (making peace) goes retrograde on the 15th, that means its station effects begin today. So it’s a really good day to make peace with our limitations, or that we allow…even like being limited. Or maybe you need to make peace with the fact you need to rein yourself in. Or maybe by making peace with someone you can lift some limitation.

A period of opportunity has dawned. What you do (or don’t do) with it?

That’s your choice.