Insights for the Month of Gemini
May / June 2020
May 20
Sun enters Gemini: 09:49 AM EDT:
Venus retrograde, square Neptune
As we make our way through the long and perilous (more for some than others) journey of pandemic reality, including self-isolation, hand washing and wondering how we will ever meet again and what we will meet on the other side, Gemini pops into view, bringing, as always, the last astrological sign of spring. Gemini is the sign of the breath and the lungs, the respiratory tract. During the Sun’s journey through Gemini we will be contending with Venus retrograde in this sign: Goddess of matter, values and all that we love journeying through the realm of the trickster. Together we are called, if we are listening, to descend into the dark and foreboding underworld and see to what kinds of transformations are necessary and even possible. Gemini is a funny sign, both clever, eccentric and at times, a bit ‘peculiar’. Other signs might think of themselves as eccentric and one-of-a-kind but Gemini takes that cake. Gemini is ruled by Mercury, the mind, that trickster we all know and love who takes us down roads and along tracks seemingly on its own. Unless we practice some kind of mindfulness we are often at the mercy of what goes on in there. Gemini is fake news and skewed statistics as well as the genius of turning a phrase and opening doors to understanding. As Venus descends we are called in her underworld to acknowledge the lies we tell ourselves in aid of believing the lies of others.
A hallmark of descent and return is that we do it alone. No one but me knows the workings of my mind. We can share our thoughts as best we can. We can even try to help those in mental distress but it’s up to the individual to wrestle that unruly fellow – the mind – into position to do the bidding of the heart. To do this we need to sit with it and pay attention to what it’s on about without being led down the garden path. This is our task for Gemini 2020. Even as we zoom here and there on all sorts of mind-ways and by-ways can we pull back and reflect? Is it possible to sort through reams of information and find some truth? Do we actually know what really matters? Can humans ever master the mighty gift of our brains, and the minds that work through them? There is much to process here. Be still, especially on June 3 when Venus conjuncts the Sun. Listen, breathe, and of course, laugh at the absurdity of it all. It’s a wild dance and we are all here, doing it, twirling and spinning to the music of life.
The square to Neptune from Venus today underscores the need to be mindful or else get swept away in the delusions of collective entrancement. We must protect ourselves against the hoodwinkers, the greatest one being our own mind. We are in fact the masters of our own oblivion. So slow down, be reflective, don’t push away your griefs and fears, real or imagined. Simply acknowledge them and see what happens. The only way is through.
May 22
Mercury conjunct Venus and square Neptune
Sun trine Saturn
New Moon: 2 degrees of Gemini: 01:39 PM EDT
Mercury tells us to think about everything even if we can’t think clearly: To float in the vagaries, not because we seek clarity but rather because we are curious and would explore the cave of dreams even if it means encountering a nightmare or two.
The Sun and the Moon, alone in the dark, encourage us to begin again: To open the door to the next lunar month with an intention to learn, not because we should but because we can. Here at the start of the lunar month is a good time to play; with ideas or art supplies, maybe found objects or musical instruments, including your voice. We might find ourselves playing with words or the quality of light at different times of day. As you play in the realm of the ten thousand things, allow your intention for this next lunar month to reveal itself to you the way, once upon a time, a photographer would conjure an image with film and solution in a dark room.
May 24
Mars sextile Uranus
Mercury inconjunct Pluto
Our world seems to be changing in a collective way: All of us, forever. Irrevocable, lasting change has always happened to individuals. Someone dies, we lose our job and change careers, we marry this person not that one, we have children or we don’t. Like it or not we are forever changed by events. Call it fate or destiny it is simply how it goes, not just for individuals, sometimes for all of us together in the One World. Some days are better for making lemonade than others. Today is one of those.
May 26
Mercury inconjunct Jupiter
Consider the need to have to fiddle with the dials a part of the task rather than an intrusion on it.
May 28
Mercury enters Cancer
If one person eats and another does not have enough is hunger a problem? How is productivity different from ambition and greed? What gifts or skills do I bring to my particular circle of life? These are things Mercury in Cancer considers.
May 29
Sun sextile Chiron
Mercury inconjunct Saturn
Sometimes we need to re-calibrate, bring disparate issues together and see if we can integrate them. Every awkward moment is an opportunity to find a third option. Let the notion of ‘and this too’ guide us today.
June 2 & 3
Mars square Venus retrograde
Sun conjunct Venus retrograde
Venus has come to the precise midpoint of her journey toward and then away from the Sun. Ancient people saw in this a moment of great transformation. A magical threshold where something becomes something else, or perhaps when nothing becomes something. It’s a tense time, to be honest. Consumed in the fire of the Sun something we value is becoming something else. Words such as transformation and renewal come to mind as do words like loss and grief. On the other side of whatever is in the cooker, life will go on. Determination will arise as naturally as our next breath. So be it.
June 5
Mercury sextile Uranus, square Chiron
Lunar Eclipse: Full Moon: 15 degrees Sagittarius 03:12 PM EDT
For change to be worth the effort it must take into consideration that which benefits the greatest good which isn’t to say we should let individuals fall through the cracks. This is challenging to manage. We aren’t quite there yet. There is more needs to come to light, to be understood as we travel these times.
See the light, shining in the night? See the things that are illuminated? Take a look at dead ends and distractions, deliberate and not so deliberate distortions as we struggle to return from ‘unprecedented’ to what might be turning into the new normal.
June 6
Sun square Mars
One minute you’re anxious because the wrong kind of bug has made it into your kitchen. This may be followed by random but distressing thoughts of catastrophe, accompanied by dramatic images of earthquakes and floods. That’s how the nervous system works. The worst part is when you fly off the handle and hit some innocent bystander who was just bopping along, even if that was you, doing the dishes. To be mindful is to know that a bug is a bug and not let it turn into a catastrophe.
June 11
Sun square Neptune
Venus retrograde, sextile Chiron
Some say the world is a delusion we create with our mind, our skewed human perception, fraught with stories we tell ourselves about what we are experiencing. But who doesn’t love a story? This would be a really good time to become aware of story itself. Its allure and how it takes you down the garden path. The way the story we tell ourselves creates the reality we are experiencing, not to mention the stories we seek out in books and movies. It’s not something to fix. The mind is not broken. That’s just how it works. Awareness changes everything.
June 13
Mars conjunct Neptune
When we say things such as, ‘Violence against women’ we leave out the most important part. We make it a woman’s problem, something she should change. One of the first rules of magic is that if you can’t name something you can’t change it. The word has power. Naming the perpetrator focuses our intention on the real problem and the causes of violence against women. As we begin to name behavior we open the gates of healing and restoration. The soul relaxes a bit.
June 14
Sun inconjunct Pluto
It’s a minor aspect but the world is tender to the touch at the moment and minor things can feel intense. Adjustment is possible. Make small ones. Change, like new habits, must be integrated over time.
June 16
Sun inconjunct Jupiter
More adjustments, no blame.
June 18
Mercury stationery retrograde
Mars sextile Pluto (and Jupiter on the 20th)
Enough of the retrogrades you say! But are they so bad? Don’t we need time out? Wasn’t it good to give Earth a time out from our relentless human activities? Mercury asks us to reflect on security. Not so much the kind that keeps the robbers out but the kind that invites others to share in our bounty. The kind that nurtures and supports the children, their parents. You know: the whole village. In the last days of the Sun’s journey through Gemini Mars lets us know that all the rot, all the crumbling infrastructure and the unprecedented change it has shown us is possible needs to happen, is some kind of opportunity. One world, ours.