Mercury Retrograde in Gemini/Taurus: Carving Out the Right Mental and Verbal Boundaries in Highly-Divided Times

Communication and intelligence planet Mercury stationed retrograde this morning in its own sign of Gemini. Mercury will go retrograde from 4 degrees Gemini to 26 degrees Taurus from May 10 to June 3, 2022. 

Mercury will station direct at 26 degrees Taurus on June 3 in a conjunction to the North Node of the Moon at 22 degrees Taurus and in an opposition to the South Node of the Moon in Scorpio.

Mercury entered the retrograde shadow (the degrees to which it will return during the retrograde period) on April 26. This makes the period from April 26 to May 10 particularly juicy, as we will be going back over the conversations, communications, and connections we've experienced during that period of time. 

The movement of the winged messenger indicates a period when we are gathering bits and pieces of information to shore up, support, and fortify our perspectives. This is a transit and retrograde where we're strengthening ourselves in our ways of thinking and our worldviews, connecting with others of like mind. But it is also a time when we're putting the right boundaries in place so that we can maintain congenial social relations with those who hold mindsets and views that are very different from our own.

We're backtracking now, working to put new mental and verbal boundaries in place in our societies and social relations that align with the shifts, changes, and upheavals we've experienced in these areas over the past couple years. We're learning how to more successfully "play to our crowd." We're learning about which topics we can discuss with which people and also which topics are better to just leave off the social docket altogether. Mercury retrograde is a more contemplative time when we're more careful and moderate about the words we put out into the world.

Gemini is a sign related to duality or even to multiplicity. Because Gemini is a sign related to the gathering of information, opinions, angles, and perspectives, it is a sign that can accept and operate within two or more realities at the same time. 

The reality on Planet Earth at the moment is that we are very divided along lines of perspective, thought, and opinion, and these divisions (many being intentionally manufactured and inflamed) are having some nasty effects in our societies and societal interactions (Gemini).

There is an ongoing attempt to enforce certain top-down ideas, information, or ways of thinking on the whole of humanity, and of course, as Gemini knows, this will simply not work. We have never fully agreed on this planet - except maybe when we agree to disagree. Aside from the very basics, human beings have never come to a purely homogeneous way of thinking, and as long as we maintain biological human status, it's unlikely that we ever will come to this state.

This is part of what we must accept and successfully work with during this Mercury retrograde in Gemini/Taurus and beyond.

We're looking to create rock-solid boundaries that will withstand and contain the contentious and hyper-charged energies of the times. Maintaining respectful mental and verbal boundaries is our challenge, but we are being tested mightily on this front during the Mercury retrograde process. 

We are in the midst of a quite-unsettled eclipse season, which began with a New Moon at 10 degrees Taurus conjunct Uranus on April 30. We're now moving to the peak point of the lunar cycle - a Full Moon total lunar eclipse at 25 degrees Scorpio on May 15 that will occur conjunct the South Node of the Moon at 22 degrees Scorpio. (This lunar eclipse will be visible throughout most of Canada.)

The South Node of the Moon in Scorpio is an astrological indicator of the highly-charged emotional and psychological subtext of the times. It contains all the molten lava, the trigger points, the battle lines, the places where things can get very ugly if we aren't oh-so-careful and respectful of the "enough's enough" points. 

There is also a caution, however, about attempting to eliminate (Scorpio) certain information, perspectives, or awareness simply because it is uncomfortable. The Scorpio terrain exists, and it is important. Attempting to amputate, sever, bury, deny, or censor the underlying Scorpionic realities will simply not work. The strong influence of the Scorpio South Node indicates that these attempts will backfire. With the South Node of the Moon in Scorpio activated under a Full Moon total lunar eclipse, karma is an even bigger bitch than usual...

We're creating the right social boundaries with a full awareness of societal reality, including the differences and divisions. Pretending these differences and divisions do not exist will create a very weak and shoddy social foundation, indeed - one that will not support successful societal relations over time.

So we're looking to create the right boundaries while acknowledging and respecting the points of contention and division. With the Sun, North Node, and soon Mercury in Taurus, there is social value beyond the sticking points. People, relationships, and society are valuable, and this must stay at the forefront. We're looking to preserve and reinforce the social fabric that supports us all while respectfully acknowledging the points where we are very much on different sides of the fence.

Mercury stationed retrograde at 4 degrees Gemini this morning, and the Sabian Symbol for this degree is:

A Radical Magazine or Publication, Asking for Action, Displays a Sensational Front Page

This symbol speaks of a charged mental environment, along with the necessity for potent information that spurs action. Information is flying around fast and furious within this charged environment. The Mercury retrograde station activates this degree of Gemini for an extended period of time, and the energy and themes indicated by the Sabian Symbol are then drawn into the entire Mercury retrograde process. 

The Sun and Mercury Rx form a conjunction at zero degrees Gemini on May 21.

Mercury then re-enters earthy Taurus on May 22 where it will remain until June 13. The movement back into slow-and-steady, security-conscious Taurus indicates a requirement to properly ground the charged energy so that we can continue to re-build (Taurus) rather than destroy (Scorpio) our social contacts and social lives. 

Mercury will station direct at 26 degrees Taurus on June 3, and the Sabian Symbol for that degree is:

An Old Indian Woman Selling Beads and Trinkets

This is a much more mellow symbol, a more grounded symbol. It indicates the congenial relationships of local commerce and their importance in creating stability, regularity, and routine. It also indicates the ability to carve out our own terrain, our own niche, within the broader society and marketplace.

We don't all agree. This is plainly obvious. But we've never all agreed. Our divisions have been intensely inflamed over the past two years, but they are nothing new. 

We've found a way to get along in the past despite our wildly different ways of thinking, and this has most often involved respecting the rights of human beings to hold their own thoughts, perspectives, and opinions and to live by their own worldviews. You don't infringe on me. I don't infringe on you. 

Carving out and reinforcing this respect might be a more challenging process than usual under current conditions, but this is some of the work being laid before us during this very charged Mercury retrograde and eclipse season. 

You might disagree with the way I think. I might disagree with the way you think. This is OK. This is the way it's always been on this planet. The problem comes only when one group of people feels it can force its views and ways on another group of people. 

That's where the boundaries and respect come in, and these are things we must very carefully tend as we navigate highly-charged and highly-divided social scenarios. With the North Node in Taurus as our guiding North Star, we're attempting to find the points where people can be comfortable in each other's company, despite differing views. 

Again, finding the societal comfort zone within the current conditions is a challenge - a bigger challenge than usual - but it is also the most successful path through. 

If we cannot achieve the right boundaries, the right space, and the mutual respect for differing views, some of our social contacts could be coming to their natural conclusions at this time, but the primary goal is to build successful, mutually-supportive, and boundaries-conscious social frameworks if this is at all within our power. 

We will defend the right to hold and to live by our own views if necessary, but in general, we're moving away from a state of constant battling (South Node in Scorpio) and into a state of easier social stability and comfort (North Node in Taurus). This is necessary for our mental and emotional health.

Mercury will re-enter its own sign of Gemini on June 13, leaving the retrograde shadow and moving into new mental territory and more grounded mindsets on June 18.

Sun in Gemini Heads to a Conjunction with the South Node: Lay Off the Mental Junk Food

The Sun is heading to a conjunction with Black Moon Lilith and the South Node of the Moon at 5 degrees Gemini (exact May 25 and strongly in effect into early June). This forms a square to Neptune in Pisces, and the combination of energies has a very odd and highly-charged effect on mental function, conversation, writing, and general communications.

It's hard to know what thoughts to express and what ones to let slip off into the ethers. Should I write it or shouldn't I write it? Should I say something or should I keep it zipped? There is a feeling of being mentally pulled in two or more directions, and this is taxing. Unwanted, invasive thoughts are a possibility with the Sun-Black Moon Lilith-South Node in Gemini square to Neptune in Pisces, and fending them off can be a drain.

All the mental stress can cause momentary blank-outs, so make the effort to keep yourself in the here and now, particulary while driving. As long as you're safe, you're free to ride the waves...

The Gemini Sun is also sextile Uranus in Aries (exact May 28), and this creates a sometimes overbearing manic charge with thoughts popping around in our brains like popcorn kernels, seeking an outlet.

Mercury is holding things somewhat steady at the tail-end of earthy Taurus, but the messenger planet moves into Gemini May 24, squaring Neptune, conjuncting the Sun, South Node, and Black Moon Lilith, and sextiling Uranus in Aries, and we're going to be fighting to maintain any sort of mental stability and calm. Keeping our thoughts from running us will be a challenge.

We've had a major influx of new Gemini energy - related to talking, thinking, writing, connecting, interacting, networking, zipping around in our local societies - with the New Moon eclipse on May 20, and that just gets more amped up with the Venus Transit June 5/6 and a second New Moon in the sign June 19.

With the influence of the South Node conjunct Black Moon Lilith, there are major pitfalls related to certain expressions of the sign of Gemini - in those very same arenas of talking, thinking, writing, connecting, interacting, bopping around in our neighbourhoods. We're impelled to make daily connections and to keep things mixing and moving with all the Gemini influence, but certain conversations are bound for unpleasant results, and certain connections should be skipped or discontinued altogether. Determining which is which will keep even the most Geminian soul busy these days.

Black Moon Lilith conjunct the South Node is almost overwhelmingly powerful into early June. People are itching for a tongue wag. There are conversations that need to be had and air that needs to be cleared, but words are highly charged, and letting slip momentarily with a pitch black piece of perspective or information - no matter how satisfying in the moment - can create huge, long-term ripple effects. We're no shrinking violets with all this BML, but it's wise to watch our tongues very carefully.

The internet, in particular, is a Gemini South Node quagmire. There are plenty of potential diversions and misdirections of mental/verbal energy that can come back on us in angsty, irritating, or draining ways.

The frenetic, constant communication, sound-bite versions of Gemini have been tamed to a certain extent by the North Node in Sagittarius/South Node in Gemini (March 3, 2011 - August 29, 2012). The huge glut of constantly updating information has been stemmed somewhat - or people have at least taken their leave of a lot of it. But there are still plenty of hot spot South Node draws in this arena. There are many places on the worldwide web we should just stay away from, many sources of information, entertainment, and perspective that are not good for us to be around - and for some, this blog may be one of them! But the South Node is like moth to flame, and it will be difficult to refuse old draws, old connections, old gossip, old society, old mental pathways.

A lot of the information out there is the equivalent of mental or verbal junk food, and with all the mental stress going on, we'll be tempted to gorge ourselves. There's nothing wrong with eating a bag of kettle chips once in a while - but this South Node is going to be tempting us to do it daily, and then add a Big Mac, fries, and milkshake to it.

This is the differentiation between information that nourishes and satisfies and the kind that leaves us empty, craving, looking for repeated fixes.

Being aware of mental addictions and information habits and managing them wisely keeps the balance with this nodal axis. Avoid conversations that go nowhere, and avoid the types of charged connections that lead to the magnetic quagmire zone.

Two New Moons in Gemini and a Venus Transit Sandwiched Between: Entering a Whole New Context

The Sun and Moon form a conjunction in earliest Gemini on May 20, marking a zero degree Gemini New Moon. This is the first of two New Moons in the sign (the second falls at 28 degrees Gemini on June 19), putting a major focus on the sign of the twins over the next two months.

Venus has also just gone retrograde in Gemini (May 15). The Sun will move out of this New Moon and into an interior conjunction with Venus Rx on June 5. Venus will be at perigee at the time of this conjunction - at the closest point to Earth in its orbit. If you've gotten into all that SuperMoon hoopla, this would be like SuperVenus. Not only that, but we also experience a major astronomical/astrological event at that time referred to as the Venus Transit. SuperDuperVenus.

The Venus Transit is, in basic terms, an eclipse of the Sun by Venus during which we on Earth will be able to see Venus moving across the face of the Sun.

Venus Transits happen in pairs - the last one occurred in June 2004 - but it will take more than 100 years for this alignment of the Sun, Venus, and Earth to form again.

Wherever Gemini falls in your natal chart is an area that is absolutely ripe for new experiences, connections, and opportunities. There is a major backdrop change going on there, and in this area of life, in particular, you will be opening into an entirely new intellectual framework.

Gemini relates to: talking! It is a sign that strives, above all, to connect. It is the sign of gathering and passing on information, networking, socializing, telephoning, instant messaging, gossiping, and generally keeping society buzzing and humming. Coming out of this May and June, we're looking for new avenues for all those things.

Communication skills are increasingly prominent, as is interacting with people with whom you share a mutual understanding and intellectual rapport.

Booty-shaking compatibility might have been enough during the Venus in Scorpio relationship cycle (now being discharged), but it's not going to cut it under Venus in Gemini.

The double dose of New Moon energy in Gemini combined with the Venus retrograde and Venus Transit in Gemini indicate the making of powerful new connections this spring and summer, connections from the soul. Gemini is a sign that enjoys intellectual stimulation and rapport, and forming new relationships, as well as enhancing existing relationships, along these lines will be increasingly important. The isolation that has been so prominent for so many during the past years starts to be alleviated with all the Gemini emphasis.

Gemini is a sign related to context and the understanding of one's own context. It can be very challenging to keep up on this considering the times of exponential change through which we are living. With these New Moons and the Venus Transit sandwiched between, we burst forward into a new understanding of our own daily context and relevance. The connections being made and the information and perspectives cross-pollinating help to enhance this understanding, particularly of how we fit within local societies and neighborhoods.

New networks will be actively formed as we enter a vast new relationship cycle infused with the potency of the Venus Transit. Conditions are right for new connections, new societies, and new associations to get off the ground, though there is a focus on the immediate, the informal, and the less structured. In addition, with the influence of Uranus in Aries, it is only while being true to ourselves and our own perspectives right down to the last, rough edge that the society we keep will feel right. There is a strong and continuing requirement to determine karass from false karass.

Coming out of these New Moons, new mental circuitry finds connection points and starts to hum, old communication patterns are shed, and there is some natural social regrouping and re-organization as we move into new intellectual and societal frequencies. New society forms according to these frequencies and what hits our ears as exactly correct for the times.

This Gemini New Moon also kicks into high gear the major influx of mutable energy in the zodiac. As of May 20, we have officially entered two months of Mutable Madness when many of the personal planets, as well as Chiron and Neptune, are in mutable signs.

From a previous post:

"“Mutable” basically means “transitional,” and stakes are being pulled up on a number of fronts as we move through major transition this spring and early summer.

A predominance of mutable energy can create chaos, ineffectiveness, and confusion, and Mars will have its work cut out for it keeping things in some semblance of practical Virgoan order. Everyone will have to keep a close eye on anxiety and stress levels within this state of flux.

With this much mutable energy at play, the goals are to stay loose, stay fluid, stay adaptable, and keep making practical progress wherever and whenever you can. Things might not go as planned, but acting and reacting keenly to subtle changes from moment-to-moment keeps us in the game."

Falling between the two Gemini New Moons (on May 20 and June 19) is an equally potent Full Moon partial lunar eclipse in Sagittarius that happens June 4, just one day prior to the beginning of the Venus Transit.

At the time of the June 4 Full Moon eclipse, the Sun will be conjunct Venus Rx in Gemini, and both bodies will oppose the Moon in Sagittarius. Mars in Virgo will form a tight t-square with these bodies. Mercury will be in Gemini. The North Node will be in Sagittarius, and the South Node will be in Gemini. Chiron and Neptune will be in Pisces. This Full Moon brings the mutable, anything-can-happen energy to a fevered pitch, as every personal planet (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars) will be in mutable signs, along with Chiron and Neptune.

The second Gemini New Moon June 19 is also blisteringly potent, falling just before the summer solstice when the Sun entering Cancer will form a cardinal t-square with Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn.

Coming out of this second Gemini New Moon, we experience the solstice June 20, the first of seven exact Uranus-Pluto squares June 24, Saturn direct at 22 degrees Libra June 25, and Venus direct at 7 degrees Gemini June 27.

I don't think we could have a dull and uninteresting time over the next two months if we tried.

Uranus Direct on Zero Aries (The Fukushima Degree) at the Gemini Full Moon Eclipse

See these punk rock cacti? With Uranus direct in Aries, this is your power symbol. Let your spikes show.

Photo: Willow

Gemini Full Moon total lunar eclipse (18 degrees) - December 10 at 8:36 a.m. Central.

The Gemini Full Moon on December 9/10 is a total lunar eclipse that falls less than three degrees from the point of this upcoming spring's Venus Transit. This eclipse, conjunct the nodal axis, triggers a sort of cosmic shakedown landslide, even if only internally. Things start to come unhinged here, leading into an ongoing reorganization process that carries us into late summer 2012.

The Venus Transit is an eclipse of the Sun by Venus during which we are able to observe Venus passing across the surface of the Sun as it orbits between the Sun and Earth. Astrologically, this event will be marked by a conjunction of the Sun and Venus retrograde at 15 degrees Gemini on June 5, 2012.

Venus Transits occur in pairs in the same sign, eight years apart (one Venus cycle), and they do not happen often. The last Venus Transit - the pair to this one - occurred June 8, 2004. The most recent Venus Transits prior to the 2004/2012 set occurred December 1874/1882 in Sagittarius. The next set will occur in December 2117 and 2125, also in Sagittarius.

Suffice it to say, it's a noteworthy event during our stay on planet Earth.

Uranus stations direct on zero Aries - the birth point of the zodiac - in the early morning of December 10 (1:04 a.m. Central) just as the Moon, visible to us, is reaching peak fullness in Gemini.

Uranus in Aries now moves direct into the first of seven exact squares to Pluto in Capricorn June 24, 2012.

Gemini and Mercury as Symbols That Things Are Not Exactly As They Appear

Gemini is the mutable air sign symbolized by the twins. It's a sign of dual meaning and dual, or even multiple, realities. Ruled by winged messenger planet Mercury, Gemini gathers and deposits information - the messages - in an almost constant stream of words, ideas, and non-verbal communication traveling in and out. Gemini has to keep the flow going, passing received information along and making new connections, or risk getting bogged down, something it can't stand for long. Gemini is characterized as light, changeable, social, communicative, ever-networking, ever-connecting, ever-adapting, ever-juggling, ever-moving.

Gemini's glyph is the Roman numeral II, which also represents two pillars. Back in the day, statues of twins were used to guard gates, doorways, and entrances. They still are.

Gates, doorways, and entrances, you say.

A version of Mercury called The Golden Boy stands atop the legislative building in the city where I currently live. This reflects the dual purpose of the building and of the activities that go on within it. The legislative building is full of masonic symbolism. They even do guided tours pointing it out, declaring that the purpose of it all is to elevate humankind. (Where have I heard that before?) On the outside of the building is a statue of the "Indolent Man," with a half-kneeling woman, the spirit of progress, beckoning him into the new land of promise. A common theme. All those opposed to their version of progress fall into the indolent (unenlightened, unaware, asleep, dense, lower, 3D) category, including all those ever-so-indolent native Canadians forced off their land for the sake of this "new land of promise." These indolents just don't know what's good for them, do they?

The legislative building is considered the masonic headquarters for the province and was built using the their own special brand of numerological measurement. It contains a Grand Staircase room measuring 66.6 feet on every side (666). That's one staircase I don't believe I'll be ascending (descending?). Gemini is associated with the number 3, but I won't give you the "33rd degree" if you didn't know that.

The Hoover Dam is another place chock full of masonic symbolism, particularly of the Geminian/Mercurial variety. This includes twin 30-foot bronze statues of winged figures named the Winged Figures of the Republic as well as two sets of twin obelisks/pillars . There's also a star map of the sky on the day the dam was dedicated (so the extraterrestrials will know when it was completed), as well as representations of the 12 signs of the zodiac and the Pleiades, particularly the fixed star Alcyone, the central star of the Pleiades cluster. The Pleiades and Alcyone are considered unfortunate influences. At the time the dam was built (1931 - 1936), the Pleiades was located on the anaretic degree of Taurus, which represents the master builder. As of 2011, the Pleiades, including Alcyone, is at zero Gemini.

The dam is located between the U.S. states Arizona and Nevada and was built to generate power. It was also built as a massive symbol. The very existence of the dam acts as a messenger, a symbol of man's (supposed) building genius and elevation of himself above nature - another common masonic theme. (All expanses of nature in the city where I'm living have been wiped out or overdeveloped - the stamp of the egocentric male mason, I'm thinking.)

In the case of the Hoover Dam, it is the harnessing and controlling of water - the Colorado River - for man's own purposes, earning entrance for the elevated ones into the Age of the Water-bearer. (There. We did it. Now we get to "level up!")

The construction of the dam took place between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression (providing cheap, desperate labour), which was also, as you might recall, the time frame of the last Uranus-Pluto square series in Aries and Cancer respectively.

Oh, what a glorious wonder of the Earth! Built on the blood of 112 men and the shortened lives of hundreds more due to horrific working conditions. But what's a little collateral human damage when the elevation of the chosen ones is the end result?

There are those who glory about the majesty and wonder of the pyramids, and there are those who would not fall for a sham built on slave labour and human lives.

So we have a total lunar eclipse in Gemini, precursor to the Venus Transit in Gemini in June 2012, just as Uranus moves direct on the first degree of the zodiac. You see the "gateway" symbolism.

This Gemini eclipse is a dividing point, a separation into two, as we officially move forward (again) at the threshold of the new astrological era. It's a divergence point, the divergence point - a shaking to the core and rapid, eclipse-initiated backdrop change between ages that deepens dramatically this spring.

Can we expect the deadly "symbolic events" to start unfolding like clockwork via Global Governors following their orders? I'm sure it's on the docket.

Uranus Direct at Zero Aries - the Degree of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

The last time Uranus was on this exact point was March 22, 2011. That was 11 days after a HAARP-induced earthquake directed at Japan created mass death, destruction, and ongoing nuclear disaster. As Uranus last moved over this place in the zodiac, we were 11 days into the nightmare unfolding (still unfolding) at Fukushima, just starting to wrap our minds around the magnitude of it. Due to almost complete media black-out - and superficial coverage when there is any - we are not all that much closer to understanding the full extent of what we're dealing with this time around.

The real messenger has been muzzled. Proxies have been put in place to fill minds with information devoid of meaning, immediacy, or context. We have a nuclear disaster on our hands the scope of which has never been seen on this planet. Cellular structures are being altered without our permission.

Nuclear fuel has melted through the containments at three nuclear reactors, creating an ongoing release of radioactive materials into the air, soil, and water. Into the bodies of the Japanese people and into bodies of people throughout the northern hemisphere.

A Japanese television host who ate fish and produce from the Fukushima area on air to prove it was safe has now been diagnosed with acute lymphatic leukemia. A media figure getting sick gets some press. The others didn't and won't.

And all this perfectly timed for some bizarre, Global Governor-implemented shift into their version of green energy...

As videos of sick, irradiated, disfigured children from the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster are brought to the viewing public, we're reminded that Fukushima is far from the only nuclear disaster we're living through on this planet. Mothers in Fallujah, Iraq have now been told by doctors to stop having babies due to the overwhelming number of birth defects and deformities related to radioactivity from U.S. depleted uranium munitions.

And people really think it matters a good Goddamn if their kid gets into that oh-so-prestigious pre-school? If their birthday parties have the best bouncy castles in the neighbourhood? If they get that ever-coveted seventh trip to Disney World?

People are living their personal lives almost entirely without context.

The media supports and reinforces this.

My local newspaper just ran an editorial stating that nuclear energy is still our best option. No update of the ongoing situation in Japan. This can be expected in the country that is the second-largest producer of uranium on the planet. Anti-nuke sentiments are bad for business.

Photo: Willow

This Gemini eclipse marks the beginning of a huge split. It's not even a split. It's a shattering of the Piscean "oneness" trying everything in its power to keep us one easily controllable 99% mass into billions of sharp-edged, never-say-die, middle-finger-raising pieces.

And don't let anyone tell you at whom or at what to direct that middle finger. That's to be determined by you and you alone.

This eclipse-initiated divergence relates to broad, big picture stuff - the direction we take on this planet from here on out - but our smart, precise, crystal clear self-direction leads the way. This Full Moon eclipse (Gemini Moon opposite Sagittarius Sun) forms a mutable t-square with Mars in Virgo, well into its retrograde shadow. The mutable t-square is repeated June 4, 2012 with a Sagittarius Full Moon (Sagittarius Moon opposite Gemini Sun) partial lunar eclipse opposing the Sun-Venus in Gemini and squaring post-retrograde Mars in Virgo one day prior to the Venus Transit. The Venus Transit conjunction in Gemini June 5, 2012 also, of course, falls within tight square to Mars in Virgo.

Any intellectual laziness that has kept people drifting along in a Piscean era sea of memes, idioms, mantras, and soft-lit, wishful-thinking partial truths needs to be sharpened quickly, or it will come back to haunt as only Pisces can.

As Uranus pulls out of its direct station on the freshest degree there is, don't mince words. If ever there were a time frame on this planet when how you really feel, what you really think, and what you really believe needed to be the impelling force, this is that time frame. Anything done to diminish one's effect, to quiet one's voice, to fit in with the crowd is now pretty close to meaningless. Understanding this ahead of the pack puts you at the leading and most relevant edge. Uranus in Aries doesn't care about being socially acceptable or "normal." It doesn't care about polite dinner party conversation. Uranus is looking to push us way out there into our most real, raw, radical, and instinctual selves. It demands freedom, independence, and individuation at almost any cost, and at this point, crystallized, outdated social mores and concepts of normality are just begging for Uranian lightning strikes.

We're about to experience a complete reorganization under the Aquarian classification system.

Things are being busted up into full-on Aquarian diversity, and that isn't as warm and fuzzy, love and lighty as it perhaps sounds. Things are about to get a little raw and a little weird - or rather, more so.

Don't be surprised if who people are under the Aquarian umbrella is not who they were under the Piscean. Don't be surprised if people you've known forever suddenly seem like strangers. From a previous post: "As we move forward from here, people we thought we knew are going to surprise us - in pleasant ways and in not so pleasant - and radical relationship breaks can come almost out of nowhere, especially if people have been putting things off."

Like the flick of a switch, our meaning and context, the particular layers of ourselves at the forefront, shift.

For those who have been clinging to old forms and ideals, attempting to re-create the same old scenes with a slightly different colour palate, things could take the harsher Uranian track - shocking, stunning, jarring, emotionally traumatizing.

For those who have been moving with the show from the get-go, this transition will probably be refreshing. We're about to get some movement. If you're ready, here we go.

Previous posts: Fukushima nuclear crisis

Willow's June 2008 Astro Perspective

Well, I might have over-stated the feel-good Taurus aspects of last month a little. The 29 degree Scorpio Full Moon on the 19th seemed to trump the happy, happy springtime vibe a little…or a lot. And this was the case on the global scale, too.

A similar number of people died in the cyclone in Myanmar/Burma and the earthquake in China in May as died in the two nuclear bomb attacks against Japan in World War II. Just to put the vibe into perspective a little. Massive and violent energy shifts and a lot of horror and pain for the people in those countries (and around the world)…which continues…

So May’s forecast might have partially been a case of having my head in the wishful-thinking, Neptunian clouds a little (stationing Neptune was involved quite heavily in May), but it was also just a perfect example of the odd duality of our times…which Gemini, symbolized by the twins, experiences in spades.

As we start the month, the Sun, Mercury (going retrograde) and Venus are all in Gemini. So we have plenty of this theme to go around.

What is this Geminian duality, you might ask?

Watching a story on the news about 100,000 people dying in a cyclone amped up by global warming/climate change…and then jumping in the car to pick the kids up at soccer practice. Seeing masses of people buried under the rubble of earthquake-toppled buildings in China…as you munch on Chinese take-out for supper. Learning that Native people living around Alberta’s oil sands are suffering from an abnormally high rate of rare cancers, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus…but being really happy about your hard-earned raise at work, made possible by oil activity. Being able to access information through the media, the Internet, books, magazines, about atrocity after atrocity committed on this planet…and then having to live our daily lives, somehow integrating that information and including it in the context of our lives. The co-existence of absolute horror with mundane daily realities. The joy of creation alongside the brutality and grief of destruction. Pain and pleasure, light and dark. And the ability to just roll with it, Gemini-style…as two sides of the same coin. All part of the human experience, it seems.

For me, a symbol of this Geminian duality was selling a poorly-strung Burmese horse puppet at the store where I work to a woman who wanted to restring it as an act of support for the Burmese people. The strings were too short, leaving the poor horse’s legs all bound up and useless. I thought this was such a sweet and touching thing for her to do. (Especially being born in the Year of the Horse and feeling quite oppressed and constrained in my work situation at the time…a personal layer to the symbol.) And I was selling it to her, as she attempted in her own way to support people affected by yet another natural disaster (arguably) made much more severe by global warming, from a store in Calgary, Alberta - a town made rich through oil money. A town where Hummers and SUVs are plentiful as all hell. In a province now doing all sorts of hideous environmental damage while milking the oil sands for every last drop of black gold. Not to mention the oil that was burned getting that horse puppet from Southeast Asia to Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

This is a situation that exists, dualistic as it may be. You can throw down any judgement you’d like (and with Saturn currently in Virgo, we’re meant to be discriminating, to be sure), but it is what it is.

Gemini understands that there is not just one situation going on at any one time - there are many inter-related situations going on simultaneously. There is not just one perspective to take into consideration - there is angle after angle to bring into play. Our daily lives are shaped by layer after layer of information, ideas, perception, connection. Gemini, ruled by Mercury the messenger planet, takes it all in. It gathers information from all sources, all perspectives, in an attempt to tap in, to understand its own context and to engage successfully with the world around it.

Traditional astrology holds Gemini as the ruler of short-distance travel, while Sagittarius, it’s opposite, ruled long-distance travel to foreign lands. Short-distance travel includes the local, everyday travelling we do within our societies - to the store, work, home, the local watering hole, whatever. But it also relates, traditionally, to trips that took three days or less. Well, these days, with air travel, you can pretty much reach anywhere on the globe in three days. The local is global. Perfect example of how the Aquarian “global village” is affecting our day-to-day. At this point in history, we’re connected, and we know it. My life and actions affect your life and actions and vice versa. It’s sort of chaos theory at work. The connection between selling a Burmese horse puppet in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and a global warming-assisted cyclone killing 100,000 people in Burma. Directly connected or big leap in logic? A butterfly flaps its wings…

This month, we’re being asked to take a good, hard look at our everyday lives, in context, to make sure we’re really walking the walk AND talking the talk. Saturn in Virgo is going over every detail of ourselves and the lives we’re living as the Gemini planets energetically square it this month (so square it not by degree, but by sign). This continues the themes of the squares from May. Saturn in Virgo also disposits retrograding Jupiter in Capricorn and retrograding Pluto in Capricorn (until Pluto re-enters Sagittarius on June 13).

We’re being asked to look at what we’re supporting with the way we live our daily lives and with the interactions and connections we make on a daily basis. To follow those interactions/connections all the way around the globe if we have to, to see how our daily lives and the choices we make affect the daily lives of other people in our own societies and beyond. We’re being asked to understand our own context and to make refinements when necessary. The refinements don’t have a blanket application like, buy only organic! Go vegan! Stop driving! They might take that form…or they might be more subtle. There is no one cookie-cutter way to live. Everyone’s life has its own circumstances and Gemini knows this. It enjoys diversity, variety, choices. It understands that the guilt and pressure Virgo puts on itself to be perfect is worse than just indulging a little…in the right way. But there is definitely a theme of responsibly refining and making step-by-step improvements where necessary. The smallest adjustments can produce big results now, supported by these aspects. It might be improving the way you speak to or think about others (or yourself). It could mean being more respectful toward the person serving you your coffee in the morning (or mentally acknowledging the people who picked the beans!). It could mean noticing and appreciating the person who empties your office garbage can or the person scanning your groceries at the supermarket. Or thinking about all the people who had a part in getting that food to the supermarket shelf. Understanding that there are a million (often not-so-visible) ways that we are supported in our daily lives by the actions and work of other human beings.

Venus and the Sun in Gemini also square Uranus in Pisces this month on June 12. This is another aspect of the same theme where we have to take our big ideas for the future and our spiritual understanding of what we’re a part of (Uranus in Pisces) and bring it down to the societal level (Gemini). To use it as a guiding principle when making the multitude of choices we make every day. This is the way to carry our daily lives forward until they reflect our visions for the future. Big ideas don’t really matter so much if you can’t put them into practise and live them. We’re challenged with these mutable squares to make adjustments, especially in how we interact with each other on a societal level. Really cleaning up our own personal lives before we do anything else. Living our ideals and making our everyday lives a force for change in the world. The personal is political.

One of the big aspects this month is Pluto heading back into the last degrees of Sagittarius on June 13. This is the last crack Pluto has at Sagittarian themes for about 248 years, so you’d better believe there won’t be a stone left unturned. And you know what happens when you turn a stone over…the creepy crawlies come out! Eep!

For the first two-thirds of June, we’re building to first a Venus - Pluto opposition and then a Sun - Pluto opposition, both at the 29th degrees of Gemini and Sagittarius. Yes, MORE 29th degree aspects bringing up the themes of the Mars - Pluto opposition cycle. The 29th degree of all signs is the final, culmination degree, and this is culmination time related to the Gemini and Sagittarius themes we’ve been chewing on. At the 29th degree, we have to prove that we “got it” during the lessons of all the preceding degrees of the sign by putting what we’ve learned into practise. Anything we have glossed over, attempted to avoid, or half-assedly taken on…anything that needs to be brought to a conclusion…will come up as we attempt to earn our mastery over the themes and free ourselves from related karmic entanglements.

With Venus and Pluto interacting, we’re reaching a bottom line in our relationships, stripping down our interactions with each other to their core realities. Karmic dynamics within our relationships that have been set up to teach us about these themes will come to a conclusion one way or another.

With the Sun and Pluto involved, it’s gonna burn, burn, burn and build, build, build day-by-day, so we’d best stay on top of the proceedings all month. The Sun relates to creative force and how we outwardly express our identities and personalities in the world. Pluto relates to soul-directed, generational evolution and transformation and brings to the surface for purging and release anything that threatens our progress there - ego be damned! This opposition will transform the expression of who we are on a social level, alchemically burning away any attachments and personality glitches that are hindering our continued progress. It’s difficult when Pluto is cutting deeply into things as personal as our self-expression, our creations, our belief systems…but when personal ego goes head-to-head with Pluto…well, you know who generally holds the trump card. If you insist on clinging to the things Pluto is pulling from your clutches, you’re polishing the brass on the Titanic (to use a “Fight Club” line).

With Gemini and Sagittarius “playing“ together this month, it’s the alignment between what we say (Gemini) and what we hold as true (Sagittarius). It’s stripping away false social artifice that is disconnected from deeper understanding, while simultaneously keeping things functioning as congenially as possible in the day-to-day realm. Sagittarius can be too blunt and harsh, even to the point of rudeness. Even to the point of PRIDE about its rudeness in the name of “truth.” (And I’m not talking only Sagittarius Sun here, of course. We all have Sagittarius represented in our charts.) Well, truth is, we all have to get along and work together in society. There are things that need to be said and things that should be given a pass. There are times when we must take a stand, and there are times to yield for the sake of continued social functioning. There is a way to say things to take the edge off so as not to insult…a way Gemini knows well. On the other hand, it’s important not to fall prey to the “going along to get along” that Gemini sometimes does. We have to head off the Geminian tendency (which will seem especially attractive this month, as we squirm under Plutonic intensity) to playing to its crowd. Gemini has a slippery tongue at times, and we also have to guard against using gossip and playing people off each other as a way to gain the upper hand in any power struggles brought up this month.

So yes, here is the 29th degree culmination, it seems, related to these themes. The Venus - Pluto opposition just after midnight on June 18 and the Sun - Pluto opposition on June 20 should bring to light anything that still hasn’t been adequately addressed related to ugly tendencies to dividing people along the lines of race, class, sex, religion, culture, ideology, philosophy, education level, etc. These oppositions will make us aware of how that colours the way we treat each other in daily society - sometimes unconsciously and ever-so-subtly. Assumptions, dogma, fundamentalism, things that have been continued through our cultural lineage. Excessive cultural pride. Stereotypes - the falseness but also any grain of original truth related to them. The slight ways we extend more humanity to certain groups/people and less to others. Focussing on problems in other countries while overlooking and neglecting the ones in our own back yards. The “ruling” ideology and how it shapes “truth.” Condescension. The smugness of insidious superiority complexes related to culture, race, religion, sex, class, education level, etc. With Gemini involved, it will be the little things speaking volumes about these topics.

Under the context of the Aquarian Age (with the North Node, Neptune and Chiron currently in Aquarius), we’re all equals and really have to put that into practise, rather than just paying lip service to it. We’re all experiencing the human condition, and I don't believe there is any group of people, at this stage on the planet, that has not lived through oppression, injustice, degradation, violence and persecution, either personally or historically. People also experience these things within their own cultural/religious/racial/gender/class groups. They’re universal themes that cross these boundaries, and in order to move forward, we have to be motivated to improve the conditions of all groups experiencing these things, not just the ones we “belong to” or identify with. It doesn’t mean whitewashing circumstances or telling groups of people to “just get over it.” It means working together to overcome and taking all perspectives into consideration, not just the ones currently in a dominant position. Admitting this stuff has happened and continues to happen. Honouring and validating others’ experiences. Understanding that these things don’t just happen “over there,” in other countries…and that we have to look at and address the problems going on in our own societies. Macro reflects micro and vice versa.

As we move fully into the Aquarian era, we’re making a collective shift from a primary allegiance to our “categories” (race, religion, culture, class, sex, etc.) to aligning as human comrades, working to create a planet that works for everyone. We’re moving from the current winners/losers paradigm (My group wins because your group loses; your group wins because my group loses) to a win-win paradigm (I overcome because you overcome; I’m free of this because you’re free of this). Our backgrounds and histories are still important aspects of who we are within our personal contexts. They’re an imperative part of the perspectives we bring to the table as far as understanding the world and its problems. But they are not meant to keep us divided into certain groups and certain allegiances. Pluto in Sagittarius is breaking down rigid attachments here to allow for a broader understanding of family and community - one more aligned with shared soul-level ideals rather than shared skin colour, religion or class status.

Successfully navigating these themes means interacting with people on a real level, as equals, while taking into consideration varied backgrounds and ideologies and respectfully making that part of the context of our relationships.

We’ll see these themes reflected in the world at large, with sharp divisions along ideological lines (different versions of truth) coming to light…divisions that might have been more easily hidden or glossed over in the past, but no longer. Differing religions, cultures, political ideologies all fighting to dominate. The U.S. presidential election is a good example of divisions among people along these lines coming out into the open…and I guess it’s no coincidence that the election takes place in November, just as Pluto leaves Sagittarius for 248 years!

During the first two-thirds of June, the aspects build to the point of the Venus - Pluto and Sun - Pluto oppositions, keeping these themes at the forefront.

June 3, we have a New Moon in Gemini, starting a new cycle of information, ideas, people and interactions. However, the New Moon is ruled by Mercury, still going retrograde in Gemini, so there is a feeling that we are not quite in new territory yet. Communication will still have glitches. The mail/e-mail, electronics, transportation, interactions and even manual dexterity will have their difficulties, so allow for a little more breathing room here. No getting pissy and frustrated! Mercury has its reasons for slowing things down.

During the New Moon, the Sun and Moon in Gemini are exactly sextiling Mars in Leo, bringing into play the power of our personalities and our creative goals and the willful application of them in our daily lives.

June 6, Venus in Gemini repeats the aspect, sextiling Mars in Leo. This builds on the power of our personal will related to being ourselves and expressing ourselves within our daily relationships. We’re really tossing it around now! Egos could be flying around at this point, fuelled by airy and light-hearted Gemini. So far, it’s all fun. But we’re building, building, building to those oppositions with Pluto…so don’t get too cocky. You hear that, Mars in Leo?

On June 7, the Sun and then Venus pass retrograding Mercury in Gemini, and we catch up to our minds. We get clearer on what this Mercury Retrograde period is all about as Mercury passes on the information it has gathered. Some of the fuzziness created by the Mercury - Neptune trine last month will be burned away at this point. Pay attention to any realizations or information coming to you around this time. Because of the trines to Neptune, the North Node and Chiron in Aquarius at the beginning of its retrograde, Mercury’s information has a lot to do with the blueprints for the way forward.

June 8, the Sun and Venus come together in Gemini, increasing the focus on our daily interactions within our relationships. Combined with the sextiles to Mars in Leo, this should help with staying in a state of self-love. This could be very necessary with all the possible ego hits and tenseness in our relations this month. Just don’t push it to the self-glorification point…or, again, Pluto will nail your ass later in the month. Just a friendly warning!

Throughout June 7 and 8, we have a conjunction of the Sun, Venus and ever-potent retrograding Mercury (which rules the Sun and Venus at this point). All this Gemini energy bubbling away is setting the stage, creating interactions and putting the focus on communication within our relationships. This makes for a very potent Gemini force opposing an equal but opposite very potent Sagittarius force later in the month. So all our chatting, interacting, connecting and information-passing are not as light-hearted as they seem. The Gemini planets are greasing the wheels so there’s no holding back. We’re getting it all out there.

June 10 and 11, first Venus and then the Sun, still in close conjunction in Gemini, trine first the North Node and then Chiron in Aquarius. This develops the themes of the entire Mercury Retrograde period. With Chiron involved, we are understanding what needs to be healed within ourselves and within the larger communities as we move forward…the things that have been left unsaid, untended to…very much tied into the ways we have divided and been divided along the lines mentioned previously. Perhaps we will see some movement on the issues important to Native people…to start real healing and progress there. Healing for all our painful cultural roots. I hope so.

June 12, Venus and then the Sun square Uranus in Pisces, as was mentioned earlier in the update. This could bring crackling changes and insights.

June 15, Mars in Leo conjuncts the South Node, yet another indicator that we have to leave our old ego constructs at the door. Excessive pride, sense of entitlement, overpowering with personality, demanding that things be our way, use of personal will and personal talents to recreate the forms of the past…all these things are not going to work. Detachment from the reactions to our personalities and creative expressions will help.

June 18 is the start of what we’ve been building toward, and it’s seriously powerful. Just after midnight, we have the Venus in Gemini - Pluto in Sagittarius opposition at 29 degrees. Venus slips into Cancer less than an hour later and becomes ruled by the Moon, which, adding to the intensity, is about to be full. Just before noon, we have a Full Moon at 27 degrees Sagittarius (the Galactic Centre) opposing the Sun at 27 degrees Gemini, bringing to an emotional head the Gemini - Sagittarius themes we’ve been dealing with all month. Actually since August of 2007. My goodness. This is spicy. Just to make the opposition even more uncomfortable, we’ve got the emotionally-attached Moon involved, combined with Venus in Cancer, making us very vulnerable around these issues of cultural heritage, religious roots, philosophy and personal truth. This is feeling VERY personal. The Moon and Venus in Cancer keep the past close to their hearts. Lots of emotional attachment - to our relationships, our families, our roots, our hometowns, our early lives. We’ve now got the weight of our entire ancestral lineage, not to mention our personal histories, involved. Yeesh. There’s no place to run, no place to hide.

Less than four hours after the Full Moon, the Moon conjuncts Pluto at the 29th degree of Sagittarius. Yet more stripping down of our attachments to belief systems, cultural/religious divisions and philosophical tenets that are past their prime and an anchoring to what continues to sustain us. It goes to the root, and we have the support of our ancestors behind us. We’re here doing this work for all of us. Keep that in mind during the tough points because, honestly, this day has “emotional meltdown” written all over it.

The very next day, June 19, ultra-potent stationing Mercury heads direct at 13 degrees Gemini, going forward over territory it has been dealing with since May 11.

Then June 20, we have the Sun - Pluto opposition at the 29th degrees of Gemini and Sagittarius. Things are not letting up. There’s little rest when the final degrees are being nailed again and again like this. But if we’ve been diligent and done our work since August, this should have more of a clearing feeling, heading off any nuclear meltdowns.

Just after the opposition, the Sun heads into Cancer…again, ruled by the Moon, which is still coming down after all the stuff that was stirred up two days before. At this point, signalling the point of the Summer Solstice (can you believe we're here already!), daylight hours start to shorten and we consciously move inward, getting back in touch with ourselves emotionally and tending to any emotional wounds we’ve received during this whole Plutonic strip-down process. But at the same time, we have to take a hard look at any ways that we are holding onto the past. Cancer strives for emotional/soul security. It likes family, roots, home, familiarity, a nice, secure nest to surround itself in. It likes feeling nurtured and safe and often retreats back to what it knows. The problem here is when the quest for safety and security becomes motivated by fear - and fear is a definite possibility considering all the Pluto energy digging up our deepest, darkest. At this point, Cancer can go into denial about very real threats…avoiding what it would prefer not to look at, regressing emotionally back to a time when it felt more secure, falling into conditioned patterns and familiar roles. This is not successful, especially not with all the Aquarian influence right now. So while we can definitely connect with our roots at this point, we need to make sure we’re not avoiding the challenges and changes of the future.

June 26, Uranus in Pisces goes retrograde, going back over larger themes related to the Pisces-to-Aquarius hand-off stuff. In a fit of cosmic synchronicity, Uranus will turn direct November 26...the same day Pluto moves back into Capricorn. The planet of revolution and lightning-fast change going direct the same day Pluto starts the long process of transforming our hierarchical structures (business and otherwise). Hmm…

On the final day of the month, June 30, we have a trine between Mars in Leo and Pluto in Sagittarius. If we’ve taken on the work necessary in the earlier part of the month, this aspect should create positive results, transforming our social identities and propelling us forward through our hearts…stripped down to only our dearest hearts desires with no detritus clogging up the works. At least, that was the goal…