The month of the twins dawns with Venus already retrograde, moving through the sign of Gemini in concert with Mercury, the Sun, and the Moon. The planet of love and beauty is leading a social life this lunation, making alignments to Neptune, Mars, Mercury, the Sun, and of course the Moon over the duration of this month. Mars entered the watery sign of Pisces not long ago, saturating its energy and submerging its fires in preparation for the exact Mars-Neptune conjunction in mid-June.
This lunation cycle is especially dynamic because eclipse season is once again upon us, and the Full Moon will be a Lunar Eclipse, and the next New Moon will be a Solar Eclipse. Eclipses can have many meanings, but one is of learning to see by a different kind of light: not the brightness of day nor even the pearly glow of the night’s orb, but rather the light of darkness itself.
Transits of the Gemini Lunation
*May 22 @ 10:39 am PT* The New Moon in Gemini aligns in a tight trine to Saturn in Aquarius, with Mercury-Venus in the same sign closely square to Neptune. With Mercury’s sign brimming with celestial bodies, the themes of communication, language, and thought patterns will be at the fore during this lunation. How do the words you choose and the way you communicate allow you to tend to your dreams, and what illusions might you be harboring in your mind and heart?
*May 25 @ 7:58 am PT* A softly sizzling talent trine forms between the Cancer Moon, Mars in Pisces, and Uranus in Taurus. Although dampened by the weight of the water and earth signs, the alignments between these three planets can bring some sparks of anger, frustration, or just pure physical energy. Be conscious of how that energy might be diffuse in the field, rather than clearly directed.
*May 27 @ 12:02 pm PT* Leo Moon sextiles Sun in Gemini, the first alignment of the two luminaries since the New Moon. The Moon has just completed its monthly opposition to the Pluto-Jupiter-Saturn stellium in late Capricorn and early Aquarius, which can correlate with a complex sequence of emotions: deep turmoil, releasing joy, contraction and isolation. We are riding rough seas these days, and it can be most felt in our emotional bodies and intimate relations.
*May 28 @ 11:09 am PT* Mercury swims out of its home sign of Gemini into the deep emotional waters of Cancer, where it will linger until August 4. Mercury’s long sojourn in the Moon’s sign is due to it getting caught in Cancer’s tides, swimming retrograde beginning late on June 17. While this transit may support giving voice to one’s feelings, it can also lead to dissolved, emotional thinking.
*May 29 @ 8:30 pm PT* The waxing quarter Moon in Virgo squares the Sun in Gemini, while the Moon simultaneously forms an exact trine to Uranus in Taurus. What changes are being initiated at this time within your intimate inner world? What changes need to be initiated? Are you feeling emotionally restless, erratic, playful, eruptive, rebellious?
*June 1 @ 2:28 am PT* Libra Moon makes a trine to the Sun and Venus in Gemini, bringing in some much-needed sweetness, love, beauty, and harmony. Nourish your heart and your body, be gentle with yourself, allow softness into your being.
*June 2 @ 5:41 pm PT* Retrograde Venus in Gemini squares Mars in Pisces. The lovers connect but there is tension and friction between them. Will this manifest as a fight or an argument with a loved one, or will the tensions give rise to erotic creative expression?
*June 3 @ 10:44 am PT* The Sun and Venus meet each other in Gemini, initiating Venus’s transition from the evening star to the morning star. We now must awaken early to see the diamond glory of Venus gracing the pre-dawn sky. What does rising early in order to witness beauty cultivate in your life, as opposed to waiting for darkness to fall to behold the celestial symbol of the heart?
*June 5 @ 12:12 pm PT* The Sagittarius Full Moon opposes the Sun and Venus in Gemini, forming a T-square to Mars in Pisces. This Full Moon is also a Lunar Eclipse. Traditionally viewed as malefic, the Moon falling into Earth’s shadow when it should be in the full bloom of light can show us the darker, hidden reaches of the unconscious. Take time to go inward, to inquire into the fiery depths of your heart, and then cleanse and purify your being once the shadow has passed.
*June 6 @ 12:11 pm PT* The Sun in Gemini square Mars in Pisces, perfecting the alignment that was potently activated in yesterday’s Lunar Eclipse. Attention is drawn to our will, assertion, energy, anger, aggression. Find an outlet for this fire hose, lest the fire evaporate the waters to steam.
*June 8 @ 5:54 pm PT* The Moon sweeps through the Pluto-Jupiter-Saturn stellium, crossing from Capricorn to Aquarius in the early evening. Mirroring the Moon’s opposition to these planets on May 27, how do your emotions feel? Deep, expansive, constraining? Sometimes there can be too much to feel to really sort it all out, but know the waves will pass through your body and transform into something new.
*June 10 @ 7:35 am PT* The disseminating Aquarius Moon makes its waning trine to the Sun in Gemini. The trine brings a harmonious balance between inner and outer, offering opportunities to share with the wider community the thoughts and insights that have been gestating during the lunation.
*June 11 @ 2:37 am PT* Gemini Sun squares Neptune in Pisces, bringing the focus to the enchanted dreamworld, the realm of images, fantasies, visions, the mystical, spiritual, and religious. One’s sense of self may feel dissolved, but be wary of the mirage of deluded inflation, identifying the ego with our spiritual ideals. Remember you are part of a whole, although don’t forget the multitude is also within you.
*June 12 @ 7:13 am PT* Mars and Neptune at last conjoin in Pisces, two contrary archetypes unifying in water’s mutable sign. This merging of Mars’s fiery will with Neptune’s dreamy idealism aligns with the waning quarter Moon in late Pisces, thus the luminaries illuminate Mars-Neptune in their Solar and Lunar rays. Vital energy may be low or feel like it is leaking away, or it may be turned inward in reverie and fantasy. We may feel prickly, like an emotional jellyfish, stinging unconsciously. Or we may find the spiritual warrior within, aligning our consciousness with right action.
*June 15 @ 5:11 pm PT* The balsamic Aries Moon makes its closing sextile to the Sun in late Gemini, bringing the lunation cycle to its final stage. What last actions do you want to take before entering into the pregnant dark of the next New Moon?—a New Moon that will also be a Solar Eclipse and the Summer Solstice.
*June 17 @ 9:59 pm PT* Mercury turns retrograde in the late hours of the night, swimming upstream through Cancer until July 12. This watery retrograde may bring up many memories, perhaps from childhood or experiences from long ago. It is a time to reflect, review, revise, unlearn and relearn, taking our sensibilities into account so we can move forward with greater wholeness.
*June 18 @ 4:08 pm PT* Mars in Pisces sextiles Pluto in Capricorn, creating the most subtle and harmonious angle between otherwise fiery, volcanic, and destructive forces. One can access tremendous strength of will under such a transit, especially when approached consciously and for creative purposes.
*June 20 @ 11:41 pm PT* The Sun slides into Cancer to mark the Summer Solstice, but falls behind the shadow of the New Moon, creating a Solar Eclipse to mark the first day of summer. A Solar eclipse in the Moon’s sign subsumes the Sun’s summer light and brings it down to illuminate a darker realm. Winter comes into the heart of summer for a moment, recalling the last eclipse cycle that fell at the turn of the last year. Mars in Pisces sextiling Jupiter in Capricorn at least can give us some confidence that the heroic light will return, perhaps the wiser for its underworld journey.
Becca Tarnas 