The New Moon in Gemini (May 30, 4:30 a.m. on the West Coast) is a prompt for doing things in a Geminian way: write, read, learn, teach, shop, negotiate, multi-task, sing a song, tell a joke. Gemini is a light-hearted air sign. Seriously, it’s time for some fun.
At this New Moon time, both the Sun and the Moon will be in a harmonious, encouraging sextile (approximately 60-degree) aspect with Mars and Jupiter. They’re together now in fiery, take-action Aries, enhancing the sense of youthfulness and open possibilities associated with Gemini. Strong-charging Mars and fortuitous Jupiter in Aries expand opportunities for setting goals and heading toward achievement.
The glyph for Gemini looks like a Roman numeral two (II), two vertical lines held by two horizonal lines. It is the sign of twins, duality, this-or-that. Its quality is insatiable curiosity, the endless intake of information, which can, if unbridled, spell indecisiveness, an inability to get out of one’s head and actually do something. A Geminian spirit may love that restaurant with the 20-page menu but be unable to make a choice! The beauty of a person with strong Geminian placements, though, is their ability to make connections, to entertain and converse across a wide range of subjects. All of the air signs are social. Gemini is the air sign that’s mutable. He, she—or they—may be hard to pin down. The point of all the data collection and verbosity is, ultimately, to share.
This New Moon and Sun in Gemini are disposited by the planet Mercury, which is in one of its thrice yearly retrograde periods until early June. While appearing to move backwards, and in the sign of Taurus, this Mercury suggests thought processes that are solid and steady, like Taurus the Bull. Mercury at the New Moon is conjoined with the transiting lunar north node, which is in Taurus these days, turning intentions about the future toward that which is stable and secure. Yet this Mercury in Taurus is also widely conjoined with Uranus, the Wild Card, also in Taurus for a seven-year period from 2018 to 2025. While stability is desired, there is actually no telling what will happen day-to-day.
Gemini is ruled by Mercury, the winged Messenger, a fast mover, the one among the mythical gods who travels from above-ground to the Underworld with relative ease. Mercury, the planet, cannot be seen in broad daylight—moving as it does so close to the Sun. Mercury can be seen only at dusk or dawn, depending on its phase.
As I’m writing this New Moon essay, we’re near the end of year three of Astrology University’s four-year program for professional astrologers. In May, we’ve had a course called Myth and Modern Astrology, taught by astrologer and psychotherapist Jason Holley. He’s been teaching us how to imbue our consultations with archetypal themes by sharing with clients the mythical stories that underlie western astrology. We’ve been focusing a lot on Hermes, later known by the Romans as Mercury, traditionally seen as the “ruler” of astrology itself. In Greco-Roman myths, Hermes-Mercury brings news and mediates among other gods.
The iconography of Hermes-Mercury shows him wielding a wand or staff. In later forms, it’s a caduceus. For class, I read up on this, and being the good Venus-in-Gemini student that I am, I received a welcome new take on Mercury.
In the earlier Greek period, Mercury’s staff was like those of other heralds. It’s an olive or willow branch with ribbons, as that was the traditional sign of a professional deliverer of news, a reporter of sorts. Later, the wand morphed into a staff with wings and two entwined serpents, and it came to symbolize other professions, most notably medicine. That’s because, as the story goes, one day Mercury came upon two serpents fighting each other, and he used his staff to separate them. Thereafter, the serpents abided entwined, in harmony. Mercury, in this role, was a peacemaker.
We don’t usually think of Gemini and Virgo, the two signs Mercury rules, as having to do with diplomacy, but maybe they do. Gemini is a glutton for information. Virgo sorts out what is useful. In both guises, there is Mercury, flying and bridging social gaps, using a tool of his trade to broker peace. This is healing.
Finally, at this New Moon, Saturn and Pisces will be in a precise semi-sextile, 30 degrees apart. Saturn in Aquarius adjacent to Neptune in Pisces suggest a blend of objective effort and compassionate idealism.
That makes this year’s New Moon in Gemini a particularly inviting time for thinking up fun ideas, drawing down the aliveness of the Moon into something useful for ourselves and someone else.
Blessings for the New Moon in Gemini!
Sara
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