Gemini New Moon, May 24, 2009

 As the Sun enters Gemini, we turn our attention to how we use words, what we want to communicate, and what information we need to proceed with our plans.  We’ve been inspired to do something new in Aries, have taken time to decide what’s of value to us in Taurus, and now we have to set our minds to gathering helpful information.

Gemini does this through personal experiences.  Watch any Gemini, and you’ll see how they eat up experiences.  Everything is fascinating to them and they dive right into life to explore, taste and touch.  That’s what makes them so versatile – that wanting more without judgment or discernment.  Which of course, is one of the problems for Gemini.  Everything is of equal value to Gemini’s mind.  That might be why it gets so cluttered!

Gemini, the first air sign of the Zodiac, is all about naming things and relationships.  There’s an amoral aspect to Gemini thinking because it doesn’t try to find out what is good or best for you.  It likes facts, and doesn’t care about a context.  It’s a type of thinking that is learned from the environment, and often it doesn’t stop to look for meaning.  The experience is all. 

But we’re at a stage in our evolution where we have to examine what we’ve learned from our culture and see how useful it is to our lives, as well as how deadly it can be if we don’t learn to think for ourselves.  The 4^th of July chart for America has an aspect that indicates media manipulation – and we’re living up to the worst of that aspect.  Most of you know this – the media is biased toward consumerism and keeping the powers-that-be in power.  And so it’s our duty to learn to think for ourselves if we’re going to continue the 60s revolution and bring about real change in the world.

(While Obama talks a good talk about change, he does have a Gemini Moon, which means his Gemini is more unconscious.  He’s naturally a good communicator and his Aquarius ascendant wants to bring in a new vision, but he’s not picking people to run the show who really understand what this change entails.  He’s thinking in old categories.  But since this new Moon is on his natal moon, perhaps he’ll change his mind!)

That gives rise to another Gemini attribute.  Gemini wants to classify things, to give a frame of reference to its activities.  That puts us in the mind field, and so we need to look within (not something Gemini likes to do) and see where our minds are at. Now more than ever, we are called to use our minds, not be used by them.  Our educational system (a Gemini system) fills our minds with facts, but often doesn’t teach us how to find meaning in those facts. 

While we’re here on Earth to have a ‘human experience’, our souls need to find meaning in those experiences, which we find in Sagittarius, the sign opposite Gemini.  The Sagittarius full Moon early next month will make us aware of the meaning of what we are experiencing now.  But with the New Moon in Gemini, it’s all about experiencing our lives and giving voice to those experiences.

So, how do you use your mind?  As anyone knows who’s meditated, usually the mind is continually talking to itself, running the tape that makes us feel secure (even when it’s a negative tape) about ourselves.  It keeps our world in place.  But what happens when the world we live in no longer makes sense?

The mind is a terrible thing to waste, and so we need to stretch it to its limits.  Gemini is the sign of the divine and mortal Twins, and it tells us that while part of us is mortal, another part is immortal.  The mind offers us amazing possibilities once we learn how to use it.  So, this month, take time to understand how your thoughts create your reality.  How does your thinking limit your possibilities?  Where do you put yourself in a box?  If this isn’t a time for original thinking, I don’t know when is. 

Each year at the Gemini new Moon, we get to re-set our mind’s ability to perceive the world.  Get rid of old categories.  Meditate and get to know your mind – it is, after all, a big part of how we relate to the world.  Let images arise within you and put words to them like a poet.  Don’t believe anything but entertain possibilities.  The world as we know it is changing, and in the midst of the chaos of this death and rebirth, we get to make up new categories, new ways of seeing the world and seeing each other.

The Sabian Symbol for the Sun and Moon at 4 Gemini is: Holly and mistletoe reawaken old memories of Christmas.   This image relates to happy Christmas memories, when magical thinking was our reality.  If we take it as our instructions for renewing the mind, then it’s time to believe in magic again and make new categories for our minds to work with based in spirit and imagination.

But what do the holly and mistletoe symbolize?  The Celts had an alphabet of the trees, and in it, the Holly is ‘best in a fight’.  Holly has to do with battle and being a spiritual warrior.  Its wood was used for spear shafts, which demanded balance in the hand and directness of flight.  It implies protection.  It speaks to keeping our thoughts balanced and direct, which is one way we can protect ourselves from manipulation and fear-mongering.

And it helps us to be clear about what we want and focused on getting it. It is masculine energy at its best.  We use holly at Christmas to protect our hearts when we open ourselves to Love and all Love’s possibilities.  Since Holly stays green all year, combining masculine and feminine energies, it symbolizes LIFE. 

The Mistletoe was considered magical by the Druids.  It is a parasitic plant that grows on Oak trees. It is a symbol of sacred feminine energy and sexuality.  It links us to lunar rhythms and changes and protects the child within.  And of course, it’s all about kissing!  And as we know, kissing is sharing the breath of life with someone else. 

So these two plants are used both for protection and for their magical ability to connect people through love.  At Christmas, when we welcome back the Light of the world, we step outside time to renew the world.  But we bring our protection and we center ourselves in Love.  That’s a good image for this new Moon. 

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