Monday, May 30, 2011

Moonwalk: Gemini

 




New Moon Solar Eclipse
June 1, 20112:03 pm PDT
(7:03 pm UT)

© 2011 by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved


Two-in-One. The facet of Gemini most people know, even if they barely know anything about astrology, is the Twins’ famous split personality. When viewing Gemini as a Moon sign, it’s good to start with symbolism on a feeling level. Why does there need to be two of you?

If Gemini were born as a singleton symbol, s/he would create a sibling or partner just to have someone to talk to. Chatty, quick, and versatile, this Moon sign is all about communication. If you’re a Gem Moon, I suspect you talk to yourself more than most of the other Moon signs, and it helps to personify your inner listener to avoid feeling a little crazy. In fact, I’m sure Gemini gets so facile at these self-dialogues, “talking to yourself” is normal. When done well, positive self-talk is the building block of self-confidence and material manifestation.

We create and become what we think and repeat to ourselves in our minds.

As the sign of Gemini itself represents duality, self-talk has its upside and downside. The upside of your Inner Twins is always having someone to talk to in your mind and an uncanny ability to wade through a lot of mental input for having “brains times two.” Gems often are experts at handling mental matters.

On the side of the more challenging, I can’t think of Gem Moon without remembering the cartoon angel and devil I grew up watching. One sits on each shoulder of the person being tempted to do something wrong.  We all know or have experienced Gemini’s “evil twin.” The evil twin is often shocking because the good twin can be such an angel by comparison. Appearance of the evil twin comes from dis-integration. Most of the time, Gem Moon can integrate these extremes of self. When s/he can’t, all hell breaks loose. I know someone who finds Gemini cold rather than hailing from The Hot Place in this dis-integrated state. After observing Gems who turn to ice and appear to lose all feeling, this individual is convinced they come from another planet. If the Gem in your life “goes cold,” know you’re witnessing that dis-integration.

I want to talk about the buildup to dis-integration, before it happens, because there are practical ways a Gem Moon might be able to cut off at the pass his or her downhill slide to ET (Evil Twin, which doubles well for the chilly extraterrestrial metaphor, too.) There was a delightful and very funny man with Gemini Sun I used to date years ago. He had the best description ever for the challenging side of his Gemininess, applicable as much or more to Gem Moon: “I beat myself up with my mind.”

Ouch! Anyone with Moon in an air sign or even earthy but mental Virgo can relate to this malady. Gemini Moon is especially prone to it.

What do you do when endless thought loops threaten to overtake you? When you can’t stop the chatter in your head? When this mental treadmill keeps you from a good night’s sleep? If Gemini Moon can develop strategies for this issue, s/he has it made.

Mind Over Chatter

The cut-offs can be extremely simple. When stuck in endless thoughts, it’s all about breaking a pattern that has gone “vicious circle” without your permission or desire. That means doing something different to break the circuit of your synapses firing like a machine gun with no off switch.

Here are a few ideas:

  1. If you know tapping or emotional freedom technique (EFT), do it. Here’s an intro video. While designed to address negative emotions, tapping is effective on circular thought loops because they precede emotions. (See header below). You may ultimately feel frustrated, stuck, and hopeless or battered by your unstoppable mental chatter.
  2. Splash cold water on your face.
  3. Find an image that “wakes you up” and breaks the pattern. Example: Cher slapping Nicolas Cage in the face in Moonstruck and saying, Snap out of it. I don’t recommend physical violence on anyone, including yourself, but …
  4. A few gentle taps upside your head can wake you up out of your mental rut just enough to attract your attention away from the drilling expedition you’re doing into your gray matter. The qi gong practice I do involves cupping your hands and doing this gentle tapping on your head and other parts of your body. Feels great!
  5. Use White Chestnut flower essence. This could be the best remedy you’ll ever discover, as it actually helps dispel runaway thoughts by simply taking a few drops of tincture under your tongue several times a day for a few weeks. You may feel results anywhere from a few days to a week or two. If it’s a chronic issue, periodic rounds of this essence could be the best thing that ever happened to you. [1] [2]



Thoughts Precede Feelings

My birth mom was a Double Gemini. I learned much about Gemini Sun and Moon from observing her in our 15 years together after we were reunited.

Some Geminis can seem high-strung or even mentally fragile. I saw why when I observed my original mom. She was nearly paralyzed by her emotions most of her life, which seemed directly connected with her inner dialogue about things that happened to her. In earlier times, people called what she did ruminating. She stewed on, or over thought situations, she considered unpleasant until the thoughts built to fears that overwhelmed her. She helped me see that what we think about things precedes how we feel about them. You may have noticed at holiday gatherings how memories differ from one family member to the next. In fact, sometimes you wonder if all of you are talking about the same event. One may have reacted in anger, another in amusement, another in observer mode of others’ reactions. They were telling themselves very different stories about the same event, a mental process that led to unique emotional reactions.

When these thought-to-feeling patterns become kneejerk and lifelong around certain subjects, the Moon in Gemini can truly become his or her own worst enemy—the reason for nipping those runaway thought loops in the bud. Breaking these patterns is Gemini salvation. Not only can Gems do it; we all can do it at times when our minds are off and running in a way that does not serve us.

Charmers

Geminis are among the most charming people on the planet. When they extrovert their mental abilities, they are social butterflies, good at the chitchat many more introverted types find foreign. Gems tend to look forever young and have a range of mental interests that boggle the imaginations of the other eleven signs. Gemini skills are such an asset in both business and pleasure. Find a Gemini you really like, observe his or her behavior, and send yourself to vicarious charm school. If you’re already a Gemini Sun or Moon and/or have several planets in Twin, watch another Gemini, anyway, and pick up some new tips!


Gemini Mind Float Experience

If you have Sun, Moon, or Mercury in Gemini—or a lot of air that gives you the same hyperactive mind that the sign of Gem is prone to—let’s do a practice this month to learn how to give your brain a break.

  1. Find the gentlest, most calming music you can muster.
  2. Lie on your bed or in your easy chair while you listen to it. Put an eye shade or cool cloth over your eyes to eliminate all stimuli and relax your facial muscles.
  3. Imagine you are floating on a cloud. Your only job is to let your brainwaves rest. Imagine an EEG where the waves are sweetly calm like ripples on a lake, even to the point of mesmerizing boredom. Float here for as long as possible, at least 15 minutes.
  4. Every time a thought enters, acknowledge it and let it go. For example, you’re worried about your kid’s bad report card. Say to yourself three times, “Report card, report card, report card,” then let it float off on your calm brain waves. Do this treatment on anything that comes to mind, even if you find yourself doing it for most of the 15 minutes the first few times.
  5. If you fall asleep, nap a little. Modern literature tells us napping is good for us. The mind that rests well works best. (See Take a Nap! Change Your Life by Sara Mednick and Mark Ehrman.)
  6. When you get up or wake up, no talking for ten minutes. Many Gems still need to learn that silence is golden. Space between words is as important as margins on paper and blank lines between paragraphs. Don’t be the oral version of sentences that all run together giving listeners, including yourself, no room to breathe or absorb the input. If you love to communicate, “white space” around your words is a crucial part of doing it well.


Click to Enlarge
This Gemini New Moon Solar Eclipse

Eclipses are more powerful lunations and tend to catalyze turning points and change. The house where 11+ Gemini falls in your chart and any planets it activates will determine some of the areas of life and issues the New Moon will trigger for you this month. On the side of being more proactive, the New Moon is always a good time to start something new for the immediate weeks ahead. An eclipse is ideal for starting something new that really matters to you, things you want to have positive repercussions from this month’s starting point.

The Sun/Moon conjunction for this New Moon trines Saturn—an opportunity to ground in reality your intentions for this new 28-day cycle, remembering that the intentions you set will resonate like the sound waves of a chime, ringing for months to come because of the eclipse.

The North and South Node are on the Gemini/Sagittarius axis this month, featuring mental pursuits, learning, and communication. Contemplate how you can take advantage of a positive manifestation trend in these areas of your life.

With Mars, Venus, and Mercury in Taurus, there is slower moving fixed energy underlying the exciting mental and communicative energy of the Gemini Sun/Moon. This can be grounding or frustrating, depending on your tolerance for “set up.” The Gemini New Moon bring great ideas and a desire to run around and do a lot of things while the Taurus planets in the New Moon chart are likely to pull you back to a slower pace. This kind of combo is great for the conceptual stages of ideas and plans, where you plot your course while the Taurus planets invite you to plod it out more slowly, getting there. This allows you to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s along the way, probably resulting in a much better outcome for being thorough in procedure.

Jupiter sextile Neptune can be a time where you can dream big and conjure up vast plans. As Neptune is transiting rather close to Chiron, travel, learning and personal expansion will tend to have healing crises and perhaps resolutions attached to them. These pursuits are bigger than usual for growth and gains, if you seize the opportunity to work with them.

As we continue the long cycle of Uranus square Pluto, contemplate issues of freedom, progress and breakthrough and how they “square off” with matters of power and transformation. This is a time of great shake-up as the ‘60s were when Uranus and Pluto were conjunct in Virgo. I was talking with some of my close and spiritually oriented friends this weekend about how strange the energy feels “out there” right now. The best way I can articulate what I feel comes from an expression in Star Wars—a disturbance in The Force.

Life is morphing and changing form at deep levels—mentally and spiritually as well as physically with climate change and other drastic earth changes like tornados, hurricanes, and earthquakes. My friends and I each said the same thing in different ways. We’re not who we used to be, but we’re not yet who we are becoming. The in-between feels strange, formless, and foreign. It feels like a frontier with no traffic signals or reference points. A sort of miserable malaise can overtake you, if you let it.

Don’t. These are the times to evoke what I call radical trust. If astrology teaches us nothing else, it teaches us that life is cyclical and rough patches pass. We got through the ‘60s, and the shake-up still resonates with the ultimate, positive difference it made in so many areas of our lives.

I find the best way to deal with the strange disorientation (it might work for you, too) is to stay in observer mode and use the anchors in my life that are most solid for me. These include family, close friends, and connecting with a world of like-thinkers on the Internet. It’s our positive trust that we are moving toward the new reality of One Consciousness and one family of humanity that will keep us sane and grounded, month to month—and, of course, add a great sense of humor. I hope Humor Month on The Radical Virgo helped!

~~~

Photo Credit: Two Moons © Sweetheart29 | Dreamstime.com

NOTES

1. White Chestnut is a Bach flower remedy. It is also made by the company FES, the same formula, different label called Healing Herbs. It can be purchased in most health food stores, Whole Foods, or similar types of establishments. You can even find remedies at Vitacost at a discount. (I buy almost all my vitamins and health products online there.) Buy a one-ounce empty amber or blue glass dosage bottle with dropper in addition to your remedy. Fill it about ¼ of the way with brandy or apple cider vinegar as a preservative. Fill just below the neck with spring water. Add 2-4 drops of the remedy. (Use your intuition for what feels right.) You can keep reusing and refilling the dosage bottle with the same remedy. (Do not reuse the bottle without sterilizing if using a different remedy, as they are vibrational and the pattern of the previous remedy will linger.) Pour a little boiling water to rinse out in-between uses. This will make your “stock” bottle—the one you purchase from the store—last for a long time. There is no need to take essences at the stock level.

2. For more on flower essences, check out these past posts:



Disclaimer: The references on flower essences in this article do not mean to imply any recommendation or certification of any individuals or companies mentioned. It is provided purely for informational purposes. Please make your own determination about the quality of the services and products offered. This article and the others referenced are not meant to constitute advice, nor are they meant to replace medical or psychological treatment.


Moonshift! This Moonwalk is the last in the series of twelve, which we started under the Cancer Moon in June 2010. We have now strolled across the lunar surface of every Moon sign. Starting next month, the Moonwalk will merge with the monthly New Moongram, available by free subscription only at the top of the sidebar. If you don’t already subscribe, I hope you will! You’ll still get the monthly New Moon chart, some concise comments about it, reference back to previous Moonwalks by sign, and these Moongram extras: thoughts on the Sabian symbol and a mini-meditation for each new Moon.

Soon I’ll announce more changes on The Radical Virgo to make time for my research and book project during the second half of this year.

Other reminder: The special on my Chiron 101 Summer School e-class ends June 1. Purchase now in the sidebar to save $20 ($59 before June 1, $79 afterwards). There are 20 maximum spaces, and they are filling up. Class begins July 11. See announcement for details.

7 comments:

Mary Pat Lynch said...

Wonderful post! You're so right about the pervasive feeling of change out there; I love the idea of radical trust.

A Tarot card comes up for me for this New Moon in Gemini: the Two of Pentacles, which is the playfulness of Gemini in keeping two things in play (the card usually shows juggling), with the grounded calmness of Earth (it's pentacles, after all).

Thanks for the Moon Walk!

Joyce Mason said...

Hi, Mary Pat! I wish The Radical Virgo could take credit for the expression "radical trust." (It does sound like something I'd say.) In the spirit of full disclosure, I encountered this wonderful concept in the write-up for the Pacific Essence, Barnacle. Pacific Essences are made from sea creatures. It's a Canadian company with great products worth checking. We should put this one in the drinking water for these changing times! Think of how barnacles cling to the hull of a ship. This essences helps people be less clingy and more trusting.

Glad you added the playful and juggling side of New Moon in Gemini to the mix. Grounded juggling is another skill we need in these times when time itself seems to be on fast forward. I always love your contributions to the posts. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Hi Joyce. Great post. Nice to know when my ears ache after an afternoon with my Gemini friends. I'll be more patient! Although I don't have any Gemini planets in my chart, I do have a lot of Virgo, and my mind never shuts down. I'm not the chattiest of people, but I keep long conversations with myself in my head all the time. Thank you for your great advice. I'll try them out. Usually I sing when I realise that I'm in a "loop", just to get myself out it, but I struggle with meditation, so I'll try the technique to see if that works.
Natalie

Joyce Mason said...

Hi, Natalie--Not all Gems talk your ear off, but I have known a few! :) I think these are thought loopy times with all the uncertainty and change in the air. Although it's an issue for many people with Sun or Moon in Gemini, I suspect it's an issue for many of us, more than usual, of late. I'm planning on doing some of those mental rest stops on a cloud myself! Glad to hear your singing suggestion. Another one to try. Thanks for your helpful contribution.

Lua Astrology said...

"I beat myself up in my head" - I can relate although with an Aquarius Moon. Square to my Sun which resides in my 9th house, the only way I find I can 'break up the fight' is through writing or studying!
I have Gemini on the cusp of the 11th and I have been blessed with 3 close Gemini friends. My airy Moon can connect to them even though we are all quite different.

Joyce Mason said...

Hi, Leah! Thanks for taking time to comment. I also appreciate the reminder that the house where our Moon resides, or planets in relation to it, can often give us hints for how to get out of those lunar-based thought loops. Great observation that Gems can be very different from one another, thinking of some of my own faves. Have a great lunar month!

Anonymous said...

As a Gemini ASC, I can vouch that much of this is also true of those of us with Gemini rising. I was not aware that White Chestnut could help me shut off the mental chatter that keeps me awake at night. I had only been using Impatiens to cope with impatience in daily matters, which helps, but not at night. Thanks!

ha! Word verification is: bitrot. Sometimes I feel like trotting in two directions to get it all done!