To allow oneself to be carried away
by a multitude of conflicting concerns,
to surrender to too many demands,
to commit to too many projects,
to want to help everyone in everything
is itself to succumb
to the violence of our times.
Frenzy destroys our inner capacity for peace.
It destroys the fruitfulness of our work,
because it kills the root
of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful. -Thomas Merton
The New Moon on June 18, 2023 at 26 Gemini amplifies mental activity.
There is a potential for feverishly darting from one activity to the next, or finding ourselves scattered, depleted and unable to focus. The opportunity is to practice mindfulness, to harness the mind and choose where to direct our attention. We are to make choices guided by what light's us up and nurtures a joyful heart. By doing this, we affirm what activities, information or thought processes are distractions that deplete, and which are life-enhancing and move us towards a fruitful future.
Each month, the 24-hour period following the moment of the New Moon is the opportune time to plant an intention for the coming month. It is a time when a new beginning is initiated. This New Moon in Gemini sparks a new way of relating to our mind’s chatter or a new way of perceiving a situation as a means to better discern where and how we choose to spend our time and energy. Identifying where the final degrees of Gemini fall in our individual natal chart, will give us insight into what arena of life is ready for new growth.
Polaris (The North Star) conjunct the New Moon
Ruler Mercury square Saturn, and sextile Venus and Mars
Neptune square the New Moon
Planets Turning Retrograde
Pick one, I said
and she clapped her hands.
I choose Dancing, she said.
You haven’t heard
all the others,
I said
and she looked at me
as if I was
one of those sad people
who thought having all
the options
would change a thing.
Kai Skye
Gemini, a mutable air sign, is cerebral and known for its curiosity, hunger for new experiences and what can be discovered through social interaction. Gemini likes to know a little about a lot of things and enjoys the exchange of information, acting as both student and teacher in a process of intellectual enrichment. Gemini is our thought processes, self-talk, communication style, and how we take in information. Gemini likes to be in movement and rules all short distance travel (running errands, daily activities, our commute) and the interactions with people in our local environment (neighbors, bank tellers, grocery clerks, community members).
2023 New Moons Follow Full Moons
Typically, a lunar cycle begins with a New Moon. Yet, for the rest of this year, it is reversed; the New Moon of a zodiac sign will follow a Full Moon of that same sign. The Gemini New Moon is happening at the end of the Gemini season, and like all New Moons for the rest of the year, will happen in the final degrees of a sign. This means that each Full Moon will bring up a crisis or breakthrough into something we will be ready to act upon two weeks later at the next New Moon.
This past month with the Sun in Gemini, we have been taking in information and are arriving at a new way of perceiving circumstances, options and choices. We have greater clarity on what will work for us and what will not. We are ready to approach our life in some new way.
Today I choose life.
Every morning when I wake up
I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, pain...
To feel the freedom that comes
from being able to continue
to make mistakes and choices -
today I choose to feel life,
not to deny my humanity
but embrace it.
Kevyn Aucoin
Choosing Thoughts to Heed
New Moon Ruler: Mercury
Mercury in Gemini further enhances our propensity for an overactive mind. If we let our thoughts run us, we may become mentally restless or scattered. We can find ourselves running around for the sake of staying busy or while away our time scrolling social media. We can easily lose track of what is essential or meaningful. In and of itself, this energy is not conducive for sitting still, meditating, or sustained focus on any one thing. Fortunately, Mercury is in relationship with other planets counteract this and support us in being to hold the reins of our mind and direct our thoughts.
Mercury Square Saturn. Saturn, stationing retrograde at the New Moon, has sobering effect on our mind. Our thinking becomes narrower, more critical. We may have a harder time seeing the big picture or feeling optimistic. We can get caught up in analyzing and debating the details. Saturn invites us to observe our thoughts, discipline our thinking, and then to harness and focus our mind. We can choose what thoughts we will entertain, and which will take us down a rabbit hole or on an unnecessary detour. Underlying this, Pluto square the Nodes is prods us to let go of what we already know and begin to explore a new dimension of ourselves and life. In light of this, we can experience mental exhaustion if we think we need to have everything all figured out. Knowing where to focus and where to direct our thoughts is what is needed.
Mercury Sextile to Venus and Mars in Leo. There can be a sense of play, creativity and passion with our words and with communication. Venus will spend an extended time in Leo as she prepares for her Retrograde in Leo (July 22 – Sep 3). Both Mars and Venus are giving us a strong hint about what is wrothy of our focus and attention: it is the thoughts or ideas that bring us joy. We can let the mind serve and support what calls to our heart. It may or may not make logical sense. If we are fire dup about something, then this something is lifegiving and can guide us towards how to move forward. We are also supported in beginning a creative project, especially one that involves writing or words.
The Rational Mind is Flooded
Neptune square the New Moon
We may feel confused, overwhelmed or even deflated as Neptune, the Dreamer, throws a curve ball to the Gemini New Moon. We may have more questions than answers and feel indecisive. In effect, we are being cued to recognize that no amount of information or rational process may give us what we need. Facts are not enough. There is something beyond the mind’s reach that we need to access. If we feel discombobulated or scattered, it is a cue to slow down and listen to something beyond thoughts, facts, and information. There is another element needed.
We are to open to our intuitive sensibilities, pay attention to synchronicities, to dream images we have while sleeping, and what suddenly arises into our consciousness through mediation, visualization or a walk in the woods. Neptune is the realm beyond the manifest created. It is the unseen and formless realm where everything emerges and will one day return. It is the realm of the mystic and the poet. Rather than charging forth and filling up our days, we are to heed the urge to find a quiet within ourselves, to wait and to surrender to something beyond our mind’s grasp. In doing this, we allow for grace and inspiration.
There's a classic story from the Mahabharata
about Arjuna, the great warrior.
When he was getting trained in archery,
he was practicing with two others.
"What can you see?"
the instructor asked the first archer.
"I see the forest, the tree, the tree limb
and a bird on the limb," he replied.
"What do you see?," he asked the second.
"I see the tree, the tree limb
and the bird," was the reply.
"And you?" he asked Arjuna.
Arjuna replied, "I see only
the round black eye of the bird."
Having a Focal Point
The star Polaris conjunct the New Moon
Polaris is the Alpha Star of Ursa Minor, more commonly known as the Pole Star or North Star. It is the one star, within the Northern Hemisphere, which is stationary. It does not change its position in the sky at any time of day or night. All other stars circle around the North Star. We are supported in identifying our North Star, the goal by which we can then navigate our days, options and choices.. We can better determine what has priority and discern what is a distraction and will take us off course.
Underlying Context of the New Moon
Planets moving Retrograde
All outer planets are in the process of turning retrograde. The retrograde cycles of these the slow moving planets last many months. Pluto turned Retrograde May 1 and Saturn on June 17. Neptune turns Retrograde on June 30 and then Uranus on August 28. Later this summer, we have two of the personal planets, Venus and Mercury, also turning Retrograde.
The Summer, overall, will be marked by multiple planets Retrogrades serving to slow us down and having us turn inward. We will be going back over decisions, conversations and ideas that have been developing. There is an inclination to be introspective and to take a step back from engaging in lots of activity.
With these retrogrades, we will be mulling over what gives us power and what renders us powerless. We will realize truths. Part of t his process will have us open our intuition and become aware of how we are part of something larger than our individual lives and times. We may feel more sensitive and become easily overwhelmed if we move too fast.
The outer planets are each in process of moving from earth and water signs to fire and air signs. It is a remarkable transition that will lead to us feeling lighter and move more quickly. To ready for this, we need to take time this summer to integrate the lessons and experiences of recent years.
Pluto is hanging out at the last degree of Capricorn, and will not return to Aquarius until the beginning of 2024. The 29th degree, the last degree, is the shadow degree. The shadow of Capricorn is about power and control. With Pluto at the shadow degree, governments, institutions and corporations are likely to take added measures to further consolidate power and exert control, especially in the areas of communication and information.
Pluto is re-invigorating the U.S. Pluto Return, reflecting the breakdown and potential breakthrough process that the U.S is undergoing as it continues to move through a a crisis around shared agreements around the foundational values that define the country. Democracy is on the line. Either democracy will experience a rebirth in the coming years, or it may be lost all together. Through the rest of 2023 as Pluto revisits Capricorn, we can expect a further crumbling of infrastructures, further instability with financial systems and issues of debt. Pluto will not fully leave Capricorn until just after the 2024 Presidential Election. So, until then there will continuing pressure on structures that make up the status quo. Corporate and government leaders will look to bolster their power and control. Leaders and systems that are corrupted will continue to be exposed and held accountable.
Our minds are bombarded with new information, and we are grappling with how things we thought would last may not. We are opening to a future that promises to be a radical departure from what we have known (Pluto straddling Capricorn and Aquarius and square the nodal axis). The Gemini New Moon thus encourages us to open to new approaches, new ways of seeing, new methods of engaging the world and thus to let go of outworn patterns of thinking.
Further Contemplation of the New Moon
There are several seemingly conflicting dynamics at the New Moon which all serve to amplify our engagement with our rational mind. Mentally, we are getting a workout. Thoughts are ramped up and have a tendency to go in all kinds of directions. We may feel compelled to bounce from one idea, one thought, one activity to the next. We can also feel confused, fearful or discouraged. And yet, the planetary dynamics are saying that we can receive the benefits of what our mind can produce if work now to come into good relationship with our mind.
A wise teacher of mine once said that if you are stumped by a choice between one thing and another then you are in your head. When you know which way you are to go, there is no longer a choice, and you are coming from your heart. Gemini embraces polarity and can see the value of both sides. When we listen to our heart, there is not a weighing of pros and cons, there is only a knowing of how to move.
The mind has great power to receive and exchange information, weigh facts, and to reason. It can invent solutions, engage others in dialogue, and provide definitions. It has an essential role and it has its limitations. In the next two weeks, if we let our mind lead of our days and moment to moment decisions, we may very well end up feeling whipped about, frazzled, mentally exhausted and scattered.
If we listen to our heart (Mars and Venus in Leo) and have our mind support and serve what light’s us up and brings us joy, we can find our direction. Creativity and playfulness emerge. We have then come into a good relationship with our mind.
If we listen for that message (Neptune square the New Moon) that can come from beyond the limits of our mind's capacity and allow some universal intelligence to contribute to our understanding of a situation, we can discover an expanded perspective and awareness.
We are to observe our mind and observe our self-talk. Rather than letting our mind sit in the driver’s seat, we can see our thinking mind as a powerful tool that can be harnessed to serve our heart’s calling and soul’s knowing. At a time when there is a growing propensity in modern culture to define the value of a human being by the measure of its cognitive intelligence, we can remember that the value of a human being is not in how much knowledge they have, but in how much kindness and love they bring to the world. Let us each respect the gift of our mind and bring it into balance with the fullness of who we are as human beings.