We take another swan dive into 2012 astrology Sunday, when the Sun enters Gemini, followed several hours later by a powerful eclipse of the Sun. This combination of factors indicates a rapid shift of energy and acceleration of events, which will be followed up by three more eclipse-like alignments between now and June 5. This is the very heart of the astrology of 2012. It’s not Dec. 21! It’s right now!

Gemini New Moon annular solar eclipse on Sunday at 7:47 pm EDT. The Sun is the yellow circle next to the Moon in Gemini. (They have the exact same numbers next to them, which means they're in a conjunction.) Notice how close they are to the orange horseshoe. That is the South Node; eclipses always happen near the lunar nodes. Also shown is a grand earth trine which is in effect right now. Note Mars in Virgo (red circle with an arrow), Pluto in Capricorn (red golf tee) and Vesta in Taurus (purple chevron). Grand trines have the potential to keep us running in a circle, but this one offers an option: Chiron in Pisces (orange key) is opposite Mars, bisecting one side of the triangle. If you're spinning your wheels, reach for the bold creative option.

Eclipses represent thresholds in time. They have several properties, including a shift in continuity, the sense that events are ‘karmic’ or destined, or just plain intense.

An eclipse within the first hours of the Sun changing signs comes with a message, though it may take time to decipher. With Gemini, we can consider a few themes, especially given that Venus changed directions to retrograde motion in that sign on Tuesday. Of Venus in Gemini, theosophical author Alice A. Bailey once wrote, “In Gemini, Venus reveals the desire for the pairs of opposites for each other for this is the underlying theme of the entire creative and evolutionary process — the interplay of opposites.”

Venus is one of the guardians of erotic consciousness (and emotional intelligence). She’s introducing an attractive force to Gemini, where those two playful twins can explore one another. The retrograde hints at role reversal, gender play, mirror play and experimenting with language. That’s in the backdrop of the eclipse, though — which is the main event for now. Make friends with your other side.

Even the Sabian symbol for the first degree of Gemini hints at this ability to get a look at our ‘other side’ – or both sides at once, actually. The symbol as described in Dane Rudhyar’s book An Astrological Mandala reads, “A glass-bottomed boat reveals undersea wonders.” Its expanded keynote is, “The revelation of unconscious energies and submerged psychic structures.”

Well now. It’s not such a stretch to think many of us keep our ‘inner twin’ submerged much of the time, or that it would help to have any pairs of opposites we carry about ourselves in full view all at once. And to be able to see it all from the safety of a boat indicates that the process being initiated by this eclipse is eminently within our capabilities. It may be a strange world and an unusual view, but we’ll be in a position to see, receive, understand and integrate without threat of annihilation (ego death). Undersea and above the surface are still part of the same world; the surface tension we may feel between our halves is something we can play with and move through this weekend.

One last point about eclipses: do something you love that day, and if possible, at that time. This eclipse is conveniently timed (at least in the United States) for a weekend evening. If you’re going to be in the company of others, choose from those you want to bond with. If you’re keeping your own company, create the perfect space for yourself.

One thing that might be fun, as we all navigate this Venus retrograde in Gemini that leads up to some big events, is to look at the charts for some famous people who have Venus retrograde in Gemini. The software I use has given me a bunch of names. So far, I don’t see a clear connection between them all, but I’m working on them one at a time. Here’s the first one – and I’m sure you’ve heard of him: Johannes Brahms.

Photo of Johannes Brahms; Wikipedia.

Brahms was born May 7, 1833 (Sun close to the midspring cross-quarter) in Hamburg, Germany, but spent most of his professional life in Vienna, Austria. (You can see his natal chart here.) A master composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, he was both a traditionalist and an innovator — a master of counterpoint and development who used highly structured forms to move forward new approaches to harmony and melody that have been characterized as ‘bold’. He began playing as a boy in taverns, dance halls and brothels.

Interestingly, Brahms’ retrograde Venus in Gemini makes one major aspect — a strange, out-of-sign trine to Neptune in late Capricorn. This is an image of his extremely complex melodies and use of harmonics, as if he is trying to work out the tension of the out-of-sign trine through his compositions. It’s as if they must pass through a filter in order to be in harmony — but they get there sure enough.

It may also indicate why he was not married, though through history there have always been people who have opted out of householding and marital bonds. Other aspects indicate that his energy was being focused in other ways. For example, his Mars — the other planetary half to sexual/romantic relations – is conjunct his North Node in mid-Cancer. His drive and libido are already married – to his mission of artistic expression, in the emotionally moving realm of the Romantic orchestral movement. However, it’s important to remember how little we really know about the private life of anyone, much less someone born nearly two centuries ago.

Meanwhile, his Moon is just past a conjunction to Pholus in late Sagittarius: his inner, emotional landscape is tuned more to the Galactic Center than anything else (which seems to support his Mars-North Node conjunction in Cancer). Brahms is expressing the music of something much larger than himself.

Over in his Aries ascendant, Mercury conjoining Jupiter ensures that this creative expression of his soul will be big, clearly broadcast, and expand far beyond himself. Pluto on the ascendant in the 12th house adds some evolutionary push, although it seemed to come from a corner of his psyche he may not have been fully conscious of.

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