Dear Friend and Reader:
I always feel a touch of excitement when the Sun enters a new sign, and as of last night it’s in Gemini.
But as far as I’m concerned, Taurus never got old, not for a minute. I have to say this has been one of the most lush experiences of the Sun in Taurus that I ever remember; though we are currently aided and abetted by sitting in the cascade of the Jupiter-Chiron-Neptune conjunction: a fountain of cosmic energy.
Now the Sun is in an air sign; the one mutable air sign, Gemini. Mutable signs show up right before one season is about to yield to the next; they hold what is called disseminating energy. In the Northern Hemisphere, this is spring turning to summer. In the Southern Hemisphere, this is autumn turning to winter, granted, in most places a scaled down version of winter than we are accustomed to places like New York or Chicago.
The energy of Gemini is light, breezy and if it’s contentious, there’s an element of sparring to the energy. Gemini is very much about the flirtatious play of opposites, polarities and contrasts. This sign drops all the moral baggage and attachment to the past that can show up with the darker shades of Taurus; it is more concerned with focusing on the moment than marauding the future, as we can sometimes get with Aries.
And who are these twins? Now that psychology has been added to astrology, we have many possibilities: such as ego or core self; anima and animus; one’s identity and one’s sense of shadow. If we follow mythology, we are taken back to an old story about Castor and Pollux. Here is Wikipedia’s summary:
In the myth the twins shared the same mother but had different fathers which meant that Pollux was immortal and Castor was mortal. When Castor died, Pollux asked Zeus to let him share his own immortality with his twin to keep them together and they were transformed into the Gemini constellation. The pair were regarded as the patrons of sailors, to whom they appeared as St. Elmo’s fire.
So, in Gemini we actually do get a deep question: the mortal and immortal aspects of consciousness, looking at one another in a mirror. This may indeed be the ultimate dualism we face as humans; the ultimate paradox of consciousness. While Gemini is not the first place that dualism begins in the zodiac (we begin with the horns of Aries and Taurus) it seems to be the place where that issue comes to consciousness, apropos of an air sign, a mental sign, and the first human sign.
I think we are here for a human experience. Part of that experience is about honoring the transience of our journey. Sometimes in order for tomorrow to have any meaning at all, we must live like it’s not even there.
bk, on the good dead, I know this story. I am feeling that what was good about my dead was personally positive for me (I’m such a frickin optomist, or not). I do not believe it was so for all and the bio unit of origin suffered miserably. That’s what turned back on me in confusion. Turned me into a stoopid lookin kid with a big empty head. Naaa I saw the picture of me and cousin Jeanie. Two big headed kids with little bodies sunning ourselves on the porch, gotta love em.
lolly, I’m trying not to be so excitable, but you rock! I feel that many are sharing some semblence of the same. Good luck on the deadlines. You win.
And I know I am new here, but is the same eric francis writing this site today as the one who said he can’t write. You know the multi faceted one, the one with the great photos, and the women in blue.
Knock my frickin socks off!
After reading this article today and listening to the first 20 minutes of the audio blog (good stuff, Eric!), I printed out my chart today with the transits and looked at it closely. I thought I’d share what I saw.
I knew the Neptune-Chiron-Jupiter lineup was creating some pressure for me, but I had no idea what a big set-up this was. It’s part of a grand cross that I frankly have spent little time exploring. The tight cross involves natal Mercury (26 Taurus 15), Neptune (28 Scorpio 59) and Vesta (27 Leo 39). If we increase the orb to 10 degrees, it includes natal Pholus (0+ Pieces), Varuna (0+ Gemini), MC/IC (1+Gemini/Sag), Moon (3+ Virgo), N/S Nodes (5+Pieces/Virgo), and AC/DC (6+ Virgo/Pieces).
I’m experiencing this on several levels. It’s both uncomfortable and reassuring at the same time. I say that because, while there are several decisions right now that are sitting on hold, I’m getting a clearer inner idea about how I need/want to proceed living this life. There is an intense spiritual aspect to it (lots of 9th house action with transiting Mercury and the Sun working the aspect) and it has a lot to do with an inner “fire” (Vesta) and service (the conjunction is in my sixth house).
One a different level, I am experiencing a great deal of confusion and insecurity. I go back and forth between cultivating an inner spiritual orientation and wondering if I haven’t completely screwed myself on my current career path. But I’ve been trying to push into these two: not running from the fear, but understanding how it works; not blissing out on the spiritual, but understanding how to cultivate it. In other words, I’m really trying to work with this as much as I can. I still have to balance this with knowing that I might not be thinking clearly and that the potential for self-deception is strong (transiting Neptune square natal Mercury and Neptune). Thank goodness for Chiron. I think I’ve been able to see some of my already existing deceptive and addictive behaviors. Because of that, I’m feeling cautious about just about everything. Even the “solutions” I think I’ve found. It is a moment-to-moment experience.
For what it’s worth, I’ve also got natal Jupiter (26 Libra 19) trine the Neptune-Jupiter-Chiron conjunction, natal Pluto (24 Virgo 41) trine the action in Taurus, and a Gemini sun recently squared by Uranus and currently being opposed by Quaoar.
All this happening, and I’ve got three big deadlines next week. This is perhaps what’s making me most uncomfortable and also where the proverbial rubber hits the road.
I’ll answer this Chiron issue in tomorrow’s Planet Waves Astrology News. Actually – I have just pulled my essay from tomorrow’s edition – it’s not working…but let’s put it this way. Chiron hurts to the extent one is in denial. And in truth I am getting quite bored writing about this. It’s wake up time. It’s as simple as that.
“But as far as I’m concerned, Taurus never got old, not for a minute.”
i’ll say!!! 🙂
Upon reading that St. Erasmus, known as St. Elmo, was persecuted beyond belief, I was reminded of Prometheus, whose liver took such a beating before Chiron stepped in. As this was another case of mortal and immortal bonding, it reminded me of a friend (now deceased) who was a twin and a Virgo, and had Gemini rising, with Chiron on the ascendant. Her sister died at a very young age, and during her life, she remembers being told often that the “good twin” died. She would have dreams of her dead sister, and there was a perceptive yearning/longing to be with her in my friend. Hard to know, now that I’ve learned some lore about the Gemini twins, if her life-long melancholy was due to Chiron alone.