Those affable, talkative Twins of Gemini arrive on May 21st at 2:21 A.M. PST when the Sun enters the mutable air sign associated with broadcasting, technology, socializing and travel. True to form, their speedy ruler Mercury will move from Taurus, through Gemini and into Cancer during this solar cycle. Neptune and Chiron will turn retrograde, Jupiter will enter Taurus, Mercury and the Sun will make conjunctions with the South Node and two eclipses will occur. Meanwhile Saturn, now traveling through judicious Libra, will trine the planets in Gemini and emerge from its annual retrograde. Such a hotbed of astrological activity seems only fitting for our hyper-chatty, multi-tasking Twins. Any less and they would be bored senseless. That being said, during the Gemini journey ahead, our inquisitive, adaptable Twins may find themselves wanting to abandon life’s uncomfortable headlines for its crossword puzzles. The planets however, will ask them to read the entire Sunday edition, thoroughly.
Mercury is Gemini’s ruling planet and the Messenger of the Gods. In astrological shorthand, Mercury represents mental activity and the Sun represents the ego. Glimpse at any chart and the two will not be far apart. That is because Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. At any given moment, the amount of information coming at us is staggering and simply impossible to fully comprehend. It is Mercury’s job is to instantaneously mine the massive and exhaustive databanks of the past and present to cull the material vital for decision-making. With such a close alliance with the ego however, the danger lies in Mercury becoming our “yes man.” Under its unconscious influence, we selectively choose the facts that support “our story” and conveniently dismiss the irrelevant rest. Positioned in Libra, the sign concerned with balance, truth and fairness, is stern, astute Saturn. If the Sun and Mercury are like two eager young journalists intent on breaking a dramatic news story, then discerning Saturn is their old-school newspaper editor. He will put these brash upstarts through the rigors of solid journalism, like extensive fact and source background checking. Old Saturn knows the damage one faulty variable can do to an entire equation and the painful consequences for us from acting on erroneous information. In noble Libra he is diligently working to insure that we do not allow our minds to play unhealthy tricks on us.
Assisting us with a much more subtle and subterranean sort of review, will be Neptune and Chiron beginning retrogrades in holistic Pisces on June 2nd and 8th respectively. Their influence takes place far beneath the surface of our endless streams of thought. From their deeper vantage point, we can get in touch with the emotional sources and motives behind our stories and the passages and narratives of it needing revision and healing. Pisces assimilates, integrates and completes and Neptune and Chiron further compassion and healing. This June they embark on a five-month-long process that ends in November when Neptune turns direct on the 9th and Chiron on the 10th. Note how closely they are traveling.
Another large-planet, big-picture concept that will give our lovable Twins food for thought is expansive Jupiter’s journey into earthy Taurus on June 4th. With it perhaps an old phrase from the national lexicon will be amended. Can you say “rational exuberance”? The happy-go-lucky planet of plenty has been in fiery, impulsive Aires since late January. On March 11th quirky, inventive Uranus joined it there, and the two very likely bestowed some truly brilliant flashes of insight and inspiration, as well as some golden new opportunities. The calm, stabilizing presence of the bull will ground us long enough to give those Aries-born ideas form, and the bull’s patient disposition welcomes the hard work most meaningful endeavors require. With a favorable trine from truthful Pluto in pragmatic, disciplined Capricorn, Jupiter’s year-long run with the bull is likely to produce long-lasting success where we employ its energies consistently.
Then there’s the business of those Nodes. Presently the South Node is in Gemini and the North in Sagittarius. On June 13th Mercury will connect with the South Node and the Sun will make its South Node conjunction on the 14th. The South Node represents the resources we bring into this lifetime. Via genetics or reincarnation, its placement in our birth or natal chart often describes our natural gifts and abilities. The North Node suggests our growth challenge this time around.
Underscoring the nodal message will be this cycle’s forthcoming eclipses in Gemini on June 1st and Sagittarius on June 15th. Gemini gathers information and Sagittarius gives it context and meaning. For example, a well-functioning instrument panel with its precise and sophisticated measurements is essential for safely navigating an airplane. Who would want to fly without it? But an airplane flight is not merely a function of the math and science that make it possible. Through aspiring, philosophical Sagittarius, we begin to appreciate the magic of flying. In its awe-inspiring presence, we remember that sitting in a chair, perched thousands of miles above the earth, while hurling hundreds of miles for per hour through time and space, was once the sole domain of the gods. The new Gemini moon of June 1st will yield new data, and the Sagittarius full moon of June 15th will offer moments of enlightenment. So during the 2011 Gemini journey, if it feels like the planets are conspiring to encourage those adorable Twins and us to exchange old patterns, people and places for new adventures, concepts and horizons, they are.