New Moon Gemini – June 2016 – Crossed Swords on the Crossroads

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New Moon Gemini

We are about to embark on another lunar cycle with the new moon in Gemini. And this one is going to challenge us to the core for the next 28 or so days. Whatever illusions and pie-in-the-sky ideals you have regarding love, relationships, career, and projects… throw those out the window and seek the truth within. Because those illusions are going to be challenged and challenged hard. But there are some hidden rewards in here as well, and those balance out the crossroads.

* Note: I do tend to use “New Moon” to refer to both Sun and Moon conjunct in the chart. So don’t think I’m ignoring the sun, it’s just how I term this in New Moon articles.

The New Moon itself conjuncts Venus, and conjuncts relatively tightly at about a half degree orb when the exact new moon takes effect. Sun and moon both conjunct Venus aren’t too bad, though the Venus is combust (within 8 degrees of the Sun, but not within 0 ° 17′ where it would be Cazimi), so Venus is slightly weakened in truth. So themes of romance, love, relationships, and to an extent jobs and service to others will be emphasized, as well as how we feel about all of this.. One may not think of Venus as related to jobs, one would normally think of Jupiter (money, expansion), and that’s fine. But… in this case I think it’s safe to say that it does factor due to the greater picture…

The greater picture is that New Moon/Venus in Gemini are in a Grand Cross with Jupiter in Virgo, Saturn retrograde in Sagittarius, and Neptune in Pisces. And another part of that greater picture is the Grand Trine Kite between Jupiter/North Node in Virgo, Mercury in Taurus, and Pluto retrograde in Capricorn, with Neptune in Pisces pulling the bowstring aiming at Jupiter. So really, the star of the play is going to be Jupiter and North Node, with New Moon/Venus sharing top billing. We’re going to have to break this down, as there is a lot going on with this lunar cycle!

We already covered Venus and Sun/Moon conjunct. The opposition to Saturn retrograde in Jupiter’s ruled sign isn’t an easy place for Saturn to be, more so when it’s retrograde, and it’s spotlighted this cycle. We’re looking inwards, asking “is this what we really want?” We’re also looking over our failings, seeing where our discipline has failed us. (Mars retrograde going back through one of its ruled signs, Scorpio, will further hammer this point home). This isn’t easy for us to deal with. But it’s something we really need to look at.

We also have Saturn retrograde square Neptune, and this is a brutal, brutal aspect. One of the more difficult ones, as we have Neptune in Pisces, feeling all airy and dreamy (despite being a water sign, I know…), and we’re at a point where we see where we want to go, and all these dreams we want to build. Saturn squaring this is showing we’re at a time of some serious (if not severe) wake-up calls… and retrograde Saturn is having us look inwards, saying “Hey, silly! This isn’t realistic!”. We’ve got a point in our lives here where we are examining our dreams, and seeing just how realistic our dreams and goals really are. Those of us who are a bit more grounded (and I don’t profess to be this right now, to be brutally honest), well, ok they’ll be more alright. More headaches than normal, but nothing they can’t handle. Us folk who are not so grounded and on stable footing at the moment, well, we’ve got our trial by fire. The New Moon and Venus together squaring Neptune in the other direction further amplifies this, as we’re getting frustrated and disappointed in that some of our ambitions and dreams are not working out, and beating ourselves up over it. Even if we don’t admit it to anyone else. We are our harshest critics, after all.

And speaking of dealing with where we want to be, let’s get to Jupiter’s role in this… Saturn retrograde square Jupiter is a bit of a downer on us building things at the moment. We have some self-doubt or some realistic realization of how optimism doesn’t always pan out. (Neither does pessimism, otherwise we’d never get anywhere!) Jupiter wants to go go go, and applying towards the North Node, it seems like we feel we’re destined to gain somehow, win it all. But Saturn, again, retrograde and squaring all this, it’s telling us to slow down and making us wait when some of us just can’t afford to wait. Jupiter opposite Neptune is also a bit of a monkey wrench right now as we’re starting to see some cracks in the facade, and while we want to keep going, we’re probably distracted right now and not focusing entirely on the goal of getting where we want to get to. Something’s holding us back, and given that Neptune is five degrees or so from the South Node (where we tend to withdraw to and feel comfortable), we’re probably indulging, ever so slightly, in some forms of escape. With Jupiter square New Moon/Venus, we’re feeling a bit off-kilter and probably not being as effective in pursuing our goals, getting that job, winning that man or woman’s heart.

In general, we’re wanting to go one direction while we’re being pulled in another. Well, that’s a Grand Cross for you! Pulled in four different directions. NOW… Let’s get to the Grand Trine.

Jupiter trine Pluto retrograde is something we’ve been experiencing for the last few weeks now pretty strongly, and Pluto is going to be going backwards for some time yet. Pluto retrograde is where we look at what we’re doing to ourselves, what do we not need and what do we need to discard to get to where we want to go. Quite simply, with Jupiter trine this, we’re seeing where we’re sabotaging ourselves, and what we need to do to get on that path to get us to a better place.

Mercury trine Jupiter isn’t bad either, as this should help us along in some communications. We’ll likely have some breakthroughs in communications, in document-signing, probably some easing of travel, though we can expect some mayhem with the Grand Cross going. Should probably also note the Mercury wide opposite Mars retrograde, where we’re probably a bit frustrated with some of the other delays. We’ll have to look out for some aggressive drivers, and we need to take a step back and not get too worked up over delays, especially those of our own making. And try not to get too mad at ourselves. But I repeat myself.

And we already know Jupiter opposite Neptune, which is pulling the bowstring towards Jupiter. Neptune is also in a wide sextile to Pluto retrograde at the moment, so if we can, we should use some of our intuition to figure out what’s sabotaging ourselves.

It occurred to me that three of the most “malefic” planets are all retrograde right now… So right now, and for the majority of this lunar cycle, we’re going to still be doing some soul-searching and self-reflection and seeing what just hasn’t worked in general, and we’ll need to figure out where to go from there. I didn’t even think about that before, but this is actually a rather unique opportunity for us as the human race. Not that that which needs discarded isn’t going to fight back and fight to maintain its hold on us.

Let’s go deeper into this cycle…

99942 Apophis conjunct Vesta shows we’re at a point where we’re seeing what’s sacred to us, what we most value, and in some cases, this is where we must destroy that which no longer serves us. Sometimes beliefs are challenged, and this is going to be one of those times I think. As this conjunction does not directly aspect a planet, this may be a more minor influence. But those seeds of wondering are going to be there.

Pholus retrograde opposite 3811 Karma is at a point where we’re probably thinking “what did we do to deserve this?” A little self-reflection is further exemplified, and some of us may actually step up some good deeds, even without thinking. Or maybe the chickens come home to roost. Pholus is sitting on Galactic Center, so a sense of divine what-goes-around-comes-around may be coming about in this cycle.

4386 Lust sextile New Moon/Venus could make a few things hot and heavy, and it is close to Summer (in the Northern Hemisphere anyways), so expect a few fireworks to go off. The Grand Cross with the New Moon will of course temper this.

37117 Narcissus sextile 875 Nymphe also offers some opportunities for some romps in the hay, but be careful you’re choosing a partner who actually cares about you and aren’t just using you for your own ends. Solid advice at any point, but I sense there’s going to be some disappointments over this next month. 149 Medusa conjunct 433 Eros, 16089 Lamb, and 7066 Nessus further adds influence to this, and both Medusa and Eros make a wide (for asteroids) opposition to 1930 Lucifer and 8690 Swindle (Lamb and Nessus are a little wide for the opposition by themselves), so be careful that you are not betrayed where a woman (or woman-minded) other is concerned. Likely there will be an acting of pride involved, maybe from a previous hurt? Or people getting taken in over a sob-story, so do keep your wits about you. With Nessus station retrograde, any self-serving betrayals will come back to bite the offender, just don’t let yourself be the sacrificial lamb in any such encounters.

Juno conjunct Black Moon Lilith can add a bit of spice to romantic relationships, sexual unions, friends with benefits, etc. Be alert that this also sextiles Lucifer/Swindle, so a little bit of ulterior motive is likely this cycle. (When isn’t it?)… there is a possiblity that it will be somewhat muted though, given the sextile.

This next one might be somewhat political on all sides, as I’m not singling out a single party: 564 Dudu conjunct 26955 Lie, wide orb (2 degrees), both straddling fixed star Algol. Expect the bullshit to fly and fly far and fast. Appropriate as US Presidential Primary season is winding down in the U.S. here. With both sextile Chiron, maybe more people will have their bullshit detectors calibrated a little better, and of course recognize the lies and deal accordingly. We do also have 2601 Bologna retrograde sextile Lucifer/Swindle (which puts it with Juno/Black Moon Lilith, arguably, at wide orb), so hopefully a lot of lies are discovered before they do get really damaging.

4179 Toutatis conjunct 6583 Destinn… hmm… I’m going to interpret this as us needing to be on the lookout for fated events, as we have seen with Muhammed Ali passing away last night. I need to do a little more study on Toutatis. That was an asteroid mentioned as being one that could potentially hit Earth in the future if I’m not mistaken, so it’s definitely one to keep track of.

157 Dejanira square 1388 Aphrodite is something we need to watch out for as well in our relationships. Given the involvement of Narcissus, Swindle, Lucifer, and Medusa mentioned above, definitely keep your wits up. Falling for the wrong one is looking a little more likely, and now that I think of events such as the Primaries… I wouldn’t be surprised if we see developments in the Bill Cosby case or ex-Subway Jared’s adventures in prison during this month. Sex scandals… watch for those. Don’t get caught in one yourself.

And I think this bears repeating: Nessus is station retrograde, and Nessus represents abuse, obsession, disregarding others for one’s own gain. Nessus was a bit of a bastard in mythology as well (and I think I need to do an article on Nessus and Dejanira now). I think we’re going to see a period where people’s skeletons come pouring out of their closets. Again, just in time for an election year, and the conventions as well. This should be fun. We’re either going to see more revelations of the Donald, or Hillary’s email woes are going to bite her in the ass. My bet? Both.

This is where I’m going to stop. I’m sure I may have missed some aspects. But this is a lot of information to chew on. Again, set your intentions for this New Moon period well, and ultimately things will be alright for a lot of us. Even if it doesn’t seem like it right now. Trust me, I’ve got my Dark Night of the Soul going on a bit too. But dark nights are the best nights for seeing brilliant lights.