“Gem Moon Mandala” by AmandaSeesDreams of http://www.Dreamrly.com

Welcome to the collaborative lunations of Gemini moon pals, Litebeing, Dreamrly, and yours truly, The Ptero Card. Yesterday marks the Gemini / Sagittarius full moon of 2014, and through our mutual love of art and writing we’re combining our efforts for a few reflections on our experience of lunar Gemini in our natal astrological charts. Each of our contributions was produced independently, without consultation other than assigning the art work to Dreamrly, poetry to Litebeing and intuitive writing to me. We present here the fruits of our work which we hope enhance your own lunations, where ever they may take you.

The basis of astrology, an ancient wisdom practiced by nearly all pre-scientific cultures, comes from the understanding that external cosmological events have a corresponding affect on our interiority, because human disposition is a microcosm of the macrocosm, or, as the ancients say, “as above, so below.” I suspect the exterior and interior worlds, until quite recently, were experienced as a more unified whole, both symbolic, and meaningful. To the ancients, the visible planets were the gods, each personifying a particular disposition and influence on us, according to our chronological birth placement in their world. The disposition of the cosmos at the moment we enter the world drama, is mirrored in our personality, character and fate.

I often wonder if a cultural agreement that suggests nothing can be true without first being scientifically verified, has cut us off from the ease of intuiting meaning, eroding our trust in the value of personal experience, to the point that we are no longer free to, or sometimes capable of, grasping the immediate animal sense of a thing or event. So, bring your own intuitions to this reading and imagine with us the myriad ways we encounter the moon and the Gemini twins.

Compared to other visible planets, the uniqueness of the moon is evident. 235,000 miles away from earth, she has the closest presence to us in the vastly huge, night sky. As the only planet that revolves around us, her presence and power is both seen and felt here on earth, from the mighty ocean’s tidal motion, to her stabilization of earth’s orbit, we need her. A force capable of pulling the oceans closer to our earthly islands, must certainly have some sway over our watery bodies.Unlike the sun, the moon seems exotically present with no perceptible purpose other than delighting our senses and drawing us outward. Her closeness and visual beauty are too hard to ignore and have served so many throughout the ages, from sailors to poets, from lovers to madmen.

Remarkably, the moon’s rotation is synchronized to her revolution around us, so that we only ever see one side, her dark side remaining forever hidden from our earthly view. It’s no surprise that we may be less aware of her influence. The man in the moon is now the man on the moon; us, and without a deep practice of the lunar skills of reflection that she gives, we risk losing her gift of seeing in the dark, and mistaking her imposing reflective moods and feelings as brain chemistry. With no place or time for occasional lunacy, feelings and reflections are unwanted by-products, brain states we seek to be rid of.

Astrologically speaking, in what ways does the moon affect us? I am no astrologer, and there are many resources available from those whose studies of the ancient art offer much wisdom. What I offer here are my intuitions.

Traditionally, the moon influences our emotional life, the coming and going, waxing and waning of cycles that affect us and any creature with a fluid and watery nature. Besides feelings, thoughts and senses are also fluid. In alchemy, the moon is the queen of the heavens who unites with the solar king, forming a marriage in which cooperation, devotion and love are united in service of the Great Work. The moon’s whiteness may also be significant. Alchemically, whitening is the stage that moves the work from the black and blue periods in which the base materials are yet to be purified. Whitening is an initiatory stage in which much knowledge is gained through the art of reflection. The lunar mind helps us go beyond the physical realm for spiritual knowledge and experience.

Moon placement in the natal chart perhaps shows the ways in which lunar influence affects and styles your senses, perceptions, reflections, and therefore your relationships not only to others, but to all that is differentiated from yourself. Lunar pals Litebeing, Dreamrly and I have our natal moon in the sign of Gemini, the twins. Initially, Gemini may be experienced through some form of duality. Perhaps duality manifests in different ways. For me, I think it manifests as a heightened sense of opposition, ambiguity and separation between self and other, driving a need to articulate distinctions and give voice to them through ideas, language and music.

Image: Artist Unknown

I find the symbolism of the twins ambiguous. Twins may share an identical nature, and yet in mythology and historically, they are frequently seen battling with each other, as Cain and Abel, or in stories of the evil twin. Opposites we see, can share a likeness, as they appear together and depend on each other as in the Gemini twins, Castor and Pollux. According to Wiki:

“When Castor was killed, Pollux asked Zeus to let him share his own immortality with his twin to keep them together, and they were transformed into the constellation Gemini. The pair was regarded as the patrons of sailors, to whom they appeared as St. Elmo’s fire, and were also associated with horsemanship.”

So twins may look the same, but may be oppositional, and, or complementary. Either way, we have an image of two selves facing each other, or two sides of one coin. Like the moon itself, Gemini is a relational influence with dual aspects, so this placement in a natal chart may heighten some deep, ambiguous feelings about self and other. True for me anyway.

Much of my life’s work has been to make peace with the sense of an ambiguous, often conflicted, sense, of not only myself and others, but also of ideas and feelings, some of which remain slippery, inconclusive, up in the air and unsettled. But each effort to solidify thoughts and ideas about who I am, who you are, or attempts to define this mysterious existence, only brings pain and disappointment. Like Gemini’s ruler, Mercury, or Hermes, traveling, communicating and intellectual movement are vital to me. Perhaps blogging itself, is one more stone-heap left here for all fellow travelers.

— Ptero9

 

Next, a lovely poem from our resident astrologer, Linda of LiteBeingChronicles, shedding light on the lived experience of a Gemini Moon Goddess!

 

Lunar babbles

 

Chatter, breathe, jump, sing,

Laugh, scream, analy-zing

Heart and mind racing together

Yet the split appears forever

 

The smell of paper, words in my hands

Fill me with excitement, freedom from demands

Hand me the keys of a quick, shiny ride

Throw in a CD, sound/motion collide

 

Chatter, breathe, jump, sing,

Laugh, scream, analy-zing

Heart and mind racing together

Yet the split appears forever

 

Quick wit so handy to block my pain

Why not let Mercury have free reign?

Jabber, chuckle, wax poetic

To hide my fear, how pathetic!

 

Chatter, breathe, jump, sing,

Laugh, scream, analy-zing

Heart and mind racing together

Yet the split appears forever

 

Lovin’ the teacher, but nary the lesson

Hermes’s so sly, always guessin’

Take every shortcut, prefer the easy

Inner currents prevail, surface seems breezy

 

Chatter, breathe, jump, sing,

Laugh, scream, analy-zing

Heart and mind racing together

Yet the split appears forever

 

Need to know, compelled to ask

My soul’s calling, a sacred task

Yearn to uncover hidden glory

Encoded within each human story

 

Chatter, breathe, jump, sing,

Laugh, scream, analy-zing

Heart and mind racing together

Yet the split appears forever

poem written by litebeing chronicles © 2014

  

We end our lunations with a few words and images from AmandaSeesDreams of www.dreamrly.com, who came into this world on the night of a full moon, and has long felt a deep connection to moon’s voluptuous power.

 

Photograph by AmandaSeesDreams of www.dreamrly.com

 

The moon has always owned me in some ways. I have always been entranced by her beauty, by the one side she shows me, by her silent currents ruling my state of mind. I find it impossible to sleep when she is full, the waters of life flow through me with such vigor I am almost forced to admire her. She fills me. Over the years I have taken photographs of her crescent, of her full bare body, of her red eclipse. She even shows up when my inner child comes out to play, painting from the heart, with abandon…

 

I paint my dreams of sailing through the unconscious, but not without a purple moon.

 

I paint my daytime visions of buffalo medicine, but not without a purple moon.

 

I paint my twins, honoring the gemini gift of balancing complex ideas and communicating dual truths – mixing pleasure and pain, fingerpainting bright colors that soothe a conflicted soul. Sweet Gemini Moon, gifting me with giggles and tears, pensive contemplations and wild dances in your light. Dear Moon, I love you, and am faithfully yours, for you chose (little old) me to live inside.

Love, Amanda