Total (Annular) Solar Eclipse at 19 degrees and 47 minutes of Gemini on June 10 at 3:52am in Tucson, Arizona. Gemini, ruled by communicative Mercury, is the child, curious, eager to learn and understand often through language, communication, or ideas. It is the developmental phase of learning to speak for the first time. There is both an immaturity and wisdom in this mutable air sign. What is often misconstrued as an inability to feel is rather an eagerness to understand self and others, often through narrative or ideas rather than primarily through emotions. Gemini energy is young; it observes but does not have the capacity to hold grudges or resentment, though the seeming blankness can often cause others to project fears or self-judgment onto what is something closer to innocence. Gemini is not without an air of mischief or playfulness at times, casual or quick with words, but it is generally more so about the thrill of relating, describing, understanding, or processing something than an intention to harm. It is the genuine desire and ability to see the face of God in the markings on a tortilla just as easily as through sacred texts, or hear absolute Truth through the babbles of a toddler just as in the orations of a guru. It is the compulsion to laugh at a funeral when the mood is too heavy. It is to remind us all that there are multiple sides of every situation and ultimately multiple and equally viable paths to the top of the mountain.
Mercury, the fastest planet, and who we observe to go retrograde a whopping three times per year, is a fitting ruler for Gemini, who often has an impulsively zippy two steps forward, one step back approach to life; it can feel easier to dismiss consistent and labored rote-learning and rather be the jack of all trades who discovers and darts between multiple paths at once before any kind of synthesis, which often does happen, but almost by accident rather than forceful aim. More on this below but as this eclipse is conjunct RETROGRADE Mercury, this air of a grand “redo” is rich. In terms of what specifically may be highlighted for you at this time, the third house in astrology is often thematically linked to the sign, which relates to siblings and those soul group friends who are like family, the local community, short-distance travel, writing, and earlier phases of education. For the seat of your personal eclipse metamorphosis, it is imperative to look to your personal chart to see what area or planets are being directly affected.
Eclipses happen about four times a year in pairs of opposing signs of the zodiac; we are currently experiencing them on the Gemini-Sagittarius axis with the North Node (incoming) energy in Gem and the South Node (outgoing) energy in Sag. The moon’s position during an eclipse will indicate whether the primary feeling is one of release or embrace, though honestly, in the middle of the eclipse window, it will probably seem like a confusing and volatile mess of both. We’re also dealing with signs pertaining to often long-held belief systems and cultural, academic or religious assumptions (Sagittarius) and the thought process itself (Gemini). All too easy to feel caught up in your head at this time, but the pressure is releasing soon.
The lunar eclipse two weeks ago highlighted the South Node and the release phase, so particularly in the last few days and even hours leading up to this next North Node-centric eclipse, it may have felt quite heavy, as this purging has been ongoing and tends to amplify just before the birthing of the new (ie with this New Moon Eclipse in a couple hours). This is not a time to resist letting go, even if what you’re letting go of is a more fearful version of your old self and all the patterns that went along with it. It’s common at this time to see and experience haunting echoes of the past and the reminders of when you thought you maybe screwed it up the first time and are on the verge of doing that again, but fight the urge to hide and indulge in the fears. You are not bound to relive the same cycles in the same way or with the same outcome. Believe in your ability to transform or even to find resolution and understanding in what came before through unlikely means if you are to reap the gifts that are trying to make their way in. Your liberation may not come in the way you think it should. Gemini will always show you there is such a thing as a happy accident. We all have free will, and it’s not necessarily an easy choice to work with the current energies in the way described, because the eclipse releases (particularly when they are happening directly on your natal chart’s personal planets or axes) usually involve some of the deepest and most terrifying aspects of self, and what is able to come in may be something so longed for that it feels impossible. The Nodes of the Moon touch upon us at the depth of the soul, for better or worse. It is not the time to let go of dreams and visions by any means, though do yourself a favor and let yourself just listen this evening or during the early hours of tomorrow. Eclipses can bring in both rapid changes, a temporary merging of past and future, and time-compressed visions that feel like they need to happen immediately—again, confusing—but once the lunation settles and integrates over the next day or so, it becomes much easier to discern what is old and what is new, what is real and what is illusion, or, as it’s tritely but sincerely put, what is love and what is fear. Diligently surrender at this time, so that in the coming days and weeks you are more open to receiving what is rightfully, even destined, to be yours.
Square to the lunation degree we have both Neptune in Pisces as well as Vesta in Virgo. Vesta is the enduring dedication to keep the candle lit in the face of any obstacles; it is sacred devotion. Being in an earth sign like Virgo, which seeks to analyze, perfect, polish and refine on a tangible level, we can be grateful for Vesta’s assistance and pietas to push through. She is loosely opposing Neptune in Pisces, which opens us up to seemingly infinite possibility, lends us a glimpse of what is often hidden in deep subconscious or altered state realms, but can also bring confusion or blurred lines if we overthink or indulge too far in fantasy without grounded reality. This creative tug-of-war is squaring (challenging) the energy of the eclipse itself. Neptune may temporarily blind us from a certainty we crave but allows us to guide ourselves feelingly, and Vesta allows us the sensation of a soul-guided gradual progress even amidst the Neptunian fog. People flip out about square aspects because they can bring initial or superficial frustration or obstacles that make us want to give up, but ultimately, these are the challenges that push us to evolve beyond our limitations or prove that we actually care more than we thought for what otherwise might be taken for granted or let to slip through our fingers if it came to us too easily.
Running in the background there’s a cheerful emotional optimism coming from expansive and sometimes just plain lucky Jupiter in Pisces and nurturing, beautifying Venus in Cancer. These planets in water signs are in a loose harmonious trine aspect. As Jupiter is directly linked to the sign of the South Node (release point), finding artistic, meditative, musical means of support will greatly ameliorate any difficulty potentially experienced at this time. Literally swimming or connecting with the water element in a way soothing to your soul is also highly favored; at the very least, ensure adequate hydration to allow for the intense outgoing energies to exit your cells gracefully, and the new to flow in organically. Mars is at the final degree of Cancer, which could have made the last month and last day or so a bit emotionally heavy, even lethargic. Whenever a planet is at the final degree of a sign, it’s like the deadline or hyper-concentration of the lesson contained within the planet’s sign transit. Mars is one’s vitality, will and drive to act and can sometimes struggle in such an introverted, receptive sign like Cancer. He is also coming off of an opposition with destructively regenerative Pluto retrograde in Capricorn, which is just intensifying all the feelings and even slamming any emotional blocks that are preventing desired actions right into your face, forcing change with vehemence. It’s a lot to handle. Mars will ingress fiery, extroverted Leo in less than two days, so it may be sooner than you think before things feel like they are finally ready and energetically supported to move forward. Sign changes, especially for a planet like Mars, are often physically felt immediately.
As if this isn’t enough, we’re in round two of three of the Uranus and Saturn square that is not so delicately gracing us with its presence all year. It’s a slow grind with these two, but the aspect exacts in just under a week, and it’s always the anticipation that is when we feel it the strongest. This happened first in mid-February and will occur a final time on Christmas Eve. It’s a three-part-process of an initial shock, a re-evaluation (the current phase) and a sense of more definite and concrete culmination or completion around late December. This tension is rippling through the fabric of the entire year and is without a doubt the aspect that will define how we look upon this year historically. We have Saturn, the desire to move slowly, create structure, regulate, build something designed to last or maintain the status quo, in the sign of Aquarius, which is about progress, technology, the future, the unknown. How does one create order in such unprecedented circumstances or ensure posterity in the midst of chaos?
This energy is being challenged by Promethean Uranus, the maverick and rebel, the lightning bolt of evolution at all costs, which is currently transiting the sign of Taurus, the material world, finances, agriculture, the five senses, steady routine; so we can expect revolutionary shifts occurring in these sectors (particularly agriculture and even child-rearing/education as Uranus is currently conjunct asteroid Ceres, maternal goddess of the harvest). The builder challenges the liberator, and yet from this we birth our as yet unimaginably expansive and novel future. Saturn is currently in retrograde, which accounts for the multi-step aspect between these two planets; he is returning to reassess and perhaps correct limitations or enforced boundaries from earlier in the year and will be in a position to make a more confident long-term plan at the year’s end. This picture is very literally occurring with the collective response to Covid, vaccinations, re-openings and such, but this dynamic will also be occurring on a personal level for individuals as well. The timing of this phase happening concurrently with the present eclipse reminds us to be open to the unlikely pieces, the resources, the answers and inspiration that this New Moon can offer to old problems or pernicious obstacles, if we only dare surrender to it. Hang in there, my friends. Love and blessings to all.
