We all have at least two sides.
The world we live in is a world of opposites.
And the trick is to reconcile those opposing things.
I've always liked both sides. In order to appreciate one
you have to know the other. The more darkness
you can gather up, the more light you can see too. - David Lynch
The eclipse on the Gemini Full Moon November 30 is the first of a pair eclipses that completes the year of 2020. The first one is about endings and the second is about beginnings.
A Lunar Eclipse is a time of culmination, where some issue is brought to the head. Crisis, breakthrough and a movement towards completion and integration are indicated. Issues and events of 2020 are seeking resolution. We can now distill the wisdom this year has yielded. With all planets moving forward (except Uranus) there is a fast-moving energy that has built to a crisis point that seeks resolution so we can prepare to embark on a potent new beginning sparked by the Solar Eclipse on December 14 followed by the eyebrow raising astrological dynamics of the coming Winter Solstice.
Gemini, the Twins, is the planet of duality. It is the sign of ‘twos - the sign of 'This and That'. Two options. Two directions. Two ideas. A choice emerges to be made about one or the other. Our minds may be highly active as we try and wrap ourselves around options and possibilities. Rather than feeling resolution, we may actually feel distracted and scattered, wondering how it will all come together. We may find our mind is flitting from one thing to the next. Sustained thought may evade us. The key to minimizing fractured thinking and the shadow side of Mercury, is to embrace this as a time of learning rather than a time where we reinforce or validate what we already know.
In Greek Mythology, the Twins represent the two sides of nature, one immortal and one mortal, one virtuous and the other destructive. Gemini is our mind, how we think, communicate and process information. Mind by its very nature operates in duality.
Mind is a duality; it is always split. There is no single point on which the mind agrees in totality. Half of the mind will agree and half of the mind will disagree, and whatever you choose, you are choosing only the half. The remaining half is going to take revenge. The unchosen part, the left over, will wait for its chance to show you that whatever you have chosen is wrong. But it does not matter which part you choose. Choice itself is wrong.
~ Rajneesh
Escalating polarization has been a theme of 2020 accompanied by strong feelings about the right way forward and passionate advocacy against what we perceive as the wrong way forward. Within this, we face choices. We face an uncertain future marked by substantive change. Confusion thus surrounds decisions we are making.
When we are making a choice, we are in our minds - the realm of 'this and that', trying to think our way through. When we are centered in our heart, there is a knowing of which way to move. It may appear like we are making a choice, but in fact we are simply moving towards what we know to do. Perceiving through the lens of the heart, the seat of love, polarities dissolve. If we reflect back to big choices we made, we may discover that we took action from a feeling of knowing which direction we wanted to move rather than making a choice between two things. We may in fact have said to others that what we did didn't feel like a choice at all. It was just something I had to do, or knew to do.
A Full Moon in itself is a polarity. The Sun and Moon are precisely opposite each other in the sky. As the Sun is setting in the west, the Moon is rising in the east. The dynamic tension between them begs for resolution, where the conflicting urge expressed by both these planets can be unified. Rather an 'either/or 'way of looking at an issue, a 'both/and' perspective emerges that reconciles the polarity.
I have put duality away. I have seen the two worlds are one.
~ Rumi
Pleasantville was a movie released in the 1990s. The setting was a small town. The movie, initially, was in black and white. But the audience soon discovered that the movie was not so much in Black and White as much as the characters, the townspeople saw the world in black and white. As as the characters began to feel their feelings, began to connect with their desires, began to see life as it is and feel increasingly alive, they began to see the world in full color. Partway through the movie, some characters are seeing in color and some are still seeing in B&W.
It is not that oneness, and the resolution of opposites create a singularity where all is light or white or occurs the same. Instead, it opens us to a greater dimension of life, where we feel alive with the full spectrum of feelings and colors of life rather than a narrow two-dimensional view of right versus wrong, black versus white, conservative versus liberal.
Social activity has slowed down this year. For some, it has come to a screeching halt. With most of us withdrawing from social activity and spending more time at home, things that had been repressed, surfaced. Mass demonstrations, strong feelings and the deep cultural wounds surfaced. Many of us were able to step off the hamster wheel of our life. We may have binged on Netflix, but there was a greater opportunity to open to areas of life that we had neglected or set aside. There was added time to engage the richness of our inner lives, the beauty of the living world and connect with those we loved. Disengaged from routine, from an automatic way of living, our world could become more colorful. This doesn't necessarily mean it was all sweetness and bliss. The agitation, fears, and longings are also on the color palette. Within this, the world ceases to be just black versus white, work versus family, abundance versus scarcity, isolation versus connection. The tapestry of life becomes much richer, more alive.
Gemini’s greatest gift is an insatiable curiosity for learning.
The potential of this eclipse is to distill and embrace the learnings of 2020.
Gemini learns through conversation, through gathering information, through reading and engaging new experiences. Talking is a key element of conversation, but equally important is the capacity to listen. We can be curious about the other's viewpoint. We can set aside validating the wisdom in our possession in favor of learning something new. And in our curiosity, we may open to a world much richer in color, nuance and dimension.
To resolve the escalating polarization we are seeing on the world stage, we begin by finding reconciliation within ourselves and in the field of our personal lives. Moving beyond black and white thinking, where someone is right and someone else is wrong, where there is a perpetual war between opposites, we can find the realm of unity, when we reside in our heart and move from compassion. It may feel out of reach and we may fail at this multiple times a day, but this is the task, the learning, because this is at the heart of how balance will be restored.
“As long as a person is involved with warfare,
trying to defend or attack, then his action is not sacred;
it is mundane, dualistic, a battlefield situation.” ― Chögyam Trungpa, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism
2020 -2021 Eclipses
And the inherent polarity of Gemini and Sagittarius
Last summer’s eclipses through the eclipses of 2021 each take place on the nodal axis of Gemini and Sagittarius. We are being urged, as a collective, to release ourselves from belief systems that no longer serve us and open to new information and experiences that can reshape how we see life and enhance our engagement with it.
Sagittarius: the wisdom, the knowing, the teacher. In the South Node position, we are being prompted to question beliefs and the truths we have formulated about life, and be curious about how they may be masking or preventing us from seeing a deeper truth.
Gemini: learning, curiosity, the student. The Gemini North Node offers new experiences and information that challenges and challenges the validity of our beliefs. As a collective, we are being asked to learn to perceive life, reality, the divine, the planet, and our purpose here in a more expansive, wholistic way. We are being shown where we have put on blinders, where we limited ourselves by constructing beliefs that have obscured reality. A cultural crisis is warranted as we collectively are challenged to review our pre-conceived notions about reality.
Rather than dig in our heels to protect and defend the world as we have defined it, we can be curious about what we do not know and welcome new information and disparate points of view. It may be easier to see how someone else is living in a black and white world, but it would serve us better to be insatiably curious about where we have shut down our own learning, where we guard and are steadfast with some truth we have made a cornerstone of our life.
Neptune, The Dreamer squares the Nodal Axis, walking through a house of mirrors.
What is made up or exists may feel very real, but may only be a fabrication of our imagination. The shadow side of Neptune is self deception and is activated in a square. We can easily get carried away by something illusory.
To counter the shadow effects, we can lean into the spiritual nature of Neptune, as the planet that gives us the experience of oneness, where all distinctions dissolve and there is nothing outside of us, nothing separate.
Neptune in aspect to the nodal axis reminds us that to harvest the learning available and to resolve the polarities in our lives, we must connect with something beyond the temporal. By connecting to the divine, we nurture compassion.
Neptune reminds us that our whole lives are a dream, that nothing is outside us, we are not separate and that there is certainly not 'something and something else.' It is an illusion that there are people or forces opposing us from pursuing our goals. We can reconcile the war within ourselves and the polarity of our thinking mind, when we reside in compassion. Then, outer circumstance naturally shift. The more we try to change the outer to resolve the tensions we feel within, the more we may find ourselves walking in a house of mirrors.
I've been on a quest for spiritual answers for a long time.
The things I've learned about interconnectedness and non-duality
and the feeling of tapping into your soul that goes beyond the edge of your skin
is important to me. Once I learned that, I'm far less often trapped
in my own little man problems. Me against the universe problems.
~ Jim Carrey
Mercury, the Ruler of Gemini is seeking treasure in the deep waters of Scorpio.
Due to October's Mercury Retrograde, Mercury has had an extended stay in Scorpio the last couple months. We have been propelled into deep thought, into the desire to get to the root of what is happening. We want to know where the power is and how to hold that power. Power can be seen as how to have better control of our financial well-being, but ultimately it is the quest for empowerment.
Mercury’s position at the eclipse reinforces the potential for deep learning and integration of the year’s events, surprises and new information. Mercury sextiles the three planets that have catalyzed the year’s disruptions: Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto. The agenda of these three giants has not been to create chaos for chaos' sake or to dismantle the status quo for no reason, but to destabilize the stronghold of what no longer serves and to expose the weaknesses that need addressing. Mercury’s beneficial aspect to these planets means the time is ripe to harvest the wisdom of what has been shown us this year, and deliver us a long range view on what matters most for our lives.
Sun (Vital Life Force) quincunx Uranus (Change) and Trine Chiron (The Wound)
We will continue to receive information that will shock with disclosures that expose hidden truths.
Unexpected events can seemingly throw us off course (Uranus). Rather than bemoan them, we can be curious about what they are dislodging and opening up for us. There are wounds (Chiron) that may be reopened so we can resolve hurts of the past that will allow greater clarity and strength to emerge. The detours in our lives, during this time, offer the potential for healing that allows for a new perception of understanding. Uranus, the Divine Mind, is the higher octave of Mercury. It can be flashes of inspired insight. The disruption is minimized if we approach everything as an opportunity to learn rather than look to have reality match what we already know.
Venus opposing Uranus: Unpredictability in Relationships and with Finance
As our perception of the world shifts, our beliefs and approach to life does as well. We are looking for greater freedom in relationship and with money. We may find we are out of sync with those closest to us, as if we are moving in different directions.
Venus recently entered Scorpio, heightening our awareness of our deepest desires and feelings. We may feel out of sync with another. Coming back onto the same page may take some time because we are still in the midst of shifting something essential within ourselves. What we can more readily do is draw others into our process, to share about what we are pondering and feeling so that when we make a new decision or shift our direction it doesn’t catch the other off guard.
Rather than make decisions to ensure security with finances or with relationship, let us first give ourselves fully to the change happening within ourselves. Jumping prematurely to providing external assurances may only thwart the process of what is opening within us.
The United States and the Lunar Eclipse
The Eclipse falls across the Ascendent/Descendent axis of the US Sibly Chart. The Asc/Desc are two of four points that form the Axis of Manifestation. When a transiting planet activates this axis, fundamental change is catalyzed.
The Ascendent represents the identity in the country. Therefore, the eclipse portends a shift in the country’s identity.
The Eclipse is exactly conjunct the U.S. Uranus at 8 Gemini: Uranus is the Revolutionary, the Rebel, the Freedom Fighter. A revolutionary spirit to reshape the nation’s identity is stirred. 8 degrees Gemini has been an important degree for the U.S. throughout its history and is linked to the astrological dynamics of the Civil War and with former Presidents.
Uranus rules the media, social media and free press in the U.S. Chart (its ruler resides in the 3rd house). The mediums in which information is shared, the question of standards in dispersing information and how media fuels fear and division are highlighted with the eclipse. Truths and Alternative Truths, lying, propaganda and partisan reporting are activated even further with the eclipse.
The U.S. Moon is in Aquarius (ruled by Uranus). The Moon represents The People and in Aquarius the nation’s people are freedom-loving, individualistic, rebellious people who are inclined to revolutionary thinking and advancements and revolutionary causes.
Neptune is forming a stressful relationship to the U.S. square between Neptune and Mars. Anger, confusion, and powerlessness are emphasized. How to resolve the crisis with substance addiction will continue to be a prominent focus. To not reap the shadow side of Neptune, the U.S. needs to rediscover its desire to serve, to set aside the needs of self-protection and self-advancement in favor of taking care of one’s neighbor.
The U.S is entering its’ first Pluto Return. Pluto is returning to the same place in the sky where it resided when the Declaration of Independence was signed. The U.S. Pluto resides in its 2nd house, the house of Values, Money and the Economy. There will be a fundamental transformation around the economy. A positive outcome is possible if the U.S. can align with its core values. The crisis becomes a question of agreement and resonance around what these value are.
Love is the reflection of God's unity in the world of duality.
It constitutes the entire significance of creation.
~ Meher Baba
A Note on December:
A New Beginning. A Wave of Things to Come
The Winter Solstice marks the dawn of a New Sun, the dawn of a New Year cycle. The upcoming Solstice is a powerful one because it features a Jupiter and Saturn conjunction. Jupiter and Saturn come together in the sky every 20 years. When they do, a new direction is set into motion. This December, this great conjunction meeting the beginning of a new 200 year cycle which can be interpreted as the dawn of the Age of Aquarius.
Just prior to the solstice, we have Solar Eclipse happening on the Sagittarian New Moon. On this New Moon the seed is planted for the great new beginning which is a departure from how the course of our life has been going. We can embrace the unknown, the great mystery of becoming, let go of the past and ready to welcome a new age for humanity.
In Summary
We are readying for a new way of living that will be spawned from a new way of seeing life. We are to be curious, open to new experiences, and embrace the adventure of learning. What we already know is not so relevant. If we are feeling in control of our lives, we are missing the great opportunity being presented.
We can welcome shifts of perception, shifts of beliefs, and shifts in life direction that present themselves. Uncertainty and confusion abound because we haven't done what we are about to do. We are each being asked to stretch. The extremes are coming to a head; the perceived world of polarization is reaching a culmination point that challenges our belief systems and the shared agreements of the status quo. The conditions are ripe for illumination and compassionate understanding, where we experience the full color, unity and beauty of the living world. The potential to experience this as a collective begins with more and more of us finding the unity within ourselves and seeing this reflected in our day to day interactions.
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