Gemini and The Lovers

On May 20^th, the Sun enters Gemini, The Twins, the sign of the zodiac associated with The Lovers Tarot card. The Sun moving into airy Gemini signals a lighthearted time to meet new people, explore new ideas and learn new things. Gemini is a curious and intellectual zodiac sign, ruled by planet Mercury, the Messenger of the Gods, this connects Gemini to ideas, information and communication, which is why so many of us do a lot of extra thinking, analyzing, learning and chatting this time of year. Gemini is also restless; preferring to do several fantastic things at once instead of focusing on just one and this can cause Gemini to seem scattered. More than anything, Gemini brings an affectionate, playful and fun energy to everyone this time of year. If you can learn to enjoy it all without overextending yourself during this time, the bright, playful energy of the Gemini Sun will light up your life.

The Lovers Card, numbered six, the twins represented were Castor and Pollux born to Queen Leda who slept with the god Zeus and also with King Tyndareus of Sparta in quick succession. Castor is the immortal son of Zeus and Pollux is his mortal "twin" brother. The boys so loved each other that they were inseparable. When Pollux died in battle, immortal Castor begged Zeus to allow him to join Pollux forever in the afterlife. As a result, the two boys were placed in the heavens as the constellation Gemini. The mythology of Gemini is replete with difficult decisions. The card pictures a representation of Adam and Eve before their decision to eat the forbidden fruit. Behind them stands an angel. Eve stands next to the Tree of Knowledge and around that tree is coiled the snake that circles the waist of The Magician. Adam stands next to the tree with its twelve fruits, one for each sign of the zodiac. The two figures in the Lovers card are blessed and protected by the Archangel Raphael, the angel of Air. One of the associations of Air is communication, necessary for a healthy relationship. The flames behind the man represent the flames of passion, indicating the primary concern of the man. There are twelve flames, representing the twelve zodiac signs, the symbol of time and eternity. The man looks to the woman, who looks to the angel, indicating the path of the conscious to the subconscious to the super-conscious, or from physical desire to emotional needs to spiritual concerns. The mountain is a phallic symbol, while the water is a feminine symbol, indicating balance between the two.

Tarot Meditations While the Sun Is in Gemini

The period when the Sun transits through Gemini is an excellent time to meditate on tarot's The Lovers. Ponder the myths of Castor and Pollux. Do you show your loved ones how much you really care? What are the important decisions you are facing in your life? Can you live with the consequences of your choice? What are you willing to sacrifice or compromise to maintain your relationship? Is that healthy for you?

To prepare for mediation, sit or lie in a comfortable place and allow your body to be free of tension and distractions. Pay attention to your breathing. Feel your breath go in and out as you inhale and exhale. If distracting thoughts enter your mind, simply observe them and allow them to float by as you gently return your attention to your breathing. When you have established a steady, comfortable rhythm of breathing rhythmically in and out, turn your focus to the tarot card. Observe the card and contemplate its images. Let your mind be open to the messages you receive from it. When you have completed your meditation, you may wish to record your observations in a notebook for review later on.

May 2016 - Time to Reflect

As May begins, there are five planets trekking through a retrograde cycle: communicator Mercury, forceful Mars, expansive Jupiter (although Jupiter will turn direct on May 9^th), structured Saturn and transformative Pluto. Despite their poor reputations for disruption and chaos which is not without merit, Retrogrades are also an important time to slow down, step back and correct course. Are you on the best possible path or are you just charging ahead blindly? The Universe is giving us a grace period to sort that all out.

For the next few months, we need to be clear on who we are, what we are doing, where we are going and start practicing it. These 4 months are our gift to learn how to be our true authentic selves.  Here is a short overview of the energy you can experience from each planet:

1. Mars causes feeling of “I want to move forward but I can’t”. It is a fast moving planet and hates slowness but we are forced to re-evaluate how we react and our actions so we can be a more aligned path with our authentic self.

2. Saturn wants us to take slow, steady steps with lots of time for reflection. We learn to look at our beliefs, thoughts, movement, action in life and business. Are you trying to do too much, are you glossing over things and are you not walking your talk.

3. Jupiter asks us to look at how we want to expand our lives and make sure we are being true to who we are. How can you love and honor yourself more?

4. Pluto challenges our beliefs, perceptions, our inner selves and shadow side. It wants us to really dig deep and clear out things that no longer serve.

5. Mercury wants us to look at everything about communication, contacts, technology, appliances and vehicles. What need to be repaired, redone or fixed? Are all your “I’s” dotted and “T’s” crossed.

It is a beautiful gift if we choose to see it that way. Our energy and time is precious. Do the groundwork now. Build your foundation and shine authentically.

Each planet affects a different part of your chart. I can provide you with a road map to help you see what you need to work on and to watch out for during the next few challenging months. If you want a retrograde astrology chart, please click here.

Mercury Rx in Taurus

 

April 28 to May 22, 2016

Oh, Mercury retrograde, here you are again arriving on our collective thresholds in all your chaotic glory.  During your stay you are going to ask us (whether we like it or not) to re-evaluate, re-tool and re-vamp our lives (whether we like it or not). Then, as quickly as you appear, you disappear again, leaving us reeling, but with better insight into ourselves.  The key to surviving this period is really rather simple - go with it.  Mercury is giving you a do-over, a take two, a mulligan.  Take advantage - don’t squander the opportunity.

While Mercury is backpedaling in earthy Taurus, we'll all have a sobering opportunity to revise our plans about the material side of life. Perhaps your budget needs an overhaul. Or, it's possible that you need to reconsider how you're using your talents in order to earn money. Whatever the details, you have an opportunity to re-calibrate your approach to finances and strengthen your mental self-worth muscles in the process.You may be persuaded to let go of things and possessions you've been holding and hoarding. Perhaps you can recycle by donating your old possessions. Mercury retrograde in Taurus brings stubborn blockages connected with new ideas, powers of concentration and putting ideas into a practical format. Access to the most direct route to your goals is likely to be blocked by breakdowns in communication and unwillingness to compromise. All areas of communication are affected. Methods and motivation for learning, communication and transportation are subject to difficulties under this aspect.

So along with the customary Do’s and Don’ts of backing up your data, not signing any contracts (unless it was started pre-retrograde) and double-checking your appointments, here are 5 tips to help you cope during this time.

• Be sure not to take things too personally. People will often say offensive things they didn’t mean around this time, because their thinking is clouded and their communication skills are on pause.

• Finally finish those lingering tasks. Home improvement projects? Wardrobe re-organization? This is an excellent time to complete those things and file them away forever.

• Allow Mercury to nudge you in unusual directions. Look at what the universe is trying to show you. What can you learn from this situation? This is a fantastic time to re-examine, accept and move on.

• Mercury retrograde encourages us to tie up loose ends. Holding a grudge is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. It’s time to move on, and if you can’t forget, do your best to forgive.

• Mercury retrograde favors rewriting, revising or editing any documents. Why not put that energy to good use and rework your résumé or personal mission statement? You could spice up your blog’s bio page or make some long overdue changes to your business plans.

Taurus and the Heirophant

On April 19^th, the Sun began its month-long trek through Taurus the Bull, the zodiac sign assigned to the Hierophant of the tarot. The sign Taurus belongs to the element earth and is ruled by the planet Venus. In Aries, the Sun is bold, confident, direct, quick-thinking, quick-acting and quick-tempered. In Taurus, the Sun slows down, steps back, makes considerations, and assesses risk vs. gain with the timing involved. Taurus as a fixed (stable) sign enables the new seeds we planted in Aries to take root and blossom.While Taurus may have a reputation as stubborn, the Bull also is placid and steady and we will welcome this new energy after the nonstop activity of Sun in Aries.

The Hierophant card, numbered five, depicts a priestly figure seated between two pillars. He holds a scepter and wears a triple crown. Beneath his feet lies a set of keys, symbolizing his access to secret knowledge. On either side of the keys, two acolytes knell.  They are alternatively clad in dark and light vestments reminiscent of the dark and light pillars on the High Priestess card. The Hierophant symbolizes the organized and ritualized approach to spiritual truth. Taurus is associated with the Hierophant tarot card, deriving from the Greek “hieros” meaning “sacred,” and “phainein” meaning “to reveal”. This is the title of the high priest of the Eleusinian cult, who worshipped the Goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone. The Hierophant (male High Priest) along with the High Priestess, led the ceremonies that annually commemorated the descent of Persephone into the underworld of Hades and her resurrection to new life. Only the Hierophant was allowed to touch the “hiera” or sacred objects of the Goddess. Demeter’s gift to mankind was the knowledge of tilling the earth and cultivating grain. In the mystery religion of Eleusis, the vegetation cycle of the death and burial of grain in the ground and its rebirth in the spring became symbolic of the spiritual life of man.

Tarot Meditations While the Sun Is in Taurus

This period when the Sun transits through Taurus is an excellent time to meditate on the Hierophant card. Do you need spiritual guidance from a wise counselor? Are you being as fruitful as you can with the gifts nature has given you? Where are you in the cycle of planting your seeds and tending your garden? In what part of your life do you need to “die” in order to be reborn?

To prepare for mediation, sit or lie in a comfortable place and allow your body to be free of tension and distractions. Pay attention to your breathing. Feel your breath go in and out as you inhale and exhale. If distracting thoughts enter your mind, simply observe them and allow them to float by as you gently return your attention to your breathing. When you have established a steady, comfortable rhythm of breathing rhythmically in and out, turn your focus to the tarot card you have selected for meditation. Observe the card and contemplate its images. Let your mind be open to the messages you receive from it. When you have completed your meditation, you may wish to record your observations in a notebook for review later on.

Mars/Pluto Rx - Transforming our Souls

Mars begins its retrograde period on April 17th in Sagittarius, backtracks into Scorpio on May 27th and remains there until it turns direct on June 29th. Following the retrograde cycle, Mars will exit Scorpio and enter Sagittarius on August 2nd. It is particularly noteworthy that Pluto begins its retrograde period on April 18th, less than 24 hours after Mars.

When Mars begins retrograde in Sagittarius, intuition sends a stronger signal and prompts a tough questioning and soul-searching period. Mars retrograde in Sagittarius serves to curtail that which has run rampant or wild or has grown out of proportion. What looked like opportunity can prove to be out of reach, a liability, lost, or non-existent.  What had seemed so clear, so justified, can become indistinct, confused and irrelevant. At the same time, this necessitates the intake of more diversified information and experience. It can prompt or force consciousness to open up to more varied ideas, concepts and opinions. We are now in the position to re-assess our current projects, our approach to getting what we want, and our desire nature. There can be passive-aggressive behavior during this cycle. We may be instigating problems or arguments rather than dealing with issues directly. When Mars enters into Scorpio at the end of May, you will find this to intensify our soul-searching introspection. Here, the soul is consciously and deliberately choosing to confront, examine and question itself. Instincts are now in a state of deeper questioning. Mars retrograde in Scorpio seeks to merge self and soul more consciously and completely.

Adding to our desire to get to the heart of us, Pluto turns retrograde from the 18th to September 26th, and we feel pressured to eliminate and release the old, outdated and obsolete in our lives. We are urged to let go of attitudes, thinking or communication patterns and rigid emotions and undertake an internal form of house cleaning. It is a good time to research into our own Souls in order to determine exactly what we do or do not need. Pluto's backward shift makes us reflective and forces us to look inward. Like its namesake, the planet Pluto rules over the shadow side of everything and everyone. When Pluto goes retrograde, it forces us to focus on our own personal shadow sides, specifically, the unpleasant parts of our personalities that we may not really like. Two big themes that Pluto likes to highlight are power and desire. With Pluto retrograde, we'll have to get honest with ourselves about how much we're motivated by a need for recognition, money and authority. This is a period of personal reckoning and once we see the traits in ourselves that we dislike, we can work to improve them. Pluto retrograde sheds light on the darker corners of our experiences. In this way we can grow, which highlights Pluto's key role in our lives - transformation.