New Moon: May 30 at 1:30 am UTC, 7:30 am EDT, 4:30 am PDT
Who wands — or needs! — to play? To frolic? To rejoice? I know I do. My soul is aching for a time of ease and simplicity and connection. It yearns to look up at the sky, stars, and moon, while sitting around a campfire with friends, telling a story or singing a song.
Perhaps this New Moon in Gemini is the nudge I need — and perhaps that you need too — to throw off the fatigue of recent times and embrace the Gemini qualities to their fullest. YES! Gemini wants us to play, to socialize, to rejoice.
Gemini is named for the twins Castor and Pollux, is ruled by Mercury and Air, and is considered a disruptor for change, as it is the third month in this astrological season. Tthe sign of the twins also celebrates the duality we have within us, such as when we make decisions from our intuition and our inner wisdom rather than our rational conscious minds at the New Moon.
Mercury is the root of the word mercurial, meaning:
- intelligent, enthusiastic, and quick (Cambridge Dictionary)
- subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind (Oxford Dictionary).
Some may look at this as a negative quality, using words such as fickle, capricious, and volatile to describe your behaviour. Of course, that is possible when the shadow side of Mercury is at play. But it can also mean when something is not working or not serving you, you can pivot or change with the quick thinking, agile, adaptable qualities of Mercury and the wisdom of your own dualities.
Air inspires your thoughts, dreams and voice, so welcome at a new moon, a time of new beginnings. And like all elements, you may feel it both gently and powerfully! You may feel the air like a soft breeze gliding across your face as you walk through a meadow or some wild place, bringing the fragrance of the fresh flowers, trees and grasses, bringing you peace and joy. You may feel it like a windstorm or tornado, quickly and forcefully heralding change – and perhaps creating chaos – and demanding your attention as you brace your Self and let those powerful winds sweep away anything in your path.
And, yes, it is a disruptor too, defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as a thing that prevents something, especially a system, process, or event, from continuing as usual or as expected.
That disruption may come from a breeze, awakening your soul and inviting it to step through a window (in the words of Mary Oliver below) or to stop listening to the dark shouters, whether from an external source or from within you, or the gremlins and beliefs that can at times be in your way.
Listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life? While the soul, after all, is only a window, and the opening of the window no more difficult than the wakening from a little sleep. … For how long will you continue to listen to those dark shouters, caution and prudence? Fall in! Fall in! … Mary Oliver, in Have You Ever Tried to Enter the Long Black Branches
Soul Work for the New Moon: Just Breathe
The element of air, and the agile qualities of Gemini, can aid you in your soul work as you contemplate what needs to end, to change, or to continue. At a new moon, also known as a dark moon, our intuition is strongest, so it is an ideal time for reflection and meditation.
If those few words above from Mary Oliver inspired you, or if you are breathing just a little, I invite you to read her poem in full on the many pages found via Google. This is one of them.
The simple act of working with Air through conscious breathing can allow you to pause, to step into the liminal spaces between your breaths to find wisdom deep within. Breathe in deeply and fully… breathe out fully… inhale deeply… exhale fully… breathe in… breathe out. Find your flow, your rhythm. Find your wisdom, your medicine.
You can take that practice beyond conscious breathing, to becoming a meditation and an even deeper experience with a mantra meditation (more on that in a future post), which can focus and occupy your brain so that your “monkey mind” rests and you keep the dark shouters at bay.
What is the Monkey Mind, or the Kapicitta, as defined by Buddha? He said, “Just as a monkey swinging through the trees grabs one branch and lets it go only to seize another, so too, that which is called thought, mind or consciousness arises and disappears continually both day and night.”
It is also important to breathe in a way that improves the meditative quality, such as diaphragmatic breathing, as demonstrated in this video from the UCLA Integrative Digestive Health and Wellness Program.
As you step into June, and the coming of a new Solstice on June 21st, perhaps Air can inspire your soul work as you too approach that tipping point, when Father Sun shifts from waxing to waning (Northern Hemisphere) and waning to waxing (Southern Hemi).
Seanmháthair Gealach (Grandmother Moon in Irish) has some last words for you:
