This is a significant month, from an astronomical perspective, but also from a spiritual perspective. By the end of June, our journey through the calendar year reaches its half-way point. Depending on our locale and hemisphere, the energetic significance of that can be both aligned and complementary to the wisdom in both parts of the cycle that shift at the Solstice on June 20/21.
At Solstice (“standing still” in its Latin roots), Father Sun appears to pause on the horizon, rising in the same position for several days as it tips in its cycle from waxing to waning and vice-versa. And even though the Solstice timing can be measured to the minute, we can feel the Solstice effects for several days during that pause.
But Solstice is not the only Sky event this lunar month. On the New Moon, arriving June 10th @ 10:52 UTC / 3:52 am PDT, we also have an annular solar eclipse! And even though it will not be visible to all, its energy will still be all around us.
For those who can view it (per the image below), the maximum eclipse is June 10th at 10:41 UTC (6:41 AM EDT). For more about the Annular Solar Eclipse in Gemini, visit TimeAndDate.com for details of duration, visibility and more.
The combined energies of those events — the New Moon in Gemini, the Solar eclipse and the coming Solstice — inspired my theme for this new lunar month: Pause & Reflect.
New Moon Energy
The New Moon — and the coming Solstice — hold the energies of a new cycle, bringing light from darkness, and the opportunity to bring forth our deep wisdom from that dark intuitive time to guide us in that new journey. The solar eclipse acts like a booster for those energies, carrying them well beyond the days of the New Moon and Solstice.
This new moon is in Gemini, named for the twins Castor and Pollux, a mutable sign ruled by Mercury and the element Air. Together these offer us the qualities of communication, playfulness, versatility, adaptability, and a joy of life, embracing it to the fullest.
A New Moon is always a time of deep contemplation, and a time when we make decisions more from our intuition and our inner wisdom than our rational conscious minds. The sign of Gemini —the twins, aka the Dioscuri, the mortal Castor and the immortal Pollux — is a good reminder of the duality within each of us, as those dualities manifest and complement each other with their waxing and waning energies.
The duality of immortality and mortality is the essence of this sign, and can also be imagined in other ways: the complementary dualities of light and dark, Yin and Yang, Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine, and more.
This duality comes from the Twins, who in Greek myth were known as the Dioscuri, and the sons of a mortal mother, Queen Leda of Sparta, but with different fathers. Castor’s father Tyndareus was mortal (as was Castor), the King of Sparta and Leda’s husband. Castor’s twin Pollux was the son of Zeus himself, king of the gods, who seduced Leda as a swan. It was said that Leda birthed four eggs, which hatched as Castor and Clytemnestra (mortals) and Pollux and Helen (demigods).
The sisters Clytemnestra (who became the wife of Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae) and Helen (wife of Menelaus, the king of Sparta, and known as “the face that launched a thousand ships”) had their own fame in the Greek lore of the Trojan Wars.
The twins Castor and Pollux were strong allies for each other, but for all mortals life eventually comes to an end. When Castor was killed in battle, Pollux fell into a deep sorrow and asked to be released from the gift of immorality. In another version, Pollux asks for immortality to be given to Castor. Zeus granted the request by reuniting the brothers as stars in the heavens as a testament to the power of brotherly love, and allowing them to spend half the year in Olympus with the gods and the other half of the year in the Elysium Fields, the Underworld.
Wikipedia informs us that these twin stars and constellation were also recognized in Babylonian astronomy, where they were know as the Great Twins Lugal-irra and Meslamta-ea, meaning “The Mighty King” and “The One who has arisen from the Underworld”. Another interesting duality!
Although the duality of immortality and mortality is the essence of this sign, it can also be imagined in other ways: the complementary dualities of light and dark, Yin and Yang, Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine, and more.
The Gemini Shadow
With the boost from the Annular Solar Eclipse at this New Moon, you may find the shadow side of Gemini more prominent. The eloquence and communication skills of Gemini could devolve into superficial gossip, the playfulness could turn to immaturity or restlessness, the versatility and adaptability could shift to an inability to commit to any particular action or to abandon plans before results are achieved.
Raise your awareness to that expression of Shadow, perhaps asking your Wise Inner Self to help you understand what that Shadow wants, or what wisdom it is now bringing to your awareness. Consider bringing that awareness into your Soul Work.
New Moon and Solar Eclipse Soul Work
Consider contemplating the duality within you in your Soul Work during this lunar month, both at the New Moon and Full Moon, and at the Solstice where we are invited to Pause & Reflect on our journey through this calendar year and how are energies are shifting from waxing to waning (Northern Hemisphere) or waning to waxing (Southern Hemisphere).