2012 Gemini New Moon Partial Solar Eclipse

May 20, 2012
4:48 PM PST / 7:48 PM EDT / 11:48 PM GMT
0 Gemini 21

This month’s super-charged Gemini New Moon Solar Eclipse open a huge and prolonged portal to “change your thinking; change your life.“ The winds of change it’s whipping up will blow our minds and lives to places that we’ve never been, and maybe never previously thought possible.

The unfolding drama is raw, intense, exciting and life-changing. It’s upping the ante in a process that’s been going on since December 2010, when the current eclipse cycle began on the Gemini/Sagittarius axis. This new moon is the third forward-shot in the rebooting those eclipses are bringing (the first two were last June, in Gemini, and November, in Sag) — a rebooting of our mental processes, of our relationship to our information sources and data flow, of our relationship to the people in our vicinity and to those far away or from places foreign to us.

Relationships are in the mix in a big way with this month’s eclipse, which has several twists from its predecessors. Like any solar eclipse, it is a new moon to the 10th power, with an exponentially greater impact as well as a much longer influence. Instead of setting the tone for the next moon phase, this new moon will be playing out all summer and likely for the next six months or so. This one is more fierce than most, because it’s in the very first degree of Gemini, and in the first half of the very first degree to boot, a placement that makes its expression unfiltered, unadorned and potent as can be. (We last experienced a Gemini solar eclipse at this degree on May 21, 1993. Set your way-back machines and see what you find there.)

May’s Gemini New Moon is a partial eclipse that will be visible in parts of the western US. (View a map of the eclipse path here; pick a site from this article for watching the eclipse online or on your phone.) It is also annular, which means that a ring of fire will surround the moon as it blocks the sun. Let that image sink in: a ring of fire surrounding the moon.

Looks like hearts on fire to me and, no surprise, the goddess of love is along for the ride. Her involvement in this is thicker than it looks at first blush, so let’s go through it step by step.

Venus is midway through the sign of the eclipse, where she has just begun a six-week retrograde. Since she’s in Gemini, she’s under the influence of the planet that rules that sign, which is Mercury, the overlord of communication and transportation. Mercury is midway through the sign of Taurus, which puts him under the influence of the planet that rules that sign, which is: Venus. Each answers to the other, in a special relationship called mutual reception. For now, anything that happens to one of them — or influence that one exerts — affects the other.

On top of that, the two planets are in roughly the same place in their respective signs, which puts them in a lovely growth aspect that encourages heart-centered, relationship-oriented sharing of ideas and information. That aspect also fosters an easy alignment of our hearts and minds, or values and thinking, all based on who we are now rather than on past selves or programming. Our hearts have evolved and we express them in new ways.

So Venus casts her spell over this eclipse, and what’s going on with her colors the events and developments it’s bringing. Because of her, people and matters that are dear to our heart play a major role in the current rebooting. Many of these will be resurfacing after long absences due to her retrograde, which adds a major retrospective element to the normally future-oriented nature of a solar eclipse. (Lunar eclipses bring the past to light, while solar eclipses shoot us forward, like a character hitting a power-up in a Mario racing game.)

Many of the Venus-related reappearances will have serious overtones to them and have us earnestly rethinking what’s truly important to us in the long run. She’s still wearing the effects of a direct flow to Saturn, the guy who upholds rules and order and argues for responsibility and stability. Much as Venus in Gemini takes a more-the-merrier attitude, this summer she’s thinking about commitment (which could usher in lively but stable relationships while also dropping the back-breaking straw on many a camel.) Add this to the Gemini solar eclipse and the result is a drastic new phase in how we think and what we believe about our human interactions — and what we experience in them as a result.

Moving beyond what we did in the past is one probability — no longer expecting that X will happen because that’s what happened in the past. You could realize that you don’t really want what you think you want. You could change your thinking and beliefs about what you want to line up with what your heart truly values. You could realize that the objet d’amour you’ve been longing for doesn’t match the projections you’ve put on him and stop hoping that s/he’ll undergo a personality transplant. You could realize that the big heartbreak of your past was a jerk, or was just as young and confused as you, or didn’t mean to rip your heart out, or wasn’t what you wanted anyway.

Some people could even — despite how unrealistic this sounds — wipe the slate clean of categorical, prejudicial beliefs about [men/women/liberals/right-wingers/blacks/gays/fundamentalists/immigrants/insert group of choice]. Categorial thinking will certainly be flying around the public discussion. It’s possible that the real-world repercussions from some of this thinking could lead to shifts in positions, or public statements that take issue with other people’s thinking. (Biden’s and Obama’s statements about same-sex marriage are an advance-guard example of this phenomenon.)

Sunday’s eclipse is happening on the South Node of the Moon, which is a repository of old behaviors, experiences and lifetimes, the motivations behind what we do impulsively and unthinkingly when under pressure or attack. Use the noun for this celestial event as a verb: it is eclipsing out the past, not so much slamming the door as shooting us wildly and quickly away from it.

We are leaving a lot behind. This eclipse will trigger an epidemic of changes of mind, changes of heart, changes of beliefs and — ultimately and inevitably — changes of life circumstances. You will be viewing the flurry of interactions through the filter of long-term ramifications and consequences, and it will become instantaneous to identify what you want to keep and what has to go. You are moving beyond the hodge-podge of beliefs that you picked up at varying times in your life and into a life philosophy that reflects what you, currently, value and desire.

Everything’s being rebooted: what we think and believe, how we communicate that, the technology we use to do that, how this translates into social, romantic and business relationships, what we think about money and our own value, everything. The rethinking, revisiting, rebooting and resetting all occur with an eye toward longevity, staying power and sustainability.

What changes over the summer and beyond could take your breath away. It will also land you somewhere that is much more beneficial for you in the long run. Seeing that may take a while, but ask for the silver-lining vision. It’ll be on offer to everyone freely soon, once Jupiter enters Gemini on June 11.

Here’s your guiding image to make this process fun: You’re embarking on a jet-propelled magic carpet ride to points unknown. Your thinking and beliefs affect where and how the carpet will go. You get to decide what kind of people are coming along — maybe not the specific identifies of your companions, but definitely the characteristics of them and of your interactions.

At last year’s Gemini solar eclipse, the sky set set up a 12-month bridge between Taurus and Gemini — between our worldly circumstances and the realm of our thoughts. Now Jupiter, one of the founders of the bridge’s Taurus end, is finishing his time in that sign. He will move to the Gemini end in the second week of June and whip up the winds of change even more in thinking and beliefs, communication, and all manner of human interactions. Change is inevitable, and it’s going to be huge.

Expanding on my forecast for the 2011 Gemini New Moon solar eclipse, I offer up this list of where we have the opportunity to start anew. Bookmark and return!

✭ We can wipe the technology slate clean. How much time do you really want to spend online, on Facebook and Twitter and the zillion of other social media sites, texting and watching TV anyway? How do the topics in your Facebook feed affect your mood?

✭ We can clean our mental filters. (This is a extension of the above paragraph.) What do you normally think about? Who do you regularly talk to? What is the quality of your conversation? What are the topics? Do you read anymore? Contemplate? Think? Are your thoughts really yours, or are they the programming/parroting/byproduct of what you see on TV, hear on talk radio or read online? What catchphrases do you normally use? Is any of this congruent with what you want to be going through your mind?

✭ We can consciously launch new phases with siblings and neighbors. Do you and your sibs still relate with the old dynamics, or do you relate as adults or allies? (Think about it: Who else understands you so thoroughly? Who so thoroughly shares your frame of reference?) Are you in sync with the people in your neighborhood? Do you want to be?

✭ We can become conscious of the nature and quality of our information sources (see first paragraph) and make new choices.

✭ We can become aware of our communication style — whether we actively listen, or simply wait for a break in the conversation until it’s time for us to talk again; whether we present our opinion as Truth or are actually open to other points of view — and how the people around us communicate.

✭ We can become aware of the effect words have — ours on others, others’ on us — and make different choices.

✭ We can consciously review, rip up and rewrite our relationship expectations and rule books.

If you would like a greater understanding of what these eclipses hold in store, including the effect on each sign, please purchase my 2-mp3 talk “It’s All In Your Mind: The Potential of the Gemini/Sagittarius Eclipses of 2010-2013.”

© Kathy Biehl 2012. All Rights Reserved. You may forward this article as long as the copyright notice is intact. No part may be used or reprinted without my prior written permission. Karma, ya know.
Astro-Insight

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