Astrology June 11-20 (♊️III): The Way Divides

The Sun enters the third decan of Gemini on June 10^th, and will be there until the solstice on the 21^st. This face of Gemini is the last of the season, and like all quarter-ending decans, has a separating and sacrificial quality. In the first decan of Gemini, we saw the binary formula of the Twins facilitate permutative mental explosions as one became two, and two gave rise to 10,001. The second decan attempted to stabilize this process via the power of the hermaphrodite, holding the space between one and two, the singular and the dual. In the third and face of Gemini, we find the inevitable fate of the dual — to return to singularity.

There are always more possibilities than actualities, as the actual is a subset of the possible. It is glorious and curious to gaze upon the many ways which one might be, the many masks which we might wear. But insofar as we are located in one time and one space, the number we can fully manifest is limited. Over an infinite timeline, we might walk in all bodies, yet we do so one at a time. Human reproduction sees millions of sperm released, each a potentiality, each a different life. Yet only one sperm will unite with the egg, only one of those millions of lives will be lived.

For the possible to become actual, one twin must die. In Greek myth, Castor was slain while Pollux remained in the daylight world. Yet the two decided to split the realms between them, each trading off between the land of the dead and the territory of the living. Many things can be made real, many possibilities can manifest, but not all at once.

So the executioner’s blade falls, separating life and death, sorting possibilities into now and later, manifest and latent. Being the last decan of the season, we inevitably look forward to the next. Of the many seeds strewn about the second quarter of the year, which will you plant and nurture? For this matter of incubation and feeding is the work of the Sun in Cancer, the time for which is barely more than a week away. Yet before we plant, we must decide, for our lives are not infinitely fecund, and our capacity to bring things into being is limited by time, energy, skill and space.

It is the New Moon in Gemini, which takes place on June 13^th, which puts the executioner’s sword in our hand. During the dark nights of the Moon which surround this lunation, hold the blade in your hand and think over all that you could, and all that you should. The way you begin the next season will say much about what will come to pass. You will need to consign some possibilities to the underworld for others to thrive. For you are the author of your life, and will inevitably find yourself in that place all writers come to, that charnel house where we decide which darlings to kill.

You needn’t rush the choice, but nor should you neglect it, as one seed properly nurtured will yield more fruit than a hundred scattered thoughtlessly and unattended.

The New Moon in Gemini places the blade in hand and Mercury, who enters Cancer on the 12^th, attests to the necessity of judgement. In the first decan of Cancer for most of the Sun’s time in Gemini III, Mercury has raced ahead of the Sun, and is already concerned with nurturing the chosen reality. Furthermore, Mercury will spend this time in opposition with Saturn in Capricorn, in whose cold gaze the consequences of different choices are made clear. Saturn also speaks to the importance of considering not just our desires, but our obligations. What needs to get done, and how will you ensure that it comes to pass? Additionally, Saturn points toward the importance of commitment, and power of an oath to bind, to constrain actions to a single causal line.

Neptune is virtually motionless during this time, as it has slowed for its retrograde station on the 18^th, which begins its annual season of retreat. Here the mighty waters pull back from the shore of the imagination, revealing how things have been changed by immersion within the waves. It is the beginning of a phase of separation and discretion, and in accord with the work of the third face of Gemini.

While Mercury and Saturn reinforce the Sun in Gemini III’s priorities, Venus and Mars have other things to discuss. Venus enters Leo shortly after the New Moon on the 13^th. Venus immediately makes an emotionally disruptive but potentially revelatory square with Uranus in Taurus, and then proceeds toward a conjunction with the Dragon’s Head (19^th) and opposition with almost-retrograde Mars (21^st). While Venus rides the Head of the Dragon, Mars sits upon its Tail. Opposed and on the eclipse axis, Mars and Venus together churn the passions, swirling strife and harmony into a volatile yet erotic mixture. Relationships will feel the ongoing push-pull of this dynamic throughout the decan. Ego issues will arise, and the desire to be seen, as well as the fear thereof, make take center stage. Unlike the culling and planting of certain possibilities spoken of by the third face of Gemini, these martial and Venusian matters do not cry out to be decided right now. It will take Mars’ and then Venus’ coming retrogrades to fully understand and sort them.

Mars will retrograde over 2018’s next season, and Venus during the fourth and final quarter of 2018. The year has many surprises left in store, and so now, as we approach the half way point, it is time gain our equilibrium and to think both forward and backward, to split our faces like Janus and reflect on what has already occurred, and about how we will meet what is about to.