Astro Report
This month’s Moon blossom occurs in the versatile and elegant sign of Gemini, with the Full Moon reaching her exact opposition to the optimism of the Sagittarius Sun at 1:01 am US/Pacific on December 15. Dreamy and illusory Neptune is heavily involved in this lunation, making for confusion, misunderstandings, and a need for a light grip on anything that stirs our passions until the fog can clear. Messenger Mercury appears to be standing still in the sky, returning to direct motion and emphasizing the potential for leaping to hasty conclusions or dreaming up an inaccurate scenario.
The mental power of Mercury also takes center stage in the longer-term Jupiter square Saturn (June 2024 to June 2025) alignment, making a potent T-square on December 26, corresponding to building tension around expected news or perhaps relief as information flows in. Jupiter-Saturn describes the rearrangement of our worldviews and beliefs, the adjustment of the structures of our lives to support new or continued growth along a trajectory. Over the last half of this planetary cycle, many of us will gradually gain new freedoms from various limitations, though a good dose of patience and dedication can be required.
The virtue of patience also figures into the powerful influence of Mars retrograde, which just started moving backward against the zodiac on Dec. 6. We may need to muster an appreciation for slow growth and trust that our persistence leads to a greater sense of forward movement by summer 2025. As we arrive at the December Solstice, when the Sun enters the hardworking sign of Capricorn on Dec. 21, we might pause to reflect on the past year and all its changes and constancies, making a quiet space to open to the mysterious heart of creation.
Full Moon in Gemini
Sun Square Neptune
The Full Moon sparkles through the communicative sign of Gemini on December 15 to oppose the Sun in adventurous Sagittarius at 1:01 am US/Pacific. The emotional waters drawn to the surface by this lunation are heavily tinted by a dynamic T-square aspect from the planet of dreams and illusions, Neptune, suggesting it might be challenging to sort out fact from fiction. Neptune’s influence lends itself readily to mythic and symbolic communications, requiring flexibility, curiosity, and an openness to multiple interpretations. But when it comes to solid information on who, what, when, where, and how, we might have to add some patience to our curiosity and be slow to draw conclusions. Signals and information may be coming in from all directions, but the sources are confusing, or the messages hard to decipher and understand.
Meanwhile, we could be flooded with emotion as empathic Neptune dissolves the boundary between self and other, melting normal inhibitions around connecting with and communicating how we feel. It may be challenging to restrain ourselves from speaking or acting, but wiggling our way into comfort with uncertainties and holding things lightly could allow Neptune’s strong influence to be of a more supportive variety. Softness and receptivity can provide a valuable antidote to emotional reactivity. Our stories' usual “bad guys” and “good guys” might swap roles or transform entirely as a clear picture emerges from the fog over the following days and weeks.
With the identity-forming power of the Sun completing a dynamic square aspect to mythic Neptune (exact December 18), our sense of selfhood and self-esteem may be the most critical factor in how we understand events around this lunation, starting with recognition of the Sacred Other in all things. As the Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön puts it, “Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals. Only when we know our darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.”
Mercury Retrograde Returns to Direct Motion
Mercury Trine Mars
Mercury in Sagittarius
Staying with the center of our consciousness and experience will certainly smooth our sailing through the buffeting seas of the Gemini Full Moon. The potential for highly emotional misunderstandings, miscommunications, misreadings of situations, and crossed lines of communication is further heightened by trickster Mercury’s retrograde motion, which ends on the same day as the Gemini Full Moon it rules.
Mental Mercury is also making a flowing trine aspect to the red-hot planet Mars, which is moving very slowly after turning to retrograde motion on December 6, symbolizing accelerated thinking, combative language, and a restless mind. Be wary of overlooking important details or making giant leaps in logic, and just know that we may have to explain things or hear things several times to release unnecessary tension. Mercury will be more attuned to the big picture, as opposed to minutiae and details, during their long retrograde traverse of philosophical Sagittarius (November 2 to January 8), and the retrograde period’s typical tendencies toward communications snags continue through January 3, 2025.
Mercury Opposite Jupiter and Square Saturn
Quite a few of us may experience tension or relief related to expected news or decisions as messenger Mercury approaches a very potent and stressful T-square on December 26 with the year-long influence of Jupiter square Saturn (July 2024 to July 2025), which will itself be exact on December 24. These three planets already met up twice in the course of Mercury’s retrograde, in mid-November and early December. A series of connected events or realizations may thread through these dates. Mercury’s intimate involvement with this longer-term influence will have us rearranging, thinking, and communicating about elements of our lives that are under the influence of Jupiter-Saturn.
The Jupiter-Saturn archetypal combination symbolizes growing pains, breaking free of limitations, or breaking with the past. It specifically relates to the limitations of our belief systems and the necessity of expanding or modifying our beliefs and philosophies to incorporate a changed reality. It speaks of how the past (Saturn) connects to our future (Jupiter) and corresponds to steadily or even unconsciously working on the structural foundations of our lives (Saturn), preparing the way for a new stage of growth or making it possible to continue on a current trajectory (Jupiter).
It's tricky with mental Mercury's ignition of discussion or reconsideration of the principles we organize our lives, personally or collectively. It may be tempting to leave open too many possibilities, scenarios, or paths into the future, ultimately dispersing our power and energy. To fruitfully narrow the field of possibilities, we might tap into all our ways of knowing—intuitive, bodily, imaginative, emotional, rational, or intellectual—to inquire into what to pursue and what must be abandoned or simply wait for its time. Jupiter-Saturn rewards those who are decisive and thoughtfully consider which hopes or dreams to sacrifice or to postpone, granting enduring success and resilience to any future shocks. Saturn may require us to wait or work harder for some of our Jupiterian explorations, expansions, and successes. We might want to collect and stow away any other exciting ideas and potentials for future reference.
Mercury Retrograde Key Dates
Mars Retrograde
To this end, we must find patience with careful, diligent work, as the momentum of Mars has turned to retrograde motion on Dec. 6 and will be slowly moving backward through the signs of exuberant Leo and family-oriented Cancer until February 23, 2025. Mars is all about achievement, forward thrust, and reaching for a goal, and his slow backward movement is yet another indication for us to appreciate slower growth or progress than we might prefer. Much may be working behind the scenes, a mycelial network of relationships or events deep underground quietly coming together to support our goals. Any such unseen efforts, as well as our visible efforts, should begin to bear fruit closer to summer 2025 when Mars is back up to faster speeds and normal direct motion, and the balanced growth of Jupiter enters the sign of his exaltation, Cancer, on June 9, 2025.
Mars Retrograde Key Dates
Venus Opposite Mars
Venus Trine Jupiter
Venus in Aquarius
Fiery Mars is also impacting his intimate partner Venus this month. We start spicy with sociable Venus, setting off the aggression of Mars opposite Pluto until December 15. Whatever gets kicked up interpersonally may smooth over once the social graces of Venus forms a harmonious trine with gentle Jupiter (exact December 19), providing us with a little bit of ease amidst the potential for continued tension or irritations indicated by other astrological influences. Venus in the egalitarian sign of Aquarius (December 6 to January 2) generally provides more freedom to explore various social contacts and forms of intimacy, experimenting with friendships, romance, and stepping outside of our usual patterns of relating.
Sun in Capricorn, The December Solstice
As we turn towards the December Solstice of December 21, a powerful initiatory point in the Earth’s annual calendar when the Sun's life energy enters the dedicated sign of Capricorn, we pause to reflect on the year’s changes and continuities. While the Gemini Full Moon can awaken empathy, compassion, and sacred curiosity around challenges and opportunities, it’s helpful to remember that a genuinely creative act can feel rather embarrassing. To be creative is to do something we have not tried before and involves a certain kind of vulnerability. The open heart needs no defenses, and connecting with an open heart of acceptance can bring whatever creative evolution or revolution we might be longing for.
Full Moon in Gemini by Moon Sign
The Moon represents the materia of the anima mundi or Soul of the World, symbolic of the sacred body and its interwoven interdependence with all of nature. She describes our deepest vulnerabilities and profound capacity to connect with others. Full Moons amplify energy and emotions, and this one makes the emotional waters quite murky—it may be that understanding ourselves, rather than something external, is the essential ingredient in clear perception. Let’s see how the Gemini Full Moon impacts your own Moon placement!
Aries Moon
Your capacity for generosity of spirit could come under pressure with the Gemini Full Moon and give you a chance to demonstrate authentic leadership. It’s not only a matter of patient presence with the unraveling of a mystery or with your frustration at others, Aries Moon, but a willingness to let love guide your responses.
Taurus Moon
In some ways, the Gemini Full Moon represents a sword of truth, cutting through self-deception and miasma or any crap you’ve just been going along with. Far from an adverse disclosure, this helps place power where it rightfully belongs, Taurus Moon, strengthening your participation in Earth Community.
Gemini Moon
This is your Full Moon of 2024, Gemini Moon! This month’s blossoming of the Moon presides over a remarkable loosening of the straitjacket of self-judgment and impossible expectations of perfection. You might enjoy an unexpected renewal of your relationship with freedom, including a fresh sense of comfort with the responsibility that naturally accompanies your freedom.
Cancer Moon
You may find yourself a little lost under this lunation, Cancer Moon. But bit by bit, you could allow the context you swim in to locate you and place you in exactly the right spot, the center from which you radiate within the Gemini Full Moon.
Leo Moon
The quest for inner harmony amidst the turbulence of the world around you is a keynote of this Gemini Full Moon. Tending your energetic or psychic boundaries and grounding into your own intuitive and imaginative powers will steer you straight, Leo Moon, and help you make the most of new social connections and opportunities.
Virgo Moon
Something is passing away at this time, Virgo Moon, and the Gemini Full Moon is conspiring with your Moon’s ruling planet, Mercury, to draw close attention to what needs to be released or grieved. Faithfully composting and honoring what is leaving or has left will ultimately add power to your contributions to the world as you take on slightly different roles.
Libra Moon
You’re teetering on the edge of falling into trust in your powers and placement in the cosmos, Libra Moon. The Gemini Full Moon encourages you to follow a spiral of consciousness into the center of your heart to know what is real. If you enjoy making any kind of art—visual, musical, written, spoken, etc—such creation could help let go of anxieties or overanalyzing that blocks the flow of life and inspiration.
Scorpio Moon
The Gemini Full Moon is probing into the stagnant areas of your life and might jiggle loose some potent stories about your self-worth that have little connection to reality. Though this lunation may make it hard to discern the source of intense feelings of judgment or shame, keep a steady gaze on your inner figures of darkness, Scorpio Moon. Fixing on others’ flaws or perfections wastes your valuable attention.
Sagittarius Moon
The Gemini Full Moon illuminates the gift, your offerings, within the sacred nature of reciprocity. You can use this quality of light to see more deeply into the places you are falling out of integrity, Sag Moon, whether that has resulted in giving too much or too little.
Capricorn Moon
The Gemini Full Moon may bring awareness to the small anxieties and worries that slowly build into significant stressors when they are overfed and left unattended. Take time to care for your nervous system, Capricorn Moon, and enjoy the things that soothe and calm you. Beware of death by a thousand cuts.
Aquarius Moon
The Innocent Child within you could help navigate turbulence with this Gemini Full Moon. What could it be like to receive love into your heart without conditions placed on it, with trust and innocence uncolored by expectations, Aquarius Moon? This fundamental openness can bring new light to your more profound or hidden desires to connect.
Pisces Moon
Grant yourself freedom from those beliefs that weigh on your spirit, chaining you to a rock of untouchable desire, Pisces Moon. The Gemini Full Moon frees you from the strict separation of the body from the mind or the body from the Soul. Per a blessing penned by the great Irish poet John O’Donohue: “May you be embraced by God in whom dawn and twilight are one./ May your longing inhabit its dreams within the Great Belonging.”
