This New Moon is so very Gemini we can feel the scintillating sparkles of creative ideas bursting from the triple conjunction of Sun, Moon and Venus at 16º of Gemini.
Mercury, ruler of Gemini and therefore of this triple conjunction New Moon is also here in their own home where thinking is bright and clever and constant. Only 4º from their conjunction with Jupiter, this Mercury has big ideas and lots of them.
This New Moon offers both luminaries, both benefics, and an agile, clever Mercury.
The Moon is also well out of bounds, her declination outside the limits set by the Sun. Our feelings are riding high, way out of the box, off the charts. We may feel a need to express ourselves, in words, music, images, movement, laughter … something!
Yet there is depth here too, and shadow.
The middle decan of Gemini, where we find the Sun, Moon, and Venus, is a place where duality is strongly felt and difficult to balance. In his book, 36 Faces, Austin Coppock describes repeating cycles of separation and reunification for this decan.
It seems the myriad thoughts potentiated by all this Gemini are not solely bright. There is darkness here too.
Note that the New Moon and Venus all square Saturn in Pisces. Saturn can put a damper on Gemini’s imagination, asking questions about what’s realistic, what can actually be achieved, and whether we have the resources we need to do the work.
Saturn wants the Gemini planets to slow down.That’s not always a bad thing.
There’s a blues song written by BB King and recorded by him and many other blues artists. It’s called Never Make Your Move Too Soon. This is a song title Saturn can endorse.
Like many blues songs, it tells of wins and losses, of the costs of rash decisions and the benefits of waiting.
If you find the mental energy of this Gemini New Moon overwhelming, search out your favorite cover of this song and listen. BB King, Bonnie Raitt, Joe Bonamassa, and many others have recorded it. BB King’s is my favorite.
Pluto at 01º50’ Aquarius is in a tight trine with Jupiter and a looser one with Mercury. Here we find the depth of Pluto with the principled, long-term planning of Aquarius.
Where Saturn asks for responsibility and prudence, Pluto brings in soul, the deep psyche, and bone-deep authenticity. This is a trine, but one that challenges the sometimes superficial focus of Gemini to reach for something deeper, richer, and more enduring.
Here I want to bring in the concept of negative capability, a phrase first used by the romantic poet John Keats to describe an openness to ambiguity that he felt was essential to the creative process. He described it as being able to stay with “uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.”
He felt negative capability was essential to creating works that had nuance, depth, and staying power. This feels Plutonian to me. And very fitting for a New Moon conjunct Venus.
When an artistic creation embraces ambiguity, does not settle for easy resolutions, and stays committed to process rather than outcome, it reflects negative capability.
As one example, Shakespeare’s plays endure because they don’t offer easy answers or tidy solutions. Instead, they dive into the full range of human experience and embrace it all.
Poet and Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney and writer Jorge Luis Borges, who received many literary awards, each wrote about the importance of negative capability in their work.
The New Moon and Venus are also conjunct the fixed star Rigel, which is actually a group of four stars that shines a bluish white in the left foot of the constellation Orion.
Rigel is said to confer great honor along with great responsibility. Ptolemy said this star carried the significations of both Jupiter and Saturn. Rigel is associated with swift action, rapid progress, and sometimes an equally rapid fall.
These associations reinforce the influence of Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto on this lunation.
This New Moon brings us into some of the most active astrology we’ll have this year. During the New Moon phase, Saturn’s square to the Sun and Venus will be exact and Mars enters Taurus.
Mars leaving Aries for Taurus represents a slowing down of action and a loss of dignity for Mars. Since Mars is the ancient ruler of Scorpio, the sign that opposes Taurus, he doesn’t do well here.
He also moves into position to square Pluto, a square we’re all likely to feel as soon as Mars enters the fixed Earth sign, that will become exact on June 11, during the Crescent phase.
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We’re in a very Gemini time, bringing lots of mental activity that is bright and agile. We’re curious. We’re easily distracted. It can be tough to focus.
The square from the New Moon and Venus to Saturn can feel like Dad turned up at the party just as things were really getting fun. The trine from Jupiter to Pluto may feel like that moment at the end of a wild party when things suddenly get serious.
We may be left thinking why can’t we have the fun without the consequences? The presence of the fixed star Rigel reminds us that riches and rewards carry consequences. You can’t separate the two.
The concept of negative capability, the capacity to hold contrasting, even conflicting realities without pushing for an easy solution can be a profound way to explore the potential of this high energy, complex time.
Being able to stay present with all of it could open up new creative potentials we didn’t even realize were there.
