Midlife Transits

May is another eclipse month. The first is a new moon eclipse on the 9th in Taurus. Taurus is your solar sign of inhibitions, secret fears, insecurities, chronic illnesses, and the things that hold you back. It is also the Gemini’s hidden need for seclusion every once in a while. Theoretically, this eclipse means you’ll gain a new inhibition of some sort or a new restraint in your life. The eclipse may affect you this month, may have affected you last month or may become noticeable next month.

New restraints don’t necessarily sound like a lot of fun and they might not be, but people have inhibitions because they play a useful role. (more…)

We have quite the astrological contrast going on in April. On the one hand, we have lots of Aries energy, the energy of spring, of new life, of birth, of happy flowers sproinging from the earth. And then we have a lunar eclipse in Scorpio, the sign of death, of stillness, of what’s buried, mysterious, and hidden. I suppose that’s an astrological call for balance.

Another way to put it is that Scorpio is the energy of interdependence and merging, the idea that life and death must mix for either to have any meaning. (more…)

March is traditionally Gemini career month. 2013 is no exception to this general rule. You’ll have money planet Venus in your career sign (Pisces) until the 21st, so this is a good time to establish your value in the career marketplace. You can do this by making inquiries with your current employer or by investigating the general job market. Best time for this is around the time of the new moon in Pisces on the 11th. (more…)

Yours is a mentally oriented sign and February is a mentally oriented month in some ways. The sun, Mercury, and Venus start the month in intellectual Aquarius in your intellectual solar 9th house of decisions, education, and planning for the future. Your annual new moon of decisions, education and planning takes place on the 10th.

By the 5th, though, Mercury enters Pisces, your career sign. It will stay there the rest of the month, turning around and going retrograde on the 23rd. Mercury will join the sun (as of the 18th), Mars, and Neptune in Pisces.

The implication is that there could be some sort of a sudden change in direction or trend in a career matter this month. This could also be in some way related to education because your ruler Mercury is a major sponsor of education – and Jupiter in your own sign right now is an even bigger sponsor of education. If you’re actually in school, the influences early in the month bode well for things like getting good grades or doing well on an important exam or paper.

If you’re not in school, you’ll need to interpret things a bit more broadly. You could think of the month’s influences as being seeking influences, and what they are seeking is some sort of goal, something to chase, something to be interested in, something to feed you, give you meaning and a reason to live, and stuff like that.

More particularly what they are seeking is an accomplishment, pleasure, gratification, comfyness, and/or beauty. They want to figure out an easy way for you to live and how to make things in your life go more smoothly. This isn’t really a short-term trend; it’s a long-term project in your solar chart. February just brings some of these seeking vibes to a bit of a head as so many planets cluster around the top of your chart.

Happy new year, Gemini. Let’s start out by looking at your ruler Mercury this month. The sign and sector your ruler travels through each month are important in your solar chart, because they represent the areas and energies you resonate to the most. Mercury starts the month in Capricorn, your sign of willpower. It will be up to you to deliberately choose how to exercise your willpower, although I’ll give you a hint. (more…)

December is Sagittarius month, and that could mean a lot of different things for Gemini. Sagittarius is your relationship sign, so it could mean heightened intimate activity for Geminis in committed relationships. Sagittarius is an outdoorsy kind of sign, so for some Geminis it means winter activities like skiing (in the Northern Hemisphere) or summer activities like surfing (in the Southern Hemisphere).

Sagittarius is an idealistic sign, so some Geminis get caught up in the sentiments of the season and get all hopeful about mankind. That’s kind of nice. For Gemini, Sagittarius operates as the kind of sign that’s comfortable with communal activities and gregarious groups of people, but it’s also happy spending time with one particular person that you really like.

If that’s not enough things for the sign of Sagittarius to represent, there’s more. Sagittarius is also in charge of looking ahead to your future with optimism and hope. That’s not only nice, it’s also potentially useful. The latter half of December is good for thinking about your goals.

Some Geminis will be less focused on Sagittarius energy and more focused on dealing with the effects of the two eclipses last month. The most potent for Gemini, the lunar eclipse in your sign on the 28th, may have you coming to terms with a surprising realization or even some sort of a loss. For those of you not affected by the lunar eclipse in Gemini (not everyone will be), you may be dealing with new developments on the job or health front.

This job and health stuff is not a short-term trend. There will be eclipses in your job and health sector over the next couple of years.

Plus, Saturn will be making himself at home in the job and health sector of your chart for the next couple of years as well. Saturn is more about obligations and duties than about exciting new developments. Saturn will be reminding you to keep your eye on office politics, take note of who has the power and why, and keep your work-related relationships politely distant and circumspect.

On that note, if you want to take vacation and do a bit of seasonal traveling, I recommend the week after Christmas, rather than before the holiday.

Of course, this is also gift-giving and getting season. In that arena, your prospects look good. Jupiter is still in your sign and Jupiter is traditionally considered quite generous. Happy Holidays!

The first big news of the month comes by way of a solar eclipse in Scorpio on the 13th. Scorpio represents the house of service and employment in your solar chart. If you’ve been looking for a job and have been about to give up, don’t throw in the towel just yet. Something unexpected could happen this month or next that will re-establish your faith in the universe.

Of course, don’t expect magic; you still need to use your own abilities and energy to get out there and put in the effort to find the right position. Jupiter in your sign also encourages you to toot your own horn and highlight your accomplishments, which is very helpful when job-seeking or job-switching.

There’s also a lunar eclipse in your own sign this month, on the 28th. This type of an eclipse is personal. If you feel it (not everyone will), it will address some personal goal, decision, or situation on your plate. It is possible that it will also relate in some way to the solar eclipse–e.g., as you take on a new job, you may decide to relinquish some activity in your personal life.

This is also the time of year when planets move into the part of your chart that highlights other people. What this means in practice is often that other people will set the agenda, and it will be time for you to be a little more low-key, especially in personal relationships.

You do have the ability to squeeze in a nice little bit of romance this month, thanks to Venus in your love life sign for the first 3 weeks of November. On the other hand, there may be a bit of churning drama in your relationships in November because Mars is in your relationship sector and he gets bored if things go too smoothly.

Your ruler Mercury also goes retrograde this month on Election Day. I don’t know what effect if any this will have on the election, but for you it means that Mercury will travel back to that service and employment part of your chart I was talking about earlier. You’ll be expected to use your mind on the job (not that anyone could stop you from doing that) and/or to retrace steps and go over outstanding items that didn’t get quite fixed last month.

If you have some extra space on your to-do list, you might use the second half of the month to get very detailed and precise about your financials. The types of financials that are highlighted are things like debts, payment plans, expenses, insurance matters, and so on. If you are super-organized, you can take advantage of the time to do a bit of pre-year-end tax planning.

In general, this is intended to be a good financial period for you, thanks to Jupiter in your own sign. Jupiter in one’s sign does sometimes signal a certain willingness to spend money on oneself and one’s appearance or image. In other words, it’s the year to invest in a new winter coat, a good pair of boots or whatever fits the weather where you live.

The month begins with the sun in Libra, the sign in your chart that relates to your love life and to your children. The new moon in Libra takes place on the 15th. This is a time of potential new beginnings. Single Geminis who have been fruitlessly searching for love may enter into a new relationship around this time as something finally clicks. The attraction vibes last all the way until Thanksgiving, thanks to Venus in Libra until that time.

On another note, Geminis who have been trying unsuccessfully to have children may finally get some good news. It’s important to do what you can and then have faith at this point. Saturn, a planet that often denies wishes in the sector it travels, will finally leave your love life and pregnancy sector on the 5th. Something long-delayed may finally come to fruition. The energy in Libra at the beginning of the month also gives your sign permission to take some time for recreation or play.

Your ruler Mercury, however, moves into the decidedly less playful sign of Scorpio on the 5th though, along with not at all playful Saturn. Mercury will be interested in educating himself on the intricacies of Scorpionic subjects, such as joint finances, investments, debts, taxes, public policy, and maybe even the upcoming elections if you live in the US. Admittedly, you may find the contemplation of public affairs a bit annoying, at least through the first week of October.

Nevertheless, if you have a decision to make regarding Scorpio subjects, Mercury will want to make it by the 29th of October. Along those lines, this month may represent a good time to pay something extra toward whatever you owe on your house or toward any improvements you’ve done on your home or property this year or last.

The Scorpio influence actually represents the beginning of a long-term trend. Slow-moving Saturn moves into Scorpio on the 5th. Scorpio in your solar chart represents your sector of employment and service. When Saturn’s in your job sector, you are called upon to spend a little more than 2 years using your natural Gemini mental abilities to achieve something useful in your work. You may also need to define and construct systems that you will use you in your daily work or routine for years to come.

Sometimes Saturn in the job sector doesn’t so much feel significant as it does like a time when everybody on the job seems to want something from you; demands seem to increase. Attention given you on the job may increase, too, and you will need to decide how to deal with that. You may feel like you are constantly being evaluated, which actually gives you an excellent chance to prove yourself and achieve levels of success you hadn’t previously contemplated.

September is a pretty straightforward month. The first half of the month concentrates on the domestic sector, with a new moon concerning the home front on September 15. Nothing fancy about that. If you’d like, you can use the combination of the sun and Mercury in Virgo and Venus in Cancer during the first week of the month to invest in items that will improve the appearance of your home. Nice and simple.

The second half of the month is about play. Your ruler Mercury enters Libra, and Libra is your solar sign of amusement, recreation, and matters involving children. Libra is also the sign that represents your love life, especially dating relationships as opposed to marital ones.

From the 7th on, you also have good vibes for educational matters, if you have any that you’re interested in pursuing. The Libra vibe may also combine amusement and education – such as reading for pleasure. Saturn (also in Libra) is thrifty, so he enjoys things like making use of your local library so you don’t have to pay for books and DVDs.

And then, perhaps most importantly, you have Mars in your job sector all month. On the job front, you may be dealing with financial matters, such as budgets, resources, funding issues and so on. Alternatively, you may see a focus on technical or mechanical matters. Home, play, work – it’s a nice balanced month.

Could there be complications? Yeah, sure. Pluto and Uranus are fighting again. Uranus is in your sector of friendship and group activities. When they fight, annoyances can arise. You want to go to a Labor Day picnic and pool party with your drinking buddies and Pluto interferes because you have to go to your spouse’s dreary work gathering. Stuff like that.

Neptune is also crawling towards a station in your career house – so events in your professional field may seem confusing or unresolved. Or joint financial matters may need untangling. But basically, you’re under Jupiter’s protection for a year, and things that could cause other signs fits will bounce right off you.

August is another super Geminian kind of month. Speaking, writing, thinking, analyzing, categorizing, organizing, and general engaging in mental activity dominate from Day 1 to Day 31. Toward the end of the month, from the 23rd on, there’s a bit of emphasis on honing your physical abilities, thanks to Mars moving into Scorpio and your exercise sector. But until then, the focus is pretty squarely on your mental abilities.

The month is particularly good for teaching and learning and for getting language-oriented projects done. Analyzing and mastering a skill would be good. It’s also good for formulating plans and capitalizing on the power of positive thinking. The vibe is also generally cheerful, perhaps even happy and will be for awhile. This is partly due to the year-long presence of Jupiter in your sign.

Jupiter in Gemini likes to put things in order, and while he’s here, he’ll try to help you put your life into order. Putting things in order tends to make your sign feel perky, light, and free. For the time being, you have an opportunity to kind of putter around in a pleasant daze, getting things in your mind and your environment tidied up.

When you need a break from all the effort your brain is putting into working overtime–eat! Venus spends most of the month in the sign of Cancer, and Cancer loves to eat. The sign’s idea of heaven is something like homemade soup. Find your equivalent heaven and indulge.

Another area of activity is equality in relationships. Mars and Saturn are in Libra for most of the month, and Libra is the sign that represents both relationships and equality or fairness. Saturn represents the impulse to define things, put them in boundaries and boxes, give them structure and rules. So Saturn in Libra likes to set up structures and rules that make relationships fair and equal. Mars in the sign adds the impulse to put real effort into this project.

There is one aspect during August that’s rather testing. It’s Uranus in Aries square Pluto in Capricorn. The general idea is to not take things at face value, but to critically evaluate the information you receive. Things are not necessarily what they seem to be.

July starts with a full moon in Capricorn on the third, the same day Mars finally moves into Libra. Both Capricorn and Libra are relationship signs for you, so this is a good time to air out emotional issues with a combination of objectivity (Libra) and sensitivity (moon). The sun and a new moon in Cancer carry on this theme until the 22nd, with the time around the 19th bringing up the peak of emotionality. (more…)

Hello, Gemini, welcome to the start of your personal new year in a month bursting with the energy of your own sign. The month actually starts off with a bang centered around energy in the sign opposite yours, though. On the 4th, there’s a lunar eclipse in Sagittarius. Eclipses do not like to be defined, pinned down, told what to do or predicted exactly. (more…)

Big month for Gemini. The sun moves into your sign just in time for a new moon eclipse on the 20th that seems intended to open doors for you. There’s increased sensuality and beauty this month, too, thanks partly to the influence of sun and Mercury in Taurus until the 24th. Touchy-feely days include Mother’s Day, when the sun conjuncts Jupiter, and the 22nd, when Mercury joins Jupiter. After that, it’s pretty much all you. The sun in your sign, Mercury in your sign, Venus in your sign, and next month, Jupiter moves into your sign. Everything’s coming up Gemini! (more…)

There are many things to talk about in April, but I’ll start with your career–a theme I’ll keep emphasizing as we transition through the early stages of Neptune in your solar career house. Neptune in Pisces is a double wallop of a certain kind of drama-loving energy. If you don’t love drama already, try to learn to at least tolerate it. (more…)