Perhaps you have a friend with whom you are completely at odds in values and choices, or a sibling that vexes you by being the opposite of you in every way. Or a lover who turns left when you say go right. Yes, you’ve met the confounding, maddening Other, before…We all have. It can be fun to have differences. Or not!
I have a client who just had twins (Scorpios- double trouble!) enter her family. Twins get to spend their entire lives exploring the duality and similarity of their situation. Imagine the madness and the joy of it! Everyday a trip to a hall of mirrors…Is that me, we, or you? Is this true, or that?
Duality is inherent to Gemini – which means twins in Latin. The paradox is that it’s all true. Synthesizing opposites is Gemini’s realm. In myth, Mercury, Gemini’s God, was featured holding the physician’s caduceus, a rod with two intertwined snakes signifying the art of healing as the merging of opposites, the end of duality and separation. The snakes coil around the staff in a healing embrace. While that’s the endpoint, it’s not an automatic guarantee for the archetype. In reality, contrary perceptions of reality can heal and/or shatter us. The house of mirrors can turn into a hell realm where every reflection increases our confusion about what’s true or false, the sheer amount of data and dissimilar information threatening to topple us. To make it through with sanity intact we have to get very quiet and find center. We need to figure out how to pull together what’s fragmented and make it whole again.
Saturn in Sagittarius squares Neptune in Pisces at this Full Moon. The global discussion revolves around refugees. There’s no one “stranger” than a displaced foreigner (Sagittarius), so different in appearance, language, heritage, custom and cultural background than we. Sagittarius is the archetype of the immigrant. With timekeeper Saturn in Sag, it’s time to solve this. The United States, where I live, was built for and by immigrants-so logically, we are they. On one hand, we are a country that embraces the freedom and happiness of all people; on the other, as a people we are intolerant, divisive and hypocritical. It’s one thing to say “I embrace differences” and apparently quite another thing to invite the Other into your home. This dichotomy extends beyond the refugee crisis, but we’re learning that when the happiness of the Other is undermined so is the happiness of All (Pisces). This is a longer discussion; the Saturn-Neptune square is a major theme of 2016.
Mercury triggers the Neptune-Saturn square at this Gemini Full Moon, highlighting our need to sort and filter out disinformation, and “dry out” any limiting beliefs and divisive thought patterns we’re holding. How can we find true information in a world where media spins just about everything? How do we discover what is true? As Neptune in Pisces squares Saturn in Sagittarius, it’s like Toto pulling back the curtain on Oz — we’re seeing what lurks behind religion, ideology and belief systems. We are in a cycle of disillusionment.
In times of conflict and dis-ease, the ancients would’ve called on Mercury, the psychopomp who travels between realms of consciousness bearing messages from between-worlds. We can call on our own connection to Mercury. By strengthening our relationship to our dreamlife, the world of symbols, signs and omens, we strengthen the spiritual understanding that cuts through duality and allies us with unity. Serpents are aligned with the kundalini energy that travels from the root chakra of survival to the third eye/crown chakra, awakening our inner vision. We can call on serpent magic, asking to have messages of the infinite be energetically unlocked and made available to us. We can listen. Fruitful discussion always happens when we stop opining our beliefs, and start running the shared human experience through our listening hearts.
Curiosity is the heart and soul of Gemini Moon. Consider this curiosity: the Other already lives inside your heart. In the grander spiritual scheme, we know the Other’s experience because we’ve been them, or one day will be. We are they. We came from the same Cosmic womb, and will return. If you think this should be a no-brainer for the collective, take a hard look in the mirror: How easy is it for you to heal your relationship to the difficult Others’ in your life? All the more reason for us to be graceful, compassionate and curious around what emerges at this Full Moon.
I love your comment, that in regard to the US and immigrants – we are they! Yes, we need to remember this. Enjoyed your insight, and thanks for the friendly reminder of compassion and grace. Peace to you.