Breaking the Binary: Full Moon in Gemini November 2018

Full Moon in Gemini | Thursday, November 22, 2018
0 degrees | 9:39pm

“If it brings me to my knees, it’s a bad religion” - Frank Ocean

I recently had a wise person pass on some insight about navigating psychic waters. That when a human communicates with non-human realms, domineering voices are never to be trusted. A person’s right to make choices should never be degraded by any other being. The message was clear: that human or non-human, all beings are equal. Our work is to not let one voice take precedence over another. Instead it’s to listen to all voices, all the harmonies and dissonances, and find balance among them. This is really good Gemini medicine.

Thursday’s Full Moon just barely falls in Gemini, hours after the Sun’s entry into Sagittarius. The polarity between Gemini and Sagittarius is the axis between the personal narrative and the collectively accepted narrative. Ultimately it can come down to the difference between experiential knowledge that informs individual sovereignty (Gemini) and “the one true path” according to the collected knowledge of the ages (Sagittarius). Things get tense around this polarity these days. All over the globe, people are increasingly connected to one another’s personal stories, and it’s more possible than ever to challenge the orthodox view of history, of humanity, of gender, and of the importance of each person’s experience. Broadly accepted cultural narratives are breaking down, and without them, anything can happen. So we may as well begin choosing where we’ll go.

We can start with revising how we communicate, teach, learn, and process information, since this is common territory to both Gemini and Sagittarius. While Sagittarius gives its knowledge via histories and religious doctrines, Gemini is a fast, fact-finding, chatty place in the sky. As Sagittarius creates a narrative we can call the norm, Gemini is busy fact-checking, weaving new threads into the story, trying to fit in the most complex and contradictory of realities. Healthy Gemini looks like a happy heretic, and strong Sagittarius looks like the curious teacher, looking not at her own interests first, but integrating her students’ stories as she points unobtrusively to the Moon.

Drawing by Alessandro Sicioldr

During this Full Moon the spotlight is on Gemini, the voices of the many and the interest in all information, light and dark. What we need now is to hear everyone’s stories. And so we need everyone to speak and to be heard so that our collective narratives can no longer erase us. Do your best now to stay educated, to think for yourself, know yourself, to tell the stories you know from your own perspective, and to listen to the stories of those around you. The most toxic thing we could do now would be to bisect the soul into the good twin/bad twin and ignore the more challenging information that takes patience to understand. To ignore or shush part of ourselves because it doesn’t fit in at the dinner table.

It’s an edgy moment for such an inquisitive Full Moon. It falls on America’s Thanksgiving, a bafflingly loaded time historically, and for most people, personally as well. Full Moons generally exaggerate affairs. Just like holidays.

To further amplify the talkative Moon, dream warrior Mars in Pisces squares the Moon, enticing us toward the bravery we need to stand our ground in defending the right to shape our lives according to our dreams. We’re also called to defend our right to be vulnerable. The square aspect wants us to show bravery in the face of extreme tension, like the kind of tension borne because we have multiple realities. This Mars business is about grabbing inspiration from the ether and the underworld, and grounding it squarely into the third dimension. Retrograde Mercury is closing in on the Sagittarius Sun at this time too, prodding us toward the underworlds of the stories we tell ourselves religiously. The shadows of our stories want to be seen and discussed. And with bountiful Jupiter on the Sun and Mercury, we have luck in going there. The mind is confident on the hunt for real information and for revising accepted narratives.

So however you choose to take this holiday, go into it knowingly. It’s an important time to educate yourself about the flaws in the narratives you’ve inherited from your culture, be it national, local, or familial. And remember that sharing your personal story helps all of us to revise these inherited narratives, collectively.

As for the controversial topic that is Thanksgiving the holiday, there’s a small reading list below for educating yourself on indigenous people’s perspectives on the holiday, and how to potentially bring up cheerful topics like genocide and racism at the dinner table, if you’re taking that note from the Mars square. It’s worth considering that to celebrate this holiday without making space for those conversations could be a manifestation of shadow Gemini (skipping the fine print) and shadow Sagittarius (religiously telling ourselves a one-sided made-up story). So if you think it’s at all possible to plant seeds that could shift toxic ideologies any of your loved ones harbor, this is the time to plant them, lovingly.

But the fact that tragedy is inherent in the holiday doesn’t negate the fact that it’s a time when the American capitalist machine takes a moment, albeit small, to make space for families to come together. And whenever we can break from work and gather with family, whether that’s your friends, your acquaintances, your cat, your biological family or just yourself, the time counts as precious.

Tunnel of Light (From Paradise) Detail | Hieronymus Bosch

No matter what, stay connected to yourself during this Full Moon. Assess honestly what you can handle. Though edgy, this Full Moon is tender. It takes place at 0 degrees of Gemini, meaning it’s a rich time to shape the intentions of fledgling dreams. No matter how you spend the day, take time to suss out your own binary codes and strike a balance between your light and your dark. And be sure to cultivate reverie and optimism for your personal ambitions.

There are always magical portals available during Full Moons. For this one try to find the portals that lead you further into the narratives that account for your dignity and integrity, and grow your compassion for those around you. Don’t trust the voices that take up more than their fair share. If there’s a story that creates hierarchy or discounts the voices of the disadvantaged, don’t swallow it. A good Gemini remedy is to speak an informed truth from the heart. Do what you can to share yourself where it’s safe to do so, vulnerable belly up.

Good luck with it, and please check out the resources below. If you have any to add, please do in the comments.

“Thanksgiving, Hope and the Hidden Heart of Evil” by Jacqueline Keeler

“Goodbye Columbus” by Jacqueline Keeler

“Native American Girls Explain the Real History Behind Thanksgiving” on Teen Vogue

“How To Talk To Your Family About Racism on Thanksgiving” by Rachel Cargle

“Thanksgiving for Native Americans: Four Voices on a Complicated Holiday” on The New York Times

“An Indigenous People’s History of the United States” by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

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