We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep—William James.
In small suburban gardens, dancing reindeer and corpulent Santas twinkle. Fairy lights garland trees and hedges. As the old year dies in the darkness of midwinter, rituals—quirky and quaint—secure threads of continuity and connection, create meaning, beguile us with wonder.
The sun lies low on the horizon, just two weeks before the mid-winter solstice. For some, this may be a lonely wintering. For those unmoored by a cluster of losses, as the darkness closes in. The gaudy glitter and surfeit of this Christmas season amplify isolation. For some this may be a fallow time of scant resources. For some, the protracted dying of a relationship may rachet up the strength to shrug off a life that now feels too small, too tight. And for some, this festive season may be a time of joyful celebration, gifts exchanged, good food enjoyed, a long awaited reunion with family or a much-loved friend.
The last full moon of the year caresses the face of the earth on December 4th, an imposing supermoon in the sign of Gemini, an astrological archetype associated with duality.
Supermoons―a term coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979―arrive consecutively, in threes or fours, amplifying the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon upon the earth, affecting the circadian rhythm of all living things. This supermoon cycle ends on January 3rd, with a Cancer supermoon. The next cycle begins in November 2026.
December’s supermoon is accompanied by the Geminid meteor shower as the earth passes through the trail of debris left by a comet or asteroid―shooting stars that streak across the skies. They emanate from the heavens near the bright star, Castor in the constellation of Gemini. They blaze through the night skies from December 4th to 17th.
The best time to view will be as the moon begins to wane from December 11th and the skies darken, preceding a new Sagittarius moon, just before the mid-winter solstice on December 20th.
This lunation invokes Gemini’s contradictory, mercurial magic. The moon conjoins erratic Uranus Retrograde and squares the Nodes in Virgo and Pisces. Tonight, we might reflect on those bonds of love and loyalty that bind us, or the painful bruise of estrangement. We may be suspended between Piscean idealism/empathy and Virgoan pragmatism/discernment. Saturn (structure and boundaries) and Neptune (dissolution) are still moving through the final degrees of Pisces, stirring deep currents of sorrow, world-weariness and exhaustion, in the closing phase of this long cosmic cycle.
In the Greco/Roman world, Mercury/Hermes presided over thresholds, crossroads, and boundaries. As we prepare ourselves for the challenge of crossing a new threshold, we may meet the spirit of Gemini in the wind that rustles the branches of the tree outside our window, a reminder that nothing is constant. Against the rich warm browns of dying bracken and marmalade and honey-gold of the last autumn leaves, it is the oak that holds fast the green the longest. A reminder perhaps that change emerges discretely for some of us, or in a flash, with a sudden change of heart, for others.
Air is Gemini’s element. This is the energy of the trickster—versatile, elusive, clever, playful, and infuriatingly inconsistent. Gemini moves through its two personas, appearing in those either-or choices we feel compelled to make, sometimes showing up at crossroad moments in our lives. Through Gemini we encounter the power of two, the kindred spirit, those relationships we find most challenging, the conflicts that bring out our exiled dark twin. Spiritual teacher, Caroline Myss’ Gemini Moon conveys the archetype of the Storyteller, the Data Gatherer. She writes, “the challenge is for us to decide whether to make choices that enhance our spirit or drain our power.”
The deeper meaning of Gemini encompasses a subtle tuning into the invisible currents that flow through the fabric of life. The Sabian Symbol for this lunation is “Transcendent Connection”. Tonight, we may feel conflicted about a choice (the sun and moon are in opposition at full moon times), yet if we can still our minds, connect with our heart, we will find the courage to be with what is. As Mercury, ruling both the moon and the south node, infuses the energy of this lunation a ritual, an intention, a heartfelt prayer will be amplified tonight.
Mercury is now moving direct in uncompromising Scorpio, yet the mood will lighten as he enters buoyant Sagittarius on December 12th, leaving his shadow (the degree at which he turned Retrograde) on December 17th.
We can’t avoid winter’s darkness, yet the Sun’s passage through hope-filled Sagittarius is a reminder that we may have become too rigid in our opinions, too wrapped up in anticipatory anxiety, or encased in cynicism to dare to trust and hope. Venus and Mars join the Sun in exuberant Sagittarius, as even the most churlish succumb, perhaps just a little, to the effervescence of this season.
Raising our glasses to the year almost gone, may we listen deeply to what is said around the dinner table, sensing a heartache or a longing that may be concealed in an emotionally charged silence; then choose to soften our stance, allow a change of heart, a deepening of connection.
Please get in touch if you would like to book an astrology consultation for the year ahead: ingrid@trueheartwork.com
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