The Full Moon in Gemini occured today. (In the Eastern time zone at 2:30am EST, and yesterday in the Pacific time zone at 11:30pm PST) In astrology Gemini is the 'home' for the planet Mercury.


What's it all about? Thinking, communicating, chatting, gathering bits of information - that's the general Gemini/Mercury vibe. This is why the Mercury Retrograde cycle (which occurs about 3 times per year) is accused of messing up computers, text messages, phone messages, travel plans, and anything else having to do with the bits and pieces of information we swim in everyday in this Information Age.


Well, Mercury/Gemini are offering many treats tricks this week and next: the Shadow period of Mercury Retrograde is upon us once again. What is the Shadow period? It is a kind of 'foreshadowing' or 'landing preparation' for Mercury Retrograde itself. During Shadow period, Mercury begins to slow down for it's 'standstill' and it's a good time for us to prepare and tie up loose ends before the cycle officially begins. Sort of like a heads-up.



The current Shadow period begins on Wednesday December 9th. Then Mercury Retrograde begins on December 26th (and lasts until January 15th, 2010, which just so happens to be an Annular Solar Eclipse. It's not a Total Eclipse, but still).



Yes, another Mercury Retrograde is upon us once again. The last cycle was in September and covered the entire month. That was, what, about 5 mintues ago? Yes, I can hear you groaning and getting ready to throw tomatoes at me.



Listen: Don't kill the messenger! I'm just sayin'. *grin*



Yesterday was an odd day around here. Not only the influence of the Full Moon in tricky Gemini, but also the planet Uranus - chaos, sudden change, weirdness in general - went Direct (appeared to stop in the sky and will now 'turn around' to move forward). Caught up in the details of my life, I was unaware of this astrological situation. Soon it came to my attention: first thing in the morning, someone rammed their car into a telephone pole down the street and the power went out. One-half hour later, my cable-modem internet went out (unrelated to the power outage, custormer service told me). They were both down all day. Well, to distract myself I went shopping in a totally different part of town. Guess what? Someone had rammed their car into a transformer, and the credit/debit system was down for the day.



Just seemed strange to me. Think strange, think Uranus/Aquarius (Uranus is at home in the sign of Aquarius). Ah! Uranus Direct! I get it!



Anyway, this month is interesting in several ways, not just the tricky-chaos Grand Entrance.

We have two Full Moons this month. The second one - that wonderful Blue Moon we sing about - falls on New Years Eve and is a minor (very minor) Lunar Eclipse. (But still.)



And the Solstice is very powerful this year. On the day of the Solstice (December 21) We ave another hit of The Aquarian Conjunction (Jupiter/Neptune/Chiron) which began on May 27, 2009 and is a major signature in the zeitgeist of our times.

In addition, on the day before the Solstice, we have another major celestial happening: Mars goes Retrograde. This cycle only occurs about every 2.5 years and is very significant. It's a time to re-evaluate how we are using our energy in the world; and from a business/career perspective we start a 10-week strategic planning period.

I.e between December 20, 2009 and March 10, 2010 we need to re-visit what we have accomplished in the past 2.5 years and come up with a new better plan for the next 2.5 years. Since so many of us are going through career changes these days, the timing couldn't be better.



More on Mars Retrograde to come in upcoming newsletters.