New Moon June 3rd -The butterfly effect of baby steps

On June 3rd, 2019, at 11.02 a.m. the Moon will be New and, therefore, a time to gather our thoughts for setting new intentions.   The Full Moon on May 18thallowed us to see in full light what we needed to let go of and release, whilst this New Moon allows us to now bring in the new.  This New Moon falls in the sign of Gemini, as does Gemini’s Lord, Mercury, planet of the mind and communication.  So this is a lunar phase very much concerned with thoughts and thinking and, of course, it is these that ultimately lead to our actions and to what we do in life.

Mercury sits with two Fixed Stars – Polaris, or Pole Star, and Betelgeuse.   Polaris has for centuries been used as a navigational aid by sailors and, in terms of our own lives, this translates as an aid to finding our personal path and to be guided by our thoughts and principles.   Betelgeuse sits on the right shoulder of the God Orion and, as such, represents what is clear and strong, and finding our own power and force.   So these two Fixed Stars represent how we have within us our own powerful means of finding our own unique way and special path if we allow ourselves to be  guided by our thoughts and our intuition.

We are all unique and special – each one of us is here to fulfill a special role.  Even something as small as our own fingerprints shows this.  7 billion people in the world and you can’t find two people          with the same fingerprint – how amazing is that concept?!   A fingerprint is unique to the individual; it shows that each person has a special role.

Gemini is what is called a ‘double bodied’ or dual sign – Gemini can have two faces.   After the the Moon, Mercury is the fastest planet in the sky, enabling him to become the messenger of the Gods and the facilitator of the transmission of knowledge. Mercury was often depicted as being androgynous, and ancient alchemists regarded Mercury as quicksilver – the spirit hidden in matter with magical powers reflected by the mingling of the masculine and feminine parts of the psyche.   The dual nature represents Mercury’s quickness of wit and words, as well as his alter-ego archetype of the Trickster whose problem solving skills could be used creatively both to achieve and to deceive.  Gemini’s stars – Castor and Pollux – were considered to be twins or brothers.  These two stars have been considered the protectors of sailors and were the guardians of Jason and the Argonauts’ ship as Jason went to recover the Golden Fleece.  Both were sons of Zeus and were inseparable.   However, Pollux was immortal whilst Castor was human.   When Castor was killed Pollux was devastated and begged to die with him.   Zeus compromised and allowed Pollux to spend half the year in the Underworld with his brother and the other half of the year in the sky – another example of Gemini’s dual nature and of light and dark, what can be seen and what is in the shadows.

The Moon in Gemini wants to be free to explore anything and everything that is going on – she doesn’t want to be committed or tied down.   She needs mental stimulation and represents flexible intelligence.  In Gemini the Moon has the potential to be fickle and changeable.  She is curious and sociable and is interested in any kind of fact she can get her hands on.  Restless, adaptable and versatile she needs to make connections in the quest for uniqueness.

Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune are all strong in their own signs in this New Moon chart – they are all in their own castles and are feeling powerful and able to act.   However, three of these four – Mercury, Jupiter and Neptune are in conflict with each other so how can we get the best out of these guys?

Jupiter is about wisdom, expanding our beliefs, being charitable, and also luck – when we have Jupiter strong it often means we are ‘jammy’. No matter what the difficulties we get into we come out on top.   Think Jupiter – think abundance and growth.   Jupiter also aims high.   He dislikes limits and wants everything and anything to be possible.   For this the key asset will be self-belief.  Remember this for this is the absolute key!!!

Neptune is about dreams, spirituality, where we yearn and long for things to be different.   With Neptune strong we dream about escaping to something more wondrous, where there are no limits and no boundaries to what we do.  With Neptune in Pisces sensitivities are acute and we can become overly impressionable.  However, we can tap into huge imagination and our powers of intuition.  With Jupiter also strong in his own sign too our dreams will be  big – so big we give ourselves a mountain climb.   And with Neptune in the mix we must take care that we are not deceiving ourselves or being deceived by others – that we are not operating under false illusions.  To counteract this we must ensure that the boundaries between ourself and others are clear and strong – that we are not being subject to emotional blackmail and equally that we ourselves are not overstepping the boundaries between ourselves and others.

There’s nothing wrong with having big dreams but it must be remembered that the really big archetypal energy of Saturn and Pluto is cautioning us to be realistic and to take responsibility for our actions.   So much of our systems have been built almost on quicksand, smoke and mirrors over the last few years that we must also recognize that there are limits.  As this aspect approaches exactness at the very beginning of 2020, structures that we have relied upon and which give us a sense of security may crumble and disintegrate. This is for sure happening before our eyes in terms of UK politics and within Europe the trend is increasingly populist.  What we are being asked to learn is to do with the use and abuse of power; on a personal level how we should use our power in a responsible way and to understand also the power of time.  And Time is not necessarily linear. 

If something is no longer sustainable it needs to be broken down to make way for the new and it is better to be the conductor of the orchestra rather than the passive bystander watching one’s life unfold. 

Neptune represents boundaries, or lack of them.  So we must be conscious that we hold our boundaries strong – this will help massively at this time – whilst using dreams and intuition in our search for our special USP and to navigate our way through these uncertain times. 

At this New Moon we can be led to scatter our energies and to try to do too many things and, therefore, get lost in trivia.   We need to employ some Virgo energy – the missing sign of the quartet (Mercury in Gemini, Neptune in Pisces, Jupiter in Sagittarius) – and use our powers of discrimination so that we can be pro-active despite our sensitivities. 

So we need to use the visionary abilities, which are possible at this New Moon and find an inspired level of reasoning.  Rather than being led to do too much, find quiet and escape from the day-to-day rat race.   Find the place of quiet and the ability to still the mind.   This may be through meditation, but I was reminded that we can still the mind in many ways – yoga, painting, music, dance, walking in a peaceful place and even a sporting activity.   Indeed, whatever is right for you.    But, it is absolutely necessary to find calm so that the mind has time to reflect and time to tap into the intuitive processes.   In scientific terms, the amygdala which is the source in the brain of the switch for our fight and flight hormones needs to be able to switch off so that the brain can determine what the ultimate action should be.  If the amygdala is on full alert we cannot switch off, we cannot truly calm and we cannot get the right level of sleep. 

We aren’t all lucky enough to pursue a career which is spiritually fulfilling, but we can all experience this within our interests, our hobbies outside work and how we use our spare time.   If we can do something that fulfills us on a mental level in a way where we can almost ‘lose’ ourselves; that can surely be another form of meditation because our minds (Mercury in Gemini) are still – they are calmed as have the associated anxieties and stresses.   Our amygdalas can take a well-earned breather, and our brains, having been allowed a period of calm, can actually make decisions and put thought into future actions.  This uses the energy of Neptune at this lunar phase in a positive way.

With the Sun, Moon and Mercury all in Gemini, this is a time to make connections, to network, to talk things over so that you can get things in perspective.   Your intuitive powers are likely to be strong but there is a tendency to try and do lots of things at once or to get side tracked down all sorts of different pathways, or allow others to make excessive demands upon you.  You are liable to be easily distracted and blown off course very easily.  The crystal Tourmaline can be a help to stay on direction whilst Calcite can help to stabilize the butterfly mind that Geminis do so well.    In fact, the butterfly effect is the idea that small things can have non-linear impacts much further down the line.  The theory is that if the butterfly had not flapped its wings at just the right point in space/time, the hurricane would not have happened.   In real life the parallel is that small changes in the initial conditions can lead to drastic changes in the results.

I guess my message is don’t feel that intentions must always be big – the ripple effect of small changes can be surprising, and we have to be prepared to give things time.   But the small finds can help to lead us to the main goal.   The temptation is to feel that changes and new intentions must always be big, but just as when the butterfly flapped its wings at just the right time, each baby step can have a much greater reverberation further down the line.  Small steps are much more do-able, easier to actually implement but as you do and as you see a result, self beliefand a belief in one’s own abilities gradually increase and then it is possible to see exactly how you can navigate your own life towards your own personal and unique goal.  Some of your achievements in life have been created by just that one little decision some while before, often without the knowledge that it could eventually lead to a much greater outcome than previously envisaged. 

Self belief – high intentions – baby steps forward