Solar Eclipse Gemini: June 10, 2021
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This is our first Solar Eclipse of 2021 and the second/final Eclipse of this season!
The New Moon is the energetic valley of the Lunar Cycle, and the Solar Eclipse is like a New Moon to the 10th power!
There's a different energy around how manifestation works at the Eclipses that is important to clarify. This is especially important because of the nature of Gemini, the Twins.
In this article, you’ll get the scoop on the astrology of this Solar Eclipse (New Moon) in Gemini on June 10, 2021, a dive into the aspects that impact it, a brief look at Gemini, and finally, some suggestions for how to adapt your New Moon Wishing Ceremony for the Solar Eclipse.
The New Moon takes place on June at 6:52 EDT, 10:52 UT.
Manifesting with the Mutable Signs & Eclipses
PRELIMINARY NOTE: Last month's Lunar Eclipse post was an extremely detailed exploration, and it is highly recommended that you read that post first. Find it here.
I've seen so much confusing information about the Eclipses online that I thought it might be helpful to address it here. As always, if you already get the gist, feel free to skip down. Go to the section called: "And on manifesting with this particular solar eclipse..." Anyways, without further ado, let’s talk moon manifesting.
Moonology™ is the craft of manifesting with the Moon.
Yasmin Boland, like many modern astrologers working with extremely large audiences, has simplified Solar Eclipses as, essentially, "powerful New Moons." She doesn't really distinguish the two besides the amount of "power," but she strongly encourages people to use the Solar Eclipses as "portals" to move towards their destined path.
"Eclipses open up portals to another future in the part of our life being triggered. It’s up to us to jump through these – or not." (Boland, Moonology, pg. 25).
Then there's another popular astrologer named Aliza Kelly (she's got great memes). She is firmly on the other simplified side of the coin, which is that eclipses shouldn't be used for manifestation at all!
Both sides are correct. The Solar Eclipse is a powerful New Moon, which does mean it has some powerful seed-planting potential, but it's like we are in a sky-scraper and we're so far away from the ground that we'll have no control or clue over where these seeds get planted.
That means we should be very careful with our manifestation at the time of the Solar Eclipse. This is also why we tend not to charge our crystals at Eclipses.
Like everything, there are very important nuances that need to be acknowledged but are often not for the sake of popularization. This is fine and both Yasmin and Aliza are seriously amazing at what they do and have been incredible for the astrological community, definitely check out their work if you haven't yet! However, blindly consuming their (or any) simplifications is just not how you're going to get to the next level of either your astrology or your manifestation practice!
The Mutable Signs & Eclipses are Winds of Change, so a Mutable Eclipse is like a tornado of change.
Why? Revisit the Lunar Eclipse article.
This is why our manifestation approach is a bit different during Eclipses.
Of course, you don't have to do anything differently if you don't want to, it's not like setting "regular New Moon intentions" is ever going to be a bad thing.
But you'll probably notice how different it feels than most other months. And, you'll probably be wishing you at least had set some more aligned intentions. (there's a play on words with wishing, which was intended, lol, okay Mercury we hear you)
The way that I approach manifesting with the Moon changes based on the Moon, and though this isn't suitable for everyone due to time- and natal-chart-based constraints, it's something that can be used to inform your personal practice as you continue to curate it.
The Scoop on manifesting with the Lunar Cycle is that manifestation is a process that must be consciously connected to throughout the entire cycle, rather than just at the New Moon and then it's forgotten until the next one. Well, I guess the key here is, successful manifestation. A general rule is: the more positive energy you put into it, the more positive outcome you'll get out of it. There are many different levels of manifestation, and within them, there are also many different approaches to doing it.
Forgot how the Lunar Cycle works? Revisit that here.
The gist of manifestation is that your perceptions (thoughts/feelings/narratives) create your reality, therefore, you can will things into being by the power of intention.
Forgot how intentions work or need a big refresher on manifesting? Revisit all that here.
Manifesting with the Moon as a Cosmic Timer is not only natural and aligned, but it increases success. The Moon moves through one sign every 2-3 days and all 12 signs about every month. This is why the Lunar Cycle tends to be approximately one month, and why the main four stages of it happen about one week away from each other. So, the New Moon happens, then about a week later we've got the First Quarter Moon, then about a week from that, we've got the Full Moon, then one week later we've got the Last Quarter Moon, and another week goes by and we've got the next New Moon. Four weeks. That means the Moon moves through all 12 zodiac signs in about four weeks. (Do the math: one sign in 2.27 days, so 2.27x12 signs = 27.24, just under 28 days).
It is recommended to use each of the main stages of the Lunar Cycle as the "cosmic timer" for your Manifestation Process if you're trying to manifest some big changes or things in your life over the course of a longer period of time.
For example, setting financial goals for the year ahead or at least for the next month. Actually, financial goals are best set during the Taurus Lunar Cycle, which is where the Taurus New Moon allows you to set intentions, the fixed Quarter Moons allow you to be grateful amidst uncertainty, and the Scorpio Full Moon allows you to release financial blocks in your subconscious.
But, you can also use the Daily Moons for smaller manifestation goals. For example, any Taurus Daily Moon is a great time to 'put your nose to the grindstone' and work hard on achieving your goals, but this hard work should also be rewarded with relaxation. These can be the goals that you've set as part of your intentions at the New Moon, but they can also be goals that you just need to do that day because you're living your life.
Again: there are multiple levels of manifestation. Just like the Daily Moons can be used for 'smaller' things, you can use the Eclipses for 'bigger,' loftier, but not as specific, manifestation goals. Using the Gemini Solar Eclipse vs the Gemini New Moon as an example: Manifesting a new mindset (Solar Eclipse) is going to require much more time and effort than manifesting a new idea (New Moon).
The Eclipses require us to surrender to the Cosmos and the path the Cosmos wants us to be on. This is why they bring in so many endings and beginnings for people.
And with Solar Eclipses, unlike with the average New Moon, we have very little control over what seeds end up getting planted or where or how they'll grow. We're on a sky-scraper dropping seeds into a tornado of change, after all.
This is a much higher level of something that's true for manifestation with all of the Mutable Signs. These are the signs that usher in change. This is why, for example, at the Pisces New Moon, we made prophecies rather than intentions. The conceptual shift is extremely valuable when understanding how manifestation works with the mutable signs, but it is also useful for thinking about the Eclipses too!
The only thing you can actively manifest (in the same way you actively manifest during New Moons) is surrender. Ask the Cosmos to help you surrender graciously and gratefully to the path of your Cosmic Hero's Journey! This can be your wish for every Solar Eclipse.
And, if you're working on manifesting something big in your life right now, you can invite the universe to add that onto your destined path.
See how the approach is different? Normally at New Moons, you'd tell the universe what you're wishing for and/or set the intention to add that thing/feeling onto your cosmic path. With Solar Eclipses, it's a bit more 'mutable,' so you'd ask the universe rather than telling.
You can still manifest, you can still set intentions, but it's just a completely different scale of intentions and also a different way of going about setting them.
Every lunation is unique, so actually, we could read every single New Moon as needing its own approach. And that's why I write a unique article for every one of them! But, it's just that there really is a PALPABLE difference between the feeling of a New Moon and the feeling of a Solar Eclipse that cultures for thousands of years have been aware of.
And On Manifesting with this particular Solar Eclipse...
This Gemini Solar Eclipse is particularly helpful for inviting enhanced intention-setting powers in general. Or, inviting in a new mindset of intention.
We do intention setting at every New Moon, but sometimes, we need to approach it in a different way, or we need to revisit an intention, or we need to be more conscious about whether our intentions align with our spirit.
But, more significantly, we manifest our realities based on our mindset at literally every single moment of our lives. The more intentional we are in our mindset, the more we'll be able to influence our perceptions of reality (which is our only reality).
This Solar Eclipse is a great check-in point for how we're going about doing our intentions at every other New Moon and how our Mindset needs to change in order to do this better.
And this Solar Eclipse in particular is excellent for shifting our mindset to be more symbolic, interpretative, and geared towards growth and opportunity. We've undergone some tremendous collective mindset shifts already, so why not individually participate in that too? Read more about how all this interacts by revisiting the Lunar Eclipse article, here.
The Sun & Moon are in conjunction in Gemini, also in conjunction with Mercury.
Aspects to the Solar Eclipse in Gemini
The most important aspect to this Solar Eclipse (conjunction between the Sun and Moon in Gemini) is that the merged Sun-Moon is applying to a conjunction with Mercury, who is retrograding in their home sign of Gemini.
Besides this merging of Sun-Moon-Mercury Rx in Gemini, which emphasizes all of the Mercury and Gemini themes (mindset, intention, communication, perception, thought, etc.) of this Solar Eclipse, there are also a few underlying aspects that are worth mentioning.
We've got an underlying tug-of-war between Mars and Pluto, who are separating from their opposition in Cancer-Capricorn. This Mars-Pluto opposition is also aspected by Neptune in Pisces by trine and sextile but Neptune is also in square to the Sun-Moon-Mercury Rx merger. This brings up a huge theme of the power of delusion. What's the delusion? And, who gets to call it 'delusion;' who has that power?
It's necessary to also mention the building Saturn-Uranus Square, which is all about whether we're going with 'traditional' definitions or 'radical' ones, but the line between the two is blurry. Again, who gets to call it 'traditional' and who gets to call it 'radical'?
This clash between the traditional and the revolutionary is mitigated by the Sun-Moon-Mercury Rx because they're trine to Saturn.
This Saturn-Uranus meeting is the underlying aspect of 2021, which you can read more about here. It was already affecting the lunations two weeks ago at the Lunar Eclipse in Sagittarius, which was just after Saturn had turned Retrograde., but it's even stronger now that the exact clash is less than 4 days away.
What the interaction of all of these aspects seems to be indicating is that every traditional revolution needs a charismatic leader. But, who is this leader? Are we being our own individual leaders? Will we lead ourselves further into delusion?
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The Symbolism of Gemini: The Twins
The third sign of the Zodiac, Gemini, is the constellation known as The Twins.
Gemini is the mutable air sign of the zodiac, and it operates most prominently within the personal realm (the Ordinary World).
The planetary ruler of Gemini is Mercury. The other sign that Mercury rules is Virgo. Air signs are Yang energy and Earth signs are Yin energy. This means Gemini is the Yang avatar of Mercury. Mercury plays their more actively, linearly, and other adverbs associated with all of the other 'yang' associations.
Mythologically, the twins of Gemini represent the earth-bound realm and the spiritual realm. The realm of life and the realm of not-life or infinite-life (also known to us as 'death'). One twin is mortal and one is immortal. One twin, human; the other, god.
The message of the myth is that humans have one foot in the mortal realm and one foot in the divine realm. This is beautifully encapsulated by one of Mercury's main mythological duties, which is to escort mortal souls from Earth to Hades (the Underworld). Mercury is the bridge between the two twins, the two worlds, the two sides of the coin.
The two sides of the coin is another great way to think about the Twins and what Mercury represents as the bridge between them. Coins are money, and Mercury rules over commerce (com-MERC-e). Think about coins for a second. There are indeed two different sides, but they are always attached to each other, and furthermore, they are always opposite so they can never fully see each other. Despite this (or because of it), the coin itself is taken as ONE thing, not two separate things. You can't pay someone with just one side of a coin, after all, that would literally be impossible.
Knowledge is often described as having two faces (in mythology and in general mainstream language). The theatre has twin masks of Comedy and Tragedy.
Everything has two sides of the symbolic coin; twin faces; dual masks.
This is why we have 'pairs of opposites' and every single thing in the universe has its opposite and every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Duality is deeply embedded in EVERYTHING. The primordial duality is of course that of the Yin and the Yang, out of which, everything else emerged.
Why do we have 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 nostrils, 2 of each appendage, 2 of several organs, 2 breasts, 2 gonads, 2 ways blood flows through the body, 2 brain hemispheres, etc.? And, even though we have 2 of each of these, why does it feel like they're operating as 1? It's not like we can tell the difference between when our 'right brain' is working and when our 'left brain' is, and the more we look into it, the more we find how inter-embedded they are.
All of these twin sets can never be separated from each other. But, on the other side of the coin, they are also mutually embedded in each other.
The same is true of life and death; yang and yin. In fact, yin and yang and understanding it in a new way is what the summer of 2021 is going to be all about.
Gemini comes in as the 3rd sign of the zodiac right after the Mars-ruled one and the Venus-ruled one (Aries and Taurus, respectively). Why?
After we've had the first primordial opposition (between masculine* and feminine*), we need something to bridge them together! Aries represents birth, like a baby; Taurus represents our first interactions with the material world, like a baby's first blankie; therefore, Gemini represents our first processing of these things, like when a baby comes to know that blankie helps with not being cold.
Of course, a baby isn't consciously thinking about this in a language in the same way that we think about things as more mature humans.
It's just something they come to naturally know based on their experience. This kind of 'taken for granted' cognitive knowledge that we develop in early childhood--i.e., the Ordinary World--is exactly what Gemini represents and it's also exactly what Cosmos is calling us to address now.
If we continue the baby/blankie metaphor, we can see that Cancer is when the baby, now cognitively understanding that the blankie is valuable for warmth, assigns an emotional value to it and feels attachment towards it because it brings a feeling of 'security.' Then this feeling becomes embedded in the baby's developing Ego, Leo. Once we get to the next Mercury sign, Virgo, the baby now has an Ego which it recognizes as separate from other things. Thus, the baby must name, label, and classify all these things. These classifications are the space from which relationships (Libra) between things can form. These relationships initiate transformations (Scorpio) and these transformations then need to be processed by a higher knowledge and spiritual self (Sagittarius), where we realize that security doesn't come from the blankie, but from within, and we re-structure our lives based on this (Capricorn), then act as our own individual (Aquarius) before finally coming to realize that everything is actually blurred together (Pisces). This is extremely oversimplified and a horrible run-on sentence, but I hope it makes the gist clear.
...Bringing it All Together...
The Solar Eclipse is the Bridge Between One Level of Opposites and the Next Level.
On either side of the Gemini Solar Eclipse (and also participating in it based on placement), we've got the primordial twins of male* and female* (Aries, Taurus) and the mythological twins of Moon and Sun (Cancer, Leo). This Solar Eclipse is commencing a new beginning for our collective conscious understanding of what these oppositions mean! We are opening a new bridge between the yin and the yang in all of their avatars!
Let's come back to the quote from Kahlil Gibran.
"A truth is to be known always, to be uttered sometimes."
All of the binaries and oppositions that contemporary humans are currently concerned with (which are influenced by all the astrological happenings, probably most significantly the Saturn clash with Uranus, so 'traditional' vs 'revolutionary') are getting a LOT of utterances. Every time I look at American news, it's about the "divide" in the country.
But, beyond that, it's literally PRIDE right now, so the exemplar is the gender and sexuality binary that's been constructed in colonial cultures and is now being reconstructed to be more inclusive and spectrum-like. The 'traditional' gender binary of 'man' vs 'woman' is being 'radically' challenged by concepts like 'non-gender-conforming' and 'non-binary.' The 'traditional' sexuality paradigm of heteronormativity is being 'radically' challenged.
The tricky thing (Mercury, the trickster) is that, if we're talking 'traditional' as in what humans have done for most of humanity, the modern notion of 'traditional' is actually 'radically' different than historical notions. The other side of the coin, of course, is that the 'radical' non-binarism of the moment is actually more of a 'return' to what's been 'traditionally' understood by humans forever, which is that gender is a spectrum.
EVERYTHING IS A SPECTRUM--BETTER YET, A CYCLE :D
Because the thing is, duality is itself embedded in duality: unity and separation!
Almost all myths clearly present every single opposition as a spectrum and/or cycle rather than a binary. THE HERO'S JOURNEY, for instance. This isn't even getting into the artistic/archaeological and linguistic stuff that clearly shows historical cultures all around the world as needing to provide some symbolic and mythological (thus social/cultural) clarity about how we can handle these twin faces of 'unity and duality.'
This Solar Eclipse, the Cosmos is giving us a huge lesson (and 'lesson' really is the perfect term here) in how we perceive all these binaries, dualities, and supposed separations. Not only that but also a lesson on how we bring these dualities into being (and then glorify them, oftentimes) through thinking about them, vocalizing them, them being embedded in our languages, our structures, our systems of life, etc.
If you'd like to know where this is affecting you most, see the basic astrological 'check points' below.
Adapting Your New Moon Ritual for the Solar Eclipse
Below, you'll find an adapted template of "How to Make New Moon Wishes: An Exemplary Ceremony," which was a section from this article about the Aries New Moon. It has been adapted to match the Solar Eclipse and can be further adapted to your personal needs! It’s annotated by the word “adaption” so it should be pretty clear what the differences are!
Remember that any reference to 'wishes' or 'intentions' is using the conceptual framework that's been outlined above.
If the difference is still not clear to you, please feel free to ask (for free for members of the Guided Learning Community or by purchasing a Cosmic Question Session for non-members!)
Step One: Create & get into your sacred space.
Smudge, do yoga, play some music, light a candle, put some incense or essential oils, make your altar and/or crystal grid.
ADAPTION: The Eclipses heighten the sacredness of everything, so don't be surprised if you don't need to put in as much effort as you normally do to create your sacred space.
Note: Many witches and practitioners of Northern European neopagan conceptual lineages (including Wicca) are adamant about not using the Eclipses to charge crystals, make altars, etc. This is not my personal spiritual lineage, though I do incorporate it, so I personally do not align with this interpretation, but if it is yours, please be aware that you might need to do different sacred space things during eclipses than regular lunations.
Step 2: Take a moment to ground yourself by thinking about and feeling grateful for your Ordinary World.
"Write down the 5–10 people or things that make you happy and/or for which you’ve been grateful in the past month; send each of them love."
The New Moon is a time when we're about to embark on a new (micro) Cosmic Hero's Journey. We are in the Ordinary World, which is the World we manifested over the last Lunar Cycle. Thinking about what we're grateful for is an excellent way to ground ourselves in the lessons of the past that we will need in our next quest. It's also just a great way to get yourself in a positive emotional-mental space regardless of whatever else is happening in your life. This is your "heart space," which is the best space to set intentions from.
ADAPTATION: The Gemini Solar Eclipse is literally all about the Ordinary World. Therefore, this is more of a REFLECTION about the state of your Ordinary World and how you perceive it regularly. Are you grateful for it? Do you take a lot for granted? What have you taken for granted that you are actually grateful for?
Step 3: Review old wishes.
"Look at your wishlist from the previous month, read it over—to see which, if any, came true—then thank the Universe. If it’s clear that one or two wishes are no closer to coming true, consider revising them. Which of the wishes on your list have you edged closer to?"
You don't have to do this every time. You can do it only at the New Moons in Aries & Libra, which would give you a nice review at each half of the astrological year. Or, you could personalize and do it every 1st House and 7th House New Moon.
ADAPTATION: Review anything that's happened since the last Eclipse (May 26), then also review what happened around the last Eclipses (November-December 2020). What endings and beginnings have been cosmically ushered in for you?
Step 4: Decide on your Wishes.
"Decide on your top 10 wishes and/or intentions for the coming four weeks. Be as specific or as vague as you like. Also decide what you can commit to doing, in order to make your wishes come true."
NOTE: 10 is the MAXIMUM. It is much better if you narrow it down to 3-5 things.
ADAPTATION: Minimize the amount of specificity you infuse into your wishes. You are entering a conversation with the Cosmos. Invite her to speak. Listen to her as she does. Invite in greater listening capacity. Reconceptualize how you set intentions, and how your intention works in general. Wish for Cosmos to help you with this conceptualization!
Step 5: Write down, doodle, or draw your wishes.
"Now write down, doodle, or draw your top 10 wishes on a sheet of paper...the more energy you invest in the process, the better your results are likely to be."
ADAPTATION NOTE: This step is less important right now! If you can verbalize it by literally speaking it out loud to the black sky, that's ideal.
Step 6: Visualization.
"Next, read your wishes through, one by one. Then—and this is the crucial step—visualize each wish as having come true. Use your imagination to really see it. And then try to imagine how you would/will feel if and when the wish comes true. Hold those feelings: they are what make the magic. Imagine the joy you would feel. See it happening in your imagination—really see it. Feel the outcome in your body—feel what it’s like for your wish to come true. Does it feel good?"
Here, we get to the core reason why the New Moon is the perfect time to set our intentions. The conjunction of the Sun and the Moon, their merging--uniting--means that our Spirits are merged with our Emotions. That's why it is so powerful to visualize how we are going to FEEL once we have our wishes rather than just visualizing our wishes coming true.
Example: Instead of just visualizing the car you want, visualize yourself driving that car and jamming out to your favorite song, picking up your besties and going for road trips, etc.
ADAPTATION: INSTEAD OF "VISUALIZATION" THINK OF THIS AS PURELY IMAGINING! Do not overemphasize the visual component of this for many of the things we're wishing for right now are not tangible or even felt, but are more intellectual!
ADAPTATION: No need to do Step 7: Intention --> Affirmation & Step 8: Intention --> One Small Step
THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP FOR THIS PARTICULAR SOLAR ECLIPSE IS...
Step 9: Meditation & Surrender
Yasmin suggests at least 15 minutes of meditation, but you can do as much or as little as you like. Personally, I usually just find some music that matches the amount of time I want to meditate and/or I find guided meditation to follow.
IMPORTANT: Make sure that you're finding this stuff BEFORE you start the ceremony so that you don't end up going down a virtual rabbit hole while searching!
"End your meditation by releasing attachment to your wishes. Do this by saying 'For the good of all or not at all!' and/or chanting 'Om Namo Narayani' three times. Or just say: 'This or something better now manifests for me, under grace in perfect ways.' Say it with a happy and confident flourish—feel as though it’s happening, or at the very least strongly anticipate it—hurrah!"
This is really important because it removes the fallacy of control. We create our reality through our perceptions, but we do not control everything that happens, we only control how we PERCEIVE it. This, in turn, impacts what happens.
Final Step: Closing the Ceremony
This last step, like the first one, is the most personalizable part of the Ceremony.
Perhaps surrendering and chanting "Om Namo Narayani" IS the way you close your Ceremony. Perhaps you'd like to do a Moon Salutation yoga to bring yourself out of the ceremonial space and back into the bodily one. Perhaps you want to do your crystal grid at the end instead. Perhaps you'd like to use some Oracle Cards. Perhaps you just shake it out and jam to "Dancing in the Moonlight" or some other beloved tune.
However you end up going about it, closing the ceremony is very important! You are no longer going to be in the sacred, spiritual space--you're returning to "everyday life" and "mundane concerns"--and it's important that this sacred space be demarcated as such.
Happy Eclipse to all of you! Always remember to FOLLOW YOUR BLISS!
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