Full Moon in Gemini: Astrology of 12/15 – 12/22

As we approach the beginning of Capricorn Season and the winter solstice which marks the return of the light, we are in our darkest hours of the year. For many this relates to a kind of hibernation, going within, and preserving energy. In this space of preservation, the places we work too hard or carry too much baggage begin to reveal themselves as unsustainable (excesses which might fly better in spring or summer). 

The dark hours of the year can be a magical and restorative time for tapping in more deeply with our roots, being with the quiet, and discerning what is of the most value and priority to us. It confronts us with the challenges and rewards of letting go and surrendering to this cyclical descent/renewal process.

A Full Moon in the later degrees of Gemini may symbolize letting certain ideas lay to rest this lunation – and while that may feel heavy in the moment, trust that it is making space for what is wanting to come next – like opportunities and joys we have yet to even imagine. Being attached to ideas borne of trauma grows wearying to hold. Being attached to too many ideas and plans that aren’t genuinely exciting can clutter the mind from inspiration. Letting that excess drop and fall away is worth celebration, too.

Welcome back! Or in case this is your first time here, I’m Sabrina Monarch and I’m a soul-centered astrologer. I love providing perspectives on the opportunities of transits and putting into words what the zeitgeist feels like at this moment in time, to support you on your path & open a dialogue between us and the cosmos. If you would like to receive these weekly forecasts to your inbox and be notified of upcoming educational opportunities, sign up for my mailing list here.

Watch the video version of this forecast on YouTube, or keep reading below:

Here’s our week after a few announcements!

Astrology reading books open – I am taking a small number of clients and hope to open my books more frequently than I have been. You can purchase a reading with me here (while spots are available).

Mentorship application open – I am offering longer term mentorship again (6 months or 1 year)! I work with people who are, for whatever reason, seeking to reckon with their personal narrative and mythos – astrology can be a tool for that, and by being in regular conversation we can open a space for cultivating deeper understanding of the psychic space and moment in time that you find yourself in. Naturally this space of insight and discovery also opens deeper layers of agency around how you choose to navigate the complexities of your life.

Working together for 6 months or a year allows us to explore your natal chart/transits over time as well as how this map is manifesting on the ground in your real life experiences. We get to become aware of patterns we run (psychological, emotional, spiritual) and uncover new creative ways to interact with the material of our lives. Apply to work with me here.

Meteorite 2022 – A year-long program for alumni of the Evolutionary Astrology Intensive is approaching in early 2022. This is for students who desire to deepen their astrological craft and voice. The first run of Meteorite was so much fun, so electrifying/enlivening, and my students created awesome works of art and scholarship (the course involves projects). This new run of the course will be new material and available to Intensive and Meteorite alumni alike, by application. More details to come!

Here’s our week:

December 15, 2021

Mars in 1 Sagittarius conjunct lunar south node in 1 Sagittarius: 12:12 PM PST

(Image: Devin Elle Kurtz)

Mars has just entered Sagittarius. The lunar nodes travel backwards through the zodiac, and the south node is on its way out of its longer (year and a half) stay in this sign, on its way to Scorpio.

Mars in Sagittarius brings the vitality, energy, and drive of Mars to topics like the pursuit of knowledge, travel and adventure, optimism, and seeing things through a larger perspective (and maybe forget a few little details!) If a town were to suddenly find out that a strange traveler had arrived, or a wise sage lived at the top of a nearby mountain, Mars in Sagittarius would be among the first wanting to go explore the situation, with very little reservation if any at all. This placement relates to the activation we might feel when pursuing an experience that promises to expand our consciousness or an experience that promises to create an amazing story.

Mars will be in this sign until January 24, 2022, but this initial ships-passing-in-the-night moment with the karmic lunar south node in Sagittarius could relate to a few themes:

• The directionality of the last year-and-a-half transit of the north node in Gemini, south node in Sagittarius, has pointed to releasing or letting go of dogmatic perspective, righteousness, the egoic compulsion to have certainty, and opening up to new perspective or new experiences that might show us more options or pathways than we previously thought valid or true.
• Just because these themes have been “releasing” does not mean they haven’t been prevalent. Cars release fumes, and those fumes exist in the atmosphere. Karmic releasing similarly kicks up a mood into the air. The last year and a half has seen tons of ideological division and strong beliefs around what is right and wrong, and what the truth is. As a point of internal discernment, it has been important to know the difference between egoic gripping onto the identity of “being right” or “being a moral person” versus dropping into the actual truth of the self and the truth of a moment. 
• The south node in Sagittarius can relate to an intense uncomfortability around the experience of not knowing and feeling like one SHOULD know (and then pretending to know, to avoid the discomfort), whereas the lunar north node in Gemini relates to the counter-impulse that can help: engaging curiosity. 
• Mars and the south node colliding here could relate to moments that call upon our courage (Mars) to face uncertainty/not knowing from a really honest place, where we can really sit that tension instead of collapsing it immediately into a convenient story or answer that is not totally true.
• Mars conjunct the south node could relate to choosing to lay down our arms in a historic battle. Whether it’s a familiar pattern of war within our family system or a relationship, etc (and we choose a different way of meeting the situation) or a familiar war within ourselves. Sometimes when we recognize that something is a pattern, we suddenly can see the bigger picture, and it opens up the lucidity/clarity to make a new choice. 
• Likewise, where we do still feel the impulse to battle (say, have a confronting encounter by facing a fear, or a confronting encounter by being in conflict with someone else), the situation itself may offer some kind of release, such as a shift in perspective or a lessening of attachment.

December 18, 2021

Mercury in 8 Capricorn square Chiron retrograde in 8 Aries: 6:35 PM PST

• Within a larger pursuit of autonomy/freedom/self-direction (Chiron in Aries), a mental process around our rules, boundaries, and protocols may be coming into view (Mercury in Capricorn). Within the life that we choose for ourselves, we are also making decisions about what we are and aren’t available for.
• At some point in this journey, the wound (Chiron in Aries) could have been that we felt unfairly antagonized, that we were on the receiving end of aggressive boundary-crossing. At a higher level of integration (offered by this square from Mercury in Capricorn), we can make breakthroughs around self-definition – where we have the agency as well as responsibility to define our own parameters before we let the environment or other people define it for us. At this breakthrough level we see boundary violations as mirrors to where we have not had boundaries within ourselves, and we fortify from within.
• This is not to say external personalities and conditions do not exist – but that within a given conflict/impasse, there are untapped places of self-definition or personal agency around where we create open space and availability versus where we are unavailable and do not hold court for certain experiences. The clearer we become about the latter, the less we keep feeling crossed. 

Full Moon in 27 Gemini: 8:35 PM PST

(Image: Freaky Friday, 2003)

Neptune in Pisces squares the Sun-Moon axis, Jupiter in Aquarius trines the Moon and sextiles the Sun, and Pluto-Venus in Capricorn form an inconjunct to the Gemini Moon and semisextile to the Sun in Sagittarius.

• The Full Moon in Gemini suggests a climax around our beliefs and thoughts – the Sun in Sagittarius representing our beliefs/worldview/bigger picture view of the situation and the Moon in Gemini relating to a mental climax point at peak illumination here by the Sun.
• The last ten degrees of Sagittarius correspond to the Ten of Wands, and the last ten degrees of Gemini correspond to the Ten of Swords – both visceral cards, especially the latter. The Ten of Wands pictures a figure who is overburdened – one who is taking on too much – perhaps too overbearing a philosophy, too much weight in an organization without delegating, too much weight in a relationship, too much work without rest, etc. The Ten of Swords pictures a final rest – a painful process has come to an end. There is usually a period of anxiety and mental struggle in the 8 and 9 of swords leading up to the ten, but here the figure is slain and at rest.

• Leading up to this Full Moon, I’ve already had several distinct situations where at a mental level (based on logic, my worldview of what was possible), I was faced with some tough calls. As I contemplated the decision I felt I had to make (but did not feel ideal), I felt the death/grief/annihilation represented by these pathways. Only after fully feeling how unbearable these choices felt to me (in true Ten of Wands/Ten of Swords fashion), did extra choices spring up that genuinely felt more enlivening.
• We may need space around this lunation to let certain visualized trajectories die to make space for other pathways to appear. For some, this may mean actually putting in the 2-weeks, telling the group house you’re moving out, etc. (At your discernment.) Less dramatically, it could also be changing route after being doggedly devoted to a particular course of action. For others, it may simply be contemplating those major choices and encountering an integrative or novel thought to bubble up from the psyche. The point is that something has become too heavy, and whether we need to change the situation or simply change how much weight we’re holding, is something to be seen.
• You might also think of a fruit on a tree that is growing and growing until it becomes too heavy and thus it naturally drops from the tree. Overgrown ideas can fall, and return to the soil, making way for new life. Whatever forms of excess are becoming difficult for us to manage may be felt with this lunation – it may not be big life things (like wanting to change career path), it could be something as subtle as a particular way of viewing a situation that has overgrown its ‘rent’ in your consciousness.

December 19, 2021

Venus stations retrograde in 26 Capricorn: 2:35 AM PST

See my in-depth guide here – free for mailing list subscribers!

Chiron stations direct in 8 Aries: 8:33 AM PST

• At perhaps a most basic, fundamental level, Chiron in Aries is the core wound of existing as an individual split from source (i.e. incarnating as a person). Feelings of loneliness or having to fend for oneself can anchor back to this primordial wound.
• At a more situational level, Chiron in Aries is about activations and initiations around self-assertion, taking up space, claiming our existence and personhood.
• Aries can put up a good tough front, puff out the chest, etc – similarly some of our activated wounds or pain points can make a big scene, when the actual root of the pain is so innocent and fundamental (existing as an individual). Notice if there is a softer gentler ‘puppy’ energy behind the big scary dog energy. It could be healing to touch down into the more tender vulnerable part of ourselves as opposed to staying stuck in the place of puffiness and inflammation.
• Aries can mask insecurity by seeking to be the best at something, securing victory, and proving those who underestimated them wrong. At some point in one’s personal journey, developing the self via proving an enemy wrong (if even only to oneself) can be a meaningful activation. If it is a tired pattern though, one might consider what it would be like to activate one’s destiny or personal expression without it necessarily being combative. How does one deal with inevitable opposition (there will always be critics and people who don’t agree, for example) at an increasing level of personal depth and self-mastery?

Sun in 28 Sagittarius sextile Jupiter in 28 Aquarius: 4:31 PM PST

December 20, 2021

Mercury in 11 Capricorn trine Uranus in 11 Taurus: 12:18 PM PST

December 21, 2021

Sun enters Capricorn: 7:59 AM PST

• This winter solstice point (on the northern hemisphere and some might say symbolically for the zodiac system in general) marks the return of the light. The light hours have been fewer, and dark hours more. Capricorn Season marks the beginning of the return of the light, as daylight hours will begin to grow here and peak again in the summer.
• Capricorn symbolically connects to this “return of the light” in the sense that Capricorn has the capacity to trust in the future that one is working toward. Capricorn can delay gratification for a future goal, put in the work now, and see the mission through.
• Along this process, there is the side of Capricorn that trusts the future goal (and easefully as a result, puts in the work) as well as the side of Capricorn that doubts the future goal.
• At a discernment level, it is worth considering if we are doubting in a way that is actually just detrimental and we need more discipline around not giving into our fears and anxieties. Or, if we experience doubt because the soul is calling us down, to root into some deeper truth.
• To reflect further on this, here is a description on “Understanding Capricorn” excerpted from my Venus Retrograde in Capricorn in-depth guide. While it is for Venus, the description of Capricorn can be applied to the solar Capricorn season as well. (Read the full guide by signing up for my mailing list here.)

Capricorn is a cardinal earth sign ruled by the planet Saturn. Capricorn is represented by the seagoat, who can both climb precarious mountains and swim deep in the water. Capricorn has a worldly, aspirational (climbing), practical, calculating nature. Capricorn relates to the construction of all structures, including parameters, containers, and boundaries – these structures influence the way reality flows. Capricorn relates to the trait or development of the trait of authority – what it means to have responsibility in a situation, hold a position of power, influence the design of one’s life, and have boundaries around what we will or will not accept. Authority can simply be a position of power (that one has attained or been given) or it can be a deeply energetic phenomenon: you feel it in someone’s bones, you feel their grace, poise, integrity, embodiment, skill. (It could be some combination of both social and energetic).

One of the potential negative traits of Capricorn is excess rigidity. It is the quality if someone becoming more bitter and closed off to life after experiencing hardships and failures – aka crustiness. Capricorn and Saturn are both forces of materialization/crystallization, so our habits (for better or worse) forge a structure over time. Structures can be changed, but it is an undertaking.

In a modern context where progress and upward momentum is the most desirable, and it’s considered (objectively or internalized) unfortunate or shameful for someone to be going through a “dark night of the soul” or a personal downswing, we really miss the seagoat part of the goat. The goat that descends. How we move through the dark, through uncertainty, through personal failure, through cyclical depression, and the like – influences what we are capable of during our upward momentum. It also grounds us in a fertile, feminine, wet kind of truth: that of the soil, that of our deep interiority, that of the mystery.

The Venus in Capricorn retrograde ceremony can put us in touch with the upper-side of the mountain goat as well as the lower-side of the seagoat descended into the water. Upper and lower here is not a value judgement but simply a spatial description. 

On the mountain side, we may know our goals and boundaries clear as day and are embarking on the path of living out our standards through our choices and rational policies (this is acceptable, this is unacceptable, etc). We are carefully gaining leverage via one foothold after another, and steadily getting up the mountain through devoted engagement of a mission.

On the watery descent side, we are feeling our way through. Maybe our concept of “should” in a situation is dissolving right before our eyes. Maybe something we thought was going to work out didn’t, and we are grappling with our disappointment and re-orienting ourselves. Maybe we got something we wanted only to realize it didn’t grant us the feeling we anticipated it would. Maybe we got everything we wanted and we’re trying to feel what the next truest thing is. Maybe we’re just resting or playing, and taking into our bodies a deep infusion of inspiration in a moment of repose.

Thank you for meditating on the planets with me this week! If you would like further guidance, I have been increasingly focused on longer-term experiences in the form of the Evolutionary Astrology Intensive, higher level courses for alumni, and 1:1 mentorship – helping people form a depth relationship to their natal chart and personal transits over time, to develop themselves, to be in their power, and to reach their goals, all through the soul-making lens of evolutionary astrology. I would love to support you in building your relationship with astrology. The intensive is currently in session and will be offered again and I am taking applications for the mentorship here..

Find me on Instagram @sabrinamonarch, get on my mailing list to stay apprised of all upcoming offerings and events, and I’ll see you next week!

With love,

Sabrina Monarch