A Martian Full Moon in Gemini: Astrology of 12/7 – 12/13

The week begins with a Full Moon in Gemini, exactly conjunct Mars – which coincides with the Mars-Sun opposition that marks the heart of the Mars retrograde transit. This may serve as an emotional reveal of where we are feeling separate from (Mars) ourselves and even from life based on a split between our visions/hopes and the actual, apparent reality — or trajectories we imagine versus the trajectories that appear to be unfolding. However, within this there is inherently a call for reconnection and realignment. Reconnection doesn’t require that our external circumstances change, but rather that we find our own energetic orientation and sense of presence that brings us back to being active participants (also Mars) in our lives.

For those who don’t feel disconnection from “the path” is much of an issue (you do feel on track, or connected to the unfolding) – the activation of the Martian lunation and heart of the Mars retrograde could be simply about finding our footing in novel, less-traveled paths in our psyches and external lives — and the potential to have visionary experiences when life itself presents us such experiential edges.

While Gemini and Sagittarius (the signs highlighted by these transits) can relate to sophisticated logical structures & sophisticated belief systems — they also touch us into the mystery of that which we’ve yet to connect, that which we’ve yet to know, what is unseen and invisible currently. These signs point us to our relationship with pure possibility. Despite what we think we know with our minds, how are we creating space to be enchanted, awakened, illuminated by what is currently beyond the reaches of our imagination?

And how do we hold that space, while still being rooted and connected to the reality we experience now — a reality still full of mysteries, to reveal to us?

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.

(Top image: Chilly – For Your Love album cover, 1978)

Here’s our week after a few announcements:

DRAGON OF THE MOON: AN EVOLUTIONARY ASTROLOGY INITIATION – STARTING FEBRUARY 2023

Previously titled the Evolutionary Astrology Intensive, this course is being offered again under a new name, Dragon of the Moon: an Evolutionary Astrology Initiation. This program is designed to give students a footing in their own astrological intuition and literacy, and we journey specifically into a deeper understanding of Pluto and the lunar nodes, and how to read charts from the perspective of the soul. We learn how to decode the inherent meaning or value in every experience we’ve ever had (as the soul explicitly learns through experience), and with this insight, also gain the power to make new choices and tell new stories. An understanding of Pluto and the nodes in the natal chart leads to a profound meditation on our deepest desires and inclinations in this life, and the personality structures we’ve created to secure those desires. By examining this material in a grounded, mythopoetic, compassionate space (of the program) we get to uncover new ways that we might relate to our deepest motivations in more life-enhancing ways. The natal chart can guide us into discovering how the story we’ve been living as a soul wants to continue. I have found these teachings invaluable as I’ve grown up alongside them and built my life in relationship to them, and I’m honored to share it with the amazing, tight-knit communities that form around this alchemical fire.

Learn more and apply here.

Here’s our week:

December 7, 2022

Full Moon in 16 Gemini: 8:08 PM PST & Sun in 16 Sagittarius opposite Mars retrograde in 16 Gemini: 9:41 PM PST

The Moon will be exactly conjunct Mars, also in 16 Gemini. This lines up with the Sun-Mars opposition (heart of the Mars retrograde) around an hour and a half after.

The New Moon in Sagittarius that began this lunar cycle coincided with Jupiter (ruler of Sagittarius) stationing direct the same day. Now, this full moon directly highlights the Sun-Mars opposition which is a significant point in the Mars retrograde cycle.

• Mars retrogrades are a time of increased evolution and increased pressure around vitality, drive, and how we meet conflict: life may be giving us a challenge that is directly confronting us with a greater question of who we wish to become.
• The “conflict” might be apparent and obviously a conflict – other times it can be having to make a tough call, or it could even be about our tense/muddled relationship to a positive situation – perhaps facing aspects of ourselves that are confronting to be with.
• The conflict with Mars in Gemini can be about how we channel our energy (when there are many apparent directions), how we relate to intrusive or loud inner thoughts, how dynamic/agile we are capable of being in our responses.
• The more I’ve sat with Mars retrogrades over the years and observed this pattern/energy generally, it strikes me how unique and evolutionary the challenges are – like advancing a level in a game and being presented a situation we don’t actually know how to meet from our past experience. If the situation is familiar, we might be uniquely aware of the necessity to change the story this time and be less inclined to simply repeat our old way of being.
• At an emotional level, the full moon lining up with this Sun-Mars suggests the presence of internal psychological splits: conflicting drives and desires, conflicting impulses/responses, and the drama of being aware of this at the very intersection of it. Such tension may yield novel solutions, also.
• It suggests that our egoic, mental/logistical planning of “what to do” is running many simulations/visions of many different programs or timelines. This does not translate to a clear, focused intention or will of how to proceed, but is rather a more existential/philosophical moment of tension.
• In this space, there may be an emphasized drive for finding the answer, finding the truth, or finding resonance with a direction or plan due to the heightened discomfort or disorientation.
• Alternately, if we do find a slipstream of presence, acting spontaneously and exploring novel pathways in the moment is like a form of magic. These pathways can feel exciting, adventurous, deeply connected to nature or the flow of reality, and may not necessarily line up with an existing self-concept or existing plan.
• The ease at which we participate in the generation of novelty and novel pathways is in conversation with the boundaries and attachments we have. For example, a person who is committed to their family may have a magical impulse to quit their job and go to Bali on a whim because of an internal vision, but the cost and drama of following that magical impulse is different than if that same internal vision occurred for a single, relatively unattached person.
• We could also observe the pattern of whether our will or drive/vitality is connected to the experience we are already having and the pathways that are already available to us, or if there is a more dramatic urge for something totally separate than our existing experience.
• If we desire change (we are feeling angst and want something separate/different than our current experience), finding some connection to ourselves and to the present and working from the ground in that way is actually powerful and helpful – when we try to create our lives from a place of disconnection (rejection/separation) we often perpetuate more of that same separation. Sometimes a perspective shift (Gemini) helps us re-penetrate (Mars) our lives with presence and attention.
• Visiting a place that is different than our ordinary life for a period of time and then returning/integrating to life is also helpful. This is something we do when we enter trance, dream, watch a film, play/make art, daydream, etc. We may actually contact visions in those separate spaces that we are are not capable of seeing in our ordinary/routine life. But the chasm between our lives and the visionary places we visit are only as thick as we lack integration.
• The Moon-Mars conjunction itself suggests challenge to the familiar, challenge to the comfort zone, challenge to the ego. It can be an itchy, uncomfortable feeling – in the context of this full moon, it’s like a ceremonial working – a dose of heat, insecurity, curiosity for something other, intrigue for something different – to facilitate creating something new with our lives in the space we didn’t imagine options before.
• The preliminary, extreme thoughts that come from a place of inner-conflict may reveal a process: once the process is farther along, our solutions may be more moderate or integrated than the original fever dream of blowing it all up, quitting, doing something extreme, etc.

December 9, 2022

Venus enters Capricorn: 7:54 PM PST

Venus will stay in Capricorn until January 2, 2023.

• Venus in this earth, Saturn-ruled sign emphasizes aesthetic and relational themes that are grounded in reality, even if it’s a reality we are also building ourselves. What we value may feel the most valuable if it actually “works” or is sustainable.
• I’ve observed Venus in Capricorn natives often have the capacity to be in enduring relationships, and they are less seduced by immediate & foundationless passion as they are interested in the slow, steady build.
• For us as a transit (only lasting less than a month), our attention may be brought to these Venusian themes in endurance. We might be considering things like agreements, longer plans, or how we prepare our own hearts for something that is longer-term. This is not just about current or future relationships with people, but perhaps the values we are loyal to that form our character and integrity.
• There is a tendency toward conservatism with Capricorn, and aligning ourselves with something that has deep roots, a deeper history, or is conventional and already has templates/gravity around it. However, fringe people, fringe values, weirdos, can also access Capricorn and its magic around realty-creation! Social norms in one cultural context may not have as deep roots as something more natural/nature-based that existed before a given social dream. Capricorn may ask us to connect with our elders (forces connected farther back in time than us), as well as our capacity to have authority/authorship in the way we are choosing to build our lives. We may consider what helps us anchor in our visions/values in a real way – which is not always “tried and true” by a given set of social standards, but may have roots somewhere else, like in our bones or our connection to the land.

December 12, 2022

Sun in 20 Sagittarius sextile Saturn in 20 Aquarius: 10:12 AM PST

• This is an easeful/gentle Sun-Saturn contact. Challenging Sun-Saturn dynamics relate to a negation of solar energy – feeling dampened, having standards or self-judgements or internalized judgements that feel diminishing, being hard on ourselves. Even these harder dynamics can be rewired, however, by cultivating a more supportive/encouraging/healthy relationship with ourselves & deconstructing the rules/values we have allied with unhelpfully.
• This is an easeful Sun-Saturn contact, which brings out more of the themes of support and encouragement around our creativity or happiness, by being able to align our discipline or ethic with our vision or what is bringing us life.
• In Sagittarius and Aquarius, it can highlight the work we do for freedom and for creativity – the work we do to imagine, create, engineer, and implement structures (mental, emotional, physical, time, etc) that facilitate our deeper truth and essence.

Thank you for meditating on the transits with me! If you would like further guidance, I have been increasingly focused on longer-term experiences in the form of Dragon of the Moon: an Evolutionary Astrology Initiation and my higher level course METEORITE for alumni – 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. Dragon of the Moon is currently open for applications and METEORITE 2022 is currently in session.

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

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With love,

Sabrina Monarch