Jun 2022
Buzzing with Gemini
Stereo Magritte by Ron English
As June begins the Sun is in a flurry of Gemini, a sign made for the digital age. The world is full of information, and this restless sign wants to know it all.
On the 13th, Mercury, the messenger, joins the Sun in Gemini. It’s in this placement that Mercury (locomotion, mental processes) is most at home: sampling and experimenting among a wide array of interests.
Venus enters on the 22nd, adding an aesthetic dimension to the mix. Both our minds and our hearts are buzzing like bees in a flower bed.
Shadow Gemini
When the sky is full of Gemini, our curiosity is excited. Our perceptions become quick and flexible. We can make connections between things: we link up facts, image and ideas like beads on a string. The danger here is that of getting scattered, as our interest is drawn to one thing and then another. The goal is to collect information without losing focus, no small feat in the wired age.
Gemini’s shadow side is all too familiar to anyone with access to the internet. It tempts us to hop
between bite-sized chunks of data without stopping to let any of it sink in. Especially during the second half of June, the tendency will be even stronger to emphasize breadth of information over depth.
But Gemini is supposed to concern itself with disparate tidbits. By contrast, Sagittarius, its opposite sign, specializes in deriving meaning from all that data. Gemini is about analysis; Sagittarius is about synthesis.
Right now, celebrate Gemini. Without spreading yourself too thin, let your attention explore the many interesting things around you.
It stands to reason that we should try to get the most out of the signs that are currently dominating the skies, not try to make them something they’re not. Sooner or later their excesses will be balanced out.
The Goddess invented twelve signs for a reason.
The Sacred Solstice
The Sun enters Cancer on June 21st, one of the four cardinal sabbats in the Wheel of the Year. This solar phase is deeply tribal. It inspires a longing for roots, whether domestic, geographical or 
psychological.
Some will feel this longing on a mythic level, as a surge of collective memory tying us to our ancient agrarian past. The family picnics, music festivals and reunions that often take place over the Solstice are modern versions of the rituals our ancestors took part in during the fullness of summer.
In ancient times, we saw ourselves as children of the Great Mother. During the weeks of Cancer we showed our gratitude to her for feeding, sheltering and protecting us. At this time of year the human need for those three necessities is felt most acutely.
Stations in June
Mercury makes a transition mid-month, from slow-and-steady Taurus to quick-footed Gemini. It is in Taurus that Mercury stations direct on the third of June.
In general, retrograde and direct stations — when a planet seems to be hovering, unmoving, in the sky — are optimal times to delve into the more esoteric reaches of the archetype. In the case of Mercury, this is an invitation to witness ourselves thinking: to watch – as if
from afar — the workings of our own mind.
Saturn (maturity, responsibility) stations on the fourth, turning retrograde at 25° Aquarius. At this time a meditation on the nature of adulthood would be particularly auspicious. This would entail pondering the essential meaning of responsibility: the ability to respond.
Neptune stations retrograde on June 28th, highlighting the need for humility as a prerequisite of wisdom. It is appropriate now to honor the eternal, unifying mysteries that swirl around us like question marks. It’s a time to release our linear minds from the pressure of trying to fathom the unfathomable.