Friends! Greetings. As I am preparing for the next month of Embodying the Zodiac I am excited about soooo many things. I am excited mostly for collaboration. I love the richness of my ideas inspired by your ideas and your words articulating my thoughts. Collaboration and creative partnership is something that I think we all yearn for but rarely either meet "the one" or have the time/willingness/patience to commit. Yet, regardless of whether we consciously collaborate on definable projects or spaces with others, we are actually collaborating all of the time, not only with everyone, but with everything.

Collaboration in its truest sense is the space that we share with one another and the encouragement, support and enthusiasm OR the criticism, skepticism, or apathy that we offer to one another, therefore influencing the space we all share. By space I mean environment and physical space, but I also mean brain space... creative space... the mental space you have that allows you to think about yourself, and to think about how you think about yourself, and to think about how thinking about yourself affects who and how you are, and to think about how, how you think about yourself affects how and to whom you relate, which in turn affects how you are treated, which in turn affects how you think about yourself... Follow?

Gemini is the third sign of the Zodiac. The third sign comes after the first (Aries) which means we have defined our sense of "I", and the second sign (Taurus) which means we have declared our right to take space, to sustain ourselves and to enjoy our bodies. Now in the third sign (and in the 3rd house of the natal chart) we explore our immediate environments, our close peer relations of siblings and friends close enough to be siblings, and our ability to articulate and share with others our perceptions and experience. Gemini and the third house are ruled by Mercury, about whom Caroline Casey has this to say...

"Mercury is the god of the mind, intellect, thought, voice, and language. Analogous to the planet Mercury's proximity to the Sun, the god Mercury is so close to us that he's invisible, so central that he cannot be seen closely-the "purloined letter" of the spirit world.

Our magical capacity to manifest through language, both thought and uttered, is so central that we often take it for granted and spend time and energy seeking more power. Instead we simply need to learn to use the power with which we are already endowed and which is constantly replenished as it flows through us in acts of attention."

Entering into Gemini season we are invited to pay attention to the power of language that defines and brings something into being. Vāk, the Vedic Goddess of sound is the deity who split the ocean of consciousness between the seer and the seen. When we articulate something through language, whether that articulation is actually said out loud, thought, or written- we invite that articulation to be so. In the articulation and the naming we create a container around something that is otherwise just energy transforming itself. When we create containers it generally means that we also create assumptions and expectations we are invested in preserving. In other words, we become attached to the consistency or permanence of how we've defined an otherwise transitory state (energy transforming itself) and are most probably not willing to let that idea of permanence go, because let's face it, the assumptions and expectations we have that things will be and continue to be as we've named them keeps us sane, and the unknown is a terrifying place to live.

Gemini opens us to the delight of curiosity, and the unknown becomes infinitely less terrifying when we are curious as opposed to fearful or in various states of denial. Openness and curiosity are necessary for us to be adaptable, and adaptability is definitely what we need for any kind of evolution, ever. Open-mindedness and allowance to consider the potential for change in others and in ourselves keeps us from stagnating. Letting go of our attachments to the way things should be opens the door for us to see and appreciate the way things are. Gemini, represented by the twins, is constantly picking one thing up and letting the other thing go; hopping from here to there as interest and attention shifts. Something is changing? Great! Change is interesting! At its highest vibration though, Gemini energy is that of connection and love for others through intellectual capacity and the understanding of mind. Our attention can be in the now-ness and the spark of curiosity towards that which is different than us. Rather than polarizing ourselves into duality Gemini wants us to want it all/and/both!

The key to a successful collaboration is to enter the process with the intention of fun and learning, and trust that whatever the end result is, it will surely be something that you wouldn't have come up with on your own. If we approach collaboration (in projects, work, parenting or any relationship at all) clinging to the idea that we know what's best, then we will meet our partner's ideas with resentment and defense. Coming to the collaboration with excitement for all the unknown space that is the relationship allows the process of relating to be the gift. Hurrah!

Tomorrow, Wednesday, is the new moon in Gemini. Take some time to vision how you can be a better collaborator with yourself. In what ways can you meet yourself with more curiosity and enthusiasm? How can you let go of the fixed ideas you have about yourself and make some room for the you who has something else to say?

Melina and I are starting the season of Gemini tonight in our Embodying The Zodiac series (yes this is a fun collaboration!) and will be asking all of those questions and more. Come for two hours of exploration of Gemini and Mercury, some yoga and breathing to address the balances and imbalances of both, journaling Gemini affirmations and setting your new moon wishes. More info about the class series can be found here.

Wishing you a delightful, curious, sparky and playful new moon.

With love, Renee