The Wheels Are Turning - Tuesday, December 13th 2016, full moon in Gemini

Tuesday, December 13th full moon in Gemini brings a number of exciting and productive aspects with it. All in all this week is good for gaining mental clarity and negotiating balance between relationship needs and personal desires. Insight, clarity and strategic thinking are available and easy. Future concerns become more manageable with better communication and more information. Throughout the next year themes of integration and healing continue to take priority. What issues have come to the surface have done so because they are ready to be perceived, both personally and collectively. In the world at large and in our personal lives we are being asked to appreciate and acknowledge difference while also maintaining the big picture of common interests. Power struggles and issues with authority and outdated systems have many of us turning inward or towards each other for solutions. Fighting for change becomes more enjoyable as we notice the resources close at hand in our communities and networks. To learn more about the astrology of this full moon listen to the podcast here. To take advantage of the opportunity this astrology brings for personal awareness, growth, and deeper embodiment listen to the guided somatic meditation here. In this meditation I focus on connecting and relating the right and left sides of the body, and soothing an overthinking mind.

Are you interested in participating in community through shared dialogue, peer support, and a task-based approach to embodying ethics and creativity? Check out Doing Theory, an experimental, online learning community and expanded network of artists, activists, and seekers of a better, more equitable future. This year our topic is Learning To Love More. We are exploring the contemporary ethics of nonviolence through collaborative learning, personal practices and direct actions.

Sign up for the newsletter and receive astrology and horoscopes straight to your inbox

These horoscopes are written partially as affirmations. Affirmative thinking and speaking are a form of magic that works through magnetism. If your horoscope affirmation resonates with you, print it out and place it somewhere visible for the next two weeks. Repeat it to yourself often and notice how the magic works. I suggest reading horoscopes for both your sun and rising signs. If you’re interested in a more personalized approach to your astrology you can request a reading here.

I offer these horoscopes and podcasts free of charge. If they are helpful for you please MAKE A DONATION and support  this work!

ARIES Something that you perceive in someone else may may lead to surprising insight about yourself. New opportunities for communicating are illuminated by the last year or so of examining your deeper belief structures and governing philosophies. It seems that now you are ready to put new awareness into action and opportunities present themselves to both give and receive diplomacy, consideration and generosity. Keeping yourself on task mentally will help you continue to hone skills of inquiry and clarity. Look to your relationships with partners and friends for examples of those who can easily put their thoughts into action. Your efforts to solidly embody personal power and a sense of purpose are leading to new awareness and cognition. If circumstances arise that seem to challenge your agency make sure that you are not overreacting or jumping to conclusions. Remember that you will never regret kindness, and that offering truth and honest boundaries with others is an act of kindness towards everyone in the long-term. Curiosity, conversation, and disciplined thinking help you continue to make strides towards personal awakening and self-satisfaction. Your full moon affirmation is, “I clearly see the ways my thoughts affect my experience. I am responsible for my reactivity and wellbeing. Whoever is here is my teacher, but it is up to me to learn.”

TAURUS Uncertainty of others support or feelings of austerity have forced you to consider new strategies for work. Luckily, this fall and the coming months bring an abundance of opportunities. The only downside is that you may feel too busy to attend to your desires for more time in abstraction and inward experiences. Some of you may be feeling the demands or pressures of academia or a learning pursuit of some kind. Many of you are strongly impacted by current world events and social politics which could be pulling your attention away from more personal needs and satisfactions. One thing to remember is that the nature of the universe is holographic. The largest structures are mirrored in the tiniest particles and vice versa. This means that when you can attend to your own healing and do the work of resolving your own pain and distress, you then become a force of healing and resolution for others in the world. Try to let yourself off the hook for not having all the solutions to the problems of others. Focusing on your immediate tasks and internal balance is a good start. Showing up for others in service where and how you can helps you see that what you have to give is immensely valuable even if it doesn’t always achieve your own high ideals. Your full moon affirmation is, “I easily manifest what I need through connecting to my own curiosity, being generous with my time, and focusing on simple tasks that serve my big picture vision. I find moments for solitude and intimacy as I need them. I trust my intuition to guide me to the people, places and resources that I need and who need me.”

GEMINI Tuesday’s full moon reveals areas of personal growth and self-awareness. The last year or so has brought you teachers through close, equal relationships. These people may be life/love partners, business partners, or even people you actively dislike but maintain some level of engagement with. Awareness of restrictions or limiting factors now may lead to new understanding of how to approach what you want in the long-term. If a partner can’t give you what you want currently it’s a good opportunity for you to examine the ways in which you may have traded personal power for a sense of validation or satisfaction from others in the past. Current interactions with romantic playmates, kids, or creative projects can help you remember how to be open and excited for the unpredictable. The sense of playfulness and expansion you experience in less serious endeavors can help you realize a quality of being that you wish to cultivate in more serious affairs. This is an opportune time for breakthrough moments that can lead to surprising outcomes and strategies for how to attain your future aspirations. Your full moon affirmation is, “I know myself.”

CANCER Tuesday’s full moon sparks a much needed conversation around your time management and daily preoccupations. How you spend your energy has been up for negotiation in the last year. It is becoming clearer that you need to spend your time in ways that uplift, inspire, and stimulate your mind. The more you can create spaces to enjoy deeper philosophical questions in your life, the more confident you are and the more at home in the world you feel. This full moon illuminates the importance of giving yourself space to ask questions. This could be commitment to a spiritual practice, time alone to read, long and quiet walks, or maybe just more time in bed for dreaming. Taking charge of your immediate surroundings including your body means that you choose where and how you will spend your life energy. You need to be strategic now about your partnerships and who you share resources with. Make sure that your intimates understand your need for a deeper life experience and meaningful exchanges with them and with yourself. This is a good time for organization and creating systems that allow for everyone to have their needs met. Your full moon affirmation is, “I easily speak the words that have previously felt hidden. I am confident and proactive in asking for what I need. I see my life transform around me as I clearly articulate my desires and capacities.”

LEO Consider how expanding your networks and reaching out to others gives you energy. Notice the ways that connecting through ideas, words, and concepts feels playful and alive. This full moon wants to show you how your current creative endeavors can grow and expand. It’s prime time to reach out and offer your efforts for recognition, to seek publishing opportunities, and to connect with people who are beyond your immediate social spheres. The clue for you, and the challenge, is to give less fucks. You tend to be worried about how you will be perceived and whether or not what you are doing is appreciated or correct. My wish for you is that you can turn feelings of inadequacy, envy and insecurity into more determination, pride, and grit. Don’t worry so much about saying the right thing and don’t let shyness hold you back. The ideas you’ve been working with are ready to be shared. You are passionate, thoughtful and perceptive with others. If in any doubt, take a moment for quiet introspection and ask yourself if you are acting from your heart. If you feel your chest expand in response then you know you can trust whatever it is you are expressing. Your full moon affirmation is, “I allow and enjoy the attention of others. I am confident in my intelligence and with my speech. I am receptive to offers for expansion, travel, and any kind of opportunity that will deepen and fortify my knowledge.”

VIRGO Feelings of frustration, restriction or cramping at home are trying right now. It seems that you want something that isn’t quite there and questions of commitment feel pressing. Try to channel the intensity of the present moment into your work and the ways you wish to express yourself in a public way. What feels limiting at home can actually give you more energy to move towards your goals. There is currently a lot of thinking energy surrounding your strategies for getting needs met in financial and practical ways. The insights you’re having about day-to-day maintenance of your home and body will help you increase your earnings and can assist you with balancing work and life. With all the upward moving thought energy it’s important to stay grounded. One way to do this is through sex and it seems that previous boundaries in intimacy are suddenly ready to shift. Allow the energy and vulnerability that arises to nurture you and consider how these elements can infuse your home life. The necessity of passion and aliveness is real. Trouble comes when we project our passion and aliveness onto another and give them the sole power to provoke it. Tuesday’s new moon is a great time for getting absorbed in your own creative reverie and going for gonzo with self-pleasuring activities. Your full moon affirmation is, “I am powerful and I hold my own power with ease. My mind is my agent and friend. I own my pleasure and take all the arousing opportunities I am given to get more turned on to myself.”

LIBRA It is said that they best way to learn something is to teach it. When we are put into the position of sharing our knowledge and helping others we get to embody the essence and mind of Bodhisattva – the intention to uplift all other beings and serve a collective awakening. Not all teachers or teaching reside here though. If we become formulaic or rote then we impose upon others our own unexamined rigidity. If we become dogmatic or disciplinary then we impose upon others our own insecurity. The teachers who are able to offer themselves with all of their own questions and wondering intact are the teachers who inspire and lead by example. Having beginner’s mind means that you get to constantly surprise yourself and you can release the pressure of needing to know it all. It seems that currently you are searching for words or trying to express yourself and your philosophies in ways that are significantly more mature than your previous efforts. By all means keep pushing yourself to formulate your thoughts and articulate your ideas. But don’t get so focused that you lose track of your enjoyment and the delight that comes when you share something with another. You can get caught up quickly in assumptions about what other people want and need, but if you maintain what you’re doing based purely on the simple desire to keep doing it then you don’t need to worry. What others need from you now is your complete and total authenticity and commitment to your own identification process. Your full moon affirmation is, “I lead and teach by example. In all that I do I give thanks for the leaders and teachers who have inspired me to be this. I do not seek to emulate or improve. I allow the pleasure of imagination, strategy, and deep thought to propel me. My own curiosity is my best friend.”

SCORPIO Most of the time most of us keep our desires secret. Could be because desire is so often situated in the body and therefore clumsy and unsatisfying as words. Could be that what we desire is embarrassing, shameful, or scary. Could be because we live in a culture that puts the shoulds before the wants, and tells us that fantasies are better kept in a closet. Whatever the case may be it seems that you are ready to put some words to work for you and let your desires be communicated. The fear you may have in doing this has a lot to do with security, specifically financial and material security and all the ways you operate to keep yourself stable. Letting someone in on your more private thoughts is intimidating indeed. I encourage you to go for it. You’re in a phase that has you earning confidence in your ability to communicate and you are gaining the ability to reveal your thoughts while also staying in a place of empowerment. Facing fears head on means that you see and acknowledge them but don’t let them rule the day. One strategy is to speak the fear alongside the hope, another is to spend some time in self-reflection first and examine the ways in which it often feels easier to grasp external sources for security rather than claim your own. You should know that allowing yourself to feel and speak the things that you have kept hidden before will give you access to a different kind of connection. The thing you want might not actually be what you imagine now, but could be something much bigger, much more generous, and much more generative. My advice to you is to get certain about your own wants from a place of self-acceptance and self-love and then to make space for someone else to have an honest response. As long as you don’t set out with the intention to hurt someone you can be sure that revealing your feelings will serve you best. You full moon affirmation is this question, “What would I do and how would I behave if all my secrets were already known?”

SAGITTARIUS This full moon brings a relationship issue to light. There are ways that you are and ways that you are becoming that are less tolerant of wishful thinking, you want something that still feels expansive and good, but you know you also need a certain amount of pragmatic follow through. You know what will and will not work for you, so if the words are there but the concrete evidence isn’t, pass on by. It’s better to think of this time as a commitment to yourself than it is to get swept up in anyone else’s words. Solidifying internally means that you have less willingness to be knocked off balance by someone else’s instability. Healing core issues that have to do with home, family, safety and loss are key. An alternate route to healing and something to be wary of is the instinct towards addiction. Healing can be profoundly uncomfortable at times exactly because it requires us to simply be with the discomfort and let it take it’s own time to resolve. Constant fussing and obsession over what hurts, making excuses for someone else hurting you, or numbing out with drugs or alcohol all might feel good on some level. More productive options for you now are to snap yourself back into a more independent kind of creativity. It’s not that you can’t play well with others, you can indeed, but whatever you’re doing has to be for your own enjoyment and pleasure. There might be an opportunity to study or some kind of spiritual or philosophical information that comes to you with easy solutions and a bigger picture. Your full moon affirmation is, "I bring realness and I expect the same. I am stable and trusting of my own capacity and I expect the same from others. I can share the responsibilities of care-taking but the sharing must be equal."

CAPRICORN You are, and have been, immersed in some very deep inner work for the past few years. As you contend with the old memories, hidden hurts, and invisible fears, the actual structure of your being is changing. You’re at a point where you feel that you’ve been working hard enough and you’re ready to see some tangible results. Tuesday’s full moon gives you the chance to see the results clearly in a few different ways: First, your ability to communicate and voice your needs and concerns has radically changed. You are getting more adept at putting sounds around ineffable sensations that previously existed mostly in your subconscious. The ability to articulate your truth is leading to the ability to speak it, though perhaps you are not fully there yet. This week is ripe with opportunity to practice trusting your voice. A key thing to notice is the level of pain and anxiety when you share. One thing that you’re learning now is how to attend to the parts of you that have been deeply wounded for a long time, while also in relationship to people who weren’t even around you then. Separating the past and present becomes easier and more tangible when you focus on your immediate surroundings and needs. This includes your body, taking care of your basic needs and not letting your thoughts disrupt simple rhythms like eating and sleeping. This is a good week to drink warm digestive teas with soothing herbs. Another area you may notice improvements is at work. Even if the long-term goals are not happening this instant, you should take a look around and see what you’ve created and where you’ve arrived with objective appreciation. The community around you seems to be full of people who at least on some level embody values that are important to you. Take this time to appreciate your own leadership and strategy. Even if times have been confusing, things are starting to settle in ways that offer more stability if you choose to pay attention to them. Your full moon affirmation is, “I clearly see the ways I inhibit my own joy through holding on to the past. I gently release the rigidity that has kept me clinging. I trust my life.”

AQUARIUS There’s a saying that goes, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” This seems to be an apt summary for the place in which you currently finding yourself arriving. Beliefs and ideas about other people and their preferences is forcing you to look at the ways you have communicated and how you have let yourself be seen. Confusion about how much to give and even what you have to give may be present. Now is a time for healing the wounds of giving away too much and losing your own value. A key for the healing is to understand that what you have to give is not a finite resource, but it’s also not up to anyone else to determine. In some ways, what you have to give is your own interest and curiosity. When or if you lose sight of what makes you tick it’s easy to get wrapped up in someone else’s preoccupation. Consider that now you can be strategic and choose companions who support your curiosity and enjoy exploring with you. This week is a good time to practice disrupting your habits of communication. The feeling of fighting or aggression when you are trying to get your needs met is a signal. Obviously, if someone is bowling you over or taking advantage you need to be clear, put your foot down, and assert your own boundaries. That said, if someone simply has different ideas than you or communicates in a way that rankles, try to ask for what you need without being defensive. Be your own ally and advocate, but not your own bodyguard. Good humor and jokes are great. You may also find that meditating daily on accepting yourself will manifest in relations around you who are more than happy to do the same. Your full moon affirmation is, “I let myself be surprised by my own courage, wonderment and enthusiasm. I do not owe anyone my freedom or joy.”

PISCES The instinct to be quiet and connect at home is strong. There is growing support in the intimate spaces of your life including those whom you share space and resources with as well as the space you make for yourself to let down your guard. It may be that you have a feeling now of needing to shore up on energy in preparation for something to come. Work obligations and financial questions are a barrier though and even when you’re at home it’s hard to mellow out and calm your thinking. If you’re feeling uneasy or unable to rest it would be wise to write a list and make a tally of all your support structures – this includes any assets you own, access to resources, and people who you can depend on to show up for you if you need it. One of the symptoms of modern society’s dis-ease is the feeling of having to go it alone and not having or trusting connection. Of course there are and always will be times when we have to take care of ourselves, that said, it’s unfortunate how many of us feel so uncomfortable asking for help. Making space in your awareness to see where and how you are supported by the world around you can assist in letting go of some of the anxiety you may be having about how you will hold up your world. Your full moon affirmation is, “I trust in unseen generosity and magic. I trust that anything which leaves is making space for more appropriate value. I trust in my own intelligence and determination.”