Full Moon in Gemini 27º December 18 2021 9:35 pm MT

Full Moon in Gemini

Welcome to the first full moon after eclipse season!!! The unpredictable, unearthing, larger-than-us energies of the eclipses have passed, which means we can get back to setting intentions, releasing and manifesting.

The sun continues its journey through Sagittarius—sign of high ideas and ideals, the candle holding the light through the longest stretch of darkness, the sign most interested in religion, God/god, the search for meaning bigger and grander than ourselves and the (sometimes) petty smallness of our own lives.

The moon, meanwhile, slides directly across the sky through Gemini—sign of the twins, of duality, of learning and making meaning through polarity, through opposites, through the breaking of the Whole into two, then many parts.

“One gave birth to two. Two gave birth to three. And three gave birth to the ten thousand things. The ten thousand things carry yin and embrace yang. They achieve harmony by combining these forces.” —from Tao Te Ching

Gemini embraces and explores the ten thousand things, while Sagittarius yearns for and seeks the One.

The Gemini-Sagittarius polarity is the axis of information, of belief—two opposite, and yet ultimately unified ways of understanding the world.

Sag sees the forest—Gemini, the trees.

Gemini, ruled by Mercury, is a sign focused on communication, sometimes chatter, the gift of gab. As Mutable Air, Gemini can be flighty, distracted, wanting to know everything and go everywhere at once. And, the Twins can also draw connections between seemingly disparate, unrelated things, making them kings of creativity.

One of the risks of Gemini, however, one of the shadow sides, is that we can hide our feelings behind facts and figures, over-intellectualize and distance with data. It’s almost as if we lose the heartbeat of what we’re actually saying, behind all of our words.

And the full moon here—the first lunation since eclipse season ended, the punctuation marking the beginning of Venus retrograde (more on that below)—is asking us to get crystal clear and diamond sharp with our communication.

And to connect (or reconnect) our communication to our feelings, our felt sense, as well as our rationale and logic.

To cut away, to release (full moons are always about release—an often undervalued piece of manifestation and intention setting work) that which fogs or clouds our communication, any ways we are unclear or afraid of being fully honest and authentic in our truth(s).

Jupiter is here giving a sweet boost of growth, expansion and joy to this time. But Neptune is also in the mix, adding a little foggy illusion or even delusion—making it all the more paramount that we seek clarity in our thoughts and feelings, and how we share them with others.

Keep in mind, however, that full moons churn a lot of emotions up to the surface, and we’re probably already quite tender from the eclipses, so move slowly and gently through what’s coming up for you. Don’t rush out to communicate with your loved one or the world just yet—work on processing through your own feelings and thoughts first. This is a fantastic time for journaling, art-making, and releasing and understanding emotions through process.

This allows us to level up our clarity in our communications with others, when we do feel ready to share.

It is time to get honest with ourselves and others about what we truly think, feel and believe—and perhaps more importantly, what we truly want, value and need.

Venus Retrograde through Capricorn

Alongside this full moon, in the wee hours of the morning, Venus—planet of love, beauty, value, connection, relationship and ultimately, unification—stations retrograde in Capricorn.

Venus retrograde occurs about every 18 months and lasts for about 40 days. And all it asks of us is utter rebirth.

Venus retrograde is always an underworld journey. During her retrograde cycle, Venus changes from an evening star to a morning star—disappearing from view for several weeks in between. Our ancestors made mythological sense of this pattern with stories of descent and return.

In one of her myths, Inana, the Sumerian goddess of love and warfare, identified with the planet Venus, traveled to the netherworld to visit her sister, Ereshkigal, queen of the underworld. At each of the seven gates Inana passed, she was forced to strip some piece of her armor or jewelry in order to continue.

In the same way, during Venus retrograde, we are asked to relinquish some version or aspect of ourselves, some layer of armor that may have kept us safe, but also keeps us from true knowing and connection.

When Inana reached the underworld, she was punished by her sister and left to hang upon meathooks. Eventually, she was rescued by her minions, who tricked the underworld queen into releasing Inana by witnessing her pain. Through truly seeing and accepting Ereshkigal's suffering, was Inana reborn.

And that, my friends, is what this retrograde cycle asks of us: rebirth and regeneration, transformation and metamorphosis. Letting our old selves, our old ways of loving and unifying and being in relationship, be transmuted by the fires of change and evolution.

The theme of transformation rings especially potent this year, as Venus will meet up with Pluto (god of the underworld and transformation) three times as she moves through this season. (They already met once, on December 11 and will connect again December 25 and January 29).

This time may bring old patterns, stories or even people back into our lives for reckoning—and I can’t promise it won’t be painful—but if we work with the energies, surrender and listen and use them wisely—we can be remade on the other side. Wiser, more whole and grown closer to our own purpose.

How to Use this Full Moon for Your Creativity

Tap into the Gemini vibes and communicate! For the next two weeks, really use the art of the morning pages (from Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way) to tap into your creative flow and above all clear and release the cobwebs, wreckage and rubble from your creative mind and imaginal landscape.

Full Moon Ritual + Writing Prompts

Full Moon in Gemini + Venus Retrograde Tarot Ritual + Journal Writing Prompt

1. Pull three tarot cards

> 1: the past, where you have been

> 2: what you are most ready to release in the present in order to transform

> 3: the transformation, the future, what is waiting for you on the other side

2. Write down the three cards you pulled and any thoughts, feelings, stories, images, etc that come up for you in response. Freewrite on the messages coming through the cards for you around this time period.

3. Finally, write on who you envision yourself, who you want to be, at the end of the next 40-so days of Venus’ retrograde cycle?

Full Moon Speculative Fiction Writing Prompt

Venus retrograde asks us to really get clear and revaluate what we value and why—and how we are (or where we aren’t) living out those values in our lives.

We can use this approach to look at our fictive worlds, and learn more about the collective and individual characters through considering what they value, why, and how.

1. Consider your speculative world.

2. Choose one character or group and make a list of their top three values (no more than three, cut down if you need to).

3. Now freewrite on why those values matter to them, and how those values might define both the characters and the larger world they are a part of—what do those values tell us about who and what matters in this world?

4. How can you explore this through a scene? Where might these values be most obvious or show up in behaviors and interactions?

5. Write this scene—set a timer for 15 minutes and see where it takes you.

Photo by Jean Gerber on Unsplash