Issue 5, May 2007

  Brother Sun, Sister Moon
  Moon Magic
  Astrology Primer

With the Sun entering Gemini just as we put this issue to bed,  it's appropriate that this month's newsletter has a strongly Mercurial flavour.  We start with a look at intimate relationships from a slightly unusual angle in  BrotherSun, Sister Moon.  Our regular feature on the upcoming Full and New Moons has an interesting twist, there being a pair of full moons in June.  Finally, for new astrologers, our series of lessons on basic astrology concludes our look at aspects as well as paying a fond farewell to our Gemini girl, Marilyn Monroe.

Enjoy!
Ingrid and Barry.

Brother Sun, Sister Moon

“ The first time we fall helplessly in love,
We are in love with our projected image.
Slowly, after many projections,
We recognise they are all alike in their core,
These ones to whom we are fatally drawn.
Slowly we recognise ourselves.
We have been falling in love with ourselves. ”
Marion Woodman. 

Astrology is a resource that explores the landscape of our relationships with The Other.   It is our intimate relationships that often mirror our painful complexity, amplify miscommunication and duplicity.  As the Sun moves through the mutable, Mercurial sign of Gemini from May 21^st to June 21^st we can bring into our consciousness the pervasive image of duality and our connection to The Other and the Holographic Universe. 

The symbolism of Gemini pertains to the polarity within: this inconsistent battle between head and heart, animus and anima, conscious and unconscious – our imprisoning projections and the yearning for the “soul mate” or “twin flame” who is actually often our wound mate.  The fixed stars of the constellation of Gemini are Castor and Pollux, the twins in Greek mythology.  The twins in this myth are peculiar in that one lives in the heavenly realm as an immortal, and the other stays here on earth – they are both not in the same place at the same time. 

Gemini energy is communicative, fun, and enquiring.  Honing good communication skills is what we need to work on if we seek to address conflict,  fear, and the unproductive game of “push and pull” we all seem to play when we engage in intimate relationship.  It is in our relationships, and most intensely, in our intimate relationships, that we encounter the power struggles, the festering childhood wounds.  Here, we can awaken from the deep sleep of unconsciousness, risk new behaviours, and confront the old-brain, reactive enemy within, and bring the denied and repressed parts of ourselves into loving awareness. 

The birth chart of Marilyn Monroe, discussed in our Astrology Primer, also speaks eloquently of her lifelong search for “the missing other”.  The Sun and Mercury in Gemini in the 10^th house of vocation and status suggest that there was so much more to Norma Jeane Mortenson than the vacuous bleached blonde – she was an intelligent woman who wanted to be taken seriously as an actress.  Her Moon, in the house of relationship and marriage, tells us that this was a woman who needed to be in relationship.  Yet she died alone.  Her naked body was found, face down, clutching a telephone in her hand.  A poignant image of this goddess of love who searched all her brief life for intimacy and a sense of connection with The Other .

On 29^th May, Mercury moves from Gemini into Cancer and comes under the Moon's influence.  Pure thought turns to poetry: emotion communicated and communication moved to feeling.  By mid-June, Mercury pauses for thought and turns retrograde the day after the Gemini New Moon.

Turning inward we see that what we seek in The Other is all that we lack in ourselves.  Now, we must learn to nurture ourselves, to whisper in our own ears with the compassion we've lavished on the beloved.  To speak of love in the home of our own heart.

In the words of Soren Kierkegaard, “Perfect love means to love the one through whom one became unhappy.”  It's through our love for The Other that we learn the greatest lessons of self-discovery and compassion.  But it is in ourselves that the seeds of our unhappiness lie.  Our missing twin is none other than those aspects of ourselves that we deny.

Moon Magic

“Blue Moon
You saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own.

Blue Moon
You know just what I was there for
You heard me saying a prayer for
Someone I really could care for.

And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will hold
I heard somebody whisper please adore me
And when I looked to the Moon it turned to gold. ”
Lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.

It’s “a once in a Blue Moon” month*!  An event so unlikely, that we now say that something happens “once in a Blue Moon”.

Blue in our culture is often associated with sadness and melancholy.  Yet in ancient Egypt, blue was connected to the great cycle of life, death and rebirth; with sky and the life-giving flooding of the river Nile.  Blue-green symbolized Spring and new life in China.  So after the purging and purification of the intense Scorpio Full Moon last month, we move forward with optimism and a lightness of Being to embrace the lunar energy of the Full Moon in Sagittarius on Friday, June 1^st.

So what is a Blue Moon?   Volcanoes, forest fires, and cataclysmic natural disasters can throw dust particles into the atmosphere that actually make the Moon appear blue or indigo.    But the origin of the term is as fickle as the Moon herself.    In the 1800s people understood that a Blue Moon was the fourth full moon in a three-month period, and later it came to mean a second Full Moon within a calendar month.     The Oxford English Dictionary tells us that the “Blue Moon” was first referred to in a proverb recorded in 1528, which underscored its obvious absurdity:  “If they say the Moon is Blue, we must believe that it is true.”

[* Unless you live as far east as New Zealand, when the Capricorn Full Moon falls on July 1^st.]

Full Moon in Sagittarius

The philosophical Sagittarius Full Moon energy this month may feel exciting for those of us who are attuned to the Moon’s cycles or who have a lot of planets in earth or water in our charts.  The Moon in fire signs is a restless moon, requiring space to explore and expand, particularly in relationships.  And if we set the intent to call in this expansive lunar energy in June, we need to take a helicopter view of our lives, creatively visualising our experiences here as part of The Journey.  Jupiter rules the sign of Sagittarius, and is transiting Sagittarius now, with the Full Moon making an applying conjunction as it opposes the Gemini Sun.    Jupiter has been associated with the sixth chakra (ajna) in the centre of the head slightly above eye level.   The function of this chakra is intuition and sight.

Lunar crystals to work with when the Moon is in Sagittarius, or if you have a Sagittarius Moon in your birth chart, are Azurite, a deep blue stone used by the priestesses of ancient Egypt to enhance spiritual consciousness and psychic abilities and intuition, which focuses inner vision and if placed on the third eye during meditation, brings serenity and calm.  Charoite helps us live in the Now rather in future possibilities, and Lapis Lazuli will bring focus on Inner Truth, while  The Stone of Truth, Apophyllite acts as a bridge between the physical and spiritual worlds. 

The archetype of Sagittarius always represents a quest for meaning.  The Full Moon energy this month asks to be lived, fully, to be experienced joyously.  So using this symbolism we can expand our horizons, either literally, by booking the air tickets and going on a journey to an exotic destination, or by embodying the philosophical impulse, and embracing our fundamental urge to grow through our religious or spiritual thirst.  If we use the energy of the fiery Full Moon this month to free ourselves from self-limiting thoughts we can birth new ideas with the new Moon in Gemini on June 15^th, and then bring them to form with the second and more earthy Capricorn Full Moon on June 30^th. 

New Moon in Gemini

“In the beginning was the Word...”  begins John's Gospel.  But the concept is not unique to the Christian tradition and can be found in many faiths throughout the world.  The word is thought expressed, energy vibration made manifest first in sound, the sacred name of God, the mantra OM; made flesh on the cross of matter.  This Gemini New Moon asks us to begin to put words to our Sagittarian vision for the future, to start anew and build the reality that will come with the next Capricorn Full Moon.

But, as noted earlier, Mercury, ruler of Gemini, goes retrograde almost immediately, directing the mind inwards.  Deepening shifts in consciousness take time; and like making love, or savouring a delicious meal and a bottle of fine wine, these need to be experienced slowly.  In our fast-food, quick-fix culture we expect to snatch insights between throwing out the garbage, and driving to work.  We miss the experience of quiet reflection, synchronicity, of connection to our Daemon – the call of our Soul. 

So with each spiral of the path of our personal Journey, we take the understanding deeper and deeper still, re-membering what we know…  So, if you are feeling squeezed out of your life, claim some time alone and think.  Create space physically emotionally and spiritually for yourself and make this space your sacred temple.  Use a simple gesture like tying a ribbon on the door handle while you soak in a long candlelit bath; or place a sign on the bedroom door or home office, as you attend to your need for solitude.  Focus now on what you want to manifest in your life.   A beautiful garden, a new home, or a loving relationship?   Gather inspirational images from magazines and scrapbook,  or pin them  where you can see them  and bring them into being.  Keep a Geminian journal for your notes and drawings, your dreams.  

Full Moon in Capricorn

The earthy Capricorn Full Moon that closes out June shifts the focus from fire and air back to the earth / water axis and provides the basis for manifesting the visions you dared to dream through the hot solstice month of June.  More on that topic next month.

But for now, do one thing this month to enrich your life, bring more texture and abundance into what you do.  Gift yourself with something that makes your heart sing… and be in gratitude and wonderment as the Moon turns to Gold.

Astrology Primer

In this month’s article, we continue our exploration of aspects and their use in understanding how the different planets in a chart interact.  In the process, we’ll delve a bit deeper into Marilyn Monroe’s horoscope, particularly the Sun and Moon.

Drawing in the Sun

Planets represent energies within us and aspects between planets define the way these different energies interact – or not, as the case may be.  Let’s take a look at Marilyn’s Sun.  Way back in Part 2 of this series, we said that the Sun stands for the person’s identity, how he or she shines out in the world.  Marilyn’s Sun is in Gemini which thus describes her versatile, talkative, sociable and inquisitive personality.  Now, let’s expand on that.  What are the aspects to Marilyn’s Sun?

We can immediately see that her Sun is conjunct Mercury.  Mercury is in Gemini too, and is extremely comfortable in Gemini, since Mercury itself is the energy of communication.  In fact, Mercury is the ruler of Gemini, meaning that Mercury feels so comfortable and strong here that the energy may even over-express itself, which, in Mercury’s case really does mean too much self-expression!  Marilyn’s Sun conjunct Mercury in Gemini thus simply tells us that Marilyn was very talkative and sociable.

What else can we say about Marilyn’s Sun?  What other aspects does it make?  In short, none!  This is significant too.  A planet that makes no aspects in a chart is called unaspected and its energy is often expressed in a very on / off manner.  Sometimes it is extremely strong and other times it’s almost invisible.  With no links or aspects to the rest of the energies in the chart, the energy of the unaspected planet is very difficult to apply in any area other then the one where it stands.

With Marilyn’s Sun in no aspect other than the conjunction to Mercury whose nature is exactly the same as the Gemini energy through with the Sun acts, this pair acts in an unaspected manner.  For Marilyn, we can see how this worked.  When she was sociable, she was very, very sociable but when she was not, she could become very withdrawn.  Her Sun / Mercury stand in the tenth house of status, so we can see that when it was in support of her career, she could easily tap into this versatile and capricious energy.  But when came to the more intimate areas of her life, which we’ll talk about next, she found it difficult to draw on this mercurial liveliness.  These intimate areas are tied into Marilyn’s emotional core, so we need to look next at her Moon, which is well linked to many other planets in the chart.

Drawing down the Moon

We’ve already noted some of the aspects to Marilyn’s Moon.  It squares Saturn, indicating authority and self-worth issues.  With this Moon on the descendant, these issues typically emerged through her relationships.  Marilyn’s marriages and many alleged affairs often involved abuse, and older or powerful men, including of course, the US president, J.F. Kennedy.  The Moon also opposes Neptune which creates brings a level of confusion or disconnect with personal emotions.  Neptune stands for glamour, which shows clearly through Marilyn’s 1st House.  But, Neptune is also is the planet of escape, often through alcohol or drugs, and for many years, Marilyn struggled with addiction problems. 

The combination of these aspects is well described by a quote from her autobiography even about her youth: “The world around me then was kind of grim [Saturn].  I had to learn to pretend [Neptune] in order to...I don't know...block the grimness. The whole world seemed sort of closed to me [Saturn] ... (I felt) on the outside of everything, and all I could do was to dream up any kind of pretend-game [Neptune].”

Marilyn’s Moon is also conjunct Jupiter, which we now need to integrate.  On its own, Jupiter conjunct the Moon would tend to indicate a generous and expansive emotional nature.  However, Marilyn’s emotional energy is quite stressed by the square and opposition it endures.  Furthermore, in Aquarius, this Moon indicates a woman who can be detached from her emotions.  So, what Jupiter is actually magnifying is the level of discomfort felt by the Moon, most often in her relationships (7^th House placement) and emphasised further by the Chiron – Venus conjunction that speaks of a deep wounding around relationships.  At an emotional level, Marilyn lived in somewhat of a dream world and didn’t really know who she was!  And what she did know, she thought was never enough, leading her to strive even more for love and adulation.

Drawing to a close

In some ways, Marilyn was more famous in death than in life.  Does her chart say anything about this?  More than 40 years after her death in August 1962, the interest and mystery continue – a fitting image for a Leo ascendant with Neptune rising.  Was it murder, an accident or suicide?  Many astrologers have looked at all sorts of factors in her chart – far more that we’ve had time to deal with here – and have come to every possible conclusion! 

From the astrology we’ve explored here, trying to decide if she was murdered is beyond our psychological scope.  But what about suicide?  Marilyn did have a history of attempted suicides, and the urge to escape this world is indicated by Pisces Mars in the 8th House and Neptune rising.  However, deliberate suicide would seem unlikely: despite the many emotional and relationship challenges we’ve just discussed, her Aquarian Moon had the ability to detach from the intensity of emotional trauma, most clearly seen in her unemotional comments about her difficult childhood and failed marriages. Marilyn also had a strong intellectual sense of who she was in the world – the Gemini Sun, ruler of the chart in the 10th – and what she wanted to give to her public.  She had worked hard to create her image and stardom, and would not have wanted to give it up so soon. 

Let’s leave the last (enigmatic) words to her: “I knew I belonged to the public and to the world, not because I was talented or even beautiful, but because I had never belonged to anything or anyone else.”

For more information on Marilyn Monroe:
http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/celebrity/marilyn_monroe/index.html
http://www.ellensplace.net/mmbio3.html

Next month:  Back to basics – planetary energies in full.