Today’s much discussed ultra fiery first New Moon of the astrological new year
is happening at 27 degrees and 28 minutes of Aries. The corresponding Tarot cards include The Emperor, the Queen of Wands, and most specifically at this degree of third decan Aries, the Four of Wands.
The Four of Wands when read as a standalone is talking about achievement, excellence, professional advancement, houses, hotels, entertainment venues, property improvements, organized events, gatherings, weddings and other celebrations. I have also known it to talk specifically about fitting new kitchens, and installing central heating, and you can see why when you look at the image on the right; the Four of Wands from the Legacy of The Divine Tarot. As I am typing this, two big vans are parked across the courtyard outside a new neighbour’s place. The legend on the vans… “All fired up to fit your boiler.”
This Aries New Moon is firing up to fit boilers, or replace them. Or smash them.
It’s more about a reboot or a rebuild than a fresh start. There is so much more going on of course at every level. This can serve as nothing more than mood music, when being discussed in such general terms.
Mercury is conjunct Neptune today. A real time astrology transit, just as Donald Trump makes an announcement (media: Mercury) that the Strait of Hormuz (sea: Neptune) is open again, at least until the ceasefire ends 26 April, and though the US naval blockade will remain in place.
Generally speaking, a conjunction of Mercury and Neptune denotes news emerging from a mess, muddle, obfuscation, a situation in which we don’t have the necessary facts upon which to act cleanly. Someone either doesn’t know, or isn’t going to cooperate, in which case the obfuscation is potentially wilful.
We are watching manifold instances of this in public life, dominating the news right now, and the stakes could hardly be higher. Such is realpolitik, always plenty of dirty business. Elected governments and the rule of law, we have been shockingly reminded in many forcible ways since 2020, is bread and circuses for the hoi polloi, and the bottom feeders who are actually doing their own thing at the top, with elected politicians and unelected bureaucrats alike seemingly in their pockets will do very well indeed out of the chaos of Neptune, operating in the fog. Another situation this can describe is when someone, possibly a loved one, is dealing with, or rather is unable or refusing to deal with chaotic situations, health issues or substance abuse issues, drink, drugs, out of control behaviours. No-one can do it all alone. But nor can one rescue someone who refuses to help themselves.
Mercury conjunct Neptune may conjure powerfully haunting dreams, may inspire new ideas, may generate new creative projects, visions, poems, songs. Art. All this. We finally find a way to bottle an essence. The Muses are with us.
We may finally find we have the words to nail something down, to clarify something that has been hovering for some time, or to make a logical decision that cuts through uncertainty. We need this mess sorted out. Not sorting it is becoming a chronic drain on our energy. Do it now. A squeaky wheel is demanding ever more loudly to be oiled. We have reached a point of no return.
Mercury conjunct Neptune may equally describe a situation close to home where we are having difficulty getting a grip on the facts of a matter, and messages may go wrong in translation.
Offsetting this pie- in- the- sky tricky fogginess, though not comfortably, Mars is in conjunction with Saturn until the day after tomorrow, Sunday 19 April BST. Mars the Warrior (action) and Saturn The Old Man (control) are both considered malefic, and a conjunction of these two planetary legends suggests that even close to home, we are likely this week to be needing to take a firm line in sorting out that which is overdue for sorting out.
There is always frustration, maybe heartache when we see a problem, we clearly see what needs to be done, but we cannot it sort out. We do not own the problem. We do not have the agency. But, looking at this conjunction sunny side up, Mars conjunct Saturn, depending where they show up in our own natal chart, may drive the impetus this week, drill down hard on a stubborn problem, help get something tidied up.
This season of the Ram, Aries 2026, let’s re-introduce the ultimate Tarot card of the concept, principle and physical reality of Masculinity with a capital ‘M’ as represented in the Tarot by The Emperor, the major arcana card that is most closely associated with the zodiac sign of Aries The Ram.
Today is the Aquarian Full Snow Moon in Leo at 13 degrees, and this is typical of the Tarot. I drew 3 Tarot cards inviting comment about the Full Moon and drew the Strength, the Six of Wands and the Nine of Pentacles. The Strength card, ruled by Jupiter and correlating with the zodiac sun sign of Leo (as does The Sun card) The Six of Wands which correlates with the second decan of Leo at 13 degrees.
A Full Moon of fighting energy, winning energy, scoring victories. The Sun in Leo says, ME, myself and I, with the bombast or the innocence of a child. But the Six of Wands says, the victor may wear the laurel wreath, but he did not do it alone, and the victory did not come quick or easy. It was worked for. Earned. The Six of Wands also talks about transport issues, literally, travel AND the vehicles themselves. MOTs, cars, vans, motorbikes and of courses, horses, and at this coming New Moon we will be entering a year of the Fire Horse.
These cards have “merely” reflected the astrology of this Full Moon but the synchronicity is striking.
The third card, the Nine of Pentacles is ruled by Virgo. The card nicknamed “Luxury”…this comfort has been hard earned through consistent effort. Virgo in turn is ruled by Mercury which is currently in Aquarius. A theme therefore of devotion, duty and attention to detail in tending to “our garden.” Also health matters. A Full Moon In Leo speaks, not only of our inner diva and personal projects, but of a time of great focus upon the wellbeing and happiness of what we love; new things, young things, of children and grandchildren.
The first of February marks the mid-point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. It’s also known as Candlemas, the Christian festival of presenting Jesus at the temple. But long before Christianity this time of year marked a more ancient celebration in Gaelic Britain: the rites of spring, and the fire festival of Imbolc.
February
Let’s get with the programme and parade down the street, and go pray for the health of the fields! It’s all about the health of the SOIL.
January and February were two new months added to create the new Gregorian calendar matching it up correctly with the 365 days of the Earth’s journey round the sun.
The Anglo-Saxons called February Sōlmōnath, from sōl , the Old English word for wet sand or mud, alluding to the weather this time of year, and the effects of rain and snow-melt. The romantic Solway Firth between North West England and South West Scotland is actually the massive tidal ‘Mud Way,’ rather than the romantic ‘Sun Way.’
The northern English scholar monk, saint Bede, wrote that February was celebrated as “the month of cakes,” when ritual offerings of savoury cakes and loaves of bread were made to ensure a good year’s harvest.
Imbolc- In the belly of the ewe
In the belly of the ewe is gestating the fiery Aries Ram-Lamb.
The fire festival of Imbolc and Brigid began as a neolithic festival marking the 1/2 way point between the winter solstice (Yule) and the spring equinox (Beltane.)
This half-way point correlates with 15 degrees of Aquarius. And so Imbolc this year astronomically speaking is happening 3-4 February. For more about this look up Maureen Richmond who suggests we could treat 1-4 February as the window for any observance of Imbolc this year.
Imbolc marks the start of spring, celebrating the arrival of the goddess deity Brigid, “The Exalted One,” the harbinger of the first lambs, so vital to the survival of those early communities. The deity Brigid later became conflated by the Church with the Christian figure of Saint Brigid of Kildare.
Brigid From The Sacred Circle Tarot
‘Imbolc’ is thought to mean ‘in the belly.’ It will soon be the time of the first lambing, though the start of the lambing season can vary by up to two weeks in any given year.
Brigid was a protector of women in childbirth, as well as the safe birthing of precious livestock. She was not only a goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann, The Tribe of the Gods, but a triple goddess of healers, poets and smiths.
Via Wiki Riders of the Sidhe, the Tuatha de Dannan
“The Tuatha de Danaan, the people of the (mother) goddess Danu in Celtic mythology; a race inhabiting Ireland before the arrival of the Milesians (the ancestors of the modern Irish). They were said to have been skilled in magic, and the earliest reference to them relates that, after they were banished from heaven because of their knowledge, they descended on Ireland in a cloud of mist. They were thought to have disappeared into the hills when overcome by the Milesians. The Leabhar Gabhála (Book of Invasions), a fictitious history of Ireland from the earliest times, treats them as actual people, and they were so regarded by native historians up to the 17th century. In popular legend they have become associated with the numerous fairies still supposed to inhabit the Irish landscape.“-From The Encylopedia Britannica
Brigid might visit your home at Imbolc. People would make a bed for her, and leave food and drink and items of clothing outside in the hope of receiving her blessings, petitioning her to protect their homes and livestock.
This was a time for feasting and visits to sacred wells, and a time for ritual divination. A St Brigid’s cross is made from rushes and was placed in doorways to protect the home from harm, representing the wheel of the seasons.
Fire is not gentle. Spring is not gentle. New life is not gentle. It rises up fast and fierce. It has to fight in order to “become”, or it would never break through. Like a space rocket leaving the Earth’s atmosphere. Spring is fierce in its quickening of new shoots. It is initiation. Spring is fire, just as Aries the Ram of the zodiac is a cardinal fire sign, even though we do not enter Aries until late March.
Where Brigid represented an essentially feminine energy concept, the old Norse rune ING/INWAZ or INGUZ, a fire sign rune in particularly associated with masculine principles of fertility, vitality… and also recovery from sickness.
This ancient masculine fire rune represents the power and potential of “The Seed” matched with action. Literally, the name of this rune means “the seed of the god Ing.” When we say we are do-ing, writ-ing …anything at all with -ing at the end of it, we are describing an action, and indirectly, invoking the magical energy of Ingwaz.
The Elder Norse fire rune Ingwaz
The people would light bonfires on the hilltops by night, and by day, they might run cattle through the smoke of lower lying bonfires, asking divine protection for the livestock. We can think too of the comfort and the contained danger of the fire in the ingle-nook.
With the whole of Pisces season coming up next, we are being given a sneak preview of Aries.
Imbolc was a key moment in weather forecasting. This was the time when The Cailleach —the divine crone of Gaelic tradition—gathered firewood for the rest of the winter. If the Cailleach knew the winter was going to last a good while longer, she’d make sure of good weather during Imbolc, and use it to gather more firewood to top up her stores. Bad weather at Imbolc was regarded as welcome news. It meant the Cailleach wasn’t worried about running out of firewood. She had turned over and gone back to sleep, and the worst of winter was almost over.
Via Pinterest
I am somewhat mixing up these cultures, systems and traditions, but Nature is the common ground and I make no apology for it.
As I mentioned earlier, Imbolc falls at 15 degrees of Aquarius, within the second decan of the fixed Air sign of Aquarius. The fixed signs denote the height of a season. The second decan of Aquarius marks the height of winter, at least symbolically speaking, in the northern hemisphere… and yet already the snowdrops are breaking through.
The Six of Swords in the Tarot deck is a card of recovery and onward progress, taking matters into our own hands, we chart our own course into the unknown, steering the passing of winter’s peak point.
The Gilded Tarot
See the toad in the rushes? The frogs and fishes are, right now, undergoing a alchemy of profound physiological changes, getting ready to spawn. The light is coming back again, galloping faster it seems, by the day. Dark sacred night’…yes, and the night is dark. It is sacred. It brings rest and healing. But when the dark goes on too long, we rouse ourselves to purposeful Action, stirring the Promethean gift of fire.
You and I overcame such odds just to be here, to get born as US and not someone else. Science suggests the statistical odds against you and me getting born as us, and not as someone else were 1 in 400 trillion. Yet here we are. Somehow we broke through. We must have had our reasons. Mighty powerful ones.
We know fine well, we can see this for ourselves, astrology or no astrology, that 2026 will not be a quiet year, but yet another pivotal year, marking a seismic level shift in the respective status quos of global power in a cycle likely to run some while yet.
2020 opened up a seismic crack in the previous status quo of world affairs. A “thing”-I I saw on the night of 20 January 2020 -I later called it a “djinn” simply for want of a better word- meant that business would never again be as usual, whatever we mean by usual.
But the astrology that is tracking it, that is for sure, is clearly announcing this turbulent geo-political weather will continue at least till 2028. There is no way back to the way things were done in 2019. This will hinge to a fundamental extent upon the events surrounding the Saturn-Neptune conjunction at degrees of Aries 20/21 February. The last time Saturn was so closely conjunct Neptune was 1989, when the Berlin Wall came down and the World Wide Web was launched.
There are always things we can’t control, at home, in nature and in society. But we weather them by means of our individual competencies, skills, knowledge, know-how, and by community and collaboration.
We are currently in the second decan of Capricorn, associated with the Three of Pentacles or Coins in Tarot.
From The Gilded Tarot
This is a quiet, thoughtful but productive card of arts, crafts, heritage, the art making of making things beautiful. “Form follows function.” A functional object, well made, well able to perform its job, will de facto also be a thing of beauty.
The Three of Coins also denotes part-time work, restoration work and community activities. In this emergent world of Techno-globalism, here is a reminder of the roots of our creative, handy, self-reliant selves, and of exchange and barter with neighbours, my help, time and skills for yours. This is the very basis of social exchange, the cradle of society and of modern industry. It has never gone away, and we may decide to reclaim it more actively. We could say that the artisanal Three of Coins is right at work here in this online writing community, enabled by Techno-globalism.
January and Janus
We say Happy New Year based on the Gregorian calendar, and before that, the Julian calendar, both solar based calendars. One could argue that the new year does not begin today. That this is calendar date was devised as a solution to tackle that timing problem of astronomy we call the leap year, caused by the approximately 23 degree tilt of the planet on its axis as it rotates. It is this axial tilt that gives us the seasons.
Otherwise, the seasonal events of Nature as observed on the ground would say that the new year starts either just after the winter solstice, or else after the spring equinox. And once upon a time, over centuries, other dates marked the start of the calendar, including March 25 and December 25.
Heron on the nearby frozen pond, January 2024
January was named after Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. He is usually depicted as having a double-sided head, signifying that we can look both forwards and backwards in space and time.
Likewise Janus was a god of both war and peace, presiding over the beginning and ending of conflict. And as a god of transitions, he had functions pertaining to birth, and to journeys and exchange, and through his association with Portunus, another portal god, the guardian of harbours, Janus was also concerned with travelling, trading, and shipping with strong echoes here of the Mercurial Twins of Gemini. Seafarers used to ask the Gemini for protection on voyages.
Solar and Lunar calendars, different New Year dates
Other countries, signifying a quarter of the world’s population of 8.2 billion people, notably China and other countries in the Far East, calculate the date of their new year based on lunar cycles.
This year we will be entering the New Year of The Fire Horse, February 17.
Cute, eh? But the Fire Horse is fast and furious. One thinks of The Trojan Horse, or the terrible scenes in “Marco Polo,” when Kublai Khan ordered horses set alight and then stampeded them into enemy cities. All eyes on China, US and Taiwan, nothing new here except for a recent escalation of military threat displays following the signing of a trade deal between the US and Taiwan. Signs and portents etc etc.
Something or nothing. But the Fire Horse rides in so closely coinciding with The Saturn-Neptune conjunction in Aries, February 20, and additionally, Forbes tells us…
“Coincidentally, the Year of the Fire Horse begins and ends with a “ring of fire” annular solar eclipse, in Antarctica in 2026 and in South America and West Africa in 2027.”
This extra fiery Year of The Fire Horse brings great changes, challenges and opportunities. More so even than 2025, a year of the supposedly strategic, stealthy and self contained Wood Snake, and we are still in the year of the Wood Snake for another six weeks or so. The Fire Horse says that works best this year is to trust your first instinct, act on it pronto, going straight from A to B. It will serve better to act rather than to watch and wait. Better to speak plainly, better to be angry than afraid.
We can look back and make up our own minds at what the popular astrology had to say about the Wood Snake Year. It is hard to disagree about the stealth, the shedding of old skins of a few of the 2025 mighty fallen, and the abiding twistiness. https://astrostyle.com/2025-year-of-the-snake-wood-snake/
There is lots else out there already about the incoming year of the Fire Horse.
But we are not there yet. Sol Invictus. This is the solar new year celebration, not the lunar new year celebration, even while I look out of my window facing north east and see the rising waxing gibbous moon (which today is in Gemini AND Mercury, the co ruler of Gemini and Virgo will be moving into Capricorn later today (at 4.10 EST -5 hours behind where I am writing this in Lancashire UK).
Mercury in Capricorn January 1-January 20/21
Mercury will be staying in Capricorn until January 20. This could prove a very productive time for tackling various long overdue jobs, reducing our burdens and our overheads, breaking problems down into steps, drawing up a checklist, and tackling them slowly, methodically….unexciting, for sure. The same perhaps with certain fairly minor but vexatious health matters. But not much feel better than the sheer relief of making up our minds that we ARE going to wade into that pile of shit stuff, and come out the other side knowing we finally have it back under control and firmly back in its box.
No, cat. I said its. You may be a problem cat for all I know, but I don’t mean you.
We are getting on top of it. Thank you Mercury, for that welcome extra bit of lift when we were so tired. And now we feel ready to take on the world.
We weigh our words, choose them with care, strategically. Our words have weight.
This is the functional application, the power of Mercury in Capricorn, the gutsy and relentless mountain ibex. It just keeps on going. But now it has an added spring in its step. Nil Desperandum as they say.
Happy New Year
May Janus open wonderful new doors for you this coming year.
We entered strange times in 2020. Strange times. The news all over the world right now is almost a perfect storm. Where to focus? What good news to be guaranteed via divination? Great change is here and it is unavoidable. There will be turmoil for quite some time to come, above what we have been used to for a long time. This is not a short term cycle, and we are all affected.
Imagine being a cottage industry weaver, at the time of the Industrial revolution. The enclosure of the land, the decline of the villages, the rise of the cities and the giant satanic mills, that grew the power of the British Empire. Entrepreneurs grew rich, the rural poor got poorer. The urban poor exploded in numbers as people left the land, looking for work in the cities. How to calculate the human cost? The Luddites resisted and were hanged or transported for life.
This is broadly the kind of place we are at again, collectively, living in the early days of the so-called fourth Industrial Revolution, (and some might say, the WEF, and the person who coined this term, Klaus Schwab, are inimical, not friends of humanity, agents of the Devil.)
All this, even without adding in the inextricably interconnected red-hot state of global politics. I will leave this with the mundane astrologers, at least for today, but, unsurprisingly, the Devil card is showing up a lot right now.
The Devil card is not necessarily bad news at all when it turns up in a reading. It may be neutral and entirely benign in a card interpretation. The Devil corresponds with Nature and with Saturn, Old Father Time. He may stand for Pan, The God of all wild creatures, “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn,” in The Wind In The Willows.
The Devil may be neutral and entirely benign in a card interpretation. But the Tarot addresses everything known in the totality of human experience and it has only 78 bits of cardstock with which to do it. This cannot be all sweetness and light. The Devil card also has the job of addressing Desire, Hunger, Rage. Fear. Frustration. Power and powerlessness. Dependency. Addiction. Prison and how to break free. How to respond to unwelcome change.
“Change is like death. You don’t know what it looks like till you’re standing at the gates.” – ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’, 2018
I was away from home, my younger daughter’s graduation in Carlisle and I was unsettled at what I saw in my cards. My question to the Tarot was a run of the mill question, almost idle, really. A general day-ahead reading. What kind of day could we expect the following day? We had another long drive next day, stopping off to see my parents on the way home again.
I drew three cards. The Devil, The Chariot and The Wheel of Fortune. But while I am showing these cards the right way up, the better to display them, I had actually drawn two of these cards, The Chariot and The Wheel of Fortune reversed, that is to say, upside-down or ill-dignified. Not in their positive dignity.
From The Tarot Illuminati
The Devil card may be referring to Capricorn timing. It may be flagging up Tenth house matters (professional life, public life) or it may be pointing at a Capricorn sun sign native. When it turns up as a problem, it may mean passion, wild nature, the wild god Pan. It can mean obsession, addiction, entrapment, fear, rage, loss of control, imprisonment. I have known it to mean manslaughter and a prison sentence. One time the Devil card came up with the Ten of Swords, The Tower and the Ten of Pentacles, prompting me to ask, somewhat diffidently as you will imagine, if a man in this lady’s life had knocked someone down? (The Devil and Tower). Yes, she said. In a fight. And the other man died? I asked. (Ten of Swords) Yes, she said. A fatal head injury. And he had received a 10 year prison sentence? (Ten of Pentacles) Yes.
The Chariot can mean the summer solstice, Cancer season. It can mean parents (most usually the mother) It is the home, or the homeland. It can mean teamwork, success. It can also mean exactly what it looks like. It can be saying car, road, travel, journey, garage, driving test, motorbike, horse, etc.
The Wheel of Fortune in general, means sudden changes and events beyond our direct personal control. Luck, Fate, a gamble for good or for ill. It can mean a Thursday.
I did not like this card combination. I felt it spelled bad news for a vehicle, or a journey. Fear, anger or violence might be attached. I felt a lurch in my tummy, thinking of our drive over the moors next day, and the M6.
I am not an all-seeing psychic with reliable remote viewing capabilities. I do have those experiences. Usually via dreams over which there is no direct control, or not usually. It has happened that I have requested a dream asking a certain question, and received an answer in dream form. But using cards, one asks a question and gets an answer, or at least a response on demand.
From The Tarot Illuminati
So now, looping back to this row of cards above, The Devil, The Chariot (Reversed) and The Wheel of Fortune (Reversed) I considered the cards first and foremost in terms of my general question, what to expect next day, thinking primarily of immediate events in my own situation.
‘We’ll need to be extra cautious on the road tomorrow,’ I said to Il Matrimonio. ‘There’s something here I’m really not liking, something to do with wheels. And that parking space is tight. Why are wheels jumping out at me? I’m seeing tyres. Maybe we’ve got a flat tyre?’
He went and checked the tyres, and everything seemed fine. Ok. Well then, I would just have to wait and see, and learn what this was all about with the benefit of hindsight. But I knew I didn’t like it.
Next morning, Friday the 15th (and The Devil is the Tarot’s fifteenth major arcana card) we woke to this appalling news from Nice…
“On the evening of 14 July 2016, a 19-tonne cargo truck was deliberately driven into crowds of people celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, resulting in the deaths of 86 people and injuring 434 others. The driver was Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a Tunisian living in France. The attack ended following an exchange of gunfire, during which he was shot and killed by police.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, saying Lahouaiej-Bouhlel answered its “calls to target citizens of coalition nations that fight the Islamic State.“
So now I understood that I had drawn The Devil, The Chariot Reversed, and The Wheel of Fortune Reversed only about an hour ahead of the horrible real-time events in Nice.
This had not been an instance of prediction. I had formulated no such prediction. But this had been a clear and terrible instance of psychic foreshadowing. I had “seen”, I had been “shown” Tyres. Rage. Terror.
By now I am left in little doubt there is such a thing as the collective mind. The hive mind. We communicate telepathically en-masse more than we usually get the chance to notice, and we are not constrained in our perceptions by linear time. We, for all our individuality and separateness, and sometimes, loneliness, are more like bees or starlings than we might think. Sleep easy, les pauvres. Vive la France.
Could the Tarot be used to avert such horrors and disasters as this Nice attack? A reading may help an individual to avoid trouble if they heed a warning, and is able to act upon it. I have witnessed this happening, just as I have known of warnings that went unheeded, and the consequences. We have personal agency at all times.
But for an event on a public scale, this would need such precise intel, reporting a detected risk of (event X)-happening at (location Y)- on this day around that time (Z)
And that person in receipt of that intel would need to have the authority and the resources to take action based on that feedback. What happens in maximum security outfits, military and other, who knows. Dowsers are employed by councils to find hidden water pipes underground. I have seen them at work myself, in a field behind my parents house, and dowsing is a form of divination (finding what is hidden)
It was attempted once before, after the tragedy in Aberfan, when a giant coal heap collapsed slipped and crushed a school in a mining village.
“The British Premonitions Bureau was formed in 1966 by psychiatrist John Barker after the Aberfan mining disaster in which 144 people, including 116 children, died when 500,000 tons of debris smashed through the Welsh town and buried the primary school. Reports of precognitive dreams foretelling of the catastrophe prompted Barker to form the bureau in the hope of predicting and avoiding future tragedies.
In the 18 months the Premonitions Bureau was open, nearly 1000 reports of premonitions were collected, and while a few seemed to foretell disasters, over 90 percent failed to predict future events and none prevented any disasters.”
Pitifully, there was more than one story of people experiencing a psychic foreshadowing of this horrific tragedy. One was a little girl, saying she was scared to go to school that day, asking not to go to school that day, and she went and died that day. You can read more about this on my old blog HERE.
A foreboding, like other psychically sourced data, is rarely sufficiently detailed, specific and precise to be treated as directly actionable. This is the meaning of the so-called “Curse of Cassandra”. To feel that something is badly wrong, to know vaguely what this bad thing might will look like, but to be powerless to prevent it, like the seeress Cassandra at the Fall of Troy. She told them not to bring that giant wooden horse in through the Gates. They just thought she was a nutcase. But you would tear your hair out, wouldn’t you?
Cassandra, Evelyn de Morgan
This is the challenge with divination. One takes soundings. One expects to get it at least broadly right far more often that not. If we can only do 50:50, then a guess is just as good. Only time will tell. But if you ever get a particularly strong whiff of that old sulphur, call on Michael to come and kick ass. And he will roll up his sleeves, buckle up and sigh, “ffs, here we go again.”
Archangel Michael binding Lucifer, Jacob Epstein, Coventry Cathedral
Another tragic and dramatic instance of the Devil card hit the news that same year, in May 2015. A tarot reader had called the police after her client told her he had killed someone. He had told her this by way of feedback after she had drawn The Devil, followed by the Death card and The Emperor Reversed.
The tarot reader, with his permission (!) called 999, and was advised to call the non-emergency number, which she did, going outside to make the call with the client still sitting at the table in her front room. The Police arrived 52 minutes later, arrested him and it soon emerged the man was telling the truth. The Emperor Reversed was the victim, another man, found lying in a pool of blood.
But, asking my brother, who was at that time a serving police sergeant in Wiltshire, what he made of this news story, he was horrified that the tarot reader’s call had not immediately been treated as an emergency. The tarot reader should have been assessed as being at immediate risk. The man could have changed his mind about wanting to confess, and then done her in. BBC interview here
This of course, is The Devil at its most violently extreme. All the Major Arcana cards have extremes of polarity. When The Devil turns up drawn reversed, it tends to indicate that the worst is over, whatever that was, and now order is restored.
The Devil card in its guise as Capricorn embodies the very best of Saturn, and our natural instincts. There is a good reason some artists have depicted him in the tarot as one heck of a sexy beast. “That ole Devil called Love”.
Here is artist Ciro Marchetti’s take on The Devil in The Gilded Tarot Royale. If the force we refer to as The Devil was such a plug-ugly turnoff as he is generally painted, where would be his power of attraction and temptation?
The Gilded Tarot Royale
We are not in Nature. We are of Nature. When the Devil strikes and sears our soul, we turn for a salve to the wild god Pan, and rest ourselves, go feed some birds, water some plants, watch a bee, sit out under the moon, get up to greet the dawn. Nature is often cruel, but absent of malice.
My mother once said if she ever met Old Nick she would say, fuck off you. She said, we know he hates us, so why we would we give him the time of day? One of my sisters, a lawyer, said she would ask him in for a coffee and ask him to tell her his side of the story. And no doubt she would be royally entertained. He is a great story teller. The best. But a filthy liar. And nothing wastes precious time like a liar.
Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth– Buddha
We had the results yesterday of the India election, greatest democratic election on earth, the Lok Sabha, held once every five years. I saw the news and was reminded of a reading I did back in April, in a conversation on twitter with a friend, journalist, author, and previous client who shall, for reasons of her personal privacy, remain anonymous for the purposes of this post. I’ll call her D.
My REPLYYou may not like this, my friend. Treat it as an exercise in Tarot-style analysis. The question as stated to the Tarot was, do we see a third term as PM for Narendra Modi?
Cards from the Legacy of The Divine Tarot
See that 3 Cups tarot card and the 3 Hearts at the end of the 2 rows? Two threes are indicative of a third term for Modi and he draws a victory card on the future timeline (6 Wands). But there are “buts.”
That King Wands card drawn reversed/upside down is talking about Modi’s ambition to win the south. (King Wands = “king of the south” and the suit of Wands is the suit of politics) But, though he may gain more seats, even in Kerala, this does not look likely to go his way. Though nor does it suggest a victory for Rahul Gandhi. He may still do well in the south but as a prospective PM, it seems the global times are not favourable to his proposed reforms, however excellent in intention. Women’s issues may not be a priority at this election. 2029 might be different. But, see that central Queen of Pentacles? Women/a woman politician may emerge more powerfully from this process. Working against Modi -agriculture issues (7 Pentacles) unemployment-jobs for young people (Jack Diamonds) Why will he win, if he wins? Strength card. National security on the international stage. Lack of confidence in cohesion of other parties. Dangerous times globally, Modi may currently be seen as India’s strongest arm and best bet should there be confrontation with, say, China or Russia. (Despite govt failures to stop/contain the horrors in Manipur.) But as ever, only time will tell.
D. Thank you for taking a look. Disappointing to me for sure because if he has his way, elections don’t seem to be in his plans at all in 2029 and too much damage may have been done by then.
REPLYHe doesn’t seem to be getting things all his way, even if he does win a third term. And winning it and completing it are not the same thing. But the cards that are drawn, I share without fear or favour. Another poss scenario…at least as shown here in this card spread – 3 party coalition. Re Astrologer X and the rise of women’s issues. That Queen of Pentacles, who is she? As a principle this card says the critical issue is the India economy. Tis Queen reps Capricorn. India’s future is looking increasingly strong overall. Despite economic demographic challenges. But this “queen” is also likely a real person, rising on the political scene.
D.
Let’s wait and see. Not very long to go now. Again, thank you for reading.
5 June 2024: What has the Tarot reader seen/interpreted correctly?
The reader has correctly forecast the overall outcome in answer to the question as stated. Modi seems likely to secure that third term. But, also as detected in the cards, Modi is indeed weakened, and he and the BJP will not be having things all is/their own way. Continue reading HERE
Re: women’s issues
D. “Re: astrologer X, I don’t see the bit about women rising happening anytime soon. Not this election certainly…”
REPLY“Women’s issues may not be a priority at this election. 2029 might be different. But, see that central Queen of Pentacles? Women in India /a woman politician may emerge more powerfully from this process.”
My understanding via the cards was somewhat ambivalent on this point, indicating both a yes and a no answer. One thing is clear. That Capricornian Queen of Pentacles card is clearly NOT depicting Mayawati of The Bahujan Samaj Party.
The BSP, “which contested 424 seats across the country and 79 in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections 2024, could not win a single seat.”
As to the value of the BJP manifesto pledges for women in India, I do not feel qualified to judge. Their pledges as follows:
1/ “The BJP will extend the “lakhpati Didi” scheme that empowers women to have an income of more than Rs 1 lakh per annum. “We have empowered one crore rural women to become Lakhpati Didis (prosperous sisters). We will now empower three crore rural women to become Lakhpati Didis” (Is this a big enough deal? What is the current baseline? )
2/”We will empower women Self-Help Groups (SHGs) with the skills and tools in key service sectors like IT, healthcare, education, retail and tourism with an aim to increase their income.”
3/”We will integrate women Self-Help Groups (SHGs) with ongoing initiatives such as One District One Product (ODOP), Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), Ekta Mall, ONDC, GEM, One Station One Product, enhancing better market access for their products.”
4/ “The BJP will also facilitate participation of women in the workforce through various means. “We will ensure development of infrastructure such as working women’s hostels, creches etc. with the specific focus on locations near industrial and commercial centres to facilitate increased participation of women in the workforce.”
5/ “Our women sports persons have brought honours to our country. We will encourage greater participation of women in sports by launching women sportsperson focused programmes and facilities.”
6/ Public toilets for women (OMG, this requires a manifesto pledge?) “We have provided dignified lives to women by constructing public and individual toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission. We are further committed to upholding the dignity of women by continuing to construct and maintain public toilets.”
7/”We will expand the existing health services focussed on the prevention and reduction of Anaemia, Breast Cancer, Cervical Cancer and Osteoporosis, ensuring a healthy life for women. We will launch a focussed initiative to eliminate cervical cancer.”
8/ Low down the list-Women in Parliament—to constitute 1/3 The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam seeks to reserve one-third of the total number of seats for women in Lok Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies and Delhi Assembly.
9/ Shakti desk. Women help desks at police stations “for their safety”.
These pledges, which may seem conservative or long overdue to many readers outside India ARE personified in that central Queen of Pentacles. Is it enough, soon enough?
But that powerful, grounded, fiscal card; te Queen of Pentacles is followed by the Six Wands. This is undeniably a card of progress…and it is fast moving.
I surmise the next 5 years will show that Astrologer X (Jessica Adams) was not wrong.
“India will be truly successful only when women occupy equal space in our society. They must take their rightful place in politics and shape India’s destiny.”
-Rahul Gandhi
What has the Tarot reader not seen/interpreted correctly?
The identity of the powerful female politician represented by the Queen of Pentacles card remains unclear. I surmise she is Sonia Gandhi, although she did not stand for election herself.
“Sonia Gandhi‘s sharpest weapon, it is often said, has been her silence. It was so this election as well when the once reluctant politician and Congress leader helped forge the opposition INDIA bloc, speaking little and seldom in public but wielding enormous power. The 77-year-old didn’t campaign this time, possibly because she has been unwell, and chose her words and moments carefully.” – Economic Times of India
I understated the success of her son, Rahul Gandi in this election.
“Though nor does it (Tarot) suggest a victory for Rahul Gandhi. He may still do well in the south but as a prospective PM, it seems the global times are not favourable to his proposed reforms, however excellent in intention.”
The prediction was correct both in respect of saying Rahul would not be PM and the rising strength of the opposition. But still, I, the reader,underestimated the strength of his performance in this election. He has done WELL. The opposition overall has done much better than Modi seems to have anticipated.
“NEW DELHI, June 4 (Reuters) – Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, mocked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his supporters for a decade as an entitled dynast, marked a stunning comeback on Tuesday, emerging at the centre of an alliance that made deep inroads into ruling party strongholds.
The scion of India’s fabled Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, he embarked on two cross-country marches against what he called Modi’s politics of hate and fear, giving a jolt of enthusiasm to his Congress party and rehabilitating his own image.”
Since I started writing up this tarot reading, the opposition has conceded defeat, but with defiance. This from Al- Jazeera…
“Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge in his opening remarks at the continuing opposition INDIA alliance meeting says the coalition “fought well, fought unitedly, fought resolutely. The mandate is decisively against Mr. Modi, against him and the substance and style of his politics,” he said in a post on X. “It is a huge political loss for him personally apart from being a clear moral defeat as well.”
“Congratulations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the National Democratic Alliance on their victory, and the nearly 650 million voters in this historic election. The friendship between our nations is only growing as we unlock a shared future of unlimited potential.” 3:40 PM · Jun 5, 2024
“Looking in the glass darkly”. That’s what the reader is doing. The act of divination is one thing. It can take us a long, long way, far extending our reach, and it is a mystery how this happens. But context is key when delving deeper. Having either a clear brief or instruction, or having access to at least some basic knowledge of the situation under investigation is what enables a deeper analysis of the cards.
Weekend #Tarot#astrology 3 Wands and 8 Wands. Snapshot in time. Whatever deck you’re using, it’s a study exercise. Draw cards in the morning, review in the evening, personal level and in the news.
Author’s own cards: Thoth Tarot
3 Wands or 8 Wands stand alone as positive cards, but combinations count. Here we are looking at a double dose of FIRE energy in airy Gemini season= solar flares, electric storms or combustion, literally or metaphorically. The cards are showing Aries action + Sagittarius long reach and long range. At home, you may have been a busy bee-or a bit stressed. News/comms travelling fast. But these cards say you get unstuck. Forward momentum.
-In Pozzuoli: Super volcano Campi Flegrei is awake and growling. A 4.4 earthquake last Monday night drove people out of their houses in terror. (Solar flares again?) I associate the Knight Wands with eruptions (like the 8 Wands, this card is also Sagittarius.)
Last time Campi Flegrei erupted (1538) the ash cloud reached Russia- which yesterday bombed a DIY store in Kharkiv. Bravo Putin. A 12 year old girl and her mother were among the dead. Four fragments of bodies to be identified. Oh well done, Mr Putin. The heroes of Stalingrad would be so proud.
Sweden and the UK are allowing Ukraine to use weaponry against Russia, that has been supplied to Ukraine by UK and Sweden, if it is used in compliance with international law. The US is *said* to be reconsidering its position.
-Hamas has fired missiles into Tel Aviv and alleges it has captured Israeli soldiers, which Israel denies. The Israeli army has responded, bombing a displacement camp in NW Rafah, 30 Palestinians reported killed.
UK election pending, and I will be looking again but the signs in the cards are it will indeed be a Labour win, and it is going to be a rough ride, while we hope for the best. What is Keir Starmer going to do about his proposed deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner? Here comes the election campaign. She is quiet.
US Election, the cards are mighty peculiar. Biden looks weak at home and overseas. Eight Swords. Hamstrung. Democrat voters deeply divided re US policy in Gaza. Republicans unhappy re US support of Ukraine, however conservatively it is being managed. Trump is also weak, Five of Pentacles (disappointment) Mr Trump is not to be written off, however, says the surging, go- ahead Knight of Wands (a card which also says July/Aug and November/December in timing issues) However, This Knight -which CAN mean a new government- is not in the critical position in the spread, and could signify another episode of civil unrest in the event of an electoral defeat for Trump, and this would be happening Nov/Dec . But a win for Mr Biden, or at least a Democrat win, is still more clearly indicated, picking up more campaign points after mid-summer. The appearance of The Empress suggests the added significance of the women’s vote this coming election, due at least in part, likely, to the overturning of Roe v Wade
We are in a year of the Dragon. OK, it is the Wood Dragon. It is somewhat more open to reason than other Dragons in the Chinese zodiac. But still, it is a dragon. Dragons gonna do what dragons do.
Context is key for getting at specifics, aside from when reading the cards purely for meditation purposes. Here, the reader is simply “looking in the glass dimly”, not working to any particular brief, just drawing cards at random, taking the temperature, so to speak, and noting any significant real-time, real world synchronicities.
This year the sun is in the sign of Gemini from May 20- June 19, 2024. The dates for the sun signs can vary by a day or two from year to year for astronomical reasons. This year the sun leaves Gemini and enters Cancer on the day of the summer solstice, June 20.
The word ‘zodiac’ comes from the Greek meaning ‘circle of animals.’ The only zodiac sign that is non-representative of a living creature is Libra, the sign of the Scales. But in astronomy, even the Scales of Libra are borrowed from the stars of Scorpio and the claws of the giant scorpion in the heavens next door.
Gemini is the third sign of the Western Tropical Zodiac, and represents the end of spring and beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere.
Gemini associations
Symbol:
The Roman numeral for 2 is joined top and bottom in representation of the unity of duality
Hebrew letter: Zain, meaning, sword, weapon.
Ruling planet: Mercury
Affirmation: ‘I think, I inquire.’
Body: shoulders, arms and hands, lungs, autonomous central nervous system. The cell salt for Gemini is Kali Mur- potassium chloride, which builds fibrin in the blood, organs, and tissues of the body. Gemini is vulnerable to upper respiratory infections, bronchitis, and asthma (pollen season).
Birth Stone: If born in May, Emerald. If born in June, Pearl (although it is not a stone, it is thought to be ruled by Mercury)
Lucky stone: Tiger’s Eye. Why? The Tiger’s Eye is made of silicon dioxide with bands of iron. Grounds ‘flighty’ Gemini energy. Brings focus.
Public domain
Colour: Yellow
Tree: all kinds of nut trees
Flower: Lily of the Valley, Lavender
Tarot cards: Major Arcana: The Lovers (love, choices, decision-making) For some readers The Magician, associated with the Norse god Odin/Woden/ruler of Wednesday and the rune OS/ANSUZ (mouth, speech, oratory, answers.) Court card: The Knight of Swords. Minor Arcanacards: 8, 9 and 10 Swords.
Gemini is the northernmost constellation in the zodiac, and the thirtieth largest in size, appearing high in the winter sky in the northern hemisphere looking north east of the constellation of Orion between the Taurus and Cancer constellations. The best time to view Gemini is in February, and then by April and May, we’ll get the best views looking west soon after sunset.
Gemini was recorded by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the second century as “The Star of Apollo” (Castor) and “The Star of Heracles” (Pollux).
The two brightest stars in the constellation are the “twins” themselves – Castor and Pollux, representing the heads of the twins from Greek mythology, while fainter stars outline their bodies. Pollux, the westerly twin, is a red giant star 33 light-years from Earth and Castor is about 51 light-years away. A light-year is the distance that light travels in a year – about 6 trillion miles/9.6 trillion kilometres.
Pollux is the brighter of the two stars with a massive planet orbiting it; Genorium Beta, 1.6 times bigger than Jupiter (and Jupiter is so massive Earth could fit inside it x 1,300 times.)
Castor is actually not a single star, but a star system made of up six stars not visible to the naked eye.
History and Mythology
The concept of twins in mythology goes back at least as far as the so-called Age of Gemini, during the Palaeolithic, 6, 500 BCE, arising from our understanding of the duality fundamental to the nature of reality. There are male and female twins in world myth, but there are many twin brothers in particular standing for night and day, light and dark, heat and cold, male and female, war and peace, good and bad, life and death. The creation myths of ancient cultures reflect this eternal battle of seeming opposites. Many surviving objects feature twin gods and goddesses; a major theme across all cultures.
The ‘twin stars’ have been recognised as representing twins across all cultures, each with their own names and stories. In Arabic astronomy the twins were seen as peacocks. In Egyptian astrology they were twin goats, or else the two gods, Horus the Elder and Horus the Younger, while classical Greek mythology identified them as the twin brothers, Castor and Pollux, aka The Gemini, from the Latin word for twins. The name Castor comes from the Greek Καστωρ (Kastor) and means “to excel, to shine.” The name Pollux comes from the Roman form of the Greek Πολυδευκης (Polydeukes) meaning “very sweet.”
The circumstances of their birth were unusual to say the least. Queen Leda of Sparta was seduced by Zeus though seduced is putting it too politely. She was bathing in the river when he glided up, disguised as a swan, preening his feathers, and then pounced.
Later that evening, notwithstanding the undoubted trauma of this shocking event, Leda slept with her husband, King Tyndareus, and went on to produce four children all in one go; Castor, Pollux and their sisters Helen (later Helen of Troy) and Clytemnestra (later married to Agamemnon as queen of Mycenae.) Pollux and Helen were immortal, fathered by Zeus but Castor and Clytemnestra were mortal, fathered by Tyndareus.
Public Domain, the young Castor and Pollux (Meissen)
The mortal Castor was renowned as a horseman and a master at fencing, while the immortal Pollux was known for his great strength and skill at boxing. They went everywhere together. But then Castor was killed in a quarrel, in a disagreement over dividing the spoils after a cattle raid, and the sorrow of Pollux was so great he told Zeus he didn’t want his immortality, not if it meant eternal separation from his twin brother. Zeus scratched his head, wondering how to fix this, and then decided to place them both in the stars, to be together forever as the constellation Gemini.
The Greeks worshipped the twins as gods who helped shipwrecked sailors while the Romans later developed a cult around Castor and Pollux dating back to 484 B.C. building a temple to the twins in the Roman Forum in 414 BC in thanks for their help in defeating their old enemy, the Latins, in the battle of Regillus. Castor and Pollux were the patron gods of horses and the Roman cavalry, the equites, appearing as such on early Roman coins.
Gemini Zodiac Archetype
Mercury by Hendrick Goltzius, 1611, Public Domain
All the zodiac signs represent archetypes; meaning something that is considered to be a perfect or typical example of a particular kind of person or thing. The natal zodiac sun sign in western astrology paints a poetic portrait of a person born at a particular time of year, in a particular season as experienced in the northern hemisphere, in a tradition originating at the thirty sixth latitude (Sumeria, modern day Iraq).
The planetary ruler of Gemini is Mercury, the planet nearest the Sun, representing the winged god Mercury or Hermes; patron deity of all forms of communication, media, trade, global commerce and travel, medicine, research and analytics. Hermes was the son of the goddess Maia, one of the seven sisters of The Pleiades who gave her name to the month of May.
Mercury has a lesser known role as a psychopomp; one who can go between the realms of the living and the dead, a go-between and safe escort to the dead. It was Mercury/Hermes who escorted the souls of the newly dead to the banks of the Acheron or The Styx, where they waited for Charon to come in this boat and ferry them across to the Underworld. It was Hermes who escorted Persephone out of the dominion of Hades to be reunited with her mother Demeter.
Painting by Frederick Leighton
Gemini is a mutable sign, ruling the borderline between late spring and early summer. The other mutable signs are Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces. The mutable signs are considered the most changeable and agile of the signs; inquiring, agile, adaptable, talented, cerebral, analytical, logical and restless.
The Gemini temperament is friendly yet watchful, generous but changeable -mercurial as personified by Hermes with his winged sandals and the caduceus- emblem of messages and trade. The well-known delivery company of the same name clearly chose its name for this same reason. At the same time, Gemini can also be surprisingly dogmatic, attaching themselves to causes, whether it is to do with religion or an entirely secular social or political manifesto, or to do with lifestyle; for example, exercise or diet choices. Gemini may become a born-again convert- or crusading missionary. Intellectually, Gemini is quick, but emotionally, can become fixated. Taurus is stubborn too, but Taurus doesn’t seek to convince or convert others to its own way of thinking.
Gemini can be, not insincere, at least, not in that moment, but quick to lose interest, fluttering like butterflies, looking for the next new thing, looking for some better, brighter flower. This can apply to the way they interact with other people, here today and gone tomorrow, even though once mature, and once committed, they make dutiful, devoted partners and parents.
Every suit in the Tarot deck has its own court with a king, a queen, a knight and a page. The principle court card associated with Gemini is the super- fast moving Knight of Swords.
Smith Waite Tarot
Card Meanings: news, sudden developments, strongly worded email, legal action, surgical procedure, dental procedure, shock, blow, attack, air strike, plane,missile, bird of prey, assertiveness, intelligence, calculation, a confident, forceful young person (aged about 25-40), injury, snow, hailstorm, windy weather, cold wind, east wind,
The Decans of Gemini
The word ‘Decan’ comes from the Latin meaning ‘ten.’ Each zodiac sign lasts about 30 days and is further divided into three blocks of roughly 10 days each. These are the decans or as they’re sometimes called, the ‘thirty-six faces of astrology,’ bringing added depth and nuance to the psychological profile associated with your natal sun sign. The minor arcana cards associated with Gemini; the Eight, Nine and Ten of Swords, correlate with the decans.
If you don’t feel like you are a ‘typical’ Gemini, well, we’re all unique, and our natal sun is the keynote in our natal chart but not the whole story. But it may be because you’re a second or third decan Gemini native, rather than a ‘most typical’ first decan Gemini. It’s all still equally Gemini, whatever the decan and this holds true for all the zodiac signs. But an early-born Gemini and a later-born Gemini are born under slightly different planetary influences.
First Decan Gemini (0-10 degrees)
21-31 May
Eight of Swords
Smith Waite Tarot
Card Meanings:Entrapment, uncertainty, helplessness, waiting for rescue. There is a way out if only you will open your eyes, look around and take a step forward. I have also come to associate this card with practical plumbing/drainage issues.
This decan gets a double dose of the planetary influence of inquisitive, rational, Mercury. This is an alert, perceptive, intellectual and forceful personality. The acumen is sharp. The negative side of this coin is a Gemini native who is just as inquisitive but careless, flighty, forgetful, restless and unreliable. First decan Gemini is a multi-talented juggler, light on their feet, graceful and agile. But at the same time they tend to develop a strong point of view on a wide range of subjects, and they have a clearly defined belief system. For all their apparent flightiness they are also tough and resilient-even stubborn, a quality more usually associated with Taurus, its next door neighbour and predecessor in the zodiac. Gemini make devoted partners, contrary to whatever people might assume. They will hang on in there when the going gets tough, though they are prone to boredom and quickly tire of routine. They have considerable charisma and sex appeal. But they also know when they’ve got a good thing, so long as there’s plenty of social interaction and sufficiently frequent short distance travel to keep their restlessness under control.
Second Decan Gemini (10-20 degrees)
June 1-10
Nine of Swords
Card Meanings: The so-called Nightmare card, also nicknamed “cruelty.” Worry, ‘the black dog,’ anxiety, stress, grief, insomnia, depression, the things that keep us awake at night.
The sub-ruler of this decan is Libra, ruled by Venus, planet of love, beauty- and money, while Libra is the natural ruler of the seventh house of marriage, partnerships, close associates, associations, and legal matters. This Gemini is more of a “me-too” person, rather than an “I-am” person compared with, say, a first decan Gemini. This Gemini native needs to be especially discriminating in their selection of companions/associates and to avoid making early decisions about a choice of partner. Gemini 2nd decan is often drawn to quiet, reserved people. Their reserve fascinates Gemini-Libra which matches up well with reliable, practical types who can get a job done with little fuss or excitement. This person will ground, refine and complement the Gemini-Libra.
People respond well to the Second Decan Gemini warm and effusive nature. They also have a sense of adventure, same as the other Gemini decans, and they enjoy travel for the sake of new experiences. Sharing is part of the Gemini-Libra life; they are generous with their time and friendship and also with possessions. Gemini-Libra is great company. Just don’t be surprised or upset if they disappear as suddenly as they appear, or if they go quiet on you without warning. It’s not personal. It’s just the way they are.
Third Decan Gemini (20-30 degrees)
11-20 June
Ten of Swords
Smith Waite Tarot
Card meanings: Destruction, despair, betrayal, stabbed in the back, ruin, dark night of the soul, and the darkness before dawn, the only way is up, illness, comatose, a fall, spinal injury, head injury.
The personal planets of the third decan Gemini are Saturn and Uranus, painting a portrait full of contradictions. Sometimes this person is ultra-careful, dutiful, responsible, serious, at other times carefree or even careless. Uranus combined with the planet Mercury suggests an unusually active or even brilliant mind possibly even verging on genius. This person may be a thinker who is ahead of their times. Or maybe they are just zany.
Aquarius – natural ruler of the eleventh house of friends, hopes, and wishes-makes this Gemini a social type, a friend-oriented individual interested in social causes. This Gemini is an optimist, always interested in trying out what is new, and never happier than when they are on the move.
Life is rarely dull with a cheerful Decan 3 Gemini around, but they are the most independent- natured Gemini decan. They need plenty of space and freedom, with a partner who makes few demands on their time and attention. They are very hard working when they put their mind to it. But keeping promises, fulfilling obligations and routines are not their strongest suit. It is a mistake for this Gemini native to marry early or settle too soon. Adventure, exploration and experimentation with ideas, people and places- this is what they are about. This is what makes them tick.
The Cusps of Gemini
Birthday May 21 through May 23
This is Gemini with Taurus tendencies. The ruling planets are Mercury and Venus. This is a strong and magnetic personality, often with talents in music, art and literature. They are lively and sociable, good conversationalists hospitable and fond of travel. They desire to excel but may suffer from a fear of rejection, and at times may worry overmuch about the opinion of others at the expense of their intellectual independence and the exercise of their personal agency.
Birthday June 18 through June 21
This is Gemini with Cancer tendencies, ruled by Mercury and the Moon. This native possesses foresight and analytical ability combined with idealism. They will do well so long as they stay practical and do not go in for speculation and risk taking. This birthday does not bring that particular kind of luck. They may at times be too sensitive for their own good, liable to take offence or be sorry for themselves. But, graceful in movement, tidy in appearance, affectionate in nature, this native is a good friend. If they say they will do something, they keep their word.
Famous Gemini natives
John F Kennedy, Donald Trump, Frank Lloyd Wright, Boris Johnson. Johnny Depp, Queen Victoria, Charles 11, George 111,George V, Muammar Gaddafi, Angelina Jolie, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, Carl Linnaeus, Peter the Great, Adam Smith, Richard Wagner, Arthur Conan Doyle, John Maynard Keynes.
Keynote Astrology Dates in Gemini 2024
May 20: Sun enters Gemini ruler of the third house of intellect, communications, siblings and neighbours
May 23: Full Flower Moon in Sagittarius. Futurism, a breakthrough, foreign affairs, possible summit, visionaries, possible progress on a ceasefire
May 23-June 16: Venus enters Gemini coming together with Jupiter. Feeling good, looking good. Dating and socializing. Making Art. Writing. Just watch the spending.
May 25: THE astrological event of Gemini season 2024. Jupiter enters the sign of Gemini until June 9 2025. Here is an intense focus on fact-finding, fact-checking and the power and meaning of words. Here are big things in public discourse, deep fakes, AI and space tech and all things, welcome or otherwise, carried on the wind and in the air. We are witnessing the Fourth Industrial revolution. Last time we had Jupiter in Gemini, June 12, 2012-June 26, 2013, Voyager 1, launched September 5 1977 was the first man-made object to enter interstellar space. Just be aware, Jupiter in Gemini can mean disinformation and cults. It can mean the mob and witch hunts, especially when Pluto is in Aquarius (think too of the French Revolution and the guillotine). It’s best not to rely on any one single information or news source before arriving at our conclusions about anything.
May 31: Mercury conjunction with Uranus in Taurus. Sudden changes, surprises or breakthroughs to what we may have thought were insoluble problems.
June 6: New Moon in Gemini. This one falls at in the second decan of Gemini correlating with the Nine of Swords. On the plus side, it’s conjunct Venus. Fun times. We’re in demand. There is a real buzz of adrenaline and mental energy. But it’s also square Saturn. We may gallop about the place non-stop, spreading ourselves too thin, or struggling with issues or memories to do with a difficult parental relationship.
June 9: Mars in Taurus: our energy might hit a bit of a slump but it’s all good. We can adapt, go a walk, feed the birds, tend the flowers, take it easy, refuse to brood, and work on long term planning
July 20: Mars in Gemini. And the energy is back again. You’re taking charge and it shows, but prioritize your health, rest and relaxation, especially if you are a natal sun sign Gemini.
To the witty, brilliant, charming and cheerful Gemini sun sign native, we say Happy Birthday! Pluto calls you to new learning, crafts and foreign travel, or even a permanent relocation over the next twenty years, while 2024 is the year to reassess your professional trajectory and your place in your chosen community. This is not the year for flightiness. This is a time to stand firm and concentrate. Tis is a time to dig and build. Or rebuild. Deep and emotional Pisces in Saturn, planet of duty, responsibility, or possibly even care for older relatives, in your tenth house of your public life and your career calls for a plan, for discipline and focus. Stand firm. August in particular may be a real roller-coaster ride or a turning point. This is your on-going challenge- and your great opportunity in 2024
This year the sun is in the sign of Gemini from May 20- June 19, 2024. The dates for the sun signs can vary by a day or two from year to year for astronomical reasons. This year the sun leaves Gemini and enters Cancer on the day of the summer solstice, June 20. Gemini is the third sign of the Western Tropical Zodiac, and represents the end of spring and beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere.
Associations
The Roman numeral for 2 is joined top and bottom in representation of the unity of duality
Hebrew letter: Zain, meaning, sword, weapon.
Ruling planet: Mercury
Affirmation: ‘I think, I inquire.’
Body: shoulders, arms and hands, lungs, autonomous central nervous system. The cell salt for Gemini is Kali Mur- potassium chloride, which builds fibrin in the blood, organs, and tissues of the body. Gemini is vulnerable to upper respiratory infections, bronchitis, and asthma (pollen season).
Birth Stone: If born in May, Emerald. If born in June, Pearl (although it is not a stone, it is thought to be ruled by Mercury)
Lucky stone: Tiger’s Eye. Made of silicon dioxide with bands of iron. Grounds ‘flighty’ Gemini energy. Brings focus.
Colour: Yellow
Tree: all kinds of nut trees
Flower: Lily of the Valley, Lavender
Tarot cards: The Lovers. The Magician, Knight of Swords, 8, 9 and 10 Swords.
Gemini is visible to the naked eye, the northernmost constellation in the zodiac and the thirtieth largest in size appearing high in the winter sky in the northern hemisphere. looking north east of Orion between Taurus and Cancer. The Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the second century recorded Gemini as “The Star of Apollo” (Castor) and “The Star of Heracles” (Pollux). February is the best time to view Gemini. By April and May, we get the best views looking west soon after sunset.
The two brightest stars in the constellation are the “twins” themselves – Castor and Pollux, representing the heads of the twins while fainter stars outline their bodies. Pollux, the westerly twin, is a red giant star 33 light-years from Earth, and Castor is about 51 light-years away- the distance that light travels in a year = about 6 trillion miles/9.6 trillion km. Pollux is the brighter of the two with a massive planet orbiting it; Genorium Beta, while Castor is actually not a single star, but a star system made of up six stars not visible to the naked eye.
The concept of twins in mythology goes back at least as far as the so-called Age of Gemini, during the Palaeolithic, 6, 500 BCE, arising from our understanding of the duality fundamental to the nature of reality. There are male and female twins in world myth, standing for night and day, light and dark, heat and cold, male and female, war and peace, good and bad, life and death. The creation myths of ancient cultures and many surviving objects reflect this eternal battle of seeming opposites.
In Arabic astronomy the twins were seen as peacocks. In Egyptian astrology they were twin goats, or else the two gods, Horus the Elder and Horus the Younger, while classical Greek mythology identified them as the twin brothers, Castor and Pollux, aka The Gemini, from the Latin word for twins.
The name Castor comes from the Greek Καστωρ (Kastor) and means “to excel, to shine.” The name Pollux comes from the Roman form of the Greek Πολυδευκης (Polydeukes) meaning “very sweet.” The circumstances of their birth were unusual to say the least. Queen Leda of Sparta was seduced by Zeus, though seduced is putting it too politely. She was bathing in the river when he glided up, disguised as a swan, preening his feathers, and then pounced.
That night, notwithstanding the undoubted trauma of this shocking event, Leda slept with her husband, King Tyndareus, and in due course delivered four children all in one go; Castor, Pollux and their sisters Helen (later Helen of Troy) and Clytemnestra (later married to Agamemnon as queen of Mycenae.) Pollux and Helen were immortal, fathered by Zeus. Castor and Clytemnestra were mortal, fathered by Tyndareus.
Public Domain, the young Castor and Pollux (Meissen)
Castor was renowned as a horseman and a master at fencing, while Pollux was known for his great strength and skill at boxing. They went everywhere together. But then Castor was killed in a quarrel and Pollux told Zeus he didn’t want his immortality, not if it meant eternal separation from his brother. Zeus scratched his head, wondering how to fix this, and decided to place them in the stars, to be together forever as the constellation Gemini.
The Zodiac Archetype
Mercury by Hendrick Goltzius, 1611, Public Domain
All the zodiac signs represent archetypes; meaning something that is considered to be a perfect or typical example of a particular kind of person or thing. The natal zodiac sun sign in western astrology paints a poetic portrait of a person born at a particular time of year, in a particular season as experienced in the northern hemisphere, in a tradition originating at the thirty sixth latitude (Sumeria, modern day Iraq).
The planetary ruler of Gemini is Mercury, the planet nearest the Sun, representing the winged god Mercury or Hermes; patron deity of all forms of communication, media, trade, global commerce and travel, medicine, research and analytics. Mercury has a lesser known role as a psychopomp; one who can go between the realms of the living and the dead, a go-between and safe escort to the dead.
Gemini is a mutable sign, ruling the borderline between late spring and early summer. The other mutable signs are Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces, considered the most changeable and agile of the signs; inquiring, agile, adaptable, talented, cerebral, analytical, logical and restless. At the same time, Gemini can also be surprisingly dogmatic, attaching themselves to causes, whether religious or secular, social or political manifestos, or to do with lifestyle, for example, exercise or diet choices. They can be born-again converts- or crusading missionaries.
Every suit in the Tarot deck has its own court with a king, a queen, a knight and a page. The principle court card associated with Gemini is the super- fast moving Knight of Swords.
Smith Waite
Card Meanings: news, sudden developments, strongly worded email, legal action, surgical procedure, dental procedure, shock, blow, attack, air strike, assertiveness, intelligence, calculation, a confident, forceful young person, injury, snow, hailstorm, windy weather, cold wind, east wind, motorbike
The Decans of Gemini
The word ‘Decan’ comes from the Latin meaning ‘ten.’ Each zodiac sign lasts about 30 days and is further divided into three blocks of roughly 10 days each. These are the decans or as they’re sometimes called, the ‘thirty-six faces of astrology,’ bringing added depth and nuance to the psychological profile associated with your natal sun sign. The minor arcana cards associated with Gemini; the Eight, Nine and Ten of Swords, correlate with the decans. All the decans are equally Gemini, whatever the decan and this holds true for all the zodiac signs. But an early-born Gemini and a later-born Gemini are born under slightly different planetary influences.
First Decan (0-10 degrees)
21-31 May
Eight of Swords
Smith Waite
Card Meanings: Entrapment, uncertainty, helplessness, waiting for rescue. There is a way out if only you will open your eyes, look around and take a step forward. I have also come to associate this card with the prediction or identification of practical plumbing/drainage issues.
This decan gets a double dose of inquisitive, rational, Mercury. This is an alert, perceptive, intellectual and forceful personality. The acumen is sharp. The negative side of this coin is a Gemini native who is just as inquisitive but careless, flighty, forgetful, restless and unreliable. First decan Gemini is a multi-talented juggler, light on their feet, graceful and agile. But at the same time they tend to develop a strong point of view on a wide range of subjects, and they have a clearly defined belief system. For all their apparent flightiness they are tough and resilient-even stubborn, a quality more usually associated with Taurus, its next door neighbour and predecessor in the zodiac. Gemini make devoted partners, contrary to whatever people might assume. They may have considerable charisma but they also know when they’ve got a good thing, so long as there’s plenty of social interaction and sufficiently frequent short distance travel to keep them occupied.
Second Decan (10-20 degrees)
June 1-10
Nine of Swords
Smith Waite
Card Meanings: The so-called Nightmare card, also nicknamed “cruelty.” Worry, ‘the black dog,’ anxiety, stress, grief, insomnia, depression, the things that keep us awake at night.
Here is Putin and Zelenskyy experiencing another peak of aggression and strain this Gemini season 2024. Or instigating it, in the case of Putin, while Zelenskyy tears his hair out, the west bickers and vacillates, and others rub their hands. The sub-ruler of this decan is Libra, ruled by Venus, planet of love, beauty- and money, while Libra is the natural ruler of the seventh house of marriage, partnerships, close associates, associations, and legal matters. This Gemini is more of a “me-too” person, rather than an “I-am” person compared with, say, a first decan Gemini. This Gemini native needs to be especially discriminating in their selection of companions/associates and to avoid making early decisions about a choice of partner. People respond well to the Second Decan Gemini warm and effusive nature. Gemini-Libra is generous with their time and friendship and also with possessions. Just don’t be too surprised or upset if they disappear as suddenly as they appear, or if they go quiet on you without warning. It’s not personal. It’s just the way they are.
Third Decan (20-30 degrees)
11-20 June
Ten of Swords
Smith Waite
Card meanings: Destruction, despair, betrayal, stabbed in the back, ruin, dark night of the soul, and the darkness before dawn, the only way is up, illness, comatose, a fall, spinal injury, head injury.
The personal planets of the third decan Gemini are Saturn and Uranus, painting a portrait of contradictions. Sometimes this person is ultra-careful, dutiful, responsible, serious, at other times carefree or even careless. Uranus combined with the planet Mercury suggests a thinker who is ahead of their times. Or maybe they are just zany. Aquarius – natural ruler of the eleventh house of friends, hopes, and wishes-makes this Gemini a social type, a friend-oriented individual interested in social causes. This Gemini is an optimist, always interested in trying out what is new, and never happier than when they are on the move. This is the most independent- natured Gemini decan.
The Cusps of Gemini
Birthday May 21 through May 23
This is Gemini with Taurus tendencies. The ruling planets are Mercury and Venus. This is a strong and magnetic personality, often with talents in music, art and literature. They are lively and sociable, good conversationalists hospitable and fond of travel. They desire to excel but may worry overmuch about the opinion of others at the expense of their intellectual independence and the exercise of their personal agency.
Birthday June 18 through June 21
This is Gemini with Cancer tendencies, ruled by Mercury and the Moon. This native possesses foresight and analytical ability combined with idealism. They will do well so long as they stay practical and do not go in for speculation and risk taking. This birthday does not bring that particular kind of luck. Graceful in movement, tidy in appearance, affectionate in nature, this native is a good friend and if they say they will do something, they keep their word, but they may at times be too sensitive for their own good.
Famous Gemini natives
John F Kennedy, Donald Trump, Frank Lloyd Wright, Boris Johnson. Johnny Depp, Queen Victoria, Charles 11, George 111,George V, Muammar Gaddafi, Angelina Jolie, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, Carl Linnaeus, Peter the Great, Adam Smith, Richard Wagner, Arthur Conan Doyle, John Maynard Keynes.
I’m not seeing a Presidential inauguration for Gemini native Donald Trump January 2025. He draws The World card and the Death card, signifying the end of a cycle or a chapter. But he did draw the Ace of Wands. New venture. New government. There may still be surprises
True Tarot Tales 