The Gemini Full Moon: the Twins vs. the Centaur-Archer
Musings on local, community-based wisdoms, and the truth with a capital T
Hey everyone,
Happy full moon. I want to start by taking a moment to thank all of you who have been loyal readers and to welcome new subscribers to my little corner of the internet. Thank you so much for being here, and for your feedback and engagement with my writings and posts. As the year winds down and I vision some dreams for next year, I’d love to hear what you’re interested in reading about in the realms of astrology, somatic practice, and beyond. <3
Today, Spring shines a spotlight into the darkness of fall
I’ve said it many times before, and I’ll say it again: a full moon is a mirror. When the moon is opposite the sun in the sky, a beautiful moment happens where the opposite quality from the solar season we’re inhabiting is highlighted. Just as we shiver and sink into the chill of late fall, the warm, vibrant energy of late spring comes shining in like a spotlight, saying, “Hello! Don’t forget about me!”
This calendar year has been interesting because the full moons have been happening right in the beginning of each Zodiacal season. The sun just entered Sagittarius on Friday (November 24), and 3 days later we’re already being hit with the polar opposite energy of the annual full moon in Gemini.
I’ve been thinking about how the placement of the full moon within the scope of a season affects us, and noticing how having the full moon’s opposite vibes in the beginning of the season is an intense way to start out the seasonal transition. It’s kind of like setting out on a new journey filled with curiosity and possibility, and then meeting the climactic grand-master challenge on day two.
This feels particularly true with Sagittarius season, the time of year represented by the adventurous centaur-archer. Just as he draws his arrow back in his bow and sets his sights to the horizon, ready to rise up and out of the still, deep waters that defined Scorpio Season, the twins of the Gemini full moon pop out, gossiping and chatting with him about news close-to-home. It’s a bit disorienting, and also, I would hope, a powerful learning experience!
The Beaver Full Moon… in the Sign of Multiplicity
This full moon in Gemini also carries the name "Beaver Moon", coming from the fact that this is a time of year when beavers build up their lodges and dams for the winter. Just like the Gemini archetype of the twins, the energy during this full moon is bustling with rapid-fire communication and productivity, like the busy beaver building a dam.
The Old Farmer’s Almanac is the publication where many non-Indigenous people learn about these Indigenous names for each full moon. The Almanac notes that the names they choose to highlight come from “Colonial Americans adopting Native American names into their calendars, passed down over generations.”
Of course, “Native Americans” are certainly not a monolithic group, and there are almost as many names for the 13 moons of the year as there are tribes, with some regional overlap. Many Indigenous people use the turtle shell as a calendar, with the 13 sections of the shell representing the 13 lunar months, each with 28 days, represented by the outer scales. Each new month begins on the first night of the full moon, and each moon is named to reflect the seasonal influence within its cycle.
A moon, by any other name…
The November/Gemini full moon, to the Cheyenne, is the Deer Rutting Moon, referring to the short deer-mating season that happens when the weather gets colder. The Choctaw call it the Panther Moon. The Hopi call it the “Fledgling Hawk Moon” and the Potawatomi call it the “Turkey Moon”.
The Algonquin call this moon the “Moon of Much White Frost On Grass” and the Tlinget call it the “Digging/Scratching Moon”, the time when bears dig their winter dens. The Kalapuya in the Pacific Northwest call it the “Moon Of Moving Inside For Winter.” In the same vein, the Pueblo name for this moon is the “Moon When All Is Gathered In.”
The Anishnaabe people call this moon the Freezing Moon, noting:
This is a time of preparation for winter. Communities prepare for the season of scarcity by turning to spiritual teachings, songs, and stories.
What a beautiful fusion of the Gemini and Sagittarius archetypes, of this Zodiacal axis whose unifying theme is ways of knowledge and communication: the community coming together and sharing songs and stories (the twins) about spiritual teachings (the archer).
This investigation into the variety of Indigenous names for the moons of the year on this full moon in Gemini feels fitting. Gemini is the natural ruler of the 3rd house, the house of neighbors, siblings, short-distance travel, and local communication. It is ruled by Mercury, the quick-footed messenger between worlds. In the body, Gemini rules the throat, the body part of voice and talking and communication; of naming things. The names of moons across cultures on Turtle Island shows the Gemini nature of emergent language- noting something from our local environment and naming it to communicate with our neighbors and kin, rather than pulling it from an esoteric, universal place.
On this full moon, I’m loving the embodied feeling held in these names: moving inside, gathering in, building a lodge, digging a cozy den. This is the season when the sun, symbolizing our conscious mind, is in the sign of Sagittarius, the centaur-archer, It’s a solar season of planning ahead, looking out at the distance, and creating a strategy and philosophy to get us through the dark months of winter. So this full moon, symbolizing our body and emotions, the sign of the twins, and the realm of the beaver, is here to remind us of the equal importance of gathering in, working together, and chatting with one another by the fire inside.
The truth with a capital-T: Luna is opposite Mars and square Saturn
Full moons can tend to bring up any discomfort we feel from an unresolved polarity in ourselves or in our society. In this case of the archer and the twins, the polarity is the realm of ways of knowing.
Opposite local, neighborly Gemini, Sagittarius is a sign that is associated with philosophical truisms, ideologies, and dogma. Sag is the natural ruler of the 9th house, home of higher education, religion, moral philosophies, travel, and universal truth. Sag is ruled by Jupiter/Zeus, the king the gods, the of planet of expansion and growth. In the body, Sagittarius rules the legs and thighs, body parts that can carry us to distant locations and leap to great heights.
At today’s lunation, Mars is conjunct the Sun in Sagittarius, adding an extra dose of fiesty vigor to the already hot fire sign, and both are opposite the moon in Gemini,. The full moon acts as a mirror, reflecting back the nuance of local, community-based truths to the Saggitarian sun’s global philosophies. But Mars is right there next to the sun, saying “nah, we’ll stick to our convictions… there absolutely is a truth with a capital-T, and we’ll burn this place down to prove it.” This week, watch out for tension arising from the need to be right- whether it’s your need or someone else’s.
This Sun-Mars conjunction and the moon are both squaring Saturn, who has recently re-entered the first degrees of Pisces for his 2.5 year stay in the sign of the swimming fish. This T-square with the planet of time, structure, and karma could give the next couple of days a feeling of irritability, stuckness, and a desire to move along faster than current conditions allow.
Sometimes, however, the squaring planet in a T square configuration can provide clues to the antidote for the tense standoff between the two polarized areas. In this case, Saturn in the watery sign of Pisces could have clues to that remedy: cultivating a beginner’s mind, and being open to the flowing tides, as well as to other people’s perspectives.
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the experts mind there are few.”
This quote, highlighting the current tension between Gemini and Sagittarius energies, is is attributed to a Zen master named Shunryu Suzuki. It suggests that when we approach something with a beginner's mindset - open and curious, without preconceptions - we are more likely to see and explore a wide range of possibilities. In contrast, when we approach something with an expert's mindset - with a lot of knowledge and experience, but also with a certain set of assumptions and expectations - we may be more likely to see fewer possibilities, or to overlook some opportunities.
Think about the many local names for each full moon that I discussed earlier. While each name is different, all of them are based on listening and learning from the environment: the land, animals, plants, and neighbors. It is highly unlikely that anyone would claim (or go to battle for) their specific name being the absolute right one, because they recognize the nature of these local, community-formed, little-T truths- and their ability to co-exist with eachother.
The beginners mind = the listening mind
This week, keep the many names for the moon and the Suzuki quote on the beginner’s mind at the forefront of your interactions. It is a wonderful week to remain open to learning from others, to embrace uncertainty, to question assumptions, and to be willing to explore different perspectives.
I encourage you to approach any challenges that come up during this tense astro-weather with a sense of curiosity, as if encountering them for the first time, rather than relying solely on your established knowledge and habits. When entering into a conversation or online comments section, I’d recommend a taking a brief pause, a deep, conscious, inhale and exhale, and then asking yourself if righteousness in that moment is really worth fighting for. You may find that attempting curiosity, compassion, or even connection would better serve your end-goal.
Have a beautiful & bright beaver moon, beauties.
See you next time for the Sag new moon in 2 weeks, where we’ll take a deep dive into the life and learnings of a humble centaur.
Until then,
deep, slow breaths and <3 <3 <3