We have moved into Gemini season this week! From the earth (Taurus) to the sky (Gemini) - we need both to be nourished as humans. Air - wind - spreading the seeds that Taurus produced. Gemini holds us in connection - identity is experienced through connecting ideas and people. We can learn from this energy, even if we don't have Gemini in our own make-up, just like we learn from the physical seasons.
What is air? You can't see it, but we can't live without it for more than a few moments! It's the precious, underrated medium in which we live, exchange, connect, with other humans and all other life.
I'm teaching classes lately on decision-making, something that can be hard for Gemini and air signs especially, and for all humans as we navigate the onslaught of influences we're subject to on a daily basis. The home base of what I'm teaching in these classes is reconnecting to your own free will. And Gemini can be an energy guide in doing this! You might be surprised to hear this, because Gemini sometimes has a reputation for being all over the place, fickle. But the beauty of this energy is that it sees all sides. It doesn't get caught up in a version of identity that's an illusion of consistency. At its best, Gemini embraces impermanence and the truth that identity has nothing to do with our beliefs, thoughts, or momentary preferences. It lets itself change as quickly as the winds do. If we are paying attention, we see that this constant change is just the truth. And! If it is true that we aren't our thoughts or beliefs, then we can use ideas and beliefs as tools to help us on our path, instead of rigid pillars to cling to, which causes us lots of pain.
So use air energy and Gemini as a metaphor and guide this month to loosen up your own relationship to identity and free will. You don't have to effort in reconnecting to your free will, to your ability to make decisions - in fact efforting is often the thing that disconnects you from your free will! It's simply a matter of remembering that your free will exists, waiting to take you where you need to go. Your job is to relax and listen. That's it. It's very simple.
ARIES | March 21-April 19
Question - When is your energy going out, and when is it coming in?
Meditation - the tides.
Assignment - Conceive of your energy like the tides, and remember that it has a rhythm like any other phenomenon of nature. Aries is fire, typically outward-facing, so consider the balance of when your tide is going out and when it's coming in. What needs to happen to bring this into balance? Sometimes your energy turns into a white out because there's too much going out - especially when you are stressed! Do an energy check on yourself and take note if this is happening. What colors can you bring into your field that allow you to reconnect with the nuance of give and take? You don't have to be the leader all the time (and in fact you can't be anyway)! You don't have to output all the time! Everything will still work beautifully. Bring this tide flow of your energy into balance with simple, gentle, kind noticing.
TAURUS | April 20-May 20
Question - When do you embrace ideas?
Meditation - Gemini.
Assignment - Let this shift of season work on you this week. Gemini is about embracing ideas for their own sake, as their own little lives! Let yourself be freed of the weight of practical concerns for a minute. Ask yourself how you would live, what you would do, if practical concerns weren't in your mind. Perhaps this is really different from how you live, or not even imaginable to you. Choose one small thing you can incorporate, one manageable experiment, where you release yourself from the weight of being 'practical' and see what happens. Don't effort, just let it choose you. So much of free will is actually getting out of the way of ourselves!
GEMINI | May 21-June 20
Question - What if you just didn't need to be different from how you are?
Meditation - sameness!
Assignment - For your birthday month I encourage you, mutable sign, to not worry so much about changing. Changing is second nature to you! Adaptability comes so easily to you. So what if you just stayed the same for a minute! What if you just let yourself be how you are? It seems easy but that's the point! Reflect this week and month on what you want to stay steady this coming year, more than what you want to change. What was working last year? What was easy? Write about this, reflect on it, so that you don't drift away from it in your constant changing. Root down into what felt easy, what comes to you in the flow. You can be your same self, through all the change. (And don't apologize for being a Gemini. Just let people know the truth about you, then you'll feel much calmer.)
CANCER | June 21-July 22
Question - When is relaxation on your schedule this coming week?
Meditation - the location where your feet touch the earth.
Assignment - If relaxation is not written into your schedule, get it on the calendar right now. There's new space for calm in your zone, as Uranus moved into Taurus, out of square with your sun, so your job is to take advantage of this, and not put relaxation off. You can be less lit, but you have to take the steps to allow this to happen! Relaxing doesn't have to mean going unconscious, and cultivating this art is a lifetime achievement, especially in the USA, (which shares a Sun sign with you, btw). Translate your emotional plan (which you always have) into a physical plan (sometimes comes a little harder) for caring for yourself this week.
LEO | July 23-August 22
Question - What is the difference between your free will and self-defense?
Meditation - listening!
Assignment - Sometimes exercising your own free will means just listening. When you're in a defensive mode, you can get confused about what is your free will and what is your reactionary self-defense. When you allow yourself to see the ways that life is already nourishing you, then your generosity to yourself and others flows much freer. This might sound paradoxical - most truths do. The point is, pay attention to the difference between your free will and your self-defense this week, and see what you notice. Discern with your vibrant intuition what is truly in your highest good and what is fulfilling a surface recognition that will ultimately leave you dissatisfied anyway.
VIRGO | August 23-September 22
Question - What is true helping?
Meditation - helping yourself is enough this week.
Assignment - You're used to helping, to being helpful, it's a comfortable identity for you. Which is why I challenge you this week to notice the impulse to help, even just one or two times this week, and see what happens if you DON'T HELP. Try to just notice what happens! If this involves another person you feel okay talking to about it later, ask them about the experience after the fact. This is about decoupling your impulse (and at times, habit) to help from your free will. They sometimes go together, but don't have to. The more awareness you bring to this, the easier it will be to actually be helpful, and to actually be calmer.
LIBRA | September 23-October 22
Question - When do you lie to yourself?
Meditation - Let it be messy.
Assignment - Let your relationships be messy, let your house be messy, let yourself be with the truths of however your life is. Libra wants harmony so much that sometimes it lies to itself about what is happening. Freedom waits in letting things be as they are, whatever that looks like, in the moment. This doesn't mean that you don't act to change things, it just means you slow it down, pause, let the mess be there for a minute, before acting. So that you can really see what actions might actually clean it up, instead of covering over on the surface and exhausting yourself. When you notice something that makes you uncomfortable this week, any kind of mess, practice letting it be messy for a minute or two, or ten, or a week (!), before acting.
SCORPIO | October 23-November 21
Question - What is the motivation behind your curiosity?
Meditation - letting the secrets be.
Assignment - Scorpio tends to be curious about the secrets of life, the taboos, the emotional vulnerabilities of others. This week, look into your own curiosity - when does it arise? When does it fade? When does it feel obsessive? When does it feel light? How and when does it control your decision-making? What is the difference between your curiosity and your free will? If you notice that any part of your curiosity is draining you, try on not following all of the threads. See what happens. Take special care of your precious life right now, and give yourself the gift of not having to follow every impulse of your curiosity.
SAGITTARIUS | November 22-December 21
Question - When do your high standards lead to intolerance or insensitivity?
Meditation - Letting everyone be as they are.
Assignment - You can let go of your ideals for a minute and see what happens when you do. You don't have to worry about maintaining high standards, you just will! This is a capacity of yours that you don't have to try at. But when you do let go of it as an identity, even for a short time, there is new space for perceiving the beauty of what IS happening to arise. For the appreciation of what IS to bloom in you. The more space that's in you, the more room for your true free will to exist, and the less alienation you and others will feel because of those high standards you can sometimes have about how people should be. Anytime you notice a 'should' involved in your thinking this week, look at it, and ask more questions about it.
CAPRICORN | December 22-January 19
Question - What are the laws of nature you are resisting?
Meditation - animal instincts
Assignment - Observe how animals make decisions. What kind of practicality do they exhibit? How can you learn from this? Notice how they don't think about following societal rules, they follow laws of nature. How can you follow their lead and move into alignment with these laws of nature also? Where are your instincts, and when do you listen to them? What happens when you do?
AQUARIUS | January 20 to February 18
Question - When do you feel alienated from your self?
Meditation - an internal home.
Assignment - Encouraging you to spend time doing things that help you return to your internal home this week. Whatever that means to you. Maybe it's breathing, or moving in some physical way, or talking to a friend. Ask yourself what feels like home, and let yourself be guided back to this energetic place as many times as you can. It's a gentle touch, just about asking questions, What feels like home to me? Where is home base in my body? Who in my life and what in my life also gives me this comfort? Prioritize this feeling this week.
PISCES | February 19 to March 20
Question - What practices, people, or places give you fresh perspective?
Meditation - walk out of the ocean onto land to breathe air.
Assignment - The Sun in Gemini is square your Sun in Pisces this month - a square being an aspect that includes tension or resistance. This is why the meditation is about embracing air! As a life-giving force. Instead of resisting the Gemini season, practice embracing it. This means allowing yourself to flow with new connections and spending time on the surface of the water or even on land so that you can get fresh perspectives! Whatever this means to you - spending time in a way that allows you to breathe fresh new air and maybe even feel a little out of your element, on purpose.