Full Moon in Gemini / Penumbral Lunar Eclipse — November 28, 2012, 14:46 UT
Our deepest desires and anxieties appear in our dreams masked in symbols. A Full Moon has a tendency to stir emotions. Some of us find it difficult to get sleep at the time of a Full Moon. The Full Moon in Gemini was a lunar eclipse on the south node of the Moon, which may heighten the possibility that fears and insecurities arise from the unconscious. The aspect pattern of the eclipse chart shows that overcoming these anxieties will require some conscious adjustments, and one’s success in this work is perhaps best achieved through cooperation in a group or a collective.
The Gemini Full Moon formed a quincunx (150 degrees) to Venus-Saturn conjunction in Scorpio and another quincunx to Mars-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn. This aspect pattern is called a yod. The signs involved represent different modes and elements. This is why quincunxes may make us feel stressed and uncomfortable. In addition, Chiron from Pisces was square to the luminaries.
In the focal point of the yod pattern was the eclipsed Moon. The Moon moves swift and the pattern dissolved quickly, so is the effect only momentary? The eclipse degree remains potent for a long time, sometimes for years. Also, the current eclipse fell in conjunction with Altjira, an interesting Kuiper belt object which moves real slow. The orbital period of this binary is almost 300 years.
In Australian Aboriginal mythology, Altjira is the sky god of the Arrernte. He created the Earth, then retired to the sky and remained there. Altjira was the central god of a sacred era called the Dreamtime. The Aboriginal people believe that every person essentially exists eternally in the Dreaming. For unknown reasons, Altjira had emu’s feet. A surreal figure like him might appear in a dream.
Dreams belong to the dominion of Neptune. My research for this blog also indicated that Altjira has something to do with sleep and dreaming.
Altjira was discovered in 2001. In the discovery chart of Altjira, asteroid 14827 Hypnos, named after the personification of sleep in Greek mythology, is in the same degree with Jupiter, in contact with Jupiter’s magnifying effect.
The Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud, the founding father of psychoanalysis, wrote extensively about dream theories and interpretations. He also used hypnosis, which is a sleep-like state, in his work. He has Altjira on his ascendant in Scorpio. Probably the best known of the many books he published is The Interpretation of Dreams (1899), his own personal favorite.
Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist, became acquainted with Freud’s work through The Interpretation of Dreams. Such concepts as the archetype, the collective unconscious, and synchronicity are created by Jung. Jung was a productive writer himself. His autobiography is titled Memories, Dreams, and Reflections. Jung’s Altjira is conjunct his midheaven in Sagittarius and trine his Sun.
In Finland in 2009 the swine flu vaccine caused narcolepsy in children and youngsters age 4 – 19. Narcolepsy is a rare sleep disorder that causes a person to fall asleep suddenly and unexpectedly. Narcolepsy is a disease with lifetime consequences. The condition has a strong genetic linkage. The mass vaccination of this particular age group started in the beginning of the week 48. At that time the Sun had just opposed Altjira in early Gemini. Mercury, representing children and youngsters, was tightly aligned with the Pholus-Chaos opposition. Pholus is associated with toxins –in this case the medicine had become toxic. Mars (sharp objects like needles) was opposing Nessus, which also has a connection to toxics. Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune were in triple-conjunction. Asteroid DNA and 14827 Hypnos were in quincunx, and they also aspected many of the aforementioned planets.
In recent years sleeping disorders have become a growing health problem around the world. People use more and more pills, which in turn can cause other problems. Could insomnia have a link with Altjira’s current journey in the mutable air sign Gemini? The energy in this sign can be nervous. In The Contemporary Astrologer’s Handbook Sue Tompkins says about planets in Gemini: “Gemini lightens up – seems to almost add air – to any planet found in the sign. The qualities of the given planet will not only seem to become lighter and less serious but also more scattered and difficult to get hold of.”
Gemini is a social sign concerned with gathering and sharing information. A method of social dreaming has become widely used in many countries in recent years. It is a form of enquiry into social phenomena through the use of dreams. The purpose is not to interpret the dream, or focus on the dreamer’s personality, but through free association to think afresh and help people to understand different points of view.
Social dreaming takes place with many participants simultaneously. People come together to share their dreams. A person is needed to voice a dream. The dream comes from the individual but once it is voiced, it ceases to be a personal property and becomes a shared object available for the social unconscious that we all share. In the context of social dreaming the terms finite and infinite are proposed to be used instead of the terms conscious and the unconscious. In the process of social dreaming, something grows and develops, and new knowledge is gained.