The Full Moon in Gemini Triggering Mars’ Retrograde

Hey everyone, this is Adam Elenbaas from Nightlight Astrology, and today we're going to take a look at the Full Moon in Gemini, which is coming through tomorrow. That's December 7. And this is a really powerful full moon because this Full Moon is going to be conjoined with Mars Retrograde. And this is coming at the peak of the Mars Retrograde cycle. So you could say that it's like for Mars Retrograde right now; it is a full moon.

In addition to that, the actual full moon is coming through and conjoining it exactly, which is a very powerful event. So we're going to talk a little bit about why this is so powerful, break it down a little bit more, and then give you some insight in terms of the archetypal combinations that are sort of present right now; I'm going to talk about five themes. And I'm going to pair them with five of the most common client stories that I hear when I see this transit in action and people's birth charts. So hopefully, you will find that interesting today.

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Okay, so let's get into this full moon. This is a very intense full moon. And we're going to talk about why it's such an intense Full Moon as we go. Now, here's the full moon coming through Wednesday, December 7, and it is late in the evening, East Coast time in the United States. So, you may feel the effects of this anytime Wednesday, really into Thursday. And what you'll notice is that the full moon full moons are always exactly opposite the sun. That's how we know that they're full. And this Full Moon is happening as the sun is also opposing Mars exactly.

That is a crucial point in the Mars Retrograde cycle when Mars and the Sun oppose one another. So that moment is like the full moon moment of the Mars Retrograde, and now we're getting the doubling up of the actual full moon with Mars's quote-unquote full moon. So that's what makes this Full Moon incredibly powerful. Let's go back to what I want you guys to understand the fullness of this cycle. And also, I want you guys to be able to track this cycle. So what I want to do is I just want to show you what a Mars cycle looks like. And I've actually went over this in another video somewhat recently.

But let's just for the sake of making it simple, I'm going to just isolate the sun and Mars. So what I want to do is go back in time and see how they're opposed to one another. That's like a full moon. Now when they are in a conjunction with one another. That's when it's like the new moon. So let's go back in time. Here is their conjunction. This Mars Cycle Start Date is there for around October 7 of 2021. So there's the there is the sun Mars conjunction. This was in Libra in October of last year.

This is officially the moment at which the synodic cycle between Mars and the Sun resets. So metaphorically, it is like a new moon in that it is a seeding moment between Mars and the Sun. How would you pair that together? Well, first of all, I would recommend going back to October of last year and looking at the whole sign house of Libra in your birth chart. And you can get a sense of the roots of the current cycle and what Mars Retrograde is bringing to a head under its upcoming Full Moon moment actually has its roots in the whole sign house of Libra in your chart. That's not intuitive, right? You're thinking you unless you know about synaptic cycles, you're not going to look at Libra to understand; you know what a Mars opposite Sun moment from Gemini to Sagittarius looks like. But it's important that you do because every synaptic cycle connects different parts of your birth charts through the fullness of the cycle. So you want to look at that whole sign house of Libra, for starters, around early October of 2021. The topics of that house are, in some ways, intimately connected to what is manifesting right now.

Okay, so that cycle begins. Now watch what happens, the son who moves faster than Mars is going to move out ahead of Mars and start separating. Now, when the two planets finally reach a square with one another, it's gonna be in about September. So the critical turning point is in September of 2022. Here, the two planets are coming right through a square. You can see it; there we go. It's right about here. So this is like this is actually late August of 2022. Right after the sun squares, Mars is like a critical turning point in the cycle. Because what we're now, we're sort of at like a first quarter moon, so to speak. The first quarter moon moment brings the sun and Mars into a kind of individuating crisis with one another.

So you can think about this, what's been happening with this Mars cycle has its roots in October of 2021 and starts coming into critical crisis mode, a mode of individuating action and tension from late August up till right about now. But here's how it then plays out after they square in late August; then we're going to take this forward just a bit after the square in late August, then, after the separation of the square, the sun is going to move into a whole sign trine with Mars, because Mars is one of those superior planets and you guys heard me say this couple of weeks ago, as soon as they trine one another, then closely after that Mars is going to stop. And then Mars will turn retrograde; see, there it is, right around October 30, into the 31st.

So you go from the conjunction into this square, and then right after the square, Mars turns retrograde; then, if we keep taking this forward, the two planets will then move through Mars's retrograde and the sun's continued forward motion and the two will arrive at an opposition with one another. This brings the cycle; you could say to sort of like its full moon moment. And the amount of time you know between, say, the opening conjunction and this sort of first quarter to Full Moon moment. It's not like it has the same perfect rhythm as the moon cycle. But it's a critical time that is like the first quarter to the full moon of the moon cycle when the two planets square and then the sun trines Mars, Mars turns retrograde, and then they move into the opposition. It is very much like the kind of critical development leading to the full blossom of the cycle. So this stage that we have been in since late August has been about developing this tension between the sun and Mars. Now we're reaching the full moon. Well, this begs the question, what does that mean archetypically?

If you think about the sun, one of the simple things that the sun was related to by ancient astrologers was the idea of an ideal image, an ideal image that is related to a desire, a fantasy, a hope, a wish, and ambition. When, you know, for example, if you're, you come some people come to see me for readings. And I'll say, Well, what do we want to talk about? And they'll say, I really want a soulmate. So that's an ideal image. Or they'll say, you know, I really want to find my calling, or I want to find the job that really makes me happy, or I want to be happier in my marriage, or I don't want to be struggling so much financially, or I want to be feeling or looking a certain way in my body or with my health, whatever it is that people pursue in life, whatever it is that people want as a desire that leads them into a series of actions. It is compelled by an image of some kind. It lives in the soul. The soul is imaginal in the sense that it moves and relates and has experiences According to what it loves and desires, or sometimes what it's afraid of or doesn't want, but either way, it's compelled by images, images of what I want or images of what I'm afraid of, or you know, like that.

So when you pair the sun in that sense of an ideal image that shapes ambitions and actions, drives and desires, then you pair it with Mars, the god of action, god of war, god of conflict, god of individuation, and willpower. You pair the two together in a synoptic cycle, and suddenly you're talking about the will to become something, the will and it's it has a very, usually very individualistic feeling or quality behind it. Now, some of this may relate back to the ceding point in Libra, which is the detriment of Mars, and which may have something to do with, you know, some kind of image or desire that's very Libra and or actually Venusian in some way, which is a bit, you know, can be a bit tricky to figure out. That's why I say, Start in the whole sign house of Libra and your birth chart and look at what was happening in your life last October, what kinds of images, desires, and drives were starting to form or shape. When those two planets are conjoined, there's very much a sense of this is what I want, this is what I'm going for, and it's going to be some kind of Libran image or connected to the themes or topics of that house of Libra.

Now, as the cycle develops, you reach a critical point of tension, leading to this culminating Full Moon moment that we're in right now. Well, what does that mean? It means that when the sun or in late August, when the sun and Mars squared one another, it's as though they're starting to get into; there is conflict and tension. Will I get what I want? What kinds of confrontations or frustrations, or challenges Am I having to overcome right now? Or how is my image or ideal being challenged, or even thwarted or frustrated? And how do I overcome or persevere? Now the full moon moment is really like a testing space where when Mars opposes the sun, it's like, well, you know, Well, will you get what you want, or what is directly opposing you or thwarting you. And it's more of a head to head showdown. Or there might be some split or polarization within the ideal image; well, here's what I want. But there's some kind of compromise, or there could be a splitting, or within yourself, you're suddenly divided about what you want and how the what is the best way to get there.

Or there are two different sides of you that are starting to realize that they want two different things. So there's a sort of a challenge of our ideals that rises up to the surface when the sun opposes Mars, and a lot of it has to do with a conflict within ourselves around authority, individuality, drive, and desire. What do I want? How do I get it? Can I get it? Am I capable of getting it? All sorts of things like this. So the fact that that's happening would be important to the study of any Mars Retrograde cycle. That Full Moon moment is a big part of the Mars Retrograde cycle. You could say that it's when the Mars Retrograde cycle is bringing its fruits up so that you can see it and deal with it.

So it's kind of like that moment in a Mercury retrograde cycle where if Mercury is going to bring up some big lesson, you know, it's going to often do so, you know, at a certain point, right? And that's sort of like the middle of its cycle, often when it crosses the conjunction through its retrograde with the sun, for example. But regardless, this is the moment where whatever you've been needing to learn or in the process of trying to accomplish is coming to a head that the energy is peaking around the Mars Retrograde cycle; you're sort of this is when the Mars Retrograde cycle reaches its boiling point, so to speak. I hope all these images are helpful anyway.

Well, what's happening as that takes place? As Mars is opposing the sun and reaching its full moon moment, we literally have a full moon in the sky coming through and hitting it at the same time. What does that do? All that it does is, I mean, the simplest way to explain what it does is to say that it cranks up the volume of what Mars is doing a lot. So when you have a full moon that's hitting Mars at this exact point in the cycle. It is as though everything that Mars Retrograde is bringing to the surface it bringing to the surface or everything you've been working on in this critical moment of learning and integration of what's been happening. Integration, not quite maybe better word, is a manifestation or a point of revelation or a moment of dynamic stress or tension, as all of that is sort of popping, you know, it's like the veins are just bulging out of the Mars Retrograde muscles right now. You know the face is red, the steam is coming out of the ears that's happening for Mars. Well, the moon coming through just cranks the volume up on all of it; that a full moon is happening at that exact moment is very powerful.

So the idea being that this Mars Retrograde cycle can this Mars Full Moon moment this week is being greatly amplified by the full moon. I hope that makes sense. I hope that explanation and taking the time to do it is useful for all of you.

All right, well, here are five themes to watch for, and trying to make them more concrete now. And in addition to, five themes to watch for the five most common client stories that go along with these five themes that I've seen in my practice. Now typically, if I'm looking at Mars, transiting Mars opposing someone's sun in their birth chart, it's going to be a relatively quick transit. And yet, they can be very powerful, especially if that Mars is triggering, the opposition to the sun is coming alongside another transit that's happening to the sun at the same time; we would say Saturn is squaring your sun, and then Mars comes through and opposes it, or something like that. But generally speaking, these are the stories that I see along the lines of these five themes within the lives of my clients.

So number one is the transformation or challenge of an ideal; you have an idea when Mars opposes the sun, and that ideal is directly challenged. And that challenge could come from within yourself a sort of psychic or psychological or ideological split that you're experiencing, well, do I think this or do I think this, so you're at a crossroads with regard to values, ideal images, and the path that you're taking toward them? Well, I would want it this, but now I'm having a crisis do I want it or don't I want it, or even a strategy of how to get what you want or where you think you're going and how to get there could come into some kind of tension or conflict.

Now within the five most common client stories that I hear, the number one thing that I've seen come up will be religious, political, or philosophical beliefs being directly challenged, either from within themselves or from someone in their life, often it's a spouse, or it's someone at work, or it's a family member, or, it's, you know, maybe you're in a school program, and it's a teacher, or it's a religious figure, but you will have your values or your ideals directly challenged, or you'll feel like they're coming in direct conflict with someone or something else. And the clients will usually go through a period of either, you know, rather than dealing with that conflict internally, it will be very easy to try to manage it by winning or beating someone in some kind of conflict or competition of wills. Whereas I find that most clients are more are going to, like get through the transit with more ease if they work on where the tension is coming up within themselves and work on that level first, that tends to be a recipe for success from what I've seen.

Number two, in terms of the five themes to watch for, is a confrontation with authority. So on this level, the authority could be a boss, a religious figure, a father or parent, a teacher, a system, a law, a rule, a norm of some kind, something that's established, and there, you know, as an ideal, or as a ruling principle or something like that. And then there will be like a clash of will or belief that comes up, and the story that I'm used to hearing will be a confrontation with someone's boss is incredibly common, are with a religious leader, or a teacher or your authority challenged in the workplace by someone or something like that. So those, that's usually what I see when it comes to confrontation with authority more times than I could possibly count in. In client work over 13 years, I've seen people get in fights with their bosses, or, you know, maybe someone who represents an authority of some kind or a principal, it'll be like, Well, I'm standing up because I disagree with this idea or thought or principle somehow that it ends up being externalized made public posted on social media, you know, something like that.

Theme number three to watch for is the karma of fathers. The sun tends to be about the Father. And Mars opposing the sun will often result in conflicts or challenges with fathers, for example, the themes I'm most used to seeing; unfortunately, some fathers or grandfathers pass away or die. There may be health crises that fathers face or challenges or confrontations within, you know, the relationship that you have with your Father can come up again more times than I can count. I'm going for, like, my, if I had to write a textbook of what you see when transits come up, like, you know, one a, one B, one C type of results. So karma around fathers can come up pretty intensely with this one. Now, sometimes that also means, you know, what does what has your Father or an influential leader, let's call it, passed on to you in the way of inspiration or support, or validating your efforts in life, somehow that can come up as well.

Number four, for five things to watch for would-be heroism, muscle, and determination. You know, I see. And then with my clients' stories with this one, it's the client stories translate into people become come excited to start something, whether that's a business, a diet, or a workout plan, there's this heroic burst of enthusiasm and determination. And, like, I'm getting on my horse; I'm going on a mission. And that's the mood that you feel around people when Mars starts opposing the sun, it's like, say, in a birth chart, but you could feel this through the symbolism of the planets passing through right now.

Heroism, muscle, and determination can literally translate into like martial arts or the gym or lifting weights, muscle cars, or Anything that tends to be very yang. But there's no reason that that can't be feminine in nature, as well, for example, you know, let's say, advocating for something for the rights of women or children, or the marginalized or oppressed, like something that's compassionate, but determined and sort of heroic at the same time, maybe the Yin gets worked in there. So I don't mean to make it sound like it's just dude stuff, you know, but the heroism, the muscle, and determination. Determination is very Mars sun. And then, and so my clients usually get this heightened sense of mission or purpose around it.

Then number five, in terms of the last one. Now, this one is a both metaphorical and literal heart or vision attacks or tests. So first of all, there's a very literal thing, which is these are the client's stories; I hear literal issues with the eyes or heart because the sun can represent both the eyes or the heart. And the Mars opposition can represent some kind of attack on the heart or eyes or brain or something like that, which is why you'll often see fathers having heart attacks under this transit. And I don't mean to scare anyone; it's just something that you sometimes see.

So sometimes there are literal health attacks; the sun generally will represent vitality and light and health, Mars opposing can represent a challenge or attack on vitality, light, and health. Light through which we see, light through which, you know, that the heart sort of representative of the source of life within us, you know, things like that. There's a nonliteral level of this, too, like issues with seeing something clearly or feeling like there's some conflicting information or something conflicting coming at you that's making it hard to know what you think or believe. And so you feel like you're being tested. Usually, there'll be some kind of conflicting information or people or situation that comes up and makes it hard to know what to do, or how to act or what you think or what is real, or what the best strategy is. So, uh, seeing something clearly or feeling something clearly. And having to work your way to that clear vision or feeling through some kind of conflict or challenge, or adversity.

A lot of people say that some of the best things in life that happened to us happen through adversity, or through challenge, or where great effort is needed. And so this is a transit that seems to also really make people glad and happy through exertion through having to exert yourself, whether that's mentally, psychologically, emotionally, just having to, you know, the challenge of having to work through something which can feel like you're being tested. And that's something that my clients often talk about with Mars opposite the sun in their natal charts is the feeling of being tested on something. The clarity arises through the conflict somehow.

So these are the things to watch for, in addition to, you know, potentially getting into some kind of squabble. I would just watch for conflict this week in general as this kind of full moon moment comes. Now for the Mars Retrograde and this kind of full moon moment, you want to look at the whole sign house of Gemini, and then if you want to be super advanced, look at the trine; there's a whole sign trine between the House of Libra and Gemini. So, for example, let me just I'll just give you an example.

So if you're like, if you're a Virgo rising, the ceding point, and you could just do it like, here's how I would do it, I would, I would do it like this. So I would put one for the seating point in the house of Libra. Right? And then I would go to for the full moon, which is the Gemini marker. And then what you're doing is you're saying, what's the connection in my chart between houses two and 10? For example, if you're a Virgo rising since last October to right now, and you might for some people like this approach, especially if you don't have a great memory, if you don't journal or sort of track your experiences, it may not work.

But for people who do looking at the connection between Libra around October 2021, all the way from August to about December now of 2022. And looking at how these two houses are connected thematically in your life, that's where you're going to start to understand some of those karmic dynamics at a deeper level. So you do the same thing to connect those two houses, you know, regardless of what your rising sign is. So if you are, you know, if you're a Libra rising, it's going to be house one and nine, and so on and so forth. So just adjust by whole sign according to your rising sign. We went over that, by the way, some of that in the horoscopes for the month of December. Alex and I looked at that full moon moment in the house of Gemini, so you can go back and get a little help from that video, which we did last Friday as well.

Okay, that is what I have for today. I hope that this was, as always, I hope it was useful and we will be back together again tomorrow. Don't forget we're trying to reach 1608 backers for the Kickstarter. You can find the link in the description of this video in the comment section below. We really appreciate your donation and support helps make sure that this channel keeps growing and is healthy and can reach some of our project goals in the year ahead as well. All right, thanks so much, everybody. Hope you guys have a great rest of your day. Bye.