Fits and starts. This day likely began with a serious focus of intention and ideas, even on a dead Moon in Gemini. An innovative connection between rebel Uranus and that Moon got you out of bed this morning, and a stabilizing connection between disciplined Saturn in the cooperative sign of Libra and the Sun in Gemini (mind, information, communication) quickly followed. And yet…
The dark side of the Moon, the time before the New Moon begins can feel restless, listless. Something new is coming — but what? From a courthouse in Queens, a lawyer friend just called to say she is waiting, waiting, waiting to find out if a judge will show up so she can begin a trial. What might you be waiting for?

At 5:03PM EDT the New Moon arrives at 11 degrees of Gemini, along with a solar eclipse, the first of three eclipses we’ll experience between now and July 1st. Eclipses act as “bottlenecks” of energy. Light flowing from the Sun or Moon is temporarily interrupted, focusing attention on the interrupted point and allowing something new and possible fragile to enter the picture and grow. And here I would be thinking of Michael the kindhearted policeman in Make Way for Ducklings, who stopped the flow of traffic on Beacon Street so Mr. and Mrs. Mallard and their brood of eight could safely make their way to the Boston Public Garden http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make_Way_for_Ducklings

Bottlenecks can buy you time. Think of that next time you’re stuck in traffic, even if you’re running late for an appointment. Since you can’t control the jam, you might as well do something productive with it. As I’ve been saying for years, “you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.” And, yes, it would be lovely to think that Oprah Winfrey read that quote on my facebook page when she said exactly the same thing to viewers on her final show last Wednesday.

In Gemini, the New Moon suggests a focus on ideas, mindsets, communication, information. An interruption in the normal traffic flow of ideas allows for the birth of some new way of thinking. With the New Moon in a supportive connection to Saturn in the cooperative sign of Libra, the suggestion is that the new ideas that will be most effective are those which consider what is fair and just for all concerned. Easy to apply in your own personal world, but in the bigger scheme of things, will our fearless leaders take this to heart in their thought processes? More on that in a minute.

The Sabian Symbol for this New Moon is “A topsy saucily asserting herself.” A topsy, as we learn from Blain Bovee’s marvelous book on Sabian Symbols, is a fictional character — a black slave child — in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Speaking truth to power, anyone? Any more French women want to step forward with stories of sexism and abuse? http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/22/dominique-strauss-kahn-arrest-dormant-anger-france-women Oh look, here’s a story that hit the New York Times 20 minutes ago: French Socialists May Expel Member Speaking Out on Strauss-Kahn http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/world/europe/02france.html

This New Moon cycle affords the opportunity to bring forth some pretty radical ideas. And not just about women, but any group or individual that no longer wishes to feel oppressed. Bovee notes of being on the lookout for “an awareness of experiences that defy one’s version of reality.” So we can expect that those whose do dare to speak their truth may be challenged by those who prefer to live in denial, with each party possibly accusing the other of being nuts.

The personal planets in the New Moon chart: Mercury, Venus and Mars are all in Taurus, suggesting a need to focus on preserving stability, especially of a material kind. What radical new ideas will you come up with for doing that? There may be more than a bit of magical thinking in need of a reality check (see previous paragraph), suggested by a challenge to Mercury (mind) from nebulous Neptune. This is one reason why I opened this forecast with the words, “fits and starts”. Patience and steady persistence this month, as you work the bugs out of your New Moon agenda, will come in handy.

Humming in the background of the New Moon chart is a pattern that was active — and gained much attention a year ago. Regular readers of this forecast will remember posts about the Big T-Square Party among the heavies: ruthless Pluto in Capricorn, sign of the Establishment challenged by Uranus, which turns order into chaos…which is turn opposing controlling Saturn…which is turn challenging Pluto. Imagine each planet at each point of a T-Square and you get the picture. It is a pattern that holds a lot of tension. The theme is the need for change and the resistance to change.

Saturn opposing Uranus is polarizing. It’s old guard vs. avant garde, and we’ve been experiencing this pattern off and on since November of 2008. That’s when we faced a choice between allegedly old guard John McCain and allegedly avant garde Barack Obama.  When Saturn moves out of this T-Square configuration this fall, leaving Uranus and Pluto to challenge each other seven times over the following three years,  it is possible that efforts to maintain necessary control will give way to necessary upheaval. Next summer could be very interesting.

For now, be bold in your New Moon meditation and wish list. Think different. Be persistent and patient in your actions to support your material goals. And if at first you don’t succeed, fry, fry a hen.