The fast planet Mercury stations direct at 6°23’ Sagittarius on the same day as the Full Moon takes place in the sign of Gemini, December 15th, which itself will be at 23°52’ Gemini at 1:01am PST.
Mercury will be direct about 12 hours later on the same, after more than 3 weeks of being in the retrograde motion. This time of its stationing direct is a time of reflection and introspection. It is a time to look at our inner truth and see where we are on our journey and if we are living our truth?
Mercury as a planet represents communication, perception, thinking processes, the mind and our cognitive areas. It is our nervous system, connected to the brain primarily. However, in the case of Mercury in Sagittarius, it is more about our intuition and instinct. Have we trusted our intuition? What types of decisions have we made intuitively or even instinctually?
Mercury’s motions back and forth close to the Sun can make it more difficult to catch with our eyes as it tends to hug the eastern or western horizons, varying from year to year. This earns it its reputation of being similar in its nature to the archetype of Gemini along with the greater patterns and mental analytics of Virgo as well (in traditional astrology). Whenever it stations direct, it is seen in the early morning sky before sunrise.
This incarnation of Mercury at it’s station will place it will the head and pincers of the stars of the Scorpion constellation. It’ll be bright enough to see at +0.3 magnitude, but one will need to be outside of light pollution to pick up Mercury’s appearance due to its closeness to the Sun. Mercury will only be 18 degrees away from the Sun, rising about 80 minutes from the Sun crests the eastern horizon on the 15th.
Mercury will quickly get brighter and farther away from the Sun in the days following its station point direct. The planet gets 22 degrees from the Sun on December 25th with a greater brightness of -0.4, brighter than most of the stars in the sky.
Full Moon in Gemini
The Full Moon takes place in Gemini at 1am PST on the 15th as well. This Full Moon won’t be as bright as some of the Full Moons this year and takes more of an average brightness for a Full Moon. However, since we are near the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, it will be very high in the sky on the 14th and 15th of December.
This Full Moon at 23°52’ Gemini will be near the Galactic Extreme or Edge, which is essentially the middle of the Lakota Sacred Hoop of Stars. The Moon will be encircled by many brighter stars including Sirius below, Aldebaran to the right, Castor and Pollux to the left, Capella above and the stars of Orion, including Betelgeuse to the right.
This Full Moon is connectively powerful for humanity and is near the bright planet Jupiter, just to the right of the Moon. The Moon in this incarnation symbolizes our greater connections on a galactic level beyond the duality while also reflecting the duality of ourselves as well.
In combination with Mercury stationing direct, we can open up to the inner vistas of our conflicting feelings, the polarity of humanity and experience what our intuition is sharing with us. Where do we go from here? Can we move beyond a fixed pattern and engage with our curiosity? How we adapt to ever-changing circumstances and seek out our soul’s fulfillment in the chaos of today?