There’s a full moon rising in the sign of the twins.
Bringing the light and the levity after the “long night of the soul” energy of Scorpio season, the full Beaver Moon in Gemini will reach its pinnacle at 4:16 a.m. EST on Monday, Nov. 27.
Take heart if you can’t rise before dawn to see it shine — the moon will appear very close to full on Sunday, Nov. 26 just after sunset, so brave the cold, cock your head in awe and open your mouth to offer and receive.
Full moons represent the end of a lunar cycle. As they rise, they bring to the surface issues, emotions, intestinal parasites, menses, and other stickiness that demand to be dealt with.
Full moons are about fruition and closure, reaping and reflection — the very shape of the shine is a metaphor for how we culminate.
Full moons are not about subtlety. They tend to intensify emotions and illuminate what can no longer be ignored or endured.
The sign that the full moon falls in lends its specific energy to the lunar cycle. In this case, we have words as medicine, knowledge as power, and conversation as currency beating in the trickster heart and spinning upon the quicksilver tongue of Gemini.
As Gemini is ruled by Mercury, planet of the mind and the mouth, the overarching theme of this full moon is communication — let it out, write it down, sing it true.
The moon in Gemini will be squaring Saturn in Pisces and opposing Mars in Sagittarius, indicating differences of opinions and maybe some sharp words over the last greasy pile of Thanksgiving leftovers.
Saturn is the planet of boundaries, and the moon represents our emotional interiority, suggesting the need to let people know where are lines lie and also to process rather than restrict, repress or intellectualize our feelings.
Mars means war, and in the context of this Gemini moon opposition, tempers may flare and differences of opinion may seem insurmountable.
Remember that we don’t have to galvanize in order to be heard. Gemini energy is about curiosity, not conversion. Ask questions — and keep your feet off the soap box and your hands off the Schnapps.
Full moons point to zodiac polarities, as the sign the full moon falls in is always in opposition to the sign the sun is shining through.
On Monday, we have the sun in arrows-to-the-wind Sagittarius facing off against the moon in collect-and-disseminate Gemini. This is the axis of words and wisdom, curiosity and philosophy, talking s—t and making moves, where revolutionary rhetoric can become revolutionary action.
Trust me when I say there is no zodiac polarity more inclined to a good time than Gemini/Sagittarius.
It’s text threads and tap shoes and a ready willingness to see something old anew and an ever-present desire to have the mind blown.
Speaking of the mind, we can think of the Gemini/Sagittarius axis as the two hemispheres of the brain.
The left hemisphere (Gemini) is analytical, focused on messaging and exchange and the collection of information from wide and wild sources. In essence, Gemini wants to know.
The right hemisphere (Sagittarius) creates meaning from the messaging and seeks to integrate knowledge into wisdom that can be shared. In essence, Sagittarius wants to do.
At worst, Gemini is scattered, caught up in the current of the innocuous, obsessed with knowing everything at the expense of understanding nothing. In contrast, Sagittarius can be blunt, rigid and obtusely optimistic.
At best, Gemini teaches Sagittarius to have an open mind rooted in the rational, while Sagittarius teaches Gemini the beauty of learning and failing through initiative.
Together, these two collect and integrate, question and discern, suggest and embody. Information becomes experience, raw data becomes theory, and both become the scaffolding for universally applicable wisdom.
As Sag sun/Gemini moon native Janelle Monáe imparts, “I have not lost any of my crazy, fearless, raw, soulful, eclectic side, and I plan on continuing to tell universal stories in an unforgettable way.”
This polarity is also embodied by sun in Sag, moon in Gemini folk like Tina Turner, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Jeff Bridges and Billy Idol.
Sounds like a banger lineup for a dinner party or a well-rounded orgy to me, folks.
Nihilistic Gemini whispers, “There is no point,” but, in fact, the main takeaway from this full moon is to accept that we will never know it all (Gemini) and that knowing more does not free us from fear or from failure.
If we trust the divine mechanizations of the universe at large, we are only ever privy to half the show.
Our challenge lies in trusting that what lies ahead is only and ever an improvement upon where we stand.
It is important to know that this axis is that of effervescent resilience.
Both Gemini and Sagittarius let the good times roll and the bad s–t roll right off their backs — Gemini because they move at a cognitive speed that outpaces regret and Sagittarius because they are unshakably certain that the best is yet to come.
In that vein (or arrow), I know a brilliant writer (and Sag moon) on the edge of 80 and mired with health problems who assures me, “Every year gets better, every. single. year.”
Believing is becoming and in saying so, so it is.
As per “The Old Farmer’s Almanac,” the last full moon before the winter solstice is known as the Beaver or Frost Moon, an homage to the chill in the air and the industrious buck-toothed mammals that seek shelter in their lodges as they prepare for the barren months to come.
In the circle of life and the pursuit of warmth, this full moon also correlates to the time of the year trappers set their sights on beavers and their promissory pelts.
Beavers are one of the few animals that modify their environments and whose existence improves the habitat itself.
Their actions create wetlands, mitigate flooding, improve water quality, and encourage biodiversity. The beaver is an apt symbol for the Gemini/Sagittarius axis, and for this full moon, their adaptable and highly communicative slapping tails (if you need a hit of joy watch this video) are built to build for the betterment of all.
With teeth that never cease to grow and a transparent third eyelid that allows them to see underwater, we can read these creatures as totemic of knowledge without end and the inborn gift of second sight.
The next full moon is also the last of 2023. The Cold Moon in Cancer rises just after yule, at 7:33 p.m. EST on Dec. 26, 2023.
See you for the bright light in the darkest night.
Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports back on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture and personal experience. She is also an accomplished writer who has profiled a variety of artists and performers, as well as extensively chronicled her experiences while traveling. Among the many intriguing topics she has tackled are cemetery etiquette, her love for dive bars, Cuban Airbnbs, a “girls guide” to strip clubs and the “weirdest” foods available abroad.