the full moon in gemini for writers

with writing prompt horoscopes

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We’ve officially entered those last weeks of the year where it becomes virtually impossible to do business as usual. Unless you’ve got a time-pegged pitch, odds are high that most pitches, meetings with your book’s publishing team, prospective agent calls, and certainly things going out on submission are officially going to be kicked over to the New Year. Out of Office Autoreplies are out in full force.

a live action shot of my writers’ group at any given time // meme by me

This energy is reflected in the lunar cycle, too. Today’s Full Moon, which arrived at 4* of Gemini at 4:16am Eastern, is very much about completing and releasing ideas we’ve collected, some that may have been planted into full blown trees, others which may still be on the back burner or forgotten in a corner collecting dust. There’s a distinct tenor of I do not want to let my toys go yet, of not wanting to relinquish control, of feeling that if only there was a little more time to tweak, perhaps, that would mean we get to keep all of them. I’ll get to that hobby/book/pitch next year!

(See also: The frustration of, why won’t everyone just answer their goddamn emails? Why can’t we all just talk about it? The perpetual air sign frustration.)

A little more astrological context on this: Right before reaching fullness, the moon — our bodies, our emotions — received a hard “no” from Saturn. A, this isn’t going to work the way you’d like it to. A, restructuring is, perhaps, necessary. And the moon, in opinionated Gemini, went from that conversation and immediately picked a fight with Mars (who is feeling philosophical in Sagittarius) about all the ways that Saturn’s boundaries and limitations (a person’s, society’s) are pissing her off. So Mars said, let’s work ourselves up in an all-night Discord (or Twitter/X) debate about it. 

Meanwhile, communicative Mercury (the ruler of our magpie Gemini moon) and boundary-less Neptune are also squaring off this morning (also in mutable signs). Our networks are scrambled, with miscommunications running amok. 

When a Full Moon is this frazzled, the solution isn’t to try to fix it. This is the kind of moment the Serenity Prayer was made for: grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. 

This Full Moon is bearing the fruit of what was planted around the New Moon in Gemini on June 18 of this year. That moon was itself besieged by the illusion of Neptune’s fogginess. The wisdom to know the difference, indeed.

This year’s Gemini lunations have not been a straightforward case of “plant this, reap this.” There has been a fogginess laid over the Gemini house of our charts, over what we truly desire in that area of life, and now, come harvest time with this full moon, the malefics Saturn and Mars are coming along to say, you may not want what you think you want, and we are quite possibly going to step in to keep you from self-sabotaging. 

Challenging lunations, to say the least.

But through the grueling process of trial and error, there is opportunity for us to ultimately allow the planets to us toward what we truly desire. 

And this is what it’s like to embrace the moon’s lunar cycle. She is not always gentle. But the slow witnessing of ourselves over time ultimately reveals the core of us and the truth of our practice. Our values are revealed, starkly, when we are willing to be worked over. 

Because the moon — I am guessing — does not care so much that the publishing industry essentially shuts down at the end of the year. But do we stay in relationship with ourselves, and with our creativity? 

That. That is the thing.

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Writing Prompts for the Full Moon in Gemini

• What stories about yourself and/or others have become clear over the last six months? How has this impacted you? Look to the Gemini house/part of life for more clarification (see below).

• If you began something around the Gemini New Moon, what was it? How do you feel about that project now? Have you continued with it, changed it, let it go? What has it taught you?

• How are you feeling about your writing in this moment, at the end of year? What kinds of feelings are coming up? Now, list what has happened in your life this year: health wise, home wise, relationship wise, family wise. What other things have been going on, in addition to the writing? How might those things have impacted your creative energy, or even the topics of your existing projects? What kind of grace or compassion might be available to you here, as we move into the end of the year? 

  • For reference, this is where the Full Moon is falling in your chart/the part of life it is bringing up for you, depending on your rising sign: 

    • Gemini rising: self-expression, identity, appearance, persona, your style of showing up in the world

    • Cancer rising: the subconscious & our personal connection with the unseen world; ancestral legacy; also, hospitalization and institutions

    • Leo rising: friendships; community commitments; professional networks; the internet; hopes and dreams

    • Virgo rising: career & legacy; professional and public roles; what you’re known for

    • Libra rising: teaching & learning within the wisdom pathways (philosophy, religion, spirituality, and astrology); beliefs; long-term plans and ideas; publishing; travel; astrology

    • Scorpio rising: collaborations with others; debts, taxes, inheritance, alimony, child support, and other such arrangements; grief and loss; mental health

    • Sagittarius rising: committed partnerships (whether romantic or business; also, agents, long-time editors, and co-writers)

    • Capricorn rising: daily work life, i.e. the labor you exchange for money; health & wellness; how work impacts the body; pets

    • Aquarius rising: your creative and erotic energy; important children in your life; the inner child

    • Pisces rising: home; relationships with parents, caregivers, and grandparents; roots and cultural heritage

    • Aries rising: your daily rituals and routines; communication; K-12 education; siblings and close friends; local neighborhoods

    • Taurus rising: your resources, e.g. budget and personal finances; how you spend and how you save

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And if the writing has been rough here at the end of year, and you’re wanting to make sure you start the new year on the right note, I’ve got an offering for you: one with a built-in writing routine and a built-in writing community.

Showing Up for the Work is a 12-week container that will run for the entirety of Q1, from early January to late March. Recent cohort members had this to say:

This container allowed me to finally prioritize writing in my life. I can't say enough about how helpful it was to have regularly scheduled time that was designated as "writing time". The community around the container kept me accountable, but felt gentle and welcoming, we were working through a process together. — Audrey Huggert

Such a great group! Fulfills what my old and now inaccessible mornings-writing-at-the-cafe practice used to. Showing Up is an excellently supportive space to battle writer-isolation life without forcing an expectation to socialize, as the point is to actually write. And we do it! — Pallas Augustine

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