Jupiter Retrograde in Gemini: Rethink Your Choices

“Only in the dual realm do voices become eternal and mild.”

-- Rainer Marie Rilke

We can all be a bit scattered when the big planet is in Gemini, the sign of distraction and multi-tasking. Jupiter is prone to exaggerating the facts and blowing everything into a fabulous pie-in-the-sky or sky’s-the-limit optimism. Most sky references and metaphors can aptly be applied to Jupiter.

Now that the jovial planet is going retrograde, our philosophical inclinations (as scattered as they may be at the moment) take hold. Suddenly we may be wondering if we’ve taken on too many “little things” and realize that checking Facebook 10 times an hour may be interfering with our productivity. Distractions are fun and infinitely interesting but we may find that we’ve lost sight of all of our priorities.

Just look around and notice how many people are glued to their cellphones whilst ignoring the person sitting directly across from them in present time. Or those aimlessly wandering down the street about to get run over by oncoming traffic as they have lost all concept of time and space while trying to respond to a text message. The Gemini part of us can easily get sucked up into the minutiae and immediacy of technology as the messages and data constantly stream in.

Now is the time to look at where we choose to mentally apply ourselves and determine whether we’re making good choices or are simply frittering away our time with instant synaptic gratification. Other questions that might ensue: Where are we stuck in some kind of adolescent fantasy about the way life should be? The here-we-are-now-entertain-us teen spirit attitude is cute in certain settings but entirely inappropriate if not embarrassing when it reveals a total lack of emotional maturity and proper understanding of the big picture.

Now is the time to see where our own inner trickster/magician has been playing tricks with our minds and holding us hostage. The ability to embrace contradictions in life without jumping to extreme conclusions and dogma is the higher expression and potential of Jupiter in Gemini. Embracing the versatility of the duality of the sign instead of clinging to some kind of preachy black-and-white mentality is the gift of this transit. Jupiter Retrograde in Gemini can show us the way to mental flexibility if we allow ourselves to entertain a both-and philosophy to avoid the trap of hypocrisy or negative duality.