Keep the faith, Gemini.  2018 is one of those years when you will be so busy at work that you could feel that you’ve entirely lost track of any other reality, including your very purpose for being here! Heaven knows, you show up every single day, and the to-do list can be overwhelming. In fact, you’ll be so preoccupied with the daily slog of your job, endless paperwork or growing client list that it’s practically impossible to perceive the big picture. It will be hard to see if your efforts are making any difference in the world at large. You can’t even tell if your boss notices you! This is true even when you’re self-employed. Stick with it, Gemini. Your capacity for work is increasing, and you find yourself delving in to areas of the office you’ve never been before. There’s more intrigue here than you thought!

You see things that others don’t, and are able to sniff out the unsavory historical tidbits that others have carefully swept under the carpet. Don’t mention for now that the trail of crumbs leads directly to the upper echelons of your workplace. That will all make itself known when the time is right.

As a Gemini, your Ruling Planet is Mercury. He’s an impish little fellow who is known to go backwards (retrograde, in astro-parlance) three times a year for three weeks at a time. Each episode impacts a different area of your life for 1.5 months. With your love of data, what better bits of information to know than when Mercury will be retrograde in 2018 and how each one might affect you?

  • From March 22 – April 15 (Tax Day here in the States), Mercury retrograde will occur in your Solar Eleventh House of Friends. You have lots of those, so March and April are excellent times to initiate, plan and attend lunch dates, club outings and any type of friendly gathering. Action-oriented groups are best. Find a new exercise buddy, or a socially-driven organization to support.
  • The next episode of Mercury retrograde occurs from July 25 – August 18, and this time, relations with your siblings and neighbors are stimulated, as well as goings-on in your immediate local environment. Think family reunions and block barbeques. This is also an excellent time to release old daily habits and replace them with new and improved ones designed to fill you with energy and confidence.
  • The final period of Mercury Retrograde will be from November 16 – December 6, occurring for you in the Seventh House of Marriage, so clearly partnerships will be a primary consideration at the end of the year. You’re rethinking things in this department, and support is on the horizon in the form of Jupiter, the Santa Claus of our solar system.

On November 8 Jupiter, that Planet of Good Fortune, shifts into your Seventh House of Partners for the first time in twelve years. He’ll bring his protection and blessing to your one-to-one relationships until early December 2019. Your partner is strengthened, but you are not weakened. You should be ready, however, for your closest non-familial loved ones to get bigger right in front of your eyes. Perhaps they’re rewarded or given an acknowledgment, or get their fifteen minutes of fame. Let them have their spotlight. It doesn’t detract from you. After all, this is somewhat of a coming out for you, too, as Jupiter has been strengthening you “under the horizon” or in ways unseen for the past six years. Now everything’s out on the table. Your own eyes are opened through others or by others. Even something about your appearance may change.

Never one to sit still for long, you may feel particularly antsy this year. Action Planet Mars is spending many moons in your Solar Ninth House of Travel, and you’d like some, thank you very much. If only you could decide where to go, when to do it, and whom to go with! As you gather information and dither with decisions, time passes and options decrease. When you make your plans, do avoid the above-mentioned days when Mercury changes direction (it’s otherwise perfectly OK to travel with Mercury Retrograde!), and also several days surrounding both June 26 and August 27. These are not favorable travel dates for you. If you go with a buddy, avoid trips in May, August and September when arguments, dissention or other difficulties with friends are much more likely. These are also months with potential for legal action, spiritual quests and challenges with college or educational training.

But mostly, it’s work. Try to maintain your lightness of spirit whilst keeping your nose to the grindstone. Before you know it, the year will be over and the load will decrease. Looking back, you’ll be amazed by how hard you worked and how much you accomplished.
By Linea Van Horn