Overview
2011 represents a tapas plate of a year, with triggers to a wide variety of your chart sectors ensuring that, for you, there’s never a dull moment. Your social life, group connections and community involvements are in focus and flux in 2011. Expansive Jupiter and unconventional Uranus trigger your friendship zone helping you reprioritise and revamp these areas of your life.
Spiritual, soulful Neptune dips into your career zone from April 5 to August 5, bringing you a taste of what’s to come professionally in 2012. You are on the cusp of a major transition regarding work cycles. This period offers insights as to how you can best combine career goals with your growing sense of compassion and desire to give back. If you experience any initial lack of clarity or vagueness about career direction through this time, that’s OK. Neptune’s way is to speak to you through dreams, intuition and feelings rather than logic and planning.
A dynamic eclipse in your sign on June 1 helps provide the catalyst for radical change, especially for Geminis born May 30 to June 3. The desire for expansion grows under this eclipse and all Geminis crave new realities. The only caution? Don’t push beyond what you can manage. Making choices then involves carefully weighing up the cost of expansion.
As with every sign, you’re particularly sensitive to the moods of your personal planetary patron. With Mercury spending three periods of approximately three weeks retrograde (moving backwards) each year, you get a few chances to hit the brakes and catch up with yourself and on life. In 2011, your retrograde review periods are March 29 to April 22, August 3 to 25 and November 24 to December 14.
Each retrograde period has its own area of focus. In March and April, take time to review social and group contacts. Communications with friends may require extra effort as crossed wires and misunderstandings are more likely than usual. Double-check details regarding social plans and major events.
In August, personal communication and self-expression are in focus. Study, learning and teaching rituals come under scrutiny as you open yourself to the possibility that there may be better options. At this time, details regarding project deadlines can be unclear, so double-check due dates and requirements, especially for anything related to study, teaching or siblings.
In November and December, it’s your primary relationships that need to be reworked. Crossed wires with loved ones or significant mentors/business partners could inspire you to question the higher purpose of your relationships. Patience and persistence with communication help ensure your ideas are heard and understood in intimate and close working relationships.
Friendships
This is one of your most active life areas in 2011. Promises of change, evolution and innovation from mid-2010 are fulfilled as Jupiter and Uranus move through your 11th house of social connections. From January 22 to June 5, Jupiter makes time with friends extra important. You’ll also crave a stronger sense of belonging within groups and community networks. Your awareness of the quality of life of those around you also develops now and, quite unexpectedly, you may find yourself wanting to make a contribution, time or money wise, to charity or community groups. Jupiter arouses your sense of generosity, helping you go the extra mile for friends and those in need in your community.
Uranus helps shake up a tired social life as he enters your friendship zone on March 13 for a seven-year stay. Uranus temporarily energised this space through mid-2010, so you have had a taste of the excitement and on-the-go energy he brings. As Uranus encourages authenticity, friendships you’ve outgrown will take a back seat. Instead, you’ll prefer to spend more time with people who support the person you are today.
Uranus is unpredictable and you may experience a higher than usual amount of the unexpected where friends and social groups are concerned. Your naturally flexible and adventurous attitude to meeting new people helps you take advantage of spontaneous social opportunities as they arise. Uranus’s chaotic but exhilarating affect can be felt most on these dates: January 1 and 2, 5 to 10, March 9 and 21 and April 4 and 23.
Spirituality
Inspiring Jupiter brings plenty of opportunities to develop your spiritual awareness and intuition through the second part of 2011. Jupiter enters your spirituality zone on June 5 and his 12-month visit helps expand your understanding of the esoteric. Whether you’re traditionally religious or generally spiritual, you’ll have many chances to create more regular rituals around your faith.
Your spirituality zone is also the place of rest and letting go and Jupiter’s visit here through the final part of this year helps you make peace with your past. A new perspective on old events helps you let go and let flow. Regular time out for retreat and rejuvenation is a must under Jupiter’s influence. Physical energy can be low as intuition and energetic awareness develop. Your spirituality zone has a very physical side to it, so time devoted to yoga, stretching or breathing exercises as well as treats such as massage, reflexology and voicework (singing, for example) help you shift energy blocks and create vitality.
Your craving for spiritual connection and the transformation that having faith can bring is especially highlighted through the periods of July 2 to 14 and October 24 to 31. These are your best periods all year in which to plan a secluded getaway or take time out from your everyday roles and responsibilities.
Creativity + children
Your commitment to your creative journey continues to deepen this year. Wise old Saturn has established a foundation in your creativity and children zone, bringing timely reminders of the importance of committing to playfulness. Some Geminis will experience a reality check around the practicalities of being creative — all of which are designed to help you develop a mature attitude and authentic discipline towards the work of your heart. This space in the chart is connected to joy and living with a wide-open heart; Saturn here shows you what happens when you ignore the call of your heart, as well as provides the strength you need to streamline your existence so your creative spirit is regularly unleashed.
With Saturn in your children zone you are called to be mature and patient when dealing with those younger than you. Your efforts in protecting and nurturing little beings may not immediately show rewards, so persist in the areas regarding children that are most meaningful for you.
Key dates in reality-checking your commitment to creativity and kids include March 28 to 31, April 18, September 30, October 14 and 17. Discipline leads to happiness on these dates, so be clear about boundaries and put the creative impulses within your spirit first.
Wealth
Confident Mars triggers both your money zones in 2011, giving you a confident edge when discussing and dealing with finances. Mars’ influence from December 8, 2010, to January 16, 2011, and August 4 to September 20, 2011, represents two periods where pushing for more pays off financially. You’ll have extra energy to devote towards on-the-job training or earning money then.
Mars gives you courage to discuss money with people you usually feel intimated by, helping you learn more about managing your cash. If you’re due for a payrise or promotion, these periods are ideal for bringing it up with management or your boss. Power struggles around money are likely as Mars and Pluto link August 11 and 12, so be prepared to stand your ground or defend your worth then. Juggling shared finances could be intense. Openly discuss who’s really paying for what as some adjustments may be required.
Power planet Pluto is well established in your shared money zone and 2011 belongs to an era in which you develop new awareness around pooled resources. Pluto highlights truth and power; when mixed with money this can give you great insights into your own — and others’ — true motivations, as well as help you better understand how to make the most of whatever assets and resources are available to you. This is especially so on the following dates, where Pluto is triggered in your shared money zone: January 18, February 10, May 21, November 22 and 23 and December 2 and 31.
Home + family
“All quiet on the home front!†shouts the cosmos as you contemplate your domestic life and family relationships for 2011. With no major planetary triggers, this is one area of life that will at times seem to take care of itself this year. Your need for order and routine at home doesn’t change, but with all the shifts and restructuring you’ve had under Saturn’s influence from 2007 to 2009, you’re now ready to enjoy the way things are for a while.
Venus energises your home and family sector from August 22 to September 16, helping to bring sweetness back into family relationships. This is also your most inspired time in which to redecorate or “make pretty†your living space in 2011. Sharing your family with your significant other, or spending more time at home, feels good now.
Mercury helps create new lines of communication amongst family members and flatmates from September 10 to 26. As Mercury is your personal family planet, this period represents a peak in energy where greater inner clarity leads to improved external experiences around family, at home and in terms of living arrangements.
Relationships
Love Goddess Venus makes two trips through your relationship zone in 2011. Under her influence you are primed for romance from January 8 to February 5 and November 3 to 27. Close relationships become more affectionate then, as you realise more deeply the value of partnership. Business and personal relationships improve as you take a “softly, sweetly†approach to dealing with others.
If you’re single, these periods are ideal for making extra effort with meeting new people and expressing your feelings honestly. If you’re in a relationship, make these periods times where you put your relationship first, in words and actions. Plan a couples-only getaway and focus on having fun together. Venus prefers pleasure rather than practicality so as much as possible, set worries about future security to the side under her influence. Art and music are all avenues through which your love life improves through these periods.
Your personal love planet, Jupiter, highlights social connections and shared spirituality this year. Until June 5, making the effort to blend relationships and friendships pays off. Organise group get-togethers where your significant other and your friends can get to know each other better. Or, if single, take your friends’ advice regarding relationships and dating. After June 5, developing shared beliefs as a couple helps improve relationships. As you prioritise your own spiritual practice in ways that work for you, you’ll open your being to meeting or connecting deeply with those in your inner circle.
Travel
Between January 16 and February 24, energy planet Mars triggers your travel zone for the first time in two years. Your adventurous side is aroused then, as you become increasingly restless with the status quo. The quest for truth and excitement helps propel you beyond familiar surroundings and into new territory, mentally and physically. This period is great for kick-starting new study or teaching programs as well as finally taking the necessary action to make an adventurous experience a reality.
Spiritual Neptune triggers your travel sector until April 5 and then again after August 5. Trips taken at the start or end of the year touch you deeply. Key dates for soulful travelling include February 18 and 21, March 5 to 9 and 27.
Venus in your travel zone from March 3 to 28 is the best time for blending romance and travel/study. Mercury’s influence from February 4 to 22 helps with organising, planning and managing the details of co-ordinating travel or study schedules.
Planetary cycles
The following section gives you specific information regarding this year’s planetary cycles and how they may affect you.
If you are born June 1 to 20, mature Saturn makes a supportive trine to your Sun. This aspect helps you work towards improved structure and foundations in your life. It also provides opportunities to mature and become self-reliant in healthy ways. New stability is possible in terms of creativity and relationships with children.
If you are born June 18 to 22, unconventional Uranus makes a challenging square to your Sun, similar to what some experienced in 2010. You’ll be asked to make a break for freedom and liberate your spirit from people and situations that limit you. Personal space becomes increasingly important as you seek to recreate your identity to better honour your true self (or selves, as the case may be with your twin spirits!). Alternative rather than traditional options appeal. Give yourself permission to follow your own path.
Also for those born June 18 to 22, soulful Neptune makes a supportive trine to your Sun, similar to 2010. This aspect nudges your consciousness, arousing your curiosity about all things spiritual and creative. Exploring your softer side is hard to ignore as music and the esoteric grab your interest. You may need to let go or surrender old parts of your personality/life to allow you to fully experience your imaginative and artistic qualities.
