GEMINI GEMS

The Sun entered the Sign, Gemini, on May 20, 2014 at 3:59 am GMT. That's 10:59 pm Eastern and 7:59 pm Pacific. Precision there may not be such a big deal; Sun into Gemini, May 20, is just fine.
I'm not much of a Signologist, in other words I steer away from seeing 12 types of people, preferring the unique individuality expressed in the horoscope. That said there will be people who fit Gemini to a T (and not only those with the Sun Sign Gemini).

Characteristic of the Sign are its element, Air, and its modality, Mutable (changeable). Air is the element associated with communication. While there are many means of communicating, the most basic is speech in which sound waves travel on and through the air. The idea of mutability is, in the case of Gemini, a sort of dry fluidity (oh, oxymoron), a kind of randomness that allows for adaptability. Think of dust motes, downy feathers floating, cottonwoods spilling seed, the parachuting of dandelion fluff, and you have a notion of the Geminian linkage with the Air element.
 
Air is "collective," because it is that which brings every separate individual and body into the subtle communion of the breath.  Air links the lungs and blood of every breathing entity.  It is that which rises out of the Water toward the all-encompassing Space.  It is the emanation of all bodies, the perfume of all lives.  In and through it, all lives reach unity in the all-embracing seed that is the God-of-the-Mystery:  SPACE.                                                        
                                                       -- Dane Rudhyar, The Astrology of Personality 

A long time ago, in grammar school, we kids sometimes played with liquid mercury (bad, dangerous, poisonous, don't do it). It's a fascinating liquid. If you tap your finger on a blob of it, it "shatters" in a liquid way, and does something like that if you pour a bit onto the floor. We would take copper pennies and rub mercury on them and it would adhere to the surface of the penny. The trick was to then pass off the silver penny as a dime. I did make pennies into "dimes" but not to defraud.

Mercury (Hermes) was the son of Jupiter and Maia. He presided over commerce, wrestling, and other gymnastic exercises, even over thieving, and everything in short, which required skill and dexterity. He was the messenger of Jupiter, and wore a winged cap and winged shoes. He bore in his hand a rod entwined with two serpents, called the caduceus.

After rocking out all night with Mercury's invention, Apollo was dead tired.

Mercury is said to have invented the lyre. He found, one day, a tortoise, of which he took the shell, made holes in the opposite edges of it, and drew cords of linen through them, and the instrument was complete. The cords were nine, in honor of the nine Muses. Mercury gave the lyre to Apollo, and received from him in exchange the caduceus.                                                                                                                 --- Bullfinch's Mythology

What's with Mercury? Mercury is the planetary analogue or "ruler" of the Sign, Gemini. If you consider the behavior of the element Mercury, you can see how even the element is "mercurial". Mercury is the speediest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun in about three months. It makes a backward track against the measure of the Zodiac as it zips around the Earth side of the Sun, around every hundred days, so it can seem both speedy and a bit erratic. Mercury is the Roman version of the Greek name for the god of speed and communication, Hermes, messenger of the gods.

These are just a few things that come to mind about this Sign. It represents a scattered expression. When it is available in excess we see "all over the place" actions and thought (thought is also a Gemini/Mercury principle). Everyone is subject to it in some exaggerated way every time Mercury is retrograde. Then, Mercury is on its path around the Sun that brings it, and its intense "Air energy", into high focus and nearest Earth on its orbit.

The key to success with Gemini is discernment and focus. There's nothing wrong with gathering data every which-a-way, but then that data needs a quick sorting and choosing of where to concentrate attention.

Gemini, the twins.

"From the standpoint of the universal laws Gemini is the most important of the twelve signs for our earth.  Everyone on earth comes under the influence of Gemini.  It represents the dual forces; the opposition of the human and the divine in all of us."
                                                                                                           -- Isabel Hickey
 
From my tips for the Valentine article, The Sun is the Heart.

The Gemini heart is curious.  It wants to explore, not so much with some specific goal in mind but just to find out.  It's a mental kind of heart that fancies variety and experiment.  It is sensitive to nuance and subtlety.  Appeal to its love of variety with unpredictable gestures:  cards, books, comics, letters, MP3 player loaded with podcasts, books, clippings, magazines, books, e-mail, books, graphic novels, and URLs for the Gemini heart to explore, and books. Then again, make sure your Gemini likes to read. Even if not, information and entertainment of some sort that involves the mind can delight the restless curiosity of the Gemini heart.

While Gemini is definitely a "people" Sign, as are the other Air Signs, Libra and Aquarius, astrology is for everything under the Sun, not just people and personalities. The branches of astrology, Mundane, Political, Horary, Financial, Astro-meteorology, and so on, most all use the entire Zodiac, and Gemini.

Here's an example of Gemini in Political Astrology, from astrologer, publisher, and author, Mark Lerner of Welcome to Planet Earth.

"The nuclear axis in the zodiac [is] between 7-12 degrees (approximately) of Gemini-Sag. That's because at the first nuclear chain reaction -- starting the nuke age on Dec. 2, 1942 -- many planets and the Sun and Saturn polarized, were in this area of the zodiac. And the Neptune-Pluto unions of 1891-92, starting a 492-year cycle of history occurred at 8 Gemini. And Antares (9 57 46 sag) and Aldebaran (9 59 25), massive red giant stars in polarity in the heavens, are in our zodiac at 10 Sagittarius and 10 Gemini. Plus the USA natal Uranus (radiation; fallout; radioactivity) is located at 9 Gemini."

Here's a classic bit of Gemini in Astro-meteorology from C.C. Zain (Elbert Benjamine) that was originally copyrighted in the year of my birth, 1949.

"Gemini is a cold and drafty sign. Its influences in the Temperature Chart may be considered as favoring cold weather. However, it may also be considered to favor rapid changes and variable temperatures. ... But in addition to the cold, when it has influence, look for fluctuations in temperature.

"No other sign is as windy as Gemini . . . you may expect lively winds without surcease. And in weather charts that indicate storm, it shows that wind will be an accompaniment.

"Gemini is bone dry, even though cold. It does not favor rain, and even tends to blow fog and mist away. ..."

                                                                                                    -- Elbert Benjamine

In Medical Astrology there is this bit of mine:

Gemini is the Mercury-ruled Sign of communication, transportation, and of all kinds of effects affiliated with things controlled by the nervous system from digital dexterity to diseases arising from stress, worry, and overwork.  Gemini wants a piece of everything, not in the sense of acquiring but in the sense of inquiring.  The cat curiosity killed was a Gemini.
                                                                                                    -- TR, 5-15-04
Finally

With a good deal of mutability in my chart, I can be a Gemini (even though I have nothing in that Sign) and continue on with analects until Apollo's cows come home. Alas, I have other things to do today. By the way, astrology is not just something that I live with; it is something that I share. Send an email to STARTALKER@aol.com for information about consulting with me and to schedule a session for you.

Ah, Gemini, light and breezy, curious and talkative, full of ideas and a compulsion to share the thoughts and ideas that bubble up like a spring.
                                                                                                    -- TR 5-18 2003

By Aysem Aksoy of
Birth Chart Painting

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Copyright © Tim Rubald 2014

Tim Rubald, C.A. NCGR-PAA, C.A.P. ISAR
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