Is it any wonder, then, that she could parley with the likes of John F. Kennedy both before and through his entire Presidency? That Robert, his brother, was also said to be in love with her? That she married the great playwright, Arthur Miller? These were all highly intelligent men!
She also embodied the more shadowy sides of Gemini in that her unconscious emotional body, which contained all the ghosts of her gene pool and troubled childhood, she kept repressed through alcohol and barbiturates. The gall in her gall bladder, the miscarriages that broke her heart, the blocked grief in her fallopian tubes were all physically addressed through medical procedures, but not therapeutically, not emotionally. The sheer primal terror of this airy woman never had a suitable container to allow her to heal and become whole in spite of paying an analyst thousands of dollars for daily sessions.
The historical myth of Gemini is the story of Castor and Pollux. They were the twins of Zeus hatched from one egg laid by Leda. Guess her disguise as a swan didn’t prevent Zeus from having his way! The twins in the myth describe the two sides of Gemini, the divine and the human.
Marilyn embodied the shadow of ‘the divine child’ who exteriorized the beautiful butterfly twin while the more human-twin side of her nature succumbed through naiveté to the darker cynicism of those who perpetually exploited her for their own gains.
It would seem, however, that Johnny has been able to integrate more fully the two sides of the twins, Castor and Pollux. One is ever the eternal child while the other is more introverted, dark and brooding.
To say that Mr. Depp loves variety and versatility is an understatement. The dualism of the sign lives itself out in his being full tilt. His dual career includes music which involves his ownership of the ‘Viper Room’ lounge in Los Angeles, and he socializes with a diverse group of musicians, writers, and intelligentsia from around the globe, never staying in one place too long. Perhaps he is really embodying the other archetype for Gemini, Mercurius, the alchemist. Hermes, after all, was the only god who could traverse into the underworld and return unscathed.
But let’s look at a couple of other gifted Gemini’s who embody this symbol in an even deeper and richer way. After all, we celebrate actors and actresses, but there are others who are truly being and doing what is played out on the stage or silver screen without the risks it takes to live the authentic life.
Women born under Gemini require a great deal of freedom to develop their own ideas and connect with a wider range of people beyond their own immediate family. Many ‘Women of Letters’ are born under this sign, such as the great author and professor, Joyce Carol Oates. The mature Gemini woman, like Aung San, is a wise woman of the world, an open-minded, imaginative, and social woman who can hold her own in almost any situation. Like the butterfly, their strength lies in their beauty and delicacy of expression, like the fabric silk. Nothing is more refined than silk!
The planet Mercury in Mr. Moyers’ chart is in the sign of Cancer relating beautifully to both Venus and Neptune. His sense of solid values and compassion imbue his mind with sensitivity and empathy for others. Thank goodness! This makes of him a journalist who cares deeply for all of us humans, not just a chosen few. This was chronicled in his book, Listening to America: A Traveler Rediscovers His Country. He’s a Gemini well worth listening to, watching, and reading!
For those of you now wondering about either yourself, as a Sun sign, Moon, Venus, Mars, Mercury, or Ascendant in Gemini, or those of you who are in relationship with Gemini-type people, let’s look at asummarization of their salient features. Gemini’s are of the Air family, and thus require flights of freedom both mentally and physically. They are Mercurial, and you can’t pin them down for too long or they either become bored or fearful of being contained. They like to communicate through words and often will intellectualize what they are feeling, because typically they are terrified of emotional demands feeling suffocated and fearful of anything that would pull them into the mire of dangerous feelings. They like to retain their social graces and truly enjoy flitting, like the butterfly, from flower to flower of endless delights. Curiosity guides them from person to person, idea to idea, place to place. They are often witty and charming flirts, but rarely are possessive or intensely demanding. Lightness of being and inquisitiveness keep them wandering. Yet as one fine astrologer, Terry Lamb, states in her wonderful book Born to be Together, They seek knowledge of everything because they want to feel whole, connected, and complete.”
As sexual partners they are ‘light weights’ compared to Scorpios. Playful and artful, preferring verbal eroticism and the excitement of something new may keep them engaged, for they enjoy diversity. They do want their partners to either mirror or stimulate them, so open communication may give them the contact that they crave but don’t count on steady passion unless they have a healthy dose of some of the other elements (fire, earth, water) in their personal make-up.
As to other types of relationships besides partnerships, lovers, and marriage, they make wonderful friends and social companions if you enjoy lively discussions and going to all sorts of interesting events and places. Gemini parents truly do engage themselves with their children’s education and learning process. In fact, I have found a marked degree of couples, cited later, who have many children. They understand a child’s sense of wonder and curiosity and will encourage their thirst for knowledge. Remember that TV sitcom/series ‘The Brady Bunch’? Remember all the father-to-son and mother-to-daughter talks that went on in every episode? Must have been Gemini’s! They are the friendly sort of advisors that make even a teen-agers life easier, because they prefer to be tolerant and are always willing to answer those sticky sexual questions without batting an eye.
Now to the final section of looking at Gemini with each of the other signs, including Gemini.
Gemini with Air
All the air signs are symbolized without animals signifying a more ’civilized’ quality. They are concerned with rules for living together, codes of ethics, and all the human skills of learning, writing, speaking, and now technology. Did you know that we are still unraveling the cycle of Neptune/Pluto in Gemini that introduced us into the Industrial Age back at the end of the 19th Century in 1892? Gemini, the first of the air signs, depicts our era of rapid discoveries, rapid transportation, rapid communication, and ‘speed’ on all the negative levels as well. Gemini with other air signs gets caught up in the mental realm, the social realm of discourse and exchange, and the abstract realm.
We have as examples two totally different combinations. The first, eluded to earlier, is the affair of President John F. Kennedy with Marilyn Monroe. So little is truly known about what actually took place between those two, but they obviously kept each other interested for over 1,000 days! Her breathless ‘Happy Birthday’ song performed in the skin tight dress to the Camelot King was for the entire world to see that something was going on. Marilyn’s Moon in Aquarius conjoined JFK’s Uranus and trined his Venus in Gemini which with his Sun in Gemini conjoined her Sun/Mercury. Venus in a man’s chart represents his anima-ideal woman. She was decidedly not what his Moon in Virgo needed, however. His public consort wife, Jacqueline, took on that perfected role creating as close as America has come to a ‘royal couple’.
Dear Marilyn wanted to fulfill motherhood with this more family-oriented man, Arthur Miller. In the end his Venus/Mercury in Scorpio couldn’t deal with her shadow side of murky dark emotional waters. Unlike Mr. Bush, he had a Venus trine Pluto and tried his best to support her and understand her. Their Moons matched each other as Soul Mates, within three degrees of each other in Aquarius. The airy intellectual realm opened wide for her under his tutelage and he tried his best to heal her Mars/Uranus in Pisces violations with his healing and supportive Chiron/Jupiter in Pisces. Mr. Miller was a true air/water type. Neither had much earth to stabilize this delicate union which truly was not of opposites as mainstream media led people to believe. Once she lost the ability to become a mother, she imploded and he didn’t know how to guide her through that dark tunnel of emotional despair.
If you are a Gemini/Libran couple, or in a family relationship with those two signs prominent, please let us know what it’s been like for you. Ideally there should be in this combination a growing awareness of relationship with both enjoying good communication and sociability. Both should be able to stimulate the other as together they grow through all the myriad forms of making connections and being in the know.
Strangely, my research only produced one famous example of this combination which ideally should be harmonious and stimulating for both. Both signs love the world of thoughts and migrate towards the fields of communications where ideas are disseminated to large numbers of people. Both are also known to be ‘free spirits’. It seemed for awhile that beautiful Heidi Klum, the Solar Twin of Marilyn Monroe (see my article ‘Gemini Solar Twins’) would prove a union made in heaven with Seal, whose Sun is at the final degree of Aquarius. They certainly touted their love openly with enormous displays of affection and zany outrageous costumes. They also created a lovely mixed-race family of children. But, alas, they are now un-binding the knot and multiple-Gemini Heidi is blowing in the wind once again.
I did find some cross currents with the Aquarius notes in the partners of Gemini’s Richard Wagner, the great German composer, and John-Paul Sartre, the French philosopher and scholar. Both men had Moon in Aquarius, meaning that they needed that in a woman. Wagner married Cosima whose Venus in Aquarius conjoined his Moon symbolizing mutual love and affection as well as companionship in all things conceptual and dealing with the public. Sartre’s Moon in Aquarius closely conjoined Simone DeBeauvoir’s Chiron/Venus in Aquarius designating the same connections only in the world of philosophy and literature. Simone was a feminist who was decidedly of the future. We might say that both women were ‘free spirits’ mirroring back to their Gemini males a spiritual connection.
Gemini with Earth
Air combined with Earth can get awfully dry if there isn’t some spark of fire or nourishment of water to sweeten the pot. Earth types love to BE in their bodies, and Gemini may take flight at the most inopportune moment leaving Earth too ‘high and dry’. Of course they might make great business partners as Gemini spins out endless possibilities and Earth goes to work to produce them concretely. Earth can certainly teach Gemini to manifest more fully the endless streams of ideas borne in their lofty minds while Gemini can bring that ‘lightness of being’ to the pedantic or heavier side of Earth types.
We’ve already explored this combination in my ‘Relating to Taurus’ article, but let’s look at it from the Gemini side this time around. Remember, Gemini follows Taurus, so the sprightly, dazzling side of Gemini can be a sure stimulant for Taurus provided things continue along some practical trajectory where Taurus is concerned. Prince Phillip, consort to Queen Elizabeth II, has obviously been able to adapt to her royal duties and traditions, perhaps by keeping himself stimulated through various interests that haven’t necessarily involved her, and since his Mars is also in Gemini, while her Mars is in Aquarius, the sexual side of life probably calmed down years and years ago. Keep in mind that both their Moons are in Leo. So he did NEED a royal wife!
Gemini with Virgo
These two square off with each other but are in that Mutable category which means they can adjust and/or adapt. Virgo may critique Gemini too much and Gemini may annoy Virgo with too much scattered energy, but both are Mercury ruled and therefore, Mercurial. Perhaps Virgo can edit and improve on Gemini’s written or spoken communications.
Gemini with Capricorn
This is certainly not considered the easiest of alliances for Capricorn is a traditionalist and a planner and Gemini wings it far too much without need for such strong attachments. Nevertheless, Capricorn can provide that earth anchor that Gemini needs to accomplish tangibly all their brilliant ideas and even schemes. Capricorn will perhaps adjust through sticking to ground rules of social traditions before ever calling it quits.
Gemini with Fire
Back to Yang energy which Gemini gets sparked by. Fire certainly brings out the verbosity of Gemini! There’s something about this combination that triggers the extrovert in Gemini to talk, talk, talk. Or write, explore, roam, and adventure.
Fire keeps Gemini from getting bored. Fire helps Gemini to feel alive! Of course Fire doesn’t exactly help Gemini to come down to earth unless they have a LOT of children, like Angelina and Brad.
The marriage of Aung San Suu Kyi and Michael Aris lasted from 1972 until 1999 when he tragically died of cancer. They loved each other deeply as confirmed by their joint connections in the sign of Cancer, but their love union was equally marred by her arrest and they saw each other only five times in ten years. She was also separated from her children during those long lonely years. In some ways her Gemini urge to follow her own path of freedom also contributed to this separation because she could have left Burma to be with her husband and children, but she feared that the military junta would refuse her re-entry if she did, and she never gave up this strong call to lead her people to greater freedom as shown by her Mercury (ruling planet)/North Node/Saturn (responsibility) in Cancer squaring her Neptune/Moon in Libra (her vision for equal rights for all). Michael, with his Sun and Venus in Aries, must have admired her willingness to fight for independence for her people. He had a very difficult Grand Cardinal Cross to bear, and he did it with love for her and her cause.
The main example I found was the ‘Camelot couple’ John Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy. She complemented him well publicly and must have been ‘the perfect wife’ shown by his Moon in Virgo. Her Moon in Scorpio undoubtedly suffered not just from his untimely and tragic death, but from the humiliation she must have experienced as the queen betrayed over and over again. She obviously, however, was drawn to power and later wealth for her own reasons. They brought two beautiful children into the world and Caroline is a worthy representative of the best of both of her parents today.
In general Gemini/Leo represents Intelligent Self-expression and ideally embodies an energizing brilliance through the blending of head and heart. Wasn’t that the Camelot dream?
Gemini with Sagittarius
These two are opposite but potentially complementary. Gemini eventually journeys to Sagittarius in its endless pursuit of knowledge. Sagittarius is more concerned with issues of right and wrong. Another shadow side of Gemini is a tendency to be amoral. Remember Mercury is not just the god of highways, but of thieves and liars. Gemini may appear tolerant in its search for even truth, but Sagittarius aspires to live that truth and thus is usually intolerant of what it perceives as wrong. While Gemini collects all sorts of data, Sagittarius strives to come to a salient conclusion, a theory or philosophy. We more or less live in this age of data gathering and endless fascination with collecting information which may or may not have any meaning. Witness our endless fascination with gossip magazines. Airport travel thrives on vendors peddling this drivel. Media moguls, whether in publishing or media (TV, radio, and films) keep pumping it out. There is no real meaning in any of it. Much of it is sheer lies. Yet Sagittarius hasn’t exactly served the collective in resolving our human dilemmas of right living and relationships. Religions often bind us in dogmas that lead us deeper into prejudice and bigotry.
The only real resolution to this duality is a progressive expansion of consciousness. In Gemini, empirical experience has its limits. As Marcia Moore once said, “One need not observe every fish in the ocean to grasp the concept of ‘fishness’. Quantum thinking is able to grasp that All is One so that Gemini can experience all sides of the equation while Sagittarius contemplates the ‘One’.
Gemini with Water
This final combination of Air with Water emphasizes both the shadow needing to be resolved and the potential of Gemini to get in touch with feelings through relationship, for the watery signs draw Gemini into wholeness like no other element, even though it’s often difficult going. Gemini wants the pure unconditional love of a child and is often willing to give it once they give their hearts. Water types are complex. They feel, but they can also be manipulative, a game that Gemini is out of its league in especially if they love their watery partners. Together, if they learn to gently communicate, they can eventually resolve the dilemma of water’s need to get more objective and Gemini’s need to explore their more secret hide-outs of strong emotions.
Gemini with Cancer
Cancer sits next on the zodiacal wheel and certainly leads Gemini to the next step of deepening relationship by taking all that mental/social need to connect and giving it a place, a home. Cancers feelings can water and nourish all those connective fibers in Gemini. If Gemini is child-like, Cancer can be maternal, though they must guard against suffocating the airy nature of this butterfly of the zodiac.
Gemini with Scorpio
This is said to be an incredibly difficult combination due to the opposite poles of air and water creating acuity. Scorpio is fixed, highly subjective and feeling-based, and simply finds evasiveness onerous, while Gemini is mutable, highly objective, and thinking-based, and simply can’t bear to be psychoanalyzed, largely because of the terror of finding out what’s down there in their emotional basement. It is said that both have a certain insatiable curiosity, though Scorpio will be the obsessive blood-hound, while Gemini prefers to fly above it all. There’s often irony waiting here!
Gemini with Pisces
I wish I could end with some up-lifting unions here. Perhaps you know of one, or are in one. If so, let us all know! Pisces and Gemini are mutable and together could create a union where artistry and spirituality are the unifying principles. But Gemini likes to talk, as a rule, and Pisces draws its strength from silence. One is social while the other is solitary. If they join forces to inquire into the hidden causes of our human predicament perhaps pearls of wisdom could emerge.
Perhaps real people not living the glamorous lives of the rich and the famous fair better as Gemini’s in love and partnering with Gemini’s. I certainly know a few worthy souls who merit greater badges of honor than many of the above mentioned ‘celebrities’. Let’s see, I know a few Gemini’s with Taurus who have created good and long-lasting unions, I know of Gemini’s with Leos and Sagittarians who are still in love, I know of a great union between a Gemini and an Aquarian where they both respect each other’s freedom, and I even know of a Gemini with a Virgo who love and support each other after a long marriage where adjustments to each other were necessary. So let’s conclude with the affirmation that Gemini seeks connection in a variety of ways and sometimes has to sample several before settling down with ‘the one and only’. Perhaps family creates for Gemini the glue that brings them into a loving relationship with their partner as they lead and guide the next future generation while retaining their childlike wonder and cheerfulness through it all. It is quite noticeable how many examples I found with multiple children!
As a footnote: this is one of the longest articles I have ever written. Could it be that Gemini captured me and I didn’t know how to stop? Certainly my article on Aries was short and sweet by contrast!
Genevieve A. Vierling C.A.P.
Astrologer
www.bluelightlady.com