Dear Friend and Reader:
Thursday at 3:37 pm EDT, the Sun enters the mutable air sign Gemini. The mutable signs are distinguished by being the ones that precede an equinox or solstice, so we are one month away from a change of season: summer soon begins in the Northern Hemisphere and winter begins down under. However, the last time I checked Australia has fewer snow plows.
Gemini is one of the more distinct signs of the zodiac. Once I attended a birthday party for a whole bunch of them. It was an evening of easygoing conversation; everyone had something to say. There were no wallflowers, and true to the official rules of cocktail parties, the people and the conversations kept moving.
What exactly is it about this sign that makes it distinct? Let’s take a trek through the territory, beginning with the greatest pop astrologer of all time, the eminent Linda Goodman. In her 1968 book Sun Signs, she describes a friend famous for running a New York answering service (who was the subject of the 1956 play Bells are Ringing).
“Like most Gemini females, she has an extremely pretty, interesting face, with intelligence stamped on every feature, and her quick Mercury hands flutter in the air like lively birds. Using more charm and wit than the law allows, she cheerfully solves everyone’s problems in the twinkling of one of her clear, blue eyes.
“I’ve watched this woman find a babysitter and a pair of gerbils for a customer, make out the grocery list, write thirty two checks (one of her favorite occupations), phone a Broadway producer on a yacht in the Caribbean, send nine telegrams, fold the family laundry, figure the week’s working schedule for her operators, find her husband’s blue tie, write down the directions for the shop where he could pick up some tropical fish for their son, snap four Polaroid photos of the dog, (open and read her monthly bills, then absently file them in the waste basket), help a casting office locate an actress who speaks six languages, and give twelve clients a wake up call — all in the space of little over an hour without leaving her swivel chair. Go top that.”
Well, to be honest, some days, I actually do. That is Pisces Power!
My favorite topic in this general category is idioglossia, or the autonomous languages that twins sometimes develop. It is like a mutually shared, sophisticated baby talk which makes sense to them.
The Theme of Dualism: Opposites, Alternatives, Twins
Gemini is the first human sign, meaning the first sign of the zodiac (which is made mostly of critters) to depict a person. When it arrives — fully 60 days into the year, following behind a ram and a bull — we get not one person but two. This is not a coincidence but a commentary about human nature, or a little joke.
Twins fascinate nearly everyone. They show up in many forms as symbols, including in the tarot card The Lovers, which used to be called The Brothers, and which represents Gemini.
My favorite topic in this general category is idioglossia, or the autonomous languages that twins sometimes develop. It is like a mutually shared, sophisticated baby talk which makes sense to them. If nobody else can understand the language, that is called a cryptophasia (this fortunately does not seem to have a listing in the DSM). We might think of these things also as metaphors for how we communicate within ourselves, in our private or unfathomable inner languages.
This all works well with the concept of Gemini itself being about language, and the related 3rd house being about ideas, communication and siblings. The 3rd also represents one’s internal thought dynamics.
Gemini’s particular characters are the twins Castor and Pollux: one was mortal, one was (and presumably still is) immortal. This comments on the two perspectives that humanity takes on its existence, and might relate to the mortal personality and the immortal soul. They are part of a cycle of myths that shows up other places (for example, in the legendarium of J.R.R. Tolkien, the brothers Elrond, the immortal, and Elros, the mortal).
In her classic 1975 work Astrology: A Cosmic Science, Isabel Hickey writes, “Gemini is the most dual of all the signs and people born in this sign are split personalities, until they understand the function of the mind and learn to control it. For all of us, getting the mind under control is a very difficult task, but for Gemini it is a must.”
Those born under the sign Gemini Sun, Moon or rising need to carefully track who they are presenting themselves as at any given time. This is good advice for everyone, particularly in the digital age, where we each have multiple identities.
I know from querying her daughter that Hickey was a “voracious” reader of Alice A. Bailey, who had much to say about Gemini. Bailey in her 1951 book Esoteric Astrology, explains that the resolution of opposites and of dualism is the theme not just of Gemini but of astrology.
All the signs present their version of dualism (the horns of the ram or the bull in Aries and Taurus, for example, or the two fishes of Pisces). In Bailey’s philosophy, “the twelve become the six,” meaning that the six pairs of opposing signs each function as one entity. As Patric Walker once wrote, “scratch a Pisces and you’ll find a Virgo under their skin.”
Bailey says that Gemini is the “constellation of the resolution of duality in to a fluid synthesis,” adding. “Gemini is therefore one of the most important of the twelve signs and its influence lies behind every one of them — a fact but little realized as yet by astrologers.”
The Resolution of Opposites and the Unification of the Mind
People tend to be a bit mentally fragmented and can have many voices speaking within their awareness. This is less dangerous with careful self-observation, and getting a feeling for who these different entities are. Without self-knowledge, this can cause problems. Much of spiritual and psychological growth involves integrating one’s personality — which is the very work of Gemini.
Quoting an older source, Bailey says that Gemini is the “constellation of the resolution of duality in to a fluid synthesis,” adding. “Gemini is therefore one of the most important of the twelve signs and its influence lies behind every one of them — a fact but little realized as yet by astrologers.”
Here she states a little differently: “It should be remembered that — from the angle of the final development of the twelve zodiacal potencies — the twelve opposites must become the blended six, and this is brought about by the fusion in consciousness of the polar opposites.”
“Fluidity, recognition of duality, soul control! Those are the keynotes of this sign. And should be the keynotes of your life, for whether you are in this sign of life, it has at some time and many times conditioned your experience, and the results are marked in the life of the advanced disciple.”
She is advocating for all spiritual students to be students of Gemini as one of the core concepts of personal development.
A Little About Mercury and Venus
We all know that Mercury is the classical ruling planet of Gemini. That’s the planet that shuttles back and forth across the sky, going retrograde three times a year. Quoting an older work, Bailey says Mercury is “the divine intermediary” which “carries messages between the poles with speed and light.” By poles she means the polar opposites represented in this sign.
“The mutable cross (of which mercury is part) brings about those conditions which will produce great periods of change in the life of the planet, of a kingdom of nature or of a human being. Mercury plays a part in this.”
We know that many Geminis are mercurial, meaning of the nature of both the planet and the element. And in their distinct way, they are agents of change.
The “rays” are the manifestations of deity on Earth and in human consciousness. Each ray has many roles and many names. Gemini and Libra are part of the Third Ray, which is about active intelligence and adaptation.
Bailey offers a second ruler to Gemini, which is Venus. This takes intelligence to the depth of the emotions. It is about an intuitive kind of body knowledge that can be articulated. When someone seems unusually mentally gifted in a way you can feel, that is the effect of both Mercury and Venus.
Gemini shares a special relationship with the sign Libra, which is ruled by Venus. This introduces a topic I have never discussed directly in Planet Waves though which has got my attention now, and that is the Seven Rays.
The book Esoteric Astrology, which I quote often in my discussions of the signs, is volume three of a much larger work, A Treaties on the Seven Rays. So we have got a lot of it by osmosis over the years.
The “rays” are the manifestations of deity on Earth and in human consciousness. Each ray has many roles and many names. Gemini and Libra are part of the Third Ray, which is about active intelligence and adaptation. That is the perfect description of what these two signs have in common. They also have Venus in common: it’s the classical ruler of Libra and the esoteric ruler of Gemini.
Bailey in her book Esoteric Psychology describes the Third Ray as, “The force that will produce the shining living stone that fits into the temple’s plan with right exactitude.”
And quoting a much older work, she says it comes with a message: “Let the Keeper of the sparks breathe with the breath divine upon the points of fire and let him kindle to a blaze that which is hidden. That which is not seen and so illumine all the spheres whereon God works.”
The Issue of Projection
Finally, a practical matter. The issue that projection presents is one of the more serious problems we face on Earth, and it relates to Gemini. Projection is seeing in another person what you contain in your mind.
This works many ways. The philosopher and esoteric author Carl Jung suggested that what is projected is always shadow. That is often the case.
People often project sex and gender as well: for example, men who project their inner feminine on to women and vice versa. Projection is about not seeing that you contain your opposite. Here, we get a clue about the resolution of opposite signs being the real work of astrology.
A Course in Miracles takes the idea a step further, saying that all perception is the result of projection. We can only see what is within us. Borrowing from Anais Nin, “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
This of course presents certain spiritual challenges, as witnessing ugliness that we don’t identify with is part of life. At least it would serve us to question what part of whatever we might witness we are willing to own.
This includes beauty, and it also includes anything that might inspire guilt, anger or outrage. There is no easy answer to any of this, though it’s worth pausing whenever you have very strong feelings about someone or something. It’s enough to ask: what am I seeing here, and why am I seeing it?
It may be difficult to admit what you perceive, but the world exists as you perceive it because it’s you doing the perceiving. And, though it may take some practice and self-reflection to observe this, Gemini is the field of study where we may observe many things related to the other, the sisters, the brothers, the sibs generally, the lovers and the twins. It helps to remember it’s all going on inside of you.
Faithfully,
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Aries (March 20-April 19) — It will be risky to make decisions based on emotional impulse. The first step toward preventing that is knowing when you feel that surge of energy that bypasses your intelligence and drives your mind unconsciously. Notice surges of sensation and feeling that seem to come out of nowhere. Some internal movements may be so abrupt as to seem like they are assaulting you. It’s crucial that you experience these without allowing them to drive your choices, or how you treat others. It is not easy to release attachments to ‘the passions’, whether this be sex drive, jealousy, insecurity, anger, or any other impulse. Notice and observe these things rather than allowing them to push you around. It is true that this will require the full use of your spiritual and psychological training — that is what it was for. That’s why you went through the trouble of your studies, of therapy, of healing and of doing what you can to make peace with your family. Most of the emotional currents you will feel are artifacts of the past. They are the remnants of what is no longer valid or relevant today. If you act on these things, you are reacting to circumstances that no longer exist. Your task now is to find your way to the present.
Self-assertive, sometimes bold, Aries is always up for an adventure. A new adventure awaits — order your affordable reading by Eric Francis today.
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Taurus (April 19-May 20) — You have two distinct opinions about yourself. Often they compete with one another and this is not easy; most of the time, they feel equally valid. This can create a situation where you are at odds with yourself, even so far as being in competition with yourself. The result is you are delayed, and making choices can be painful because you have not established the basis for choosing. The consciousness of Taurus is often dominated by a kind of endless internal debate. This includes abstractions such as whether you’re a good person or not, whether to regret your past, and whether you should offer yourself to the world in the way you often feel motivated to. The central theme of your chart comes down to the question: what do you have to give? And one answer to that question is, the more you give, the more you have, and the more you have to give. This is counter to the logic of the world, where the more you give, the less you have. Yet you have the opportunity to allow a kind of higher law to impart itself in your consciousness. Over the next few weeks, you may be conducting a profound review of why your prior approaches did not work as well as you wanted. It is safe to ask the difficult questions, and not rush to answer them in a definitive way.
Calm, collected and attractive on the outside, raging like a tempest on the inside, Taurus is the blacksmith shop of the soul. Forge your path with this reading.
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Gemini (May 20-June 21) — We think of our planet as the dimension of struggle, sorrow and pain. Here, spiritual seekers are weary pilgrims searching for truth and refuge. This need not be. Some day we may live in a world that welcomes a new Humanity. It is written in an ancient book that when this happens, our planet will be distinguished by a quality and by an aura of calm potency; of fertile potential; and as a place where it is safe to express your creativity. What will it take to get there? That is the important question, because if we can identify that, we can begin to conduct ourselves in accordance with that Way or approach, and shorten the time and effort needed to cross the distance. Ultimately, this involves how we make decisions. Everything comes down to choosing. The deeper variable is the basis for doing so, and that basis will change how your options look, and to a large extent determine what you see as possible and how you see it. Here is an esoteric formula. There is a relationship between your intelligence and your adaptability. Your ability to access your full knowledge, brilliance, and potentially your streak of genius is about being flexible. Among many other things, learning is impossible without this quality.
Geminis ask a heck of a lot of questions, and much of what you are curious about is yourself. Find some answers in your affordable reading by Eric Francis.
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Cancer (June 21-July 22) — It is difficult to not be angry in this world, and at this world. At times it seems like a giant trap for emotional struggle and rage. Yet we know this is leading us nowhere as individuals and as a society. Here is the thing, well, two things, to remember for the next month. One is that you are a living example of whatever you embody. Your words matter far less than your actions, and this includes how you feel. So you must use all your knowledge, wisdom and power, and do what you can to feel good. Second is that you are entering a kind of blind spot, which is the Sun’s passage through Gemini, your 12th place (house, solar house, or whole-sign house). If you perceive this blind spot from the outside, you will be caught short of the information and the perspective that you need. If you perceive it from within yourself, you will have access to a universe of information, wisdom, and perspective. This will all proceed from the inside out. You will make a discovery about your inner world, which will cascade into your personal world, which will have relevance in a much wider field of influence. The Sun’s journey through Gemini for the next four weeks, combined with Mercury retrograde in that sign, signals the time to go inward, in preparation for moving outward in a whole new way.
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2020-21 Cancer Astrology Studio: I Feel, Therefore I Am
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — You will need to work with your very best public relations skills for the next few weeks. The good thing is, you have them. So this is a matter of keeping focus and remembering that there are no private thoughts on the internet. Invest your energy in doing something useful for the people around you. You will be in the perfect position to assist people with a wide diversity of problems they need to solve. If you find yourself being the local concierge, embrace the task warmly. This will place you in a position to create solutions that work for everyone — whomever is helping, the person being assisted, and you as the broker of assistance. If you’re in business in any form (nearly everyone is these days), you want to be the person with the magic Rolodex who always knows how to find the person that people need. But set a high standard: only connect people with those you trust and are willing to vouch for. In this and every other way, from now through late June is a time of making mysterious connections and the right friends, and of finding your way into social circles that will more than compensate for the various disasters of the past 14 months.
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2020-21 Leo Astrology Studio: Notes on Love and Courage
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — It’s a good thing your tendency is to work several career tracks at once, because it’s come in handy in our moment of economic upheaval. Adaptability is everything, though for that to work it will help if you give up some of your attachments, and dial back your need to control all of the specifics. Where you want to be involved is in important decisions, particularly where mission, purpose and money are concerned. Then, find one or two reliable people to whom you can delegate any task that cannot be done by you alone. You seem to be onto something big, or at least, something genuinely worth doing and developing. You will know which project or line of thought I’m talking about because it uses the full range of your abilities, even weird stuff you learned temping 25 years ago and stuff your uncle taught you about how to fix the furnace. Your assignment is to assemble all of your gifts, abilities and talents, especially your wits and your charm, and put them to one excellent purpose. Your ruling planet Mercury is about to go retrograde, so make sure you spend some hours each day tidying up the past. And while you’re doing that, look for your distinct opening and your opportunity.
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Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — We live in a big world, if you have an open mind. We live in a very small and confined world if you have a narrow mind, and do not seek to broaden your view. I suggest you stretch yourself and flirt with what is possible, or rather, with what you want, and imagine it’s possible. You seem to be bogged in a commitment that is not working for you, which means it’s not working that well for anyone. It can work a lot better, whatever it is, though it’s essential that you follow the inspirational and visionary aspect of things, rather than the duty and responsibility side. That is a bog; it’s about Neptune in your 6th house (which has been in place for a long time, but is taking some big transits now). You will get more done if you do what inspires you. Yet what is most beautifully highlighted in your chart is creating a vision for the future: sensing your mission, or noticing what you do that works for you and maybe even for others, and developing that. There’s that question people doing job interviews are supposed to ask, which always bristled me, but I’ll ask: where do you see yourself in five years?
Aleister Crowley said that the essence of the sign Libra is the drive for justice. Tap into your essence with this reading, and bring balance to your world.
2020-21 Libra Astrology Studio: Notes to Myself
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — To actually do anything and to feel good doing it requires passion. That means feeling, by which I mean the full range of human emotions: the emotions that make us human. Your ruling planet Mars is making its way through the sensitive and potent sign Cancer. The more ordinary interpretations of that combination say it calls forth a deeply personal set of responses to your environment. This includes much that cannot be spoken, or easily put into words. If we consider this through the filter of more spiritually-oriented astrology, there is something about individuating, as if you are emerging from the primal sea and asserting your individual will. This is conditioned by the collective quality of the sign Cancer, so your feelings are set within a context. Yet there is that moment where you break free and determine that you must do the thing you feel called to do, in the way you feel called to do it. This is truly a spiritual quest, and a kind of an initiation. With Mars, the question always needs to be: what do you do with your power? And, how consciously do you focus your intentions? Are you honest about the outcome you want? Try it — you’ll like it.
Scorpio is an odd hybrid, both a product — and an instigator — of evolution. Purchase your latest reading to delve deeper into the mystery of yourself.
2020-21 Scorpio Astrology Studio: The Scorpio File
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Jupiter is still freshly arrived in Pisces, one of the two signs that it rules: yours being the other. To my perception, Sagittarius and Pisces are two versions of the same story, set in different contexts, with a different vibration. Yet both address the fundamental matters of creation, and of the relationship between human consciousness and prime source, the cosmos or God (however you choose to consider it). What Pisces does for you is give you relief from your concepts and ideas, and immerses you in the liquid reality of what you so often consider. It happens that this pool is where your roots reach for sustenance. However, you tend to get preoccupied either in the affairs of the world or your resistance to attending to them, and you miss the deeper layer. Yet then there are the times when it comes flooding in. Now may be one of them. Though you may have the instinct that all that water will extinguish your fire, we are not talking about ordinary elements here. Follow Jupiter down to your depths. Ask yourself whether life emerged from the sea, or sought refuge there. Draw on the trace elements and feed your cosmic fire.
Sagittarius, yours is the sign of the quest, the far away and far-out. Purchase your reading today and continue your adventure with the stars as your guide.
2020-21 Sagittarius Astrology Studio: Live from the Galactic Center
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — For the next month, I want to propose an exercise of honest writing. This is not necessarily for anyone else to read, though times have changed, and now anything typed into a computing device of any kind is subject to being published and read. So you might want to stick to a notebook to enhance your sense of privacy and remind yourself that you are entitled to your own thoughts and your own views without being subject to anyone’s review. Now here is the assignment. Tell yourself a story: perhaps about something that is bothering you, or an event when you were younger: but something real. Then consider what you’ve written, and write it again the next day, or a couple of days later (but not longer) and tell yourself the story again, filling in details. Do that two or three more times, with the goal of being more honest and realer with yourself each time. If you enjoy, appreciate or otherwise see the value in doing this, keep going. What you want to write is what makes you squirm a little. What might feel a little dangerous and what you certainly would not want others to know. These things, you must know about yourself.
We depend upon Capricorn to hold things stable. But you’re not as boring as you like people to think you are. Unearth your inner revolutionary with this reading.
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Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — The astrology is perfect for you to wake up to a new feeling of self-respect and belonging on the planet. You will recognize this because it will have a calming effect on you. You will feel more settled into your skin and your psyche. This is unusual; it’s almost a missing experience, as you tend to be such a live wire. Yet Saturn is in all ways encouraging you to slow down, and to take seriously the process of change that has entered your life at this time. In the style of Saturn, progress is methodical, careful, sincere and thorough. That does not happen fast. Yet this week’s focus is Jupiter in Pisces, your 2nd place (house, solar house, whole sign house) of self-value and worthiness; which will be met Thursday by the Sun entering your fellow air sign Gemini. This is a gentle prod to relax a little and drop into the deeper reality of your being. You may have concerns related to the past and the future; you may feel driven to accomplish something. Yet you can afford to take an “all in good time” approach. What you need to accomplish is feeling good. That will lead to many other possibilities opening up, mainly because you will notice them due to the more suitable vibrational match.
You’re not after progress for its own sake; Aquarius is the discriminating embracer of innovation that works. Get your reading and be brilliant.
2021-22 Aquarius Astrology Studio: A Reading For Our Moment
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — The Sun entering your fellow mutable sign Gemini is designed to serve as a grounding influence. This is about taking care of yourself, your home and your family, even if that is mostly plants and/or critters. But mostly yourself. Take the time to organize and clean: you do like things tidy, despite the reputation of Pisces for being unkempt. This is a domestic exercise but it’s also a spiritual one, like tending the ashram. That is how to think of your home. You may not recognize it, though you are living in another reality than the one you’ve only recently inhabited (perhaps for a very long time). The change is your sense of your own presence in the world; your own being; and your ability to work with your environment in a new way. The Sun’s ingress into Gemini will enhance that, and do wonders for your sense of security and confidence. Spread out and take up some more space, particularly within yourself and your most immediate surroundings. Claim more of your time. And resolve, choice by choice, not to stress over what you cannot immediately control. This will help you make relevant decisions, and to feel the strength that choosing wisely offers to you.
The hidden realm is vitally important to Pisces: in a sense it is your home. Find your way back home, guided by your latest reading.
2021-22 Pisces Astrology Studio: Every Decision You Make
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