When learning astrology many, many years ago, the universe gave me the gift of a Gemini sun roommate who took me grocery shopping with her. Needing coconut for her recipe, I accompanied her to the baking aisle where she found coconut – both chopped and shredded.

Which one would work best – chopped or shredded?

As she stood pondering, thinking, I realized it would be a while and I continued my own shopping. I wonder if today’s smart phone would have slowed down more or speeded up the thinking process. Gemini is the sign of the twins so providing two options created a back and forth internal conversation.

Gemini was the first sign I started to examine outside of my own – that’s when I can say I “became” an astrologer. It’s common in both spiritual and psychological exploration to start with self and branch out. If we don’t branch out, then we are not able to allow the same understanding and compassion to others we allow ourselves making both counter to their purpose.

During this same period, I had a Gemini sun classmate who used two notebooks – one for notes during class and one for re-noting and interpretation later. Amazing, that’s what astrologer Linda Goodman said about Gemini in Sun Signs – that they have two of everything.

And lastly, there was a Gemini friend who said when looking in the mirror in the morning she never knew who she would find there. Linda Goodman didn’t address this one; it took more maturity in astrology and life to understand this.

One doesn’t need a Gemini sun to experience these things. As a reminder, our horoscopes contain all of the signs – we are all the same! Gemini is the place where we might experience these things, where Gemini falls in the horoscope.

Signs with Duality

There are three signs that have an inherent duality to them – Gemini, Libra and Pisces. Gemini is the twins, who can be different or the same genders. It’s easy, then for Gemini to feel like two people and to be looking for “the other half” or believe the gender they were born into isn’t the gender with which they identify. Gemini is ruled by Mercury which provides its legendary intelligence and mental agility. So for Gemini to “be” one person is difficult and so to the more focused signs of the zodiac (like earth signs or fixed signs) can appear inconsistent.

Libra (the scales) is ruled by Venus and seeks pleasure. Venus gives charm for Libra’s goal of partnership and romantic connection. Libra may not feel like two selves as it more than Gemini is seeking partnership to form identity. Libra can get lost in relationship and not know its true self. As the scales, Libra is also very interested in fairness and justice and may find a home in law.

Lastly is Pisces, the two fish swimming in opposite directions. Traditionally Pisces was the sign of undoing because of these two directions – the fish are swimming in circles which can create a whirling eddy which we sink into. Pisces is the most emotional and empathetic of the zodiac signs which is both a blessing and curse. We all want to be empathetic but truly feeling what others feel can be overwhelming when you consider the volume and range of human emotion. In fact, social media provides this overload and increasingly folks are understanding then need to limit usage. At best Pisces is the mystic; at worst, the scapegoat. During the Age of Pisces we had religious leaders who were both.

Mars in the signs

Mars the planet is commonly associated with maleness – Men are from Mars, Women from Venus. As an aside, had the author met my Aries sun/Leo moon mother, it would have torn apart his entire premise. But there are some seeds of wisdom in it.

The important thing about Mars is that it’s focused in one direction. Not two, not three but one direction. Mars needs a goal, an aim. Consequently, Mars is associated with war and sports where there is a clear winner and clear loser.

So Mars loves to be in Aries, the sign in rules, because Aries does just that – goes on a mission. It can be a soldier in war or a woman with a coupon – same thing. When Mars is placed in signs that want to go in more than one direction, it can cause confusion.

In Gemini, Mars provides contradictory behavior; in Libra, fickleness in relationship; in Pisces, emotional confusion through multiple feelings from one input.

Transiting Mars entered Gemini on August 20, 2022 and will be in Gemini until January 12, 2023. While Mars has a two-year cycle around the sun and usually is in a sign for only two months, it will be in Gemini for seven months because it will go “retrograde” which is the apparent backward motion of a planet due to our distance from it. Often a planet in retrograde will pop into the previous sign, but not in this case.

Mars in Gemini will go back and forth in Gemini like a brush on a washboard. The many aspects of Gemini will be evident which, ultimately, are lessons about how our own minds function.

Gemini and the mind

Gemini is ruled by Mercury. In traditional astrology, this means that Mercury rules the mental processes. Do we think fast like Gemini or slow like Taurus? Do we see all the possibilities of a situation as Gemini does or just one like Aries and Capricorn? Are we focused on left or right brain like Aquarius or Cancer, or are we both like Gemini?

The personality itself is in “the mind.” We are not our personalities which nulls and voids astrology. Astrology represents the range of human thought and how we share the same elements in different proportions. Trying to change others’ thoughts is truly pointless, as we are learning in these turbulent times.

What are we changing but an image of ourselves? No matter what our beliefs, we all get up and eat breakfast.

The inconsistencies we see in Mercury and Gemini are the inconsistencies of the mind. Gemini Ralph Waldo Emerson called consistency the “hobgoblin of little minds.” Geminis remind us that our “consistency” is often just a story we tell ourselves. Let’s explore some of what Gemini reveals in this way.

Gossip and the narrative

Gemini represents the journalist getting the “facts” in situations whereas Gemini’s opposite Sagittarius is looking for the “meaning” behind facts and events.

As such, Gemini is traditionally viewed as the “lower” mind with a love of gossip. Shallow, right?

The gossip we malign is the gossip that has nothing to do with us, where we enjoy others’ suffering for mere entertainment value (i.e., Dateline – I plead guilty). Yet gossip is actually informal communication. Formal and official communication is what we today call the “narrative.”

Politics gives us the best view into the disparities between what people say they are and what they truly do (called hypocrisy). My ultimate favorite of this is from the early 2000’s, a lifetime ago it seems now. Moral crusader (and Leo sun) William Bennett, author of The Moral Compass, was discovered to be a high-stakes gambler.

Gemini – journalism – reveals the hypocrisy. Is this shallow?

Gemini is simply pulling off the mask of its own and others’ experiences. Our masks – our personalities – are precious to us, especially for politicians who are selling the mask.

We laugh at Bennett while others laugh at us, behind our backs of course. They gossip about our own inconsistencies as we laugh at the news.

…

O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us

To see oursels as others see us!

It wad frae monie a blunder free us

An’ foolish notion:

What airs in dress an’ gait wad lea’e us,

And ev’n Devotion!

Robert Burns, To a Louse (last stanza)

Con artistry

Gemini was traditionally considered the con artist of the zodiac due to its mental agility and mutable (changeable) nature. Con artists are bad, right?

Check out social media – friends and foes alike – and you’ll find lots of con artistry. Con artistry is about appearances, looking the part. For a magician, it’s about capturing attention in a certain way while moving the body and hands in another way – I think. I don’t know how the magician at the Ohio State Fair performed his tricks but at this age don’t care – I’d rather enjoy the illusion and the fun. A younger self would have wanted to know “how?”

Gemini understands in its dual nature how easy it can be to fool another. While we all like think ourselves above being taken by a swindle, we all have things we want to believe. All it takes for a person with agile mind is to see what that is.

Love swindles are common because that is a common desire – wanting to be loved. In my own exploration of cults I’m quite surprised by how much people will do for another who simply says, “I love you.” Wanting to be loved isn’t a weakness, but to respond to the image of being loved is all too common.

“There are two sides to every lie,” is the tag line of the documentary The Imposter. Lies from others are only effective when we lie to ourselves, when we believe the person asking us to murder loves us.

Connection and disconnection

In the religious and spiritual communities, there’s one huge Gemini duality I see often – the desire to be “above it all” while at the same time “connected to it all.”

The world tosses us both pleasant and unpleasant experiences. For most, there’s a desire to have only pleasant experiences. A small portion, I believe, prefers only unpleasant experiences due to a sense of unworthiness or retribution.

Gemini and the third house of the horoscope that it rules is described by Barbara Hand Clow as “integrating in 3D.” Integration of the Gemini twins – in whatever way we experience this. While at a meditation retreat a couple several years ago now I saw one of my own dualities – the retreat versus “real life.” It was the first time I experienced a retreat where I didn’t feel great disappointment about going back to “real life.”

If we are merely biding time for a better post-3D existence (or a retreat or DisneyWorld), how does that affect our relationships? If we are seeking connection but don’t really want to be here, why would others want to connect with us?

Using spirituality to avoid the unpleasant aspects of life I’ve heard recently referenced as “spiritual bypassing.”  It’s a common first experience in spirituality which is often why the injured or elderly turn toward spirituality.

One thing or two things?

In The Fire From Within by Carlos Castaneda, his mentor describes ancient Toltec discoveries. Amongst five sets of categories (earth/dark regions; fire/water; above/below; loud/silent; moving/stationary), two were discovered to have dual qualities. Fire is both heat and flame; water is both wetness and fluidity. The flame and fluidity are ways to move consciousness. Fire and water are both live-giving and spirit-enhancing.

No wonder both are sacred in indigenous cultures.

Even “one” thing is two things, or more things. Gemini knows this, sees this. So for the person of great fixed energy (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius) or great earth energy (Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn), the Gemini is difficult to pin down.

Shredded or chopped? Pick one. Let’s go!

But if one object is many things, then what is reality? Gemini in understanding this may manipulate or get lost in it. It can be difficult for the Gemini to come out of what we now call the “multiverse” into the universe (one verse).

Be Like Boy George

In summary, Mars in Gemini will bring us focus on the unfocused world of the mind and Gemini. So we ought to channel our energies into a very lovely Gemini experience – what is called “fun.”

For me, the highest quality of Gemini is having fun with 3D existence. It’s quite common to see our Gemini friends dressed in unusual but fun and stimulating attire. Since 3D is image, why not have fun with it?

A clerical collar is as much an image as a punk Mohawk haircut. Serious, angry, frivolous – all images.

When one chooses the clerical collar, it is for “forever.” Saves on laundry, I suppose. But do our thoughts and feelings stay the same “forever?”

Gemini Boy George is one of the harbingers of the Age of Aquarius and “gender bending” as it was called back then (in today’s more technical parlance “non binary”). His name contains “boy” which suggests immaturity but also fun (Mercury is the eternal youth). But he’s also interested in wearing clothes traditionally assigned to either gender.

What is he? Who is he?

Forty years later, we understand Boy George. He was born “one” gender but is truly a multi-faceted awareness. Gender, bah! Gemini is fast; we caught up.

As he writes on the CD notes for at Worst . . . the best of Boy George and Culture Club (best and worst!):

“People ask if I look back in shame at my Culture Club costumes. ‘Nish dear, they weren’t costumes, I’m absolutely proud.'”

Let’s wear our costumes with pride and fun during Mars in Gemini.