May 21 - June 21
Gemini is an Air Sign
Gemini is a Mutable Sign
Gemini is ruled by Mercury
May 21 - June 21
Gemini is an Air Sign
Gemini is a Mutable Sign
Gemini is ruled by Mercury
Gemini is the third astrological sign in the Zodiac, originating from the constellation of Gemini. It spans the 60-90th degree of the zodiac, between 54.75 and 90 degree of celestial longitude, which the Sun transits this area on average between May 21 to June 21 each year, Under the tropical (western) zodiac ending at the moment of summer solstice by definition.
In astrology, Gemini is considered a "masculine", positive (extrovert) sign. Perhaps the most dominant Geminian characteristic is versatility. It is also considered an air sign, and is one of four mutable signs. Gemini has been closely associated with the planet Mercury and is considered to be ruled by it. Being the third sign of the zodiac, Gemini has been associated with the astrological third house.
In western astrology, this sign is no longer aligned with the constellation as a result of the precession of the equinoxes. Under the sidereal zodiac, it is currently there roughly from June 15 to July 15. The Sanskrit name of Gemini in Hindu astrology is Mithuna.
Gemini rules the arms, shoulders, hands, lungs and nervous system and its subjects need to beware of diseases and accidents associated with the upper part of the body, as well as nervous and pulmonary disorders such as catarrh and bronchitis. Their mercurial nature may also affect a constitution which is not strong if it is put under strain.
Physically Geminis often appear youthful, even childlike. They have tall, thin, but strong and active bodies, with long arms and legs culminating in short, fleshy hands and feet. Their faces are also inclined to be long and sallow, with large, piercing hazel eyes, often in contrast with dark complexions. Their hair is often dark, almost black. They use their hands and eyes expressively - they are great gesticulators - and their movements are quick and active.
Positive Traits:
Adaptable and versatile
Communicative and witty
Intellectual and eloquent
Youthful and lively
Negative Traits:
Nervous and tense
Superficial and inconsistant
Cunning and inquisitive
Gemini, the sign of the Twins, is dual-natured, elusive, complex and contradictory. On the one hand it produces the virtue of versatility, and on the other the vices of two-facedness and flightiness. The sign is linked with Mercury, the planet of childhood and youth, and its subjects tend to have the graces and faults of the young. When they are good, they are very attractive; when they are bad they are more the worse for being the charmers they are. Like children they are lively, happy - if circumstances are right for them - egocentric, imaginative and restless.
They take up new activities enthusiastically but lack application, constantly needing new interests, flitting from project to project as apparently purposelessly as a butterfly dancing from flower to flower. To them life is a game which must always be full of fresh moves and continuous entertainment, free of labor and routine.
Since they lack the quality of conscientiousness, they are apt to fight a losing battle in any attempts they make to be moral (in the widest sense of the word). Their good qualities are attractive and come easily to them. They are affectionate, courteous, kind, generous, and thoughtful towards the poor and suffering - provided none of the activities resulting from expressing these traits interferes too greatly with their own lives and comforts.
They quickly learn to use their outward attractiveness to gain their own ends, and when striving for these they will use any weapon in their armoury - unscrupulous lying, cunning evasiveness - escaping blame by contriving to put it on other people, wrapped up in all the charm they can turn on. In their better moments they may strive to be honest and straightforward, but self-interest is almost always the victor. If things go against them, they sulk like children. Also like children, they demand attention, admiration, and the spending on them of time, energy and money, throwing tantrums if they don't get what they want.
They reflect every change in their surroundings, like chameleons, and can become pessimistic, sullen, peevish and materialistically self-centered if circumstances force them to struggle in any way. If the conditions of life become really adverse, their strength of will may desert them entirely. They can become uncertain of themselves, either withdrawn or nervously excitable worriers, sullenly discontented, hard and irritable, with Self looming ever larger in their struggles. On the other hand their versatility can make them very adaptable, adjusting themselves to control the world around them by means of their inherent ingenuity and cleverness.
Geminis have a keen, intuitive, sometimes brilliant intelligence and they love cerebral challenges. But their concentration, though intense for a while, does not last. Their mental agility and energy give them a voracious appetite for knowledge from youth onward, though they dislike the labor of learning. They easily grasp almost everything requiring intelligence and mental dexterity and are often able to marry manual skills to their qualities of mind. Their intellect is strongly analytical and sometimes gives them so great an ability to see both sides of a question that they vacillate and find it hard to take decisions.
But their intelligence may very well be used to control and unify the duality of their natures into a most efficient unit. If faced with difficulties, they have little determination to worry at a problem until they find a solution - they will pick the brains of others. In their intellectual pursuits, as in other departments of their lives, they risk becoming dilettantes, losing themselves in too many projects which they follow until they become difficult.
In love they are fickle, not intentionally so but because of the basic inconsistency of their emotional nature, which has an amoral aspect to it. Their is a side to Geminis which can become deeply involved emotionally, and another, hostile to sentimentality, which stands back from a romantic situation, laughing at it and the protagonists in it, including themselves, and analyzes it intellectually. Gemini subjects take nothing seriously.
So, in love, in spite of their temporary depth of feeling - for the intensity of involvement lasts only while it is new - they are superficial, light-hearted, cool, flirtatious and unimaginative in the understanding of the pain they may give others. They like intrigue, the excitement of the chase, but once they have caught the prey, they lose interest and look around for the next creature to pursue. In less serious situations they make witty, entertaining companions, good acquaintances rather than friends.
Even at their worst they are never dull - there is usually playfulness below the surface, and they can be brilliant conversationalists - but they can also be quarrelsome, prattlers, boasters, liars and cheats.
Geminis can be successful in many walks of life though their general characters tend to make them unreliable. They are often skilled manipulators of language, in speech and writing, and may be debaters, diplomats (though in politics they are more interested in theory than practice), orators, preachers (brilliant rather than profound), teachers, authors and poets, journalists or lawyers. In business any work which combines quick-wittedness with change of surroundings suits them - working as a traveling salesperson, brokerage work or dealing of any kind.
Because they are dispassionate, logical, rational and analytical they make good scientists, especially medically, astronomers and mathematicians. They can also make excellent members of the Forces, for they take danger no more seriously than anything else and can earn themselves a reputation for devotion to duty and heroic acts. In the arts they may excel in music, painting and sculpture. They make good psychical researchers of a sceptical kind. Negatively they can degenerate into confidence tricksters, thieves and even adepts in the black arts.
Generally, the natives of Gemini are considered to be compatible with the natives of the other air signs, Libra and Aquarius, and the natives of the fire signs, Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. Virgo and Pisces are signs of the other nature (feminine/introverted), but are considered semi-compatible with Gemini due to them having the same mutable quality.
There are many variables in the astrology chart that determine compatibility of individuals. The position of the Sun, the Moon, the planets and the aspects they form with each other are assessed by astrologers before judgment on compatibility is made. The signs listed as compatible with Gemini do not reflect an individual profile or individual reading as interpreted within astrology, but rather reflect a general guideline and reference to compatibility as dictated by variables such as Qualities and Elements within the Zodiac. The branch of astrology dealing with interpersonal compatibilities is called Synastry.
Gemini is one of the constellations of the zodiac. It was one of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd century AD astronomer Ptolemy and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations today. Its name is Latin for "twins," and it is associated with the twins Castor and Pollux in Greek mythology.
Gemini lies between Taurus to the west and Cancer to the east, with Auriga and Lynx to the north and Monoceros and Canis Minor to the south.
The Sun resides in Gemini from 21 June to 21 July each year. By mid August, Gemini will appear along the eastern horizon in the morning sky prior to sunrise. The best time to observe Gemini at night is overhead during the months of January and February. By April and May, the constellation will be visible soon after sunset in the west.
The easiest way to locate the constellation is to find its two brightest stars Castor and Pollux eastward from the familiar "V" shaped asterism of Taurus and the three stars of Orion's belt. Another way is to mentally draw a line from the Pleiades star cluster located in Taurus and the brightest star in Leo, Regulus. In doing so, you are drawing an imaginary line that is relatively close to the ecliptic, a line which intersects Gemini roughly at the midpoint of the constellation, just below Castor and Pollux.
Gemini is a northern constellation lying on the ecliptic (the sun's apparent path through the heavens) between Taurus and Cancer, N of Canis Minor; it is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Gemini is traditionally depicted as two men. The two brightest stars in Gemini, Castor and Pollux (north of the bright star Procyon in Canis Minor), are two of the brightest stars in the sky and were identified by the Greeks with two children, in most accounts the twin sons of Zeus and Leda. The Egyptians identified the two stars with a pair of young goats.
An annual meteor shower known as the Geminids appears to radiate from this constellation during the second week in December.
Owing to the precession of the equinoxes, the summer solstice now lies in Gemini, rather than in Cancer as it did 2,000 years ago.
As one of the most prominent zodiacal constellation, Gemini actually looks like its namesake. This brilliant constellation can be seen rising in the east during the long winter evenings of December, and by the frosty early hours of the morning, is virtually overhead.
The brightest stars in Gemini are Castor and Pollux. Although Castor has the Bayer designation "Alpha," it is actually the second brightest in the constellation after Pollux. Castor is a sextuple star system 52 light-years from Earth, which appears as a magnitude 1.6 blue-white star to the unaided eye. Two spectroscopic binaries are visible at magnitudes 1.9 and 3.0 with a period of 470 years.
A wide-set red dwarf star is also a part of the system; this star is an Algol-type eclipsing binary star with a period of 19.5 hours; its minimum magnitude is 9.8 and its maximum magnitude is 9.3. Beta Geminorum, named for Pollux, is, despite its designation, the brightest star in Gemini. It is an orange-hued giant star of magnitude 1.2, 34 light-years from Earth. The discrepancy in brightness and designation with Castor and Pollux is attributable to a mistake by Johann Bayer, who gave his eponymous designations in 1603.
In Babylonian astronomy, the stars Castor and Pollux were known as the Great Twins (MUL.MASH.TAB.BA.GAL.GAL). The Twins were regarded as minor gods and were called Meshlamtaea and Lugalirra, meaning respectively 'The One who has arisen from the Underworld' and the 'Mighty King'. Both names can be understood as titles of Nergal, the major Babylonian god of plague and pestilence, who was king of the Underworld.
In Greek mythology, Gemini was associated with the myth of Castor and Pollux, the children of Leda and Argonauts both. Pollux was the son of Zeus, who seduced Leda, while Castor was the son of Tyndareus, king of Sparta and Leda's husband. Castor and Pollux were also mythologically associated with St. Elmo's fire in their role as the protectors of sailors.
Castor and Pollux were legendary adventurers and fighters. They were members of the Argonauts, the group of brave young men who set off with Jason in pursuit of the Golden Fleece.
The two brothers are also known for their constant rivalry with Theseus of Athens. Theseus, in fact, kidnapped their sister Helen one day and locked her up in Athens. When Theseus was away attending to other business, Castor and Pollux stormed the city and took Helen back.
As may seem fitting, the twins died fighting while they were still relatively young. Castor was killed in a struggle with the Leucippidae, who were actually cousins of his. Zeus saw the struggle and the death from his place in the heavens. Zeus hurled a thunderbolt at the Leucippidae and killed them. When Castor died as a mortal, Pollux begged his father Zeus to give Castor immortality, which he did, by uniting them together in the heavens forever.
"The Age of Communication, Trade and the Twins"
The Age of Gemini began in ca. 6450 BC and ended in ca. 4300 BC.
Primitive modes of transportation began using the wheel.
Early scripts and cave art
Religion: Multiple gods, such as the pantheon of gods in Ancient Greek literature, are believed to have appeared in this Gemini age probably in Sumer (Mesopotamia).
In Meteorologica (a treatise on earth sciences), Aristotle mentions that he observed Jupiter in conjunction with and then occulting a star in Gemini. This is the earliest known observation of this nature. A study published in 1990 suggests the star he mentioned was 1 Geminorum and the event took place on 5 December 337 BC.
When William Herschel discovered Uranus on March 13, 1781 it was located near Eta Geminorum.
In 1930 Clyde Tombaugh exposed a series of photographic plates centered on Delta Geminorum and discovered Pluto.