The past few years have been tough for Gemini souls and for anyone with Gemini’s quixotic, mercurial impulse to explore, examine, question, and sample experiences. With Pluto in Gemini’s opposite sign of Sagittarius since 1995, joined in 2003 by Uranus in Pisces, it hasn’t exactly been kicks and grins for Gemini. “Take a position and stick with it,” insists Pluto in Sagittarius, and sensing he is overpowered, Gemini appears to acquiesce… but looks bored and restless while doing so. “Here,” invites Uranus in Pisces, “have some emotional electroshock therapy! It will open you up to greater feelings of compassion for all mankind.” And Gemini thinks this would be sort of interesting if it didn’t mean he had to feel so much; besides, all that Pisces water tends to short-circuit Gemini’s wiring, leading to malfunctions and mercurial meltdowns.
Yes, it has been a difficult time to be light and curious, witty and versatile, a tough time to propose new ideas or to question prevailing paradigms. So each year we have entered the Gemini season with just a little more trepidation, like small children who fear going to school because bullies keep picking on us and we didn’t finish our homework. We’ve found that our bright, inquisitive Gemini impulses are apt to get us into trouble. Asking reasonable questions might invite unreasonably brutal responses, or the exhortation to “rely on faith, and don’t ask so many questions!” There have been fewer and fewer places for Gemini to express itself, and the result has been the emergence of its shadow side: cruelty. Those individual voices that managed to break through Pluto’s grip and get heard have tended to be mean-spirited talk show hosts, bombastic politicians, and fundamentalists – the mouthpieces for an increasingly strident and xenophobic collective voice.
Fortunately, when Saturn moved into Leo in 2005, Gemini gained a strong ally in the struggle for expression. Gemini is the third sign on the natural astrological wheel, and Leo is the third sign from Gemini; so Gemini “reads” Leo as a fellow “three,” a kindred spirit in the pursuit of conversation and fun. Saturn in Leo has aided Gemini by providing focus and determination, and the courage of conviction; “Ask your questions; speak your truth with tenacity,” it has whispered in our ears, “and I’ll provide the dramatic flair you need to get people to listen to you.” Saturn in Leo has been a good friend to Gemini these past couple of years, lending the stability and focus that Mercury’s children often lack.
Gradually, our Gemini selves have stepped into this supportive framework and returned to work, giving voice to what is in the air, and what is on the minds and tongues of the man on the street. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Gemini field of journalism. After allowing their voices to be stifled for many long years, journalists are stirring at last from their long slumber and slowly reclaiming their vital role as society’s Jiminy Cricket.
Pluto in Sagittarius, while difficult in many ways, has nevertheless served the important function of reminding us about the power of the collective voice – for better or worse. For too long, the voice of “we, the people” – in media, in politics, and in public discourse – has been shrill, closed-minded, and downright mean. It’s only since Jupiter entered Sagittarius last November, for the first time since Pluto has occupied that sign, that we have begun to reclaim the positive power of our collective voice. Jupiter has opened the window and reintroduced light into our Pluto in Sagittarius dungeon, beginning to clear the fouled air while Pluto prepares to move into Capricorn in January.
The downfall of talk show host Don Imus1 exemplifies this ideological backlash. Born with Venus in Gemini square the Moon in sensitive Pisces, Imus has made a career out of exploiting Gemini’s shadow side with ill-formed thoughts and nasty wise cracks. When transiting Pluto and Uranus recently aspected his natal Venus, Imus went too far with an offensive on-air comment that cost him his job. The days that followed saw an outcry of satisfaction from people who were sick to death of the ugliness pouring out of their radios and televisions.
Imus’ defenders claimed he was the victim of censorship, but it wasn’t the government that silenced Imus. He wasn’t fired for questioning the status quo, for provoking stimulating debate, or for reporting unpopular truths. His sponsors simply pulled their advertising dollars when it became clear that Don Imus and his casual racism and misogyny no longer represented the collective voice; the dark moral of the story is that for far too many years, they did represent it.
As Pluto begins to loosen its headlock on Gemini, we are slowly reclaiming our individual voices and rediscovering the thrilling marketplace of ideas. I’d be the last to rain on that parade. If the dark years of Pluto in Sagittarius have taught us anything, it’s that we need Gemini – for who else will point out that the emperor has no clothes? Who else will ask the questions that are hanging in the air like ripe fruit on a low branch, desperately waiting to be picked? But at this full Moon in Sagittarius, we’re reminded that long after Pluto has left the sign of philosophy and big ideas, the collective voice will continue to have the last word.
The Full Moon joining philosophical Jupiter in its own sign reminds us that not all the fruit on the loftier branches is dead or full of worms. It’s healthy to follow Gemini’s urge toward curiosity and questioning – but it’s still just as important to heed Sagittarius’ need to form beliefs as it is to question them. So at this Full Moon, let your Gemini/Sagittarian self reach up a curious but steady hand, explore all the fruits on the tree of life, and pluck confidently from every branch.
- Don Imus, b. July 23, 1940, 1:33 pm PST, Riverside, California. Data from Astrodatabank.com.
© 2007 by April Elliott Kent.
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