Beneath the popular astrological descriptions of breezy Gemini, the fun-loving and fickle eternal child, lies a story of loss and longing. Gemini is the story of twins and soulmates; the story of brothers and sisters, an age old story threaded with the pathos of loss and separation, woven with duality and ambiguity. Twins in myth and fairy tale, are similar at first glance, then reveal themselves to be fundamentally different.
The story of Castor and Pollux, and their beautiful twin sisters, Helen and Clytemnestra are stories of theft and revenge, kidnapping and murder, love and loss. Mercury, ruler of both Mercurial zodiac signs, Gemini and Virgo, was the younger brother of the handsome golden-haired Apollo, favourite son of mighty Zeus, and their story is one of sibling rivalry tempered by playfulness. Gemini’s two brightest stars are Castor and Pollux, mythical twin brothers, twin souls. When his brother, Castor dies in battle, a bereft Pollux implores king of all the gods, Zeus, to allow him to die also. Zeus agrees and the brothers are forever united in the heavens, holding hands, talking, laughing, doing those things that brothers do.
Whether we’re closely bonded, painfully estranged, our relationship with our siblings is the longest relationship we will ever have. Maya Angelou once said, “I don’t believe an accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers. It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage. Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at.”
Working at it can be a Herculean labour that may erode our energy, gnaw at our resolution to untie the knots that keep us bound in conflict or rivalry. Siblings betray one another, they quarrel, they separate, they reunite. The love one another with a love that is different from the love we have for our parents. Brenna Yovanoff writes so poignantly, “I wanted to tell her that I loved her, and not in the complicated way I loved our parents, but in a simple way I never had to think about. I loved her like breathing.”
There’s a new documentary on Netflix that’s worth watching, even songs like Can’t Get You Out of My Head, Dance to the Music, and the thumpingly repetitive Padam Padam make your toes curl. It’s a heartfelt, vulnerable depiction of the glittering ascent of one of the most enduring and engaging female singers, Kylie Minogue. Her undimmable power has shimmered since she appeared on TV weekly at seven years old. She has a warm and loving relationship with her younger sister, Dannii, who has managed to forge her own successful career as actress and singer. Dannii has a very different birth chart to that of her older sister: Libra sun, Venus conjunct Mercury in Scorpio, a Scorpio Ascendant and Mars in Aquarius. Saturn was Rx in Gemini when Dannii was born. These two remarkable women have expressed their creativity in very different ways and both have supported one another in loving ways throughout their careers.
Described by Nick Cave as a “joy machine”, Kylie has managed to sell over 80 million records in an industry that can be excruciatingly cruel to women artists. Kylie epitomises the spirit of Gemini. Kylie was born with an effervescent string of planets in Gemini: sun, moon, Venus, Mars and Mercury, all so beautifully expressed in her chosen métier. All those Gemini qualities of adaptability, youthfulness, playfulness, and the wonderful ability to communicate to people from different generations and social backgrounds. Kylie speaks of her need for freedom as an artist, saying she does not want to be “boxed in” which exemplifies the airy qualities of someone infused with the Gemini archetype. As Saturn moved over her Ascendant, Kylie withdrew from public life to focus on her recovery from breast cancer. More than 15 years later, as Pluto opposed her Ascendant, a second cancer diagnosis brought another initiation and awakening. Kylie is quoted as saying, “you learn what resilience means and what love means. Having had cancer one important thing to know is – you’re still the same person. I remember coming out at the other end and feeling more like myself than ever before.”
Kylie’s second Saturn Return (2026/2027) coincides an energising Uranus transit over the next seven years with Uranus animating Kylie’s Venus, sun, mooon and Mercury in Gemini. For those who speak the language of astrology, here is Kylie’s birth chart:
The constellation of Gemini is visible now, low on the western skyline. It will begin to fade as our sun reaches its zenith on 21st.
As the Sun, Mercury and Uranus whip up the winds of change this month, a new moon in Gemini on June 15th offers a “celestial instruction” on how we can use our innate dexterity to create something beautiful and useful. Intention is important at new moon times. Focus on where we might be flexible, open to trying something new.
This lunation carries the spirit of siblings and twins, so notice what comes in pairs, observe how we might project our unprocessed sibling issues onto a friend, a lover, partner or antagonist: those sympathetic similarities that draw us in; those polarised differences that repel. Mercury slows mid-month and will turn Retrograde on June 29th, moving into the protective waters of Cancer followed by a luminous full moon in Cancer on June 30th as Mars joins Uranus in Gemini.
In this Gemini season, may the winged sandals of Mercury carry us towards those extra-ordinary encounters that bring everything into focus. May the mythic Twins preside over those soulful tugs of the heart that herald of radical change in the way we live, and the way we love.
To book a personal astrology reading, please get in touch: ingrid@trueheartwork.com
