Gemini: Going Down the Rabbit Hole

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Intro

You're listening to The Shadow Femme Show, a show about humans, our feelings, and the ways in which we make meaning.

I'm your host, Sarah, and I'm an astrologer, human design reader, healer, and psychic medium.

So I'm back with another episode of this ongoing 12-part series where I've been unpacking a new zodiac sign every month, exploring the archetype of that particular sign at the beginning of each zodiac season. And, as I'm sure you know, we are in—or about to start, actually, as I'm recording this—Gemini season.

Gemini is a sign that's ruled by the planet Mercury, and I've actually had Mercury on the brain a lot lately. We've been in the middle of Mercury Retrograde season. And on top of that, I'm also going to be giving a talk on Mercury this Saturday at an astrology conference, the emerging astrologers Summit. If you're listening to this, and time it's free to attend online, you can register at thestrology.com. And if you're listening to this afterwards, and feel like you missed out, you can also buy recordings of the talks at thestrology.com as well.

So in preparation for this lecture that has to do with Mercury, I've actually been spending the last few Wednesdays communing with Mercury and transcribing clairaudient messages from Mercury / Hermes. And I did that this morning, as well. This is a Wednesday that I'm recording on. And Wednesday is Mercury day.

So, as usual, I'll be pulling some cards and listening to my guides and what they have to say about today's topic, which is Gemini. And Mercury will also be sticking around to pitch in some insight on the sign as well.

So I'm drawing from one of my favorite decks, the Deck of Character, and I figure this is pretty appropriate for Gemini season because it's a fun deck that's drawn in Sharpie, and it's kind of like, silly and clever doesn't take itself too seriously.

Curiosity

Anyway, so the first card that I drew here is Hole. And it immediately makes me think of the kinds of rabbit holes that Gemini dives down—or that anyone with very strong Gemini placements dives down—when they get really interested in something, when they get curious about something.

“Curiosity” is such a key word for Gemini. Gemini can get really lost down lots of different interesting paths in their mind, or especially on the internet. This just makes me think of internet rabbit holes, like having a million tabs open in your browser. And regardless of whether this is literally true, I think anyone with strong Gemini energy can relate to the feeling of just having a million tabs open in your mind at any given point.

Untethered from Reality

And with this implication of diving down various interesting rabbit holes, there's the sense of perhaps getting lost along the way, and maybe even becoming untethered a bit from reality. I feel like any air sign, really, is perhaps at risk of getting lost in their own mind, to some extent, and I think Geminis—being such a mutable sign, as well as an air sign, I would say it's the most mutable of all the signs—I think that there is a risk for Gemini of maybe becoming so lost in the interesting mental threads in one's mind that you become a little bit untethered or disembodied, almost ungrounded, and there can be a need to reorient, reground, and remind oneself that one has a body, if you're somebody who tends to get lost in a Gemini-like way in your head.

And, you know, since we keep talking about rabbit holes, this just also gives me the image of Alice in Wonderland falling down the rabbit hole and ending up in kind of strange, quirky, absurdist, interesting world. Alice in Wonderland is also a book that's really interested in wordplay, and Geminis love good wordplay, as well as some absurdist humor, I would say.

So yeah, those are just kind of the images that are coming to me with this card, like the idea of having a million tabs open, whether literally or figuratively in your mind. And then also this idea of Alice in Wonderland, like Alice falling down the rabbit hole and going on these weird, interesting, wordplay-like journeys.

The Third House vs. The Ninth House

So this next card I drew is stereo. And this makes me think of a couple of things.

So if you're familiar with the idea of houses in astrology, that will be helpful for what I'm about to say; I don't feel like explaining all the houses right now for the sake of this, so if that's a concept that you're new to, go ahead and give it a Google and there are lots of resources on the internet that will help explain this.

But I was actually just thinking about the houses this morning, and how, in traditional astrology, the houses have particular meanings, and then in modern astrology, they’ve kind of evolved—or maybe have even become conflated in some ways—with things like the signs. So by that, I mean: with modern astrology, sometimes people really equate the signs to the houses by saying, like, “Aries equals the first house, Taurus equals the second house,” etc. And I was just like thinking about that this morning. And how I kind of take a blended view, I guess, on the houses: I think that I respect the traditional meanings of the houses, and then, at the same time, I don't equate each house with a sign, like modern astrology sometimes does. But I also think it's no coincidence that there are a lot of similarities between certain signs and houses—I definitely think that the signs have affinities for particular houses.

So, anyway, that's all to say that Gemini, being the third sign of the zodiac, I would not say that it equals the third house in your chart, but I am of the opinion that there are a lot of a lot of affinities and similarities between Gemini energy and third house energy. And that's all a roundabout way of setting up my interpretation for this card, stereo.

So the way I think of the ninth house in astrology is, for one thing, it's the house of publishing, and broadcasting, as well as teaching in terms of higher learning, and institutions like universities, churches, etc. And the third house sits opposite the ninth house. And it's, I would say, a related, yet different and complementary house, meaning the third house is also in some ways concerned with the ideas of writing, speaking, learning, but in a much more lowkey, peer-to-peer, or approachable sense, and in a more localized sense. So all that is to say, I think that ninth house energy would be the energy of, for instance, social media, like broadcasting your message to the masses, or getting up and giving a lecture at a college to a lecture hall of 500 people. It could mean publishing a book that other people pick up and then go on to read.

Whereas I feel like third house energy and—the ninth house, like I said…well, I don't think it equals Sagittarius necessarily—like I don't think that you should completely conflate those two ideas in astrology—but I do definitely think that there's a relation between Sagittarius energy and ninth house energy. And then the third house is opposite the ninth house. Gemini is the sign that lies opposite Sagittarius in the zodiac wheel. I definitely feel that Gemini has an affinity for more of a third house approach to writing and speaking—as I mentioned up top, Gemini is a sign that is ruled by the planet Mercury, and Mercury has to do with our mind, our mental faculties, our language faculties, the ways in which we write, speak, teach, communicate, and process information. And I think that Gemini tends to approach these topics in a way that is more similar to the style of the third house, which is opposed to, let's say, a Sagittarius, passionately blasting their message to the masses, or holding court by telling an engaging story at the dinner table, maybe with a few embellishments here and there. Or, I also feel like Sagittarius, its most extreme or stereotypical sense, could also be like the cult leader or the leader of big, passionate, spiritual, or spiritually-adjacent movements.

Lover of Details and Conversations

As opposed to that, I think the approach of Gemini is more so like the person who is very interested in other people: chatty, asks all the right questions, very disarming and approachable and conversational, and sees people as peers. Even if they are the teacher speaking to their student, I think that people with Gemini energy tend to approach that interaction in a more equal type of way, if that makes sense.

Anyway, I got all of that just immediately from looking at the card stereo because probably my guides had me pull this card because it contrasts with what I tend to think of as the ninth house, which is the ninth house as a sort of a megaphone. Sagittarius energy has a bit more of a megaphone quality as well. So when I pulled the stereo, I thought about it in contrast to that image of the megaphone, and for me, it evoked this idea of like, a house party, for instance, which also brings in very third house vibes: having fun, and maybe even spreading a message through something fun, like music or through getting together people together at a party, and through having interesting conversations with various people you meet at a party. I feel like that's very Gemini.

And then also it just for me relates—the idea of a radio which looks like—okay, a radio is also kind of broadcast-y and ninth house-y—but that makes me think of the archetype of Gemini as the reporter and as the journalist. I feel like that is a little bit different from what I've been describing about Sagittarius in terms of being more of the like the passionate influential speaker or storyteller that moves people with the fiery nature of their words, and the enchanting—sometimes even embellished—style of of their communication.

Gemini is a much more detail-oriented sign than Sagittarius. And, like I said, also a very curious sign. I think Sagittarius is very curious as well. But I think that people with more Gemini energy actually tend to ask more questions than people with more of a Sagittarius energy. With a Sagittarius style of communication—especially if you have your Mercury in Sagittarius versus Mercury in Gemini—Mercury in Sagittarius is what's considered to be in detriment, and so in theory, that kind of Mercury will not have as comfortable of a time accessing the normal range of powers of Mercury, which naturally wants to be a curious, detail-oriented planet.

I think that with the energy of fire, and with Mercury in Sagittarius being in detriment, someone with that placement (and I'm speaking from experience, because that's my placement) can end up skipping over details and filling in the gaps because they're kind of sweeping from place to place or from point to point and they just really want to get the broad strokes, the big picture, or they're really caught up in the excitement of what they're like playing out in their mind, and maybe they end up filling in ideas or filling in gaps in their mind. And they're always kind of on the hunt, in a sort of galloping, Sagittarius-type fashion. So it's like they're always kind of searching for the next interesting thing, and they might not find the details of things super interesting.

Like, I don't know if it's just me, but I think that as a Sagittarius Mercury, I'm not always the person who wants to say, “Hey, like how's it going?” and make small talk at the start of the conversation, because I'm not always truly interested in the mundane details of someone's life. I tend to not like small talk and want to go straight past it.

But I'm describing Sagittarius because I think it's useful to describe the opposite sign when I'm talking about a particular sign, in order to illuminate things about that particular sign.

So I think Geminis, by contrast, are interested in the details. They are interested in the little intricacies of things, and they're great conversationalists, in a really engaging and even disarming way, in a very approachable way. I feel like maybe Sagittarius—or Mercury in Sagittarius energy— is more into, “Let's talk about a subject that I'm passionate about and that you're passionate about, and let’s philosophize about it,” whereas I feel like Gemini energy is more back and forth. It's can be more about the back-and-forth banter, back-and-forth opinions, chatting, interweaving everything with some small talk or some gossip and kind of jumping all over the place.

I see it more as a sort of ping-pong conversation back and forth, whereas with more Sagittarian energy, it can be a bit like “holding forth,” like, “Okay, I monologue, and then you monologue,” and so on. Again, maybe that's just me and my own experience, like my own personal specific experience talking, but yeah, that's one difference I see in the axis there, the Gemini/Sagittarius axis.

The Investigative Journalist

So anyway, I mentioned that Geminis really suit the archetype of the the journalist, the investigative journalist. I think that Sagittarian types get more lumped in with that sometimes because people, again, think that “Sagittarius = ninth house,” and “ninth house = publishing, broadcasting, journalism.”

But I think that Geminis and people with strong Gemini energy are actually more likely to be the ones who are willing to follow certain rabbit holes in order to get down to the nitty-gritty details of what's going on. And I feel like Geminis really are some of the best people to not only getting people talking, but to ask the right questions—while being really curious about people, and then also doing it in a way where they always have their mental objective in mind.

All air signs, to some extent, are really concerned with communication. But what makes Gemini so different from other air signs like a Libra or an Aquarius? Libra, is more (or even, the most) concerned with the harmony of interactions. And then Aquarius, being—in some ways—a bit more of a loner type, isn't always genuinely interested in asking questions of other people. It really depends on the person; I think Aquariuses tend to maybe find some people fascinating and want to talk to them a lot, and then really just can't be bothered with some other people, or are just bored and want to be left alone by some other people. Whereas Geminis can become pretty entertained and interested in almost anything they want. I think it's a sign that's associated with being prone to boredom. But I do think that Geminis can really create their own fun and create their own entertainment and get something out of a conversation with almost anyone.

Not Seeing the Forest for the Trees

Okay, the last card I drew here is Forest. And immediately what came to me was a bunch of things that I wrote in preparation for this lecture, like I mentioned, that I'm giving on Saturday.

I almost don't know what to say about it, because there's so much that I could say…I don't know what to pluck from it, that I should mention here, because I'm already having a hard time cutting down all that material just to just fit a one-hour lecture on Saturday.

But the reason this reminded me of that lecture was because there's a lot of forest analogies in it, including the saying of, “not seeing the forest for the trees,” along with other imagery that was transmitted to me when I was transcribing messages from Mercury about some of the differences between Mercury and Jupiter, which is actually pretty relevant to what I just talked about in terms of some of the differences between Sagittarius and Gemini, because Mercury rules Gemini and Jupiter rule Sagittarius.

Okay, so I guess what I'm what I can draw from that is just an image that I have in my lecture, which is just this metaphor, or this idea that Hermes was telling me about, which was the different scales that he and Jupiter operate on.

So Mercury is saying, “I am the microscope, Jupiter is the megaphone. I am bending down to examine the smallest ladybug on the tiniest leaf on a tree in the forest. And Jupiter, meanwhile, wants to cut down the whole forest just to watch it grow again,” which was a very surprising analogy for me.

In some ways, I totally get the idea that Mercury and Jupiter just operate on different levels. And then at the same time, I was surprised to hear this analogy of Jupiter being, in my mind, so violent. But the way Mercury explained it was like, it's not out of violence—it’s actually just Jupiter's form of curiosity, because Jupiter operates on such a big scale, that to him, cutting down whole forest, just to watch it grow again, is actually not that destructive of an act, because it's kind of like me as a human plucking a leaf off of a bush, right? That would be analogous to Jupiter extending over a whole forest and just wanting to cut it down just for the sake of observing what happens when it grows again.

And so this image illustrates, like I said, the different scales that Mercury and Jupiter operate on, and when you think of them just as planets in the solar system, Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system, and Jupiter is by far the biggest. And that also comes through in how we think of Mercury and Jupiter and then the respective signs that they rule, including thinking of how Gemini and Sagittarius as operating on different scales.

So while Jupiter and Sagittarius are concerned with the big, the broad, the vast, the big ideas, the big, overall, overarching, uniting beliefs, Gemini—and Mercury as a planet—are concerned with smaller scale things, the local community, interesting gossip and tidbits of information, bite-sized bits of data and information and news that are distilled down into soundbites, memes, tweets, things like that, as well as the minute little details of a subject.

Think about the microscope, or someone poring over different texts, or examining a piece of prose or a poem and really admiring and hanging on the meaning and the musicality of each word. Gemini likes to pay attention to the little things.

Uncovering Every Little Thing

I think that's good to keep in mind because I think Gemini get stereotyped quite a bit as just being being scattered or maybe being fickle, things like that, or, like I mentioned, being prone to boredom. But I think that Gemini, at its best, is a sign that can really be in the moment and can really appreciate and hang on every word and, actually, find fascination in the seemingly small or mundane, whether that is just asking, “How are you?” and being genuinely interested in what's happened in your life lately, or whether that's really exploring and valuing the detailed, niche corners of different fields of study that maybe people think are too minute or too niche to explore.

And that goes the same for, like I mentioned before, pursuits that involve investigation, and that can include journalism and telling other people's stories or finding out the truth of what's happened. Another stereotype about Gemini is that it's a duplicitous sign or that it's an untruthful sign. But when Gemini is really fixated on getting to the truth, it’s a sign that gets so curious that it wants to uncover every little thing, every little bit, and share it with people.

Conclusion

And, yeah, I hope that these cards and the messages that came to me from them, and what they sparked in me to talk about, has helped to you, just like with all these podcast episodes, sort of expand your view a little bit on on what this sign is like. As I'm sure you know, there's plenty of information about every single zodiac sign out there on the internet. And I increasingly feel like these podcasts episodes—they've never really been about giving you a comprehensive, by-the-book idea of what each sign is like—but they’re more so about exploring those little corners and crevices and interesting perspectives on particular signs that maybe you didn't think about before, or just like, looking at these particular signs in a slightly different way from what you're used to.

So I hope that this episode was helpful in doing that for you. And as I mentioned up top, if you are interested in getting even more Mercurial with me, you can sign up for the astrology conference this weekend. I would love to see you there. And again, if you're listening to this at some point in the future, and the conference is already past, my talk and the other talks will be available on thestrology.com for purchase. All right, that is all for today. I hope you have a wonderful Gemini season and I will see you next time.