LOVERS / GEMINI / LITHA
Reconciliation of inner opposites.
Discrimination
Depth perception - parallax.
Passive inspiration
Scintillating intelligence
Breezes, Zephyrs, fog, clouds
LITHA - Litha is at the end of Gemini, at the Cancer cusp, Key 7
"The central mountain is everywhere"
Chief Black Elk
"For at the dawn of history Europe was covered with immense primeval forests, in which the scattered clearings must have appeared like islets in an ocean of green...Germans whom Caesar questioned had travelled for two months through it without reaching the end... In the Forum, (in Rome) the busy center of Roman life, the sacred fig-tree of Romulus was worshipped down to the days of the empire, and the withering of its trunk was enough to spread consternation through the city. Again, on the slope of the Palatine Hill grew a cornel-tree which was esteemed one of the most sacred objects in Rome.... In the North West Provinces of India, a marriage ceremony is performed in honour of a newly-planted orchard.First, then, trees or tree-spirits are believed to give rain and sunshine. When the missionary Jerome of Prague was persuading the heathen Lithuanians to fell their sacred groves, a multitude of women besought the Prince of Lithuania to stop him, saying that with the woods he was destroying the house of God from which they had been wont to get rain and sunshine... In Cambodia each village or province has its sacred tree, the abode of a spirit.
from The Golden Bough
Demeter's daughter, Persephone, was abducted by Pluto, Saturn's son. Demeter appeals to Jupiter to intervene; he decrees that Persephone may return from the underworld only if she has eaten nothing during her time in Hades. Persephone, though, wandering in the well tended gardens, had taken a pomegranate and put seven seeds in her mouth, so Jove divides the year, saying Persephone will stay with her mother in the upper world half the year, creating summers, and with her husband in the underworld half the year, creating winters.
"The Athenians when initiating anyone into the Eleusinian Mysteries show to the initiates a sacred green ear of corn reaped in silence. This ear of corn is also for the Athenians the great and perfect spark of light from the Unportrayable One; just as the hierophant himself, not indeed castrated like Attis, but rendered a eunuch by hemlock, and cut off from all fleshy generation, celebrating by night at Eleusis the great and ineffable mysteries beside a huge fire, cries aloud and makes proclamation, saying: "August Brimo has brought forth a holy son, Bromios," that is, the strong has given birth to the strong.Hippolytus, Philosophumena (trans. F. Legge)
from Shiller's "Ode to Joy:"
Freude,
Schöner Götterfunken, Deine Zauber binden
wieder, |
Joy,
fair spark of the gods, Thy magic reunites
those |
Friedrich von Schiller, 1785
Here is the Fourth
Movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, setting Shiller's "Ode to Joy" to
music.
GEMINI
May 21st to June 21st.
Ruled by Mercury.
I Think.
Enquirer or dabbler.
Mutable Air. Thinking, communication,
relationships, intellect, intuition, all concerns of air, diversify in Gemini,
into myriad ideas, plans, conversations, and sketches. Gemini is the spring
breezes, unpredictable weather, the occasional late freeze. Gemini influences
in the chart (Third house, or planets in Gemini) create an emphasis on mental
stimulus. This can manifest as scintillating, humorous, inventive, or
clever transmission of knowledge. When focused, the Gemini mind is agile,
articulate, encyclopedic, and capable of dazzling genius.
Gemini, when active in the chart,
is lively, optimistic, free-spirited, multi-faceted, forever young, open to
new ideas, flirtatious, a quick study, charming, polite, cheerful, discriminating,
conversant on any subject, versatile, scientific, good with the hands, creative,
witty, clever, sociable, fluent language ability, avoiding of physical confrontation,
tactical, inventive, resourceful, receptive, friendly, logical, analytical,
celebrating of life, inventive, innovative, philosophical, and articulate.
Unfavorable Gemini can be two-faced,
manipulative, unfocused, flaky, undependable, sarcastic, shallow, petty, unable
to finish things, shifty, too many irons in the fire, a copycat, too mental,
unable to take a stand, picky, devious, skeptical, vain, confused, talks too
much, restless, superficial, argumentative, vacillating, conflicted, gullible,
doesn't plan for the future, a moocher, sharp tongue, cynical, bitter, impatient,
loses interest easily, nonchalant, and glib. It's been said: "Deep down,
at their centers, Geminis can be really superficial."
Domains of Gemini are data management,
languages, speculation, community, the arts, music, culture. Gemini is the
mind itself; its processes, patterns, and constraints engendered by misconceptions,
and "overthinking."
Grounding influences elsewhere
in the chart are very useful for Gemini, though may appear as burdens at first.
Gemini needs channeling, and focus.
Gemini, ruled by mental Mercury,
is a flexible, quicksilver spark of thought, gone as soon as you see it. Mercury
shares rulership with Virgo and Gemini,
and when not held down by earth or unrooted in the air, Virgo/Gemini can shine.
Lessons for Gemini include controlling
the mind, being sincere, honest, consistent, not being self-obsessed, taking
a broader view of things.
Gemini is symbolized by a set
of twins; this metaphor shows communication. Castor and Pollux, one in heaven,
and one on Earth, describe the connection between mundane and spiritual thought.
Split-personality is a common Gemini descriptor; the Chinese call Gemini the
Monkey - for it's restless mind.
Gemini rules the lungs and nervous
system.
For Gemini, the Shadow
takes the form of Other's being plodding, obtuse, or witless. Beneath your
friendliness and affability, you feel there is a dimension to your intelligence
beyond anyone's reach, so you can be aloof, and contemptuous. Work
with your shadow, and the people you project it onto, by learning patience,
and that there is always more for you to learn. The more you deny your Shadow,
the more it will manifest itself and attract what you will interpret as disruption
or pain.
The Third house has the character
of Gemini: planets in this house are concerned with Communication;
thinking, ability to relate to the environment, dexterity, early education,
immediate family, memory, perception, speech, basic articulation skills.
The air triplicity is Gemini (mutable)
followed by Libra (cardinal) , and
then Aquarius (fixed).
In the natural order of the signs,
Gemini is air, preceded by Taurus
(earth), and followed by Cancer (water).
The opposite axis, or antidote
to Gemini, is Sagittarius.
Ludwig van
Beethoven (1770-1827): The Symphony No 9 in D minor, Op 125 "Choral" (1824)
- Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Otto Klemperer, Live Performance 17 May
1956 (May 17, 1956) from Archive.Org.