Sign 3 of 12

Gemini (Mithuna)

मिथुन

60° to 90° of the sidereal zodiac

Gemini, Mithuna, is the third sign, and its name means the pair. The Sanskrit word is used of a couple, and the sign is often pictured as a man and a woman holding a club and a lute, the tools of work and of art. Its two brightest stars are Castor and Pollux, the heads of the Twins, in the nakshatra Punarvasu. The tradition reads Gemini as the sign of speech, curiosity, learning, trade and agility of mind, the place where ideas meet and are exchanged. The Sun passes through it from mid-June to mid-July, the start of the rains. In a chart the sign shapes the way a planet in it expresses itself, and its lord carries the sign's affairs into the house where it stands. This page gives what the site's tables hold for Gemini: its lord, element and quality, the nakshatras in it, the planets whose dignity it decides, and what each graha is for a Gemini Lagna.

At a glance

Span
60° to 90°
Element
Air
Quality
Dual
Opposite sign
Sagittarius
Nakshatras
3 in whole or part

Lord, element and quality

Gemini is ruled by Mercury, who also rules Virgo. Wherever Mercury stands in a chart, it carries the affairs of the house Gemini falls in. It is a sign of the air element and of the dual quality. The twelve signs cycle through the qualities in order, movable, fixed and dual, so every fourth sign shares one: Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces are dual. The birth report describes the sign's theme as communication and intellect.

The nakshatras in Gemini

Each sign holds two and a quarter nakshatras, nine quarters in all, since the twelve signs and the twenty-seven nakshatras share the same circle.

  • Mrigashira: 0°00′ Gemini to 6°40′ Gemini, padas 3 and 4, the rest of it lying in Taurus.
  • Ardra: 6°40′ Gemini to 20°00′ Gemini, all four padas.
  • Punarvasu: 20°00′ Gemini to 30°00′ Gemini, padas 1, 2 and 3, the rest of it lying in Cancer.

Planets whose dignity Gemini decides

The site's table of dignities, which follows Parashara's ranges for the signs he divides by degree, gives these in Gemini:

  • Mercury: Mercury is in its own sign throughout the sign.

For every other planet Gemini is the sign of a friend, a neutral or an enemy, as that planet counts Mercury. The table: Sun — neutral, Moon — friend, Mars — enemy, Jupiter — enemy, Venus — friend and Saturn — friend.

Gemini as the Lagna

When Gemini is rising at birth it is the first house, and each graha's nature for the chart follows from the houses it rules. The site takes this from Parashara's own list for each rising sign (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, ch. 34, tr. R. Santhanam), and goes by the chapter's general rules for a graha the verse does not name. For a Gemini Lagna:

  • Sun, lord of the 3rd: inauspicious.
  • Moon, lord of the 2nd: neutral.
  • Mars, lord of the 6th and 11th: inauspicious.
  • Mercury, lord of the 1st and 4th: neutral.
  • Jupiter, lord of the 7th and 10th: inauspicious.
  • Venus, lord of the 5th and 12th: auspicious.
  • Saturn, lord of the 8th and 9th: mixed.

No graha rules both an angle and a trine for a Gemini Lagna, so it has no Yogakaraka.

Rahu and Ketu are not classed by the verse: they act for the lord of the sign they occupy and the house they are in.

Varahamihira on each planet in Gemini

The Brihat Jataka gives a reading for a birth with each of the seven planets in each sign; the nodes are not given any. The site's birth report quotes these as they are paraphrased here. Varahamihira adds that a sign's effects come in full only when the planet, the sign and its lord are strong.

The Sun in Gemini. With the Sun in Gemini, Varahamihira describes a learned person, a student of language and of astrology, who prospers. (Brihat Jataka 18.2, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))

The Moon in Gemini. With the Moon in Gemini, Varahamihira describes a sharp and witty intellect: learned, a natural go-between and messenger, quick to read what others are thinking, playful, sweet-spoken and fond of music and dance. (Brihat Jataka 17.3, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))

Mars in Gemini. With Mars in Gemini, Varahamihira describes a bright and fearless person with children but few friends, helpful to others and skilled in music and in combat, yet careful with money and apt to ask for favours. (Brihat Jataka 18.6, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))

Mercury in Gemini. With Mercury in Gemini, Varahamihira describes a sweet-spoken, learned person accomplished in the sciences and in music, dance and painting, who lives in comfort and is fond of saying so. (Brihat Jataka 18.9, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))

Jupiter in Gemini. With Jupiter in Gemini, Varahamihira describes a comfortable life with a good home, helpers, friends and children, and a place as a trusted adviser or minister. (Brihat Jataka 18.12, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))

Venus in Gemini. With Venus in Gemini, Varahamihira describes service to government or to those in power, prosperity, and learning in music. (Brihat Jataka 18.15, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))

Saturn in Gemini. With Saturn in Gemini, Varahamihira describes work in clerical, guarding or enforcing roles, even at their head, but also sorrow, limited means, few children and little regard for what others think. (Brihat Jataka 18.17, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))

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