By Sarah Penello
Featured Image by Gemini Sun artist Lauren Chapman
Every month, our editor Sarah makes a playlist featuring artists that share the same Sun sign. Listen to her Gemini Season playlist here.
Gemini, the sign of Mutable Air, is as swift and unpredictable as the wind. The Twins are known for being perceptive, analytical, and quick-witted. Their tongues may be sharp or coated in honey from moment to moment, and they can be intellectual and behavioral chameleons.
In popular music, Gemini Sun represents a whole legion of Agents Provocateurs: the first women of punk and goth, rappers whose feuds captivated a nation, outspoken celebrities, and of course, Prince.
In a lot of ways we can accurately call those with Gemini Sun the cultural vanguard, as their works and words definitely capture the attention of the world.
In the 1950’s, Marilyn Monroe brought the breathy, charismatic bombshell into archetypal status.
Both Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson are Geminis, and songs that they wrote defined the 60’s.
The Twins also gave us the legendary Miles Davis and Curtis Mayfield, considered to be among the most influential figures of jazz and soul, respectively.
Stevie Nicks ruled the early 1970’s, and gave us the witchy rock Queen idol we didn’t know we needed.
Then in the late 70’s, Gemini women like Wendy O. Williams and Siouxsie Sioux completely expanded and redefined what the sound and aesthetic of punk could be.
The 1980’s gave us Prince, who in turn gave us a one-man gender revolution. His alluring image was a work of androgynous genius, and he cracked open the way we view masculinity, especially Black masculinity, as a society.
In the 90’s, as Hip Hop and R&B both became very mainstream, Geminis were at the helm of both movements, demonstrating the duality of the sign.
Heavy D of Heavy D and the Boys, sensual Maxwell, and Nathan Morris of Boyz II Men are all Geminis.
Big L is a Gemini, and so are Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G.
These young men were lauded for their innovation and lyrical genius which led to their reign over the popular charts. But they also held the world’s attention with the East Coast vs West Coast feuding that led to their deaths.
And Faith Evans, who gracefully moved between those genres, is a Gemini as well.
I definitely can’t write about Gemini without acknowledging two famously outspoken, but undeniably talented, artists; Kanye West and Azealia Banks. Both of these musicians and rappers are arguably more famous for their controversial behavior in the public eye, but their music also really REALLY slaps. I think Azealia especially doesn’t get enough credit for that.
Known for tackling sensitive subjects with dexterity and intelligence, Kendrick Lamar is also a Gemini.
Back in middle school, it was very popular for kids to say,
“I like all music except for rap and country!”
And these days, it’s very popular for astrology meme accounts to poke fun at Gemini for being one of the more difficult and unpredictable signs.
Is it a coincidence then, that my Gemini Sun playlist ended up containing a very high percentage of rap and country?
You be the judge.
About the Author
Sarah Penello is an artist, author, facilitator, priestess and witch, as well as a contributing editor for Creatrix Mag, where she makes monthly playlists for each sun sign.
She is a life-long student of the healing arts and plant medicine, a chef, a forager, and is amazing at spotting well camouflaged animals in the landscape.
She is devoted to reclaiming the sacred in the profane, cultivating pleasure and beauty in the places where we have been wounded, and living in a way that honors the sovereignty of all beings.
In her art practice and kitchen witchery, this manifests as working creatively with the materials that present themselves- finding ways to be sustainably lavish and luxurious. You can shop her wildcrafted plant products and botanically dyed garments at https://www.etsy.com/shop/sasquatchbotanica .
