Linda Goodman's Sun Signs (17 page)

With the youngsters, he'll be a buddy, but not a disciplinarian, and he'll teach them a lot before they even get to kindergarten. They'll probably love to confide in him, because he'll seldom be shocked or harsh in his judgment. He knows how to love without smothering. The relationship between the Gemini and his children is usually very close, but perhaps a bit loose, even though that may sound contradictory. As affectionate, exciting and lively as he is with young people, he may fail to insist that they follow routines, since he dislikes routines so much himself. There's also a tendency to criticize their behavior one day and approve of it the next day, which can confuse them. Although he'll manage a good lecture, you'd better expect the spankings and really serious discipline to fall in your department. Gemini fathers tend to spoil their children.

His imagination may run away with him, and cause him to make an occasional statement he can't back up. You'll have to make him see the importance of keeping his word. Regardless of all his good intentions, a few of his quick impulsive promises may be broken. If the children don't tie him down in any way, nor keep him from his multiple activities, he'll enjoy them enormously. One word of warning: Although he will seldom punish the children physically, the Gemini proclivity for sudden, stinging, sarcastic speech may cause deep wounds in little hearts or create a hurt which can be remembered for a lifetime. There may also be a reluctance to show affection in the form of kisses and hugs, unless a conscious effort is made to overcome the natural Geminian coolness. Yet, I've known some Gemini parents who seem to give the warmth they can't release to adults in abundance to their children. See that the youngsters don't confine him needlessly, don't ask him to babysit unless he obviously wants to, and he'll take to fatherhood nicely, with one child or a dozen.

Jealousy is something you may never have to worry about with a Gemini husband, because possessiveness is not a typical Gemini trait. If suspicion occasionally whispers in his ear, he'll usually brush it away (unless an affliction in the natal chart indicates otherwise). Some degree of jealousy is natural in everyone, of course, but it's normally not exaggerated in a Gemini. Love is not a strictly physical relationship with this man. He hears more, sees more and feels more through his senses than others do, and Mercury helps him record the most delicate impressions vividly. His love has such an airy, elusive quality, it may seem to lack the earthy passion of other Sun signs. But if you're not seeking a wild cave man who will drag you into the woods by the hair, he should be a more than satisfactory lover. He'll speak of his emotions with romantic, imaginative phrases, and fill the hunger of your heart with the strange beauty of his idealism.

Remember that the typical emotional coldness of Mercury can be warmed considerably if you both hear the same music and dream the same dreams. He must experience a total blending of the mind and the spirit, before the physical passions catch up in intensity. That may seem oblique, but it's the only real road to his heart.

You'll have to get used to the word “if.” He'll say, “If I loved you, we could …” and “If I loved you, there might be … and sometimes never finish the sentence. You may have to listen with your heart and finish it for him. Blot out the word “if.” He only uses it as a smoke screen or as a safety precaution. Harsh, critical nagging and continual emotional scenes will surely dull the edge of the fine, sensitive Gemini love. Try to squeeze a puddle of mercury in your hand. What happens? It dissolves immediately into hundreds of sparkling silver balls that quickly escape through your tightly clenched fingers. One Gemini man whose wife thought she knew him very well wrote the following lines just before he left her, and she found them among his papers after the divorce:

“Into the dream you came
And across the soft carpet of my reverie you walked With hobnail boots …”

You'll often read or hear it said that Geminis must always have two loves at once. This Gemini duality, hinting at deception, is so frequently mentioned, it may cause unfounded anxiety. May I modify that description? A Gemini needs two loves. Not necessarily two women. That's a riddle. If you truly understand him, you'll know the answer to it.

If you've been courting a Gemini female you've probably learned just how hard it is to get the Gemini woman to settle down long enough to take passion or anything else very seriously. Her mind is always traveling, and she keeps up a pretty good running commentary simultaneously. But if you look a little deeper, somewhere, hidden among the several women who make up one Gemini female, is a romantic one—one who is capable of intense passion, if you can manage to make the mental, spiritual and physical blending complete. How to develop this side of her, and still enjoy all the other women bottled up inside the Geminian personality may be a bit of a challenge, since one Gemini female equals several women. But I'm afraid it's up to you to tackle the puzzle of sorting them out. Each individual case is different.

Her age will be an important clue to what you can expect, because until she matures, romance is only a game to her. She can be fickle and unpredictable to an incredible degree. First she'll be ecstatically carried away by your smile and your voice, even the way you walk. Then she'll reverse her ecstasy and criticize everything from your socks to your haircut, and she usually does it with such clever, sharp sarcasm, you may need iodine for your wounds. Now, don't let this put you out of the market for a Gemini woman. Remember you're getting at least two for one, and that's indisputably a bargain.

Mercury females aren't as heartless as they seem to be at times. Their active imaginations create many fantasies. Romance is the easiest way they can express them, and Geminis have at least twice as much to express as other women.

The Gemini needs your pity, not your anger. It's painfully difficult for her to really commit herself to one person at a time. While she's being impressed with a man's mental abilities and his intelligent wit, another side of her is noticing his antipathy toward the arts or his lack of response to music and poetry. When she finds someone who's appropriately creative, who's at home at the ballet or in the literary world, the duality pops up again. Right in the middle of a stroll through the museum, her other self will begin to wonder if he's practical enough to make a living or if he has enough common sense to know where he's going. I trust you're beginning to have a more sympathetic understanding of the conflicts peculiar to those born in June.

Give her credit. She'll usually manage to keep her bewilderment at her own complex character to herself, and not burden you with it. She's a lively and gay companion. Most of the time (when the mood is on the up-swing), she'll sparkle with a vivacious personality, amuse you with her clever, witty remarks, and converse intelligently about almost any subject under the sun. She enjoys all the sentimental gestures of romance and has no trouble making conquests. No woman you've ever met will delight you with more imaginative ways of loving you and such appealing charm. She can flutter her lashes with delicate femininity, but she's not at all helpless when it comes to earning her own living. A Gemini woman can play the giddy party girl to perfection, flattering and laughing, catching the attention of most every man at the party (even the married ones). But she can smoothly switch into a serious intellectual, who studies the great philosophers and talks about politics or poetry brilliantly. And then, just as suddenly, she can turn into a bundle of raw emotion, full of nerves, tears and fears. This woman is certainly not stuffy or monotonous.

If you think this is an exaggeration, remember the late Marilyn Monroe, the iconic blonde bombshell of 1950s Hollywood. Every man she ever knew, from Carl Sandburg to her hairdresser, saw her as a totally different person than the other men who thought they knew her, too. Place a photograph of her as the seductive love goddess next to a picture of her wearing horn-rimmed glasses, a babushka and no make-up, seriously intent on a lecture about Russian authors. Then add a third and fourth shot of her in a gingham apron, learning to bake a cheese soufflé for a husband whose athletic talents and warm, human qualities she worshiped—and walking sedately beside another husband whose intellectual abilities and literary talent she deeply respected and admired. Add two more photos. One showing her with a tear-stained face, full of longing, after losing her third baby—another shot of her in a bikini, gaily laughing with a handsome French movie star on the Riviera. These are not posed pictures. They were snapped when she wasn't even looking, let alone seeking publicity. It's a perfect example of the eye of the camera exposing all the women contained in one Gemini female, who successfully kept her multiple nature hidden behind the image she chose to project the most frequently.

Your Mercury-ruled woman longs to be “really, truly in love,” but it keeps eluding her. She yearns for motherhood, but often that eludes her, too. She finds a different perfection in each man she meets, as she restlessly searches for the one man who has all the qualities she needs for happiness.

You'll find her a great pal. A Mercury female will go along with suggested event from scuba diving to speed racing—bicycling or badminton. She'll have an interest in all the outdoor sports, and still manage to look as soft and feminine as lacey lingerie, with a mind as fast as a whip. The sharp Geminian mind will show clearly when her curiosity is excited by any new subject. She will see all the intricacies of your creative ideas, and she'll probably throw in a few promotional schemes of her own. As long as you don't demand consistency from her, she'll be completely fascinating.

It's only fair to warn you that this Gemini can sincerely believe she's in love, yet find other men attractive at the same time. Unless she's near you all the time, she can forget you quicker than a woman born under any other Sun sign. It's her nature to accept change, even seek it. Until she learns to control her devoted courtship of constant activity, neglecting to cultivate patience and stability, the Gemini female can make quite a mess of her life—and yours. Fortunately for the men in love with them, most Geminian women settle down into a deeper understanding of their own natures before it's too late.

Once you've proposed to her and she's accepted, you can pity all those men who are doomed to a life of monogamy with just one woman. You'll be marrying several women when you marry your Gemini.

Woman Number One will be able to adjust to anything you require of her. If you require faithfulness, she can manage that, too, providing you're interesting enough to have won her real love. I refer to that blending of mental, spiritual and physical compatibility, with the physical part added last, like the paprika, after the other three are well mixed. With her ingenuity, taste and sense of color, she can make a new home look lovely with a light touch of her creative, clever hand.

Travel and the excitement of new horizons always interests her. So if you or she has to uproot yourself and make a career move to another city, she'll be up for the adventure. She also has a surprisingly good head for business and will never be lacking for new ideas. Although a Gemini woman may give the outward impression of flightiness, she's not as flighty as she appears. She's a thinker, and a very clever one, underneath all the bright, small talk.

Woman Number Two will be moody. You might just as well expect it. She'll have her satirical moments when she can be cynical and flippant, by turns. At the same time, she'll challenge you mentally. But we all need to be stimulated, don't we? Go ahead, top her in an intellectual argument. (It's what she secretly wants anyway.)

This particular woman won't be easily shocked by life or have any preconceived prejudices, and her passions may lead her to take up a cause or two. In fact, she's likely to fill up her time with quite a few activities outside of her job, so don't expect her to stay home with you every night. She might be in class on Monday and Wednesday evenings working on that second degree, playing on the intramural soccer team on Tuesdays and attending a lecture (or more likely giving it) on Thursday night. So be prepared to find other things to occupy your evenings unless you decide to join her in latest interest. What if you do have to plan a night out with the boys while she's out making a speech or going to night school? At least she probably won't hound you with suspicious questions about who you were with, where you were, and what you were doing when you both arrive home late. Don't question her, either. You're on the honor system. So is she. This one is a highly independent individualist.

Woman Number Three will be bored and depressed with any kind of routine. That includes housework, so you can expect the beds to be unmade and the dishes unwashed, unless you do them yourself. She would prefer to daydream, read or write the outline for her latest idea for a play. If you insist she cook (which she loves to do, but on her own terms), she might set out a microwave dinner for you as she's waltzing out the door. And you'll still have to microwave it. But you can rest assured you will have the most soul-satisfying conversations with her into the wee, small hours. She'll sympathize with your frustrations at the way life has treated you. She'll satisfy both your emotional and your intellectual cravings, be curious about your opinion of Buddhism and excited about your attempts to write a song, because these things will interest her as well. In short, she's pretty good company. She'll be very affectionate, too, especially if you don't bug her about cleaning and baking and all that nonsense. This woman may make a mess of the checkbook now and then. But if you suggest a sudden camping trip or a few days in Las Vegas, she'll enthusiastically pack her suitcase without worrying about how it's going to affect your joint checking account.