THE PHENOMENON
One of the constant companions in our winter sky this year has been beautiful Jupiter shining up high in Gemini. This constellation’s name is derived from the plural form of the Latin adjective ‘geminus’, meaning “twin”. It is made up of 15 primary stars in the shape of two stick figures lying side by side: Castor on top and Pollux underneath. Assuming the twins are facing us, Castor is stretching out his left hand, Pollux his right, while they hold hands in the middle. Jupiter is now smack in the center between them.

JUPITER spends on average a year in each constellation, taking approximately 11.86 Earth years (or about 4,333 Earth days) travelling at about 13.1 km/s (roughly 29,000 mph) to complete one full revolution around the Sun, or a Jovian Year. Since the constellations span varying distances, Jupiter’s time in each one depends on how much space they span.

JUPITER ENTERED THE CONSTELLATION OF GEMINI
last May 14, 2025 after spending about a year in Taurus, and then from October 18 – December 5, 2025 it briefly crossed over into Cancer, and then backed up again into Gemini during its retrograde phase where it will remain until early June 2026. The planets always make a little backwards loop on us, as if they forgot something along their way, or had to relive something once more before moving on. But really, we couldn’t visibly trace all these motions of Jupiter.

We can only see Gemini in the night sky from December onward because it disappears in the summer, and you would have to wake up early a few hours before dawn from September to December to see it low in the eastern sky just before the sun rises. So, for now, we still have a few more months to enjoy the Jupiter Twin show until it returns in another 12 years.

POLLUX is the brighter star with 1.15 magnitude (17th brightest in the night sky). It is a golden-orange giant star. CASTOR has an apparent visual magnitude of 1.58 (remember, the higher the number the fainter the light—its weird—it has to do with a system of ranking classes). It’s a white star that looks like a single point to the naked eye but is actually a complex system of six stars all orbiting one another. THIS WEEK

This week between March 25-26, another character will be crashing the party: the WAXING GIBBOUS MOON, creating quite the quartet ensemble. You can view it high up at the zenith at 20:30, setting around 2:30 in the morning. We get to observe the moon pass over Castor on to Pollux’s outer right hand, and on the way, sweep near the brilliant light of Jupiter with its apparent magnitude this week around -2.25 to -2.4 (the lower the number the brighter). Jupiter typically ranges  between −1.6 and −2.94 magnitudes, making it the third-brightest object in the night sky after the Moon and Venus, so it won’t be washed out by the moonlight. And if you have a small telescope or steady binoculars, you should be able to spot Jupiter's four largest moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto) appearing as tiny dots of light in a line next to the planet.

When Jupiter is at its brightest, it can actually cast shadows on the ground. The next time Jupiter will reach its peak magnitude will be on February 10, 2027, something it does roughly every 13 months. Mark your calendars ahead if you want to experiment with your Jovian shadows!

THE LEFT AND RIGHT HANDS

The moving zodiac above us created the framework for the first study of the human being. There is an ancient relationship between this stellar picture of Gemini and all that concerns the human being’s symmetry—especially the symmetric relationship between the right and left hands. What is significant here is that the twins are doing two things: they each have one hand outstretched, and they are joining hands with the other. This symmetry is cooperative in the same way as our eyes. The two together allow us to see singly. Together, the hands can create one great thing

The hands possess their own memory and wisdom, they have their own way of thinking when they move—sewing, drawing, fixing things. They can also sense subtle things when they are still.

The Left…
There are many ways to talk about the significance of each hand and what they bring to human life in connection with the cosmic world. In Western occultism, the Left Hand is often seen as a path of breaking boundaries or accessing the hidden side of things. It is all about dissolution— loosening, untying, releasing, dissolving. It’s what alchemist called "Solve" —from the Latin verb ‘solvere’. The Left Hand pulls things inward from the past to be broken down and understood by the soul. In a way, it pulls the mask away and analyses.

The Right…
Once you have analyzed your components, you can bring them back together with more clarity to understand the whole picture with the "conscious" mind—with a structure of meaning. You create a synthesis. It’s what alchemist called “Coagula”—from the Latin verb ‘coagulare’. The root ‘agere’ means "to drive", "to move", or "to lead." It is the expansive force that flows outward without restriction. The right hand is often linked to the future and the trajectory of one's destiny. It is the path of manifesting spirit into matter.

… together

Gemini shows us that both paths are necessary; one cannot have "Light" without a "Shadow" to define it. The left and right hands joining together create a closed circuit of total life force, allowing both currents to mix and harmonize within the body. Hands unify the human with the sacred whole.