Gemini

At some point in life, your heart will be broken. Now you can do one of two things; you can guard yourself and try not to let it happen, you can do this by approaching emotions at arm’s length in a cautious way so that affairs of the heart will never wreak any real havoc on the rest of your life. Or you can go full in, and for a time in your life fall truly madly deeply. At some point, you’ll reach the point of no return and it will be everything you thought it would be and more. Not only will you have a muse, but you’ll also be someone else’s muse. For a brief moment in time, you will feel a deep connection like you’ve never experienced. You will realize that you have met your soul mate. Then as quickly as it began it will be over and then you’ll be sad, lonely, scared, angry, fooled, wistful, and truly madly deeply heartbroken. You’ll get yourself back together, eventually, but a part of you will never really be the same.

I have never understood Geminis, they really are like two people. Gemini’s are hard to figure out. They don’t make sense at all which is why I am also fascinated by Geminis. Like the rest of us, they’ve had their share of heartbreak but it’s what Gemini’s do with that heartbreak that makes them special.

When I was a kid I use to go into my room with a blanket and a hairbrush and pretend that I was Stevie Nicks. I loved Stevie Nicks! The hairbrush was my microphone and the blanket was my shawl. Now for those of you who don’t know who Stevie Nicks is, she was a member of the 1970’s supergroup Fleetwood Mac. Perhaps you’ve heard of them. No? Believe me, you have heard of Fleetwood Mac. No? Okay fine. Do you know who Nathan Apodaca is? Dog face? The guy sipping an ocean spray while riding on his skateboard?  The guy with the Tik Tok video that went viral. Oh, that song? I love that song. Yes of course you do, it’s called “Dreams,” it’s a great song and the singer of that great song is Stevie Nicks. Not only does she sing this song she wrote this song. Shawl wearing, velvety gravel voice with the mixture of you never quite knew what. She had this mystique about her that wasn’t common in the singers of that era and that esoteric style. Is she a witch, is she a fairy? A combination of both? What is her deal? Now when I tell you the sage advice she gave Katy Perry once in an interview you’ll probably love her even more. When asked who her rivals were she said, “never use the word rivals. Those are not rivals you may work with them someday.” In other words, don’t burn bridges with people. Or perhaps was this her nice way of saying “these people don’t hold a candle to me.”

Stevie Nicks is a diva who doesn’t have to act like a diva. Although don’t get me wrong I have no issues with divas. I’m not mad if you want lime blossom or Jo Malone’s Grapefruit candles like JLO or want twenty humidifiers in your hotel room, gotta protect those pipes Mariah. But Stevie Nicks she never had this kind of diva persona. To me, Stevie Nicks is beyond diva, she’s a goddess. The tumultuous relationships early in her career may have ended badly but produced some of the most magical music. 

From the most painful heart wrenching experiences came these beautiful pieces of work. Many of us dream of falling in love and having that perfect love that will never be broken. But then again a heartbreak can build on the most magical of Dreams. “Dreams” it’s about a breakup, specifically Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.

“Back to the floor that I love/To a room with some lace and paper flowers.” Reminiscing about those salad years before the fortune and fame on Gypsy.

Is it about Don Henley? It doesn’t matter but what does matter is that Stevie Nicks did not succumbing to the pressure of being someone’s wife or mom and made a non apologetic decision to choose to focus on her music career. How liberating is life when you live it on your own terms? Who would do such a thing? Live their life on their own terms. Not since Lauryn Hill have I ever truly understood the concept of living life on your own terms. Who? Please don’t tell me you don’t know who Lauryn Hill is. Lauryn Hill was everything to me at one point in my life. I will never forget purchasing “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” I listened to that CD again and again. Like Stevie Nicks, Lauryn Hill had this ability to put a pen to paper and write songs that I felt were straight out of the pages of my own life. It was as if she took these words right out of my heart. She sang about things I hadn’t come to understand just yet but still these things resonated with me. After dealing with my own heartbreak her music was a consoling reminder that “everything is everything” who better than a Gemini to remind us all that “after winter must come spring. Change, it comes eventually.”

One day I was on my lunch hour thinking about Lauryn Hill. Where the Hell did you go Lauryn Hill? Why did you leave us? At the height of her success and fame and ten Grammy nominations,  she simply walked away. Unlike Stevie Nicks, Lauryn Hill decided she wanted to walk away from it all and focus on her kids. However, like Stevie she, too, had her fair share of band romances that went awry. Notably her relationship with Fugees front man Wyclef Jean with whom Lauryn had a tumultuous affair with. To complicate matters even more Wyclef was married during their affair. Critics assumed that she left the music industry because she feared the sophomore slump and wouldn’t be able to top her first album. I thought the same thing, I though maybe she was afraid. But hell, John Travolta did Battlefield Earth and he bounced back?


Quick side bar: Do you remember this movie? John Travolta, Battlefield Earth. It came out in 2000 and it was based on a 1982 sci fi novel written by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of  Scientology. I gather it was somewhat of a pet project because Travolta has always been a long time follower of Scientology. At any rate, if this pet project didn’t kill Travolta’s career then I’m sure whatever Lauryn Hill produced wouldn’t have killed her career but instead she walked away. She walked away because she didn’t like the manufactured image that she was becoming. She made her iconic album specifically to not be known as Wyclef’s side chick and in doing so outshined her former bandmate and made history at the Grammy’s by becoming the first hip hop album to win the Album of the Year Award and becoming the first female rapper to win the Best New Artist award.

Now last but definitely not least I need to talk to you about Romeo Blue, oh wait you probably know him as Lenny Kravitz.

“All of my life
I wonder if I’ll ever see you again.”
All My Life

“I wish that I could fly
So very high
Just like a dragonfly”
Fly Away

If you’re a Gemini and you’re reading this I’m sure you’ve felt like this many times. Because you Geminis can soar.

Lenny Kravitz seems ageless. Lenny Kravitz has this Dave Navarro quality in that he can wear anything. Whether it be a leather motorcycle jacket or a purple fluffy boa they can both pull it off. Oh fun fact: Dave Navarro is also a Gemini. Dave Navarro, Jane’s Addiction sometimes Red Hot Chili Peppers. And I’ve seen Dave Navarro in a fluffy boa and thought damn he still looks hot! How is this man able to pull this off? You might be saying oh please Prince did that for years. Yep, you’re absolutely right. Prince did and like Dave Navarro they were both born on June 7th.  Prince and Dave are June Geminis, Lenny is a May 26th Gemini.  Interesting May 26th is the DOB as Stevie Nicks and Lauryn hill! So you mean to tell me that these three music icons have the same birthday? Now I’m told that May Geminis are different than June Geminis. May Geminis I’m told are more controlling and like to be in control when it comes to ending things. Like Lauryn Hill who ended her own career on her terms.

We can learn something from Prince, Dave Navarro, Stevie Nicks, Lenny Kravitz, and Lauryn Hill. We can learn that it is possible to turn heartbreak into something beautiful. We can learn to celebrate who we are and not subscribe to a gender stereotype or a standard of beauty considered more mainstream. We can learn that societal pressures should not dictate our life decisions whether it be to have five children or no children at all.

Now when my heart was broken it took years. I tried everything but I couldn’t get over it. I tried to make sense of what happened. But it never made sense. Then I read this quote which I have saved on my phone that I have memorized and kept my on phone as a reminder that “You can spend minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months over-analyzing a situation; trying to put the pieces together, justifying what could’ve, would’ve happened… or you can just leave the pieces on the floor and move the fuck on.” Maybe that’s what Lauryn hill did. Oh and the quote, its from Tupac Shakur. Born June 26, 1971, He is also a Gemini.