Gemini, the Lovers, & the People Pleaser
Journaling with Astrology & Tarot: Gemini & The Lovers
Our Journaling with Astrology & Tarot Series continues with Gemini & The Lovers. Below you will find a personal story to introduce the themes of Gemini and the Lovers, followed by a intro to Gemini, the Lovers, and an exploration of how the two connect. See how you can apply these themes to your own life with the journal prompts provided at the end of the post.
Paid subscribers, access your Gemini & The Lovers Soul Journaling Session here.
How I became the Ultimate People Pleaser
For most of my life, I loved external validation more than I loved myself.
I made a very conscious decision to prioritize the standards and opinions of others when I was in the sixth grade. I was a new kid at a new school, and I tried (a bit too hard) to find my place.
I was the first girl in the grade to develop, and so I was mostly known for that. I was quickly labeled as boy crazy. The other girls frequently encouraged me to ask out the boys I liked by telling me that they heard that they liked me, too. One hundred percent of the time this ended in humiliation for me (and yet I still kept doing it, hoping one time it would be true). My frequent attempts to get a boyfriend then led to the boys calling me a slut, despite the fact that no one seemed to actually want to date me.
On top of this, I was getting bad grades, and I felt frustrated with all the teachers who seemed to think I was dumb. My mom, while she would stand up for me in the face of mean, judgmental teachers, was overall not happy with my performance. She thought I had untapped potential. She wanted me to be more like my siblings—which meant doing better in school.
I was tired of feeling like I didn’t fit in and like I was letting people down. I remember saying to myself, “Well, I’m not pretty. I’m not popular. I’m not good at sports. I’m not smart. So what do I do?”
I realized that while I couldn’t change my looks or social status or level of talent with sports, maybe—just maybe—if I studied hard, I could get good grades. The teachers would be happy with me. The other students would respect me or, at the very least, stop picking on me so much. Maybe then they’d stop talking about my boobs and stop yelling “Jiggle, jiggle!” while they ran behind me in gym class.
And so I spent the summer between sixth and seventh grade catching up and working ahead. My mom was more than happy to help me with this, buying me computer programs to help me teach myself Algebra.
And then, I crushed it.
In seventh grade, I suddenly had straight A’s. I won a writing competition and was given special awards by the teachers. And for eighth grade, I was admitted into advanced Language Arts & Math classes. The other kids, the teachers, and my mom officially saw me as “smart.”
From that point forward, I was obsessed with getting the best grades, winning academic awards, and getting into the best college and journalism school. After I graduated, I focused on getting the best jobs, attaining perfect performance reviews, and earning big bonuses. I people-pleased my way through both jobs and relationships, which required being highly adaptable to everyone else’s needs and desires. Whenever I fell short—or whenever I thought I fell short—I’d have an emotional crisis of some sort or a panic attack.
One day, completely exhausted, I looked up from it all and realized that I seemed to be unable to make any decisions for myself. I always needed outside approval and assurance. I had no idea what my own standards and values were. I had no real sense of self beyond the external definitions.
Spirituality saved me.
What finally helped me peel back the layers of all my external definitions was exploring Spirituality and recommitting to my Spiritual life. Yes, I had a Spiritual life growing up in the sense that I attended a church, but that also depended on external validation and people pleasing. I needed to follow certain rules for God to love me, for the people of the church to accept me.
The Spirituality I craved was one that let me see the Divine within myself, the kind that reminded me that I am a Soul in a human body.
It began with Yoga and meditation and evolved from there. I began to hear my own voice. I learned to make decisions using my intuition. I started to not just see but believe that I had value and purpose beyond my accomplishments, beyond what I could do for others.
Now, at the age of 39, I am honestly still healing from the impacts of my toxic relationship with external validation. I am still a recovering people pleaser. But I see the patterns, and when I can see it happening, I can remind myself to act and make decisions from a place of love for myself.
The Lovers card reminds me of this anytime I pull it. It invites me to return to the purity and joy of unconditional love, which is something I now witness as a mother in some of the most simple and ordinary moments every day. This is a love that makes you forget anything else matters. And hopefully you find that love not just within your own relationships, but also within yourself.
If finding this love within yourself and FOR yourself takes conscious work every single day, you are not alone. I’m right here with you. And maybe working with the energy of The Lovers & Gemini Season will give us the spark we need to reignite the love within.
Gemini
Gemini Season runs from approximately May 21 to June 21, depending on the calendar year. In 2025, it runs from May 20 to June 20.
What’s Great About Gemini
Geminis tend to be:
Independent, curious, adaptable, and social
Open to exploring and learning, then sharing their knowledge with the rest of us
Multifaceted beings who allow themselves to move in multiple directions, knowing all of it supports the greater whole (which aligns with their symbol of the Twins)
During Gemini Season, you may:
Be more curious, giving yourself permission to explore your many interests
Feel more social and ready to mingle, sharing your thoughts and ideas
Find yourself taking in new perspectives and even changing your mind
All in all, Gemini Season is a good time to explore, socialize, and show love to all sides of yourself (including those aspects that may contradict one another).
What’s Challenging About Gemini
Because they like to explore and move in many directions, Geminis can change their minds or jump quickly to the next adventure, which can lead to being labeled as unreliable or inconsistent.
During Gemini Season, be aware of overcommitting yourself to social engagements or to projects/ideas. If you decide to move in a different direction, just be sure to inform anyone else involved. But be kind to yourself if you do change your mind—it is part of exploring and experimenting!
Featured Lovers cards in order of appearance: The Modern Goddess Tarot by Cecilia Lattari, Mystic Mondays Tarot by Grace Duong, The Meraki Tarot by Bouchette Design, The Light Seer’s Tarot by Chris-Anne, and the Radiant Wilds Tarot by Nat Girsberger. I love that some of them use the traditional human figures while others include animals or nature. The first one in particular points to the self-love aspect.
The Lovers
What’s Great About The Lovers
The Lovers card can indicate a loving, fulfilled relationship, where the individuals are two halves of a greater whole. Traditional interpretations often consider the man in the image to be representative of the physical world and body, and the woman representative of the spiritual world and intuition. But overall it indicates duality, which you see also in Gemini’s symbol of the Twins.
When drawing this card, it could mean that:
You are or are about to be in a deeply fulfilling and harmonious relationship or partnership. This could be romantic, platonic, or professional.
You are in need of a reminder to love yourself as much as you love others, and to love all parts of yourself—even the parts that seemingly contradict one another or create friction in your life.
You have a decision to make or a few important decisions, and this is a reminder to act and choose from a place of love.
You need a reminder to balance the love in your life. This could be a balance between giving and receiving love, loving yourself and loving others, loving your best qualities and loving your flaws, or tending to your physical self and to your spiritual self.
The Challenges
Some view The Lovers card as a bit more tricky and perhaps superficial. In this interpretation, of if you’re looking at the card in reverse, it could mean:
You’re wrapped up in a superficial or fleeting love or infatuation.
You are in a relationship or partnership that isn’t harmonious and perhaps leads you to neglect yourself.
You are too wrapped up in the need or desire for love. You are seeking love outside of yourself when you need to look within, and that is leading you to make decisions or act from a people-pleasing place.
Gemini & The Lovers
Together, Gemini & The Lovers remind us of the beauty and joy of love as well as the importance of creating a balance of love within our lives.
Love is loving the gentle and the harsh parts. Love is loving what is physically around us as much as the Spirit floating through us. Love is loving ourselves as much as we do others. Love is making decisions and acting from a place of love in our daily lives.
We live in a world that pulls us in many directions. We are humans with many competing desires. And we are Souls that hold many stories. For this reason, it is important that our love be as expansive as our inner and outer worlds are.
And as I learned, when we aren’t showing enough love to all aspects of ourselves, we begin to look for love in all the wrong places.
Working with Gemini Season & The Lovers
To bring it all together in a practical way, here’s some tips on how to work with this energy this season:
Look for the love all around you. Notice the big and small moments that hold the energy of love, and especially those that you can get lost in, that make you forget that anything else matters.
If you’re making a decision, ask yourself what Love would tell you to do. Choose what most aligns with your personal values and love.
In your day-to-day life, look for ways to act from a place of love, especially when you feel the need to do the opposite.
Let yourself follow your curiosity and explore all your interests—because all parts of you deserve love and attention.
Speak up and share your wisdom. Tell people what you’ve learned from your studies or experiences. In this act, you show love to others in sharing and also love and respect for yourself for being open to learning and exploration.
(My source for this information and many things Astrology-related is the Seasons of the Zodiac: Love, Magick, and Manifestation Throughout the Astrological Year by Stephanie Campos. For deeper card meanings, I always love to consult Biddy Tarot to see if there’s anything else to add to my personal perspective.)
Gemini & The Lovers Soul Journaling Session
To help you work with this energy, I’ve created:
A set of journal prompts focused on the themes of Gemini & The Lovers (for all subscribers, listed below).
A recorded Soul Journaling Session with one key prompt for the Soul (for paid subscribers). You can use this session as a daily journal prompt or as a prompt for a daily one-card Tarot/Oracle reading:
Your Journal Prompts
If you’d like, listen to the music above while you journal.
What curiosities or facets of myself am I feeling called to explore more this season? How can I show love to these?
What contradictions or opposing forces do I struggle with in my life? How can I examine these through the lens of love?
How can I create a better balance between loving myself and loving others?
Considering a current dilemma or challenge in my life, what would it look like for me to respond and act from a place of love?
How can I help myself get back on track if I find my actions have fallen out of alignment with my values and love?
Spread the Love
Let’s create a mini Soul Journaling Circle in the comments. If you feel called, head there and share what you’d like to do this season to show more love to yourself.
Are you a Gemini? I’d love to give you a free month of the paid subscription so you can work with the Soul Journaling Session for the season!
With love and gratitude,
Marcy
More Gemini Season Resources
And coming soon: A dive into my take on The Lovers for the Soul Journaling Tarot! I am sharing my process of my building my own Tarot deck with my paid subscribers.
More Resources for People Pleasing
Struggle with people pleasing? There is a series in the Soul Journaling Sessions Podcast archive that takes this on from different angles—and of course, there are plenty of journal prompts!
And also wrote a couple of great posts about killing the people pleaser that I really enjoyed reading:
More Resources for the Inner Child
As you can see from my story, people pleasing can originate in childhood. Working with your inner child could help. Check out and her episode of the Soul Journaling Sessions Podcast:
How to Support Soul Journaling Sessions
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Thank you for the shout-out, Marcy! I really appreciate it. I feel like I'm engaged in a battle for my happiness at the moment with someone who wants to steal all my time, so the way I'm loving myself this Gemini season is by defending my boundaries like never before. I'm scheduling "expansive time" just for creating and letting everyone know that I'm unavailable during those times. I'm only being a little dramatic when I say this is a matter of life and death right now.
Thank you, Marcy, for these thoughtful prompts. This Gemini season I will give myself the time and space I need to figure out my next steps in life without needing to make a quick decision & have a set answer for those who ask, ‘What will you do now?’