The sign and its names
Mithuna means a pair or couple, and the sign is drawn as two figures standing together. Gemini is Latin for twins. It is the third sign. In Devanagari the Sanskrit name is written मिथुन.
Element, quality and ruler
In the traditional labels, Gemini belongs to the air group (Gemini, Libra and Aquarius) and to the dual group (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces). The dual signs close each run of three: the third, sixth, ninth and twelfth. The air signs are the third, seventh and eleventh of the twelve. Elements are spaced 120 degrees apart, and the qualities repeat every three signs.
The ruling planet of Gemini is Mercury. Mercury also rules Virgo. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and goes round it in 88 days. It never appears more than about 28 degrees from the Sun, so it can only be seen briefly near sunrise or sunset.
The nakshatras in Gemini
Gemini covers sidereal longitude 60 to 90 degrees, which is exactly nine padas, or two and a quarter nakshatras. The nakshatras with a part inside it are: Mrigashira (padas 3 to 4); Ardra (all four padas); Punarvasu (padas 1 to 3). Their ruling planets are Mars, Rahu and Jupiter. Gemini holds Ardra and most of Punarvasu. The June solstice, when the Sun is farthest north, now falls while the Sun is in sidereal Gemini. Its opposite sign is Sagittarius.
The Moon takes about two to two and a half days to cross a sign, so a moon sign of Gemini lasts that long each month. The nakshatra the Moon is in narrows it down further. Use the nakshatra finder to see both for your birth.
Moon sign Gemini and Sun sign Gemini
A moon sign counts the sidereal position of the Moon at birth, while a Western sun sign counts the tropical position of the Sun. The zodiacs are offset by the ayanamsa, about 24 degrees 13 minutes in 2026.
For Gemini the dates show it. In 2026 the Sun is in sidereal Gemini from 15 June 2026 to 16 July 2026, and in the Western Gemini from 21 May 2026 to 21 June 2026. Only about 6 days of those two ranges overlap, so most people with a Western sun sign of Gemini have a Vedic sun sign in Taurus, and a moon sign in any of the twelve. The moon sign changes every couple of days, so the moon sign calculator asks for your birth time and place.
The padas of Gemini and the navamsha
The nine padas inside Gemini take nine navamsha signs in a row. They start at Libra and run on to Gemini, then the next sign, Cancer, starts again at Cancer. That is how a single degree of the moon sign points to a second sign in the D9 chart, which is read for finer detail.
Counting from Gemini
When a planet is described as being some number of signs from the Moon, the count starts at the moon sign itself. For Gemini that gives: Cancer is second, Leo is third, Virgo is fourth, Libra is fifth, Scorpio is sixth, Sagittarius is seventh, Capricorn is eighth, Aquarius is ninth, Pisces is tenth, Aries is eleventh, Taurus is twelfth. Opposite Gemini lies Sagittarius, while Libra and Aquarius make the trine.
Sun in Gemini: Mithuna Sankranti
The Sun enters Mithuna in mid June. It starts the Tamil month Aani and the Malayalam month Mithunam.
Calculated with the Lahiri ayanamsa and whole sign houses; every setting is on the method page. Last checked 2026-10-04.