Chapters 📺

0:00 Intro

0:49 Reputation of Venus in Gemini

1:43 Romantic Comedies & the Lighter Side of Venus

3:45 As You Like It by William Shakespeare

49:54 Thoughts for the Week

Teaser

[00:00:00] Venus and Gemini. We all know about sex education, but what about love education? We'll be getting a crash course from William Shakespeare himself, who happen to have Venus and Gemini. Next on horoscope highlights.

[00:00:16]

[00:00:23] This podcast episode is sponsored by Astrology Hubs Academy. Wherever you are on your astrology journey, we have a class that will help you get to the next level.

Intro

[00:00:34] Hello, my name is Christopher Renstrom and I'm your weekly horoscope columnist here on Astrology Hub. And this week I wanted to talk to you about Venus entering the Zodiac Sign of Gemini on April 11th.

Reputation of Venus in Gemini

[00:00:49] Now, Venus in Gemini has a bit of a wayward reputation. It's often described as a two-faced woman or fickle in.

[00:01:00] There's actually a lot more to Venus and Gemini than that. And one of the things that there's a lot more to Venus and Gemini than that is it's fun. All right. Venus and Gemini is, to me, one of the most playful, placements of Venus that you can possibly have in an astrological chart. And this is something that's forgotten a lot about Gemini and about Venus is how playful this planet can be.

[00:01:25] When we've spoken about Venus on previous, episodes of Horoscope High, usually it has a lot to do with passion, a lot to do with longing. We've visited a lot of suffering heroines or people on the wrong end of a relat.

Romantic Comedies & the Lighter Side of Venus

[00:01:43] But today. Today I wanna talk to you about the lighter side of Venus. The lighter side of Venus definitely comes out in the Zodiac sign of Gemini, and that lighter side of Venus is something that we all experience in romantic comedies.

[00:01:58] Romantic comedies are very, Gemini, if you think about it, there's so many themes that are running through them that are so, uh, familiar and easily recognizable on the Zodiac side of the Twins. For instance, ,in most romantic comedies, I'm not saying all of them, but in most of them, uh, we begin with the fact that the two levers don't recognize or understand their feelings for one another at, at first, they don't even see themselves as being suited to each other.

[00:02:29] In fact, in some romantic comedies, they may start off as enemies, like, um, in Pride and Prejudice, or, uh, they may be involved with other people at the time, like in Moonstruck, or they simply don't recognize that their best friend is the one that they should really be. Harry Met Sally. Romantic comedies also involve certain devices like Deception, rouse, and trickery.

[00:02:57] They often appear in romantic comedies and especially in romantic comedies in which the protagonist is on enemy territory. Comedy that comes to mind immediately. One that I love, it's one of my favorite is Working Girl. Uh, Tess McGill is passing herself off as a more professional working girl than she really is, or, there is, crazy Rich Asians.

[00:03:22] In which Rachel Chu, who's very smart, on her, on her own, actually has to learn how to develop some claws if she's going to, hold onto her man. So passion and heartbreak might be reserved for the romantic tragedies, but wit and Gail belonged to the domain of romantic comedies

As You Like It by William Shakespeare

[00:03:45] as you like. Is one of Shakespeare's most famous plays, and it happens to be one of my favorite comedies that he wrote. Um, it's basically, if you're not really familiar with as You Like It, it's Tootsie, but told from the point of view of a woman who dresses up as a man to get her guy, in As You Like it.

[00:04:06] If I can break down the plot very quickly here for you and as you like it, the plot pretty much focuses on Princess Rosalind and Orlando, when, as you like it begins. Princess Rosalind, falls in love with Orlando. And, and why does Princess Rosalind fall in love with Orlando? Princess Rosalind, who is highly regarded in court, falls in love with Orlando.

[00:04:30] When she sees him wrestle half naked, this man who's. Two times larger than himself. Okay. So, so there's this burley fellow who comes out to, you know, do a wrestling match and, and everyone from the court, you know, gathers around in a group. They're like burley man, wrestling match who's going to oppose him?

[00:04:49] Who could possibly oppose him? He always defeats his enemies. And so he's like, oh, showing off his muscles and things like this. And out from the crowd comes springing Orlando. Who is this? With, with dark, curly hair. And he spies the big, uh, burly wrestler guy. And he's stripped off his, his, his, his, top coat and, and, and his, uh, uh, shirt.

[00:05:12] It's not a top coat, Christopher. It's Shakespeare. Okay. He s strips off his Blossy shirt and, you know, has his, muscular, uh, Suni body, but he's much, smaller and slighter than the big, uh, wrestling man. And they go at it and they're, they go at it and everyone's like, wrestling. Wrestling. This is such marvelous fun.

[00:05:31] Look at those muscles. Ripple. And so, uh, Orlando's not doing so well at the beginning. He's actually getting his mm-hmm. Kicked, uh, but, but Fortune smiles on Orlando and he gets the best of the Burley wrestler, and he brings him to the ground and the wrestler cries out Uncle, before falling into a dead faint.

[00:05:52] And four, and then eventually six, and then eight men have to lift him up and move him out of this small, impromptu arena. And Rosalind, who's escorted by her best friend, Celia, uh, Rosalind, is. So taken by the magnificence of, of the young man and his courage that she, immediately takes her necklace off her neck.

[00:06:14] And she walks up to him with Celia, Celia and, um, you know, her eyes are, are completely dazzling. And she takes her necklace and she puts it over his neck and she says, I want to award you this prize for having fought this wonderful rustling match and, and triumphed, uh, we had our doubts, but you prevailed.

[00:06:32] And this was a marvelous thing, you know, and she's sort of looking at Celia like, um, is there something else we can come up with to say for conversation? And Orlando just sort of looks at her, you know, like this with a necklace around his neck and Roslyn catching that. It's an awkward moment, says. Okay.

[00:06:49] Uh, basically the Shakespearean version of Sia, you know, which is probably like unto thou Orlando eyes show exu to the castle and a spy you at a later moment or something like that. Anyway, so she exits the scene, because Orlando didn't really say anything to her, but she still left, um, her necklace around his neck.

[00:07:09] Now, this wrestling contest, there was a little bit more to this wrestling contest that was going on. This wrestling contest was actually set up by Orlando's older brother Oliver. And their family, Oliver and Orlando are brothers. Their family has fallen upon hard times, with the death of their father.

[00:07:28] And so finances are tight and Oliver doesn't really like Orlando. Anyway, here's a Gemini theme right away. Okay? It's the sibling rivalry. He doesn't like Orlando, and in fact, he despises Orlando. Orlando is better looking, he's younger, he's more agile, and, and, and all the things that Oliver is not. So Oliver, uh, is full of this enmity towards his brother Orlando, and, um, has actually made an arrangement with the burley wrestling guy before the match, for the Burley wrestling guy to break Orlando's neck.

[00:08:03] This was not unheard of. Um, wrestling matches were quite the sport in Elizabeth and times, and, uh, they played for keeps. And yes, there were many occasions in which legs were broken, arms were broken, backs were broken, and even necks were broken. And Oliver has slipped an extra little, uh, pouch of gold coins to the, uh, wrestler with the instruction to break his brother's neck.

[00:08:28] And so, that didn't happen. Orlando prevailed. So this is a good thing, but at the same time, Orlando is very much aware that his brother is, uh, holds malice towards him, and he finds out through a mutual, uh, friend. Actually it's a servant that, Oliver had, quite intended to kill Orlando and will, be trying this again in the near future.

[00:08:52] So Orlando, decides to escape his brother's, malice by fleeing into the forest of ar. So we have a court, we have a castle where we have a Princess Rosland, and, her best friend, Celia. And this castle, is surrounded by this marvelous forest. It's the forest of Arden, and in the forest of ar, Ireland are all sorts of like, wildlife and beautiful trees.

[00:09:19] And, and it's actually a very, wonderful place. A place where you can go and sort of get away from, from the artifice of court. So Orlando has decided to escape his brother's malice by, by fleeing to the, um, Forest of Arden, the Arden Forest, where it's not really easy to track people down. So obviously there are other fugitives and, and people like that hanging out in the forest of Arden.

[00:09:46] But the fact that he has to flee, is also distressing, not only because his brother has malevolent tent towards him, but it's also distressing because Orlando himself has fallen in love with the lady Rosalind, when they met. And he is furious at himself for having been rendered. Mute. I, I think Shakespeare has him describe himself as a block of wood and who hasn't felt that in the presence of someone that we are attracted to or that we adore, we're all of a sudden like, uh, uh, uh, you know, we're rendered mute, we're rendered a block of wood.

[00:10:21] And Orlando was so angry at himself for not having said anything. And so with the memory of that, Kisses the necklace, which still hangs around his neck. And, and he, and he, curses himself for not having said thank you when she, when she gave this necklace to him, what a fool I am. And he, uh, departs, he departs into the forest of, of Arden, into the Arden forest, and here and here walking among the branches of trees and, and, and taking in the babbling brook.

[00:10:52] And, were herds of sheep grays. I mean, the shepherds bring their herds of sheep into the forest of art to grays. And they're like, BA, ba, you know? And he's like, oh, nature. Okay. So, so here he is like, oh, nature, um, among the trees and things like this. And somehow, I don't know, I guess he packed some parchment paper or something.

[00:11:11] But anyway, full of. And, and Aror for, Rosalind. He begins to compose poetry. He takes out these, these, these, uh, pages and he begins to compose poetry on them and, you know, smiling, you know, amused at his own, a more, he pins them or, or kind of attaches them somehow to the branches of trees.

[00:11:38] But because he's so in love with Rosalind and, and so annoyed with himself or not having said anything, and the pendant still hangs around his neck, he, he writes profusely. I mean, Orlando is actually, he might not have said anything in the moment, but Orlando. Evidently is quite prolific as the poet, as the love poet.

[00:11:57] And he, he's, he's dashing off these poems and he's attaching them to trees. And he is harden, you know, and he is surrounded by nature and, and he's really in this state of bliss, even though someone's trying to kill him. Orlando is in the forest writing poetry, and he's in this wonderful, state of bliss.

[00:12:15] So these, poems come to the attention of Rosalyn's father. Rosalyn's father is the banished Duke. Okay? So remember that we started with a kingdom, a palace of court, and there was a duke there who was actually in charge of everything. That was Rosalyn's, father. And he's been banished.

[00:12:35] He was overthrown by an evil Duke, with, without anyone knowing how or why. And, and so he is been over. Well, we know why he's jealous. Everyone's jealous. It's one of the darker themes of Gemini, okay? As always, the jealousy and, and, and, and the sibling rivalry, the rivalry. And so he's overthrown this king and he's banished him to the Duke of Arden.

[00:12:56] So, he's overthrown this duke that he's banished to the forest arten arten forest. And so this Duke is hanging out. His entire court. So what you have to sort of imagine here is a Duke, with his fool, and his, sage Jacque next to him surrounded by Troubador and, and, and, and king's men and, and loyal nights and things like this.

[00:13:18] And they're hanging out in the forest of Arden, why this is allowed to go on, and why he's not seen as a threat by the Duke and the Castle. Anyway, it's a romantic comedy. So he's hanging out and listening to poetry and storming and, and they see, uh, uh, Orlando's poems and Orlando comes upon them and, and they invite him to partake of their grapes and wine and food and, and they will house Orlando with their tents and their company here in the Arden Forest.

[00:13:47] So, cut back to the court and, uh, here in the court we see the Duke, the evil Duke who banished Rosalyn's father, the evil Duke happens to be the father of Celia, who is Rosalyn's bestie. Okay. Who came with Rosalyn to the wrestling match and, you know, kind of encouraged her to go up and talk to Orlando and, you know, chuckled as a, you know, and was sort of like, gosh, he didn't say anything to when they left, you know, so, so Celia is, is Rosalyn's bestie.

[00:14:15] And so her father is the Duke, the evil Duke, who has banished, who has banished Rosalyn's father. And so, he's taken it upon himself, or he is gotten it into his head. That, um, Rosalind and Celia have grown too close. They've grown too close as friends, and this isn't good. He's jealous of his daughter Celia's, devotion and love of, of Rosalynd.

[00:14:39] So he decides to banish Rosalind that afternoon. He says, you are banished. You know, and rosalyn's like, well, where am I to go? And you have to remember, Orlando running into the forest is one thing. The Duke and his merry men hanging out like Robinhood and his merry men, and the, uh, art and forest is another thing.

[00:14:59] These are men. They can, they, they've built the company of men and they can sort of like hang out in the forest. But to be a lady, this lady Rosalind, who has no familiarity with. Labor or with forests or with even how to build a fire to be banished, exiled out of the castle that night and has no idea of how to take care of herself.

[00:15:22] You can just begin to imagine how horrifying this is. Imagine being thrown out of your house with no money, no credit cards, no anything, and then you're forced to make your own way. This is, these are exactly rosalyn's circumstances. And so she has to leave by the next morning or she'll be executed.

[00:15:40] I mean, the Duke isn't, you know, playing around. She falls on the . Ground and pleads and, and Celia falls on the ground and pleads and they cry. And the Duke is unmoved and they retreat. They retreat to their chambers. And immediately, and this is what's so wonderful about Shakespeare, women begin plotting and contriving about how they're going to get out of this.

[00:15:59] Okay? So, so they're not kind of like, oh, banished us. What are we gonna do? We're useless. You know, it's kind of like, okay, let's get to work and figure out how we're going, how we're gonna do this. And so Celia, they've been besties since infancy.

[00:16:13] Okay? She's not going to give up on her best friend. And so, and, and they're like, well, we're going, we're going out. We're going into the forest. That's where everyone else is gone. And, um, what are we going to do? We can't go in our, in our ladies' refinery, you know, will be like targets for, for robbers and thieves, um, and, and riff raff.

[00:16:33] Celia says, you know, in a Marie Antoinette moment, you know, off to the petite Renon, I show dress as a shepherdess. Okay? So Celia comes up with, I show dress as a shepherds, so she's going to like, wear a little shepherds, uh, uh, cap and, and vest and, you know, gown and things like this and, and maybe get a shepherd's crook somewhere from someone.

[00:16:55] So, so Celia's going to dress as a shepherds, and Rosalyn is like, ah, I shall dress as a man. And Sealy is like a man. And she's like, yes, because if we're two women out in the forest defenseless, people are going to prey upon us. So I'm going to dress as a man. I'll dress as your brother. I'll put on these leggings and this jaunty cap that'll wear at an angle and maybe a little, uh, cape over my shoulder.

[00:17:24] I, I love the fashion show that goes on before they're going into exile. Oh, just like, uh, cape on my shoulder, I shall defend and, um, I shall be your brother. And, and so, we see sister and brother, right? Getting the Gemini thing here we see sister and brother. And also bestie since childhood, another Gemini thing.

[00:17:44] And. And she says, well, what, what, what will you call yourself? And, and, uh, Rosalyn says, I will go by the name Gae, the cup bearer of Zeus. Of, of Jo, king. Of the Gods. And so here she is, a very feminine boy. For all of you who remember gmy, it does cut bearer to Zeus of the gods. Okay? So she's a very fair faced boy.

[00:18:11] Um, and she cuts her hair short so that it's almost kind of like a Dutch cut or something like that. And the two of them are off. They take, I think it's touchstone, or they take a fool. They're, there's always a readily available for to be had. Okay? So they take a fool, with them and they go into the forest of Arden that night, and the Duke.

[00:18:30] The Duke discovers in the morning that they're gone. Rosalyn, he's happy, is gone, but, but Celia, his daughter, Celia, she's also gone. And so the Duke is furious and he vows to pursue them.

[00:18:43] Hello. My name is Christopher Renstrom and I'm here right now to tell you about this exciting course that I'm going to be teaching that's going to be coming up soon. It's called Ruling Planets for Unruly Times, and as you can imagine, it's all about the planets in your horoscope. And to help get you started, I'm offering this free gift, which is a printout sheet that lists all the planets and their.

[00:19:06] Along with key words to keep in mind as we investigate and unpack the meaning of the planets together. You can get this by going to astrology hub.com/planets guide. I'm so excited about teaching this course, and I can't wait to get into all of it with all of you.

[00:19:25] Hello and welcome back from the break. So here we are in the forest of Arden. Celia has disguised herself as a shepherdess. Rosalyn has disguised herself as the brash youth, the GAed. They have a fool in tow, and they've marched into the, forest of Arden to sort of figure out how they're going to deal with this exile situation.

[00:19:47] no sooner have they entered into the forest of Arden, where they're looking around the trees and admiring the babbling brook. And once again, the sheep, resident sheep, the meandering, omnipresent sheep, or running on past. They begin toy, connected to trees. Whole pages of paper, and with writing on it.

[00:20:10] And both of them are kind of like, this is intriguing, like, who's writing pages and attaching them to trees? This is interesting. GAE is much more involved in, you know, well, what are we gonna do to, um, shelter ourselves for, for the evening? And Celia is like, well, I've, I've gotta see what the, the, the thing is hanging on the tree over there.

[00:20:31] And it just so happens that there's a shepherd boy, uh, SIUs not a boy who's a young man. Not a young man, but Sylvia's a younger man Okay. Who shows up and he's, you know, uh, leading the sheep and he takes them at face value, a young lad and a shepherdess who he hasn't seen before. But anyway, They get into conversation, and, and Ghanim basically says, well, we're kind of like on her own and we've lost our way.

[00:20:55] We're journeying from village to village. We're kind of looking for lodgings. And, Sylvia says, well, I have lodgings, or I know of lodgings, or this old guy that's standing next to me who's like, I'm old man standing next to a subway. Uh, this old guy rents a cottage. And so Canmy is like, well, you know, here's, uh, a month's rent.

[00:21:13] And they're like, more than happy. And so, so they say, you've got a cottage, and, and we'll take you to the cottage. And before they exit to the cottage, uh, Celia grabs one of the pages off the tree and takes it with her smiling and kind of giggling to herself. Delicious. So, um, they go back to, uh, the cottage.

[00:21:34] And they get set up and, and, and it comes with beds and, and things for food and all these sorts of things. And Ghanim is rather proud of himself. He's, he's, he's secured them lodgings, so that they don't have to, sleep under the, trees at night. And Celia's like, well, um, I found a little something hanging from the tree.

[00:21:54] Remember those pages? And, and GME is like, oh, yes. And you have to remember that Gmy, you know, ESES, Rosalin talking with a, with, you know, a, a lower voice to show she's a guy, you know? So, uh, GM's like, yes, let's, you know, uh, uh, what, what were written on those pages. And Celia says, well, I think it's something that will interest you a lot.

[00:22:14] And, uh, you know, Ghanim is like, well, what is that? You know? And she says, take a look, you know, and the poem begins, dear Rosaline, you know, and GME is like, oh. You know, Rosaline just like, oh, immediately. And it's a love poem. It's a love poem. And she reads it and it goes on and on and on and on and on. And she just is so enraptured and she's like, you remembered me.

[00:22:45] He knew me. This is Dear Roline. There isn't another Rosaline in all of the kingdom. It's gotta be me. Right? It's gotta be, he's talking about me and CELs yet. Yes, yes, yes. He is. He is. And she's like, this is, this is amazing. And, and Celia's. And, and here's another one and another. And, and she's like, the, where'd you get these?

[00:23:03] And she's like, from the trees. They're, they, they've been pinned on every one of these trees around here. It's a, it's an extraordinary thing. And so Rosalyn reads them and, and is so delighted and Celia's so delighted that Rosalyn's delighted. And the fool is delighted in his foolish way. But then it's the fool because fools can never help themselves in these situations.

[00:23:24] It's the fool who points out, the thing that Celia's been giggling about. Okay? And that is that the poetry is really God awful. All right. And he, and he begins coming up with, you know, a gout that has a hind, it reminds me of Rosalin, you know what I mean? He begin like, anything that can rhyme with Rolin Orlando is used to, uh, it's awful poetry there, there's nothing redeeming about it.

[00:23:51] It's, it's really horrible. Rosalyn in that, in that instant goes from being so delighted that Orlando has remembered her to like embarrassed and mortified as to how bad the poetry is. And she's like, It's really bad.

[00:24:06] And celia's like laughing on the bed. She's like, oh my God. So it's horrible. And the fool is like, well, maybe we can rhyme Roslin. You know, he's like coming up and she, you know, throws something at him. And so, and, and so this is, this, this is not a good thing, but she's secretly delighted. She's secretly delighted that Orlando is in love with her.

[00:24:27] So, Orlando and, Rosalind Meat, not as Rolin. Remember, she's disguised as the boy gme. And so, you know, GME and Celia are, you know, strolling through the forest. And, and they aspire. They aspire a distance. This young, you know, strapping fellow from behind who's hanging, uh, poetry on tree limbs and carving Oh, and he's also carving into trunks of trees, r and rosalin, and all these sorts of things.

[00:24:55] He's so fabulously and desperately in love. And so she, she sees him pinning this poem up and, uh, she walks on up to him and says, let me take a look at that, you know, and, and Orlando's like, surprised and he turns around and, you know, as gue, you know, dressed in the Jati cap and the little cape of the shoulder.

[00:25:16] And, and, and the tights and the shoes grabs that, poem out, out off the branch, and she pulls it away from him and reads it out loud. And Orlando. Well, we, we all get like that, right? When we're infatuated. It's like the most, most special precious thing you can talk about is you're beloved.

[00:25:33] Okay? So Orlando's like, oh, you're going to read poetry. Oh, you're going to read my poetry out loud. Better yet, you know, and so, you know, GME reads the poem, you know, quietly to himself. And, and Orlando's starting to get a little worried, like, um, do you not like it? Or are you criticizing my poem? And who the hell are you, you a little punk, you know?

[00:25:54] And so GMI reads this poem and then looks up and says, basically, this is trash. GMI begins to criticize it and to find fault with, with Orlando's verses and Orlando as you. You know, understand and, and, and completely is understandable, is angry and even is angry and offended and even a bit defensive, as he's talking to this like punk, this brat named, named Gue.

[00:26:22] And, um, one would think, you know, that he would be able to sort of see through the disguise and see that it's a woman dressed as a man. But, you know, in all fairness to Orlando, he only got a glimpse of, of, Rosalyn at the wrestling match. And she was in her, you know, noble lady finery. So, you know, seeing this like, you know, kid, doesn't really register with him, at, if at first or, or if at all.

[00:26:45] In fact, it never rochesters with him. And nobody was saying Orlando was the brightest bulb on the tree. But anyway, so, uh, ed says, you know, look here, Orlando, my, my father, my tutor, you know, some sort of mentor figure in, in G's past, you know, taught me the arts of love, you know, and I know what it's, what it's like to, uh, woo a lady, you know, and, and, and Orlando's like, oh, you do.

[00:27:11] How do you a lady? I mean, obviously Orlando doesn't know how, um, and he's like, how do you woo a lady? And, and, GMI says, I'll teach ya. I'll teach you how to do a Woo Lady. So Orlando goes from, um, and I'll teach you how to Wol lady. He says, and, and, and not by writing this, I'll, I'll, I'll show you how to really write poetry if you want to win her attention.

[00:27:33] And so immediately, Orlando goes from, you know, little punk, you know, to like all ears. He wants to hear, well, well, how do I woo? How do I woo this lady? And so GME says, I am going to, uh, teach you how to woo this lady. We will have a specific curriculum and we will begin tomorrow at two o'clock. So tomorrow two o'clock, I want you to show up here and we will begin your lessons in how Tooo, uh, lady , Orlando's so excited.

[00:28:04] He's like, oh, I'm gonna learn how to woo lady. This is wonderful. And Gmy says, and I'll stand in for the lady. Okay. And so, uh, Orlando's like, okay, okay. You can stand in for the lady. Uh, do you know her name? Her name is Rosalin. And, and Gmy is like I gathered as much. It's in every single poem that's written on every single one of, of these pages that are hanging from every single branch in the forest of Ireland.

[00:28:25] So I, I, I, yeah, I got that. The fact that her name is Rosaly, two o'clock tomorrow, let's get together here. Okay. And Orlando's like, I can't wait. And so this mock courtship, this comedic situation is what makes as you like it so popular? I haven't met an actress who hasn't wanted to play Rosalind. You know, it's a great, fantastic role to play. And this is hundreds of years after, after the play was written. So, so what, what makes, as you like it so popular?

[00:29:00] Why is Rosalyn, you know, really one of the great roles that every single actress worth her weighting gold wants to play well? What makes it so popular and what makes it so rare, especially coming out of Shakespeare, is that this is one of the few comedies where a woman makes love to a man. All right?

[00:29:25] So in other words, we have lots of comedies where, where men are wo wooing women or dressing up disguised. I mean, you can think of Barbara, of Seville, you know, where they're trying to like win the affection, of their beloved. But you have very, it's very rare when you have a comedy, especially from Shakespeare's time, where it's a woman who's wooing a man and it's a woman.

[00:29:48] Basically making love to a man. She's making love to him through words. She's making love to him through courtship and this reversal of roles, this role play again, it's another Gemini theme, a Venus in Gemini theme where, you're not, I'm gonna take this part. You take that part and now we're gonna switch.

[00:30:08] And I'm gonna take that part. You take. Okay. So this role playing, which unfortunately a lot of times in our society we see as, you know, fake or let's pretend or what's this role playing? This roleplay is more than just a dramatic conceit. The role playing allows Rosalind, who is disguised as a boy, the boy gme.

[00:30:33] It allows Rosalind to a probe the heart of Orlando to assure herself that what he feels is real. Okay. Two. She can step out of character as a woman, all right? Because she's disguised as a boy and he recognizes her as a, as a young man, she can step out of her character, her role as a woman, and she can form a real friendship with a man.

[00:31:04] The idea of a woman forming a friendship with a man, especially in the higher, strattice of society, I is unheard of. You know, the higher you get in the court, the more, formalized and the more you know what, what they refer to as artificial. The relations become between people. I mean, if this were like a shepherd hanging out with a shepherds, they're like hanging out, and they could be whatever they are.

[00:31:27] But, but this is a lady. And Orlando, although he's not really referred to as a Lord, definitely was his father, was a man of memes, came from a lot of money. So, so the formality would have, put an end to getting to know one another as friends before, uh, their, their designated, marriage partners, particularly at this time, and in, in Shakespeare's upper, upper, upper crusts of society.

[00:31:57] So, so disguised gme Rosalyn can probe the heart of Orlando to assure herself that his feelings are real. She can step out of character as a woman and form a very real friendship with him, man, man to man. Okay. Uh, in essence, they can basically hang out together, which is not something they would be able to do at court.

[00:32:20] And thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, and it's a wonderful thing that you see happen in a performance if it's performed well, as Rosalind learns about Orlando, through this role playing that they do, in, in the education with her educating Orlando and how to wua lady, as she learns more about Orlando, she also, she also learns about herself.

[00:32:48] All right. And this is a very important thing. And when, when the role is played well, this is what you see develop as the story, in the play unfolds

[00:32:59] now during the course of the play, there's a young shepherdess. There's a young shepherdess whose name is Phoebe, and Phoebe is very proud and Phoebe is very full of herself. And as is, described by Celia, you know, Phoebe Phoebe's feelings for, Sylvia's, who's the young Shepherd man that we met earlier.

[00:33:22] They are the exact opposite of the feelings that, Rosalyn has for Orlando. Okay, so, so, so here's a mirror opposite. And, and Shakespeare loves mirror opposites. So especially in plot line. So here's the mirror opposite, to, to what's taking place with Roslyn and Orlando, where, Rosalind is teaching Orlando how to Woo.

[00:33:46] Uh, Phoebe is completely rejecting of Sylvia's attentions. She insults him, she makes him feel like dirt. And, as Gamy despised. She delights in it. She not only, abuses SIUs in terms of his affections and attention, but she delights in actually causing him a great deal of pain.

[00:34:10] And, as so happens, nothing as so happens in a Shakespeare play. But as so happens, upon first, setting eyes on Gae, Phoebe falls in love with Gae instantly is head over heels in love with Gae. And of course, the more that Gae rejects her, the more, ferocious our Phoebe's passions and, and, and attractions, and really to the point of humiliation.

[00:34:40] And this is a very, interesting. Part of the play. Um, obviously this play, this plot line is played for laughs, you know, that. And, and we get to laugh at Phoebe because she's just been so atrocious to Sylvia's and she doesn't understand, like the audience understands that, um, G's really a woman and she goes on and on about how men should be and things like this.

[00:35:02] And, you know, it makes the audience laugh, appro, okay. But there's more to this than just laughing at Phoebe. And this is what makes Shakespeare, Shakespeare, um, in, in G's treatment of Phoebe. Okay? Rosalyn is Rosalyn as gmi in, in her treatment of, of Phoebe disguised as asid. Rosalyn gets to experience for the first time in her life.

[00:35:35] What a man experiences when a woman is in love with him, whom he doesn't love. All right? And many people wonder, you know, especially people who are in love and it's unrequited wonder, um, what is it, you know, what, what would it be like to be the beloved? What would it be like to be the person who gets to treat, the people who are in love with him or her?

[00:36:08] A lot of times him. What would it be like to treat people so coarsely, you know? And, and women. Women are in these positions too, but the point of the play is that Rosalyn, as a woman, gets to experience what it's like for a man. To have these affections thrown on him and to be abusive. All right? And, Shakespeare set it up in such a way that it's okay for the audience to laugh because Phoebe's such a bitch, but he's also set it up in such a way that for those with more sensitive hearts and souls, that they can recognize that Rosalind is, uh, perhaps enjoying this a little bit too much.

[00:37:03] All right, Rosalind says she's doing this, you know, being verbally abusive and awful to Phoebe to teach Phoebe a lesson. But you know, when you perform Shakespeare and you, you. That's what Rosalyn's telling herself. But what's really going on with the character is that Rosalyn is actually enjoying it. And this adds an extra dimension to the character of Rosalyn, especially when at one point she says to Phoebe, you know, basically, uh, you're not exactly a winner in the Looks department and goes on to imply that Phoebe isn't so pretty that she should go to bed with the lights on, or the Shakespearean equivalent of that line.

[00:37:46] And it's very coarse. And, and although Rosalyn, again is saying these things, you know, in service of Sylvia's to strip Phoebe of her pride, and to also really cast SIUs off in a more flattering light. You know, like she's really kind of coming from the angle of you don't know how good you have it with affections from SIUs.

[00:38:07] And by the way, sister, you're not gonna win because at the end of the day, I'm a guy dressed as a woman, so you don't want anything to do with me. But Rosalyn isn't warning. Phoebe of that. Roslinn is enjoying playing with Phoebe. And, and so this storyline works contra ly, with the, Roslyn Orlando storyline.

[00:38:30] And what it really exposes is Rosalynd because she's in a position of power enjoying. And it's a side of Rosalyn that, uh, I don't think would be recognizable to Rosalynd if she hadn't put on the role of Gmy. So disguised as a boy, disguised as Gmy, Rosalyn can be as saucy as she likes, and by saucy means she can use some real foul language.

[00:39:01] And she does. And she does not spare the metaphor. I mean, she goes right on end. Okay? So she can be as saucy as she likes. She can be as self-assertive as she wants to be, get meat actually gets cockier and full of himself as the plague gets underway. Um, but she can also be as caus. As she likes, you know, Rosalyn, when we meet her earlier in the play, isn't like this at all, but as Gae her, her alter ego, she can be as caustic, as rude, as abusive.

[00:39:37] And, and, and, and she's having a time of it. Okay? This is not anything that would be at all, acceptable, for a woman to do. And so when Orlando, you know, in their courtship, you know, he's learning, you know, he's, he's always saying that he loves Rosalind and, and Gamy is always shooting back with like, well, how do you know you love her?

[00:39:56] And, and how, how do you know she's even worth loving? You know? And, and so. Orlando says he wants to marry Rosalind. That, that, that, that, you know, uh, he wants to marry Rosalind and g counters him with questions like, well, how do you know that Rosalind will be faithful? How can you trust her not to sleep around with other men?

[00:40:18] I mean, these are, I mean, these are extraordinary things to say when you already know that the person you're in love with loves you. But in her alter ego is gamy. She gets to say them, and she wants to know, you know, she's kind of, you know, with, with her guy buddy hangout thing. She's giving him permission to sort of talk the way guys do.

[00:40:41] That's what she's set up. And, uh, you know, I mean, cuz a guy is like, you know, oh, Betty's like really attractive. I hope I'm half the man that I can be with. Betty might not be saying those things about Betty. You know, those things that he says to Betty's face, you know, um, might not be the same things he's saying when he is hanging out with the guys.

[00:41:00] And this is exactly what Rosalyn is doing. She's, she's picking, she's picking his mind.

[00:41:06] So there's this wonderful exchange. There's this wonderful exchange that takes place between Ed and Orlando, at the beginning of Act Fours. It's it's Act four, scene one. And Orlando had said the day before that he wants to marry Rosalind. And he wants to marry her. And his life will be complete if the two of them can only be married.

[00:41:28] And so this is the day following, you know, this is the next day in the course of how to Woo Rosalyn that's taking place and gait. Remember, it's Rosalyn disguised as Gmy gait says. Now tell me, how long would you have her after you have possessed her? You know, he asks forthright to Orlando and what he's saying with, how long would you have her after you have possessed her?

[00:41:53] What he's saying there is, after you've married Rosaline, after you are the husband, after you are Rosalyn's master, after you were in control of Rosalyn's body and money and future, how long would you have her? How long would you have her after you have possessed her and Orlando answers? Forever In a day.

[00:42:19] Forever In a day. He's j he's just so ruthlessly in love with, Rosalyn that it just comes out forever in a day, you know? And Gmy says, to him, say A day without the ever. No, no. Orlando men are April. And responds say a day without the ever. No, no. Orlando men are April when they Woo, December when they, wed just as maids are May when they are maids and the sky changes when they are wives.

[00:42:59] This is such a fantastic. Interchange. It's like, and, and, and, and it's connected to the seasons, you know, of course, you know, uh, men are April when they woo, it's springtime, you know, and, and, and the maids are open to the wooing when it's may, you know. So this is the season of Spring Gemini comes at the end of the season of spring.

[00:43:20] This is young love. This is love that's as green and, and as fresh as the shoots of grass, you know, and the roses that are emerging and blooming and, and letting out their perfume descents. Okay? So, so everyone's on their best behavior when it's the spring, but when the season changes, men are December when they, we, uh, I eat not that interested.

[00:43:45] And women, women who were so, you know, he loves me, you know, the sky changes when they become wives. So it's this extraordinary comment on marriage that, uh, I think is fantastic and hysterically funny. But it's also but it's also GME testing Orlando. How, how do you know that these things aren't going to change and when they change, what are you going to do about them?

[00:44:15] You know, so this testing, this probing goes on. But, you know, you come to a point in the play where you wonder if Roland and Orlando are ever gonna get together. You know, like, when, when does Orlando graduate from the school of Ghanim? And what you realize, and Shakespeare realizes too in the writing is Rosalyn is having way too much fun messing with Orlando's head.

[00:44:38] Okay? She's really gotten into the Venus and Gemini thing, you know, the roleplaying, the game playing, the fooling around, you know, but also the messing around with the person's head. She's gotten very carried away with it. She's having too much fun. And she's also really enjoying the swagger.

[00:44:54] She's enjoying being a man. She's liberated, you know? Um, but anyway. Things need to come in for landing and Shakespeare realizes this. So, uh, you know, some quick plot twists. Uh, he has Orlando save his brother Oliver from certain death. , Oliver has been sent into the forest by the Duke to bring back his brother, Orlando.

[00:45:16] And the Duke is going to, execute Orlando himself. But there's a snake that almost kills him and a panther that almost, kills him. And, and, and Orlando, who twice walks away to ignore it cuz his brother's been nothing but a villain. Still has feelings of kinship and, and, and does away with the snake and beats back the panther and even gets, you know, wounded in the Malay, uh, the Melay with the panther.

[00:45:40] And so, Oliver Awakes from his nap. He was somehow sleeping through this whole thing, but he awakes from the nap, sees that his brother has saved him and has a complete change of heart and change of soul. And the evil Duke. The evil Duke, we never even see anything happen. We just hear from someone that the evil Duke was also going into the forest of Arden to pursue the banish Duke and met a holy man on the road, who convinced him to take up the monastic life, and the Duke does, and he becomes a priest.

[00:46:13] You know, and this is what I love about Shakespeare, you know, it's just sort of like, okay, these plots are gonna take too long or whatever. So I'm gonna sum it up to you in like two words. I mean, Shakespeare's not interested in these plots. He's like, you know, he finds God and he leaves, and now the Duke can come back to the castle and everyone can come back to the castle.

[00:46:29] And now, and now, uh, disguises need to be dropped. Hearts need to be revealed, and we need to bring this romantic comedy to an. He does this by, first of all, the person who, tells, Celia still dressed as, as a shepherd s and, uh, ged. Uh, y Orlando hasn't shown up for, his, love lesson that day is because he's tending a wound.

[00:46:53] And, and Ghanim is immediately like a, a fright, you know, shows the woman underneath. And, and Celia looking at the recently changed Oliver. And if she can't have Orlando, Oliver doesn't look so bad. And so she's in love with Oliver. Now everything's going to be revealed and the couples are going to be united, but it's at this moment that we have to remember that this is still a world where women are subjugated by.

[00:47:19] By, by men. They're subjugated to men. They serve men. And it's as a man that gme resolves to fix up all the love matches because he can't do it as a woman, but as a man, he can, he resolves to fix up all the love matches and promises to deliver tomorrow afternoon to Orlando. His beloved Rosalind and, Orlando is, is disbelief.

[00:47:43] It's like, how, how you don't know her? How, how can you know her? How can you, uh, deliver her to me tomorrow? You know, to be my, my wife, my betrothed and gmy is like, I know how to do it, dude. You know, I'm on it. So, so he's gonna do that. And, and she's agreed to do this because after the testing, the probe being after the game playing, uh, which has been the courting and the wooing, um, you know, it hasn't been frivolity.

[00:48:10] It's been very real. Testing of affections and building up a friendship after the game playing, she feels ready to be his wife. And so she has properly educated Orlando in, in the ways of love, or at least she has properly educated Orlando in the ways of loving her. Um, but that's, that's where we are.

[00:48:35] Venus is, is all about courtship. Okay. And, and it's Venus and Gemini. And the courtship is done through Gule, through while, through trickery, through role play. But it's not done to humiliate, it's done to, to build the friendship, to build the rapport, to build the favorite jokes, you know, and to see whether or not she likes this guy as, as, as a friend.

[00:49:03] And of course, the following day, everything is revealed. Her father's going to be Duke of the castle. Rosalyn is now going to be, you know, lady Rosalind. Celia will be installed, Celia will marry, Oliver, Rosalind, you know, will marry, Orlando, who. Doesn't, still doesn't question for a moment where GED is and where Rosalyn came from, but is just happy to be marrying her.

[00:49:27] As I said, he's not the brightest bulb on the tree. And, Phoebe has consented to, Mary Sylvia's, after G's mysterious disappearance. Um, you know, and, and so, and so Shakespeare brings it all in for landing. And for those of you who may not know, William Shakespeare was a Taurus.

[00:49:44] So his ruling planet is Venus. And, um, Venus is of course in the zodiac sign of Gemini, as I, as I mentioned earlier.

Thoughts for the Week

[00:49:54] But the things to think about, you know, and the questions that the play raises, I think are very much worthy of thinking about, uh, during this time that Gemini, that Venuses and Gemini, um, Orlando has an image of Rosalind and pressed upon his heart.

[00:50:14] And it is so idealized that he fails to recognize Rosalyn disguised as Gae. And it begs an interesting question, or I think it's an interesting question at least, which is how many of us are infatuated with this fixed idea of what our type is? You know? And, and, and Shakespeare's saying that in a way, he's, he's, he, he gets a glimpse of Rosalind.

[00:50:40] He falls in love with her, but he's got this really fixed idea of who Rosalind is. So much so that he doesn't recognize her as Gae and so much so that, that's really deconstructed through the play. I mean, GMI, aside from messing with his head, has left him with some very real questions about himself and about who Rosalind is and how he's going to treat Rosalind as his, as his life and beloved.

[00:51:08] So how many of us have a fixed idea of what our type is? How many of us have found it and how many of us have missed out on love because it wasn't what we originally had in mind. If you look at romantic comedy, these are the questions that appear in all the romantic comedies. I had this fixed idea of what love was supposed to be.

[00:51:36] I almost missed out on what love really was. I almost, said no, because it wasn't what I had in my mind, you know? And it's the deception, it's the disguise, uh, that allows one lover to get to know the other lover and do do the courting and to do the wooing. So it's in this play, this, this Gemini sense of play.

[00:52:05] Changing roles, uh, role play that goes on, that you actually get to know the lover, as, as a friend, as a playmate, as a person who's close to you. Um, this Venus and Gemini is saying, this is what you do to, to get to know the lover. Yeah. You might have to play some games or, or whatever, but it's a way of wooing.

[00:52:31] It's a way of courting. It's not like, oh, we have to get together, and then what do we do? You know, it's, it's the building of the play. It's the building of the play that's so important to Venus in the Zodiac sign of Gemini, and it's something to think about, to contemplate during the time that Venus is in Gemini from April 11th to May 7th.

[00:52:54] I hope you enjoyed this week's episode of Horoscope Highlights. Please don't forget to comment, like, and subscribe. Your support means a lot. See you next week.