Gemini

The Twins, interactive air, ruled by Mercury

Geminis are always looking for their twins, and in almost every culture, they find them--inside and outside themselves. Sometimes this twin has a shadow aspect. There are many stories of the light twin and the dark twin, like Cain and Abel, Jesus and Judas, Inanna and Ereshkigal. Or the mortal twin and the immortal twin, like Castor and Pollux, for whom the two bright stars of the constellation Gemini are named. These brothers had twin sisters as well, Clytemnestra is the mortal woman and Helen, the immortal goddess. "Double your pleasure, double your fun"?--or double trouble! The Trojan War was fought over Helen. When Castor was killed, grief-stricken Pollux agreed to take turns, day by day, one buried in the dark Underworld of the Dead, the other living in the glorious Heavens.

Another Greek twinship is that of Artemis and Apollo, children of Leto, the primordial night. This divine brother and sister are polarized as the Lights--Huntress of the Moon and golden God of the Sun that create our cyclic rhythm. The symbol for Gemini looks like two columns that create a gateway which opens into and beyond the world of duality. As we go through and resolve these opposites, a new level of paradox will emerge. Thus we keep learning, satisfying the curiosity of Gemini, who coined the phrase, "Variety is the spice of life."

It is in search of his shadow that we first meet Peter Pan, a quintessential Gemini. Wendy is awakened by the sound of Peter crying, seeking his lost shadow. Off they fly to Neverland. The flight itself is quite an adventure, lots to see and they play games as they go. For Peter Pan, flying was a breeze. He could float in the air and fly off on a whim, totally in the moment. Writes Pan's creator Sir James Barrie:

"He would come down laughing over something fearfully funny he had been
saying to a star, but he had already forgotten what it was; or he would come
up with mermaid scales still sticking to him, and yet not be able to say for
certain what had been happening...."

Neverland was Peteršs realm, where the real and the unreal interface. Peter, like Hermes in alchemy, is the catalytic agent for activity and change. And at the last, he faces his shadow in Captain Hook:

"Proud and insolent youth, " said Hook, "prepare to meet thy doom."
"Dark and sinister man, " Peter answered, "have at thee."

Peter triumphed, of course. You can have great adventures with Peter Pan, but you can't grow up. He won't have anything to do with it. Geminis do have difficulty settling down to the routines of "maturity" (says who?). It is the Gemini in each of us that keeps us young and curious about life. Tinkerbell, that naughty little pixie, is ever-present. Keep clapping. Maybe some fairy dust will sweep you off your feet and you'll find you are flying.

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