(I started looking at the archetypes of the signs and reframing how we have come to view them as strictly this or strictly that. I've come to find a lot of wiggle room and nuance in them. This time, I talk about Gemini, the archetype of orphan and why they are the ultimate lovers of the zodiac. Check out my reframing of Capricorn and Aquarius!)
Gemini has earned a contentious reputation in modern Astrology as the sign of backstabbers and face dancers. At best, they are social butterflies, the jack of all trades but master of none. At worst, they are fake, two-faced, and devious. In more evolutionary and studied terms, they are wordsmiths, purveyors of information and communicators, flitting back and forth between ideas and beliefs, never quite settling on a firm ideology. Gemini as mutable air in a society that prefers black and whites, this or thats, yes or nos—is threatening. The perceived duplicitousness of this sign is not done in malice, but rather in aversion to absolutes. But beyond notions of gray matter and gab, beyond tricksters and hipsters, the heart of Gemini has more or less eluded people. As mutable air would, the more soulful and loving core of Gemini has become a ghost, imperceptible, but always lurking if you’d dare coax it. So, allow me to briefly resurrect.
The myth of Gemini involves Castor and Pollux, Greek demigods and twin sons of Zeus (or Jupiter!). They were so inseparable, so close that when one of them died, the other asked to be immortalized in the sky right next to him. As such, they came to represent the duality between life and death, between Hades and Mt. Olympus. This introduces us to the archetype of the divine twin, opposites that come to represent the whole. Gemini as bridge between spectrums, a connector. In an evolutionary theory of the zodiac, where Aries is the burst of life, and Taurus is life crystallized, Gemini enters as curiosity, a spark of awareness. Gemini is the soul seeking to understand itself through thought. And it is in this stage that Gemini is introduced to the other, that there are other sparks of awareness sparking with awareness. We can see this in the fact that Gemini is the first sign to have humans as representation, two humans, where Aries and Taurus are both personified animals. This is where the existence of relationship is born—with Gemini.
Contextualizing Gemini within the inception of human relationship is integral in reframing this sign, modernly seen as flippant and unable to commit, a collector of human interactions versus a wholehearted participant in them. In fact, the soul of the Gemini yearns deeply to connect, because without the other, Gemini simply doesn’t exist. It is here that the twin nature of Gemini need not only represent the solo swims between polarities, but also, or rather*,* the search for the other. It is through a mirror that we come into full understanding of self. The Gemini is searching for someone to relate to (etymology of relationship contains ‘relate’), and thus this spark is the birth of primordial love—because with Gemini, there is no life without another, without understanding and relating to another. Could it be that the apparent socialness and chattiness of this sign is this search for other in action? Gemini is indeed guided by a restlessness for interaction that can be informed by this deep need for relationship, whether they are conscious of that or not. Could it also be that the boredom associated with this sign is merely the absence of true connection, of true soul stimulation?
Back to the myth, Castor and Pollux demonstrated profound brotherly love and sacrifice to be with one another. As demigods of friendship, whenever their stars were bright in the sky, ancient Romans knew they had cosmic favor on their side. Gemini orients to the world through this same fraternity and compassion. In the traditional Rider-Waite tarot deck, Gemini is illustrated as the lovers. Though steeped in controversial religion and dogma that I will not indulge, this card can be seen as two individuals, perhaps Adam and Eve, God’s first human creations, reaching out to each other over the backdrop of Taurus splendor, perhaps the Garden of Eden. Adam was lonely, and thus Eve was created for him. So inherent to the Gemini is this resounding need for company.
That brings us to the archetype of the orphan child. Gemini is often described alongside the character of Peter Pan. Gemini is swift, childlike, silly, full of “lovely wonderful thoughts,” and never wants to grow up. But there is a dark origin story here. In some renderings of the tale, Pan left an orphanage to embark on a series of adventures, later locating his parents only to find that they’d replaced him with another child. He becomes leader of The Lost Boys, a group of misfits all abandoned by their parents. That makes the soul ache. In even darker origin stories, Pan actually kidnapped children from their mothers, desperate for connection and friendship. The confluence between Peter Pan and Gemini is no accident, and I firmly believe that the archetypal resonance between Gemini and Pan is cosmically fact-checked by the tale of Castor and Pollux, cemented centuries before. Both stories simply show the intense desire for relationship, to be seen and heard by the other, to be with the other. Devoid of connection, the Gemini is rendered an orphan child.
A person with strong Gemini in their chart can somehow feel they don’t fit in with their family of origin. This can be because of religious differences, ideological differences, and other jarring differences in worldview than can make the Gemini feel alone, like an orphan. Even the insidious ways parents invalidate the Gemini spark, like forcing a career, or belittling personal taste and style, or burdening the child with adult tasks, can leave a person feeling untethered. In popular orphan child stories like Harry Potter and The Wizard of Oz, the protagonist only comes into full understanding and appreciation of self through others, unconsciously creating familial bonds with people along the way. So too does the Gemini. They demonstrate a powerful drive to connect with others. It is fundamental to the Gemini that they be mirrored, that they be seen, that they be loved. While perhaps picking up many beliefs and ideas, friends and partners along the way, the Gemini’s primary motivation is reunion with their twin. Modern spiritual musings corroborate this further with the invention of phrases like “twin flame” and “mirror soul”. Half-baked romanticisms like “you complete me” further exemplify this search for wholeness by bringing together two separate parts. Even NASA’s Project Gemini was named after a spacecraft built for only two. These are all concepts that are rooted in the myth of Gemini and in the archetype of Gemini.
Gemini offers more than what pop astrology has turned it into. I hope that this reframing has helped you make like a Gemini and change your mind about the Gemini’s in your life, and helps you come into a fuller understanding of the impenetrable soul bond offered by this sign.
I Celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
-Walt Whitman, Gemini Sun