The Alchemy of Gemini - Betwixt & Between

As the days get longer and the sun rises to its zenith in the sky, so the alchemical carousel turns again and we enter the sign of Gemini. The dialogical exchange of the divine twins invites us into the mysteries of the air element and Nature responds with a rich variety of sounds, colours, scents and textures. The blossom of Taurus has attracted bees and butterflies and the pollination cycle is beginning in earnest, carried on winds of change. Endlessly darting from flower to flower, the Gemini messengers buzz and flutter happily from one source of interest to another, spreading the news, stirring nature’s alchemical mix and heralding the arrival of summer. It seems like everything is up for grabs in this hubbub of trade and exchange. We find Nature’s theme reflected in the Christian calendar with the festival of Pentecost or Whitsuntide, which remembers the story of the holy spirit coming as a rushing wind, carrying divine “wit” and inspiring the apostles to spread the word of Christ’s ascension.

Changing the Buzz

The bee is an apt animal totem for Gemini and its activities are so obviously essential for the sustainability of life. Yet, as we know, the bee population is declining at an alarming rate, and one of the contributing factors, it seems, may be the electromagnetic radiation emitted by mobile phones and wireless internet signals, our modern Geminian pollinating devices. The airwaves are now saturated to near exhaustion with our half-baked human jabberings and it appears to threaten the very essence of life.

The Sacredness of the Air

Many indigenous cultures, past and present, recognize the air, the wind and the breath (that we moderns have secularised and commodified) as aspects of a sacred power. It is the sensuous medium through which they live and have their being. Moreover, spoken words, drawing their communicative power from this invisible realm, are still considered by many indigenous groups to be the “structured breath”,¹ which voice the intentions of the spiritual powers. And for those who have their sensitive antennae intact, the sacred air through which we all breathe and think and speak is still perceived as being richly endowed with myriad elemental beings, carrying with them the spirit of our interactions.

A Tapestry of Evocative Language

Gemini carries the power of Hermes or Mercury, the god of language and communication, trade and commerce. All that is betwixt and between comes under the auspices of this duplicitous messenger, wordsmith and riddler. So, on the alchemical journey this month, with this wily daemon at such close quarters, we are paying extra attention to what we are thinking and saying! Gemini always reminds me to choose well from the web of words and stories and to voice them with more ritual care. We do well to remember that words do not simply label things that are already there, but can also carry an incantative power which reverberates in the aether, echoing back and forth as the great tapestry of life is woven.

Including the Middle

The alchemy of Gemini can re-enliven our awareness of the more-than-human otherness of life, help us reconnect to those emissaries of the air that dance between worlds. Daemons, elves, sidhe, little people - a plurality of spirits marginalised by our disenchanted modern worldview - still close enough to this world to be occasionally sensed in certain special places, yet elusive enough to escape too close a scrutiny. But, if we are to re-enter such a perspective, it will take a suspension of our logic, literalism, hasty judgments and singleness of vision; we will need to embrace metaphor, ambiguity and the “middle” that Aristotle would have us exclude. The rewards are great, though difficult for the analyst, to glimpse for a moment a deeper truth in that enchanted realm where the bard and the ovate - speaking in tongues - still hold court.

The Bull's Injunction!

This month has really been a journey for me in the art of embodiment. My arrival at Abbey House in Glastonbury has slowed me right down, from the pace of inner city Bristol to the tranquility of this retreat with its magnificent grounds and the hallowed turf of Glastonbury Abbey, which is considered by many to be the most sacred ground in the whole of Christendom.

Taurus is not a sign that features strongly in my own natal chart, though I do have a Taurean mother, so was inculcated early in the slow, deliberate ways of the bull. Money, food, safety before all else...frustrating for an Aries who wanted just to risk his heart, but profoundly instrcutive in hindsight, especially as I embrace this alchemical journey around the wheel.

I have reflected a great deal on our extraordinary Taurus weekend - which was so physical in nature - perhaps the least verbal workshop I have ever run - and how appropriate that is for this earthy sign. It was as if there was nothing much to say - it was much more appropriate to hold it in the sensory domain. We were fortunate to have no less than four people present in our band of 12 with their natal moons in Taurus - holding the space for us to drop deeply into that bovine energy!

Yesterday, Colette and I walked again in the Taurean figure of the Bull in the Glastonbury, such a sensuous walk, spectacular views and, as we played merrily under a hawthorn bush in full blossom, with sun beating down upon us, on the bull's left horn, the syncrhonicity of the season was alive and potent in a really quite remarkable way.

This is a piece I wrote in response to the first Taurus walk that we did over the workshop weekend.

The Bull's Injunction
A bull stands before me, solid of stature, single of gaze
Watching, his eyes penetrate to my core
Waiting for me to make the first move
Implacable, caring nothing for my sweet manipulations.

"Oh please step aside and let me past, you are blocking my path. I mean you no harm. You are in my way, and I must progress."

And the bull's reply?

"I do not block your path. I am your path. You cannot by-pass me. You must pass through me. Become me. Ingest my bovine spirit.

"Do not make an object of me, for our destinies are entwined. You must sacrifice that which is within you, that which is afraid of your true Taurean power. You cannot manipulate me with words or clever schemes. For I am your medicine on this turn of the wheel.

"My medicine will slow your thoughts, release the hunch in your shoulders, ground you in your body sense.

Stand squarely before me. Claim this sacred ground that we share. Do not shirk me. Be the Bull that you are!"

bright blessings,
John

A Poem for Beltane

Oh, to be here in Glastonbury on a bright May Day morning, to celebrate with kindred spirits. How at home I feel here honouring the wheel of life! Here's a poem I wrote, inspired by this morning's ceremony:

Beltane fire,
Crackling with life
Each lick of flame a line of verse
An enchantment to bewitch and befuddle
Reason, suspended, must dance like a fool

Jumping the fire, wild awakening
A chanted spiral takes me deeper
Eyes meet 'midst a cluster of memories and longings
Each glance of recognition inebriates my senses
A momentary glimpse
Perhaps
A precious shred of the mystery
To which my soul is wedded, entwined

Dance, my heart, around the may pole
Jack's erect and true, capped with a crown of blossom
Here he stands, the tree of life
The axis mundi around which we merrily play
Weaving our way
This first of May