An assembly of sacred
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The awaited return of the most obvious seasonal signal
The "brilliant" sectors of the sky
An assembly of sacred images
Figures portrayed
by stars in the night,
by nature "dramatic" figures
Why make reference to
seasonal stars.
Measuring time in "moons"
When lunar imagery is combined
with stellar imagery to compose
a "mythical cinema"
The human condition
and its development
in the
collective memory
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French version
Gemini
This great constellation consists mainly of two parallel lines terminating in two close and brilliant stars… quite naturally, the heads of the twins Castor and Pollux. Their lower limbs descend towards the Milky Way. Like Canis Major, this double figure cannot be dissociated from the Milky Way. Gemini-mediated rites involve the twins in myths connected with the Milky Way’s current of Life and Death.
The "house" of Gemini is the last remarkable constellation of the Zodiac in the brilliant sector of the night sky: occupying the terminal position, its religious importance is as great as the port of entry, Hyades. The lunar power that conducts souls on their pathway concludes by a regenerating bath in the Galaxy ("bath of Artemis/Diane"), a course begun four nights earlier in the Triangle of stars that is its "house of exaltation".
In India, the lunar house of the zodiac, Punarvasu (Punar: "cyclic return") is considered as a point of accomplishment and a new departure towards other actions. In ancient times, the presence of this house apparently signaled the beginning of a ceremony marking the End of the Cycle – Entry into a new Cycle. The Earth’s precession (the slow gyration of Earth's axis), changed the order of what we see in the sky: Gemini formerly appeared with the Equinoxes, very likely with a heliacal rising in the spring and a nocturnal presence in Autumn, the stormy season (see work of G. Tilak).
We see:
With their feet immerged in that stream of cosmic energy, the Milky Way, the mythical Gemini are interpreted by the Greeks as Dios Kouroi: the Dioscuri. These are the children of Zeus-Dios-Jupiter, the Great Thunderbolt or Tindareus-Tyndare, the Thunderer. They hold the thunderstorm’s power, which brings danger and benefits.
They receive secular veneration as the Epikouroi, the "Allies" appealed to when the population needs to be rescued in dramatic circumstances, at times when life is at risk, during storms and epidemics. Further proof of this role comes from Ovid’s time, with the annual celebration in Boeotia that reproduced an ancient sacrificial rite destined to end an epidemic: two young girls, the "daughters of Orion", called upon the Dioscuri while piercing their throats with their weaver’s shuttles.
Arising from the galactic milk (LT, Leda, Lethe) that was fecundated by the Great Celestial Swan of seasonal incarnation, the Twins watch over childbirths when the life of the mother is threatened: mothers of Roman families used the invocation "Ede Pol, Me Castor!", "That Pollux, that Castor come to my aid!". The City of Rome, which was founded under the sign of battling twins saved by a she-wolf, constantly implored the Twins protection throughout its history.
At sea, they manifest their dazzling side. They save the mythical ship Argo and its crew, who observe the twins with the greatest attention, seeing them as bluish lights that suddenly illuminate the tips of yardarms and mastheads during the calm before the storm. This manifestation of their presence has come down through the millennia to be Christianized as "Saint Elmo’s Fire"
It is easy to understand why the most brilliant star in the constellation that crosses the Milky Way was named after an industrious rodent who builds amazing dams across watercourses. Much attention was formerly focused on the family of "Castor"… the beaver! This designation is in twofold agreement with the role of the Gemini as protectors of women in labor, because we also extract a remedy from the glands of this animal to treat the often mortal puerperal fever.
The two words appear to have the same root: the "adelphoi" brothers like "dolphin" brothers… both come from the term, "delphus". This term, with its sacred connotations, designates the site of procreation of life, both on the earthly and celestial levels: the earthly delphus is the womb of a human mother ready to give birth, while the celestial delphus is the cosmic transmitter of vital energy.
Considering the Universe as extremely coherent, this set of images and concepts is well illustrated at the ceremonial site of Delphi. In the Mediterranean world from Lydia (Omphalos Myth) to Delphi, the cosmic bubble full of life expands from Delphi and is viewed as the "omphalos", or the "naval" of the sky. This omphalus is in the heart of the Milky Way: it is hidden from our sight by the "Net" of the Galaxy: the significant emblem of Delphi is an omphalus veiled by a net.
This then gives us a better understanding of the initially astonishing relationship that links Delphi, the pair of Dolphins, to the image of Apollo: the ideogram of the dolphins appears to be an allusion to the seasonal stellar sign that marks the apogee of a solemn religious moment (like the Three-Star Trivet-Triangulum marked Mitanni), namely the "Opening of a cycle". At Delphi, the image of Apollo with twin Dolphins appears to embrace a set of ceremonies organized in honor of the celestial Power: the sun orchestrates the vital alternation of seasons and we seek its benevolence when entering a new period of time.
This great constellation consists mainly of two parallel lines terminating in two close and brilliant stars… quite naturally, the heads of the twins Castor and Pollux. Their lower limbs descend towards the Milky Way. Like Canis Major, this double figure cannot be dissociated from the Milky Way. Gemini-mediated rites involve the twins in myths connected with the Milky Way’s current of Life and Death.
The "house" of Gemini is the last remarkable constellation of the Zodiac in the brilliant sector of the night sky: occupying the terminal position, its religious importance is as great as the port of entry, Hyades. The lunar power that conducts souls on their pathway concludes by a regenerating bath in the Galaxy ("bath of Artemis/Diane"), a course begun four nights earlier in the Triangle of stars that is its "house of exaltation".
In India, the lunar house of the zodiac, Punarvasu (Punar: "cyclic return") is considered as a point of accomplishment and a new departure towards other actions. In ancient times, the presence of this house apparently signaled the beginning of a ceremony marking the End of the Cycle – Entry into a new Cycle. The Earth’s precession (the slow gyration of Earth's axis), changed the order of what we see in the sky: Gemini formerly appeared with the Equinoxes, very likely with a heliacal rising in the spring and a nocturnal presence in Autumn, the stormy season (see work of G. Tilak).
We see:
- two young people pressed one against the other, either with friendly intentions (current image) or each measuring himself against the other, entangled in a combat to the death (theme of the fighting Twins, which is illustrated in Indian sculpture, in the Prambanan temple in Java). The Greek myth maintains traces of this combat, and a small fresco in Thera (Santorini) appears to portray the battle. The fact that one of the stars cyclically loses and retrieves its brilliance, as though it "received a blow", perhaps explains this interpretation.
With their feet immerged in that stream of cosmic energy, the Milky Way, the mythical Gemini are interpreted by the Greeks as Dios Kouroi: the Dioscuri. These are the children of Zeus-Dios-Jupiter, the Great Thunderbolt or Tindareus-Tyndare, the Thunderer. They hold the thunderstorm’s power, which brings danger and benefits.
They receive secular veneration as the Epikouroi, the "Allies" appealed to when the population needs to be rescued in dramatic circumstances, at times when life is at risk, during storms and epidemics. Further proof of this role comes from Ovid’s time, with the annual celebration in Boeotia that reproduced an ancient sacrificial rite destined to end an epidemic: two young girls, the "daughters of Orion", called upon the Dioscuri while piercing their throats with their weaver’s shuttles.
Arising from the galactic milk (LT, Leda, Lethe) that was fecundated by the Great Celestial Swan of seasonal incarnation, the Twins watch over childbirths when the life of the mother is threatened: mothers of Roman families used the invocation "Ede Pol, Me Castor!", "That Pollux, that Castor come to my aid!". The City of Rome, which was founded under the sign of battling twins saved by a she-wolf, constantly implored the Twins protection throughout its history.
At sea, they manifest their dazzling side. They save the mythical ship Argo and its crew, who observe the twins with the greatest attention, seeing them as bluish lights that suddenly illuminate the tips of yardarms and mastheads during the calm before the storm. This manifestation of their presence has come down through the millennia to be Christianized as "Saint Elmo’s Fire"
- Among the mythical silhouettes, we see the outlines of the two fisher Kings of the island of Seriphos, whose nets fished up the cradle of the famous Perseus, an infant savior set adrift at sea, an interpretation of the Gemini as Twin Fishermen with their net
It is easy to understand why the most brilliant star in the constellation that crosses the Milky Way was named after an industrious rodent who builds amazing dams across watercourses. Much attention was formerly focused on the family of "Castor"… the beaver! This designation is in twofold agreement with the role of the Gemini as protectors of women in labor, because we also extract a remedy from the glands of this animal to treat the often mortal puerperal fever.
- Dolphins. The emblem of Argos, the holy city of Hera, appears on its coins, which show a Dog accompanied by two Dolphins. We can read this as the galactic sector devoted to Hera: Gemini above Canis Major. If this view is correct it explains a remarkable page of Greek mythical imagery:
The two words appear to have the same root: the "adelphoi" brothers like "dolphin" brothers… both come from the term, "delphus". This term, with its sacred connotations, designates the site of procreation of life, both on the earthly and celestial levels: the earthly delphus is the womb of a human mother ready to give birth, while the celestial delphus is the cosmic transmitter of vital energy.
Considering the Universe as extremely coherent, this set of images and concepts is well illustrated at the ceremonial site of Delphi. In the Mediterranean world from Lydia (Omphalos Myth) to Delphi, the cosmic bubble full of life expands from Delphi and is viewed as the "omphalos", or the "naval" of the sky. This omphalus is in the heart of the Milky Way: it is hidden from our sight by the "Net" of the Galaxy: the significant emblem of Delphi is an omphalus veiled by a net.
This then gives us a better understanding of the initially astonishing relationship that links Delphi, the pair of Dolphins, to the image of Apollo: the ideogram of the dolphins appears to be an allusion to the seasonal stellar sign that marks the apogee of a solemn religious moment (like the Three-Star Trivet-Triangulum marked Mitanni), namely the "Opening of a cycle". At Delphi, the image of Apollo with twin Dolphins appears to embrace a set of ceremonies organized in honor of the celestial Power: the sun orchestrates the vital alternation of seasons and we seek its benevolence when entering a new period of time.
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