Gemini: The Duplicitous Twins

My interest in astrology rarely extended beyond flicking to the back page of a magazine and pondering the likelihood of my horoscope predictions ever coming to pass.

I never saw myself reflected in the person that these horoscopes portrayed, apart from in the vaguest terms; and I suspect that not many people do, simply because it’s almost impossible to reduce a fully-rounded human being down to just a few character traits (whether they're dictated by the heavens or otherwise!).

But, after investigating deeper, I was surprised…

Despite my initial cynicism, the way I live my life does in fact bear at least one very key resemblance to the famously two-faced twins:

There are two unique sides to my life that are constantly supporting and opposing one another.

I have recently realised that one of the most common facts associated with Geminis is actually 100% totally false.

According to Allure.com, the duplicitous nature of two-faced Gemini is not malicious, but is often without hidden agenda at all.

So, not as damning as I first thought.

The stars don’t write me off as back-stabbing, manipulative, and untrustworthy, but instead suggest that I’m just pretty good at handling more than one thing at once.

Let’s hope that’s true, because I’ve built my life and career around it.

In the simplest way possible, I live a double life.

It’s not true in the same way it's true for Hannah Montana, Joe Goldberg, or Penelope Featherington; but it is true for me in a much more innocent way.

I am constantly balancing my life and work on two sides of a very temperamental pair of scales, with art on one side and writing on the other.

I have an almost equal desire to succeed at both, and find that I have to assume a very different personality to succeed at each. But in neither case am I a hard-and-fast Gemini; confidence, creativity, communication, self-expression, and rash thoughtlessness are all Gemini traits that play a part in my life, but more often than not I break the mold.

Famous Geminis

As if the revelation that the universe isn't straight-up out to get me wasn’t reassuring enough, there are plenty of incredible minds that have made the multifaceted Gemini life work out for them.

Feast your eyes on the glorious cocktail of talent that is…

• Naomi Campbell
• Helena Bonham Carter
• Stevie Nicks
• Idina Menzel
• Angelina Jolie
• Natalie Portman
• Courteney Cox
• Venus Williams
• Zoe Saldana
• Nicole Kidman

Suddenly, I’m feeling quite proud to be a Gemini (and, if a fellow Gemini is reading this, you should too!).

Twin No. 1 - Art

The first of my parallel lives is dominated by art and physically creating beautiful things. I work predominantly in collage, creating the silhouette of iconic figures, animals, or places out of newspaper, magazines, or books, and then painting the detail over the top in ink.

I’m proud of my work, and not afraid to say it.

Things have moved quite quickly over the last few years; and week-to-week it probably now occupies more than 50% of my time.

So how do my Gemini traits play into this half of my life?

Confidence

Geminis are supposed to be outspoken, confident, and to have strong opinions. To suffer no fools and back themselves, so to speak. But these are things that do not come naturally to me. I have to work at them, nurture them, and use my gallery exhibitions as a place to do so.

A façade of confidence might start to emerge once I can see that someone’s enjoying my work, but I am by no means the ‘social butterfly’ that Geminis are meant to be.

Thinking about it, maybe I should be using my star sign to formulate a series of goals – things that I should be more of in order to try to make the two different sides of me stronger?

Creativity

Beginning on the first day of summer, 21st May, Geminis are reputedly very good at welcoming in change, thriving on transformation, and pursuing new creative pursuits.

And, yes, I can’t deny that this fits me quite nicely.

Both halves of my life are inherently creative, and I switch between the two quite easily, using painting as solace from writing and writing as solace from painting. My art panders to the Gemini short attention span, as I can begin a new painting every few days, whereas a piece of writing might take me weeks, months, or (in some embarrassing cases) years…

Communication

Supposedly easy communicators, Geminis talk with their hands as much as their voices, and it’s not a difficult jump to see that my paintings are a way for my hands to speak. They assemble the words of others, found in newspapers, magazines, or books, in an order that communicates my own message. Though I might not be outspoken in everyday life, it would be impossible to stop some opinion creeping into my work.

After a few drinks with the right company, I find conversation flows a little easier, but I am by no means an easy-talker. On the flip side, I’ve been told that others find it easy to talk to me, that I’m actually a good listener.

Maybe it’s my ability to listen and take in what’s going on around me that nurtures the second half of my life… writing.

Twin No. 2 - Writing

Unlike Twin No. 1, the side of me that enjoys writing is the side of me that can be quiet, shy, and very comfortable under the protection of my shell.

My fiction work tends to be full of those inner thoughts that are specific to me, and I can only hope that others might relate.

But how is my sense of voice and self in my writing relevant to being a Gemini?

Expression

Geminis are better at expressing their emotions externally – under the guidance of Mercury, the messenger planet of communication – but this is not something I have ever found easy. I tend to keep quiet about my worries until I'm able to find a solution on my own, without the aid of others.

Instead, my writing is an outlet; the method through which those internal thoughts can become external… but quietly.

Writing is a way of communicating with no one in particular (perhaps my only audience is myself) on my own terms and in words that only have to make sense to me.

Of course, in my professional copywriting work, the voice I write with is not my own – it wouldn’t work if it was! You could, I suppose, consider me a Professional Gemini.

Thoughtlessness

One of the biggest shocks when researching my star sign further, was finding out that Geminis often forget to be thoughtful with their words. Do I associate myself with verbal diarrhoea? Absolutely not (unless I’m really nervous). Have I ever said something and regretted it after? Of course, but so has everyone, regardless of their star sign.

Geminis take to texting and tweeting as an outlet for their constant need to talk; but, once again, I’d go as far as to say I’m the complete and utter opposite.

Any of my friends will tell you that I can be veeeery difficult to pin down when it comes to messages. I sometimes fall into a creative hole and no one will hear from me for days on end. So while I love to write, it’s rarely public. Vocal is totally new territory for me, and while I haven’t written much, I’m relishing the fact that the challenges are prompting me to step outside my very cushy interior comfort zone.

One thing I always try to avoid, in writing and in life, is thoughtlessness with my words. If anything, I spend far too long contemplating a sentence before I type it out or speak it. It might, thinking about it, be a bit of a downfall for me. I think about embarrassing stumbles and poor word choices for months and years after they've happened, long after everyone else has forgotten about it.

In summary: I dwell. And there is no better place to dwell on things than on a blank page.

So, am I really a Gemini?

This might seem like a funny question to end with, given that my birthday is mid-June. An unavoidable fact.

But, hear me out. I was meant to be born on 4th July; so, when I’ve been sneakily checking the astrology section at the back of magazines, I’ve always also scanned the horoscope for Cancer.

Weirdly, they’ve always felt a lot more reflective of my personality. As a Cancer, I’d be intuitive, family-oriented, loyal, committed, obsessed with food, passive-aggressive, bad at talking about my problems, susceptible to the different energies in a room, and have an icy outer shell and a fondness for cosy spaces… And, without patting myself too hard on the back, that sounds exactly like me!

So, I guess I'm a strange, contradictory mix of both. Perhaps the real question here is not how like my star sign I am, but rather which star sign I should be to begin with?

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*All artwork and illustrations are my own.

*All spelling and grammar is correct to English (UK) guidelines.