Gemini/Sagittarius axis
Rulers: Mercury and Jupiter
Natural houses: 3rd/9th
On the mutable air/fire, Gemini/Sagittarius axis we meet the
planetary rulers Mercury and Jupiter, which describe learning and the gathering
of information on the one hand, and its dissemination on the other hand.
This axis of exploration concerns the relationship between information
and meaning, facts and knowledge, the student and the teacher, the primary
school and the university. The poles of this axis complete and complement
each other. If the Gemini end loses touch with the bigger picture, with
the value or purpose of the information it is gathering, then everything
can become trivial, superficial and meaningless, even to the point of nihilism.
If, on the other hand, Sagittarius loses touch with Gemini, the sense of
having privileged access to the one truth can lead to arrogance and fundamentalism,
cut off from the detachment and relative truths of Gemini.
Charts in which this theme will come to life are those with several planets
in Gemini or Sagittarius, in the 3rd or 9th houses, or with this axis on
one of the angles. If we are identified only with the Gemini end of this
axis, then we may become caught in a kind of perpetual childhood or as
a perennial student, living a provisional existence which allows us to
remain uncommitted and unaccountable, refusing to be pinned down in any
way. In the end, this can become the very kind of trap we have always been
so determined to avoid, since it is a refusal to mature or to contribute
anything meaningful to the society to which we belong. If, on the other
hand, we identify only with the Sagittarius end of this axis, then our
quest for wisdom, meaning and for the philosophical fire will expand unchecked
until it begins to overwhelm us. If we lose our objectivity, and ignore
the actual facts, then we will find ourselves increasingly out of touch
with, and alienated from, the very sense of vision and meaning which was
so important to us, because we will not have any perspective or have learned
to put our vision into words, or developed the ability to discuss it objectively
with others, to compare it to other schools of thought or to teach it.
We may well start to demand acolytes and disciples who will follow us unquestioningly
and, paradoxically, become increasingly dependent upon them for our sense
of authority, status and meaning. When this axis becomes particularly polarised,
either end can become a trap, which is inappropriate to the mutable nature
of these two signs.
Audience: So if you are on the Gemini end of this axis, then you are going to be identified as a student and start attracting teachers?
Plato teaching Aristotle in Raphael's 'The School of Athens' (1509-10)
Clare: Yes, but in fact this would mean that you have projected your own inner teacher, your own wisdom and knowledge, onto others.
Audience: So you need to develop your own wisdom and meaning? But if you did this, then you wouldn't need to learn anything from anyone else in your life again.
Clare: With a mutable axis such as this, there is no point at which we will stop learning or exploring. But hopefully, we will be able to absorb what we are learning, so that it increasingly becomes a part of who we are, before we move on to the next chapter. If these axes are strongly polarised and projected, however, then we may well be unable to incorporate what we know or what we believe, choosing instead simply to teach or preach what we know and believe, without making any use of it in our own lives. In other words, we will not 'walk our talk' - our words may be hollow and our gods made of tin.
