There’s a stunning book by Jungian analyst Lisa Marchiano called Motherhood, where she looks at the identity transformation and stages of motherhood through the lens of fairy tales, myths and folklore. In one story, she looks at the mythology of selkies, a creature that – if it had a star sign – could only be a Gemini. Like Geminis, selkies are shapeshifters; they take on the guise of both seals and humans. In this tale, Marchiano writes about one selkie who is captured by her future husband and has two children with him. He keeps her selkie skin hidden. One day she finds it and immediately leaves her human family, disappearing into the big and formless ocean, unidentifiable among the masses.
To be a Gemini is to have an innate ability to shapeshift to your surroundings. You can hear the parlance or observe the body language and facial expressions of a group and be mirroring them by day’s end. Wherever your focus and attention go, so too can your identity. This is a magical capability, though only if it is a skill that you are intentional with. Otherwise, your sun sign/life force can go on multiplying ways of seeing and ways of being with no end or purpose to any of it. A shapeshifter can also be an escape artist. A shapeshifter can also avoid one reality by transforming into a whole new chapter of life. And yet, a shapeshifter is also a multi-hyphenate legend. Variety IS the spice of a Gemini’s life, so I am not talking here about forgoing the buffet of life in honour of knuckling down to one thing and one thing only. What I am talking about – and what the astrology for your sign this year supports – is commitment, discernment and intention.
Knowing that you have the curiosity, intelligence and malleability to shapeshift to your environment, ask yourself, how am I intentionally using these skills in my life? What is it that I most desire to absorb and inhabit and embody? Am I discerning what material and information and intel comes into my life? How can I create intentional boundaries around where my focus goes?
The year begins with Mars retrograding in your sign from 31 October 2022 to January 2023, a strong indicator that what will come up for review for you is where and how you are applying your will. Are you pulling back the bow and taking steady and directional aim? Or are you flowing as the wind blows, from this thing to that? All four of our Mercury retrogrades (your sign’s ruler) take place in the Earth signs this year and this feels like a signal calling out to you, saying, “how are you practically applying yourself in the tangible world?” When you attune your attention intentionally, you step into a whole new level of Gemini. When a shapeshifter commits to its reality and cultivates one that it doesn’t wish to escape from, it is no longer formless and adaptable; it individuates.
Want to understand why the zodiac signs are the way they are? Look no further than our comprehensive guide to the personality traits of each zodiac sign.
Feature image: TIFFANY & CO. necklace and ring; JORDAN DALAH top and pants.
PHOTOGRAPHY Kitty Callaghan
FASHION & CREATIVE DIRECTION Hannah Cooper
MODELS Tessa Jean @ Chadwick Models, April @ Kult Australia, Destiny Joseph @ Priscillas
HAIR Madison Voloshin @ Assembly Agency using Davroe
MAKEUP Colette Miller @ AP–REPS
NAILS Cindy Vellis
PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT Steph Pedersen
Special thanks to China Heights Gallery
