Jumping into the World

When we are going toward someone we say
you are just like me
your thoughts are my brothers and sisters
word matches word
how easy to be together.

When we are leaving someone we say
how strange you are
we cannot communicate
we can never agree
how hard, hard and weary to be together.

--from "Simple-song" by Marge Piercy

Which stanza are you living this season? Are you going towards a world that seems easy and like-minded? Or does your world, your companions, your familiar routes seem weary and hard? If you're living in the second stanza, this Gemini season may be especially important for you.

Gemini is your annual opportunity to update your world. Start with your language. Freshen up your vocabulary with enlivening words. Listen to somebody younger, older, or with a different color skin, and steal a new term; use it for at least a week. Check on your thoughts. What inspiring or self-defeating mantras are running through your mind? Write a letter to an earlier version of yourself: the third grader you, the college freshmen. Share something you recently discovered about yourself and what you hope to learn in the year to come.

Remind yourself of all the times you were actively going toward life. Remember what you saw in your mate when your eyes were fresh and open? Remember how your workplace looked the first day you walked in? Are there any experiences evoking the same beginner's mind in you today? Consult a dictionary of names and let your finger randomly fall on one of them, maybe "Barbara," "Chester," or "Maxie." Promise the gods that you'll meet somebody new this month with just that name, maybe at the grocery store, the museum, the library. But be on the lookout, for winged Mercury will make sure this person has a message for you.

With everything moving at such inflated speed, my advice this season may seem strange. But especially if the world seems heavier this year, if you've lost your ability to communicate with your dear ones, this is the month to lighten your spirit. The secret to Gemini's month is not to take your quest for knowledge too seriously. At least once this season abandon your obligations and honor your mischievous child. Let your gurus be the Cat in the Hat and Curious George. Pick one day, one afternoon, one morning, when your inner adult takes a snooze. Then follow that itchy little spirit within. This creates a vacuum into which Gemini's magic can rush like a giddy wind.

And don't forget your evil twin. Find a long-necked bottle. Let your evil twin whisper into it every shocking thing on his/her mind. Everything. Without any judgment from the "good you." If your twin needs more than one bottle, that's fine. Then fill your bottle(s) with water and drive to a wild place. While you dance in a wide dervish circle, sprinkle your evil twin's water joyfully all over the ground. Be sure to laugh. Talk to whatever animal comes to watch as though it were your brother or sister.