The Zodiac - Gemini

The Myths and Legends of Gemini

The Heavenly Twins

Castor and Pollux, the Heavenly Twins, lying between Cancer and Taurus on the zodiac band, were immortalised for brotherly love.

Zeus, in the shape of a dazzling white swan, seduced Leda, the wife of Tyndareus. The result of their union was two great eggs, one of which contained Helen of Troy and the immortal Pollux, who were the children of Zeus. In the other were the offspring of Tyndareus, the mortal Castor, 'and his sister Clytemnestra, who murdered her husband in the bath.

St Elmo's Fire

Castor, who was a famous horseman, and Pollux, who was a boxer, were inseparable. They accompanied the Argonauts on their famous journey and calmed the rough seas
which threatened to capsize the boat.

They have been an omen of good luck to sailors ever since and the appearance of twin balls of lightning in the rigging,
which we now call St Elmo's Fire, after the fourth-century Syrian bishop Erasmus, who became the patron saint of sailors,
was a guarantee of safety from the storm. A single light, however, presaged disaster, as this was Helen, the fateful
sister of the twins, who had caused the fall of Troy.

Castor and Pollux Appear in Rome

The help of the Heavenly Twins was invoked in war as well as storm. In 496 Be, during the Roman war with Latium,
the authorities decided to erect a temple to them, although up until then they had not been Roman gods. Within moments,
the Twins appeared, leading the Roman cavalry to victory. That evening, two youths, both dressed in purple, were seen
watering their white horses at a fountain in the Forum, and a huge temple in their honour was built without delay.

Symbol of Duality

A symbol of duality, and of the coexistence of the mortal and immortal sides of man, they spent alternate nights in Hades
and Olympus, and they stood for Life and Death in Rome. Their origins, in fact, go back to the Euphrates.