Peter Pan and Wendy, Gemini and Cancer
I was reading Archetypes Of The Zodiac
by Kathleen Burt last night, and she wrote that Gemini and Cancer may be drawn to each other, because Gemini is Peter Pan -- the boy who never wants to grow up -- and Cancer is the mother. Unfortunately, Cancer is attracted to the opposite sign on the zodiac wheel -- Capricorn -- because she wants someone to bring home the bacon so that she can create a secure nest for the kids. With Gemini, she just has another mouth to feed but not someone who will be a reliable provider.In Jungian psychology, the archetype of the Puer Aeternus refers to the immature person who does not want to cope with adult responsibilities. Gemini and its ruling planet Mercury are associated with Peter Pan and the puer archetype. Wendy, of course, is the mother of the lost boys, fulfilling the Cancer role. She cannot stay in Neverland, though, because she feels the call to grow up. (Maturity and responsibility are associated with Capricorn, and its ruling planet Saturn).
Cancer may feel "at home" caring for a Gemini, but she's not terribly happy with it. When you're a wife, you want a husband, not an adult-child. As Burt writes, "If she ends up with a Peter Pan ... she often makes the best of it and sighs a lot" (p. 123).
Burt, Kathleen. (1997) Archetypes of the Zodiac. LLewellyn Publications.
Comment Below: Have you been the Wendy to a Peter Pan?
Discuss Gemini-Cancer compatibility in the forum.
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posted by Jeffrey Kishner at 10/26/2007
12 Comments:
Hmm...this book sounds interesting. Does Kathleen discuss other archetypes or just Gemini and Cancer? I'd like to read about others that I'm not as familiar with - like bread-earning Capricorn, for example. :)
Wow @ the quote on p.123. That's how I felt with my Gemini ex. I liked that he was so young at heart. Although he was much more mature than the archetypal Gemini (and me in a lot of ways), he would still do these impulsive things that scared me (spending money on big luxuries with no concept of a savings account, for one). I broke up with him because I just couldn't see him as a long-term mate - i.e., stable and secure. Ironically, he thought I was the impulsive one. The sudden breakup probably didn't help change his opinion.
I felt more like a Wendy with my Aquarius ex.
She has a chapter for all 12 signs.
Thanks, I'm gonna buy it.
bis says...
ha, in sextrology one of their archetypes for male cancer is Peter pan, and one for female gemini is tinkerbell (bla bla BLA).
anyway, so this is interesting inversion reversion thingy.
personally i fear growing older, am indeed attached to the gem ages of 14-21 and obsessed w/youth, identifying as young, but def dont want some mama nurturer. and def im sure as u write here they wouldnt want me, its something only a true mother would love.
Hey, I've read Sextrology and it does say that. That's funny.
lol @ "but def dont want some mama nurturer" I want a papa nurturer.
Bis, do you know why you fear growing older and obsessed with youth?
About Gem preferring youth...I've seen that before. My Gem ex almost had a fit when some random homeless guy walked by and said we look like an old married couple. That didn't exactly give me the warm & fuzzies, either. I had to talk him down off the ledge by telling him he probably meant we looked in love. For the rest of the night, he kept asking me if he looked old. lol
America used to be Wendy, but is now Peter Pan with the youth obsession and faster, multitasking gadgets and everything's now, now, now.
bis said...
@jara- it is hard for me to explain exactly howorwhy. it is a personal identification, w/others i could see beauty, intrigue, what have u, in both younger or older.
i have always been attracted to older men however, at abt age 7 i had a first big crush on a 19 yr old and as i have become older i keep going up, like almost 3x, so the obsession w/needing to stay young could just practically be because at this rate my aging will outpace the life expectancy of males in even the most advanced nations. lol i donno, i dont think so really, i think it is just preference, and a preferred role.
of course i know there are alternate possibilities but youth is one of those things once its gone its gone and there is a fear at losing it. it has a special power that paradoxically seems irrational (bc when u think biologically, hello) and i like that.
sometimes its true being a young ish female in particular u get special treatment but that is icing on the icing.. i don’t know. there is no cake here, or i cant put my finger on it..wouldnt be a first ah ha.
ps- at first i was like ughh.. at being often a 'madame' in france, even tho it is only appropriate, but i definitely on second instinct think it suits me tres fab.
bis how old are you (chronologically) though?Maybe you're in or near your Saturn return?I'm Only mentioning it because I remember at 29 feeling actual despair.that anything I had wanted to do as a young girl was no longer possible.
It's true what is said about that phenomenon-- it's hardly the case--29 us *not* old at all--but I felt terible, even though I was slender, healthy and physically appeared much younger than I was was even.
I felt my life was over.
My close friend who was a couple years older than I explained that she'd learned(from an older friend too)that we fear being older as we are looking *up* at our new maturity like children do, and believing we are becoming obsolete and/or over the hill as youngsters.
But in reality life has begun in a wholly different way.
Maybe you're not even close to 29 or far past it bis--but the idea is just a thought to consider.:-)
I believe I have been a Wendy with a Peter Pan.Probably been the Peter Pan too, but we'd have to ask the Wendys I knew.;-).
I was in my mid 30s when a somewhat younger man (he was 26) began to court me as though I was a prize or a princess.
Here is what I think is important to note though:
At that time in my life, I wanted not only the attention, but, I wanted to feel young again too.
I'd worked long hours in the last few years and was stressed, and separated from my husband,after many financial strggles as well.
I thought then I had missed out on some years of "fun" I felt I ought to have had too.:-/
So, a younger goodlooking biker offering me to sweep me off my feet was quite tantalizing.
I didn't think I was flattered, or lonely or bored or overowrked--I did know though that I was *inspired*.
my point here is that I wanted to feel young and carefree, and I was inwardly angry at all the responsibility, and pressure I'd had up to then.
I invited the Peter Pan, but, soonhe got on my nerves because he expected to be taken care of--he didn't simply want to play.
Part of what attracts Peter to Wendy is that she seems more stable and securethan himself and he thinks he can take part in some of that security she had when he wants it, and leave when he doesn't.
In real life what really happens isn't a fun story.
I was angry, he was angry, and we both felt disillusioned in the end.
Except--as I really was older and wasn't just "playing"as much, I was more hurt and angry at myself than he was.
The truth is we both got what we wanted- but it wasn't worth all the trouble it caused,imo.
bis said....
hey proserpine, im 21. big vons. i dont know when saturn return is, i guess a little later??
on a practical social note peoples perception of their own youth has largely changed. way back it used to be important to get married off or settled down at a young age but now as more skills are required to be productive in society u are biologically aging quite a bit while u are still 'younger' maturity wise and are less independent. all the while biologically it has a same value. all very generally-collectively this is. i dont think it is much what i am feeling personally but surely it is there as societal background noise.
this is interesting, i was thinking about this earlier, the 'puer' and of course the 'puerella' too. The the cancer female in traditional myth travels with her consort who is generally her son, (or her own unreocognised male self? she needs to cradle someone.
I have encountered the puer achetype and also recognise it in myself as 'mercury in gemini in the fifth' on a personal level ..but there are menboys who do not wish to grown up like peter and for them leaving mummy in a real sense can be scary so they have split relationships instead? is this is where the two achetypes of gemini and cancer dovetail, but what is the cancer woman meant to do? wait unitil they grown up? or delight that she has a young, energetic, spritely lad who will keep her feeling young at heart and accept the fact that she may be expected to feather the nest as main breadwinner? unless of course she really wants to take on the capricorn man? the puers like to play around with non-commital stuff in dating and date for along time yet some complain that they never find good wife material in women, (maybe they can never find anyone as good as mother? ) the puer achetype seems very gemini but i think i see quite uranian too -fear of commitmant- sounds like a good read this one, has me musing anyhow...
Bis, yes, Saturn return *is* later on ...it between 28-30.
I agree that society's notions about what is expected do affect us no mater how independant one is.
I actually felt old and tired at 17 believe it or not--I know there are certain times when we start taking stock of our lives--but feeling old is usually something internal.
My point is it happens at all ages.
You're aware on some level that you're not the "kid" anymore after this.:-)
but really--22 is OK also.
You'll have a whole new life after 23 probably.:-)
Beauty and the Beast, Leo and Scorpio
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