The Dark Side of Gemini's Two Faces

The legendary trait of the Gemini—having two minds—has a dark side. This version of Gemini is an evil genius with many mercurial gifts. Who hasn't known a Gemini that keeps them in stitches?  Yet there are extremes when the ultra-active Gemini mind is disturbed, going as far as paranoia and sociopathic traits.

Sociopathic Traits 

Dictionary.com describes a sociopath as "a person with a psychopathic personality whose behavior is antisocial, often criminal, and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience." This detachment from feelings is a gateway to evildoing.

More garden-variety sociopathic traits can be stirred up if the Gemini is exposed to a callous, desensitized culture. Gemini's dark side can seem in vogue considering dominant themes in society: celebrity gossip, dirty tricks in business and politics, the superficial over the substantial, short-term gratification over long-term achievement. The wise Gemini learns from these traps and puts that brilliance to work for higher purposes.   

Gemini's evil twin polarity is dark side Sagittarius, similarly tricky and emotionally reckless but does it with a smile.  

Mercury is Gemini's ruler, so messages and perceptual tricks are its medium. This air sign flies down life's highway with the mental top down, which means constant change. Geminis plays with reality, sometimes hurting others, knowingly or not. Their minds can hold two opinions, seemingly contradictory, at the same time. This trait is useful when considering the paradoxical nature of life, but when walking on the dark side, Geminis appear untrustworthy.

Weaponized Humor

Geminis' famous humor goes dark when it's weaponized against whoever crosses their path.  It's the snarky, cutting remark that's so funny you have to laugh. A dark side Gemini can poison the well of a workplace or clique of friends by talking behind someone else's back.

The witty colleague or friend Gemini pulls others into the shadows in devious, subtle ways. Often it's a humorous comment about a coworker or mutual friend, a cruel nickname or running commentary on the person's private life. Before you know it, you're engaging in wicked banter about that person. It gets back to that friend or coworker, who's surprised you went go along. That's when you know you've been infected by the dark side Gemini virus.

Anyway the Wind Blows

Bright Gemini (Sun) has many interests but an erratic flight pattern. It's said that energy goes where attention flows, and for Gemini, that's always oscillating, meaning superficiality to the flaky extreme: not showing up on time and brushing it off, or dropping a project and saying it's become tedious. 

What comes naturally to air sign Gemini—curiosity—is what sometimes takes them to the dark side. The mischievous Gemini plays with you out of curiosity but moves on when another catches his or her eye. 

A dark side Gemini charms the pants off you in the evening and shows short-term memory loss the next day. When those Gemini traits of lightness are used in devilish ways, it's time to stand still and look at the shadow side.