This week I want to talk about feet, so as you’re driving, or walking, or even just sitting while considering this, just take a moment and think about your feet.
There are 88 recognized constellations in the night sky and plenty of feet among them. But only 12 of those 88 constellations belong to the zodiac, and of those 12, only three depict the human form with feet: Aquarius the waterman; Virgo the maiden; and Gemini the twins.
Aquarius is often associated with a future state of human beingness; Virgo, as the Great Mother, is associated with the ultimate realization of earthly evolution; and Gemini with freedom in that here the human being is depicted in both the mortal and the immortal nature, as the twins, Castor and Pollux.
When we look at the constellation Gemini in the sky, we see these twins standing together on the shore of the Milky Way River of stars. So consider, in the cycle of the year, when the Moon, the Sun or a planet arrives at the stars that mark the feet of the Gemini twins, it is as though this celestial body has crossed the river of the Milky Way, has moved through the galactic plane, to arrive at the opposite shore. And here, we are as though faced with the reality of our mortality, and the prospect of our immortality.
In the Paradise of his Divine Comedy, Dante gave pride of place to Gemini stars, which he honors as being the stars among which the Sun moved when he was born. But much earlier in the epic poem, he drops some Gemini hints, when he writes in the first canto of the Inferno:
Just as a swimmer, still with panting breath,
now safe upon the shore, out of the deep,
might turn for one last look at the dangerous waters,
so I, although my mind was turned to flee,
turned round to gaze once more upon the pass
that never let a living soul escape.
I rested my tired body there awhile
and then began to climb the barren slope
(I dragged my stronger foot and limped along)…
There’s so much going on here, crossing he dangerous waters, dragging the foot, the reference to the living soul. In addition to referencing Paul’s Letters to the Corinthians, notice how Dante makes this analogy of swimming across the water, which we will imagine are the celestial waters of the Milky Way, and how, when he reaches the other shore, he turns.
The first star we encounter at the feet of Gemini is Propus, which means the lead foot, or, the left foot of the mortal twin. This star was also known as the turn, because this is the place where the Sun arrives at its summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, having crossed the galactic plane of Milky Way and pausing before it turns back toward the horizon of the year.
In ancient Egyptian culture, statues of Ramses II show him stepping forward with his left foot, as though here we witness the spiritual human being coming into the physical, material plane, where we encounter our mortality.
Several centuries later, Rudolf Steiner sculpted a group representing the conscious human being now stepping forward with the right foot, as though indicating that from this experience of the physical/material world, the human being can now step once more toward a true knowledge of the immortal self.
How is this showing up in the stars right now? Gemini is in the West at sunset, just above where Venus is this week, moving through the horns of the bull and crossing through the Milky Way River, across the galactic plane. On Monday next week, May 18, the crescent Moon will meet Venus, just as the goddess of love and beauty comes ashore at Gemini stars, near the star Propus, the leading foot of the twins. This will be a beautiful sight, the goddess at the feet of the immortal self with the chalice of Moon beside.
In the Old Testament Book of Ruth, she is described as uncovering the feet of Boaz. Later, in the New Testament Gospel of John, the Magdalene is described anointing the feet of the Christ, and then the Christ washes the feet of the disciples. Three sacred acts attending to the feet: to uncover, to anoint, to wash, each an act of love as though meant to acknowledge that with our feet, we come into intimate contact with the Earth, and with the forces that support us in our uprightness as human beings.
As you watch for this beautiful sight in the evening sky, as you walk about your world, be planning your ceremony ~ whether it’s uncovering, anointing, or washing ~ this is how we step together into a new world.
Here’s Wendell Berry, for our feet, for crossing the river of stars, for Gemini, for love:
How much delight I’ve known
in navigating down the flow
by stepping stones, by sounding
stones, by words that are
stepping and sounding stones.
Going down stone by stone,
the song of the water changes,
changing the way I walk
which changes my thought
as I go. Stone to stone
the stream flows. Stone to stone
the walker goes. The words
stand stone still until
the flow moves them, changing
the sound – a new word –
a new place to step or stand.
Hear this episode of The Storyteller’s Night Sky on podcast here, and wherever you listen, and be sure to watch the crescent Moon with Venus on Monday, May 18, 2026, looking west an hour after sunset. The cover image above is from Sky&Telescope, and shows the moving Moon going up the sky, the days following its New Phase on Saturday, May 16, 2026 at 4:01 pm EDT, just before meeting Mercury.