It Takes Two to Tango

I thought I knew what “It takes two to tango” meant until I saw the dance performed on “Dancing with the Stars”.  I used the phrase whenever my sons got into a fight and wanted to lay the blame on the other person.

Since observing the dance, I really understand it differently. It’s all about partnering, and the desire and passion for The Other. It’s a completion that’s totally different from the unity of One. It’s the completion of union between self and another, self and the world, self and spirit.

It’s like breathing, really. You breathe in, and oxygen is siphoned out of the air and taken into your body.  You breathe out what’s left over -- carbon dioxide -- and trees and plants breathe it in and use what they need. And what’s left over is oxygen. And so the cycle continues. That’s partnership at its purest.

The number Two is all about partnership -- or two sides of a coin. Because we live within a masculine paradigm, Two is usually seen as opposing, conflicting energies. But opposites attract because they compliment each other –- they add value when they come together. They want to work together because they would be incomplete without the other.

We live in a binary world, as any computer techie will tell you. It’s all about the 0 and the 1. We live in a world of duality: light and dark, Sun and Moon, man and woman, left and right, good and evil, yin and yang. What would yin be without yang? What is light without darkness? We seem to need that alternating current for life. The tension of opposite poles holds it all together.

So Two describes the energy of balance. Like the astrological sign of Libra, which symbolizes relationships, Two always strives to find harmony and peace between two separate entities and energies. Two is usually associated with the feminine and being receptive. If two people in a relationship can alternate between being active and receptive, speaking and listening, acting and being, you end up with a great partnership.   

In the Tarot, Two is associated with the Greater Trump, the High Priestess.  This figure brings together the duality of heart and mind, soul and spirit, uniting them within herself in wisdom. Two can do that because, like the full Moon reflects the light of the Sun, Two gives us the opportunity for reflection and self-awareness.

And of course, Two is associated with love. What a dreary world it would be if we never got the chance to love someone else. Two takes us outside ourselves, and opens us to become more than we are. Besides, it just isn’t possible to tango alone!