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Denise and Deanne live on opposite coasts, Denise in New York and Deanne in California. Has this geographic separation taken a toll on their twinship? One twin was extroverted and sought the companionship of her peers; the other was closer to the family and sought approval there. They were close in their younger years and supported each other in hard times. How did they find themselves so far apart in adulthood? What forces and factors shaped each twin? How are they alike and different? How do they communicate now in maturity? Do they still think of each other as identical twins and how do they express this bond? This twinship is a fascinating story of twins with primarily non-shared experiences. Their genes, aptitudes, intelligence, and interests are very similar, yet they have lived in two very different worlds both familiar to them from childhood. Hear them discuss the choices they have made as women and identical twins.
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In this program, Dr. Mercy will discuss studies performed with identical and fraternal twins as participants. If you have been a participant in a twin study perhaps through one of the large registries that exist through the United States and the world, we would love to hear your experiences. Twin studies can be cross-sectional or longitudinal; they often focus on the interrelationship among genetics, shared environment, and non-shared environment in order to determine the relative effects on personality, aptitudes, life experiences, and health. Some studies have been done with MRI technology to measure the size of fetal brains. Dr. Mercy will cover these resources and will also discuss the recent findings that identical twin DNA is not necessarily identical; she welcomes callers to discuss the implications of such results for society and the twins themselves. She will also report on various twin registries across the world, their purposes, and some results of the longitudinal studies that these registries are used to conduct.
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Dr. Susan Mehrtens, President of the Jungian Center for the Spiritual Sciences in Waterbury, Vermont, has been reading astrological charts and teaching the art and science of astrology to learners such as Dr. Mercy for many years. She uses the Jungian approach to astrology in which the soul chooses its journey in the moment and place of birth. Dr. Carl Jung studied and revitalized the ancient sciences of astrology and alchemy, and Dr. Mehrtens has also returned to the original sources in Medieval History. She will discuss the astrological methods that she has adopted and apply them to the study of the astrological charts of twins. These charts may reveal a deeper meaning of the decisions of twins to make a life journey together and become ‘separated at earth.’ Dr. Mehrtens will describe the similarities and differences in the charts, touching on the significance of the readings for twins in general.
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Dr. Mercy has reached out to organizers and potential participants in the Twins Day Festival happening this weekend in Twinsburg, Ohio. She is hoping to connect with people attending the festival during Twin Talk show time to discover what brings them to the festival, what do they love about it, and what experiences do they carry home into their lives. The festival begins officially Friday, August 6 with a day of activities devoted to twins and their families. The following two days are open to the public. Anyone in the neighborhood of Cleveland may want to attend the weekend festivities including a parade Saturday morning, twin contests, and twin talent shows. The festival is an ideal place for researchers to connect with twin subjects for cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, and booths at the festival are purchased by agencies for their research. Dr. Mercy will discuss some of the studies during the show or later in the Twin Talk series.