Even then they had time to gather in a phalanx that would have been hard to break had they risen quickly, but this they were forbidden to do by the traditions … ….
An interviewer at an employment agency would have no trouble identifying these two Sun Signs, no problem in telling a Ram from a Fish. All it takes is a little experience, and a minimal understanding of astrology.
| INTERVIEWER: | What was your most recent place of employment? |
| Aries: | I was production chief at Parakeet Publishing, at 42 East 83rd Street. |
| INTERVIEWER: | I see. I’ll check them for a reference. The Parakeet Publishing Company, at 82 East 43rd Street. |
| Aries: | That’s not what I said. You got the address backwards. Are you hard of hearing, or are you trying to intimidate me? |
| INTERVIEWER: | Could I have your present home address, please? |
| Pisces: | Sure! I live in the McCall Apartments, at 7000 6th Avenue. |
| INTERVIEWER: | All right, let me make a note of that. That’s the Bacall Apartments at 6000 7th Avenue, right? |
| Pisces: | (visibly confused) Well . . uh, if you think it’s a nicer neighborhood, I guess I could see if they have a vacancy.… |
Walk up to a Ram and remark, As an Aries, you’re probably creative—and the Ram will reply, You can say that again! I’m loaded with original ideas. Would you like to hear some of them?
Walk up to a Fish and remark, As a Pisces, you’re probably involved in one of the water sports, like surfing or scuba diving—and the Fish will reply, Well, I can’t swim, but—uh, which one do you think I should be involved in? I suppose I could learn.…
Walk up to a Ram and remark, If you continue along the path you’re on now, you’ll never end up as a leader—and the Aries person will reply, How would you like a punch in the mouth?
Walk up to a Fish and remark, If you continue along the path you’re on now, you’ll never end up as a leader—and the Pisces person will reply, Really? Gee, I hope you’re right.
The pattern that gradually emerges with the Ram is aggressiveness, sometimes to excess. The pattern that gradually emerges with the Fish is accommodation, also sometimes to excess. Aries, of course, is a Fire Sign and Pisces is a Water Sign. There’s a marked difference between Aries aggressiveness and Pisces accommodation, and just to be sure I’ve made that difference clear, here’s another example. A Ram has just walked up to the counter and ordered a pizza, to take out.
| CLERK: | Okay. One pizza to go, coming up! How do you want it, with mushrooms or green peppers? |
| RAM: | Neither. I want black olives and onions. And see that you don’t burn it, like you did the last time I was here. |
Now, a Fish has walked up to the counter, to order a pizza, to take out.
| CLERK: | Okay. One pizza to go, coming up! How do you want it, with mushrooms or green peppers? |
| FISH: | Well, let’s see—what do most of your customers order? |
| CLERK: | We sell a lot of mushrooms. |
| FISH: | Mushrooms. I’ll take mine with mushrooms. |
| CLERK: | Of course, personally, I prefer green peppers. |
| FISH: | Oh. Well … uh, could you change that, please, to one pizza to go, with green peppers? |
| CLERK: | Sure, but look, now—why don’t you just order it the way you want? Don’t let me influence you. |
| FISH: | Well—could I have two pizzas, then—one with mushrooms, and one with green peppers? |
You can see that Pisces is accommodating. What you may not see, however, is the multiple motivation behind it. The kind-hearted Fish really do like to please people, when they can. Every Piscean dreads the embarrassment of outright confrontation, and they dislike attention focused on themselves. But there’s also a more subtle reason why Pisceans are reluctant to commit themselves to a personal opinion: they’re always on the alert for snoopers, because they have an absolute horror of Big Brother. At an airport, a stranger passing by, carrying monogrammed luggage with the initials CIA or FBI, can catapult the typical Fish into a nervous panic. Try to convince a Pisces that those letters stand for Charles Isidore Abernacky or Frederick Bruce Israel. Go ahead, try. What kind of Jewish mother would name her boy Frederick Bruce? Someday, make a list of all your Pisces friends who have un-listed phone numbers. It will be interesting.
When a Ram meets a Fish, it seems that here is a sweet, mild, gentle soul the Aries person can push around more or less as he (or she) pleases. I’m sorry to say that this is what the fiery Aries often tries to do with the watery Piscean. But the Ram should study the natural sciences—and the Bible.
From the natural sciences, he’ll learn all about the elements of earth, air, fire and water—and that water can be dangerous to fire. Flip the flame on a lighter as high as you like, then dip in into a glass of water. Sputter.… pssssttt … and out. Although water may seem to be the weakest of the elements, it’s actually the strongest. A few drops of water dripping steadily on a rock for a long enough period of time will wear the rock away into fine sand. I know an Aries landlord who impulsively raised the rent on the New Jersey apartment of a Pisces lady named Marion. She accepted the news from him sweetly, with gentle feminine submission. However, the Arian landlord has spent the last eight months in and out of the courtroom. She sends him little notes about the leaky plumbing and such (one drop at a time, you see), and he still hasn’t been able to hike the rent by so much as one dollar. Before it’s over he’ll probably lower it.
The secret of the great strength of water is its non-resistance. Water does not resist. Toss a pebble into the river, and what happens? Water doesn’t resist the object penetrating its calm. Old Man River just opens up, swallows the pebble, covers it over—and keeps moving right along. The Nazarene relates the strength of Water’s powerful passivity to the human personality. Resist ye not evil, counseled Jesus, whose birth, by the way, ushered in the Age of Pisces, nearly two thousand years ago.
The Fish are influenced by the mysterious, infinite wisdom of Neptune, and so they seldom resist the more aggressive Rams, who are driven by the fiery force of the red planet, Mars. Often, Aries people find that Pisceans have a restful, cooling effect on their flaming frustrations. An association between them is usually beneficial to both. Each Sun Sign carries, within karmic memory, the seeds of experiences gained from the Sun Sign immediately behind it on the astrological wheel of life—and conversely, there are many lessons to be learned from the character and qualities of the Sun Sign immediately following one’s own.
This is a 2-12 Sun Sign Pattern, meaning that Aries represents the second astrological house to Pisces, and Pisces represents the twelfth astrological house to Aries. Translated, Aries will always, in one way or another, symbolize money to Pisces, whether in a negative or a positive sense. In some manner, money will be a vital consideration, and a frequent topic of discussion between them.
To the Rams, the Fish represent many secrets, which Pisces usually keeps and won’t tell, causing Aries to be exceedingly annoyed. If not that, then the two of them will spend much time discussing secrets—or the past sorrows of one or the other. Sometimes, the secrecy syndrome is beneficial, but you can be sure, however it works out, that both money and secrecy will form the foundation, in a variety of ways, of any association between the Ram and the Fish, whether they’re involved as friends, relatives, business associates, lovers or mates. Secrets may include all matters of the occult, the esoteric or the metaphysical, such as astrology, hypnotism, astral travel, telepathy and the like. Sooner or later, these matters will prove to be of mutual interest to any Aries-Pisces combination, whatever the sex, age or relationship of the two of them, as with all 2-12 Sun Sign Patterns.
Since Pisces lies behind Aries on the karmic wheel, the Ram feels an instinctive tolerance for the foibles of the Fish, somehow understanding the Piscean behavior, even though it differs so vastly from his (or her) own. Each Aries person has spiritually experienced the passivity and submission of the Pisces nature, which is why Aries, in the present incarnation, leans so hard toward the extreme opposite of Piscean humility—ego. With all their brashness, Rams reveal their karmic soul memory of the Piscean experience through their hidden vulnerability to hurt, and the quickness with which Arian compassion and generosity can be aroused.
The Rams, however, aren’t about to chance any masochism (openly, at least) in this lifetime. One might say that Aries comprehends and appreciates the Pisces attitude without envy, and without condemning it. They’ve already received their report cards in the Piscean spiritual school, thank you, and they prefer not to return. They didn’t like the teacher (Neptune) all that much. And so it goes with all the Sun Signs, around and around the birth wheel—again and again—until all the necessary lessons are learned, and the soul can graduate from the earth-flesh level of awareness and existence, into a higher, and more individual awareness.
Due to this 2-12 influence, the Fish will never fail to in some way look up to Aries as having something important to teach them, and unlike most Sun Signs, in relation to the sign ahead of them, Pisces is usually placidly willing to imitate, and to learn from the Rams. (Water is not only the strongest and most powerful of the four elements—Water is also wisest—which is why it’s strongest.)
On the whole, the Ram and the Fish are nicely compatible, with neither overly desirous of interfering with the other’s approach to life, but rather complementing it instead. Yet there will be times when they experience some heated (Aries) or chilly (Pisces) encounters. The forthright Ram has little patience for the sometimes slippery tactics of the elusive Fish.
I know a Piscean in Colorado who pleasantly (Pisceans are nearly always pleasant) once remarked to me: Well, you know what I always say—promise anything, and get out of it later. That’s my motto. The Fish are uncommonly cheerful about confessing their little flaws. This method of backing away from a commitment quite naturally may create, on occasion, a barrier between Pisces and the very direct, naively honest Rams, who will usually display undisguised resentment when the Fish swim away alone now and then, to exchange whispered secrets with the ocean—or who may feel hurt and neglected if the Pisceans should glide behind some cool seaweed to refresh their weary souls, without leaving behind a trail indicating where they may be found. But no harm is meant by the kindly Fish. Lacking the Ram’s tough horns, and the Mars emotional, spiritual and mental stamina, it’s the Neptune soul’s only protection against an abrasive daily existence in this harsh world—the wear and tear of life’s problems.
The Piscean motto of promise anything, and get out of it later may sound deceptive; yet it’s a philosophy that keeps the Fish young and tranquil—and off the psychiatrist’s couch. It also allows Pisceans to conserve their energy, thereby enabling them to remain composed enough to listen to everybody else’s troubles for hours on end. Nevertheless, to the Rams, sneaky is sneaky.
Aries Woman and Pisces Man
Which story was it?
About the prince who couldn’t find the lady who wore the glass slipper.
Peter, said Wendy excitedly, that was Cinderella, and he found her.……
I don’t want to shatter any glass slipper dreams, but this combination usually works out better when the female is the Pisces and the male is the Ram. An Aries female needs a determined, thick-skinned male, who has the aggressiveness to say, Shut up, and listen, when it’s necessary. And it will assuredly be necessary, from time to time, with this woman.
There are, of course, as always, the exceptions that prove the astrological rule. A Pisces man, for example, with the Moon or Ascendent in a Fire Sign, such as Aries, Sagittarius or Leo, may possess just the right blend of fiery command and gentleness of manner to make this rather spunky one become as meek as a lamb. Well, maybe not that meek—but more docile and manageable than she’d be around most other men.
In a way, it’s what she secretly seeks and longs for—someone who will control her firmly (and make her feel feminine)—on occasion. Someone who will allow her to be boss (half the time)—and be the tender, charming Prince of her dreams (the rest of the time, whatever time is left). She needs a strong big brother to protect her, a companion she considers her equal in intelligence, a lover who will physically conquer her, and a quiet man who will not try to confine her spirited personality, or domineer her. It would also be nice if he could be a poet.
And of course, he should be willing, even anxious, to defend her loyally against her enemies (until she forgives them, then he should love them) as she will defend him against his (whether he wants her to or not). And let’s see—yes, he must also admire and respect her, and tell her so frequently—be the kind of man who likes to chop wood and fix things when they’re broken (including her heart)—a man who can handle an emergency with cool poise, and meet a crisis with great courage. He must, by all means, be possessed of impeccable integrity, and be snowflake-pure-sexually-faithful to her. (But he must not be a doormat, or self-effacing.)
If possible, she would like him to consist of equal parts of Rhett Butler, Robert Browning, Muhammed Ali, Abraham Lincoln—and her favorite saint. Maybe a touch of Jimmy Stewart, Marlon Brando, Johnny Dep, Denzel Washington,, with just a dash of John Grisham—if that’s not asking too much.
Nearly every single Christmas of her life, for as far back as she can remember, she carefully printed out her request in a letter to Santa Claus, and he ignored it, year after year, leaving all sorts of useless things under the tree, except this one most important gift. (You can sympathize with his problem.)
When you consider it carefully, a Pisces man has as many chances to live up to her romantic ideals as any other male. None. Which means that he at least starts out even. You know? The Fish certainly can’t ask for better odds than those.
A female Ram is fun and fresh. She’s pretty and punchy, full of spirit and sparkles and warmth and generosity—all that. But she does need to be sat upon occasionally, when her Mars will causes her to be a bit too frisky and free for her own good—or for the peace of mind of the man who loves her. Pisces men just never sound very convincing when they say things like Shut up, and listen. The Fish is more in his own element when he’s figuring abstract physics or math theories, calculating the relativity of time, in relation to space—or quoting Tennyson. It’s possible for the Ram and the Fish to meet, mate, and murmur sentiments into each other’s ears happily, for a lifetime. It can happen. Not often. But it can. Where’s your faith in miracles?
A Pisces man is more likely than any other to genuinely believe in the kind of enchantment every Aries woman lives within, and demands romantically. She’ll adore him for it. She’ll trust his dreams, have faith in his visions—and she’ll respond (at first, anyway) with little flutters of excitement to his sensitivity and his gentleness. Then she’ll feel an irresistible urge to defend him against those who judge him unfairly as an idle dreamer with no future. (She’ll have simply bushels of chances to do that!)
Most people have been so brainwashed by astrological over-simplifications, they think every Pisces is a wishy-washy candidate for Alcoholics Anonymous, or group therapy. True, he was born under a complicated and difficult Sun Sign. The stars portended at his birth that he’d have to pick his way through a haze of daydreams. He was also fated to get caught in the sticky octopus tendrils of other people’s troubles as he swims along through life.…… trying his best to mind his own business (which can be even more tangled and confusing). His ruling planet, Neptune, seems to be forever leading him into situations so mysterious, so intertwined with intrigue and half-truths that even a Ouija board couldn’t get to the bottom of the whole mess. This is so for Pisces of both sexes. Talk it over with Michael Caine, Liza Minelli, Alan Rickman or Jon Bon Jovi sometime. They’re all Pisceans too, and they’ve been there. EVERYWHERE. More than once.
The Aries woman who’s annoyed by the elusiveness of her Pisces man should ask herself how she would react to being part of what some flippant astrologers call the dustbin of the zodiac. It’s not much fun to carry the weight of knowing you’re the embodiment of all the other eleven Sun Signs. And this man has the added burden of frequent precognitive flashes that clutter up his consciousness. Not only that, but his Neptunian compassion can seduce him into some situations that can only be called weird. This forces him to cover the fact that he’s the softest touch in town under a variety of false fronts. These can range from crankiness and crustiness to drunkenness or drugs. But lots of creative writers, imaginative artists and abstract thinkers (like Einstein) have also been Pisceans, and they learned to handle their Neptune vibrations. This man does have a choice of streams, you know. All Fish do, when they break away from the chaotic crosscurrents.
The danger inherent in a relationship between an Aries woman and a Pisces man is that the sexes tend to get mixed up. A male Fish can be as masculine, as virile and as muscular as the next guy. But he’s also ultra-sensitive—for a man. The female Ram can be as feminine, as tender and as glamorous as the next woman. But she’s also strong-willed, determined and independent—for a woman. Because of his instinct to withdraw from conflict, the Pisces man may prefer to retreat, rather than face up to the Aries woman’s Fire. She won’t like it. Rams feel helpless, and become even angrier, when they’re forced to shadow-box their way out of a disagreement. It can drive her up a tree to be ignored, and a Piscean is an expert at the technique of passive non-resistance.
She may also resent his reluctance to push himself with others. It’s beyond her comprehension how anyone can take so much lying down. Just as it’s beyond his comprehension how anyone can stand up on his feet constantly, fighting and attacking and counterattacking, and wasting all that energy. His mildness, if carried to extremes, can finally goad her into lashing out at him with some cutting and unkind remarks that she doesn’t mean but that can nevertheless wound his feelings deeply. This sort of scene can be triggered by almost any minor incident.
| Pisces: | My paintings are going to be exhibited at the museum’s Art Show next week. See? Here’s the program. It says: Special showing of new art forms by Fried Hot. |
| Aries: | Are they talking about an artist or an egg? That can’t be you. You’re Fred Haught. |
| Pisces: | I guess they weren’t sure how to spell my surname, and maybe the mistake in Fred is just a printer’s error. I’ve been trying to decide what to do |
| Aries: | Don’t tell me what you’re going to do. Don’t tell me, let me guess. You’re going to change your name, right? |
| Pisces: | Well, I hadn’t thought of going that far. Do you think I should? |
| Aries: | I think you should grab the art director of that museum and say, Look, boob, you spelled my name wrong. Print new programs, or I remove my paintings from the exhibit. |
| Pisces: | Oh, I couldn’t insult him like that. He might be offended, and then I’d lose my big chance to exhibit my paintings. |
| Aries: | Well, if you don’t do it, you’re going to lose your big chance to exhibit me as your wife, I AM NOT GOING TO BE INTRODUCED AT THE MUSEUM AS MS. FRIED HOT, SO YOU EITHER COLLAR THAT ART DIRECTOR AND DEMAND YOUR RIGHTS TODAY—OR I MOVE OUT OF YOUR LIFE TOMORROW. DO YOU HAVE THAT STRAIGHT? |
He won’t refuse. He’ll agree with her, and leave for the museum. But he may not return. He’d rather be Fried Hot than boiled alive in her Mars temper. Of course, this is an extreme case. Still, it does illustrate the challenges and hurdles to be met when there’s a reversal of the dominant-passive roles between these two lovers. If there’s a compatible Sun-Moon-Ascendent aspect between their birth charts, their relationship can work out ideally. She’ll have enough Fire to spark him to great accomplishment, to give him faith in himself and his dreams—and he’ll have the right amount of Water to soothe and gentle her fears, to give her emotional security. With an adverse Luminary or Ascendent aspect between their nativities, however, they may face a few problems.
The Aries woman is woven of finer threads than those who see only her surface confidence ever suspect. She is many things more than a fireball of impulse. She’s the ecstasy she felt when she buried her nose in the fragrance of the bouquet of violets she picked in an elf-haunted, shady corner of the yard, when she was three. .… the kitten she watched get run over by a streetcar. .… she’s red kites and yellow balloons, the rainy days of childhood. .… the newborn baby a lady on the bus let her hold in her arms when she was nine, and acting out a private madonna make-believe. .… the snow sparkles under the street light she truly thought were diamonds. .… the spanking with a wooden paddle her fourth grade principal gave her at recess, before everyone in school. .… she’s the sunrise someone forgot. .… the song someone remembered… . She’s her first belly-smacker in the pool, when she was trying desperately for a perfect swan dive. .… and more. She’s the poem the Pisces man tried to write, but couldn’t quite complete. .… yet he could, if he’d only allow her to help him write the last verse.
The sexual relationship between them will be the eternal and beautiful mutual attraction of explosive activity and cool stillness. But it can also be the attraction of a potential conqueror for a potential victim, if there are severe planetary afflictions in their respective horoscopes. With favorable planetary exchanges in their nativities, however, the Ram and the Fish could enjoy an exceptionally happy physical chemistry that could outlast periodic bickering, or hurt feelings. Their philosophical approaches to Life may be different, but their romantic goals are identical. Both of them desperately seek a sexual experience of great intensity—and both are sentimental and imaginative. In expressing their love through sexual union, they can fulfill each other’s secret fantasies, escape into their own private wonderland and close the door against the rest of the world.
A Piscean who wants to teach an Aries woman to float tranquilly in his pond must make a decision to level with her about everything, and then stick to it. His fondness for keeping secrets, and for telling half-truths to spare her feelings (or his own), is something this woman will never stand for. She puts all her cards on the table, and she can’t trust a player who hides any aces up his sleeve. Unless the Fish is prepared to be 100 percent honest with her, in every way, he’d better find another poker partner.
If someday he should discover he can’t keep anything from her, not even his innermost feelings, and he’s compelled to confess to her all his secret yearnings—he loves her. It’s the first sign of capitulation from a Pisces man.
It’s not, however, a guarantee that he’ll capitulate all the way into marriage. This man is extremely reluctant to take on the complications of both emotional and legal involvement. The first one is hassle enough with which to cope, as far as he’s concerned, without adding the burden of the second. The common Neptune definition of marriage is a close friendship, recognized by the police. Eventually he’ll gobble the bait, and allow himself to be reeled in, but he’ll struggle less in the marital net if the Aries woman will pretend they’re still having an affair that’s not recognized by the police. I know an actual, living, breathing Piscean male in California who has substituted a Siamese cat for a family (the typical Fish fears the responsibilities of a family, as he fears the snooping of Big Brother or Sister, the Internal Revenue, CIA and FBI). The Fish with the Pussycat has a motto he repeats often: Kitty litter is cheaper than diapers.
The Ram will have to make-believe with her Fish that they’re involved in only an emotional union, nothing more, even after they are duly wedlocked (she should never use the term wed-lock with him). If this keeps him romantic, makes him happy and causes him to feel freer, why not allow him to live in his fantasy of bachelorhood?
He may alternate between leaving her, and returning again, unsure of how to convince her of his devotion. But all she wants is to be loved and understood, never to be questioned—to be accepted for exactly what she is. As a matter of fact, that’s all he wants too. The only dragons that stand between Aries and Pisces are his Neptune illusions, which to him, are reality—and her Mars reality, which is, actually, an illusion. Plus the smaller gargoyles of his passivity, and her impatience—and their mutally sensitive, vulnerable natures. No outsider can slay these dragons and gargoyles for them. They must be destroyed from within. That’s the way it always is in faerie tales. At least, in the ones with happy endings.
Aries Man and Pisces Woman
The many gentlemen who had been boys when she was a girl discovered simultaneously that they loved her, and they all ran over to her house to propose to her except Mr. Darling, who took a cab and nipped in first, and so he got her.
Since no man is more male than a Ram, and no woman is more female than a Fish, the love between these two is never flawed by confusion over sexual identification. It’s a true mating, in every sense of the word you can imagine. When an Aries man and a Pisces woman fall in love, Mother Nature smiles approvingly.
At its best, the liaison brings out all his shining Aries heroism, and all her tender Pisces devotion. These two are Romeo and Juliet in the flesh. At its worst, it can bring out his latent Mars sadism and her latent Neptune masochism. Even so, if he enjoys playing Tyrannical-Master-of-the-Mansion, and she gets kicks from playing Little-Eva-in-the-Snow, who are we to spoil their fun?
I remember well the evening I spent with friends of mine, an Aries man and his Pisces wife, in West Virginia. After their seven children had been tucked in bed, the handsome Ram placed a protective arm around his pretty lady Fish, and spoke emphatically: My woman doesn’t run around chasing a career and joining clubs. I keep her pregnant in the summer and barefoot in the winter—so she stays out of trouble.
As I started to hand her a heavy brass ashtray to throw at his head, I noticed the strangest thing. She was smiling up at him with absolute adoration and pure worship. I haven’t the slightest doubt that they’ll walk into the sunset together, long after their golden wedding anniversary, holding hands like sweethearts—with him still tall, and strong—her still fragile and barefoot. It almost makes you cry, doesn’t it? It was such a traumatic experience for me, I went out the next day and bought five new pairs of shoes to hide under my bed. When my Pisces friend expressed her curiosity, I just told her, Well, winter’s coming, you know, and I may want to run out some morning at four A.M. to buy a paper or something. I don’t think she understood, but I felt more secure.
Aries and Pisces are not generally as compatible, over a long period of time (especially if they live in Alaska, where her feet might get frost bitten) as he would be with an Air or Fire sign—or she would be with an Earth or Water sign. They’re basically quite different. But in the immortal words of the Frenchmen: Vive la différence! It can be quite enough to attract them in the beginning. As for building the elemental attraction into a stable relationship, there’s a good chance they can succeed if his Moon or Ascendent is in Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio, Taurus or Capricorn—or if her Moon or Ascendent is in Aries, Leo, Sagittarius, Gemini or Aquarius.
Before the Pisces woman is married, her phone rings constantly, with one male after another calling her for dates. She has an awful time deciding between Tom, Dick or Harry—because she hates to hurt Bill, John and Bob. Anyway, she really loves Jack, if she could only forget Roger. Life is full of frustrations. Like deciding which one to marry—or deciding whether or not to allow half a dozen or so of them to protect her against poverty and boredom, by paying her rent and taking her to Sun Valley to ski. Things like that. Maybe lending her their cars, an occasional Porsche, a BMW or a Lexus. It’s such a rough life. The Women’s Liberation movement didn’t move Pisces females much. The Pisces woman feels it all depends on what you want to be liberated from. It certainly does.
After she’s married, her phone will continue to ring approximately every ten minutes throughout the day and night, but then it will be her neighbors, relatives and friends who need an ear to confide in, and a shoulder to weep upon. Her Aries husband will fly into a few Mars tantrums over her tendency to turn their home into a therapy clinic. She should be listening to his troubles. Not part of the time. All of the time. Except on holidays, when he’s resting, or sleeping—or knocking around with his pals.
A female Fish is an exquisite listener. That’s how she gathered all those admirers, beginning with grade school. She’s also beautifully humble, and sympathetic, and that’s how she gets caught in her own Neptune web. A Pisces woman who feels, finally, that her individuality is being smothered by the dominant ego of the Aries man she loves, usually won’t protest loudly, or argue about it with any degree of intensity. No matter how desperate she becomes, she’s more likely to keep smiling… . but with a blank expression in her eyes. When he loses his temper with her over a trifle, she normally won’t fight back. She’ll just blink a few times, and yawn. But the yawn may be a silent scream.
If she seems to be drifting and dreaming, if her smiles are vague, and her attention wanders, the Ram should ask himself if he has been perhaps overlooking her needs in pursuing his own, which is easy for him to do, though he never does it intentionally. An Aries man is seldom aware of his occasional selfishness. It’s more thoughtlessness than selfishness anyway. He’s so intent on living-being-doing every moment, he just doesn’t take the time to look around him. When it’s pointed out to him that he’s been rude or inconsiderate, he’s invariably surprised and embarrassed—and sorry.
It was never his intention to be cruel or unfeeling. No one can be more sentimental, kind-hearted, foolishly generous and fiercely loyal in love than Aries. But her Neptune passivity can not only encourage his unthinking selfishness and his latent chauvinism, it can blind him to any hurt he’s given her. If he realizes it, he’ll probably apologize profusely, and behave like a perfect angel (until he forgets again, and has to be reminded). So you can’t blame all their troubles on him. The Pisces woman must accept at least half the responsibility for her own unhappiness, and ask herself if she has been leaning a little heavily on the martyr routine.
There’s not much need to analyze their sexual relationship in detail, as we did with the other combinations, because, as you can see from the astrological facts stated at the beginning of this section, it’s clear that this is the perfect Romeo-Juliet, Tarzan-Jane blending, in a sexuality sense. The result, in relation to their physical intimacy, isn’t difficult to guess. She’ll not only be sensitive to his every lover’s mood, wish and desire, she’ll decode and fulfill them, almost before they’re formed. In return, he’ll gratefully give her an exciting display of his Mars intensity, and much tender (for him) affection. None of the boys who used to call her on the phone, and lend her their BMWs, could have prepared her, emotionally or otherwise, for the kind of passion that rages in the heart of a Ram, once he’s found a woman he can call completely his own.
This brings us to the subject of sexual and romantic infidelity (a subject we always eventually reach in every Aries chapter). The female Fish is not a flirt, mind you, but what it is, you see, is that—well, men flirt with her. She’s not promiscuous, she just thinks that admiration from members of the male sex is the nicest part of being a female.
As for the Ram, he’s not a playboy type either. But he’s not going to throw rocks at a little worship from the opposite sex now and then, which he uses to polish up his ego. He thinks that’s all part of being a man. None of this should cause any real trouble between them; nevertheless, it probably will, because, although the Pisces woman is inclined to understand and trust her man—Aries is never as insistent on freedom for his partner as he is on freedom for himself. In the Ram’s opinion, his casual encounters with other women are innocent. Hers are suspect, clearly deliberate maneuvers toward an actual act of unfaithfulness.
It’s not at all fair, of course. It will help if she’ll realize that his attitude isn’t based on romantic selfishness, but only on his well-hidden feelings of inadequecy. Being influenced and guided by Neptune compassion, she’ll probably comprehend his secret fear, and behave accordingly. Whether he’s right or wrong, an Aries man will never tolerate a promiscuous or an unfaithful woman—and one slip is many more times than enough for him. If she doesn’t work overtime to convince her Aries man, with all her heart, that she belongs only to him—it’s out in the cold, cold snow for little Eva.
Put two completely different kinds of people together, and do they grow to love each other less and less—or more and more? With Aries and Pisces, it’s not the differences between them that matter. It’s what they have in common—the fear of being hurt. Her vulnerability is easily discernible—his may be disguised by Mars bravery and brashness, but it’s just as real, just as painful as her own.
| Taurus | Taurus |
| Earth—Fixed—Negative | Earth—Fixed—Negative |
| Ruled by Venus | Ruled by Venus |
| Symbol: The Bull | Symbol: The Bull |
| Night Forces—Feminine | Night Forces—Feminine |