ARIES-CAPRICORN

The ARIES-CAPRICORN Relationship

"It is only the gay and innocent and heartless who can fly."

"What is gay and innocent and heartless? I do wish I were

gay and innocent and heartless."

That wistful complaint from James M. Barrie's Peter Pan might well be spoken

by a Capricorn who envies the Aries ability to fly happily through life, with free

and careless style. However, the Goat needn't envy the Ram's flair for being

heartless, because it's synonymous with selfishness, a quality not at all exclusive

with Aries. Capricorns possess more than their fair share of it.

Aries selfishness is the result of the Ram's thoughtless and often infantile

desires. What Aries wants, one way or another, Aries gets, when he - or she -

has learned to curb that Mars enthusiasm and not forge ahead too quickly.

Capricorn selfishness is motivated by the Goat's determination not to look back

to see who slipped and fell behind, lest it delay his (or her) own personal appointment

with destiny. Still, selfish is selfish, whatever the basis or the cause,

and they're both guilty of it rather frequently.

As for the other two requirements for flying - gaiety and innocence - the

Goat has every reason to envy the Ram. Gaiety is not a word one ordinarily associates

with Saturn-ruled people. Try applying it to Capricorns Humphrey Bogart,

Edgar Allen Poe, Joan of Arc or Howard Hughes. Bogart gaily pulling out

his revolver. Poe gaily "quothing" the Raven. Joan of Arc gaily leading the Armies

of France against England. Howard Hughes - well, Howard Hughes gaily

doing anything. Or even his identical twin brother, Robard Hughes. (If he

should happen to have one - just fantasizing, you know.) Nor is innocence a

Capricorn quality. Cappies are never innocent, not even as tiny babes, toddlers

and children. The entire bunch of them, whether clad in pink or blue booties,

were each and every one born a little old man, or a little old woman, with an in-

grained and very "grainy" sense of both wisdom and patience, not normally acquired

until near or past the century mark, chronologically speaking.

And so, you see, there's small chance that the Goat will fly through life with

the naive gaiety and innocent guilelessness of the Ram, until well past what is

fallaciously called "middle age" (since it's really quite young in a life expectancy

span of three to five hundred years, attainable even now, for those who properly

seek it). Then the Capricorn "reverse aging" process will begin, bringing on

spurts of total abandon that can sometimes cause the Goat to even soar high

above the Ram. That's why Aries people usually feel more comfortable around

older Goats. The younger ones make them nervous.

Aries reasons for forming any kind of human relationship or association are

always impulsive and idealistic, governed by the emotions. Capricorns have

more practical motivations. Although Goats quite understandably resent the

astrological implication that many of them are inclined to "marry up the social

or financial ladder," it's nevertheless more often true of Cappy than of Aries.

It's not that Capricorns are cold and calculating. After all, they're just thinking

of those yet-to-be-born youngsters. Not only are they going to wear shoes,

they're going to wear good shoes, because a podiatrist is frightfully expensive.

And they're certainly not going to suffer (the children, not the podiatrists) in

the future for any romantic flings of the present. This is why Cappy is often

horrified to hear about a couple of friends, living in unwedded bliss, who plan to

give up their jobs and bike across Europe for a year or so. It isn't the lack of the

marriage certificate alone that disturbs the Goat. What if she should get pregnant

over there? And if he gives up a perfectly good job, how will they ever afford

to get the children's teeth straightened?

Now, this may shock a few of the Cappies reading it, right down to the toes

of their sensible boots, but we're into the Aquarian Age, my dears, and the girl

and her beau in our example are experimenting with a trial marriage. You see,

they aren't planning to have any children with crooked teeth or toes, until

they're sure they can stand each other long enough to raise a family with some

sense of permanency. If it doesn't work out, they'll part as friends (usually) -

much sadder, but also considerably wiser.

The typical Aries reaction to such an arrangement is rather touchingly sentimental

and romantically hopeful. If the two of them really love each other,

thinks the Ram, then they should know it's going to be forever, so why not

marry in the beginning?

The typical Capricorn reaction to the same situation is also rather touchingly

sentimental and romantically hopeful. The Goat girl echoes the girl Ram's

question. If the two of them really love each other, they should know it's going

to be forever, so why not marry in the beginning? So far, the Goat and the Ram

are walking the same path. Then Mars and Saturn part company. Abruptly.

After due deliberation, and careful reflection - and after the initial shock

has passed - Cappy will give the issue thoughtful Saturnine consideration, and

finally decide that the arrangement makes good sense after all. (Since the Goat

is a confirmed realist, Capricorn morality is very closely interwoven with Capricorn

practicality.)

All right, forget about the orange blossoms and the moral issue, but still

Capricorn wonders, "who's going to pay the rent?" Probably the girl. Her lover,

you see, yearns to become a poet, so she may have to support them both for a

while. Aries finds nothing at all wrong with that. Not so Cappy. Capricorn's advice

to the girl then, would be: "Tell him to forget the limericks and earn some

bread, or bid him one of those friendly farewells, with no regrets."

Capricorns are always hurt when Aries people accuse them of being ambitious.

They think no one knows it. Who, them? Ambitious? Yes, them - ambitious.

There are other Saturnine traits that Goats are a little slow to recognize

in themselves, like those periodic binges of gloomy pessimism, their hankering

to grab the top rung of the social ladder, their reluctance to defy the Establishment

- and their often blind obeisance to tradition, family, law and order and

all forms of authority. (Goat J. Edgar Hoover was just doing his Saturn thing.)

Rams are ambitious, too, but quite open about it. Instead of pessimism,

they have periodic binges of downright foolish optimism. Most Aries wouldn't

know a social ladder from a tall shutter, they delight in defying the Establishment,

they feel no obligation whatsoever to respect any sort of authority - and

their blind obeisance is paid, for the most part, to themselves, to their own ideas

and desires.

As an Aries myself, I make the following confession most reluctantly. But if

it will help make the vibration between these two Sun Signs more clear, well

. . . all right. My daughter, Jill (a Capricorn), was wiser than her mother from

the very day she was born. Not only wiser, but calmer, more practical, more

sensible - and exasperatingly always right. Did I mention more cautious?

Also more cautious.

I began rather early taking Jill along with me when I was Christmas shopping,

knowing she would make sure I didn't lose my money, my pocketbook, my

packages - or my head. We started this little holiday tradition when Cappy

was only eight years old. It was humiliating. But it never failed to work.

Before I started taking her along, there was never a Christmas I didn't leave

my shopping money - or half a dozen gifts - on a counter somewhere on the

first floor of Macy's or Gimbel's only realizing it when I was on a crowded elevator,

on the way to the twelfth floor. After a while, I decided I was really overworking

St. Anthony (finder of lost articles) and drafted my tiny Goat into duty

as chaperone. I pass this along to Aries parents of Capricorn youngsters everywhere,

as sort of a Noel gift... for all seasons.

Bobbs Pinkerton, the warm and wise Capricorn editor of my first book, Sun

Signs, once swore to me that she wasn't a typical Goat Girl because she adores

(she claimed) bright colors. "Mad about them," I believe, was the way she put

it. (Astrologically very doubtful, although she does have a Sagittarius Moon,

and quite probably wants to be mad about them.) So we made a bet - naturally,

a small one, since Capricorns don't wager with much largesse - and went

through her closets.

We found nothing but black (with a few stingy white trims) navy blue, dark

green, and brown. Finally, she triumphantly pulled out of the very back of the

closet a wild, canary yellow jumpsuit, carefully wrapped in tissue and strongly

smelling of moth balls. I gave her my most direct Mars look, and she owned up,

blushing, "Well, I only wear it at home, but it was such a bargain." Being a typically

honest Goat, she knew the fourteen cents she bet me was rightfully mine,

and promptly paid it.

Capricorns have this truly marvelous ability to face the facts dispassionately,

curb their faults and make the very best of their virtues. It wouldn't hurt

most Rams to imitate them. Speaking of jumpsuits and such, Cappy Bobbs

claims she has an eighty-year-old Capricorn neighbor who wears mini-skirts

with demure high-necked, long-sleeved blouses. "Well," she says, "I figure it

this way. The legs are the last to go."

So it's a mistake to think of all Goats as Grandma Moses or Whistler's

Mother. The male Capricorns are not always as prim and proper as you might

think either. Not being burdened with excess baggage of Aries idealism, they

can shock a Ram with all sorts of unexpected propositions and behavior - in

private.

However, in the final analysis, the Capricorn mind runs in rather conserva-

tive grooves, at least publicly. Aries is frequently accusing Capricorn of a lack of

sympathy; yet the Goat is not without tender concern and compassion for those

he (or she) thinks are genuinely worth it. Cooperation can mean undreamed-of

success between the Ram and the Goat, when they mutually aim their horns

against prejudice and falsehood, instead of toward each other.

Picture the shy but sturdy and sure-footed mountain goat, stepping carefully

from crag to crag, with confidence and determination managing to find

sufficient nourishment in patches of sparse grass, even swallowing cardboard

and munching on tin cans when it's necessary. Nothing is permitted to delay his

slow yet steady progress to the beckoning pinnacle of truth, wisdom and justice.

Now picture the rocky mountain ram, who requires a diet of richer grass.

Unlike the goat, the ram finds it impossible to calmly digest the rusty nails ofcriticism

and the broken glass of disappointment... and often misjudges the

distance, in leaping between the crags, causing him to fall, and smash his horns.

Because the dreamer's vision distracts him on Nature's rocky path, the bighorn

ram takes some unscheduled detours along the way.

That's the basic difference between Capricorn and Aries men, women and

children. Both Sun Signs are tough climbers. But the Goat's final destination is

the very top of the mountain, the only place where he (or she) feels really secure.

To the rare, more gregarious Ram, who makes it up that high, the top of the

mountain is a lonely spot, with no more challenges - and what is Life without

the thrill of danger? For Capricorn - peaceful. For Aries - boring.

ARIES Woman CAPRICORN Man

"Now," said he, "shall I give you a kiss?" She made

herself rather cheap by inclining her face toward him, but

he merely dropped an acorn button into her hand; so she

slowly returned her face to where it had been before, and

said nicely that she would wear his kiss on the chain round

her neck.

The unmistakable air of loneliness that hangs over a Capricorn man, even in a

roomful of people, draws the Aries girl straight to his side. To the sentimental,

egocentric female Ram, the reason for his loneliness is obvious. He's been waiting

for her - to show him how beautiful life can be. So she directly proceeds to

show him. Aries never beats around the bush.

Her initial enthusiasm, however, may soon be stifled by the Capricorn

man's slow responses - his earthy immunity to her fiery Mars charisma, and

her impulsive emotions may finally lead her to decide he's too stuffy, aloof, distant.

How can she help him find the sunlight when he's so drearily attached to

his career, not to mention his family - including his great-aunts and kissing

cousins, as well as his saintly parents? There's little hope he'll ever sweep her

off her feet and marry her when he's already so permanently wedded to his job,

his ambition and/or his relatives.

It could be the end of a promising relationship that might have been deeply

satisfying, as well as financially successful. Why should she waste her time trying

to break through his loneliness to show him that life is beautiful, when he

obviously enjoys his isolation? He wouldn't recognize beauty if it knocked him

over. She's wrong.

Capricorns do appreciate beauty. But he'll never tell her about those pictures

he painted in school when the teacher wasn't looking, or the music he used

to drown himself in when no one was listening, before he buckled down to the

serious problems of carving out his security in a mad world unless he

thinks she really cares.

It can hurt to lose someone you love because you're unable to communicate

your feelings, and this is too often the case between the quiet boy Goat and the

aggressive girl Ram. How can he let her know about all those secret dreams he

wants to give her - how can he show her the lifelong romanticism hidden deep

within his shy, funny Goat's heart? Well, he should look at it this way: if she

can't see more virtue in the exceptional than in the exciting, she's not the right

girl for him. Or he might memorize Elizabeth Barrett Browning's sonnet that

begins, "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways ," and practice,

practice, practice. Lovers down through the ages have learned they can say

things to each other in verse, that were buried inside their souls, just waiting to

be discovered, so they could be revealed to one special person.

So, you see, the Mars-directed instinct of the Aries girl might have been

right. He really was waiting for her to come along, and show him how to paint

rainbows. It's just that her initial approach might have been overwhelming for

the more introverted Goat. Capricorns have difficulty coping with reckless action

and abandon, even in the name of love. It takes this man a certain length of

time to make sure he has a firm grip on the reality of a romance, and even then,

he proceeds with caution. This way, he's sure not to slip and fall, or make any

mistakes he'll regret at some future date. With Aries, it's "fly now - pay later."

With Capricorn, it's "pay now - and fly later, with a clear conscience."

Assuming Capricorn and Aries do reach across the chasm of their differences,

and hang on to each other's hands and hearts, the disparities between

their outlooks on life must still be either overcome or over-looked. He'll try to

over-look them. She'll try to overcome them. Even in tackling the problems of

their differences, they're different. It lies in their divergent approaches to a situation.

Here are a couple of examples.

The situation: He has just hurt his knee, and the doctor has told him he

shouldn't aggravate the injury by walking on it for at least three weeks. (Capricorns

are always banging their kneecaps, visiting the dentist, breaking bones or

suffering a touch of arthritis. Otherwise, their health is great.) The knee injury

spoils the skiing trip they'd planned in the mountains.

ARIES: "I'm sorry you can't come with me, darling. But I'm sure you won't

mind if I go along with the others and try to enjoy myself anyway."

CAPRICORN: "Do you know what you are? You're selfish."

ARIES: "Do you expect me to sit here and hold your hand, when I've been

looking forward to this weekend all year? Couldn't you make an

effort and come along, even if you don't ski?"

CAPRICORN: "No, I do not wish to come along in my crippled state, and yes, I do

expect you, if you love me, to stay here and hold my hand."

ARIES: "DO you know what you are? You're selfish."

(Actually, they're both right. They're both selfish.)

Another situation: (If the first one hasn't already scared them off.) She's

temporarily broke, so he lends her the money to have her car overhauled, and to

make her rent payment. She has no qualms whatever about asking him. After

all, they're in love. It both impresses and touches her that he's so sweet about

giving her the cash without any coaxing or quibbling. Several months pass, and

she still hasn't repaid the loan. She's forgotten all about it, you see. So he gently

reminds her, but she thinks he's only teasing. Meanwhile, she's showered him

with an expensive color TV set and a pure silk kimono for Christmas - plus a

solid gold wristwatch and a St. Bernard puppy for his birthday - all on her

credit cards. He's sincerely moved, and grateful for her gesture, but not so

grateful that he forgets to mail her an informal written statement, listing the

two hundred dollars he loaned her (with some Capricorns this could conceivably

also include a few extra dollars in accrued interest) and love flies out the window

in a burst of Mars fireworks.

ARIES: How dare he put our intimacy on a vulgar, financial basis?

CAPRICORN: How dare she violate our intimacy by refusing to respect an obligation

between us?

And so it goes - bumpety, bumpety, crackle and pop.

On the physical side of love between them, the same kind of hurdles must

be overcome before they find sexual satisfaction. When the Ram mates with the

Goat, it's a blending of Fire and Earth, and these are not normally the most

compatible of elements. His sex impulses are controlled by Saturn, the planet of

solid resistance, self-discipline and permanence. Hers are directed by Mars, the

planet symbolizing the masculine principle of flaming penetration. Capricorn

would rather remain lonely and starved for love than risk being burned by a

temporary passion. Aries would rather risk being scorched than not even try.

So she's usually the one to initiate the sexual advances. Assuming the stars are

favorable, and she catches him when he's too weak to resist, the Capricorn man

will respond to her fresh, enthusiastic expressions of love with the kind of profound

intensity only the Saturn-ruled can understand - and a depth of affection

that will surprise her as much as it will delight her.

If these two miraculously manage to get together, it's probably because he

has the Moon in Aries, Sagittarius, Leo, Gemini or Aquarius - or because she

has the Moon in Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo, Pisces or Scorpio. Then the differences

between them (and there are undeniable differences) will tend to attract

instead of repel. In other words, rather than become annoyed by his caution,

stability and composure, she'll respect him for these qualities she lacks, and try

to imitate them. Rather than become uptight over her forceful drive, he'll envy

and admire it, and loosen up his laces a little himself. With a harmonious Sun-

Moon relationship in their mutual charts, love between Aries and Capricorn can

grow into a deep, and lasting, devotion - sexually and otherwise.

However, with a square or opposition between their natal Sun and Moon

signs, the Goat and the Ram will either lock horns in constant battle, or become

so bored with each other that they wander off someday and forget to return.

Whatever their planetary positions, there's always the chance that his distrustful

reserve in the beginning will petrify her natural romantic buoyancy, and

they'll never get beyond holding hands at the movies - or making magical

promises with their eyes which they never keep.

The Goat and the Ram are not immune to the common mistake of all 4-10

Sun Sign Pattern lovers, who see the world through different-colored glasses.

They fall in love, then try to change the very qualities they first loved in each

other. When he first decides he loves her, he's impressed by her optimistic, bubbly

conversation. Even her recklessness intrigues him into feeling an unaccustomed,

grudging admiration. He smiles at her extravagances, and chuckles indulgently

at her mistakes. Then, perversely, he tries to mold her trusting,

hopeful personality into a more conventional and acceptable form. But she will

not be molded.

When she first decides she loves him, she's enormously impressed with his

strong, silent aura of strength. It both mystifies and excites her. His patience

and mildness are soothing to her tangled emotions, and her heart beats faster,

just imagining what it would be like to share an intimate, day-to-day relationship

with this gentle, quietly humorous, wise and steady man. Then she begins

to feel stifled by it all, so she tries to coax him into tossing caution over his

shoulder. She beckons to him to come and chase clouds with her, to run through

sweet-smelling clover fields in a summer rain - only to find he's brought along

his umbrella again.

The Capricorn man can't understand why the Aries girl has such fun riding

on an endless merry-go-round. It only makes him dizzy. But she likes the calliope

music and the way the wind blows her hair. She will wonder why he keeps

his heart locked up so tight. He'll tell her it's just to be safe. But there's nothing

in a heart to steal. Only things to give.

When this man and woman drift away from each other, the strain of the

music they once heard together may haunt them, reminding them that perhaps

they didn't try quite hard enough. He may not reveal outwardly the pain he

feels over losing her, but still waters run deep, and Earth sorrow runs even deeper.

She will weep inconsolably for many a day, following her own fiery emotional

pattern, but by and by she'll forget, though she may watch the sunrise wistfully

for years afterward. She won't tell him how she's hurting inside - why

should she? He's so cold and detached, and barely even says hello when they

pass on the street like that time at the corner, when the city traffic was so

heavy and noisy, they could only wave to each other. He didn't even smile. But

what she doesn't know is that somewhere, deep within his lonely heart, he may

be thinking things she suspects, like, maybe such words as

How old am I? I'll be 92 next Christmas

though I won't admit to one day over 20 ...

even after all the birthday cards are cut and shuffled

it's hard to figure

I've aged at least 500 years since I stumbled into you;

yet I still believe in faerie tales

like the Princess and the Frog

and I still believe you wanted me ...

perhaps I'm only three or so?

you'll never know ... how old I am

but I'll tell you anyway

I was born the hour I met you ... and died today. *

She doesn't hear the words his heart speaks to her silently, of course. She's

thinking her own thoughts, remembering the thing he said to her, one dawn, as

they were walking along the shore, by the ocean.... when he held her in his

arms, and said quietly "and here you'll stay, until it's time for you to go."

Then she asked him, "When will that time be? " But he didn't answer. So she

never asked again. Aries is proud.

Remember the message of the stars. Those lovers who are victorious over

the heavy soul-testing of the 4-10 vibrational influence, are blessed by Venus.

And perhaps it does take the gentle planet Venus to soften two hearts ruled by

* From Venus Trines at Midnight by Linda Goodman.

the masculine planets, Mars and Saturn. Venus . . . and music ... poetry

. . . and memories . . .

The tensions and troubles, the misunderstandings and lack of communication

this man and woman must face - are formidable. But their rewards for being

patient with each other, and waiting for the heart's wisdom to guide them -

are forever-after. Now she wishes she had stayed home and held his hand that

time when he hurt his knee. How could she have been so selfish? Now he thinks

maybe he should have offered to go with her, just to watch her ski down a snowy

hill, knowing she was his. How could he have been so selfish?

Foresight is much better than hindsight. But it still might not be too late to

say "I'm sorry." It's never too late for those who really love. And even when the

Ram and the Goat who once cared for each other are apart wherever they

are Venus is winking down at both of them, shining the message of her

light on their loneliness, with a sparkling promise of maybe a new tomorrow.

ARIES Man CAPRICORN Woman

... from first to last she had been wiser than he.

Of course this was a pity; but whatever Mr. Darling did he

had to do in excess; otherwise he soon gave up doing it.

The kind of effect an Aries male and a Capricorn female have on each other

mostly depends on her age when they first meet. If she's still in her teens, or under

thirty, she may see him as a rather crude, pushy, cave-man type, with no future.

And he may see her as a sourpuss, or at the very least, a weird, grannytype

recluse. (Of course, I know of one Goat Girl who's quite a loose swinger,

and about as far out as you can get, but she has all her other planets in Aquarius,

afflicted by Mars. Here, we're dealing with the essentially pure Sun Sign

types.)

If they meet when she's past thirty (the farther past, the better) she may be

a barrel of laughs, full of young ideas about everything from psychology to ecology,

and they'll have much more in common. This can lead the Ram to think

she's as impulsive and carefree as himself, but he's made another one of his rash

Aries judgements. She's still a Capricorn, under the iron influence of Saturn,

and her kooky reverse aging twist will never stretch quite far enough to snap or

distort her basic ideas of security. Nothing will ever change Cappy's reverence

for success and a solid bank account. Now, most Aries men are bristling with

success potential. It shines out from their faces like a beacon light, and shows

itself in their aggressive walk and movements. But Rams don't always display a

natural knack for building solid bank accounts. Until they're past thirty. (Make

that fifty. Better yet - sixty. After all, with a potential life span of three to five

hundred years, he has lots of time to mature.)

Capricorn girls gravitate toward those at the top by instinct. After all,

someone has to know who's who, and what's what. Is a sense of responsibility so

bad? No, but to Aries it can be un-nerving. It smacks of Caution and Prudence,

two words this man never even learned to spell because he has a kind of

Freudian hang-up about them. They symbolize the thing he fears most - repression

of his Mars enthusiasm.

That's why a love relationship seldom develops when these two meet in a

business situation, where the Ram is the boss and the Goat Girl is his secretary,

for example. Right away, he'll see that she's a perfect jewel of an employee, with

a compelling, if slightly subdued and controlled, sex appeal. She's capable and

efficient, with a bag full of funnies (though she keeps her humor pretty well hidden

during working hours). It flatters his Mars ego that she realizes she's a subordinate,

and subordinates must learn from those above them. Then he discovers

(hopefully before it's too late) that she's unobtrusively learning everything

she needs to replace him as boss. Obviously, a Ram who's threatened like this

will forget about her sex appeal and fire her in a flash. But even then, he'll

probably always remember her as an excellent secretary, although his harrowing

experience forces him to add a qualifying descriptive phrase, like "quietly ambitious."

When they're not competing with each other, however, the Goat and the

Ram can make an interesting couple. I didn't say flashy or fantastic. I said interesting.

By now, you know Capricorn is symbolized by the mountain billy goat. But

you may not know that Capricorn's corresponding symbol in Greek mythology is

Janus, the two-faced god. Before you get the wrong impression, let me explain

the meaning of Janus' two faces which is that one of them is turned toward the

Past, the other toward the Future. With Capricorn, the Future is important

only as it relates to the Past. The Ram will soon discover he'd better have a respectable

family tree, going back at least five or six generations, if he wants to

impress this girl. As for her, well - a Capricorn woman doesn't really need a

family tree. You might say Capricorns are their own ancestors. Ponder that. If

you know any typical Goats, it will begin to make perfect sense.

Frequently, a Capricorn girl will find herself involved in what can only be

called an "impossible" romantic situation. And there's a good reason. A woman

who secretly feels she's an impossible person will unconsciously seek out an impossible

love relationship to match her opinion of herself - and to punish herself.

Just what she deserves, she thinks. An impossible affair for an impossible

person. Me. But this girl is often much more warm and lovable than she permits

herself to realize, and always far more physically appealing and attractive

than she believes. On top of that, her mind is stable (barring an afflicted Sun or

Mercury) and she's not flighty.

It's up to the Ram to convince her she's a very desirable female. With his

talent for enthusiastic appreciation and his tendency to place the woman he

loves on an ivory pedestal, he may manage to bring the shy or insecure Cappy

out of her shell rather neatly. Aries has a better chance than most other Sun

Signs to swing the Goat Girl from self-depreciation into a rightful pride in her

feminine sexuality. Still, even if he finally accomplishes this minor miracle, he

may not get to take her into his arms right away for keeps. There's her family.

Unless her parents outraged the Saturn sense of decency in some way, leaving

bitter scars, the average Capricorn is fanatically devoted to them. If her

family doesn't approve of the Ram, she may not either. If they do approve of

him they may be ill or in financial straits, and she feels it's her duty to remain

with them as long as she's needed, even if love itself must be sacrificed. I tell

you there's only one way out of that Capricorn family trip. Offer to let her bring

Mums and Pops along to share your married life - find a large house or apartment

with plenty of spare bedrooms - and make the best of it. Otherwise, if the

Ram talks her into deserting her relatives in their hour of need, or into leaving

them to cope with their own problems she'll become gloomy, blame herself and

feel constant guilty twinges. It's disconcerting to try to make love to a woman

who's continually having gloomy chills and guilty twinges. Especially for an

Aries male, who needs and demands, at all times, intense, concentrated attention

- directed toward himself.

Their sex life can be greatly improved if the Ram studies the astrological

implications of the Saturnine emotional nature more closely. Sometimes when a

Capricorn girl wears a mask of casual indifference, it may be concealing the

most tormenting passions. If she represses physical expressions of affection, it's

only because Saturn keeps silently warning her: Watch out. Be careful. Don't be

fooled by your senses. They're unreliable, and they can trick you.

Listening to that inner voice, while burning with the desire to consummate

physically an emotional and mental attraction, can build up frustrations - and

frustrations can take many strange forms. With Capricorns, it can result in filling

up the inner emptiness with ambition for power, excessive financial security

- or even collections of antiques. Some of them become cranky and cross,

and a few accept their fate by pretending to believe that solitude is a sign of

spiritual attainment. The courageous Ram won't be afraid to rip off the Goat's

icy mask of indifference to expose her hidden passion. The trouble is that the insensitive

Ram may fail to recognize it as only a mask, never guess the depth of

feeling behind it and give up before he's begun to fight.

It may also freeze the flames of passion between them if the female Goat

uses her self-chosen, protective cloak to shatter the confidence of the Aries man

in his ability as a lover. Once he feels his lovemaking is not arousing an equally

intense response in her, he'll suffer agonies of inferiority. It hardly matters if

his unhappiness is based on a fallacy, and she really longs to love him as fiercely

in return but can't trust her own emotions and feelings. He may not be perceptive

enough to grasp her secret desire to reciprocate his passion, and another

Aries-Capricorn relationship ends before it's had a chance to grow into the kind

of profound emotional experience it might have been.

The general rule between these Sun Signs should be to check each other's

Moon Signs. If the Sun and Moon in the respective charts are harmonious, the

Ram can magically transmute the cold, grey lead of Saturn into the sparkling

diamonds of Mars, through the pure alchemy of love. But if the Moon and Ascendent

of one or either was in negative aspect to the other's Sun Sign at birth,

and vice versa, these two may have to wait, and catch each other the next time

around, in a future incarnation, when some karmic patterns have worked themselves

out. However, such mutual natal afflictions are rare, and most Rams and

Goats can achieve harmony together eventually, if they try, however rocky the

path may be in the beginning. Mountain climbing is always harder when you

start; yet the closer you get to the top, the easier it is, the fresher the air, the

brighter the Sun . . . and the spirit leaps with joy at the nearness of the dream's

fulfillment.

The Capricorn train of thought is never permitted to run off the rails. Consequently,

the Goat Girl becomes upset when anything unexpected or unorthodox

threatens to disrupt the smooth status quo, and a Ram may unknowingly

supply such disruptions. When Cappy is upset, it can make an Aries man feel

more than a little tense. This female normally has nerves of steel, eyes like a

hawk, and the patience of Job himself. The impatient Ram may feel, somehow,

inferior to her self-control. He shouldn't. For her self-control is only the chain

she uses to bind her spirit from flying too far out, where there's no one to catch

her, if she should happen to fall. His arms are strong enough to catch her. And

he's persuasive enough, determined enough, to convince her of this - if he's patient.

This man follows the sunrise, and he's hurt when the Capricorn he loves

won't join him. She's gentle and warm, and makes his heart smile with her

jokes. Yet, there's something about her manner that says: "Don't come too

close."

Must astrology interpret this message for a bright Aries man? What she

really means is - "I want you to come closer, but I'm afraid it's only my stabil

ity you want, that you don't really need me - as a woman." Surely a Ram will

know how to answer such a silent plea in this girl's lonely, quiet eyes. Later, she

will move nearer, and maybe not murmur any romantic words, but if he watches

closely, he'll see that soft, secret little Capricorn smile of deep pleasure. If he

doesn't look fast, he'll miss it. All the same, it's there, reflected from the sunlight

within . . . of knowing she's loved.

He's really a very lucky Ram. As beautiful as she looks at this moment,

Saturn has promised to make her look lovelier every year that passes. He may

be a stern ruler of her emotions, but Saturn never breaks a promise. And neither

does she. At last, the Aries man has found a love he can trust, a love to

have and to hold. That's surely worth the challenge of fighting a few dragons of

selfishness - and rounding off their squared Suns into a circle of understanding.