ARIES-GEMINI

The ARIES-GEMINI Relationship

It was not really Saturday night, at least it may have been,
for they had long lost count of the days; but always if they
wanted to do anything special they said this was Saturday
night, and then they did it.
Working as a team, this combination of Sun Signs could sell Manhattan back to
the Indians - blackouts, muggers, creaky subways, uncollected garbage, and all.
Of course, both of them being idealists, they would probably realize what a rotten
deal the Indians got in the beginning, and end up giving them back New
York for a few strands of love beads and a peace button, along with all the other
rights the white man stole from his red brother - if they could swing it.

Because both Aries and Gemini love causes, and share the same talent for
creative, persistent salesmanship, they can perform fantastic feats of ingenuity
together. They also share a casual attitude toward accumulating great power or
money, which may be why they are seldom as successful as they should be, considering
all the emotional (Aries) and mental (Gemini) energy they pour into
anything that interests them - for the moment, that is. Nothing holds the interest
of either of these Sun Signs for longer than a moment. Well, sometimes
maybe two or three moments.
Since Aries bubbles with naive impetuosity, and Gemini is determined to
attain complete independence by breaking every bond of the spirit, maturity of
thought seldom supports their mutual endeavors.
One might say that the combined qualities of this 3-11 Sun Sign Pattern association
present a picture of optimism, punctuated with brief splashes (usually,
very brief) of sensitivity and hidden insecurities. When Aries and Gemini blend
their natures as neighbors, friends, business associates, relatives, lovers or
mates, it doubles up their individual drives for freedom against all who would
confine them in a morass of convention and caution. Separately or together,
they look young, act young - and therefore, quite naturally, often behave like
children.
Now, children can be endearing, guileless and lovable. They can also be unintentionally
selfish, irrational and thoughtless. So it is with any association between
this 3-11 influenced team. Preferably both of them, but at least one of
the two, must eventually grow up, or most of their time together will be spent
playing around in a sand pile, with a couple of brightly painted buckets, and
large shovels for the you-know-what they're both so good at handing each other
and the rest of the world.
Basically, both Aries and Gemini are honest - the Rams especially so - but
these two can fool themselves until they forget where honesty ends and self-deception
begins. It's their innocence, or ignorance, whichever, of their own individual
natures. In other words, they're both as expert at selling themselves as
they are at selling the general public. If the product being sold isn't genuine, the
Gemini will usually be the first of the two of them to suspect it, with Mercury's
sharp, analytical mind, although Gemini is capable of outsmarting himself (or
herself), by continuing to imagine it still may be what he-she originally believed
it was. As for Aries, it's extremely difficult for this Sun Sign to tell the difference
between what glitters so enticingly - and real gold. Such discrimination is
learned by the Ram only after repeated, heartbreaking disillusion and disappointment.
I've been referring to the "two of them." Actually, perhaps I should say the
"three of them," because, although Aries is clearly one person, indivisible, "with
liberty and justice for all," every Gemini is distinctly two people, the person heshe
really is and the person she-he would like to be. The Twins, you know.
Add the Mars ego of the Ram - almost a separate entity in itself - and it can
get pretty crowded, with all those auras mixing, attracting and repelling, blending
and clashing, by turns. It's not a bad idea for these two Sun Sign people, essentially
compatible as they are, to stand apart at intervals and take a fresh look
at each other from a distance. It clears away some of the smog that's bound to
accumulate between them.
Aries pushes ahead instinctively, convinced of the sincerity of cause, as well
as the eventual victory, with little or no time out to reflect on the pros and cons
of any given situation or problem. Conversely, Gemini weighs, sorts and figures
out all possible maneuvers and conclusions with the cool, casual detachment
and logic so typical of all three Air Signs (Aquarius and Libra being the other
two). Yet for all Gemini's mental gymnastics, practicality may be missing.
Gemini can quickly deduce what might go wrong but often decides to outwit
destiny or fate, and even himself (or herself) by clever Mercurial strategy.
There are other differences of approach between these two.
Aries, influenced by a Cardinal Sign, will insist on being at the head of
things, leading, challenging, always initiating and inspiring, with enthusiasm
and daring. The Ram will accept just about any idea, sound or unsound, that
appeals to and arouses the emotions - to which the ego can relate in a personal
way. Mutable Gemini prefers to relate in an impersonal manner, and will accept
ideas that appeal to the mental deductive process, communicating through the
logic and cleverness of Mercury reason, while the true self remains in the background,
watching - unsuspected by those who are being hypnotized with the
Gemini charm.
Aries enjoys riding the lead elephant and waving to the crowd, but the
Twins have no burning desire to be the glory-spangled hero or heroine. Gemini
would rather delegate all the confining duties and obligations of leadership to
others, remaining free of responsibility, free to try on new ideas for size to
explore new people, places and things. The Geminian analysis is less intense
than that of Aries, since everything is calmly checked through the computer of
the mind for possible flaws - or potential. Although the Gemini approach is essentially
mental, the Twins sympathize with the Ram's emotional approach,
even while remaining detached from such over-involvement himself (or herself).
Mercury-ruled men and women understand the Mars reckless impulses. Nevertheless,
they realize that their own best course is to avoid becoming emotionally
entangled, whenever possible.
Close human associations that threaten to smother, long-term employment
without either change or challenge - anything that nails down their dreams or
clips Mercury's wings, Geminis distrust, for fear their very spirits will be confined.
The Air Sign of Gemini strives to soar above the flames that rage around
the Fire Sign of Aries. By remaining aloof and slightly out of reach, Gemini
more often manages to achieve the kind of freedom Aries also seeks but doesn't
always find. Of course, too much mental and emotional freedom can create its
own confusions, and when the Twins get caught in the webs of their own mental
convolutions, the very directness of the Ram can sometimes help to untangle the
knots.
Fortunately, the typical Aries person not only senses the duality of Gemini
but is usually willing to give it room to be. That's why this association is frequently
beneficial to the Geminian, because understanding - or the lack of understanding
- concerning his (or her) dreams has a great deal to do with whether
they come true, simply grow rusty, or become only will-o'-the-wisps. Gemini
eternally chases but never catches. A Gemini will dream from the time he-she is
a tiny tot, until past the century mark. To most people, Mercury's curiosity and
experimental urges seem like a patchwork of erratic, changing attention spans,
but the Ram seems to recognize that all these myriad interests are only Gemini's
attempt to integrate the many-sided, fascinating-to-Aries, Mercurial personality.
An Aries person is less likely to resent the Gemini's flitting from subject to
subject, in the search for all the answers, while shooting forth a continual flow of
imagination and static energy. Interrupting a Mercury Bird when he-she is verbally
expressing is like trying to catch a firefly, and oddly, the Rams (who are
rather experts at interrupting themselves) comprehend this. These two continually
interrupt each other, with a mutual lack of resentment, a most jolly thing
about their association.
If there's a negative aspect between the Sun and Moon or Ascendent in
their birth charts, Aries may accuse Gemini of too much woolgathering and not
enough concrete action, and will try to box Gemini into direct answers. Then the
satirical tongue of Gemini may wound the Ram's easily bruised ego, and there
will be a fiery battle, with sparks flying everywhere, as Gemini's airy attitude
fans the flames of Mars anger. Still, the winds will change, after a while, even
after the stormiest scenes and bitterness is seldom allowed by either of
them to linger. As with all 3-11 vibrational patterns, Aries and Gemini are basically
good friends, and most always remain that way, in addition to being able to
verbally communicate their differences of opinion to such an extent that they
clear the air for a resumption of harmony.
The Mercurial mind of Gemini, no matter how cleverly it's occasionally disguised
behind a mask of calm and charm, resembles a top. Always spinning.
Aries will happily jump on for the ride, and probably enjoy the dizzy pace. As
long as the Ram doesn't try to chain Gemini's free spirit with too many questions
and demands, it will work out rather smoothly between these two. (These
four, counting the Ram, the Twins, and the Mars ego.) Aries and Gemini can
build sand castles from the colorful ethers of their combined thought images tall
enough to reach all the way to the stars. But the foundation must be sound and
stable, or they'll topple to the ground. If they build strongly in the beginning,
the end could be really out of sight - all rainbows, butterflies and leprechauns.
Patience is the secret key to the other side of the fence, where the grass always
looks greener and fresher to both Aries and Gemini, the eternal young ones, who
search for Shangri-la, the Emerald City of Oz, Wonderland and the Fountain of
Youth. Together, they have a better chance of finding all these places than
most people . . . or than they would have if they each searched alone.

ARIES Woman GEMINI Man

"You won't forget me ... will you, before springtime
comes?"
Of course Peter promised; and then he flew away.
There are Aries women and Gemini men who hold hands lightly and skip down
the street together like children. There are other Aries women and Gemini men
who have sarcastic, furious verbal donnybrooks from the time they awake until
they go to bed - and they both talk in their sleep too. Often, the emotional
blending of Mars and Mercury in a love experience produces a strange alchemy
of haunting tenderness, punctuated by sharp hurt, making the relationship capable
of both triumph and disaster. It may be because Gemini, unlike the other
two Air Signs, verbalizes both his admiration and his contempt so clearly and
unmistakably. Or perhaps it's because Aries, unlike the other two Fire Signs, is
consumed by the passion of the moment, whether it's love or hate, never thinking
about tomorrow's possible regrets.
This 3-11 Sun Sign Pattern is quite distinctive in its influence over two people
linked together through its friendly, and very communicative, vibrations.
There's no doubt they'll quarrel occasionally, even frequently; yet their more
tempestuous arguments will contain the seed of spring, and fresh promises for
the future. Their misunderstandings are extremely verbal, and often quite loud,
but somehow, not too serious. It's almost as though they're both aware of the
potential of a truce in the midst of the battle.
These two might accurately say of themselves
some people love with restraint
as if they were someday to hate
but we hated gently, carefully
as if we were someday to love...*
There's very little restraint in the love between Aries and Gemini. When
the Ram and the Twins fall in love with each other, neither will waste time wondering
if the end of the affair, or the marriage, will be blissfully happy or achingly
sad. The initial attraction between them, the magnetic pull of their carefree
natures, causes both of them to reach out toward each other trustingly, with
no worry about a far-off ending. If it should eventually occur, in whatever
form - separation, divorce or death - the memories of love as naive, exciting
and as full of blind faith as a child's heart on Christmas Eve, will soften the
edges of the recollection of any sorrow or hurt they've mutually suffered. That's
*Venus Trines at Midnight by Linda Goodman (New York: Taplinger Publishing Company,
Inc., 1970. To be re-published by Harper & Row, 1979).
the beauty of the 3-11 vibration, in which genuine friendship forms the foundation
for the empathy, from the very first hello.
Jealously can be a large troublemaker. The typical Aries girl is as jealous as
it's possible for a woman to be, without turning solid green, and she's seldom
able to recognize it rationally. It doesn't stem from a possessive nature but from
the Arian symbolic Infant's terrible fear of rejection (which would mean literal
death to an infant) and need for constant reassurance that it (she) is cherished.
The undue Aries concern over losing love to another is more understandable
when it's viewed in the light of these subconscious feelings of infantile helplessness
and total dependency upon continued and uninterrupted affection. It's a
feeling that's always present, just beneath the bright Mars bravado of independence
and self-sufficiency which is not real in any sense, only make believe
. . . . a kind of protection against further vulnerability.
The typical Gemini man is not excessively jealous (barring some Venus-
Mars affliction in his birth chart, or an Aries Moon or Ascendent). And this is
where most of the difficulties may lie. Because, you see, she secretly would like
him to be. The least he can do is pretend he is. Whether she consciously realizes
it or not, the girl Ram rather enjoys arousing the jealous instinct in her man.
It reaffirms her importance to him, a matter that can't be reaffirmed too often
for any Aries. The Gemini male may oblige her, by granting her wish, if she
steps out of line too obviously. But most of the time he'll be too busy changing
his clothes, his moods, his ideas, his dreams and his disposition to pause long
enough to stop, look and listen to any innocent flirtations she's flaunting at him
in the hope of warming up his cool, detached and airy approach to life - and to
her.
Conversely, he won't have to flaunt any flirtations in front of her to bring
on a bright green explosion. Saying good morning too intimately to Apple Annie
at the corner newspaper stand will suffice. Considering his love of freedom and
his phobia concerning emotional shackles that curb his natural gregarious activities,
a little of that will go a long way with a Gemini man. Although she must
learn to somehow either control or hide her jealous fears (if she doesn't want to
lose him), he must also learn to sympathize with her motivation for such behavior
- an inner fear that she lacks enough femininity to keep him faithful (if he
doesn't want to lose her). There has been so much propaganda over the years
about the slinky, sexually seductive, feather-brained, soft and sweet type of
bunny-kitten "every man yearns for," you can't blame the Aries woman for developing
a neurosis about her quick mind, her direct approach to love and her
lack of sneaky female guile - especially since she was born under the influence
of a masculine Sun Sign.
She has courage and initiative, she's energetic and ambitious - all allegedly
masculine traits. Men believe they have the market cornered on those qualities.
Haven't you been reading the Women's Liberation pamphlets? (The Aries
woman may very well be the leader of the ERA group in her community.)
What's a girl Ram supposed to do to be considered feminine - read Marabel
What's-Her-Name's book, The Total Woman, and total herself by just sitting
around murmuring "You're wonderful, darling," and never do anything on her
own? That's just about the size of it, according to Marabel and all the male
chauvinists. Skimpy, isn't it?
Oh, I suppose she could do other things to retain her femininity, like wash,
iron, cook, diaper babies, shop for clothes, gossip, iron, wash, cook, have babies -
am I repeating myself? Sorry, I was beginning to get bored. As an Aries myself,
I've never understood why a girl must be labeled "pushy" just because she knows
her own mind. If most men prefer a Stepford Wives type robot to a real woman,
that's their hang-up. Aries females, along with their Sagittarius and Leo sisters,
sometimes rival the "male chauvinist pigs" by being rather blatant "female chauvinist
sows" themselves. Such feminine gender animals do exist.
Now, why did I write that? I've given the quick-witted Gemini men a new
verbal weapon. My apologies to Ms. Steinem, whom I greatly admire, but it is
true, Gloria, and you know it. Please don't be offended, because I'm one too.
That is, I believe anything they can do, we can do equally - and some things
better. No need to list the latter. We all know what they are. Oh, you don't?
Well, for heaven's sake - patiently and tenderly providing a gentle garden for
babes to grow in for nine months, being able to bear pain at a higher threshold
than men, possessing the common sense and esoteric logic to know that war never
solved anything, and being able to sense danger and evil, long before they appear,
are just a few of our superiorities over the masculine essence. We're also
more sensitive, intuitive and psychic, certainly more compassionate - yet far
more realistic than men. But not quite as sentimental. (You didn't know that
men are secretly sentimental? So much so that they've taught women to see the
poetry and beauty in Life too.) It's all right for the female chauvinist sows to be
aware of their own areas of both equality and superiority regarding the masculine
sex, but they should also recognize the areas of a man's equality and superiority
regarding womanhood. That's what makes true femininity and true masculinity.
With her innocent faith in miracles, it's destined that the Aries woman
someday discover a man who's looking for a real woman, and he could be a
Gemini. This man may have two heads, and twin desires, but he also possesses a
driving need to be able to play mental chess with the woman he loves. Not for
Gemini the serene siren who gazes up to him in silent, palpitating passion, because
it's easier than trying to match wits with him. He definitely falls in love
with his mind first. His heart follows after, then his physical desire. Romance
usually proceeds in just about that priority order with the Twins. As for the
Aries woman, the order is only slightly changed. She falls in love first with her
heart, her mind follows quickly after - and, finally, her physical desire. The
initial patterns are switched, but that's not as important as the fact that they
both end up on the same frequency, in its proper place - last, after mental and
emotional affinity has been established. It's an amazingly successful formula.
Because he'll appreciate the constant mental challenge of the Aries girl
(Aries rules the head, Gemini the mind, among other things), she'll eventually
learn to trust him to love her for what she is. Then she may show him what
she's allowed no other male to discover - that she can be genuinely sweet and
tender, with a man who proves he's her superior in some ways, while making it
clear at the same time that he also admires her for her own qualities, which are
equal to his, some being likewise superior. It's a complicated juggling act, but a
Gemini man can pull it off, if anyone can. His natural charm and glibness (some
people call it blarney) can keep her Mars vanity and ego appeased - and he can
certainly handle any kind of verbal debate she cares to start. She may start
quite a few.
She may have difficulty in adjusting to his typical Gemini habit of lateness.
She's often a little lax in that area herself, but Rams have a rather selfish way of
being outraged when they're forced to swallow their own medicine.
A Gemini man was once three hours late for an appointment with me. Anticipating
his excuses (one of the benefits of being an astrologer) I wrote a little
verse about him while I was waiting.
I'm sorry I kept you waiting
look, don't cry... it was only an hour or two
couldn't you find something to do?
I would have, if I had been you. *
* From Venus Trines at Midnight, by Linda Goodman.

When he finally arrived, he read it, and exclaimed, "Oh, wow! How did you
know exactly what I was going to say?" The Aries girl who's in love with this
two-headed, twin wonder of dual desires and actions should carefully study the
difference between the word "gregarious" and the word "unfaithful," and note
that there is a difference. She should also study the meaning of the two words
"freedom" and "love," and comprehend that, to a Gemini, these two words are
synonyms. It will help to cut down on the arguments.
As for their physical compatibility, he's one of the few men who's capable of
creating the illusionary quality this woman must associate with sex. She idealizes
the sexual expression of love into a colorful, layered fabric, woven from every
book she's ever read, every movie she's ever cried over and every shining
hope she's ever held deep inside her heart. She's convinced that bells should literally
ring at the moment the two of them become one. With him, she may actually
hear them, because his imagination can supply all the fantasies she needs to
fulfill her romantic Cinderella dreams.
This sort of empathy is what causes them to initially fall in love, sometimes
at first sight (neither Sun Sign is noted for slow action). But later, it may take
more than fantasies to keep her love burning brightly, when his Gemini detachment
fails to satisfy her total concept of sexual expression, which is not purely
imaginary. She also needs the tangible. She may begin to feel there's always a
tiny part of himself he holds back, even during their intimacy, and she could be
right. She holds nothing back, with the Aries instinct to give completely of herself.
The Mars inclination toward direct action is seldom diluted in the giving of
passion - or in the exchange of it. He may fail to arouse in her such natural (for
Rams) physical impulses, with his airy approach to lovemaking. Then she might
feel that faerie stories are empty, when there's no fire to set them ablaze, and
become bored - or, much worse, frigid.
It's a delicate area of adjustment, and the relationship will have a better
chance for success if the Moon and/or Ascendent of his birth chart is in a Fire
Sign. Otherwise, he may not be able to teach her what she's so enormously capable
of learning, after her initial inhibitions have been overcome by his idealistic
preliminaries. The Gemini Prince can kiss the Aries Princess awake, but she
may fall back asleep again if total passion is lacking, without ever really knowing
why. Then Aries Fire can turn into Aries Ice, which is a sad waste, considering
the warmth she can so generously give when the complete potential of her fiery
nature is encouraged to develop.
During one of their games of mental chess, when he's behaving in an impossible
manner, she might try saying: "I realize that you believe you understood
what I just said, but I'm not sure you caught what it was I didn't intend to imply,
for fear you might misunderstand what I believed you thought." If it confuses
him, she can say: "Good. Now you know what it's like to talk to yourself -
or rather, to yourselves. Both of you."
She might also leave this book around near him, open to this chapter, to remind
him of how dull his life would be now if she hadn't streaked across his
heart. But she should curb her impulse to hand him the book directly, and order
him to read it immediately. Cinderella would never do that.

ARIES Man GEMINI Woman

He came back, and there was a greedy look in his eyes now
which ought to have alarmed her, but did not.
Unless they met in high school, and were married shortly thereafter (which does
happen rather frequently with these two Sun Signs, since they're both always in
such a hurry), an Aries man may fiercely resent his Gemini girl's past love life,
which could have been, by normal standards, somewhat extensive. It's almost
sure to include, if not a couple of ex-husbands, at the very least, half a dozen
broken engagements or a few flickering old flames. All Geminis should be wary
of early marriage, unless they were born when the Moon or Ascendent was in
Capricorn, Virgo, Cancer or Taurus.
It's not that she's fickle or promiscuous, but this girl may run through a
long list of pitchers while she's playing the field, before she finds one who can
bat her average. Yes, I know that batters don't pitch, and pitchers don't bat, ordinarily
- but any man who can't do at least two things equally well, preferably
more, and also preferably both at once, is likely to strike out with her.
Of course, we know that could never happen to an Aries man, since he can
do everything and anything better than anyone else, at any time, so I suppose
it's just an academic discussion, but it wouldn't hurt for him to remember it
anyway.
All her life this woman has thought it was the house at the top of the hill
that had golden windows. She keeps climbing all the way up there, only to look
below, from the summit, and discover the house at the bottom of the hill is the
one with golden windows, after all. So she slides back down, and re-discovers
that the house at the bottom has only ordinary windows, as she first had
thought, then looks up to see the golden windows shining once more at the top
of the hill, decides she's been wrong, and trudges back up the hill again to another
disappointment. Why are those golden windows so elusive? It can be
spiritually exhausting, all that climbing up, and sliding back down, and climbing
back up, until she learns that the reflection of the Sun is only an illusion - not
real at all - and relative, depending upon the time of day and one's location at
any given moment.
There may be times when a Gemini girl thinks an old love was really the
one with golden possibilities, but before she finds out that this, too, is an illusion,
she will have lost the Aries man, whether she left him standing alone at the
top or at the bottom of the hill. A Ram will never sympathize with his woman's
nostalgia over yesterday's romances, even though he may go out under a toadstool,
and light a candle to an old flame every spring, on Groundhog Day, himself.
Remember the Aries self-centeredness. He can do it. She can't. Why?
Because he knows his nostalgia is innocent and will never lead anywhere. He's
not so sure about hers. (Aries hidden insecurity.)
Their relationship may have a few other pitfalls along with it's undeniable
delights - like a possible lack of will power and stability. Rams possess simply
oodles of drive and energy, but sticking to things they start is not one of their
strong points. Since a man subconsciously depends on his woman to supply
what he lacks, he may be leaning on a feather in the breeze when he leans on a
Gemini girl. Will power and dependability are not her major talents either (unless
her Moon or Ascendent, as just mentioned, happens to be in Cancer, or in
an Earth Sign - and naturally, the same is true of him). Consequently, these
two (these three or four) can send up a lot of flares that keep sputtering out, as
each one indulges the other's weaknesses of procrastination and quick boredom.
This is one man who probably won't insist that his Gemini woman stay
home to sweep the hearth, wearing a calico apron and watering the vegetable
garden. He'll probably realize he can use her versatile viewpoints and original
thinking in his business life or career, so it's common to find this couple working
together, after marriage, as well as before. They usually make a crackerjack
team. He knows exactly what he wants - and she has plenty of ideas about how
to help him get it. Besides, he can watch her more closely if she's with him all
day. It eliminates his worry about the milk man, the cleaner, the grocer, and the
handsome chap who runs the elevator in their apartment building. Her Mercurial
proclivity for harmless (usually) flirting adds plenty of fuel to the fires of
Aries jealousy, and anything that might keep such Mars sparks under control is
desirable. A survey to determine how many Aries men eventually suggest that
their wives work as their secretaries, or full partners, might prove astrologically
interesting. On the other hand, these lovers often meet on the job. The same
kinds of occupation and career interest them both, so it's only natural that they
may bump into each other in some creative field or profession that offers excitement
and challenge.
You'll never see an Aries man and a Gemini woman, however long they've
been married, sitting at a restaurant table reading the paper, or staring at the
other customers, in silence, ignoring each other, the way so many couples unfortunately
do after the first flush of romance has become a little softer. Aries and
Gemini will always have something to say to each other - sometimes too much.
Conversation, in any case, is not likely to lag between them. Most of the time,
their verbal communication will consist of stimulating and scintillating exchanges,
but when she touches a raw nerve in his sensitive Mars ego with her
talent for hitting the satirical mark, it could turn into a verbal contest that could
leave some pretty deep wounds. Happily however, these two are inclined to forgive
and forget injuries as quickly as they tend to inflict them.
Strangely, this love relationship is sometimes harder on others than it is on
the man and woman themselves. The more sincerely and deeply they're in love,
the more likely it is that their friends, neighbors or relatives, at some time, however
rarely, will suffer from this Air-Fanning-Fire romance. Now and then, a
Gemini woman will imagine all sorts of things about people that are, quite simply,
untrue. She'll convince herself that a particular dialogue took place with
another person, and report it to her Aries lover or husband, in words that
haven't the slightest connection with reality, or with the words that were actually
spoken. (Her Mercury imagination, you see, fills in the dull or uninteresting
gaps with more creative phraseology.)
Loving her as intensely as only a Ram can love, he could take furious offense
at these slightly exaggerated insults to his lady fair, and direct his Mars
anger, full force, toward the shocked person he's been falsely led to believe has
treated her so shabbily. (Aries men are fiercely loyal to their friends and relatives,
and especially to their mates.)
Later, her honest Twin will trouble her conscience by softly, yet insistently,
reminding her that things didn't quite occur as she colorfully described them to
her Ram. If she then levels with him, he should control his Mars fireworks of
outrage, and appreciate her attempt to separate reality from imagination, with
tenderness. For the Gemini woman is made of fragile material. She's not, like
him, protected on her journey through Life by the fierce warrior Mars - only by
the unpredictable magician Mercury, who often hides from her, just when a girl
most needs her ruling planet's wisdom.
Her heart contains so many different chords of haunting music. She's a
symphony of memories, made of loveliness and light, ugliness and shadow, making
the more direct Aries man who loves her sometimes wonder, "Who is she -
this intimate and familiar stranger? Who is she . . . and what is she?"
Who is she . . . ? Whichever Twin leads the way, at any given moment.
What is she? She's the bunch of marigolds in a sky blue bowl, on her teacher's
desk, in the third grade the circus parade she once watched, when the
clown threw a pretzel to her, and she caught it joyfully she's hayrides and
hurricanes her first pair of black patent leather Mary Janes, a summer
storm in the woods, at scout camp, that made the pine trees smell as fragrant as
hyacinths a field of purple heather she sat in once, for hours, that transported
her all the way to Scotland, where she was the Lady of the Lake
and also the lonely Evangeline the small, lost bird she fed, until it
was strong enough to fly, when she was five. These things are what she is. All
this.
And so, while the Gemini girl-woman must exercise a certain amount of discipline
over her imagination, if she expects to achieve harmony with the
straightforward, honest Ram she loves, she must be careful not to restrict it entirely,
because it's the quality that makes her seem so exquisitely feminine to
him. Children, too, possess vivid imaginations, and he thinks of her, this man,
more often than she knows, as a little girl who needs his loving protection. Except,
of course, when she shatters his image of her helplessness by beating him
at mental musical chairs, King's X, tic-tac-toe, and so forth. Some Gemini females
can be, when they choose, intellectual terrors, their speech as sharp as a
knife, their mental acumen nothing less than brilliant - which isn't the most
soothing balm for a male Ram's masculine self-confidence. But then, there's
also the bunch of marigolds in the sky blue bowl....
As for him, he's made, not just from the rough-hewn robes of raw courage,
tied with the crimson cord of bravado - his Ram's horns curl around the memories
of his Lancelot days, the time he first swam, in water way over his head,
when he couldn't swim - but he did - his broken top, his broken dreams
. . . and the nightmares with no shape or form, from a buried, now forgotten
childhood fear . . . the Christmas when Santa forgot the puppy on his list... the
sky rockets, Roman fountains and spit-devils he ignited, when he was nine, on
Independence Day . . . the first time he ever saw a horse, and smelled the intoxicating
odors of a barn . . . the way he felt when he first knew how holy a silent
night could be, sleeping alone, beneath countless glittering stars that sang to
him a remembered melody no one else could hear.
They are so many things, this man - this woman. Mostly, they are the
sometimes inhabitants of a land, a kingdom they discovered by themselves,
where everything is beautiful... but lonely . . . needing other eyes to see it too,
for only thus may it be recognized as real. They may each visit on another's private
worlds, but if the mutual invitation so wistfully extended, unspoken . . . is
rejected then each may retreat into his or her kingdom, more and more often,
leaving the other regretfully behind. These lovers should never permit such
a retreat to occur, because the stars and planets have designed their make-believe
lands so very much alike, they're sure to be happier when they dance
through each other's dreams, than when one stands forlornly before the No
Trespassing sign of the other.
Sexually, this man and woman will believe themselves to be ideally mated,
in the beginning. The Ram dreams of arriving in the garden of love on a flying
carpet of adventure, straight out of the Arabian Nights (or the Age of Chivalry,
either one), and the Gemini female will play her role in his dream-drama to perfection.
She'll not only go along with the game, but she'll think up enough new
twists to keep him fascinated far beyond the honeymoon. No one can make an
ordinary bed seem as much like Sultan's harem as a Gemini woman, which is
richly satisfying to an Aries man, who wants his mate to be the epitome of Woman.
With her, he'll never know who awaits him at night in the privacy of the
boudoir. It could be Cleopatra, George Sand, Mata Hari, Rebecca of Sunnybrook
Farm, Lady Hamilton or Fanny Brice. For a while it will excite him, until
he starts to look around in the closet and under the pillows for "the sensuous
woman."
His own sexual expression is direct and intense. Hers is somewhat more
elusive and complicated. True, he enjoys approaching their lovemaking on a
path of imaginative romance, but he expects to quench his thirst in a stream of
pure, honest passion, when he arrives at his destination. There's often an air of
the intangible in her attitude toward physical love, to the extent that he may accuse
her of being somewhere else during their intimate moments, and she could
resent his masculine intrusion into what, to her, is always a sacred place - her
mind.
This man needs daydreams in association with sexual union, but there's a
time and place for them, and to him, the last act of their love drama is not the
proper place. He believes, like George M. Cohan, that the finale of anything (if
it expects to receive an encore) should include a stirring version of "The Stars
and Stripes Forever." Listening to Ram Andre Previn's full orchestral recording
of Hoist's The Planets, on cassette or stereo, may help her sense his romantic
pace. The section titled "Mars" will deliver the message profoundly, up to and
including the violent percussion emphasis at the very close of that passage, that
symbolizes the rhythms of his ruling planet with startling lucidity. It's an Aries
sex education - and like everything else in the world, it's more beautifully
learned with a musical background.
He may sometimes feel she's searching for something that never existed,
and fail to realize that with a shade more gentleness from him, she might be able
to transmute her vivid imaginings into equally lovely realities. Gemini images
flash a true picture of what could be - if they're tenderly allowed to take form
and shape. It's her dual consciousness that may distort the communication.
But love can keep those Mercury circuits free of negative vibrations. Love can
do anything - literally, anything.
This eternally youthful man and woman could hear the same music together,
and follow the same distant drummer, for many happy years . . . if she understands
that his jealousies and petulant angers stem from his Aries emotional
vulnerabilities and if he respects her love affair with her other Twin Self.
It may sometimes lead her into places she runs to more swiftly than he can follow,
but she'll return, refreshed, and ready to race with him toward new horizons.
He's so bright and brave, so friendly, open and enthusiastic. She's so utterly
feminine, charming, versatile and spontaneous. If only they don't try to
change each other, they can remain boy and girl forever. And children are
the luckiest people in the Universe.