Linda Goodman's Sun Signs (44 page)

These men have an explosive temper that can strike a life-time wound. When the Scorpio lashes his deadly tail, the sting bites hard. He not only enjoys winning, he has to win. Something inside him dies when he loses, even in small ways; yet oddly enough, a Pluto man normally practices good sportsmanship. Like all his other emotions, disappointment never shows on those set features, and his reactions are rigidly controlled, including his romantic intentions. If there's a good reason to avoid the relationship, he'll burn inside while he's projecting a glacial calm outwardly. He's also capable of torturing a woman cruelly before he finally decides to grab her by the hair and drag her off to his jungle of honeysuckle vines. Naturally, there are some November fellows who will gently propose on bended knee. They'll behave very properly, with or without a chaperone, but don't be deceived. It's merely the Scorpio desire to keep dignity at all cost. Your reputation must be spotless. He won't stand for ridicule or cheapness, for all his erotic nature.

Pluto people can have either a Sunday School teacher horror of sin, an attitude which produces intensely dedicated evangelistic religious leaders, like Billy Graham, or they can be driven by curiosity to penetrate every dark corner of the human mystery. Sometimes, both attitudes are combined, resulting in the hypocrisy or self-delusion of an Elmer Gantry or a Reverend Davidson in
Rain.

Every Scorpio is a law unto himself, and completely unconcerned with what others think of him. He would like to be respected as a good, solid citizen, but if it interferes with any of his intense ideas or goals, then he couldn't care less, and those who gossip can just go to the place Pluto rules. None of his important decisions are hampered by the opinions of his friends, relatives, neighbors or enemies. I'm sorry to say, not even by you. Don't run away yet. Such beautiful self-containment and sureness of purpose can create a mighty attractive, free spirit, who's not always fussing about what people think. Are honesty and courage and integrity such bad bargains? They may have lost a little of their sparkle in today's marketplace, but rub off the dust they've collected, and you can still get them appraised as genuine.

It's quite an experience to see the Scorpio man operate under adversity's black clouds. While others are mumbling and crumbling and grumbling, he is at his forceful, courageous best. He seldom wallows in envy or self-pity, and he doesn't happen to think that life owes him a single farthing. You can just imagine how much time that saves. Instead of pouting in hurt anger when real troubles hit, he meets them head on. Conquer them? But of course. That's what he was born to do.

One thing is a little frightening, and may require courage on your part. Scorpio loves mystery and there's not a single one that crosses his path he won't solve in detail. Since the eternal feminine mystery is any woman's most potent defense and offense, being stripped naked of your mystery can leave you feeling a little exposed. You'll scarcely have a secret left when he starts probing with those burning eyes and piercing questions.

He has high standards, and he won't choose his friends loosely. They'll have to measure up. This is a marvelous, rare kind of man who can share a jug of spirits and joke with rough humor among other men like a bawdy Elizabethan; then tap that deep, inscrutable nature and turn into as gentle and tender a lover as Robert Browning. If there's anything more to ask for in a male animal, I don't know what it might be. Submissiveness and forgiveness? Detachment and caution? That's not fair. You knew he was short on those qualities back in the beginning.

He can be cruel sometimes, for his own, unfathomable reasons, and he may even exhibit a sadistic sense of wit by describing you as fat, dumpy, shrewish and square in front of friends. It's his private joke. Grin, if it kills you. You've been warned that Scorpio is compelled to conceal his motives, and this tendency isn't watered down in love. It may even be intensified. He's not about to display his true emotions in front of the world like a vulnerable, smitten schoolboy. Later, when you're alone, he'll tell you what he really thinks.

Marriage gives you a certain security, but if he pulls some of his Pluto tricks before the knot is tied, it may hurt, and you'll fail to get the humor. Still, don't even think about telling him that his harsh, self-sufficient who-needs-you? game makes you feel like jumping off a bridge. The Scorpio man will just tell you to go ahead and jump. It may take a while to adjust to his personality, but it will eventually toughen you up. If you're too soft, you'll bruise easily with a Scorpio. Never ask him what he thinks of a new dress or hairstyle, unless you're prepared to be stung by the brutal truth. At least you'll know his positive statements are honest, and not pasted together with the sticky glue of bored, insincere flattery. It's better to brave a good, healthy “You look awful,” now and then, and be rewarded by an occasional “You're really beautiful, you know,” than to swallow a constant diet of vague remarks like: ‘Yes, dear, it's lovely, sugar. Mmmmm—just fine, pigeon,” from other men. Don't you think so? I do. But then, you're the one who has to live with it.

When it comes to jealousy, you'd better tread very, very carefully. He could burn and erupt like Mount Vesuvius in its heyday if you should accidentally wink near a man when a cinder gets in your eye, and if you ever give him a real reason to be suspicious, you're a very brave woman. But you'd better pack away your own jealous streak in the trunk, and then lock it. It will make no impression at all to drench him in angry tears or reproachful recriminations. No matter how he behaves, just say to yourself, “He loves me, and he will never discard real love for physical promiscuity. He's loyal to his deep ties, and he's only practicing his hypnotic art with those women.” Say it once before each meal, in the morning and at bedtime. Especially at bedtime. Women will find him irresistibly attractive, but keep remembering that if anyone is strong enough to resist such continual flattery and temptation, it's a Scorpio. Doesn't that make you feel better? It should. It's true.

He'll probably be a stern father. The children won't get away with an ounce of lazy or frivolous behavior. He'll teach them to respect property, but he'll also teach them to respect themselves. Youngsters will seldom get the chance to form any false values around a Scorpio papa. Although he'll love them with as much sincere passion as he puts into everything else he cares about, he won't stand for any nonsense. He'll protect them when they need it, but they'll soon get the message that he expects them to stand alone. If they borrow money from him, he's liable to charge them interest on it, but it's for their own good. They may not realize that until he's gone someday, but the lesson will eventually come home to them. Lots of children of Scorpio fathers resent his high-handed authority and tight discipline throughout childhood, and especially during the rebellious years, but as adults, they realize how lucky they were to have his firm guidance. From no other father can children learn so much truth about the way life really is. Often his offspring will find him gentle and funny; still there won't be any question about who is boss. He'll joke and laugh with them, and give them a sense of freedom, but the chalk line will be drawn, and they'll know not to cross it. Even as they resent his attitude of command, the children will secretly admire his strength and try to imitate it, but occasionally it works the other way. A gentle child may feel bullied and cowed by Scorpio power, and retreat into neurotic introversion, fearing to risk his displeasure. Then you'll have to remind him that affection and tenderness sometimes get more results than his normal, unbending, autocratic manner. Just be sure you remind him tactfully and respectfully. A Scorpio man will never allow a woman to dictate to him. Never in a million years. He is the man and you are the woman, and if you have any doubts about it, you will be set straight so surely that you'll never need but one lesson. Yet, a Scorpio husband with a wife who truly understands him, will be tender, sympathetic, considerate, and repay her loyalty with the kind of love most women only read about and wish for.

It won't help much to try to resist this man, once the flame has been stirred and he's decided he wants you. He'll hypnotize you right out of all your good intentions. The magnetism of Scorpio men is almost tangible. You feel you can reach out and touch it. When you do, you may get a surprise. It will burn you only if you're over-sensitive and scorchable. If you're patient and strong, it will be like touching cool marble. Girls are out of their league with him. It takes a brave woman to fly with the eagle and not crash. He can soar higher than his symbolic bright star Antares in the constellation of Scorpio, then dip down suddenly to earthy expression. Hang on tightly, but keep your eyes open wide, and you'll see horizons with him the timid will never see. Look over there, just beyond the tall fir trees—did you ever in your whole life experience such a sunrise? Sunset will be just as grand.

The female Scorpio has a deep, mysterious beauty. She's magnetic, proud and totally confident. But she has one secret regret. She was not born a man.

I can almost feel the heat from here when Pluto women hear about that revelation. There's not a Scorpio female alive who doesn't think she's all woman, and you may wonder what I'm talking about yourself, if you're in love with one. This woman certainly has enough glamour, and she's enormously seductive. But I didn't say she looked like a boy, nor did I intend to imply she doesn't do a bang-up job of being a female. It's just that, unconsciously, she would prefer to be a man. Less restriction—more opportunity. It's the one secret she even hides from herself, and seeing it exposed won't sit well with her.

Once the Scorpio female has figured out the difference between blue booties and pink booties, she'll resign herself to wearing the pink ones, because she's fabulous at making the best out of a situation. But pink is not her natural color. The true shade of her nature is dark maroon, or deep wine-red, not a female color at all. However, to give her proper tribute, she's able to make you think it is. I know one who's great at pretending to be a fragile, fluffy kitten. She purrs so contentedly, most men guess she's an ultra-feminine Piscean. They topple into her trap and wake up later, sadder but wiser. She is no kitten.

Scorpio women have a scornful contempt for members of their sex who flop in the roles of sweetheart, wife and mother, once they're stuck with the roles. A Pluto woman will control her desire to dominate, while she gives a glorious performance of womanhood, and she'll do it with more finesse than the masculine Aries, Leo or Sagittarius woman. At least she'll do it during courtship. There may be a few cases when the unsuspecting male gets a rude surprise after he shakes the rice out of his shoes and the illusions out of his eyes. Unlike the Mars female, for example, a Scorpio will subdue her drive and magnetize a man with the heavy perfume of her exotic glance, as she allows him to use his lighter to ignite her cigarette. That's far sexier than aggressively striking a match herself and blowing the smoke in his face, and she knows it. She knows lots more. Another girl might rush headlong into your arms and shout her love from the rooftops. The Scorpio woman walks toward you slowly, seductively, and silently delivers her private message. It's puzzling, but these women can look seductive in jeans, jodhpurs or basketball shoes. Maybe it's her husky voice that creates the image. I know one who wore a baseball cap (honest) the entire time her future husband was courting her, and she spent a lot of time talking about batting averages. But she was as seductive as Mata Hari just the same, and she got her man. (He was hypnotized, as usual.)

You can give her a tumble, but she won't fall all over herself reacting to your overtures. Don't expect her to bat long, sweeping eyelashes at you, and adore you with blind devotion. Lots of female Scorpios are tomboys with stubby eyelashes. Besides, with those beautiful, mysterious eyes that can read your mind so clearly, she doesn't need any extra trimming. Whisper something romantic that would melt another woman out of her senses, and the Scorpio will simply give you an intense, penetrating look that will see right straight through to your real intentions. She's a human X-ray machine, so don't flirt. Unless you mean business, you're wasting her time and insulting her. I wouldn't advise you to insult a Scorpio. It's just not healthy. If you don't know what I mean, ask someone who has. He may have some stories to tell that will curl your hair.

I'm well aware that this dangerous femme fatale can hide her power of retaliation with a tremulous smile, gentle mannerisms, and the most breathless voice this side of an angel. But astrologers are expected to be up on these things. It's more important for you to be well aware. After all, you're the one who's seeking to tame her—or protect yourself against her—whichever. Probably both.

You can be sure that heaven certainly has no fury like that of a Scorpio woman who's lost her normal steady control over those inward, seething, Pluto emotions. She can be overbearing and domineering, sarcastic and frigid—then turn as hot as an oven at 500 degrees Fahrenheit. She can hate with bitter venom and love with fierce abandon. She can shriek like a furious banshee or whisper like an affectionate turtle dove. One thing you can be sure of—she's never wishy-washy.

The Scorpio woman has a disconcerting gift that can make icy shivers run up your spine. It's a peculiar form of black magic, and she weaves it so expertly, it can seem like real witchcraft. You have very little chance to escape, once her eyes meet yours. Because of her mystical sixth sense, she can often recognize a future mate at first glance, and somehow, she'll transfer this perception instantly. You'll have one of two reactions. You'll be hopelessly caught in her spell, and down you'll go, in a dizzy spin toward surrender, or you'll be scared right out of your socks, and feel like running for help. What's your rush?