It is easy, however, for you to go over-board because your need for ego-gratification is immense. Your vanity is easily wounded and a certain emotional immaturity – a tendency to throw temper tantrums when your cherished view or dignity is challenged – can be your bête noire. You want your own way, and you know no other way of being your real self than to play the role of Boss. Although you do this with great panache, so much so that you convince others of your specialness and importance, your behaviour can nevertheless be domineering and condescending if you rely on others too much for applause. You can be a bit like Toad of Toad Hall, who was in love with the grandiose adventure of his life, but who needed his loyal comrades to witness fully his heroism on every escapade (‘I only want to give pleasure to you fellows. Live for others! That’s my motto in life.’). You want to be in command of your life, but you also want to share your enjoyment of success.
You are a person of enormous courage, vitality and integrity. You can inspire others, not only by the way you dramatically live your life (mistakes and all), but also by the sheer intensity of your enjoyment of life. This makes you a wonderful teacher and communicator. Your creativity is immense and your enthusiasm contagious; you paint a big picture of yourself and others will want to catch whatever secret it is that you have.
Relationships
You are the original romantic – totally involved with the love of your life, heart, mind and soul. Love and friendship play a very important part in your life; you need passion and adoration from your partner, as well as thoughtfulness. You in turn will give the same, and you tend to throw all of yourself into the burning passion of the moment.
You can be wonderfully loyal, but your loyalty is severely tested by a relationship that loses its romantic savour. Your mate could grow tired of being the loyal dogsbody if you are too consistently uninterested in ordinary life. You also need to admire and respect your loved one. You want only the best!
Although you can be fairly demanding in an intimate relationship, sometimes impatient and temperamental and exasperatingly intolerant, you are always intensely honourable and honest when it comes down to it. You do not give up easily, and you have reserves of optimism and vitality that make you a person others will not want to give up on either.
Your Greatest Strengths
Creative imagination; ability to communicate your ideas to a wide variety of people and situations so that you easily muster support around exciting causes; ability to inspire others with your inner faith in yourself which makes you a potentially heroic figure in whatever sphere of life you work.
Your Greatest Weaknesses
A tendency to insist childishly on only seeing things your way; to go for the biggest and best before finishing and tidying up the debris from your last project; and a propensity to let your ego needs for affirmation and applause blind your true self-perception.
Image for Integration
After slaying the black dragon of sloth and greed, the young warrior is knighted by the one true king. He marries the maiden of purity and they live happily ever after.
Famous Personalities
Joseph Campbell (mythologist), Olivia Hussey (actress), Neil Kinnock (politician), Melanie Klein (psychologist), Andrew Lloyd Webber (composer), Gloria Steinem (feminist and journalist), Peter Ustinov (actor, producer and writer), Michael York (actor).
—6—
SUN ARIES
Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings … recollected in tranquillity
Strongest minds Are often those of whom the noisy world hears least
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
I don’t want a lawyer to tell me what I cannot do; I hire him to tell me how to do what I want to do.
J. PIERPOINT MORGAN
Themes
FIRE/EARTH Selfish yet dutiful; outspoken yet timid; impulsive yet orderly; bossy yet diffident, with organizational and administrative skills; straightforward and direct; strongly analytical and critical; practical perfectionist.
Go, go – stop, stop – go. Are you boisterously outspoken or shyly reticent? Careful or careless? Conscientious or carefree? Do you lead a quiet, self-contained life or are you out in the world shouting the odds and telling everyone what to do?
Whichever way you are, and you are probably frequently torn both ways on different occasions, there will often be times when you wish you were doing the opposite. You want to throw caution to the wind and follow your creative impulses, yet habit, and your easily aroused sense of guilt, seem to demand that you live your life for others in the fulfilment of the endless duties that life seems to place in your path. This means that you can often find yourself torn between the desire to be selfish and do your own thing, and the tug of duty and the worthy cause.
Despite your natural modesty, you are in fact impatient to be where the action is, and to be in command of the show, because you usually have clear ideas of how things should be done. You can be self-effacing, disciplined and conventional yet also highly forthright, argumentative, judgmental and outspoken. Whatever your inward sense of inadequacy, you like to be the one giving the orders, and expect to be obeyed (though you may protest too loudly to be convincing that this is not the case). You want everything and everyone to fit into well-defined roles and are likely to have strong likes and dislikes. Whilst this may put some people’s backs up, you can soon gain others’ respect with your forthright, upfront manner and probably boisterous, and at times outrageous, sense of humour.
Your inner creativity can catch fire in those areas where your natural self-assertion and penchant for being in charge can marry with your reliable, realistic, conscientious, dutiful and perfectionist approach to the work in hand. You are likely to be efficient and effective in whatever you set yourself to do and could flourish in senior management and administration, though you may find the earlier rungs of the ladder frustrating. Your strong powers of analysis enable you to identify the most effective course of action in any situation, and when you get yourself together you may find that you have natural flair as an entrepreneur and organizer. Added to your strong need to make your mark and your natural qualities of leadership, this is a combination that would find itself at home in the armed services, or in any work that requires strength of character and a desire to be of real service to society.
Your master/servant dilemma is often best resolved by becoming an expert in some field, or developing a high-level craftsmanship in a specialized area. When consciously developed, this can make you an admirable teacher, both able to identify with students’ problems and to goad them into trying harder. As a creative artist you are the classic craftsperson, combining passion with sheer technical skill and mastery and an eye for detail.
As you mature, your toughness and modesty can develop into a nobility of spirit inclining you to ‘little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love’ which help make the world a better place.
Relationships
You are inclined to find yourself torn between a dedicated loyalty to an ordinary family life and the desire for excitement and adventure. Should you play the field or settle down? If you are a woman you are likely to be torn between your wish to speak your mind and to be tough and assertive, and your natural instinct to be passive, self-effacing and