Many clapped.
Some did not.
A few little beasts hissed.
Naturally, the Earth being a fairly sizeable round ball, not absolutely every single male and female upon it whose Sun Signs form the 5-9 Pattern are ecstatic or any other kind of lovers. Some are simply remarkably tolerant and affectionate,platonic friends, who share experiences with a rare sympathy of viewpoint.Some are merely cheerfully nodding and pleasant, but casual acquaintances. Most are strangers, whose paths never cross at all in this lifetime.
Then there are other Lions and girl Archers who, despite the golden opportunities for harmony normally bestowed by trined Suns, share severe planetary afflictions and negative Luminary or Ascendent aspects between their birth charts, those whose dissident karmic chords and auric colors vibrate so disturbingly, they never become close enough to cause each other either extreme happiness
or extreme pain. Like the old nursery rhyme:
Now listen, thee, and listen well
I do not like thee, Doctor Fell
Exactly why I cannot tell
But I do not like thee, Doctor Fell
This, of course, is true of all 5-9 Patterns, not Leo and Sag alone. In a similar,but opposite manner, there are men and women whose natal Suns form the traditionally tense and difficult 4-10 Pattern, yet whose other birth chart configurations are powerfully beneficent, and who therefore discover together an easy compatibility. Still, it must be remembered that these are the exceptions which prove the rule.
Consequently, not every Sagittarian girl claps her hands in delighted admiration at the cleverness and superiority of the Lion. Some girl Archers will refuse to clap, or to pay, for that matter, any kind of tribute to Leo's virtues - and a few will even dare to hiss the King of the jungle when he's showing off his talents. There's not much use taking up space discussing these occasionally mismatched and clearly mis-mated Leo men and Sag women. Not only would they be bored by reading about one another, but there are all those magnetically attracted and destined to mate stormily-but-passionately feminine Centaurs and the lovable Lions who truly adore them to consider. So, best to concentrate our attention on these Leo-Sag couples, and counsel the others to search elsewhere for happiness and harmony.
Even though not every Leo man and Sagittarian woman are fated to meet and fall genuinely in love, those who do will forge a bond that's not easy to break. But they will make an attempt! These two may at various times appear to share only one thing in common - a mutual desire to pound each other's healthy egos into trembling inferiority complexes. Don't be fooled. Appearances are deceiving, more times than not. What they are actually doing is testing their relationship, through an odd combination of simultaneously seeking an affirmation and a denial. An affirmation of mutual loyalty and devotion - and a denial of an equally mutual fear of being deceived by the faith in one another eternally required by love. It's a game quite natural to Fire Signs, and Leo and Sag both having been born into Fire Elements, they learn the rules swiftly.
If they're lucky (and thankfully, most Leos and Sagittarians are uncommonly lucky, though not all) they'll learn reasonably soon what a wealth of happy hours they're choosing to waste by playing the testing game. If they're not so lucky, and their normally fortunate individual natal Suns were afflicted at birth,they'll take a long time, and exchange a lot of emotional bruises before they comprehend how foolishly they're behaving.
For example, the Lion will go far beyond what he well knows is fair in arrogantly bossing around the girl Archer he loves, commanding her to obey his wishes, or else be banished from his sunny smile and his warm, strong arms expecting her to wait on him like a scullery maid, lecturing or scolding her sternly for the slightest disobedience of his Majesty's pleasure, and permitting her no freedom of opinion or outside activity where she might in some way equal or outshine his own accomplishments. He's not really a tyrant, and he neither wants nor intends to be cruel and despotic. He's only silently, desperately (often unconsciously) playing the testing game, seeking an affirmation of her loyalty, proof of her devotion - by seeing how willing she is to submit, how far he can go with her before she admits she doesn't love him as much as she vowed she did in the beginning. (But praying fervently all the while that she does.)
Then he'll test her by seeking, not a positive affirmation, but a denial. He'll either rage and roar, or pout and sulk over her merest "hello" to another man, accusing her of everything short of (and even including) outright adultery, with out the faintest foundation or cause, secretly longing and achingly needing her repeated denial that she could ever even think of betraying him with someone else. The more outraged and indignant she becomes, the more clear the denial and the more secure he feels.
Taking turns, she'll then make her move around the board in their romantic monopoly game. Being fully aware (her mind is very bright and quick) of how hungry this man always is for sincere compliments, she'll deliberately starve him, refusing to give him the smallest crumb of admiration, no matter how hard he tries to impress her - testing him, you see, to see how furiously he'll try to succeed, how high he'll climb, what impossible challenges he'll conquer to gain her attention and applause. How much is it worth to him? If he stops caring what she thinks, it means he doesn't love her, as he swore he did at first. Then, also fully aware of how he suffers from having his masculine pride trampled before his friends, she'll deliberately embarrass him when there's an audience, by putting him down, or telling some private story about him that makes him look ridiculous. Secretly (often unconsciously) she's hoping he'll be loudly angry and furious with her later, when they're alone, treating her to a display of fury, as only an aroused Lion can, proving to her that he loves her, that she's the only one who has the power to fire his emotions into such leaping flames. As for the
denial part of the game, the rules are the same for her as they are for him.
She'll become bitterly sarcastic and accusatory every time he leaves her to go somewhere alone, making it vividly clear that he's not fooling her - she knows about his promiscuous behavior with worshiping females when he's out of her sight, because one woman isn't enough to satisfy his erotic jungle lust when in her heart she knows he's not being unfaithful, either by word or deed.But she needs fiercely to hear his impassioned denial... see it in his eyes.
Isn't that an immature, frustrating and leading-nowhere game for a man and woman who love each other to play? Because she's Mutable (more adaptable)and he's Fixed (stubborn) she's the one who should be first to communicate her weariness with the testing - her desire to start all over and return to the way it used to be with them, when they held hands trustingly, like happy children, touching tenderly, full of the joy of discovering a new miracle together every morning .. when everything he did was wonderful, and filled her with worship . . . everything she said was magical and dear and funny. When just the nearness of his warm strength and calm wisdom made her tremble . . . when her brave clown grin made his heart turn over, and brought a lump to his throat, as he promised himself he'd protect her forever, and never allow anyone to hurt this cheerful and giving, yet so terribly vulnerable woman - ever again - the way so many people did before he found her.
That's all she has to do - make the first move to talk it over. Just be her honest, real self. And say exactly what she feels. Pretending is a part Sagittarius can never play successfully. He'll make the second move, and do something he'd never do with anyone else but her. He'll confess how wrong he's been, how many mistakes he's made, how very, very sorry he is . . . how fallible and human and frightened he is on the inside, at the very moment he's projecting such confidence and icy detachment on the outside. She'll apologize too, then . . . for all the thorns she stuck in his big, lovable Lion's paw that caused him such pain,and for all those times of make believing she doubted his loyalty.
They'll both admit that, all through the tortuous testing time, they were always able to read the truth in each other's eyes, never mind what either of them were saying. Words don't matter. After awhile, when they have nothing more to communicate in any way at all, they'll fall asleep together in the in the morning, they'll awaken as intimately familiar strangers, hearing the same music they heard the very first morning they awoke to the sunlight of knowing the lonely search was over .. but exploring the mysteries of each other was just the beginning. This time, the music is sweeter, the chords are deeper,because they know the rhythm and the melody by heart. Best of all, they've learned the words to a new song of honesty, that could maybe someday grow into a symphony.
They almost lost each other, but they stopped playing the game before the truth left their eyes. The Leo man and the Sagittarian woman are among the lucky ones whose moments of passion and affection are interchangeable, their needs first gentle, then intense - whether they're blending their bodies, their spirits or their minds. The ones whose auras clash (like those mentioned in the beginning of this section) will never touch at all, either mentally, spiritually or physically, and will forever look upon each other with the eyes of apathy. But with the Lions and the Archers who are destined to love, Life is a magical carnival of ideas and ideals, dreams and discovery. They stimulate in each other physical desire, intellectual seeking and spiritual reaching. Once they've broken down the barriers of his false pride and her skepticism - and allow their relationship enough sunlight to encourage his warm enthusiasm and her fresh faith in the future, they won't have time for playing games. Their days and nights will be filled with a thousand adventures, whether they're traveling somewhere together (which they'll do a lot) or just lying in the grass in their own back yard on a summer night, counting the stars and listening to the crickets' choir. She should beware of being caught in his clever Lion trap, though - and refrain from correcting him when he points to Spica in the sky, and she's tempted to tell him he's actually pointing to Arcturus. He knows. He's just testing her knowledge of astronomy. When she finally knows - that he always knows they're half-way home.
If they must play games, there are hundreds more fun than the testing game. She should give him one for his August birthday, tied with orange-yellow-golden ribbons, the color of the Sun . . . and maybe scribble a poem on the card, to give him a hint of how it should be between them from now on, when they think they're about to weaken, and go back to their old ways.
lovers play games of No and Yes
a quick caress, a sigh ... goodbye
and why?
lovers play games of Yes and No
of Stop and Go . .of wait and fate
too late
they laugh when they want to cry
leave when they'd rather stay
they quit when they need to try
and lie ... when they walk away
lovers play games to save face
so I'll tell you what we'll do
we'll play Monopoly, you and I
just for a change of pace
you grab the railroads
and buy up Boardwalk
and I'll hang on to Park Place*
