All are keeping a sharp look-out in front, but none
suspects that the danger may be creeping up from behind.
Everything about Sagittarius is always open, friendly and direct. Everything about Scorpio is sometimes open, friendly and direct - on the surface. Don't challenge astrology, please. (Do you hear the noise of all those Archers reading this making a fuss? Questions, questions, questions.) Yes, Archers, there are indeed many Scorpions who, like yourself, may be described as friendly, bright,agreeable and straightforward, whether you realize it or not. Such Scorps as,say, Harold Hern, Dolores Simon, Steve Cook, Kathleen Hyde, Arthur Klebanoff,Lydia Link, Roger Good, Buz Wyeth and Bob Henson. You're not convinced because you've never met these Eagles? Well, I've met them - can't you take my word? No, Sagittarians never take anyone's word for anything, until they've run out of questions. I suppose we'll just have to take the time to prove these claims, so we can get on with it, and have some peace.
All right, Sag, think about the following people, some living, some no longer with us, but all of them who should be well known to you - and all of them Scorpio Sun Signs: Vivien Leigh (alias Scarlett O'Hara, a Scorpio playing an Aries) - Richard Burton (Shakespearean actor and occasional Peck's Bad Boy) - jolly President Teddy Roosevelt (not Franklin, he was an Aquarian) - Marie Antoinette - Prince Charles of England - Princess Grace of Monaco,nee Grace Kelly - and actress Katharine Hepburn. Do you wish to argue that these particular Scorpio men and women do not immediately present to the mind an image of open friendliness? Do you not agree that the whole lot of them could be thought of as bright and agreeable - sometimes - and could be considered to be direct, honest and straightforward sorts? I hear no objections.Sudden silence from the Sagittarian bleachers. Not a word, not even from Archers Don Gambrill, Marvin Cook, Michel D'Brenovic, David Susskind or William Buckley, Jr. The silence of assent, I trust? Excellent. When Sagittarians have been silenced (especially those last two), a major victory of logic and intellectual stamina has been achieved.
Now that I've proven my astrological point, and hushed the dissident Archers,we may continue our compatibility analysis, undisturbed and uninterrupted.It's perfectly true that many Scorpios share (on the surface) the bright,agreeable, open and friendly straightforwardness of Sagittarians. The difference is - in the words of entertainer Flip Wilson's immortal Geraldine - that when it comes to Sag, "What you see is what you get." But with Scorpio, what you see is definitely not what you are going to get. Absolutely never.
It's hard to say exactly what you will get. It varies, depending. But you can be sure it won't be what you expected, or what the surface personality of Scorpio might lead you to believe it will be. Every Pluto-ruled man, woman and child wears a false face - from the moment of birth. Every day is Halloween to Scorpio.It's "trick or treat" with these people in their dealings with friends, business associates, relatives, lovers and mates. When you play nasty with them(like hiding in the house with the lights out, pretending not to be home on Spook and Goblin night, or on any night) or are guilty of any similar sort of insult that may justifiably anger the Eagle, the "trick" you get can be as relatively harmless as having the air let out of your tires, so that you face four flats on a snowy morning when you're late for school, the office or the airport, or discovering that the hair dryer you refused to lend Scorp has been carefully hidden, so that it takes you weeks to find it - to slightly more serious retaliations, like being fired when you least expect it, having a bank loan inexplicably refused, having your library card cancelled with no explanation - all the way to the most chilling, fearsome Pluto revenge of all: having a magic spell cast upon you, which makes you totally invisible to the Eagle. You are not heard or seen. The wounded (or angered - same thing) Scorpion will simply walk coldly past you,as if you were a picket fence, a discarded grapefruit rind, an empty trash can(empty, not full), a telephone pole, standing there helpless, feeling twenty feettall, skinny, lonely and full of splinters - or a teeny-tiny insect, like an ant, so small and insignificant you're in danger of being crushed beneath someone's large boot. (Guess whose boot?)
That's a general idea of the negative side of not getting precisely what you may see from Scorpio. There's a positive and happy side to it too, and the Sagittarian mixed up with an Eagle in this 2-12 Sun Sign Pattern may be on the receiving end of either. But before I describe the positive side of the surprising glimpses behind those Pluto masks, let's switch to Sagittarius for a moment.
The Archers never sneak up on Scorpio from the rear, as the Eagles do to them. There is nothing sneaky about Sag. They're honest enough to kill youmright to your face (symbolically, of course) in front of anyone who happens to be standing there . . . or passing by. From Sag, it won't be a retaliatory act of revenge the Scorpio is stung with. The sting will be verbal. Loud. And clear. Emphatic. And blunt. Very blunt. (Or candid, frank, truthful - you may choose your own term.) Since Scorpio is capable of such naughty actions when he or she has been hurt or put down or injured in some way emotionally or financially,and Sagittarius stings only with words and never ever with underhanded actions, it might seem that Archers are really the least dangerous of the two, all things considered. It might seem so, but it's not necessarily true. Because,you see, the Scorpion only plays "trick or treat" with that Pluto behavior when he or she has been the victim of something negative from Sag - whereas the Archer can shoot those stinging, burning, painful verbal arrows into the Eagle for no reason whatsoever. There need not be a cause. In fact, the happier Sag is, the more likely he (or she) is to aim the bow and shoot. The more bright and cheerful the Archers feel, the more they are apt to feel friendly and talkative gregarious, as it were.
Sagittarians may not approach from the rear, but Scorpio may wish they would. It would be less public. Not always, but usually, the Archer's zinging darts are well meant, seldom intended to hurt. But for all that, they do. When Sag says to an Eagle, in front of a group of people, including the Eagle's wife:"Hey! Tell everyone that story you told me about that time, last month, when your old girl friend showed up at your office, and coaxed you into taking her out to dinner," the Archer isn't being malicious, he only wants to share a hilarious story with friends. The end of the story is that the Scorpio did not take the old flame out to dinner, but his wife might leave the party alone before he can explain this. Facing the Scorpio caper of four flat tires is less traumatic for an Archer than the scene he faces with his wife, later at home, after being the victim of playful, innocent, harmless Sagittarius. Of course, it won't stop there.The following day, poor Sag will become an insect, a splintered telephone pole,grapefruit rind or whatever to the injured Eagle. Heaven only knows for how long. Probably until Scorpio thinks Sagittarius has suffered for his sins sufficiently,and that can be a long spell, depending on the magnitude of the sin.
I'll give one more example along this line, an event that actually occurred.An Archer and an Eagle I know were sitting in Vince Sardi's in New York in the fall of 1975, having gone there for an after-the-theatre snack. The Eagle had recently gained a few pounds, not many, maybe five or ten, and it was not terribly noticeable, but he was sensitive about it. (Scorps are extremely sensitive about everything.) Sag left the table they were sharing and proceeded to merrily table hop all over the place, saying hello to friends and so forth .. and after a few minutes, the Archer cheerfully called out across the crowded dining room to Scorpio, "Don't order one of those chocolate parfaits with whipped cream! Remember all that fat you have to lose!"
A sudden silence fell upon the diners. The Scorpio was a famous person everyone knew either personally or by reputation. Approximately ten seconds passed, by the clock. Then the Eagle called out to his Sagittarian friend across the room, in a deep, rich voice, "Shall I tell the waiter to charge both checks on my tab, since your credit has been cut off until you pay your bill?" Every eye in the place turned to the red-faced, humiliated Archer. Ah, yes! "Let the punishment fit the crime" is Scorpio's motto.
As determinedly ruthless as some Scorpios can be when they've really been hurt and feel compelled to teach the guilty a lesson they'll never forget, the Eagles can also be unbelievably loyal and fiercely protective of anyone who has ever been kind to them. That's another surprise the Archer may discover behind Scorpio's Pluto mask - the identity of a warm and loving friend, capable of intense devotion, who will still be there when the fair-weather friends have all flown the coop. The Sagittarian who can learn to keep his or her mouth out of trouble with the Eagle will never find a more secure port in a storm than Scorpio.These people will literally risk their lives for a great cause, or to defend someone they care about from any kind of harm or danger.
But the Archer who can't be still, and who doesn't count to ten (preferably to twenty) before openly blurting out painful observations that cut into Scorpio's poise and self-confidence, will suffer in commensurate measure, or be permanently exiled from Scorpio's magnetic circle. Once a Scorpio has had enough,it's all over. It's the end. Since no one can safely or accurately predict how much it takes to bring an Eagle to that rare, but final, steely-eyed, cold and never retracted decision, Sag should tread carefully and not push his (or her) luck too far. That's the trouble. Archers are always pushing their luck beyond the limit. Often, they win giant jackpots of all kinds by daring to go that last mile. But not with Scorpio.
There are some things these two have in common. Needing to know all the answers is one. With Sagittarius, it's called "inquisitiveness." With Scorpio it's called .. well, simply a burning need to know, a compulsion to probe the buried,the hidden and the mysterious, to ferret out secrets. "Curiosity" is too mild a word. As I've said before in this book, and in my book Sun Signs, the Eagles are aware that knowledge is Power, and they're after all of that they can accumulate.Sagittarians are forever asking blunt, even rude questions, demanding logical answers, wanting to know the "why" of everything, never resting until they've been convinced. Scorpio goes about discovering the truth in a more subtle manner, with equal fervor but with a disguised desire. It's rather amusing to observe the two of them attempting to find out everything about each other.The Archer is determined to strip off Scorpio's protective mask, and Scorpio won't stop until he (or she) has uncovered every last vestige of the Archer's inner character and various thespian roles. Sagittarians do enjoy acting out different parts, from time to time, but only for fun, not for sinister purposes. They'd like to make you guess "Who am I today?" but they're cheerful about dropping hints, and finally confess what they've been up to with their acts.
Both Sag and Scorp usually enjoy competitive sports, if they're typical of their Sun Signs. In this, they are alike, especially the male Archers and Eagles (also many of the females). It's in the losing that they're different. Sagittarius is, admittedly, an admirably good loser, normally brave and optimistic about "winning next time." Scorpio is a very poor loser, frequently saying (and almost meaning) they'd rather die than lose. To the Eagle, not to win is tantamount to a cardinal sin.
These two are influenced in their association by the 2-12 vibration, and so there's no denying that Scorpio has lessons of freedom, optimism, daring and self-honesty to learn from Sag, which the Eagle will actively dislike learning.Yet the situation will be softened somewhat by the Sagittarian's karmic memory tolerance for Scorpio's faults and failings, with the Archer subconsciously remembering what it was like to look upon life so intensely, with such great sensitivity,and dedicated to avoiding such a heavy emotional burden this time 'round . . . which is why Sag is generally so happy-go-lucky, viewing life more casually,taking the time to roll a few hoops, to see as much of the world as possible refusing to be really serious about anything, except for those occasional Sags who enter the religious life (but seldom before the end of an exciting search). Neither will the average Sag be contentedly tied down, during this incarnation,to the home fires (especially in youth) with the bonds of Scorpio's powerful sense of duty and obligation. Sagittarians want to wander on the wind - to be free to answer the call of wild adventure. Yet they have a genuine compassion for Scorpio's different outlook. The Archers feel, somehow, deeply sympathetic toward the Eagles whose flights are so often grounded, sometimes canceled, by responsibilities, secret fears - and promises to be kept that can't be broken - for the sake of Pluto honor.
But Sagittarians shouldn't blurt out their compassion aloud, making it sound like pity. One doesn't dare say "I feel sorry for you" to a Scorpio. This is a Fire and Water combination, and that sort of mistake could create a lot of steam in the teakettle.
