The mystery of One Great Love

The love of Ondine's life, Lucan, is an Aries Fire Horse, born in the hour of the Sheep. It is easy to see why they attract each other, and easy to see why their graft has been troubled. The attraction between Aries and Libra is supercharged. The Aries is a fecund, energetic, dazzling, headstrong child; the Libra is a sensual, intuitive, subtly charismatic playmate. They never tire of each other. The Aries finds repose and enticing mystery in the Libra, the Libra feeds off the Aries vitality, energized by his very presence. However, Snakes and Horses don't get along. The Snake finds the Horse undisciplined, immature, disorganized and inconsistent; the Horse finds the Snake creepily scheming and not aboveboard. The Horse finds the Snake's modes of conveying her displeasure with him petty and below the belt, and resents the Snake for trying to manipulate him; the Snake feels the Horse intentionally (or clumsily) tries to bruise her, and willfully disrespects her delicacy and her soigni tastes. She may find him not intellectual or serious enough. She is made miserable by the Horse's unwillingness to settle down, he is made miserable by her desire for him to settle down.

There can be strong attraction between Horses and Snakes, but it is usually physical, not to say punitive. They long to get with one another, but find it hard to be nice to each other. It's really hard to maintain such a pairing, unless, say, one of them is born in an hour that's highly compatible with the other's (not true in this case). I would venture a guess, however, that it is Lucan's Sheep hour birth that provided enough calm in his meld for this relationship to turn into a marriage in the first place. Sheep, like Snakes, place a high value on a comfortable home life; now that he's in his mid-30s, Lucan may calm down even more as the Sheep hour exerts its softening influence. But the Aries Fire Horse is such a strong and combustible blend that the Sheep hour will have a hard time getting a hoofhold. Also, Sheep and Snake have battles of will that the Snake usually has to win; something that an Aries Fire Horse -- Sheep hour or no Sheep hour -- has a hard time swallowing.

So, Lucan and Ondine did marry, despite their unlikely hybrid; they grew together for awhile, then they rebelled and got divorced. They still love each other, but they can't live together. They each have luminous, resplendent strong sign melds, but, as Goethe wrote, "There is strong shadow where there is much light." What should they do? Their best bet is to believe what they say, and to accept that they can't live together. They should be grateful to each other for the undeniable role they have played in each other's history, and they should move on.

Conventionally, you'd put a Snake like Ondine with an Ox or a Rooster, particularly a Rooster. Lucan's meld will have a hard time settling down with anyone; but he might try a Scorpio Dog or a Capricorn Tiger. But chances are that, because of the time she spent with Lucan, Ondine has absorbed some of his tastes. She shouldn't seek a new partner she would want; she should seek one "they" would want. She might try a hybrid that is compatible with both hers and Lucan's melds. May I suggest a Sagittarian Boar? Stubborn, fiery, home-loving, sensual, creative and productive. He'll be childish enough to remind her pleasingly of Lucan, but he'll be more capable of having a home life.

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