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Hush-a-by lady, in Alice's lap! Till
the feasts ready, -we've time for a nap:
When the feast's over, we'll go to the
ball- Red Queen, and White Queen, and Alice,
and all!
Then fill up the glasses with treacle and
ink, Or anything else that is pleasant to
drink.
If you should happen to see a Pisces
behind a teller's cage, or sitting at a bank
president's desk, you'll be viewing a rare
kind of fish. Very few of these people can
stand being confined for long in one place.
You'll have better luck if you wander into a
spiritual seance, visit an art gallery, walk
through a convent or a monastery, attend a
concert or catch a floor show in a
nightclub. You might check an Authors League
meeting, drop backstage after a play, or try
some sunbathing on a yacht
The chances are you'll come up with a
pretty good catch in any of those streams of
life. The more creative and artistic, the
more leisurely and esoteric the
surroundings, the more fish you'll find.
The net will be full of colorful, shimmering
types, if you spread it out at cocktail
parties or gala balls. You might even hook a
couple of mollies, or an exotic species,
like Princess Lee Radziwill.
There's little worldly ambition in
Neptune people. Most of them wouldn't give a
minnow for rank, power or leadership, and
wealth holds little attraction. Few Pisces
people accumulate money by the bushel,
unless they marry it or inherit it. Mind
you, they have nothing against cash. They'll
gladly accept any old coins you can't use.
But they're more aware than most of us of
its temporal qualities.
Whoever said, "I don't want to be a
millionaire-I just want to live like one,"
was truly reflecting the Piscean philosophy.
The typical Neptune heart is free of greed.
There's a lack of intensity, almost a
carelessness about tomorrow. There's also an
intuitive knowledge of yesterday and a
gentle tolerance of today. It's never easy
for either real or human fish to struggle
and fight their way upstream. It's more
common, and it takes less effort, to go with
the current wherever it takes them. But to
swim upstream is the challenge of
Pisces-and the only way he ever finds true
peace and happiness. Taking the easy way is
a trap for those born under this Sun sign, a
glittering bait that entices them, while it
hides the dangerous hook -a wasted life.
You'll be impressed with the Piscean
charm of manner and lazy good nature. He's
indifferent to most limiting restrictions,
if they don't rob him of his freedom to
dream and feel his way through life. He's
even more indifferent to insults,
recriminations and other people's bristling
opinions. Tell a Piscean that society is
decadent, the government is cracking, air
pollution will put us all in our graves and
the world is coming to a dead stop, and
he'll yawn, or smile enchantingly, or look
vaguely sympathetic. Very little will excite
him to violent action or reaction. Of
course, the fish is not completely bland. He
does have a temper. When he's finally
aroused, he can be bitingly sarcastic, with
a clever, caustic tongue. Neptunians can
lash their tails angrily and spill forth a
torrent of nervous irritability, but the
typical Pisces will normally take the path
of least resistance, and the cool waters of
Neptune continually wash away his anger. To
arouse the fish to a display of temper is
rather like tossmg a pebble into a clear,
mirror-smooth lake, You'll create some
ripples, but the surface will soon be calm
again.
When you meet Pisces people, look first
at their feet. They'll be quite noticeably
small and dainty (including the men's), or
else they'll be huge and spread out like a
tired washerwoman's. The Pisces hands will
also be tiny, fragile, and exquisitely
formed-or else big ham bones that look as
though they belong behind a plow. The skin
is silky soft; the hair is fine, often wavy,
and usually light (though you'll find a
goodly number of brunette fish). Pisces eyes
are liquid, heavy-lidded, and full of
strange lights. Frequently, but not always,
they're slightly protruding, bulbous and
extremely compelling. Some Piscean eyes are
simply beautiful. There's no other word to
describe them. The features are elastic and
mobile, and you'll usually find more dimples
than wrinkles. Few Pisceans are tall;
Neptune bodies are sometimes awkwardly
built, but with their extraordinary grace,
it's seldom discernible. They seem to sort
of flow along, instead of walking-as if they
were swimming across the room or down the
street. Sometimes they really are. Where's
the liquid? It may be nearby, and the fish
is attracted to it.
It can be a love of ice water, the habit
of a dozen cups of tea or coffee a day, a
hankering for soda pop-or a yen for
something stronger. Like Scorpios and
Cancerians, Pisces people are wise to stay
miles away from alcohol. Very few Neptunians
can have a social cocktail, then leave it
alone. There are some, naturally. But too
many Pisceans find enticing relief from
trouble in liquor. It lulls them pleasantly
with a false sense of security and it's a
dangerous lullaby. Of course, every Pisces
who drinks a pousse-cafe doesn't become an
alcoholic, but the percentage is higher than
it ought to be.
The fish was born with the desire to see
the world through rose-colored spectacles.
He knows well enough about the seamy side of
humanity, but he prefers to live in his own
watery, gentle world, where everyone is
beautiful and all actions are lovely. If
reality becomes too terrible to face, he
often escapes into rosy daydreams with
powder puff foundations and not a prayer of
coming true. When life dumps him with a
splash-a real belly-smacker-into a stagnant
river of dismal failure and hopeless
conditions, instead of leaping out of the
murky danger, he's more inclined to hide
behind his pale green illusions which keep
him from making practical decisions. The
rejected Pisces is too inclined to face the
ugliness of failure by deepening his false
hopes, when a determined switch of course or
some new, forceful action might shower
him with real, instead of imaginary,
success.
Not every March-born person falls into
such a typical Neptune trap, but enough of
them do to make it a necessary warning. The
Pisces writer may be tempted to lounge for
years in bars, telling himself he's
gathering material, when he's really just
gathering moss and unpaid bills. The Pisces
artist who can't get the patronage he seeks
may stroll through the park, day after day,
mumbling into his beard that he's studying
nature as a background for his great
masterpiece, while his paint brushes gather
dust. Where is the angel who will support
him while he splashes canvases with glory?
The Piscean woman, left alone, with just
enough fixed income to keep a roof over her
head and a little seaweed in the cupboard,
will tend to dream away the hours, tenderly
remembering yesterday, hazily hoping for
tomorrow, and wasting the bright sunlight of
today. The actor, composer, musician-you
fill in the i stories.
I You may have read that the Pisces
symbol of two fish, ? swimming in opposite
directions, indicates that the Neptunian is
torn by dual desires. It's not so. Dual
desires belong to Gemini. The two fish in
reversed directions symbolize the choice
given Pisces: to swim to the top-or to swim
to the bottom and never quite reach his
goals. Pisces must leam that he is to serve
mankind in some way, and eschew worldly
possessions. Piscean Einstein, who swam
upstream, formulated a whole new world of
relative time. Pisceans who swim downstream
serve by washing dishes or shoveling snow.
The choice is always there, because there's
never a lack of unusual talent, but the
fish, with eyes that see clearly on both
sides, sometimes has difficulty seeing
straight ahead. Pisces often retreats-either
to the sublime heights of a dedicated
professional life, or to stimulants,
artificial emotions and false excitement.
Although Pisceans shrink from
competition, the strong pull of Neptune
sends many of them, even the shy ones,
toward the bright footlights, where they can
use their fabulous powers of interpretation
to project myriad emotions. In spite of
their natural timidity, they often become
some of the finest performers in the
theater. But only if they fight their
distaste for the hard work of grueling
rehearsals, and the dullness of the dreary,
but necessary years of experience. Sometimes
the sharp wounds of the critics leave such a
scar on sensitive Pisces souls that a
potential Barrymore or Bemhardt retires
when fame was just ahead. Memorization is
seldom a problem. The Pisces memory is
legendary, although with an afflicted Moon
or Mercury they can forget their own
telephone numbers.
To every Pisces, from the fisherman on
the wharf to the nurse in the children's
hospital, life itself is a huge stage. In
the reflective eye of the fish, the entire
scene is elusive and fleeting. Knowing this,
Neptunians accept most storms with tranquil
equilibrium. Despondency, however, is
always threatening to swoop down and bring
peculiar dreams or weird nightmares which
are often precognitive. When Pisces has a
feeling something will happen, it usually
does.
If he tells you not to get on that plane
or in that car, you'd better plan to swim or
walk.
Astrologers who speak of an old soul
refer to a soul which has gone through many
lives, retaining the wisdom of each. Often
they refer to Pisces, because a life as the
fish is either the most difficult obligation
a soul can choose _or a chance to reach
perfect fulfillment. While Aries represents
birth in the zodiac, Pisces represents death
and eternity. The fish is the twelfth sign,
a composite of all that's gone before, and
his nature is a blend of all the other
signs, which is quite a lot to cope with.
His surprising ability to organize and
concentrate on detail which pops up now and
then, as well as his gentleness, reflects
his inner knowledge of the lessons of Virgo.
His judgment is as fair and detached as that
of Libra, and his love of pleasure is also
purely Libran. Pisces people have the crazy
sense of fun of Cancer, as well as both the
Cancerian sympathy and crabbiness. They're
sometimes full of the Sagittarian outspoken
frankness and generosity, as fun-loving and
outgoing as Leo, yet as devoted to duty as
Capricorn, and often just as envious of
social distinction. There may also be a
smattering of the Saturnine melancholy.
Perhaps more than just a smattering. The
fish can be as moody as a Moon child and as
happy as a lion. He likes to tease and
analyze in Aquarian fashion. He's often
overflowing with Aries idealism and
enthusiasm, but usually without the Mars
drive. A Pisces person can zip around with
Gemini quickness, talk just as fast and
think just as cleverly. He can also be as
lazy and peaceful as Taurus. He has the
clever wit of Mercury and the soft grace of
Venus, and he combines it with the mystic
penetration of Scorpio, without the
Scorpio's ruthlessness.
Pisces holds within himself the fondness
of debate of all the air signs, the love for
nature of all the earth signs and the
flaming aspirations of all the fire signs.
But he is neither fixed nor cardinal. The
fish is mutable always; in this respect he
is undiluted. The one and only quality which
originates with his own sign is his strange
power to stand outside himself and see
yesterday, today and tomorrow as one. The
Piscean love of music and art, and his
highly developed senses and versatility he
owes to other signs, but his deep wisdom and
compassion belong only to him, culled from
the combined knowledge of every human
experience. Now that you understand all
that, is it any wonder that your Pisces
friends are a bit of a puzzle at times, not
to mention being outright kooky odd balls on
occasion?
Pisceans tend to think they can live
forever, and they often act as though they
believed it fervently. The fish typically
doesn't take very good care of himself.
Chances are he spends most of his excess
energy (and he doesn't have too much to
spare) helping relatives in trouble or
taking on the burdens of friends. Their
troubles can be emotional or financial, but
either can be a serious drain on Piscean
health, which is rarely robust to begin
with. The fish must conserve his energy and
refrain from succumbing to stimulants or
sedatives, fatigue and other people's
emergencies. Weakest as infants, seldom
sturdy as children (unless there's a strong
Mars influence in the natal chart), Pisces
people seem to have slow metabolisms, which
is why they often wake up sleepy-eyed and
listless. Poor eating habits can bring
troubles with liver and intestinal
functions and digestive troubles. Accidents
to, or some abnormalities of the feet, hands
or hips are common, also colds, flu and
pneumonia. The lungs are not strong, and
weak toes and ankles may result from March
births. The fish seem to have fallen arches
and metatarsal injuries or superbly strong
and supple feet. There's no inbetween. They
have a hidden inner resistance, however, and
one of the challenges of Neptune is to
discover this latent strength and call on
it. Pisceans can literally hypnotize
themselves into or out of anything they
choose-including fear of cats, mice,
heights, subways, elevators and people.
Humor is one of their secret weapons.
Pisceans grin to cover unshed tears. They're
masters of satire, and you may cringe from a
bright remark thrown at you so casually that
you're unable to pin down the exact meaning
or the intent. Yet, you'll have a decidedly
uncomfortable feeling. The fish can scatter
caustic observations around like flashing
lights which wink on and off so fast you
can't keep up with them. He's an excellent
practical joker, great at pulling hilarious
lines while he keeps his own elastic face
mournful and straight. He can move
gracefully from slapstick to brittle,
sophisticated jokes. Sometimes the fun is
warm and harmless, sometimes it's cold and
merciless; but it's always a cover for
another emotion the fish wants to hide,
seldom spontaneous of itself. Pisces wears
his laughs as a mask, and they disguise him
well.
There's a great feeling of pity and a
desire to help the sick and weak. Pisces may
share compassion for the ill with Virgo, but
he takes the extra step to try to understand
the hearts of the burdened and the
friendless, the failures and the misfits, no
matter how weird or how rejected by
society. The fish will gently comfort those
whom Virgo feels are weak by choice, and
therefore undeserving. If you need a dime or
a dollar, a large loan, or just a small
encouragement that no one else would give,
go to Pisces. You'll get no lectures and no
glances of superiority. He judges no
man-thief, murderer, addict, pervert,
sinner, saint, hypocrite or liar. Greed,
lust, sloth and envy will bring no critical
wrath, if he's a typical Neptunian. His
understanding overflows, along with whatever
practical help he's able to offer. He senses
every vice and virtue, and he knows each
pitfall. Many fish, for this reason, don the
robes of the priest or monk, and spend their
lives in prayer or contemplation.
To help is his first instinct. There are
Pisces people who are crusty and brusque,
but it's only a fragile shell, worn for
protection. The fish soon learns how
vulnerable he is. The world is not yet tuned
to the sensitive Piscean wavelength, so to
avoid ridicule (as well as to avoid being
taken for every last dime he owns), he
sometimes feigns indifference. The
impositions of those who would trample him
force the fish to hide his true spirit.
Since the depth of Neptune's waters causes
him to absorb every pain and joy as if they
were his own, it's little wonder many
Pisceans pretend disinterest in hearing sad
stories. But remember that they are
pretending. If you've been rebuffed once,
try 'twice, and the real fish will surface.
The glorious Piscean imagination, their
marvelous elfin tumor and the Neptunian
sense of beauty can create the most
delicate, yet eternally lasting prose and
poetry. Indeed, the world couldn't do
without their artistic efforts and their
gentle compassion for a moment. It would
stop spinning. You'll frequently find fish
who have buried their personal dreams to
brighten odd corners of the lives of
relatives and friends, or to bring the gift
of tears and laughter to the public through
the stage, at the cost of the privacy Pisces
seeks and needs. Yet Neptune is a deceptive
planet, capable of giving birth to natures
that twist and turn in two directions at
once, distorting the truth, an influence
which often causes Pisces to hide his real
emotions. ^
This thespian quality is obvious if
you've ever tried pin down the elusive,
flashing fish. He hates to answer direct
question with a yes or a no. It's always
maybe simple curiosity about what play he
just saw or what boc he just read can bring
an evasive answer for no reason particular.
He can turn on tears, then turn on sunshine
t pressing another invisible switch. Neither
is truly real A is illusion with
Pisces, and they find it hard to tell tt
difference themselves. Their internal nature
is as ui fathomable as Neptune's great
oceans. The altruistic fish filled with an
inexhaustible, tender love for every livin
creature which is truly saint-like, when
it's not turned u ward in self-pity and
self-love. Typically Piscean are tr
gregarious housewives with hearts big enough
for th troubles of all the neighbors, and
the patient bartendei who listen
sympathetically to hundreds of tales of wo
each week.
Hanging somewhere between the silent
waters of th sea below and the vast,
star-studded mist above, only bare ly
touching the earth from necessity, Pisces
lives his lif in lonely understanding of
truth too deep to express L words. Those who
want him for a friend, those who lov' him,
must use their imagination to grasp the
strange plane of his mind and emotions. The
other two water signs-Scorpio and Cancer-are
symbolized by half land-hal water creatures,
amphibious and flexible-but the fish can'
breathe air. He must live in cool green
water, sometime muddy, always moving.
Pisces is represented, not by iron or
mercury or gold o lead, but by the
vibrations of the indefinable, artiflcia
metals-again, an echo of the unreal and the
illusionary He sees his reflection in three
dimensions in the viole amethyst and the
clear emerald; and his natal flowers an the
water lily and the lotus. Their blossoms are
pink an white and delicate, but their stems
and leaves are made of strong fibers, tough
and indestructible, unless they're ton up by
the roots. Few can follow Pisces and probe
the aquamarine nature, whether he swims
downstream to obliv ion, just another
lashing speck in the large, moving schoo:
of fish-or fights his way upstream to
conquer the swif current and find serenity
in pure waters. He is stronge] than he
thinks and wiser than he knows, but Neptunt
guards this secret until he discovers it for
himself.
Famous Pisces Personalities
Edward Albee Harry Belafonte Elizabeth
Browning Luther Burbank Enrico Caruso
Frederic Chopin Grover Cleveland Albert
Einstein Jaekie Gleason Handel
Rex Harrison Ben Heeht Victor Hugo Ted
Kennedy Gordon MaeRae
James Madison Michelangelo Zero Mostel
Vaslav Nijinsky Rudolf Nureyev Auguste
Renoir Rimsky-Korsakov David Sarnoff Dinah
Shore Earl of Snowden Svetlana Stalin John
Steinbeck Elizabeth Taylor Earl Warren
George Washington
TOP
We are but older children, dear, Who fret
to find our bedtime near.
William Shakespeare was a Taurus, but he
left this message for anyone who is
considering becoming involved with a Pisces
man:
.There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to
fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
If you're about to fall over the dam for
a Neptunian, you should paste those lines on
your compact mirror, where you can see them
every time you powder your nose. They may
possibly make or break your future, not to
mention your heart.
Try to untangle your probably rosy state
of mind and make sure that Pisces fellow
you're about to join in a moonlight swim
knows when the tide is coming in. If he
takes it at the flood, you're as lucky as
any girl can be. On to fame and fortune! But
if, perchance, your Pisces lad can't see the
tide for the stardust in his eyes, and he
misses that big flood-well, let me warn you
that those Neptunian shallows can result in
some of the most dismal miseries you'll ever
know.
A Pisces man can be everything you want
him to be- or everything you don't want him
to be. A tide in his affairs is synonymous
with opportunity. It requires a firm
decision, determined action, and the ability
to drown any old, soggy dreams that prevent
success. The trouble is that some Pisces men
never recognize that tide at its flood, even
when it sloshes over their feet.
The Pisces man isn't weak. It's just that
he may linger too long on a fading, silver
star, and miss the bright sunlight of
success. Not all Pisceans are gentle
dreamers. But more of them than you can
scatter with a pebble are. However, there is
hope. There's always hope, where there's
life. Although the world needs his lovely
imagination only too desperately, there
comes a time when the Pisces male has to go
about the business of earning his potatoes.
When he does that, he has a snap of it,
because the Neptune intuition coupled with
his clever mind can turn him toward sensible
goals which could bring him fame and
recognition-even wealth and immortality. If
not all that (you can't hit the jackpot
every time), then at least respectability
and comfortable security. Let's hope that's
the kind of Pisces male you're sailing with.
Practically no other Sun sign can stop his
potential under those circumstances.
However, if, say by the age of
twenty-five or so, he hasn't recognized that
tide in his affairs, frankly, his future
isn't too hopeful. You think that's unfair?
All right, make it by the age of
thirty-five, but you're gambling. When I
said his future isn't too hopeful, I meant
with you. As a wife-with the family routine.
His personal future can be more or less
satisfactory. Lots of Pisces men who can't
bury stale dreams and dig up fresh ideas for
success live fairly contented lives. That's
because all they need is that dream, rusty
as it is around the edges. Add a jug of
wine, a loaf of good rye bread, and he's as
happy as most of us other misfits. Ahl You
noticed I stopped short of one item. It's a
loaf of bread, a jug of wine and Thou-right?
I'm glad you're up on the Rubaiyat. But you
see, I left "Thou" out on purpose. The
dreamy, sensitive, artistic fish can exist
nicely on bread and wine-even thrive on it.
But such a diet won't feed a wife, one to
five little bundles of joy, and who knows,
maybe even some goldfish and guppies
(considering his Sun sign). You need things
like stockings and cosmetics and shoes and
spinach and rent money and celery and milk
and light bulbs and, well, you know what I
mean.
There's only one way out with this kind
of fish: Be an heiress. No, there is another
way out: Get two jobs-one for you and one
for him, and work at both of them yourself
like the very dickens.
Now, I didn't say you wouldn't be happy
in the romantic hours. That's one thing no
kind of Pisces ever born will ever be short
of-romance. They fairly breathe it. It's
just that it's no substitute for spinach and
baby shoes, or your sanity. The planets, in
their wisdom, take care of such
complications of life by giving oodles of
chances for this dreamy, unworldly type of
Piscean male to become a proteg6. If he
finds a patron or patroness (much more
likelihood of the latter, but it can be
either), he can turn into a great painter, a
great writer, a great composer, a great
musician-or at least just a great guy. But
how is he going to find a patron, let alone
a patroness, if he has you and those bundles
of joy and the goldfish and the guppies and
all cluttering up the artistic simplicity of
his existence?
You have to admit it just won't work.
Better say farewell to him right now. You'll
cry a little, and it may hurt-even deeply.
But not as much as being married to a
walking, talking dream, and having to face
the landlord with nothing but empty wishes m
your pocketbook. That really hurts.
Now that we've been brave and practical
about the bread and wine type, we can talk
about the other kind of Pisces, the one who
grabbed the tide at its flood. Obviously,
he's a real catch for any girl. There's
always the chance he could turn out to be an
Einstein or a George Washington, which would
be simply wonderful. You couldn't ask for
much more, though I suppose Einstein might
have been a little engrossed in his
equations on weekends and George may have
brought a few problems home from the office
at night. But you don't have to seek
perfection. Even a super practical Capricorn
or an aggressive, driving Aries man can have
little flaws. The point is that a Piscean
who fights his way upstream will have plenty
of chances to lay the twin gifts of fame and
fortune at your feet And he's quite a guy in
other ways, too.
A Pisces man has no prejudices. He'll
never judge an Indian until he's walked a
few miles in his moccasins, or a nudist
until he's tried going barefoot. Even then
he'll understand and not pass critical
judgment. He's very short on cold
accusations and very long on warm tolerance.
He'll even make a stab at trying to
understand his mother-in-law, and how many
men do that? The Neptune male possesses a
rare sympathy of spirit. His friends confide
in him and never worry that he'll be
shocked. It takes a real blockbuster to
shock the fish. If you and I and your
Piscean were all three sitting in a room,
and a man walked in and told us he was a
little worried because he was a bigamist,
with four different wives in four different
states- you might glare at him and think he
deserved to go to jail;
I might sneer at him and call him a
skunk; but your Pisces man would probably
ask, "What four states? Were you in love
with any of them?" The fish is curious, but
totally shockproof. As far as he's
concerned, the fellow needs heaps of
sympathy and a darned good lawyer.
He might tell a secret or two
accidentally, never on purpose. Pisces
sometimes speaks before he realizes the
possible damage. It's a little tough for
him to comprehend that what he says could
perhaps be interpreted in the wrong light by
more severe souls with less relenting
attitudes. (It would take some thought, for
example, for him to grasp that people like
his sister or your mother wouldn't
understand the domestic difficulties of that
poor bigamist.) However, once the fish has
been specifically requested to keep it under
his fin, he'll be close-mouthed and
reliable, and you can trust him with your
darkest secrets.
An occasional Pisces who's the victim of
an afflicted Mercury talks very fast,
fluently and frequently. But the typical
Neptunian speaks slowly, thinks gently, and
tries to mind his own business, even though
he's continually subjected to the problems
of friends, relatives and neighbors. They
flock to him because Neptune listens so
beautifully. You'll find yourself tempted to
confide your own little worries with the
broken hair dryer, your father's sinus
trouble and your overdrawn bank balance, but
try to go easy. If there's anything a Pisces
husband or boy friend doesn't need, it's
more tribulations dropped in his lap. Others
have been dropping them all day. Bundles of
them. He needs some relief when he's with
you. People don't mean to impose on Pisces.
They seldom realize that the Neptune nature
is so receptive it just soaks up all the
vibrations around, good or bad, joyful or
fearful, dark or light. The life of an
absorbent, spiritual sponge can be kind of
wearing on the psyche, as any mystic can
tell you. (Many of them are Piscean.) The
very fact that he's sensitive means that he
vividly feels the emotions of those who seek
his ear and get his heart. Pisces people
often have to rest for long periods. The
Neptune soul must be alone at times so fresh
breezes can blow through to heal the wounds
of all those vicarious troubles and bring
back calm, undefiled individuality. So never
begrudge your Pisces man his moments of
silence. He sorely needs them. If he feels
like being alone or taking a walk by
himself, let him go. Too much togethemess
can spoil the beauty of Pisces love. It
needs space to grow untangled.
Remember that the fish is sensitive and
can be easily hurt. His shyness is due to a
painful consciousness of his own
limitations, whatever they may be, and he
feels them keenly. He needs to know that his
virtues are counted by someone he admires.
You. Never hold back encouragement from him.
He may try Yoga and Zen, or experiment
with occult beliefs, and hell probably be
interested in astrology and numerology, even
reincarnation. Like the Scorpio, he was born
with an understanding of esoteric
principles, and these things are usually
good for him. They help keep his emotions
stable, and they provide an anchor for his
vivid imagination. Pisces men get upset now
and then, but their anger is seldom violent
or long lasting. When it's over, the waters
grow placid again, and life is just as
peaceful as before. Some Neptune males do a
little yelling around the house, but it's
harmless. It's almost impossible for the
fish to really bellow, like Taurus the bull,
for example. See how lucky you are?
Although he's difficult to fathom
himself, Pisces has no problem in seeing all
the subtleties of others clearly. It's
difficult to fool him; he'll look right
through to the other side. Yet, he can fool
you when he takes a notion to do so, through
some quirk he has which makes him want to
keep his personal affairs safely hidden from
close scrutiny.
One Piscean I know carries this trait so
far he has actually been able to fool the
government, and thafs no easy trick. All his
life he has managed to avoid the census
taker. The Internal Revenue knows less about
him than they kirow about a native in Pago
Pago. He gets away with it because he's a
writer. His phone is listed under a
fictitious name, and he's never applied for
a social security card or a driver's
license. He has a horror of some imaginary
Big Brother turning him into a number and
knowing all his private secrets.
Your fish may not be quite so neurotic
about it, but there will probably be times
when he'll tell you he was at the cleaner's
when he was really buying a cigar. Why? I
really don't know. Nor does he. It's a sort
of mild deception the Piscean (also the
Geminian) seems to enjoy. As long as he's
wearing green suspenders and people think
he's wearing orange suspenders-or no
suspenders-he feels secure, somehow. Since
it makes him happy, let him have his little
mysteries. Why make a big deal of it? Even
if you know he wasn't at the cleaner because
you saw him in the cigar store yourself, ask
him if his slacks were ready. When he tells
you the man said they won't be ready until
Monday, remark that the cleaner is as slow
as molasses and let it go at that. He could
have far worse habits than practicing a
little harmless make-believe just to keep
his vivid imagination oiled up and in top
working condition.
There won't be many tremendous surges of
jealousy. Or if there are, he's such an
excellent natural actor (if you let him
practice) that hell probably pretend them
away. But he's a man, for all his poetic,
tender nature, so he'll expect your
technical loyalty when everything is said
and done. You may have to control your own
jealousy, however, because he'll have warm
friends of both sexes, and he'll be
sympathetic to them, sometimes at odd hours.
It's his nature to be gregarious. He can't
help it. There's danger here if you're the
violently possessive type. An Aries or Leo
girl had better chase another moonbeam. He
does admire beauty, and he may stare at
pretty legs from time to time. But you can
keep that in bounds and innocent with a
little extra effort, and your reward will be
a gentle husband who's both a romantic
lover and a companion who can talk about
everything under the sun.
When those spells of loneliness and
depression cause the gloom to gather, toss
your apron in the comer behind the aquarium,
throw on a yellow dress and a golden smile,
buy some green tickets to a happy show, and
trick him right out of it. Pisoeans are
particularly vulnerable to suggestion. You
may hit a few snags trying to get him
to be economical and cautious about money.
Neptune people, frankly, aren't noted for
their triple A credit ratings (unless he has
a Capricorn ascendant or strong planets m
Taurus, Aquarius or Cancer, for example).
He'll learn, but don't compound the
situation by being extravagant yourself, if
you can help it. One loose spender per
family goes a long way-toward the poor
house. He needs a good example. It's
surprising how that works with the Pisces
character in a sort of follow-the-leader
manner. That is, if the leader is close to
him and someone he respects. The
Piscean nature is vividly receptive to the
vibrations around him, especially if they're
intensified by emotion.
The children will find him one
whale of a lot of fun. Chances are hell take
them boating and swimming and snorkel
diving. He'll play the part of the Wicked
Crocodile and Little Boy Blue until they
think they've found a human nursery rhyme,
in living color. He may sprinkle them with a
little way-out philosophy, sing them some
mildly salty ballads, or teach them to stand
on their heads, yoga style. They'll probably
adore him, and they just may turn out to be
well-balanced, well-adjusted adults, thanks
to his rare ability to hold a tiny bird in
his hand without crushing it or frightening
it. You do the spanking and hell do the
listening to their young problems-you keep
their noses and their clothes clean and
he'll keep their minds active. It should
work out fine.
Never tread on this man's dreams-he won't
forgive that, or forget it. Give him a
chance to turn them into realities by
helping him find a good, firm star to hitch
his wagon to -one that will sparkle instead
of fizzing out in an eclipse of common
sense. In love, Pisces is a leaner
emotionally, which means he needs boundless
reassurance and faith, but it also means you
musn't lean on him with imaginary
complaints. His enthusiastic hopes need to
be watered with understanding affection, and
make sure you supply the rich soil of a
happy home life. Keep the deadly insects of
nagging and criticism away from the roots,
and someday those wild and crazy hopes of
his will change from useless weeds into tall
money trees in the backyard, high enough to
reach a few of your own private dreams. Hope
springs eternal in the Piscean heart. Don't
knock it. It may shower you with some
gigantic and surprising luck if you nurture
it tenderly.
You may have heard or read that Pisces is
the sign of "self-undoing," and that could
make you all nervous and negative, but don't
let it frighten you. True, there's always a
bit of self-undoing in all Neptune men, but
just "do him back up again," like you would
a package that comes untied. If you make
the knots tight enough, it won't happen
often. Serve him a dream for breakfast, a
clever joke for lunch, and Chopin for
dinner, with Browning for a chaser. After
that, you're on your own. Don't be afraid to
jump in. The water's fine.
TOP
'Well, what are you?" said the
Pigeon. "I can see you're
trying to invent something!" "I-I'm a
little girl," said Alice, rather doubtfully.
She found herself at last in a
beautiful garden, among the bright
flower-beds and the cool fountains.
The line forms to the right. And please
don't crowd. There may not be enough Pisces
women for every man, but that's no reason to
be unruly. You'll have to take your turn,
and hope for the best.
Even without astrology, rumors have
spread about the charms of a Pisces female.
She has her negative points, to be sure, but
at first glance she's every man's grade
school valentine, with maybe just a touch of
a Playboy bunny to add some pepper. We might
as well admit that the modern, emancipated
woman, with her cast-iron image, has made
the Pisces girl's value shoot even higher.
With all that freedom from the feminine
mystique clouding the air over lover's lane,
the demure, pretty, helpless Neptune
creature has to beat off the men with big
sticks.
It's hardly surprising that she's at a
premium. The Neptune female seldom tries to
overshadow her man, married or single. She
hasn't the slightest hidden, neurotic desire
to dominate him in any way. He can pull out
her chair, put on her coat, whistle for the
taxi, light her cigarette and talk about how
wonderful he is to his heart's content. All
she wants is that he should protect her and
care for her. She's happily content to lean
on his big broad shoulder and let him know,
with wide-eyed wonder, how strong he is, and
how much she needs him in this scary world.
Just think of all those wolves out there,
waiting to devour Red Riding Hoods. It's
enough to make a girl get out her smelling
salts. Even if she isn't quite as Victorian
as all that (though plenty of girl fish
are), she'll be a charming listener to all
his troubles, and what is referred to as a
good egg through every crisis.
A Pisces woman thinks her mate, lover,
boy friend, brother, father-in fact, any
man-can lick the whole world with one hand
tied behind his back, and it takes a
surprisingly small amount of her touching
faith to convince them of the same thing,
men being the way they are. And you wonder
why she's so popular? The Pisces girl is a
cozy, calm haven of tranquility for her
proud male, far from the noise of the frame
and the ticker tape machines. The lights in
her fish pond are soft and dim. They soothe
tired eyes which have been blasted by neon
and all those silly little figures at the
stock market she couldn't understand to save
her life. (Though if it would really save
her life, she would sharpen her pencil.)
In the winter she wears fluffy angora
mittens. In the Spring she wears dainty,
full skirts. Summers will find her in a
brief bikini. In the fall she'll look
adorable sitting beside you at football
games, with her hands in your pockets to
keep them warm, and asking you the score.
She is eternally feminine in all seasons.
At the risk of making an understatement,
men are drawn to her like bumblebees to a
honey pot.
A short conversation with her, and a man
instantly relaxes. He pictures a glowing,
crackling fire on a chilly night, or he sees
himself in a hammock on a balmy spring day,
with no one to nag him. She makes it clear
that she'll never blame him for any problems
in his career or any accidental mistakes.
It's always someone else's fault. Not her
man's. Shell never press him to get ahead
faster. His own pace is perfect with her.
Need I explain why the female fish makes the
most dangerous other woman of all the Sun
signs? Flash! Maritime warning: After
marriage she may nudge a little. To be
truthful, she may nudge a lot. In a way, it
serves you right for letting yourself be so
blinded by her charms. Lots of times she'll
even be bitterly sarcastic, but every woman
has to have some flaws, and the Pisces girl
will be gentle far more often than she's
quarrelsome. She has to be goaded by extreme
cruelty or laziness in a mate to be a
shrew-and who's to say a cruel or lazy
husband doesn't deserve it? Not me. I'm
with her.
Besides, her delectable femininity covers
any minor deficiencies, and most of the
time the typical Neptune girl is soft,
dreamy and womanly. Since the fish swims in
both directions at once, she adapts
beautifully and quietly to conflicting
situations that would turn other women into
nervous Nellies. Of course, now and then,
some cranky words and irritable chatter may
bubble up from her normally placid stream
of thought. Occasionally a sensitive Neptune
female who has suffered harsh treatment at
an early age will allow bitterness to break
the two symbolic fish of her sign apart-and
this can be very sad. She becomes a lonely,
miserable Piscean, always swimming
furiously, and meeting herself everywhere
she dives down to escape-never realizing
that the turning inward of her endless love
and sympathy toward herself is the real
poison. Drugs and drink and false illusions
hide the truth from her and blind her to the
rocks in the river that might destroy her.
But the average Neputune girl keeps both
symbolic fish joined firmly together in
smooth action, gliding softly first back,
then a little forward, so you're never quite
sure exactly which way she's headed. Pisces
is said to be a deep, mysterious sea, into
which all rivers flow. You'll have a better
chance of catching her if you know some of
her elusive secrets. What makes her swim?
First of all, she's subtle. Ask Nicky
Hilton, Michael Wilding, Eddie Fisher and
Richard Burton-each of whom married a
Pisces. As a matter of fact, the same
Pisces. She is not only subtle, she's
sometimes a bit deceptive when she practices
her art of wrapping you around her emerald
earrings.
Now, you may know a Neptune lady who
wears a gingham apron and a shy smile, and
who is the epitome of the devoted wife,
homemaker and tender mother. You're
thinking that she's neither subtle nor
deceptive. Forgive my directness, but you
are wrong. As for that Pisces lady you think
is different, I know her, too, or one just
like her.
She's a widow who lives in the Bronx, and
her name is Pauline. She also wears a
gingham apron and a shy smile -the whole
setup. How can such a Fannie Farmer image be
subtle or deceptive? I'll tell you. First of
all, she wraps everyone around her apron
strings. (She doesn't have any emerald
earrings. Next year, maybe.) She's a short
woman who has managed to stand up to the
loss of a dear child, heartbreak, boredom,
tragedy, fear, poverty, and even the
confusion of sudden, very brief riches.
She's coped with little boys' bruised knees,
braces, lost galoshes; a husband's sloppy
Sunday cook-ins in her neat kitchen-and the
biggest mixture of in-laws-all speaking
eight languages at once-you ever saw outside
the United Nations. She has faced all this
mishmash of fate like Rocky Graziano. That's
gentle? That's delicate? To this very
moment, her two sons think of her as a
charming, girlish, helpless, fluttery and
soft little creature, who needs to be
protected, and who can't quite understand
how the lock works on the front door.
She's delightfully vague and dreamy. She
doesn't know a thing about economics, but
she manages to dress as though she was
turned out by Sophie of Saks, cook frequent
seven-course dinners for assorted
grandchildren, pay the rent on time, and
send exquisite gifts on holidays and
birthdays- all on a monthly income about the
size of one of Jack Benny's tips. She has
the open love and affection of two
daughters-in-law, and an incongruous group
made up of the librarian, the super, the
owner of the comer delly, the fruit man,
half a dozen stray cats and children, the
butcher, the newsboy, and would you believe
it, even the landlord. She may have one
enemy. The man she turned down before she
married her husband. He probably joined the
Foreign Legion in disappointment, and now I
doubt if she even remembers his name.
Heartless females, these Pisces women.
Subtle and deceptive. (But don't try to tell
their neighbors that.)
Like the March winds, your Pisces girl
will have many a mood. She's terribly
sentimental, and when her feelings are
wounded she can cry buckets. She'll look at
you so reproachfully you'll feel as if
you'd just shot a small rabbit. Pisces
females sometimes get the idea they're
hopelessly unequipped for the fierce battles
and driving ambition required to survive.
Then deep depression sets in. At these times
you'll have to tell her she's admired for
her deep, mysterious wisdom and her blessed
understanding by every single human she has
ever graced with her friendship. It's
usually the gospel truth. The hardest lesson
she has to learn is to overcome her timidity
and her doubts. If the fears go deep, she'll
shut herself off from others, then wonder
why she's lonely. She's often afraid of
imposing, pushing too hard, taking
advantage, when such thoughts are in no
one's head but hers.
Now and then a Pisces girl will cover her
shyness and vulnerability with wisecracks, a
sophisticated veneer and a frigid
independent personality, but it's merely a
cloak of protection, worn to hide her
uncertainty from the prying eyes of rough
people who would bruise her genfle heart if
she exposed it. I know one who pours out her
real soul by writing lovely song lyrics with
a secret message woven in the shades of her
soft, very private dreams. When she's not
writing, she's the picture of the brittle,
callous, career woman she wants people to
see. Yet, even this type of Pisces is unable
to fight her Sun sign. With all her
make-believe independence she waits on the
curb and lets the man whistle for the cab.
There are some things one just doesn't do,
as far as Neptune women are concerned; not
acting like a lady in public is one of them.
She fools a lot of men who could quiet her
inner fears and make her take back her
frequent claim of, "Who needs a husband?
They only mess up your life." Imagine a
statement like that from a Piscean, who
needs to belong to someone more than she
needs to sleep, eat or breathe.
A Pisces girl will give all of her heart
to her children, except for the large chunk
she saves for you. She'll love them all, but
the ones who are uglier, weaker, smaller or
sicker may have a slight edge with her. Only
a Pisces movie star would pass up the little
dimpled darlings and adopt a tiny, crippled
tot with frightened eyes. Female fish are
the greatest women in the world for
understanding the shyness of small boys and
the growing pains of awkward adolescent
girls. A Piscean mother spins a thousand
wispy, cobweb dreams over each bassinet.
She'll sacrifice anything so her children
can have what she was denied as a child. She
may be too permissive. Administering
discipline is difficult for her, and she
must realize that a lack of firmness is
often as bad as severe neglect. In a way, it
is neglect, of building the small characters
in her care, who need firm guidance to leam
to swim alone. If she's guilty of too much
softness, explain it to her kindly. She'll
comprehend without bitterness, and begin to
give the hairbrush a workout. Still many
Neptune mothers manage a happy medium
between discipline and kindness, and their
offspring do them credit.
A Pisces woman will gladly let you cam
the bacon and cggplant. She'll probably
prefer not to enter the brutal competition
of the commercial world, unless you
desperately need her to. She had enough of
that (if she's a typical Neptune girl) when
she worked for that big, confusing company
while she was waiting for you to rescue her.
Some, not all, but some Pisces women are a
wee little bit extravagant. She may need
some help figuring out why the bank's
balance doesn't reconcile with her stubs,
written in Sanskrit. Still, when an
emergency forces her to adapt her champagne
taste to a skim milk pocketbook, she'll
manage.
She listens to the ocean, and it tells
her things. In the> midst of the city, she
still hears the waves of Neptune whispering
to her Pisces heart more, perhaps, than she
wants to know. Don't forget her birthday or
your anniversary or the day you proposed.
She won't. I'll always remember the Pisces
friend I went to school with in West
Virginia. She was tiny, with long, dark hair
and those strange Neptune lights in her
greenish brown eyes. She married (among
several other men) a big football star; it
was a totally unexpected elopement. I
remember when she asked him why he proposed.
She was curious. "Well," he told her, "it
was the funniest thing, Shorty. I didn't
have the slightest idea of proposing that
day. We were in the park, near the pool. The
chicks who were lying around getting a tan
had wet, stringy hair from swimming, and
they looked all hot and sweaty on the
benches. You were sitting there under that
tree in a white lace dress, and you looked
so cool and different from the others. You
looked like-well, I guess you sorta looked
like a girl." That's the subtle secret of
the Pisces woman. Whether she follows
Neptune's call as a dedicated nun in a
convent or as a sultry songstress in a noisy
nightclub-she's a girl. All girl. One
hundred percent.
TOP
Eager eye and willing ear, Lovingly
shall nestle near. In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by, Dreaming as the
summers die:
Ever drifting down the stream
Lingering in the golden gleam- Life,
what is it but a dream?
Most babies, as everyone knows, were
found under a cabbage leaf. A few are
carried in that long diaper, hanging from
the stork's bill or were brought to the
hospital in the doctor's black bag. Not your
little Pisces bundle. He came straight from
fairyland, clutching a moonbeam. If you look
closely, you'll still see the reflection of
elves and magic wishing trees in his dreamy
little eyes, maybe even a trace of stardust
smudged behind his left ear. His wings may
have disappeared by the time he gets to the
delivery room, but there's probably a small
bump where they were once fastened.
You've seen those congratulation cards
for new mothers, with pictures of dimpled,
pink and white painted babies, fragile and
gauzy, flying around over the verse. The
artist used your Pisces babe as a model.
This could make you think you can lead your
Neptune child by the toe, or that after
you've scrubbed that shiny stardust out of
his ears you can mold him into any shape you
like. Why not, when he's such a gentle,
delicate little lump of clay? Think again.
He'll get his own way just as surely as the
yelling red-faced Aries baby, the demanding,
regal Leo baby or the stubborn, tough little
Taurus baby. The only difference is that
hell get it by charming you to death, and
drowning you in oceans of sweet smiles and
winning ways.
As soon as the ink is dry on the birth
certificate, turn in the name of your little
Pisces boy for the lead in the first future
production of Peter Pan or the girl
for Alice in Wonderland. Peter Pan
and Alice will be the Neptune children's
favorite roles, and they won't need a stage
to act the parts superbly. They'll still be
starring in them when they're eighty.
Parents who breathe the age-old prayer, "I
wish baby never had to grow up," will get
their wish if baby was born under the sign
of the fish. The years won't leave any
lasting impression: there will always be a
childish, dreamy, magical quality of
make-believe hanging like a mist over the
Pisces. It will drench him in mystery and
unreality forever-and-three-days.
By the time he's old enough to crawl into
the jam pot and hide, this strange child of
yours will show a preference for living in a
world of fancy. He'll enjoy diversions that
are far removed from everyday patterns and
routines. When he's in the high chair, he'll
eat like an angel, if you pretend you're a
queen or a clown while you're feeding him.
Wear a lampshade, dripping with all your
old, sparkling necklaces, or a mop for a
wig; smear lipstick and chalk on your face.
His imagination will supply the rest. When
he's a little older, he'U play happily on
the front porch while you do the washing if
you hang up a few balloons, put some music
on the record player, toss around his
stuffed animals, give him some popcorn and
tell him he's at the circus.
When he's old enough to start to school
and begin to have those peculiar dreams at
night, you'll be tying his shoes one
ordinary spring morning and get a shock.
"Guess who I saw last night?" hell remark
confidentially. You'll mumble a polite
rejoiner-now where on earth is his green
sweater? Oh, there it is-on the teddy bear
he dressed up yesterday, when he was
pretending it was his best friend.
"Who did you see?"
He'll answer casually, "Grandma Stratton.
We talked for a long time, then she had to
go. She said to tell you to be sure to water
her geraniums and send Uncle Clarence the
money."
Since Grandmother Stratton died before he
was bom, this could unnerve you a little, on
an empty stomach, before coffee. But it's
nothing to the prickly sensation you'll get
after breakfast, when he's in school and the
mailman delivers a letter from your Uncle
Clarence from whom you haven't heard in five
years, asking for a loan to start a new
business.
The wisest parents have difficulty
arranging a schedule that will stick with a
Pisces offspring. Schedules and routines are
his natural enemies, and he'll do everything
in his fertile imagination to avoid them.
Babies who live upside down-sleep all day
and stay awake all night-are often Neptune
infants. He wants to eat when he's hungry,
sleep when he's tired and play when
something attracts his fancy, whenever that
might be. Trying to get him to eat, sleep or
play at any other time is quite a task.
Actually, it's rather a sensible attitude,
but the times he gets hungry, tired or
playful may vary considerably from day to
day and night to night. You might as well
adjust your schedule to his. He'll seldom
throw tantrums, scream or balk to get you to
come around to his way, but he'll gradually
win you over by evasive, elusive tactics,
and confuse you into Capitulation. You may
even get charmed yourself by the 'sheer
freedom of it. Not feeling guilty when you
chat with neighbors over coffee during the
feeding hour, playing a fascinating game of
"Princess and Frog" in the still magic hours
of dawn-or sharing a bowl of vegetable soup
and a cup of hot chocolate with him in the
middle of a dreary, gray winter afternoon
can become strangely attractive. He might
even teach you there's no reason to let that
silly clock be a cruel, infallible dictator
over your life. It's only a ticking hunk of
metal.
The Pisces child will require a healthy
amount of attention and appreciation. He'll
have to be noticed and encouraged, because
he's uncertain about his abilities. Give him
as many bushels of it as he needs. Hell also
require his moments of privacy. When he
goes into one of his mysterious moods of
withdrawal, let him be. His mind is a
million light years away, and you can't
follow. He'll return in plenty of time for
his vegetable soup and hot chocolate. Only
by now, he'll have changed his lunch hour to
mid-evening. If he tells you he was out
flying on a saucer with a man from Mars,
believe him. It just might be so.
Teachers are always confused when they
try to put this odd-shaped peg into a round
or square educational hole. He may not fit
into either. You'll probably have heaps of
struggles between his unique methods of
learning and the school's stale routines.
Hell simply refuse to conform to a pattern
not his own. Don't blame him too much. The
educational system has yet to catch up with
Neptune's wisdom. Many Pisces boys and girls
are artistic, and most of them love music
and dancing. Typical Neptunian youngsters
are light on their feet, regardless of their
weight. The little girl often longs to be a
ballerina; the little boy usually chooses
heroes like Beethoven, Michelangelo, the
astronauts or Saint Anthony over
scientists, presidents and generals. They
love all kinds of books and English may be a
favorite subject, since Pisces is a good
story-teller. They love words, and poetry
often enchants them. Neptunians may find
math hard to understand at first, but
they'll have an uncanny grasp of the
abstract theories behind algebra and
geometry later on.
There may be a lack of responsibility,
which can be frustrating. Pisces children
follow their own rules. They're sensitive
and easily stabbed to the quick by
harshness. Tears may be frequent. These
youngsters ordinarily prefer the company of
adults to playing with other children. Even'
at a tender age, they have a deep wisdom and
sympathetic understanding of situations over
their heads. A child of Neptune is often
accused of lying, yet they aren't lies to
him. There's no malicious or cowardly
intent. His young mind swims in fluid
imagination which whispers a thousand
secrets, so utterly delightful and filled
with such sheer beauty he can't help trying
to make them live in the cold, real world.
The fact that these lovely dreams soon die
in the sterile, arid soil of a materialistic
society is heartbreaking. He needs your
deepest pity, or he'll retreat into silent,
moody despair.
The Piscean child hears songs of the sea
he can never describe. The cold, ugly, naked
truth is too brutal for him to bear. He must
dress it up occasionally or try to warm it
and color it with Neptune shades of romance.
It's not fair to call it lying. Instead,
encourage him to gather all his clouds and
moonbeams and weave them into poems, plays
or paintings. Soon enough, he'll learn to
adapt to the normal world of brutality,
selfishness, cruelty and greed. Why thrust
him into it rudely? He may have trouble
learning to conform to social and scholastic
demands that stifle his individuality. But
his parents and teachers can learn from him
the value of compassion, understanding,
beauty, tolerance, imagination and
gentleness. It all depends on the kind of
diploma you want from life.
Someday, either the Piscean philosophy of
freedom of expression or the conformist
concept will win. My money is on Pisces. Of
course, your friendly, warm-hearted little
Neptunian must be taught that people expect
him to adjust eventually to their
crazy-quilt, upside-down concepts in order
to survive. But if he's shoved too hard by
stem, negative adults, he'll lose his way
back to the other side of the looking-glass.
Don't steal his key. He needs to slip over
there now and then, to refresh himself with
the true wisdom of the Red Queen and the
White Knight. Then he can better cope with
the real world of war, poverty, disease,
hypocritical ethics and ingratitude. Your
little fish needs a cloak of protection
against the cold winds to come. Knit it
yourself with bright, gay sturdy yam. Try to
understand his Neptune ways. Guide him
tenderly, wisely, and when he's tall enough,
he may someday suddenly reach out and catch
one of his silver stars to bring home to
you. Then you'll be glad you didn't laugh at
his dreams. Better clear off a spot on the
mantle right now.
TOP
"You are old" said the youth; "one
would hardly suppose That your eye was as
steady as ever;
Yet you balance an eel on the end of
your nose- What made you so awfully clever?"
Sample conversation in an office about a
typical Pisces executive:
"What's the name of that new boss the
firm hired last week?"
"You mean the one who took his coffee
break with us yesterday?"
"No. The one who left this morning."
With only slight exaggeration, that's
about the normal length 6f time the average
Piscean will remain in an executive
position. There are a limited number of
streams for Pisees bosses, and we'll
concentrate on those. In most corporate and
industrial areas, the Neptunian chief is as
rare as a bathing suit at the North Pole.
The great majority of Neptune's children
prefer to swim alone-uncon-fined-as writers,
salesmen, creative artists, actors,
wandering minstrels or soldiers-of-fortune.
However, there are a few areas where he
can apply his talents and make himself an
indispensable boss. He has top
qualifications for radio stations, TV
networks, advertising and public relations
outfits. Running any of these operations,
hell go around happily dispensing creative
ideas from his superabundant fountain of
imagination. Pisces sees no reason to blurt
out the plain and often brutal truth, as
certain other Sun signs do. Unlike Gemini,
Sagittarius and Scorpio, the fish prefers
not to tell it like it is. He would rather
tell people what he thinks will have the
best effect on them in the long run, or what
they want to hear. It's not because he's
dishonest. He's learned through bitter
experience that society does not want to
hear the cold and naked truth. Besides, he
feels the soul requires the added dressing
of ritual and beauty painted over sound
facts. Madison Avenue loves him.
He's a superlative director of stage and
screen, also a capable producer (if he has a
good company manager). He can run a dance
studio like a dream. As the head of a
detective or research bureau, his uncanny
psychic ability to penetrate mystery leads
him straight to the top of the heap. Lots of
travel agencies have Pisces executives, and
they're usually tremendously successful.
He's often found as the head of a charitable
organization. Many fish happily lead
orchestras or bands, and keep rehearsals
running smoothly, not to mention producing
great music. They're unexcelled as executive
managers of country clubs or hotels (if
there's a good bookkeeper around). They can
run a progressive publishing company,
magazine or newspaper competently, even
brilliantly. You'll often find the fish
heading up a service business of some kind,
and he's certainly in home waters as the
director of a camp, or in an official
capacity in a church or synagogue. But
that's just about it, except for teachers
and professors and a few administrators in
medical or law schools. Pisceans aren't cut
out to be bosses, in the strict sense of the
word.
With his sensitive nature, Pisces was
born to serve mankind, not to accumulate
power or build huge empires. He can be a
capable and competent stockbroker and a
shrewd trader, but he'll almost never take
over as the head of a brokerage or bond
house. Too much responsibility. However,
thanks to his quick, clever mind and his
sometimes uncanny grasp of figures, the fish
can have a lot of fun juggling the points of
fluctuating shares, though it will be more
like a game to him than actual work.
If your boss was born in March, he may be
the type to behave like a crosspatch when
he's irritated by something. He has a gift
of words, and when he's being brusque, it's
a caustic brusqueness that can scald a
little, but he'll seldom be aggressively
domineering or truly mean and petty. One
minute he may shock you with his
unconventional ideas, then he'll do a rather
slippery turnabout and appear to be a
conformist. You'll eventually catch on that
he's neither a great liberal nor a cautious
conservative. On different occasions, he
takes either view, to find out what your
ideas are. He can be, in other words, a mite
tricky. When he finds your ideas and your
conversation interesting, your Pisces boss
will listen with nattering concentration,
silently and sincerely, maybe even offer you
a glass of sherry to create a relaxed
atmosphere. If he finds what you say boring,
his mind will wander. He'll probably
daydream about far-off people and places
while you're talking, carefully keeping a
fixed smile on his face. Since every one of
them is a born actor, you'll think he's
being attentive, but after a certain period,
he'll get tired of his mental wanderings,
notice that you're babbling away, and
suddenly interrupt. Then he'll do the
talking and you'll do the listening,
sometimes for hours-and hours-and hours.
He may be well-traveled, and if he isn't,
he'll soon make up for lost time. Like the
Sagittarian and Geminian boss, the Pisces
executive will keep a packed suitcase behind
the couch in his office. If not, he should.
Why don't you suggest it to him? He'll
probably think it's a splendid idea.
Besides, the knowledge that the bag is
zipped and ready to take off can give him
strange comfort on dreary rainy days, or in
the dead of a slushy, bitter winter when he
feels like jumping off the penthouse roof
with boredom. He'll have his depressed moods
and they will be real humdingers. Better
stay away from him at those times, hum
cheerful melodies while you're working, and
make sure he has his hot toddy, laced with
the best bourbon.
Be nice to his wives-I mean his wife.
(It's a natural mistake. Along with your
Gemini and Sagittarius boss, the Pisces boss
is more apt to undergo multiple double-ring
ceremonies than other bosses.) His wife is
probably a nice, sensible, practical girl.
If she were as imaginative and original as
her husband, they'd likely both drown
together in an ocean of misty dreams and
fancies.
The Piscean executive is somewhat partial
to the creative thinkers in his firm. If you
tend more toward caution than imaginative
strategy, you may not get as many glasses of
sherry or as many comradely smiles, but you
probably won't get fired. He may enjoy the
others more, but fac needs you. He leans on
your practical approach and your
organizational ability. The favored, highly
inventive employee of a Pisces boss is
often shocked right out of his sparkling
ideas when the firm has an economy drive and
the fish gently lets the ax fall on him, and
keeps the steady, reliable, rather stodgy
worker on the payroll. The Pisces will wave
farewell sadly, but he is a shrewd judge of
human nature, including his own. Although he
enjoys the company and the progressive
contributions of the imaginative employees,
his own brand of creativity works more
smoothly when it's backed up by the careful
planning and office discipline of the old
gray heads of wisdom, even if they're young,
blonde or brunette heads. Discretion and
conservatism aren't his greatest assets, and
he's clearly aware of his deficiencies. He
can always find another daring, enthusiastic
dreamer when business picks up, but when the
profits dip a little, he can't afford to be
without the workers whose noses are worn
down by the grindstone. Meanwhile, he
figures he'll take care of the daring,
enthusiastic dreams department himself
until things get better and he can put some
more compatible blue-sky people on the
payroll. Of course, there are always
exceptions to any rule, but it won't hurt to
let your Pisces boss know that you can be
serious and sensational at the same time.
You've probably already learned that he's
installed a Capricorn or Taurus as a
middleman to deal with employees who seek
raises. He knows better than to let you
appeal to him personally. The Neptune nature
is so constituted that he finds it almost
impossible to say no to a fellow human being
who has a sincere need, or even just a
sincere desire. He learns early to insulate
himself as best he can.
Remember, he lives in two different
worlds. Such a division of nature can cause
a confused personality, but it can just as
easily cause brilliance. His thoughts may be
as abstract and deep as Piscean Einstein's,
who once said, "God doesn't throw dice."
Einstein meant that the law of mathematical
probability isn't necessarily sacrosanct
Your Neptune boss feels the same way about
accepted business procedures, and time
usually proves his first instincts are
right, no matter how visionary they may
sound when he expresses them. He's a mystic
at heart, a secret believer in the unseen
and the supernatural, though he may be a
little bashful about it. He won't practice
Voodoo at his desk or meditate in the lotus
position at the water cooler, because he
fears ridicule if people discover the
undercurrent of his psychic vibrations. But
they find out anyway, for all his clever
playing of the role of tough realist.
Remember that time your heart was. broken
by a boy friend who flew the coop and took
your engagement ring and all your dreams
with him? Your Pisces boss casually invited
you to dinner, filled your sad head with the
nicest compliments, then hurried you to the
theater. Afterwards, he took you backstage,
introduced you to the leading players, and
then treated everyone to a late supper. With
all that food and wine and glittering
conversation, he took your mind right off
your fickle fiance. Though sometimes he was
gruff deliberately, so it wouldn't look
obvious, for weeks afterwards, he found
little ways to cheer you up until the ache
stopped aching. You hadn't told a soul in
the office about the breakup. Now, how did
he know you needed help over that black
period? The gypsy who read his fortune one
day by the lines in his hand could have told
you. She noticed right away that he has a
rare mark on his palm-which means he's a
compassionate genius. There aren't very many
of them around. That's why he's a rare fish.
TOP
"// was much pleasanter at home,"
thought poor Alice, "when one wasn't always
growing larger and smaller, and being
ordered about by mice and rabbits. I almost
wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit-hole-•
and yet-and yet-it's rather curious, you
know, this sort of life!"
The abilities of the Piscean employee
depend entirely on which pond he swims in.
He can be such a miserable misfit in an
incompatible occupation or career that he
drifts from one place to another, until he
eventually realizes that he's better off
going it alone with his own dreams for
company.
To work successfully with other people or
be part of a team, the fish must be doing
something that doesn't offend his
sensitivity. It has to be a position that
gives him the opportunity to utilize his
unsurpassed understanding of human
suffering, or that allows him to channel his
unique imagination toward a progressive
path. A job that fails to supply one or both
of these deep-seated Neptune needs will
create a lazy, disinterested, not to mention
disheartened employee. When his needs are
satisfied, however, he can be a gem of a
worker, often one-of-a-kind in his field-
difficult, if not impossible, to replace.
There's a side to the fish that allows him
to surprise you with his painstaking
attention to detail, when he's in the mood.
It seems to be totally inconsistent with his
obvious mystical bent, but these people were
born under the Sun sign that encompasses
the qualities of all other signs. It can be
the "dust bin of the zodiac," as it's often
called in astrology, or the turning path to
shining glory. The glory needn't be achieved
hanging from a star. It can be realized in a
quiet way, right in your office, if the fish
is happy and content with what he's doing.
The most common remark heard around an
office where there's a Pisces employee is,
"I can't understand him.
What's he up to?" They may never know.
The Piscean man or woman is compelled,
possibly by inner doubt and confusion, to
disguise motives and keep his true aims
hidden. If the fish revealed his entire
nature it would startle or shock most
people, so he keeps his counsel. All the
chattering of the occasional talkative
Pisces is deceptive. It still won't reveal
what he really thinks, even if he talks all
night, as some of them do. The quiet ones
can also drive you wild by keeping their
most interesting thoughts and ideas a
secret. You never know what's going on
inside those dreamy Neptune heads.
He'll work with a terrific sense of duty
if he's happy with his job. When he's not
happy, he withdraws. Only his body is there.
Eventually it will also disappear, leaving
only the memory of his grin and his wise
eyes. It's not easy to keep this slippery
employee peaceful. When the water gets
stagnant, he swims away before you have a
chance to filter the pool, and that can be
frustrating. If he would be more open about
his true desires, compromise might be
reached, but too often the fish chooses
abrupt change to long, honest discussion
that might turn things rightside up again.
There's no doubt that the Pisces man or
woman is more often found in the world of
the arts, but the term can cover more than
you might suppose. Pisces is happy adjusting
the lights in a theater, hanging canvases in
museums, stitching the lace on doll dresses,
polishing the' brass of musical instruments
or designing the cover of a book. He or she
can spend hours blissfully teaching tots to
dance, blowing up balloons for a party,
arranging flowers, planning a poster
advertising campaign, engrossed in creative
writing, or experimenting with unusual hair
styles. Now and then you'll find a Piscean
engaged in a mechanical occupation relating
to mathematics, engineering or computing,
but he will always attack such subjects from
the abstract point of view.
Pisces people make excellent teachers,
with uncanny insight into the natures of
their students and a deep grasp of the
subject they teach. They seem to have a
special knack for both preparing and
merchandising food and drink, either serving
it in posh restaurants or supervising the
operation with social grace.
If your business concerns medicine,
hospitals or phar-maceuticals, the Pisces
employee is probably your right arm. No one
makes a finer nurse or servant to the sick.
They're right at home with drugs and
medicines, too. Unfortunately, however, the
Piscean receptivity can cause them to
saturate themselves in their surroundings,
with occasional adverse effects on their own
mental, emotional and physical health. If
Pisces controls his instinct for instant
empathy, he can be a shining light in the
field of health. Needless to say, social
work is also a Pisces occupation, and
you'll find lots of Neptunes efficiently
dis-pensing welfare to unfortunate humanity.
The fish takes on the color of his
surroundings. If you shut your Pisces
employee in a small cubicle with drab
furnishings, bare floors and drapeless
windows, he'll begin to look like the office
itself. You'll look up one day and there
he'll be-an exact imitation of his immediate
working world. His conversation will be
drab, his ideas bare and dull. As you stare
at this listless, plain, cold and colorless
creature with nondescript clothing and a
mousy personality, you'll wonder what
happened to that person you hired who was
bright, sunny and full of fresh imagination,
whose conversation was rich and sparkling
and who wore vivid, cheerful clothes.
Believe me, such a Neptunian transformation
is easier to remedy than other personnel
problems.. Just hang some gay green drapes
in his office, cover the floor with soft
emerald carpeting, and plunk a vase of happy
daisies on his desk. Pipe in some soft, low
music, smile at him once an hour on the
hour, and the fish you hired will reappear
in his true colors. The Piscean personality
is elusive, but it's amazingly easy to reel
it in when you use the right bait.
Your Pisces secretary may be a little
sloppy at home, but she'll probably be neat
at the office. She'll daydream on her own
time and try to be methodical during working
hours. Of course, there are exceptions, when
her mind can wander in odd directions.
There's a Pisces girl I used to work with in
a radio station who had the most peculiar
filing system. I don't think it was
permanent. It may have had something to do
with the fact that her mind was on a novel
she was writing on weekends. One day the
boss asked her why the drawer in the filing
cabinet marked "L" was so full it was always
popping open and cracking him on the shin.
Her answer was unexpected, to say the kast.
"Because of all those letters," she informed
him efficiently. In all fairness to Pisces,
however, she did have a Sagittarius
ascendant and an Aquarius Moon, which can
make for a little loopiness when they're
mixed up like that.
After she left to peddle her novel in New
York, the filing problems became really
tangled for a spell. The first week she was
gone, one of the announcers needed a music
theme for a Notre Dame football game.
Rushing over to the record file, he
hurriedly checked under N for Notre Dame.
(He was looking for the song that goes,
"Cheer, cheer, for old Notre Dame" . . .)
Not finding it under N, he checked the
letter C, thinking perhaps she had filed it
under the lyric. It wasn't there, either.
Perspiring nervously, for it was now one
minute to game time, he realized she might
have tucked it away under the title,
"Victory March." He flipped open the file.
No such luck. The game went on the air sans
music that day. Weeks later, the record
turned up. The Pisces had filed it under P.
Why? You can't guess? For "Fighting Irish,"
of course. It was perfectly logical to her.
That's how everybody referred to the team
in the office pool. Well, it does make some
sense.
The average female fish will be a little
more conventional. She'll be gentle and
considerate, and get along beautifully with
the other members of your staff. She may
even be a sort of den mother, if you can
call the office a den. The other employees
will go to her with all their troubles,
minor and major. You may cry on her shoulder
yourself on occasion, she's such a
sympathetic listener. This girl may read the
cards for fun (though she'll secretly take
it seriously), and it's a cinch she'll be
able to read your mind-so be careful what
you're thinking when she passes your desk.
An occasional Pisces employee can be
fussy or critical, but they usually won't be
energetic enough about it to be really
annoying. These people need nearly as many
compliments as Aries and Leo to feel
secure, but be sure you're sincere, because
they'll sense it quickly if you're not. If
you have reason to scold a Pisces, you may
wonder where the fish went for a day or so.
He didn't leave. Not yet. There he is,
hiding behind the outgoing mail basket on
his desk, trying to pretend he's invisible
by not speaking, barely moving and hardly
breathing. He has been hurt, and you'll have
to do something very sweet and lovely to
make him brighten. The fish is ultra
sensitive, remember. When your mood changes,
so will his. Pisces has a way of cutting
himself off from others when situations
become painful. He seeks the sunlight and
rosy, beautiful emotions. When gray or black
appears, he dives down deep to escape. A
thoughtless word can make him weep inside,
although he'll probably tell a joke to
disguise it. Pisces has a way with a clever
line, and his humor, though it's not ever
obvious, is seldom faraway.
Money won't mean a lot to your Pisces
employee. He'll talk a good salary and
bonus, but he'll hardly notice if he has to
take a temporary cut in pay when business is
slow (unless he has a large family to feed).
Actually, many Pisces men and women are
happy with a reasonable wage, as long as
you're open-minded about loans. The fish
will often approach you with empty pockets
and a big smile a day or so before payday,
and charmingly ask for a light touch to see
him through. He may forget to pay it back
unless you remind him. His intentions are
honest, but there's always something extra
he needs. The chances are just as good he
gave it to someone else. Money ordinarily
passes through Pisces like water through a
sieve. He's sort of a middle man for cash.
He'll borrow a hundred from you, then turn
around and hand it to a man whose wife needs
an operation. As neglectful as Pisces may be
to repay your loan to him, he'll happily
give you his last dime if you're temporarily
short, and he probably won't be in any more
of a hurry to get it back than he was to
return the hundred he got from you earlier.
In fact, it sometimes gets so confusing you
may forget who owes what to whom. That's the
way the typical Pisces sees the whole
monetary setup anyway. In a hazy way, he
feels money was created to spread around.
When a person needs it, the cash should be
there. When you don't need it, you pass it
on. It's a kind of bread-cast-on the-waters
theory. It works surprisingly often for the
fish, but such Neptune philosophy can
bewilder other Sun signs. (Of course, a
Virgo, Cancer or Capricorn ascendant, or
perhaps an Aquarius or Taurus Moon can spoil
all the fun.)
More Pisces employees quit than are
fired. They're too elusive and too shrewd
about human nature to wait for the painful
hook. Sensing your displeasure in advance,
the fish will wriggle away before you get a
chance to embarrass him. You'll find the
single Piscean man less apt to leave a job
lightly than the married one, whose wife
probably works. ,In fact, her willingness to
work if necessary may have been one of her
main attractions, though romantic love was
probably equally important. The girl fish
may only be marking time until some man
comes along to rescue her from repulsive
competition, unless she's involved in a
creative endeavor she thinks of as a career.
There's little danger the Pisces employee
is after your job. He probably secretly
pities you for the responsibilities you
carry. After all, it's tough to move around
with burdens on your back, and Pisces seeks
a changing scene. The length of time he
brightens your office will depend on the
variety of changes it offers his wandering
nature. When the snails begin to bore him,
or when the whales and sharks threaten to
devour him, he'll glide away. The Neptune
employee will never get stuck in a bunch of
seaweed.
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