The SCORPIO Man: Linda Goodman

And her eyes immediately met those

of a large, blue caterpillar

that was sitting on the top with its arms folded, quietly

smoking a long hookah . . .

The caterpillar and Alice

looked at each other in silence,

If you're in love with a Scorpio male and the word passion frightens you, put on your track shoes and run as if King Kong were pursuing you. He is.

I'm not speaking of romantic passion alone, though that may be at the head of the list. I also refer to pas­sionate intensity about politics, work, friendship, religion, food, relatives, children, clothing, life, death and any other categories you can think up. A Scorpio man is not exactly what your psyche needs if you're repelled by emotional excess. Don't look back. Just run.

You'll think I've taken leave of my senses if you've just met that particular Pluto person. He's so calm and steady. How could anyone with such obvious self-control be passionate, let alone dangerously so? How indeed. Be­cause he's only bluffing with the surface cool. Inside, his passions are as red hot as that stove you burned your hand on when you were three or four years old and getting into things out of your reach. This man may also be out of reach. He's sizzling underneath his deceptively controlled manner. Don't touch. You know perfectly well how long it takes for bums to heal. Remember? Your hand was stinging for weeks after that episode with the stove when you were in your Buster Browns. After this experience, your heart will burn for months, maybe years, and first aid kits will do little good. Grandma's favorite saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," applies to both stove burns and Scorpio singes, so play it safe. Make sure you know where you're going and with whom.

If your Sun sign gives you an asbestos, fireproof nature, go ahead and play with explosives. You may be able to keep the flames under control and have yourself a powerful fire to warm your heart for a lifetime. Perhaps you're pas­sionate about things yourself. Fine. Then it's simply a mat­ter of degree of heat. If your passion has an automatic thermostat, so it can be turned down to cool when his reads hot, you're safe. Let's pretend you are. The girls who are in danger should be in the next state by now, if they ran fast enough. They'll thank me someday after they've married a nice, safe Libran or Cancerian.

As for you women who have analyzed yourselves as safe in a Pluto relationship, let's see if we can find what's hidden behind those hypnotic, piercing Scorpio eyes. It's pretty certain he hasn't made a neutral impression on you. He's either got you thinking he's boyish and sweet, or that he's wicked and passionate. (There goes that word again.) The trouble is, he's neither. Or maybe I should say he's both. Well, this isn't getting us anywhere. Let's start all over again.

In a word, this man is invincible. Just behind his frosty reserve is a huge pot of boiling steam that bubbles and seethes continually. If you're lucky, he'll keep the lid on. tight for a lifetime, but a deep injury can blow it right off with a brilliant explosion. It's kind of fascinating to watch. if you're not in its direct line of destruction. Step aside, if you feel it coming. And don't do anything to cause it yourself.

Hell bewilder you with his twin Scorpio traits of passion and reason. He's master of both: intellect and emotions rule him equally. Scorpio is more than intelligent. If he's a highly evolved specimen, he's also deeply philosophical, concerned with mysteries of existence, and he'll come close to knowing the answers.

There are Scorpios who can live a spartan existence in a bare room, denying themselves every comfort for some obscure, aesthetic reason, but the true nature of the sign is sensual. Normally, Scorpio will surround himself with luxury. He'll lean toward excesses in food, drugs, drink, and yes-in love. Most assuredly in love. He's geared for it, with confidence. Romance will never frighten him, puz­zle him, or catch him unaware. It's been on his mind ever since he rode his first bicycle. Maybe even his first tricycle. Of course, you could conceivably know a Scorpio who is so absolutely innocent-looking, with such disarming, youthful charm and lack of obvious seductive mannerisms, he's convinced you that passion is over-rated in Pluto males. He may even have freckles, and a whole drawer full of Boy Scout merit badges. But ask his wife. Try some­thing like, "Say, Bertha-or Rosalie-or Sheila-or what­ever-is your husband, well, is he passionate?" She might summon enough dignity to tell you it's none of your busi­ness, but your answer will most likely be hysterical laugh­ter. Between her peals of mirth, she'll be remembering many days of his intense, passionate declarations about air pollution, housebreaking the dog, narcotics, long hair, birth control, and many nights of ... well, and many nights. This will be true even if her husband looks like Huckle­berry Finn, and doesn't even remotely resemble King Kong.

These men have an explosive temper that can strike a life-time wound. When the Scorpio lashes his deadly tail, the sting bites hard. He not only enjoys winning, he has to win. Something inside him dies when he loses, even in small ways; yet oddly enough, a Pluto man normally prac­tices good sportsmanship. Like all his other emotions, dis­appointment never shows on those set features, and his reactions are rigidly controlled, including his romantic in­tentions. If there's a good reason to avoid the relationship, hell bum inside while he's projecting a glacial calm out­wardly. He's also capable of torturing a girl cruelly before he finally decides to grab her by the hair and drag her off to his jungle of honeysuckle vines. Naturally, there are some November fellows who will gently propose on bended knee. They'll behave very properly, with or without a chaperone, but don't be deceived. It's merely the Scorpio desire to keep dignity at all cost. Your reputation must be spotless. He won't stand for ridicule or cheapness, for all his erotic nature.

Pluto people can have either a Sunday School teacher horror of sin, an attitude which produces intensely dedi­cated evangelistic religious leaders, like Billy Graham, or they can be driven by curiosity to penetrate every dark corner of the human mystery. Sometimes, both attitudes are combined, resulting in the hypocrisy or self-delusion of an Elmer Gantry or a Reverend Davidson in Rain.

Every Scorpio is a law unto himself, and completely un­concerned with what others think of him. He would like to be respected as a good, solid citizen, but if it interferes with any of his intense ideas or goals, then he couldn't care less, and those who gossip can just go to the place Pluto rules. None of his important decisions are hampered by the opinions of his friends, relatives, neighbors or enemies. I'm sorry to say, not even by you. Don't run away yet. Such beautiful self-containment and sureness of purpose can create a mighty attractive, free spirit who's not always fussing about what people think. Are honesty and courage and integrity such bad bargains? They may have lost a little of their sparkle in today's marketplace, but rub off the dust they've collected, and you can still get them appraised as genuine.

It's quite an experience to see the Scorpio man operate under adversity's black clouds. While others are mumbling and crumbling and grumbling, he is at his forceful, cou­rageous best. He seldom wallows in envy or self-pity, and he doesn't happen to think that life owes him a single farthing. You can just imagine how much time that saves. Instead of pouting in hurt anger when real troubles hit, he meets them head on. Conquer them? But of course.

That's what he was born to do.

One thing is a little frightening, and may require courage on your part. Scorpio loves mystery and there's not a single one that crosses his path he won't solve in detail. Since the eternal feminine mystery is any girl's most potent defense and offense, being stripped naked of your mystery can leave you feeling a little exposed. You'll scarcely have a secret left when he starts probing with those burning eyes and piercing questions.

He has high standards, and he won't choose his friends loosely. They'll have to measure up. This is a marvelous, rare kind of man who can share a jug of spirits and joke with rough humor among other men like a bawdy Eliza­bethan; then tap that deep, inscrutable nature and turn into as gentle and tender a lover as Robert Browning. If there's anything more to ask for in a male animal, I don't know what it might be. Submissiveness and forgiveness? Detachment and caution? That's not fair. You knew he was short on those qualities back in the beginning.

He can be cruel sometimes, for his own, unfathomable reasons, and he may even exhibit a sadistic sense of wit by describing you as fat, dumpy, shrewish and square in front of friends. It's his private joke. Grin, if it kills you. You've been warned that Scorpio is compelled to conceal his motives, and this tendency isn't watered down in love. It may even be intensified. He's not about to display his true emotions in front of the world like a vulnerable, smitten schoolboy. Later, when you're alone, he'll tell you what he really thinks.

Marriage gives you a certain security, but if he pulls some of his Pluto tricks before the knot is tied, it may hurt, and you'll fail to get the humor. Still, don't even think about telling him that his harsh, self-sufficient who-needs-you? game makes you feel like jumping off a bridge. The Scorpio man will just tell you to go ahead and jump. It may take a while to adjust to his personality, but it will eventually toughen you up. If you're too soft, you'll bruise easily with a Scorpio. Never ask him what he thinks of a new dress or hair-do, unless you're prepared to be stung by the brutal truth. At least you'll know his positive state­ments are honest, and not pasted together with the sticky glue of bored, insincere flattery. It's better to brave a good, healthy "You look awful," now and then, and be rewarded by an occasional "You're really beautiful, you know," than to swallow a constant diet of vague remarks like: "Yes, dear, it's lovely, sugar. Mmmmm-just fine, pigeon," from other men. Don't you think so? I do. But then, you're the one who has to live with it.

When it comes to jealousy, you'd better tread very, very carefully. He could bum and erupt like Mount Vesuvius in its heyday if you should accidentally wink near a man when a cinder gets in your eye, and if you ever give him a real reason to be suspicious, you're a very brave woman. But you'd better pack away your own jealous streak in the trunk, and then lock it. It will make no impression at all to drench him in angry tears or reproachful recriminations. No matter how he behaves, just say to yourself, "He loves me, and he will never discard real love for physical promiscuity. He's loyal to his deep ties, and he's only practicing his hypnotic art with those girls." Say it once before each meal, in the morning and at bedtime. Especially at bedtime. Women will find him irresistibly attractive, but keep remembering that if anyone is strong enough to resist such continual flattery and temptation, it's a Scorpio. Doesn't that make you feel better? It should. It's true.

He'll probably be a stern father. The children won't get away with an ounce of lazy or frivolous behavior. Hell teach them to respect property, but he'll also teach them to respect themselves. Youngsters will seldom get the chance to form any false values around a Scorpio papa. Although he'll love them with as much sincere passion as he puts into everything else he cares about, he won't Stand for any nonsense. He'll protect them when they need it, but they'll soon get the message that he expects them to stand alone. If they borrow money from him, he's liable to charge them interest on it, but it's for their own good. They may not realize that until he's gone some-day, but the lesson will eventually come home to them. Lots of children of Scorpio fathers resent his high-handed authority and tight discipline throughout childhood, and especially during the rebellious years, but as adults, they realize how lucky they were to have his firm guidance. From no other father can children learn so much truth about the way life really is. Often his offspring will find him gentle and funny; still there won't be any question about who is boss. He'll joke and laugh with them, and give them a sense of freedom, but the chalk line will be drawn, and they'll know not to cross it. Even as they resent his attitude of command, the children will secretly admire his strength and try to imitate it, but occasionally it works the other way. A gentle child may feel bullied and cowed by Scorpio power, and retreat into neurotic intro­version, fearing to risk his displeasure. Then you'll have to remind him that affection and tenderness sometimes get more results than his normal, unbending, autocratic manner. Just be sure you remind him tactfully and respectfully. A Scorpio man will never allow a woman to dictate to him. Never in a million years. He is the man and you are the woman, and if you have any doubts about it, you will be set straight so surely that you'll never need but one lesson. Yet, a Scorpio husband with a wife who truly understands him, will be tender, sympathetic, considerate, and repay her loyalty with the kind of love most women only read about and wish for.

It won't help much to try to resist this man, once the flame has been stirred and he's decided he wants you. Hell hypnotize you right out of all your good intentions. The magnetism of Scorpio men is almost tangible. You feel you can reach out and touch it. When you do, you may get a surprise. It will bum you only if you're over-sensitive and scorchable. If you're patient and strong, it will be like touching cool marble. Girls are out of their league with him. It takes a brave woman to fly with the eagle and not crash. He can soar higher than his symbolic bright star Antares in the constellation of Scorpio, then dip down suddenly to earthy expression. Hang on tightly, but keep your eyes open wide, and you'll see horizons with him the timid will never see. Look over there, just beyond the tall fir trees-did you ever in your whole life experience such a sunrise? Sunset will be just as grand.