Aries and Scorpio compatibility

Love and romance comes to 35. The angle weighs more than anything else in this facet and it is weak for this pair; the elements are weaker still. The ruler input is the strong one, because the two signs have the same ruler.

Ptolemy does not treat five signs apart as a configuration at all. He lists such signs among the “inconjunct and separated”, and his reason is geometric: they “divide the whole circle into unequal parts”. Alan Leo, in separate chapters, says of Scorpio people that “They have remarkable powers of attachment”, and of Aries that they are “fond of constant change, loving novelty, romance and speculation”. Putting the attachment of one portrait next to the love of change in the other is our doing, not his.

Trust is where this pair does best, at 47. Steadiness weighs as much as the angle in this facet. Scorpio, a fixed sign, counts in full for it and Aries, a cardinal sign, for half.

William Lilly’s line for Scorpio includes the words “fixed and North”; he is listing the qualities of a sign for judging a chart, not describing a person. Ptolemy explains what fixed means: under such a sign the season “renders all things more strongly affected by its influence”. Taking that as steadiness in a person is our step.

Alan Leo’s two portraits are less calm. He writes: “When living the purely personal life, living only for the self, the Scorpio types of humanity are very uncompromising and exacting beings”. Of Aries: “When not living up to the highest strength of their character, they have a tendency to jealousy, they expect loyalty from others and may be somewhat exacting in this respect.” Set side by side, and the comparison is ours, the word “exacting” turns up in both portraits, each time under a condition.

Communication is the lowest of the six, at 25. Elements count most here, and fire with water gives the formula least to work with. Adaptability is small too, since neither sign is mutable.

Alan Leo calls Aries people “frank and outspoken by choice, but often combative and assertive”, and says they “are never at a loss for a word”. His summary of the other sign reads: “We might sum up those persons born in the sign Scorpio as very determined, reserved, tenacious and secretive.” Our reading of the two chapters is that one describes a ready talker and the other someone who keeps things back.

Emotions scores 32. Elements make up the largest part of this facet, so the gap between fire and water shows plainly.

Lilly’s quality lines put it in the terms of his day. Aries is “in nature fiery, hot and dry, cholericke”; Scorpio is “a cold, watry, nocturnal, flegmatick, feminine Signe”. Hot against cold, dry against watery: nothing matches. The comparison of his two lines is ours. Ptolemy calls Mars “dry in nature”, yet the water triplicity is the one he says is “left to the remaining planet, Mars”.

In Alan Leo’s words Scorpio people “seem to contain in themselves the silence of Pisces and the tenacity of Cancer”, while Aries people are “inclined to be very headstrong and impulsive”. The contrast between silence and impulse is our reading of two separate chapters.

Values comes second among the facets, at 43. Steadiness counts again here, and the fixed sign supplies most of it.

Alan Leo writes: “The Scorpio character is somewhat decided and unmistakable, being rarely, if ever, vacillating or feeble.” His Aries chapter says: “This sign gives extreme ideality, and those born under it are more ideal than practical.” Firmness in one portrait and ideals in the other; placing them together is ours.

Shared activities scores 28. This facet counts adaptability, which is small for a cardinal sign with a fixed one, and leans on the elements, which are far apart.

Aries people, Alan Leo says, are “always inclined to act upon impulse without waiting to mature their plans”. Scorpio people are “generally marked for their very dignified manner” and “ready at any moment to stand upon their dignity”. Our reading: one portrait hurries and the other stands on ceremony.