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Compatibility
Aries Ox and Cancer Horse

It may appear to be something of an energy minefield, but there is real potential here—provided the famously disagreeable combination of firstwest and secondwest fulfills its potential for life-changing personal growth, and the precarious firsteast and secondeast match is carefully controlled.

Western Zodiac sign, Aries
Western Zodiac sign, Cancer

Western Zodiac

Aries and Cancer

Compatibility overview

The pairing between firstwest and secondwest brings powerful, swirling energy. This is not a match for the faint of heart! The Square aspect—where signs are three steps, or 90 degrees, apart—is associated with combativeness and tension, but also potency and progress. This powder-keg, contentious yet productive potential of Square relationships is never more apparent than when these two signs encounter one another!

Aries and Cancer - Relationship Horoscope

Read more about the ARIES and CANCER zodiac signs...

Read more about the ARIES OX and CANCER HORSE combined zodiac signs...

Chances are, the intense energy between Aries and Cancer will reveal itself immediately. For better or worse, these two find each other hard to ignore!

In the beginning, at least, mutual admiration or sexual chemistry is strongly indicated for these two signs. However, a rush of disputes, provocations, or clashes of wills is equally likely. Aries' element, Fire, is often said to be least compatible with Water signs like Cancer. Ambitious Fire souls can find themselves fizzling in disappointment, while normally more placid Water types may feel powerless to avoid boiling over. Aries and Cancer both represent the pure, initiating Cardinal modality of their respective elements, so there is none of the softening influence that complementary modalities can bring.

Surprising as it may seem at times, though, this relationship has real prospects for various successes. In a word, the secret for this highly-charged Square relationship is growth. The conflicting natures of Aries and Cancer can drive each party to assert themselves in ways that independently may well be impossible. Hence this is a fertile match for all manner of power couples, whether creative, professional, sporting, or romantic. Even feuds can yield invaluable life lessons. It may be trite to say, but whatever doesn't kill these two will almost certainly make them stronger.

Celebrity Aries/Cancer Pairings*

*Click on the names to see both Western and Chinese zodiac matches for that pairing.

Gerald Ford and Betty Ford
Gerald Ford and Betty Ford (click for attribution/s)

Betty Ford (4/8/1918, Aries Horse), Gerald Ford (7/14/1913, Cancer Ox) : The 38th US President and First Lady were married from 1948 until Gerald Ford's death in 2006. They had four children. Betty Ford had been married previously, and Gerald postponed their wedding because he was unsure whether voters would accept him marrying a "divorced exdancer". They had a famously charged relationship, with Gerald a conservative Republican (at one time Richard Nixon's vice president) and Betty expressing liberal views about equal rights, abortion, gun control, marijuana, and premarital sex. After Betty gave an interview in which she described Roe v Wade (the now-overruled US Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion) as a "great, great decision", Gerald Ford wryly commented that she had probably cost him 20 million votes. Betty was also known for saying about them sleeping together in the White House, "I guess if you’re president, you’re supposed to become a eunuch." Later, Gerald led a family intervention about Betty's alcohol and drug dependence, which led to the Betty Ford Center for rehabilitation. At Ford's inauguration in 1974, he said: "I am indebted to no man, and only to one woman—my dear wife—as I begin this very difficult job."

Pharrell Williams (4/5/1973, Aries Ox), Helen Lasichanh (7/22/1980, Cancer Monkey) : The musician and fashion designer/model have been longtime partners and married in 2013. They have four children together, including triplets born in 2017. While the family has maintained their privacy, Williams said in 2018: "I’m in awe of women and my wife. To carry another heartbeat inside your body for nine months — in my wife’s case she had four heartbeats — is beyond anything a man can give back to the universe."

Emma Watson and Malala Yousafzai
Emma Watson and Malala Yousafzai (click for attribution/s)

Emma Watson (4/15/1990, Aries Horse), Malala Yousafzai (7/12/1997, Cancer Ox) : The actor/activist and education activist share a mutually admiring relationship. In a a high-profile interview with each other, organized to open the Into Film Festival in 2015, Yousafzai described how she had been influenced by Watson's 2014 speech to the UN launching the "He for She" campaign: "[T]his word feminism, it has been a very tricky word. And I had, when I heard it the first time I...heard some negative responses and some positive ones, and I hesitated in saying, am I a feminist or not? And then after hearing your speech when you said, if not now, when, if not me, who, I decided that there’s no way, and there’s nothing wrong by calling yourself a feminist. So, I am a feminist and you all should be feminist because feminism is another word for equality."

Jackie Chan (4/7/1954, Aries Horse), Joan Lin (6/30/1953, Cancer Snake) : The two actors have been married since 1982 and have one child together. Although their relationship has faced challenges, including Chan fathering a child with another woman in 1999, they have remained together. Chan wrote in his 2018 memoir, Never Grow Up, "When I started to empathize with [Joan Lin], I came to respect her more and more. She is a strong woman, stronger than I am in so many ways."

Nelson Mandela and Jacob Zuma
Nelson Mandela and Jacob Zuma (click for attribution/s)

Jacob Zuma (4/12/1942, Aries Horse), Nelson Mandela (7/18/1918, Cancer Horse) : The first and fourth Presidents of South Africa shared a close connection as anti-apartheid activists and one-time fellow political prisoners at the Robben Island prison. In 2012, it emerged that Mandela had paid debts accrued by Zuma, apparently as a way of improving Zuma's political prospects. The author William Gumede, who wrote Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC (2007), described: "Nelson Mandela gave [Zuma] the money to pay off all his debts as a personal favour. It was in the hope that he would walk away from all those dubious benefactors. The idea was to say: 'You know what, I'm seeing and hearing all this stuff and it doesn't look good. There are no strings attached but I want you to clean up your act.'"

Akira Kurosawa and Ingmar Bergman
Akira Kurosawa and Ingmar Bergman (click for attribution/s)

Akira Kurosawa (3/23/1910, Aries Dog), Ingmar Bergman (7/14/1918, Cancer Horse) : These two legendary filmmakers shared a profound mutual admiration. In a letter celebrating Bergman's 70th birthday, Kurosawa wrote: "Your work deeply touches my heart every time I see it and I have learned a lot from your works and have been encouraged by them. I would like you to stay in good health to create more wonderful movies for us."

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Chinese Zodiac sign, the Ox
Chinese Zodiac sign, the Horse

Chinese Zodiac

Ox and Horse

Compatibility overview

The Eastern zodiac has a reputation for not mincing words when it comes to combinations seen as unlucky. Unfortunately for the firsteast and secondeast, their shared energy has a troubling reputation for tension, conflict, and unhappiness.

Ox and Horse - Relationship Horoscope

Read more about the OX and HORSE zodiac signs...

Read more about the ARIES OX and CANCER HORSE combined zodiac signs...

Across the whole Eastern zodiac, the most difficult combinations are said to be the six Adversary matches along the fourth degree axis, which include the Horse and Ox. The strain between these two can sometimes surprise others, because superficially they seem to have lots in common. Both the Horse and Ox tend to have a larger-than-life presence and are comfortable being the center of attention. And both can be relied on to get the job done, when tasked with physically or intellectually demanding projects.

However, these two signs have completely different instincts about control. The Horse is not a loner as such—in fact they can be one of the most devoted signs there is—but they are fiercely independent. They are at their happiest performing, competing, and loving, with as few outside limitations as possible. The Ox, by contrast, is a master of constraint. They have a paramount belief in structure and chains of command, and tend to inevitably rise up through the ranks to leadership. A pairing of the Horse and Ox is thus apt to stir destructive forces. The Ox will be forever trying to rein in the Horse. The Horse will be constantly trying to outrun the Ox. As the Ox is overtaken by stubborn bitterness, the Horse tends to poke fun and laugh at them. As the Horse escapes into skittish extravagance and selfishness, the Ox expresses ever more intense disappointment and criticism.

Unfortunately, conflicts here are more indirect than direct. Rather than a blaze of fury, mutual antagonism is likely to cause brooding discontent and unpleasantness. Problems may take forever to resolve, assuming they ever resolve at all.

Problematic energy like this need not be insurmountable, of course, and lots of relationships achieve success and understanding in spite of this potentially challenging connection. Strongly positive influences on the Western side, or clear strategies to facilitate mutual understanding, may be invaluable in achieving positive results.

Celebrity Ox/Horse Pairings*

*Click on the names to see both Western and Chinese zodiac matches for that pairing.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden
Barack Obama and Joe Biden (click for attribution/s)

Barack Obama (8/4/1961, Leo Ox), Joe Biden (11/20/1942, Scorpio Horse) : Despite the much-publicised "bromance" between the 44th and 46th US Presidents, reports of rivalry and tension between Obama and Biden have also surfaced during their respective administrations. New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin described in 2022: "[F]or all the talk Biden and Obama do about being brothers and good friends, they’re actually not that close. They don’t talk super often today. There’s a rivalry there...Biden’s a prideful guy. And he knew he was looked down on in the White House when he was [Obama's] VP, and he loved the idea of being a bigger historic figure than Obama."

Dwight Howard (12/8/1985, Sagittarius Ox), Kobe Bryant (8/23/1978, Virgo Horse) : After the late basketball champion Bryant died tragically in 2020, his one-time Lakers teammate Howard told movingly, "A lot of people thought me and Kobe hated each other and stuff like that...There were times where we just didn’t understand each other and I didn’t get a chance to tell him how appreciative I was for our time together."

Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan
Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan (click for attribution/s)

Meg Ryan (11/19/1961, Scorpio Ox), Dennis Quaid (4/9/1954, Aries Horse) : Once one of the world's most famous celebrity couples, Ryan and Quaid divorced in 2001. In 2008, Ryan accused Quaid of serial infidelity during their marriage, to which he responded, "I find it unbelievable that Meg continues publicly to rehash and rewrite the story of our relationship."

Richard Gere (8/31/1949, Virgo Ox), Cindy Crawford (2/20/1966, Pisces Horse) : The actor and supermodel were married for four years in the early 1990s. Crawford said in 2016, "I don’t know if we were ever friends – like peers, because I was young, and he was Richard Gere. And then, as I started kind of growing up and growing into myself – it’s hard to change the nature of a relationship once you’re already in it."

Photo of Helmut Kohl and Margaret Thatcher
Photo of Helmut Kohl and Margaret Thatcher (click for attribution/s)

Margaret Thatcher (10/13/1925, Libra Ox), Helmut Kohl (4/3/1930, Aries Horse) : The former German Chancellor and British Prime Minister shared a famously hostile relationship. To quote the head of the UK National Archives in 2019, "They didn't get on at all."

Neil Patrick Harris (6/15/1973, Gemini Ox), Perez Hilton (3/23/1978, Aries Horse) : The actor, singer and writer Harris has suggested that celebrity blogger Hilton conducted a sustained campaign to out him as gay: "There was an interview [in 2006] that claimed that I was asked if I was gay and that my publicist had said that I was 'not of that persuasion.' That was the weird catalyst tipping point because that expression set Perez Hilton off. He was offended by that and then started posting about me and asking people to come forward with truths or stories. Then it became apparent that I needed to make some sort of decisive respectable move."

Paul Newman (1/26/1925, Aquarius Ox), Steve McQueen (3/24/1930, Aries Horse) : These two acting legends starred together in The Towering Inferno, and shared an equally famous love of motor racing, but seem to have brought the worst out in one another off-screen. It has been reported that Newman called McQueen "chicken s—" for counting the number of lines they both had in Inferno, and that the two competed over who was given top billing.


Combined Relationship Horoscope

Final Words

The Square energy between firstwest and secondwest is perhaps as contrary as any in the Western zodiac. However, while it may sometimes feel as if there is nothing these two cannot disagree about, their disputations can yield great positives, offering rare insight into their individual identities, and producing lifelong benefits. In this case, the greater challenge may be navigating the disturbing energy of the firsteast and secondeast, one of the Chinese zodiac’s most notorious combinations. Clear communication, independent roles in the relationship, and encouraging sensitivity wherever possible may be important for these two, if they are to maximize the available prospects for successful collaboration and affection.

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