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Compatibility
Aries Pig and Cancer Monkey

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 PIG and CANCER MONKEY 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 Pig
Chinese Zodiac sign, the Monkey

Chinese Zodiac

Pig and Monkey

Compatibility overview

Chinese astrology can be unforgiving about matches considered to attract challenging energy. Unfortunately for the firsteast and the secondeast, these two have a difficult reputation for tension, miscommunication, and conflict. This energy will need to be carefully managed.

Pig and Monkey - Relationship Horoscope

Read more about the PIG and MONKEY zodiac signs...

Read more about the ARIES PIG and CANCER MONKEY combined zodiac signs...

Among all the combinations in the Chinese zodiac, the six Adversary pairings along the fourth degree axis are the most notorious for unstable energy. The Monkey and Pig are one of these.

The Monkey's defining characteristics are their ingenuity and energy, where the Pig's heart is trusting and faithful. A meeting between these signs can bring forth tensions between openness and guile, dependability and inconstancy, or naivety and manipulation. The Pig may feel as if they are powerless to avoid being made fun of or tripped up. The Monkey may find it impossible not to seem like they are taking advantage of the Pig, even if quite unintentionally.

Undesirable traits may surface for both signs. The Monkey could be prone to deceitfulness, conceit, or power-plays. The Pig could seem disengaged, slothful, or overindulgent. The particular challenge of this Adversary energy is that it is more indirect than direct, so antagonism is more likely to fester than erupt. Dispute resolution can be especially challenging in this context, as both the Monkey and Pig may have the impression that whatever they say, however well-intended, just makes things worse. No astrological energy is insurmountable, of course. Collaborations that capture the contrasting instincts of the Monkey and Pig may be quite fascinating.

With self-awareness and acceptance, counterbalancing positive energy on the Western side, or effective compartmentalization, it may be possible to forge a fulfilling relationship in spite of the troubling undercurrents of this energy.

Celebrity Pig/Monkey Pairings*

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

Edward James Olmos and Danny Trejo
Edward James Olmos and Danny Trejo (click for attribution/s)

Danny Trejo (5/16/1944, Taurus Monkey), Edward James Olmos (2/24/1947, Pisces Pig) : Actor Trejo was at one time associated with actor/director Olmos' directorial debut, American Me, about the Mexican mafia. Trejo refused to be involved after he read the script and later asserted that the film caused the deaths of ten people: "I couldn't believe how casual [Olmos] was about details that were so critical...Olmos was like a kid playing with a grenade, thinking the whole time it was a sparkler."

Robert Vaughn (11/22/1932, Sagittarius Monkey), Matthew Vaughn (3/7/1971, Pisces Pig) : The English filmmaker known professionally as Matthew Vaughn grew up thinking that his father was the actor Robert Vaughn. In what a news report referred to as "hideous timing", Robert Vaughn revealed publicly that he was not Matthew's biological father shortly before Matthew's marriage to model/actress Claudia Schiffer in 2002. Matthew has since changed his official name to Matthew de Vere Drummond.

Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer
Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer (click for attribution/s)

Michael Douglas (9/25/1944, Libra Monkey), Val Kilmer (12/31/1959, Capricorn Pig) : The two actors were co-stars in The Ghost and the Darkness in 1996. In 2016, Douglas made public statements that Kilmer was battling cancer, which at the time Kilmer denied, saying, "Michael Douglas wrote me a nice note apologizing for suggesting to the press overseas, I wasn't doing too well and was grateful to hear I am doing well." Kilmer has since documented his experience of cancer in a memoir, I'm Your Huckleberry. He referred to Douglas' disclosure on Reddit in 2017, saying: "He was probably trying to help me 'cause press probably asked where I was these days, and I did have a healing of cancer."

Jennifer Aniston (2/11/1969, Aquarius Monkey), Tig Notaro (3/24/1971, Aries Pig) : The two actors starred together in First Ladies, a fictional movie about the first lesbian president of the United States. In an interview between them, Aniston said: "I think it’s incredible to be the first to play something of any kind, but especially a female president who happens to be gay. I think it’s long overdue." Notaro replied: "It is long overdue. People have been waiting a long time to see me and you in a presidential romantic comedy."

Barbara Hershey and Naveen Andrews
Barbara Hershey and Naveen Andrews (click for attribution/s)

Naveen Andrews (1/17/1969, Capricorn Monkey), Barbara Hershey (2/5/1948, Aquarius Pig) : The two actors were together for 12 years, in spite of Hershey being 21 years older. During 2005 they separated briefly, and Andrews fathered a child with another woman. Hershey described Andrews by saying, "Naveen is full of contradictions. He's truly well-read, yet he's very street. He kind of gives off this quality of danger at times, and yet he's very vulnerable. He's extremely serious and he's very funny."

Thom Yorke (10/7/1968, Libra Monkey), Jonny Greenwood (11/5/1971, Scorpio Pig) : The two musicians have been members of Radiohead since 1985 and also recently teamed up for the collaboration The Smile. Greenwood has described how he joined Radiohead: "The rest of the band were basically friends. So it was me following them around and begging them to let me be in their band for two or three years. And they finally let me in on the harmonica, actually, and then the keyboards, and finally the guitar."


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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