The twelve Animal Signs

for Women

Goat woman
Her psychological makeup

There is no denying that, as things stand at present, this sign suits women much better than it does men. All Goat natives, whether male or female, share many characteristics which our basically patriarchal society normally associates with "feminity." But when it concerns the fair sex, "feminity" is favorably considered or gently condoned, depending on its positive or negative aspects, whereas it is generally frowned upon in the bearded sex. This discriminating attitude, of course, is unjustifiable and tends to aggravate the less desirable side of Goat females' nature.

When drawing up any native's psychological portrait, astrologers usually make a distinction between his (or her) faults and virtues. Such a method proves awkward when it comes to the Goat woman, for the various features of her personality tend to overlap one another and it is impossible to draw a clear line between her strengths and weaknesses; moreover, she is so changing, so self-contradictory that some of her good points may suddenly become bad ones, and vice versa.

The Goat woman is first of all noted for her sweetness, meekness, air of innocence, and compliance. People can hardly ever detect a trace of aggressivity or enmity in her comportment, even when she is subjected to extreme vexation. She does not seek to provoke or withstand, preferring to keep a low figure and yield the ground under all circumstance. It is almost impossible to pin her down on any subject as she is always reluctant to express opinions of her own and consistently adopts the tactics of the chameleon; one would be grossly mistaken, however, not to realize that behind her modest exterior hides a very quick and perceptive mind. Her unassuming attitude may point to a lack of ambition or self-confidence, but is very effective in warding off hostile reactions and activating protective reflexes in others. In this manner she can indulge in all sorts of funny little ways with immunity and successfully charm her way through life.

Another of her character traits is her absolute candor. Unpretentious and humble, she does not know the art of make-believe and behaves with remarkable transparency. Consequently, there is no doubt this subject enjoys popularity in society, all the more as she is physically alluring and likes to mix. People eagerly seek her company, confident that it will be agreeable and that they will not be confronted with bad surprises.

Of all the Chinese duodecimal zodiac, the Goat-born female is endowed with the most vivid imagination. This gives her a poetic, somnambulistic appearance which seduces most people she meets but may irritate some. She is inclined to be exceedingly psychic - she always has difficulty in drawing a boundary between the phantasmal and actual worlds, and floats continually from one to the other.

Dreams occupy a paramount place in her life. Whatever her age or material condition, she eternally shows a deep attachment to fairy tales and loves stories with a happy ending. Stories about kings and queens, princes and princesses, never fail to exert a powerful fascination on her, and she is ever willing to spend money on books and magazines dealing with them.

The Goat female is also the most intuitive person known to Chinese astrology. She definitely seems to possess a sixth sense, for she can perceive what is impenetrable to the common run of mankind. No wonder why she usually says "I feel" instead of "I think." It is in her habits to make decisions or statements quite offhand and more often than not turn out to be right, only to find herself unable to account logically for her moves or indicate how she got the information. One could not blame her for exclusively trusting her own antennae and deliberately, though always discreetly, ignoring other people's advice.

Her memory is unsurpassed. She absorbs almost all events and experiences, especially those with affective overtones. It takes her no effort to recall what happened years and years before, without missing the minutest detail. As a school-girl she is unbeatable in learning languages or memorizing historical dates and poems.

Is this woman an egoistic, unfeeling creature, or on the contrary an affectionate, generous individual? It is practically impossible to give a straight-away answer to this question without running the risk of oversimplification. Actually, the Goat woman is born astride both these extremes, a fact which constitutes one of her major contradictions and which accounts partly for her elusiveness. On one hand she could be considered the epitome of gentleness and bigheartedness. She is unmistakably thoughtful of others and instinctively knows how best to please them; their happiness makes her own happiness. She also singles herself out by her exaggerated generosity, for she could give whatever she has to anyone who asks. Essentially, she is more sensitive than anyone else: The sight of a stray cat or lonely bird trembling in the rain may prove unbearable to her and give her an emotional shock of great intensity.

But not rarely does she behave in a completely different manner. Strange as it may seem, she is at times totally engrossed in her own welfare and interests, showing utter indifference to the desires or miseries of others; every now and then people can see in her a person apparently devoid of all humane feelings. This woman is of course herself unaware of such reversals in her personality or at least incapable of understanding and explaining them. However, they are not a complete mystery to an outsider. One could safely surmise that they are her own means of self-defense: Being so sensitive and vulnerable, she unconsciously covers herself with a carapace of egoism and disinterest which can shelter her from unbearable emotions and sufferings; to put it differently, she has to resort to emotional self-anesthesia. Her case could be likened to that of the rose, which, in order to protect its delicate beauty and exquisite fragrance, has to make use of a terrible weapon - thorns.

As just said, the Goat woman is emotionally vulnerable in the extreme. It is never easy for her to live with her impressionability which knows of no limits, and those who want her good are often at a loss not to upset her precarious equilibrium. Sometimes she seems to defenseless that one may wonder how she could survive.

Her emotions, however deep and tumultuous they can be, are always sincere. She instinctively knows how to express them, naturally and daintily. On the other hand, she invariably views any lack of emotional response on the part of someone else as a most painful affront - it is why she must stay away from phlegmatic people.

Considered under a certain angle, many of this woman's character traits appear to be distinct drawbacks. One of these is her arrant dependency, which she never bothers to conceal. She does not believe herself to be strong enough to fend for herself and always counts on others in the business of living. Moreover, she is firmly convinced of women's inferiority to men and seldom hesitates to seek protection and support from members of the opposite sex; faced with criticisms from her more "liberated" sisters, she just smiles and ignores them.

Throughout her existence she deludes herself into believing that the world owes her a living and that all she has to contribute is merely to exist. Not only does she want to be entirely taken care of, she also insists on receiving a special treatment from life. As a consequence, her laziness, lack of fighting spirit, and exactingness generally exceed all reasonable boundaries.

Another of her less desirable characteristics is her indecision. Under any and all circumstances she finds it extremely difficult to make up her mind, to pursue one train of thought, to sustain or follow anything through to its conclusion. All she wishes is to see someone else decide in her place and dictate his will to her - only a firm discipline imposed from the outside can put an end to her sempiternal hesitation and make her move ahead. Left to herself, she would ever be floating in the clouds and drifting to where the wind of events pushes her.

She definitely lacks will power and courage. It would be easier to teach an old dog new tricks than to convince her to take things in stride and face up to reality. When things go wrong or the challenge of life requires a strenuous effort, her instinctive reaction is to plunge into her own interior waters where she can feel secure and where everything is still and rosy. She may be inclined to withdraw from conflicts and tensions through the escape routes of drugs, alcohol, futility, vagrancy, religiosity, or bigotry.

There seems to be no stage in her life when the Goat female ceases to behave like a spoiled child. As a rule she only does what she wants to do and when she wants to do it, with complete disregard for the urgent tasks at hand. Incurably romantic, she persistently balks at coming to grips with actual problems and piously hopes for the best to come out of the wrong situations and people. One cannot prognosticate her circle of ever-changing moods with some reasonable degree of accuracy. Frivolity, superficiality, carelessness, thoughtlessness, credulity, and a tendency to mysticism are all an integral part of her psychological makeup. Finally, despite her elaborate escape mechanism, she is unable to free herself completely from spells of gloom and despair, from moods of self-pity and dark forebodings.