How to Survive a Pisces Dad—and How I Survived Mine

Donna says: Today is the birthday of my late father, Walter Woodrow Wilson Cunningham. This is a 2-part post. Part 1 is an excerpt from Mary English’s book, How to Survive a Pisces, and Part 2 is about the strangest astrology chart I’ve ever seen. It’s the chart of my father, and it consists of only two elements, water and air—and only 4 signs—Aquarius, Pisces, Gemini, and Cancer. 

Part 1:  How to Survive your Pisces Dad, (c)2009 by guest blogger, Mary L. English. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher, O-Books)

A Pisces Dad is a rare, strange and peculiar being. On the one hand they can be practical, organised, good at sensing and knowing your needs, and on the other they can be (in extreme cases) a drunk, lost-case, addict or general down-and-out.

In all cases your Pisces Dad will want to parent you in the best way, so make the job easier by telling them what you like and what your needs are. Because Pisces (as a general rule) are so intuitive, we can make the mistake of assuming they automatically know what our needs and wants are. ‘Dad just knew I wanted to join the cricket team’ doesn’t necessarily mean he will also know what you want to do about your life, your job or your car. Check back and find out their Asc, Sun and Moon signs and make a guess at the type of Pisces Dad you have.

Are they a Firey Dad, up at dawn, rushing off to greet the day, involved in multiple projects, enthusiastic about life? Or are they an Airy Dad debating late into the night, wanting to discuss, read poetry, build castles in the air, bounce ideas around? Or are they a slower, more practical Earthy Dad, fixing the car, digging the garden, lazing on a hot day, making fires on a cold day?

Or a Watery Dad telling you how they feel about things, or looking hurt when the present they have bought you tens of years ago ends up in the re-cycling box. Worrying about what they think someone thinks about you, fretting that you might not manage in the real world (that’s a case of projection there), lending you money because they think it will ‘solve the problem’.

Determine the element your Dad is operating under, then range your needs and desires so they can understand them better. For instance, a Watery Dad won’t be concerned about your grades at school but will fret if you tell him someone doesn’t like you.

A Watery Dad will want you to share things with him by hugging or close contact, so don’t ask for money stood on the other side of the room, get near, hug, snuggle, then make your polite request. Taking into account that you’ll be rumbled very easily if you’re trying to pull a fast one, especially if they’ve got planets in Scorpio. It’s almost as if they have an internal radar….

A Firey Dad needs to be doing things with you, climbing mountains, fishing, jogging, travelling into weird and wonderful foreign places. So if you have a problem or something to share with them, do it when you’re both actively engaged in something, even if it’s just washing-up.

An Earthy Pisces Dad will want you to voice the practical, down-to-earth aspects of your desires, something they can buy or teach or lend or give to you. They will respond when you lower your voice, move slowly and match your breathing with theirs.

An Airey Dad will discuss, chat, think, voice, sing even and will understand you better if you write down exactly what you want, bullet points, reminder notes, lovely long letters or phone calls. You could be standing on the other side of the room, but you do need to make eye contact and make what you’re saying interesting and fluid.

Note:  How to Survive a Pisces by Mary L. English DSH is now available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Pisces-Mary-English/dp/1846942527/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252782623&sr=1-1 ….and is published by O-Books http://www.o-books.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=339&products_id=643. Find out more about Mary and her work here:   www.maryenglish.co.uk  Astrologer www.ukastrologer.co.uk email: marylenglish@googlemail.com

Part 2:  Surviving my own Pisces Dad, by Donna Cunningham

 As noted above, my father’s chart is highly concentrated in 4 signs—2 air signs, Aquarius and Gemini, and two water signs, Pisces and Cancer.  His Sun, Mercury, Venus, Chiron, and the North Node are all in Pisces, and Jupiter and Uranus are conjunct in Aquarius within 15’ of each other, in the Gauquelin sector on the 9^th house side of the Midheaven.

He was an odd bird numerologically as well.  He wrote his name with giant, sweeping Ws, proudly named Walter Woodrow Wilson Cunningham.  Since N, E, and W are the letters designated 5s, he had 9 5s in his name and was born on the 5^th.  A very 5ish individual, and 5s are plenty quirky and changeable. Here’s the chart:

How quirky was he? I can show you better than I can tell you.  Here’s “Sawdust in the Popcorn,” a story I wrote about my Dad, a guy with no fire or earth in his chart, about a boat he built in our living room one winter, and about my relationship with him:  fisherman.

I’m fairly 5ish myself, born on the 5^th of July and with 6 5s in my name. When I wrote that story, I gave it to a co-worker whose only comment was, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

How did I survive him?  With lots and lots of therapy, of every ilk imaginable.