Advice for Star-Crossed Lovers

“Astrologically incompatible” sounds like a fatal diagnosis for a relationship. “How many months does our partnership have left to live?” one might ask. If you’ve found out that your celestial compatibility is less than stellar, you aren’t necessarily cursed to a relationship that is doomed to end soon and explosively.

However, you may have to try harder than the average couple to make it work. Take heart, and don’t set an expiration date for your love just yet. Here are three tips you can use to try to be a successful couple despite your odds.

1. Turn your weaknesses into strengths as a couple.
Dig more deeply to find out exactly why the two of you aren’t necessarily compatible on paper. For example, are you two Fire Signs who tend to butt heads? Leave that passion in the bedroom where it belongs! Enjoy your fire when it leads to steamy sex and take a time-out when it’s heading toward angry quarrels. If you’re two Water Signs whose arguments result in teary meltdowns, learn to channel your emotions into heartfelt love letters instead of face-to-face manipulation. Perhaps the wandering eye of an Air Sign can be tamed with romantic vacations to new places! Use your imagination to make your worst side into your better half.

2. Maximize the positive aspects.
When things get hard or you want things to go especially well, hope for (and work on) the best. For example, if you want to propose marriage to your partner, wait until Mercury is direct or the Moon sextiles Venus before you profess your deepest love and take your relationship to the next level. If you have any incompatibilities at all, and most couples do, you will want to have as many planets on your side as possible. Watch what the Moon is up to, and try not to have important relationship talks when it’s waning or dark, lest its destructive energy lead to a breakup.

3. Have faith that the love that the two of you share can prevail.
Even though love isn’t always all you need, it can be the only thing required to overcome incredible odds. Understand that every relationship requires compromise and forgiveness. It has to grow and change as you experience your share of mistakes and hurt feelings. Nobody absolutely perfect for you will fall out of the sky. Even if you avoided every person you deemed incompatible, there’s still the chance that you might not meet a compatible match for you. It’s worth laughing off a few differences if you share the knowledge that those imperfections are what make the love between you so special.

So the next time you and a potential love find yourselves in the “least compatible” category on the chart, don’t give up and run away without trying to make things work. Take the astrological advice with a grain of salt. There’s ample evidence to prove “incompatible” couples get married, have children, and happily grow old together. You may have to try a little harder when the going gets tough, but you just may find yourself becoming a better person as a result of your challenges. Perhaps there’s a reason why some of us fall for people who are difficult to love.