In astrology, synastry involves comparing the astrological charts of two individuals to see what they disclose about the compatibility and differences of those two individuals.
Most synastry questions from non-astrologers are about love. Searches on my other website show such queries in the form of wondering about the astrological meaning of "his sun conjunct her moon," or "her venus in his 4th house." Questions like this come from the level of understanding of synastry that has been developed over time by traditional astrology using the traditional Western chart.
That is, traditional astrology has not developed much valuable material concerning synastry. The traditional chart, comprised of only one chart with 10 planets, gives astrologers too little to compare. This astrology (described at length on the Home Page at www.angelfire.com/sd/binah.html ), comprised of 12 charts with 40 planets each (four each of the traditional 10), provides the material for stunning chart comparisons. It makes sense of what happens between people.
Our charts are maps of our consciousness, indices of our take on reality. Representative of the "individual mind," that is, individual consciousness, they graphically portray the billions of different minds crystallized out of unlimited Being.
But, the stuff of consciousness is the stuff of consciousness. What I mean by that is that the very things which makes consciousness what it is are the same things which make it similar in all beings who are conscious. Therefore, we can share ideas, concepts, attitudes. Therefore, we can also disagree about those things. Therefore, each mind has a chance at an intimate relationship with one or more other minds. Each mind and its material manifestation (the body, our homes, our "lives") has a chance at an intimate relationship with one or more other mind-body identities.
Returning to the idea that our charts are maps of our consciousness, we could say, for instance, that when you meet any one it can be seen as your chart meeting his chart. Our charts are symbolic representations of our unique energy patterns (that is, our unique consciousness) So, I can re-phrase that to: when you meet any one it can be seen as your energy pattern coming into contact with his or her energy pattern.
But, of course, this can also happen through space, independent of distance, one example being an Internet relationship.
So the interaction of our consciousness with another's is not limited by space. Or even time, since deceased writers, various historical figures, and past ancestors can have a big effect on our consciousness (though they tend to be one-way only.)
Each of our energy patterns, charts, are relatively constant throughout our lives, that is, we start with a certain mindset. We do gain change through time, experience, and learning. The first two are shown astrologically through progressions and transits. But, our starting (birth) pattern remains the basic blueprint of our consciousness.
The important point about our charts as maps of energy is that energy behaves in law-conformable ways. The behavior produced by energy as expressed through matter can be measured and quantified. The interactions of people can also be measured, classified, and quantified through comparing and contrasting their energy maps.
Some of those lawful interactions and classes of facts are the subject of this blog.
That is, we are interested in what in astrology promotes harmonious relationship, and what bars or complicates it.
Through astrology we can examine any relationship, not just that of love. Other types of relationship subject to useful scrutiny through synastry are those of parent/child, teacher/student, boss/employee, and friend/friend. Indeed, parent/child synastry could be one of the more useful future forms of synastry. But, any long-term twosome could be examined through the lens of synastry. Race, age, and sexual orientation make no difference in synastry.
But synastry--it was a surprise to me--is also effective in short-term relationships. At least, that is what I have found so far. For instance, if some one murders a complete stranger, the synastry between them still contains the same difficult compound sets as those found in traditional homicide, where the victim and perpetrator usually know each other fairly well. Information in this area is harder to collect, so it is hard to grow this category. Though we often know the victim, we seldom know the perpetrator of such crimes. In order to do synastry, we need the date, time, and place of birth (from the birth certificate) of both individuals in the exchange. So, right now I am limited to stating that so far I have seen that synastry is synastry, regardless of length of time of relationship.
The corollary to that is that murder is murder, based on the energy pattern, not based on the length of time of relationship. It makes no difference whether it occurs through a stranger or a relative. The astrology that conduces to murder is the same in both instances.
We don't object to the fruits of this type of inter-action when we consider "love at first sight" because we favor that exchange. But the "love" (it would be better to call this attraction) exists because of the interaction of the energy patterns, not because of the length of the relationship.
I do not intend this discussion to deteriorate into something that justifies any behavior, especially something like murder. There is a difference between justifying and explaining. I am not saying that because certain energy patterns exist between two people that, for instance, murder has to happen. Such energy patterns must have existed throughout time which failed to result in homicide. That is because people have different thresholds for turning frustration into rash action. They have different backgrounds offering a wide variety of substitute behaviors when confronted with murderous rage. They have differing stabilities and differing past habits. The latter is known in the East as samskaras.
Samskaras is the word used to identify ingrained (perhaps over lifetimes) thought-habit patterns. In this astrology, sign, placement, and condition of South Nodes comes closest to identifying our samskaras. Generally speaking, in synastry it is not good if an individual's mars or saturn conjuncts our South Nodes. It is the opposite with venus and jupiter. To give another example, sun of one individual conjunct South Node of another is also not conducive to healthy relationship. In that case the essential being (sun) of the first individual is pulling the second one in the wrong direction--to his past, to places he is already over-focused.
On the other hand, there is no doubt (see discussion below) using this astrology, for instance, that excessive compound mars/saturn synastry between two individuals is an astrological explanation that makes passionate murder reasonable.
My more technical astrology site (address above) contains some papers on synastry. The paper entitled "An Abductor and His Victim: the Tragedy of Polly Klaas and an Unsolved Murder" makes a number of comments on synastry. It starts with an analysis of Klaas and her abductor, Richard Allen Davis. Then it explores the synastry between Charles Jaynes and Salvatore Sicari (both adults) and their homicide victim, 10 year old Jeffrey Curley. The first two were strangers to Curly. Gregory Godzik was fourteen and a stranger to John Wayne Gacey when their paths crossed resulting in Godzik's death. Their synastry is so difficult it is still painful for me to look at it. Finally, I examined the astrological relationship between Father Richard LaVigne and 10-year old Danny Croteau. LaVigne was the Croteau family's parish priest when Danny was found murdered. (As far as I know, news reports have never stated whether or not Danny was molested.)
All the above chart comparisons were made before I realized the importance of locality astrology in synastry. As it turned out, it didn't matter because those crimes all occurred in the same or nearly the same locality as birth for all individuals involved.
I have become more systematic in looking at synastry since writing the Klaas paper. So far, I have written three more papers which explore the synastry of married couples. My aim was to show the synastry of "worse case scenarios" and "best case scenarios." Therefore, the first two papers cover the synastry between (1) O.J. Simpson and his deceased wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and (2) David and Jonelle Arien, married astrologers. Six years into their marriage David killed his wife, then himself. The third paper shows the synastry between the poets, Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who history represents as having had a remarkably harmonious and felicitous love and work relationship.
All of these papers involve some locality astrology, with that between O.J. and Nicole representing the most. More papers along these lines are in the pipeline.
Using worst and best cases scenarios in relationship as the field for examination uncovered their wide astrological divergence. While there is much more to synastry than just best and worst case scenarios, these two distinctly exposed prevalence of venus/jupiter and mars/saturn, respectively. That is, couples who draw heavily on each other's venuses and jupiters have very strong, positive relationships. Those who draw heavily on each other's mars and saturns have painful, troublesome, sometimes lethal relationships. Venus and jupiter are also known as the lesser and greater benefics, respectively, of astrology. Mars and saturn, the lesser and greater malefics.
Most of us have less extreme synastry. As far as I know right now, some of those less "showy" sets would be meaningless to compare. For instance, the moon of one individual to the Ascendant of another versus uranus in one chart to neptune in another do not lend themselves to the wide divergence shown by comparing compound benefics with compound malefics. Angle/moon is far more neutral than, for instance, Angle/saturn. In fact, I still do not know what, if any, significance Angle/moon has in synastry. And uranus/neptune (without lights) is so abstract that few of us could discriminate any effect whatsoever. Mercury/Angle as well as mercury/moon would likely be good for communication, but, since I have not seen it that much, my tentative conclusion is that that is not usually what draws people together.
Once we have compared charts between two individuals in terms of their exchanges of planets to each others Angles and lights, there is still more to be done in determining their compatibility.
Further synastry involves, for instance, whether or not they share moons. Our moons represent the subject areas of lifelong interest. Moons in Gemini, for instance, represent interests in writing, communication, books, speaking, and learning. I have found shared moons (in the same sign) strongly indicative of longer relationship because the two individuals have a common interest (sign moons are in) fueled by approximately the same passion (moon). Sun/moons also works that way, but the individual with the sun is less passionate (because he has this "knowledge" in his essence, sun) than the moon one who craves (moon) acquiring it.
Types of minds of each is important. For instance, one individual may have a neptunian mind (dreamy, imaginative, illusive, myth-creating, psychic, foggy) while his partner has a uranian one (iconoclastic, inventive, maverick, intuitive, autocratic). These two would be "agreement-challenged" in a long-term relationship because they speak different languages to begin with. Worse, the uranian individual would be tempted to put down the neptunian one as foggy and gullible. And either of them would pose problems to the individual with, for instance, saturn ruling his 3rd house, for his mental approach would be orthodox, fixed, cautious, traditional, and slow to change. A neptunian mate would make him feel the bottom had dropped out of his security. A uranian one would fray his nerves, constantly over-riding his comfort zone.
Further aspects of synastry are that we cannot just opt for our best case partner by picking some one who's astrology is most benefic to ours. We all have planets in or ruling our 7th houses which have some say in determining qualities of our partners. Conditions of our lights also make some difference in who we seek to unite with. Conditions of our moons are descriptive of our models of women (moon), and those of our suns, of men (sun). A woman, for instance, with three of her four moons (7th chart) in sets with saturn sees herself as serious, hard-working, essential, quiet, conservative, slow to change, cool--pretty much a home body. She is not going to be interested for very long in a strongly venusian man, who is warm, affectionate, party- and people-loving, and big on coziness. Some one with saturn in the 7th house is going to find an older, restrictive, or very conservative partner more "attractive" than a philosophical, space-giving jupiterian one. The "saturn/7th" individual would not "recognize" or have a model for the latter Jovian mate. Therefore, he would be uncomfortable if such a potential partner showed up.
Some one with moon conjunct pluto on the Descendant (7th house cusp) is going to have trouble having any relationship at all. Their inclination is to unconsciously (pluto) drive away (pluto) those who would be intimate with them.
Ultimately, other factors also influence our choices. For instance, it would be difficult for one individual to marry and stay married to another when one had a 10th chart showing a strong career, social success and prestige while the other's 10th chart suggested low social esteem. Some people might object that the latter individual's relationship to society could change. If that is possible, it will show up in their astrology. If it does not, that couple would have trouble staying together.
Ordinary people do not (usually) examine the charts of their potential mates for these things. They nonetheless screen for them (inadvertently or on purpose) through social interaction prior to marriage. This used to be done fairly thoroughly through courting--the couple would date and interact with extended family in a stable local environment for at least a year before marriage. Very little screening occurs when individuals marry "on the rebound." Very little also occurs when individuals marry shortly after meeting because, believing they have found true love, they throw all caution to the wind. That is what happened between David and Jonelle Arien, mentioned above. At the time they met they did have really wonderful progressed synastry--the kind of thing that would convince most people they will live happily ever after. The excitement that produced apparently obscured the fact that they a number of un-solvable differences (as was shown by the fact that they shared several compound dark malefics, i.e., an Angle/mars/saturn set between them). Once the progressed golden benefic passed, they were under the influence of some very hard astrology.
Screening for long-term compatibility can also be done through astrology. At least, it can easily identify potential disasters.
Some sections of our American society still have in place more conservative, traditional approaches to marriage which encourage forethought before conjugal union. Other sections, the thoroughly "modern," are left to re-invent the wheel of relationship one union at a time and suffer the consequences. Marriage and procreation being what it is, these "un-tutored" couples are not the only ones who suffer the consequences.
Synastry could reduce the number of bitter divorces and homicides that occur to couples caught in excessive mars/saturn relationships and other forms of extreme incompatibility.
Reducing those kinds of unions would spare the lives of two people per ill-considered marriage and greatly reduce our prison populations. Their separate progeny would then have a better start in life, one not marred by the discord, poverty, shame, endless distress, and humiliation of divorce and homicide.