Partner Horoscope

Introduction

You are about to read an analysis, factor by factor, of the composite chart of yourself and another person. The Partner Horoscope is constructed by first casting complete and accurate natal horoscopes for each of you separately. These are then combined mathematically into a third horoscope, which describes your relationship. Any kind of human relationship may be described by a composite chart.

The text used in this chart describes the basic potentials indicated by the positions and combinations of every planet in the composite horoscope. It is aimed primarily at personal friendships, but much of the text is also suitable for determining how you would get along with another person in a business relationship. Obviously you can ignore or modify the comments that do not pertain to your type of relationship. For example, in a business relationship you would disregard any remarks on sexual compatibility.

You may come across apparent contradictions in the analysis, when one planetary combination reveals a particular aspect of the relationship, while another shows something quite different. These are examples, not of astrology going wrong, but of inherent contradictions in the relationship, which are likely to produce tension. Sometimes your relationship will exhibit one set of traits, sometimes the other. One situation that frequently arises in a love relationship is that some aspects indicate great mutual attraction and compatibility while other aspects suggest great difficulty. In this case, what usually happens is that although there is a great attraction between two people, for some reason the relationship does not work out very smoothly.

It should be pointed out that there is almost never a perfect composite chart, no matter how good the relationship. Even the best relationship has problems. Do not read the difficult aspects in your Partner Horoscope report as signs that your relationship is doomed. These aspects simply indicate hurdles that must and very often can be overcome to make the relationship happy and rewarding for both of you. If you were to cast composite charts for all of your major relationships, you would probably find certain characteristics running through all of them. These are the problems that you as an individual have to work out personally through your relationships. They do not mean that you cannot have relationships at all. The most successful relationships are not those in which there are no problems, but those in which the problems are overcome.

Do not read each entry in the text as if it were the total truth for your situation. Each paragraph is written to give general indications and suggestions about how you might deal with each influence. Your Partner Horoscope cannot be a substitute for your own judgement.

Reading your Partner Horoscope report should help you to recognize and learn to deal with any problems that arise between you. However, if you are having serious problems with a relationship, we do not recommend that you use this text as a substitute for a personal consultation with an astrologer or other counselor. The descriptions are not designed to deal with extreme cases.

This horoscope, entitled 'Partner Horoscope', is also available under the title of 'Astrotext Partner'. Apart from the title, the two horoscopes are identical.

Enjoy your Partner Horoscope.

Composite Sun

The house position of the Sun (along with that of the Moon) tells a great deal about the basic thrust of the relationship, what it exists for, and the major issues it will revolve around. The aspects to the Sun refer to the most important energy patterns in the horoscope, the kinds of behavior that will be most important between you.

A badly placed Sun with difficult aspects can be an important factor in making a relationship difficult or even unbearable. It indicates that the basic energies of the relationship are not being handled well and that something is fundamentally wrong between you. On the other hand, a well-placed and well-aspected Sun will help a relationship survive even in difficult times.

In any chart the Sun provides the energy for whatever entity the chart represents. In a composite chart it shows what kinds of energies each of you contributes. If the proper expression of this energy is blocked, the relationship will seem inhibiting and repressive to each person's free self-expression. It will be an effort to maintain the relationship, and you will not feel at ease with each other. If the Sun is well placed in the chart, the relationship will be experienced as free and spontaneous self-expression, requiring little effort. Of course, other factors can create difficulties, even when the Sun is well placed, but a good Sun in a composite is very desirable.

Sun in the Fifth House

Sun in the fifth house of the composite chart is one of the best positions for a sexual relationship, because the fifth is the house of love affairs, among other things. It is also the house of creativity, children, self-expression, amusement, and good times in general, as well as of speculation and gambling. The Sun in the fifth house gives a strong emphasis to any of these elements.

In a personal relationship, a composite fifth-house Sun implies that your relationship will give you good opportunities for self-expression, for being yourself and enjoying it. You will like each other and enjoy being together. This is not truly a position of partnership, but rather of being yourself with others. For this reason, although this position is good for love affairs, it is not so good for marriage or any partnership that requires a greater feeling of oneness between you. The Sun in this house is not harmful to marriage and partnership, but by itself it does not produce staying power for the long haul. But if other positions make up for this lack, it can be quite good for marriage, especially since it gives a strong concern for children.

This is a good position for friendship because it indicates a light-hearted relationship in which you genuinely enjoy each other's company. Also, you will learn to be yourselves with others and discover more about how you affect others.

In a relationship with this placement, you must give each other room to be what you are. Fortunately a fifth-house Sun relationship usually has this capacity. If you do not give each other sufficient room, you both may feel that the other is placing clamps on your self-expression. Neither of you can remake the other, so do not try. In any case you must learn to let each other be and still stay together.

Sun Square Uranus

Sun square Uranus in the composite chart means that this relationship will be the source of many surprises for you, some of which will be quite difficult to deal with.

Most important is the problem of instability. You are likely to find that this relationship makes one or both of you extremely restless, impatient, and likely to behave in ways that fly in the face of tradition. Clearly this is not a relationship in which either of you can be possessive; you must give each other maximum freedom. And if this results in one of you drifting away to someone else, then that is the way it must be. This aspect is not especially good for any relationship, such as marriage, that involves traditional expectations. Marriage is possible, but it would require much more flexibility than most people have.

A persistent difficulty that you may have to face is the nervous, electric quality in your interaction with each other. This quality will make it difficult to relax and take it easy when you are together. On the other hand, at least you will never be bored with each other.

This relationship must be allowed to take its own course, unhampered by restrictive expectations. Even so, it will probably be a very unstable and unpredictable experience.

Sun Trine Neptune

The trine of composite Sun and Neptune indicates that there is a good deal of idealism in this relationship. You will feel that it is an extraordinary union between two souls, perhaps even a spiritual union. Many of the thoughts you want to communicate to each other will not have to be spoken, for you will know beforehand what the other person is thinking. Often one of you will start to say something, only to find the other saying it too. In other words, there is a strong likelihood of a psychic bond between you.

The spiritualizing power of Neptune tends to negate the physical realm. For this reason, a relationship with a strong Neptune, such as this one, is likely to be platonic rather than physical. Nevertheless, the great feeling of beauty in such a relationship usually compensates for the fact that it does not operate on a physical plane as well as on a spiritual level.

Your lack of concern with the physical and material realms constitutes the major problem here. In a friendship it is perfectly all right to commune at such a high level, ignoring practicality. But in a love relationship, especially marriage, practical concerns have to be dealt with, and it may be difficult to bring yourselves down to that level.

But because Neptune rules self-sacrifice, one of the strongest bonds between you will be your willingness to give selflessly to each other at any time.

Sun Sextile Pluto

The sextile of Sun and Pluto in the composite chart indicates that there is a powerful force for regeneration and growth in this relationship. Concretely, this aspect makes it possible for the two of you to revive your relationship after periods of difficulty, either between the two of you or between you as a couple and the outside world. It gives you staying power.

At the same time this aspect ensures that the experience of this relationship will have a strong effect on your views of the world and your ways of thinking about it. For the most part, these effects should be positive, involving greater understanding of yourselves as individuals and as partners in a relationship. You will continually be made aware of new aspects of yourselves, as they are brought to the surface and examined by both of you. In most respects this is a serious relationship, meaning that you will be involved with each other at a very deep and profound level.

It may be that others will be somewhat afraid of the level of intensity between you, but don't pay any particular attention to their fears. They will come to see that there is nothing to be afraid of. The changes brought about in you through this relationship are good, necessary, and natural products of your own evolution.

Be prepared for the fact that your normal patterns of doing things will be altered by this relationship. This aspect signifies that new insights about yourselves will be revealed to you, but do not be afraid to deal with them. The results can only be good for both of you.

Composite Moon

The Moon, the natural complement to the Sun, represents the medium through which the Sun's energy expresses itself. Whenever there is a manifestation of the Sun's energies, the Moon's influence is also operative.

The Moon is the "planet" that most relates to emotions and feelings. Of course, it is not really a planet but a satellite of the Earth. Nevertheless, it operates as a planet in the horoscope.

In a composite chart, the Moon indicates how well the relationship acts as a medium of emotional expression for the two of you. Can you be honest and open with each other about your feelings? Can one of you reveal his or her feelings without being rejected by the other? It is often difficult for others to deal with the lunar aspects of one's being, because the level of intensity of feeling is so basic that they do not fit into the formalized way that people usually relate to each other. Yet in a close relationship it is very important to be able to deal with each other on this level. For this reason alone the position of the Moon is very important for describing compatibility.

The Moon also represents basic structures within one's personality: habits, unconsciously motivated behavior, and their sources - one's past, origins, family, and home life. If the moon is well placed in the composite chart, the two of you will feel that you have something in common. Even if your origins are quite different, you will feel that because of your experiences you can understand each other better than most couples. A badly placed Moon, however, can create a sense of alienation, of being different from each other, that will make it difficult for you to get along.

The house position of the Moon in the composite chart shows the area in which you feel, or ought to feel, that you have the most in common. If the Moon is badly placed in the chart, its house position will show the area of greatest emotional stress.

The aspects to the Moon show the quality of the emotions that are experienced in the relationship.

In contrast to the Sun, which shows what the relationship does, the Moon indicates the subjective feelings of harmony and empathy that you have for each other, even in difficult times.

Moon in the Fourth House

The fourth house is in some ways the most natural position for the composite Moon, for there is a strong analogy between this house and Cancer, the Moon's sign.

With this placement it is extremely important that the two of you share a common background or experience, for it is likely to be a strong force binding you together. You may feel that you are alone together in a crazy world, protected only by your shared attitudes and origins. However, it is not so important that your backgrounds be truly similar as that they have given you similar basic attitudes to the world.

Even more than in a relationship with a second-house Moon, you are together to give each other emotional security. And here again your security is very likely to take the form of sharing real estate or a house. This is an excellent position for marriage partners or roommates because of the strong sense of sharing it can induce.

However, it is necessary to warn you that your desire for emotional security and the related tendency to seek material security should not become the sole factors binding you together. Also your need for a secure relationship must not lead you to repress the legitimate gripes you may have with each other. Let your partner know how you feel; your relationship is probably strong enough to stand the strain.

A fourth-house Moon is most favorable in a relationship in which you set up housekeeping together. For this reason it is a good position in the chart of a marriage or permanent relationship.

Note: The Moon is technically near the end of house 3 and is therefore interpreted in house 4.

Moon Sextile Venus

The sextile of the Moon and Venus in a composite chart indicates warm and positive emotions between you. It is a good aspect for friendship and love in any kind of personal relationship. Furthermore, it indicates that you communicate your affections to each other easily and that you are emotionally compatible in general.

The effects of this aspect are very quiet and easy. It will not produce a sudden mad, passionate attraction between the two of you, but rather a relaxed feeling of affection. This kind of energy is better for a long-term relationship than for a short-term, possibly stormy affair.

In a love relationship with this aspect, you will find that you are friends and lovers simultaneously. Friends with this aspect will have an affection for each other that is deeper than is usual in a friendship.

In a marriage the sextile of the Moon and Venus indicates that you want children and probably will have them. The Moon and Venus configured in an easy angle such as the sextile signify fertility and motherhood. It is the sign of the earth mother. Love is strongly linked to parenthood with this aspect.

On the whole, this is one of the most beneficial aspects in a composite chart, although its effects are rather quiet.

Moon Sextile Mars

The sextile of the composite Moon and composite Mars indicates that your relationship is based on feelings. There is a great deal of emotional energy here that makes it difficult for you to ignore what the other person does or says. Fortunately, however, the energy is not especially negative. In fact, in a sexual relationship this aspect is a positive indication for success, because Mars rules certain portions of the energy complex that makes up sexual energy. The Moon, of course, rules the feelings. The result is that this aspect arouses the energies needed for a positive sexual relationship.

Except for sexual contact, this combination of Mars and the Moon is not especially physical in its expression. But physical activity provides a good outlet for the energies it generates. Consequently you should not sit around together but should try to be active in all possible ways. If there is work to be done, the energy of this aspect can help. This is not a particularly good aspect for mental work, however, because the subjective nature of the Moon makes it difficult to understand ideas with logic and detachment. Also, the energy of Mars is too vigorous for the quiet reflection needed for most kinds of mental work.

This is a good aspect for a relationship based on feeling, but not so good for one that requires much mental activity or communication of clear, ordered, and objectively presented facts.

Moon Trine Jupiter

The trine of composite Moon and composite Jupiter will have a good effect upon your relationship in several areas. First of all, it denotes that the two of you have a generally good feeling for each other. You feel happy together and enjoy each other's company. When you are depressed or low, being together will make you both feel better.

Second, this aspect will help to create a warm sympathy and deep emotional understanding between you, which will help you through any problems you may have to face.

Third, this relationship is likely to have a spiritually and morally uplifting effect upon you; it will make the world look better and will actually help you both understand what the world is all about, in a spirit not of resignation but of positive optimism.

In a marriage, this aspect instills a desire for children and makes it more likely that you will have them.

Because of the feelings of optimism and happiness that you have with each other, you will always feel that you benefit from being together.

Moon Square Saturn

The square of Moon and Saturn in a composite chart is an indication that there is a lack of emotional affinity between the two of you. You may be able to work together as business associates on various projects and even be quite friendly. But you are not likely to have the in-depth understanding needed for a deep personal friendship or love relationship. This aspect is least detrimental in a relationship that requires no great emotional communication.

In a close personal association, this aspect is likely to produce a sense of emotional alienation, as if you cannot quite get into each other. The close warmth and togetherness that is basic to such a relationship is just not there.

An emotional relationship may survive for a long time in spite of this aspect, but it will not be completely satisfying, and you may feel lonely with each other. When you are together you will seem rather serious and somber, causing other people to wonder exactly what you do for each other. Introspection and deep examination of your relationship can compensate to some extent, but intellectual understanding is not an adequate substitute for what should be an unspoken emotional understanding. In addition, the depressive effects of the Moon-Saturn square may cause you to overemphasize the difficulties you actually face.

If you both feel that you need the relationship for personal growth, by all means pursue it. But you should modify your expectations for deep satisfaction on the emotional level. If you are just beginning such a relationship, it may be that for the time being you need a rather detached kind of commitment.

Moon Trine Uranus

The trine of the Moon and Uranus in the composite chart signifies that both of you must be free in your emotional expression in order to bring out the best in this relationship. This aspect demands that you allow new experiences and ways of feeling about each other to affect your consciousness. Even the relationship itself may take on very unusual forms. You should have the courage to deal with each other in different and exceptional ways. Otherwise you will have wasted an opportunity for growth.

By the same token, this relationship is likely to have a strong consciousness-altering effect upon both of you, changing your attitudes about your own and your partner's emotions. Your world-views and philosophy of life may very well be changed.

Certain attributes of a conventional relationship, such as stability and predictability, may not exist here. Yet despite the unpredictability, there will be much of value. And the more freedom you allow each other within the structure of this relationship, the more you will get out of it, to the point that whatever instability exists will not be of any importance to either of you. In this relationship, freedom of self-expression is absolutely essential for both of you and should be your first priority.

Moon Square Pluto

The square of composite Moon and Pluto can lead to a very intense encounter. Whether or not it will work out positively depends very much upon how you handle it.

This is an aspect of uprooting, in that it brings matters up from the depths of your unconscious minds to the surface so that they have to be dealt with. But the effects of this aspect are so intense that the relationship may burn itself out before anything positive can be accomplished. One point that must be noted is that you both have a great penchant for working upon each other's psyche. But don't overdo it or try to be your partner's psychotherapist. Such tactics are often a disguise for a not-so-subtle power game between two people who profess to be only trying to help each other. As a result, one of you is very likely to feel emotionally dominated and overwhelmed by the other.

The emotional intensity of this aspect can also work in another way. It can create such a strong involvement between you that you cannot let go of each other for a moment, resulting in a smothering relationship in which neither of you can grow.

Beware of emotionally manipulating each other. Try to be a bit more detached in your attitude and leave each other alone a little, no matter how strong the temptation is to interfere and make changes. Love each other for what you are now rather than for what you think you can make the other person into. If you cannot do this, perhaps it would be best to dissolve the relationship.

Composite Mercury

Mercury is the planet of mind and communication. In a relationship it signifies the quality and manner of communication between the two of you. It also tells something about the way you affect each other's thinking and how you think as a couple, collectively.

A well-placed Mercury in the chart indicates that you have some degree of intellectual understanding and can communicate with each other. While it is desirable, especially in an emotional relationship, that two people have an intuitive, unspoken understanding, it is also highly desirable that you be able to talk easily with each other. Even in the most compatible relationship, it is impossible for each partner to figure out what is on the other's mind without some kind of verbal exchange.

Unfortunately, very often, especially in a love relationship, people think that if they truly love each other, they should be able to feel what the other is thinking without having to say anything. What happens if you do this, however, is that you act according to what you guess about each other, and eventually you are dealing with your partner as if she were a creation of your own mind. If there is no communication between you, all you have left is the image created in your mind in the absence of real understanding. This is what a badly placed Mercury often signifies.

Basically, Mercury signifies your ability to speak each other's language, to express your thoughts in ways that the other can understand. This requires that your minds be attuned to each other in some way, so that you can share ideas, concepts, and words. A well-placed Mercury is a great benefit to any relationship.

Mercury in the Fourth House

Mercury in the fourth house of a composite chart indicates that the two of you are able to communicate about your deepest feelings and the most deeply buried attributes of your relationship, matters that normally would be unconscious. This is because the fourth house rules the deepest, most internal aspects of things. You can share your thoughts about how your relationship is working and what is at the heart of it. You should have an unusual intellectual awareness of each other's feelings.

The fourth house also rules one's home - in this case the home you set up together, if that is appropriate to your relationship. Since Mercury rules thought and communication, this placement means that you are likely to make your home as intellectually stimulating as possible. You will surround yourselves with fine books or whatever else interests you, such as materials for hobbies or crafts. You are also fond of having people get together in your home for good stimulating conversation.

As is usual when Mercury is in a position that concerns feelings, the only real danger here is that you may overintellectualize the deep inner aspects of yourselves. Your inner feelings may come to exist purely as ideas rather than as part of your daily experience. Try not to analyze yourselves or your relationship too much.

If this warning is heeded, a fourth-house Mercury can be very helpful, precisely because it does help to improve communication about your feelings and inner selves, which in most relationships are difficult to discuss.

Mercury Square Jupiter

The square of composite Mercury and Jupiter is one of the easier squares to deal with. About the only serious problem it indicates is a possible tendency to be overly idealistic. It may lead you to expect more from your relationship than it can deliver. However, this aspect also creates an optimistic and positive frame of mind, which makes it more likely that matters will turn out as you want them to, even if that is quite demanding. Jupiter often acts to make something happen simply because you assume that it is going to happen. This is the power of positive thinking.

Another effect of this combination is that when there are problems between you, it may be hard to figure out what is wrong. This happens because Jupiter makes you look to big issues for the cause of the problem, even when it has arisen from some routine, apparently insignificant event. If things are going wrong, do not always assume that it is because of some great cosmic difficulty between you. The real cause may be something that strikes both of you as quite trivial, which it may in fact be. But pay attention to it - think how much more easily you will solve the problem if it really is trivial.

Outside of these two small areas of difficulty, this aspect should make the two of you very optimistic about your relationship, and that attitude should be most helpful in smoothing out any difficult times that arise.

Mercury Sextile Saturn

Mercury sextile Saturn in a composite chart can have a most beneficial effect on the way you think and analyze matters as a couple. It makes you cautious in planning for the future and in approaching various areas of everyday life, and this can help ensure your success. When the two of you go about a task, you will succeed, not through blind luck but through careful and methodical planning. You leave nothing to chance, so you get very few unpleasant surprises. But be careful that being cautious does not also eliminate the possibility of pleasant surprises. Remain open to new experiences while you retain your carefulness.

At first, most relationships have to overcome some barriers to mutual understanding and arrive at a common ground of opinion. After that phase you will find that your thoughts and feelings about each other will remain constant and grow further along the lines you have established. That can be either bad or good, of course, depending on what kinds of feelings you have established in the beginning. With this configuration, if you get off to a bad start it will be difficult to change your point of view. But if the start is good, the relationship will continue that way.

Mercury Trine Neptune

Mercury trine Neptune in a composite chart provides for a highly developed sensitivity toward each other and the ability to communicate nonverbally and intuitively. The two of you will have to say less to each other than most couples do, for your minds seem to operate in an instinctive harmony. You know what the other feels even if you are apart.

In addition, you are idealistic about your relationship, so that it appears to you more beautiful than others think it is. This is not a romantic idealism, but idealism based on intellectual and mental harmony. You are quite realistic about each other's foibles, but you share an ideal of how things ought to be, which is one of the factors that keeps you together. The experience of this relationship may stimulate your poetic tendencies. Both of you may learn to look at the world in a whole new way that brings out previously hidden aspects of reality. The result will be increased sensitivity.

The only warning that is necessary with this configuration is to keep in mind the truth as it is at the moment. Do not confuse your ideals with present reality, but keep them in mind as a goal to work toward. If you do this, the effects of this aspect will be very beneficial in the long run.

Mercury Sextile Pluto

Mercury sextile Pluto in the composite chart provides the two of you with deep psychological insight and a grasp of the normally hidden forces that operate within a relationship. Mercury rules the rational mind, while Pluto has to do with hidden transforming forces. The sextile gives a rational understanding of these hidden forces, so that the two of you can actually deal with them on a rational level, instead of simply feeling their effects and not knowing how to handle them.

At the same time, and partly because of this quality, this relationship will change your ways of thinking about life; through it you will experience different aspects of human psychology that you may not have encountered before and therefore have not understood. This experience is not likely to damage either of you, and you will probably derive great benefit from the new understandings.

This aspect is an indication that the two of you will forge an intellectual bond that will bind you together in a creative way for some time. Even at the worst, this aspect will enable you both to benefit from the relationship, even though you may not recognize it immediately.

Mercury Trine Ascendant

The trine of composite Mercury and Ascendant is a very good aspect in any kind of relationship. It has the good effect of increasing self-understanding and mutual understanding between the two of you, and it allows you to communicate meaningfully. You can easily express the important feelings about your relationship that people often have trouble saying to each other. You both know how to say the right words at the right time. Insofar as it is possible to express the deep inner feelings that arise in a personal relationship, you are able to do so.

At the same time, this relationship will have a broadening effect on the two of you. By coming together you will be exposed to many new experiences, and you both will benefit through greater understanding and awareness of the world around you. You will become more tolerant of the differences between you as well as between yourselves and others. You will come to see that such differences are only challenges to your understanding and not real threats to your way of life, which is how many people regard such differences.

It may well be that intellectual concerns such as education and philosophy will become important in this relationship. In these areas your basic mental and intellectual affinity will enable you to achieve much together. Even if this is not a working or professional relationship in any way, shared interests will play a very important part in bringing you together and keeping you together.

Composite Venus

Venus is obviously important in any kind of relationship, because it rules both love and the ability to form relationships, particularly those based on emotion. If Venus is badly placed, you may have a long-term relationship, but it will not have much love. On the other hand, if Venus is strong and well placed, but other relationship indications are not good, the two of you may be drawn to each other very strongly even though you are not really compatible. This creates a very stormy, short-lived relationship.

In its deepest meaning, Venus represents the principle in the universe that draws two entities together by natural and spontaneous inner forces, much the way positive and negative charges attract each other. No external compulsion is needed. But the power of Venus attracts only if the two entities have fully defined themselves as individuals within the universe. In human terms, this means that you have to be yourself in order to love someone else. If you live according to other people's ideas of what you ought to be, without regard for your own inner impulses, you will not really be a whole person enough to love another.

The position of Venus in the composite chart indicates how far this relationship will allow both of you to express yourselves through love. It also describes what part of your environment you most desire to bring into this experience. It is not necessary to have a good Venus in order to make a relationship survive, but a good Venus will make the relationship worth having.

Venus in the Sixth House

The sixth house of the composite chart is not the easiest place for Venus to express itself. This is the house of work, duty, responsibility, and service, which does not square easily with Venus's love of beauty, grace, ease, and pleasure. The sixth is to some extent a house of self-repression, while Venus is a planet of self-expression.

Within this relationship your concern for love and affection is kept subordinate to what you may consider to be more important or more practical matters. For example, in a marriage, this position of Venus would tend to make the two of you stay together "for the sake of the children" or perhaps to continue some business or work project you have become involved in together. Venus in the sixth does not indicate a lack of affection between you; it simply means that love is not the highest priority keeping you together. Just remember, however, that no personal relationship can survive for purely utilitarian motives. The lighter, self-expressive feelings must be allowed to come out too, if only to allow the relationship to survive.

One other outcome of this position should be mentioned. Your love for each other may be partly predicated on a feeling that you can do something fairly specific for each other, something that your partner needs to have done, beyond making him or her feel better.

Venus Conjunct Mars

With Venus conjunct Mars in the composite chart you will find that feelings run high between you. This is a passionately intense relationship that is likely to be based at least partly on sexual drives, even if you are of the same sex. This is not to say that it will be a homosexual relationship, but that something of the emotional intensity that arises in relationships between the sexes will be present in your relationship also.

If this is a sexual relationship, it will be intense, with a strong need for physical expression; it is very unlikely to be platonic. Venus and Mars are the feminine and masculine symbols respectively of sexuality. When they are conjunct, it means that the feminine and masculine principles are working together.

All the emotional reactions between you are heightened considerably by this conjunction. Anger, sadness, and above all, love, are more intense. It is very difficult for people who have this aspect in their composite chart to remain indifferent to each other. Even if you should become enemies, which could happpen, you would be intense enemies. The strong attraction between you prevents you from being detached in any way about each other.

Venus Sextile Uranus

The sextile of Venus and Uranus in the composite chart indicates a relationship that is very free and open in its expression. You each have freedom to be yourselves, and you will not consider your partner to be your property. Probably you will reach some unconventional arrangement with each other, an arrangement that others may think very unusual. And it will be, but it will express what you want, no matter what others think.

At the same time, this relationship will change your thinking, for the experience of it will cause both of you to regard the world in a new light. This in itself will make you reluctant to follow any particular set of rules except those that you set up for yourselves. Even the usual categories, such as friendships or love affairs (regardless of your sex), will not be followed in the usual way at all. If it is a love affair it will also be a friendship.

Let yourself flow with the tide of events in this relationship. If you let it establish its own patterns, you should find it quite good.

Venus Square Neptune

The square of composite Venus and Neptune requires that the two of you be quite wary about the true nature of this relationship. If you are not careful and unless you evaluate yourselves thoroughly, you could experience great disappointment. With this particular Venus-Neptune aspect, you may believe that you have met the ideal of your life, especially in a romantic sense. The love of your life is here! Everything may seem perfect and ideal, but there may come a time, rather suddenly, when it all turns out to be quite different from what you had imagined.

Neptune is the planet both of illusion and the ideal, and under its influence you are likely to find it very difficult to tell which is which. This relationship may in fact be a very good one from which you will derive much value, although even at best you will probably idealize it. But even a really good relationship may at the same time be a complete illusion. Without knowing it, the two of you may not be able to see each other for what you are at all. You must ascertain whether each of you is for real; that is, are you relating to each other or to some idealized fantasy? Is the spiritual element that you see in each other and in your relationship real or not?

You must examine this situation very closely, for you cannot afford to live in a fool's paradise. Your relationship may be either very good or very unreal, and you must find out which it is.

Composite Mars

The basic principle of Mars is the ego-drive, the energy by which you sustain your sense of being an individual, both toward the world and toward other people. You inevitably build up your notions of yourself through the ways in which you interact with others. Without some kind of active inner energy, you would not be able to withstand encounters with others at all and would be forced to drop out of life altogether. And indeed this does happen to some people.

In a relationship, people try to establish some kind of positive connection with each other, but ego-drives often get in the way. If you have a sound sense of yourself, as signified by a well-placed Mars, you will have little difficulty getting along with others. But if Mars is badly placed, your sense of your own being is deficient, and you will get into conflicts that make it impossible to relate to others. A conflict between two people arises whenever one challenges a weakness in the other's sense of individuality - in other words, the ego.

In a composite chart, Mars signifies your ability to create an environment within the relationship for both of you to express yourselves fully without threatening each other and provoking destructive conflicts. Some - perhaps quite a lot of - conflict in a relationship is inevitable, and conflict per se should not be suppressed. But your ego-drives must be basically compatible within the relationship, or nothing can be accomplished.

In a sexual relationship, Mars also rules the sex drive. A successful sexual relationship requires that both Venus, the ability to relate, and Mars, the ego-drive, be in good condition. There is a large ego component in a successful sexual relationship. If the relationship does not express each of you, it will not work. A poorly aspected Mars in a composite signifies deficient ego-drives, which will affect your ability to get along with each other, and in a sexual relationship, it will affect the quality of physical sex.

Mars in the Sixth House

With composite Mars in the sixth house, you will have a sense of work to be done together. The sixth is the house of work, and in a composite chart it signifies the duties and responsibilities that the two of you must fulfill through this relationship.

The difficulty with this position, as with all planets in the sixth house of the composite chart, is that your sense of duty will often overwhelm the feelings of joy and pleasure that should be present in a relationship. The two of you may begin to regard the relationship as a burden, a set of tasks, rather than something to be enjoyed for its own sake. This is a deadening point of view and is particularly difficult in a sexual relationship.

This position is least problematical in a business or professional association in which work is the sole object. But even here the two of you must enjoy being together, so that your work becomes a form of self-expression as well as a duty. The sixth house emphasizes the needful aspect of work rather than the self-expressive aspect.

If the two of you do not feel that you are accomplishing something fairly concrete by being together, this will be a disruptive problem. Enjoying each other or feeling that you are both growing through your relationship is not usually enough to satisfy the demands of this placement of Mars. There is work to be done.

Mars Sextile Uranus

The sextile of Mars and Uranus in the composite chart indicates that certain elements of this relationship will change your lives, not necessarily in great cosmic ways but nevertheless meaningfully. Through this experience you will find that your old ways of doing things are constantly challenged and forced to change. The results will not be shattering, however, but challenging and interesting. Regardless of the purpose of this relationship, you will also be friends, and together you will be eager to set off in new directions.

Sometimes, of course, the newness of it all may be a bit frightening. Some elements of this relationship simply do not follow the ordinary script, but don't worry about that. If you go along with the natural flow of this relationship, it should work out satisfactorily.

At its best, this aspect will give the two of you new opportunities that you can take advantage of only if you are willing to strike out onto new paths. This relationship will not only prod you out of your rut, but will also help you understand why you should be prodded.

No matter how strange, unpredictable, or chaotic this relationship may seem, this aspect will give it a new dimension and make it rewarding to follow through to its conclusion.

Mars Square Neptune

Mars square Neptune in the composite chart can be quite difficult. It indicates that your intentions and the way you interact weaken each other's effectiveness. Usually one of you acts in such a way as to confuse or delude the other, but also you may have a negative reinforcing effect on each other. It is quite likely that you will act upon each other in turn.

The problem is that you each view the other's successful self-expression as a threat. One of you may fear that the other will dominate and extinguish your individuality. But this is fear more than actual fact. Also, the relationship may present both of you with issues that you do not know how to face at this time.

The only way to deal with this aspect is to stop playing ego games, which is easier said than done, because such games are usually played out unconsciously. Neither partner is aware of what is going on.

In an extreme case you may be consciously deceitful toward each other. In a marriage, this might be done through infidelity; in a friendship, it might be actions that intentionally go against your friend's interests.

If this is the only area of difficulty between you, the relationship can still be quite rewarding. But if this is one of many problems, it might be best to break the relationship off. If it has already begun and you wish to continue it, the only defense is to be completely honest with each other and at the same time reasonably gentle in your honesty.

Composite Jupiter

Jupiter in the composite chart signifies the areas that will provide a solid basis for growth through the relationship. A strong Jupiter helps to ensure that whatever the course of the relationship and whatever may happen to it, you both will be aware of how much you have been helped by being together.

The house position of Jupiter designates what aspect of your relationship will be emphasized as a growth area. The two of you will be able to depend on that area for sustenance together, and unlike other aspects of your relationship, it will not be the cause of conflict and difficulty.

Nevertheless, what Jupiter brings to a relationship should not be taken totally for granted. There is always a danger that you may overextend yourselves in the area in which Jupiter is significant, which can convert it into a source of difficulty. If the energy of Jupiter is flowing easily, it is unlikely to cause trouble. But if the energy is flowing with difficulty, there may be problems, usually brought on by doing something to excess. In any case, Jupiter is not usually a major source of trouble in a chart and can usually be counted on to bring benevolent results.

Jupiter in the Seventh House

Jupiter in the seventh house of a composite chart is very favorable for most relationships. It means that the two of you are likely to feel that being together is your most important means of growth. You feel that you both can grow faster through the relationship than without it. In fact you probably idealize your relationship, but not to the extent that it becomes impossible to live up to the ideal.

Even though you idealize being together, you are not totally possessive; you know enough to give each other room to breathe. In fact, the only possible problem with this placement is that under certain conditions one of you may demand more freedom than the other is willing to give. However, in such a situation, if the restrictive partner can give the other that freedom in some particular instance, it will work out all right.

Normally this placement of Jupiter will be very favorable. You may demand high standards of behavior from each other, but you are also likely to get what you demand in that regard.

Composite Saturn

Saturn is always a very complicated symbol. It has many meanings, some of which are difficult to deal with. To begin with, it often represents those areas of the relationship that are likely to be a source of insecurity. It is this attribute that can make Saturn very hard to handle, because it signifies fears, which can generate a negative energy that makes the worst come true. You must learn to relax about those areas of the relationship that are most influenced by Saturn.

Saturn also refers to limitations on the relationship, which are often more apparent than real. Saturn is an inhibitor, representing the aspects of reality that limit our efforts to expand and grow. As a consequence, through the resistance of Saturn, everything in both the material and psychological world is forced to assume a definite form. The position of Saturn in the composite chart will tell a great deal about what areas of the relationship are most likely to be structured and even rigidified, if the influence is unchecked.

Saturn is not always difficult, however. Very often it indicates a lasting relationship that will endure. Much of the time you will respond to Saturn simply by accepting the reality it imposes and not expecting that which is impossible. This prevents the frustrated idealism that makes so many love relationships difficult. In such instances Saturn replaces flamboyance with reliability.

At other times, however, Saturn's influence will make a relationship nearly impossible. When this happens, it is a reality that must be accepted. Properly handled, the experience of Saturn can be one of the most significant ways in which you learn how you will act in certain situations together. But it must be acknowledged that this process is not always particularly pleasant.

Saturn in the Seventh House

Saturn, the planet of separation and repression, in the seventh, the house of marriage, might seem to be absolutely fatal to such a relationship, but it is not. Saturn here is quite compatible with any kind of relationship, although it does create certain problems.

On the one hand, it can bind the two of you together, because it signifies that together you will have to face certain difficulties and responsibilities. By itself it does not signify that love is the bond that holds you together, although that may be the case for other reasons. The binding forces of Saturn are requirements that must be met in the real world. You are tied to each other by duties, obligations, and responsibilities, in addition to any feelings of affection that you may have. In fact, the seventh-house Saturn can tie two people together even when they want to split up.

But this placement can also signify that under some circumstances there will be no relationship at all between you. However, if Saturn in the seventh house is really operating at a malefic level, it is highly unlikely that the two of you will want to come together in the first place. If you have settled that you want to have a relationship, you have already proved that Saturn is not operating at the malefic level in your composite chart.

Saturn Sextile Neptune

The sextile of composite Saturn and Neptune indicates that you will be able to maintain a balance between the ideal and the real in this relationship. If this is a personal relationship, for example, you will try to use what you know about yourselves and each other to move forward and develop into what you would like to become. Very often the effect of a harmonious Saturn-Neptune combination such as this is that people will work toward the ideal by denying themselves in one way or another. This aspect is a symbol of asceticism. One way to understand this principle is to think of it as the idealization (Neptune) of discipline and austerity (Saturn). As a couple you are able to put up with having very little because you want very little.

The same tendency toward austerity makes it unlikely that this will be a sexual relationship, unless there are many other indications for it. The reason for this is not that there are blocks and repressions, as is usually the case with Saturn, but because Neptune denies the physical world and because this combination idealizes austerity. A couple with this aspect probably would not even want a sexual relationship.

Other kinds of relationships with this aspect will also be restrained and disciplined. That fact will not divide you, but may actually hold you together.

Saturn Conjunct Pluto

The conjunction of Saturn and Pluto in your composite chart indicates that the two of you may have to face difficult times together and that you will have to struggle quite hard to keep going. But these difficulties are not so likely to occur within the relationship; more probably the two of you will experience difficulties with the outside world.

You may undergo periods of economic scarcity, for example, or times when everything seems to be working against you. However, this aspect also gives a tremendous resistance to adversity. Together you will have a kind of rugged persistence that people will envy. You will survive where others fail.

Although this aspect is not the easiest, it may actually strengthen a relationship because of the ruggedness it confers. At the same time, if the two of you have gone through a lot of trouble together, you may feel more strongly about staying together. One might say that you thrive on adversity. It is a challenge you are able to meet, and it builds you up.

Composite Uranus

Uranus is the planet of the unconventional and the unusual, at least in its ordinary manifestations. It can also reveal alternate views of reality that will help you to learn and grow. Unfortunately, this usually happens by means of a surprising upset that seems to completely invalidate your previous beliefs about life. Uranus is often regarded as the planet of unpleasant surprises. The only way to deal with it positively is to maintain a very open attitude and to structure your life as little as possible. Some structure is necessary, of course. But Uranus demands that you maintain a very flexible attitude toward the world.

In a relationship it is important to let the areas most affected by Uranus be much freer than you might otherwise allow. The aspects to Uranus in the composite chart usually indicate the area of the relationship that you must release. Not that you will lose it, but you must let it take its own course, with a minimum of expectations. Venus-Uranus aspects, in particular, represent relationships that must not be restrained from following their own course.

The house position indicates where Uranus is most effective, and that area must be treated most gently. Any attempt to make a basically Uranian characteristic conform to rules or expectations will only cause disturbances; the energy of Uranus under pressure becomes rebellious, insisting on doing everything in exactly the opposite way from what people want.

Uranus is simply an energy that insists on being given free rein. Your ability to handle it depends upon how free you are.

Uranus in the Eighth House

As is the case with all eighth-house placements, composite Uranus in this house affects two different areas of the relationship. In the first place, it affects your handling of the major transformations that must occur in any relationship from time to time. In the second place, it also affects the way you experience and handle the resources - finances, property, possessions - that you share.

In the first area, an eighth-house Uranus may signify that the two of you experience important changes as undesirable disruptions to be avoided at all costs. Such an attitude can only worsen the situation because it signifies the kind of mental rigidity that is so incompatible with Uranus. If you can be more flexible and approach changes with an open mind, you will be able to weather any difficulties that may arise. Even at best the changes are likely to be rather sudden and unpredictable.

The eighth house ultimately signals growth on the most profound level - growth that results when an old attitide dies and gives way to a new one. It is the house of death and regeneration of the self - not necessarily death in the literal sense, but the passing away of some element in your lives. The more rigidly you face these situations that challenge the very core of your relationship, the more likely it is that the relationship itself will die.

In the area of joint property and resources, this placement of Uranus, much like the second-house placement, can indicate that the two of you consider possessions to be a burden rather than an opportunity for growth. As a consequence, you may not pay enough attention to your material affairs, so that as a result they become a source of disruption. Either you must learn to deal with the material aspect of your lives, or you must find a way to minimize its power over you.

Composite Neptune

Neptune in the composite chart is an energy that most people find quite difficult to handle. It has two quite separate areas of meaning that are ultimately connected, although they do not seem related on the surface.

First of all, Neptune is related to disappointment, delusion, deceit, falsehood, and the gradual disappearance of things. Yet it also represents whatever you idealize, legitimately and otherwise - that which is spiritual and mystical, which is actually at the root of love in its most spiritual sense, even more than Venus. It is the two-sidedness of Neptune that is so difficult to deal with.

To a considerable extent, all true love is based on your idealization of some aspect of the other person. That is one side of Neptune. But you must also keep in mind the reality of the situation and not make that person into something she is not. The nature of Neptune is such that you often go too far and turn the other person into a myth; when you discover the truth, bitter disappointment sets in. Yet if the Neptune energy were not working to some extent, you would not have been attracted to that person in the first place.

In a relationship, some things cannot be spelled out in words. It is necessary for two people to have some inner understanding of each other, or you will never be able to communicate very well. Neptune rules this kind of sensitivity within a relationship also. But again, its twofold nature can cause you to overdo your sensitivity, to the point where you make up things that aren't there or exaggerate the significance of what is.

How can you keep a balance? The answer lies in an aspect of Neptune that provides the key to really understanding it. Neptune is a totally selfless energy, not readily harnessed to the demands of the human ego. If you have a strong ego-wish that something be a certain way, Neptune's involvement becomes dangerous. The more your ego needs to enforce a situation, the more Neptune will delude you about it. Your own wishes seem to create a barrier to your seeing clearly, because you are too involved in the situation. Neptune often makes the two of you think that what you want is already so, even when it isn't.

However, if you can learn to accept the situation as it is, Neptune will help you to learn even more. If you can hold your ideals and still be able to deal with reality, Neptune may even help you realize your ideals.

Neptune in the chart tells about those areas of the relationship that are idealized, maybe dangerously so. It tells about the depth of spiritual communication and about the extent to which all communication is disrupted by your illusions about each other.

Neptune in the Eighth House

Neptune in the eighth house of a composite chart signifies that a major source of confusion and uncertainty in your relationship may be the material resources that you hold jointly or that concern both of you. Neptune's energy is nonmaterial in nature, so the area of the chart affected by Neptune will have difficulty with material things. Because the eighth is the house of joint resources, this effect is felt particularly strongly here.

Obviously, this will affect a business or professional association most, but the financial dealings of any relationship except the most casual friendship will be affected. All areas involving business and financial transactions should be regarded with some care. Neptune is the planet of deception and fraud, and these are the dangers you may encounter in your financial dealings.

However, Neptune has two sides here, just as it does in the other houses. It can also indicate tremendous intuitive awareness about financial and material resources. And it is very hard to tell when Neptune will have either of these two effects. The only solution is to be very careful until you know what Neptune is doing. Even if the relationship is generally working out well for both of you, be prepared for an occasional unpleasant surprise.

The eighth is also the house of major transformations that can occur within a relationship. Neptune here can indicate that hidden and unseen factors in the world around you are causing changes that are difficult to understand. You will have to be very clear in your thinking in order to examine such factors.

Composite Pluto

Pluto is the planet of death and regeneration. In a composite chart it represents those energies that cause a relationship to go through periods of heavy change. When Pluto is operative, something goes out of existence and a new order comes into being. Its action is absolutely essential to prevent the stagnation that occurs when an old way of life has outlived its purpose. The old must be cleared away to make room for the new state of being that will follow. When dealing with Pluto, you must let go of whatever is going through the Plutonian crisis. If you try to hold on to something that is properly dead, you will not succeed in saving it. You will only make the situation worse.

Pluto operates with such tremendous power that it may be divorced from its "death and regeneration" aspect and be experienced purely as power. The power results from the inevitability of Pluto's transforming quality. The transformations ruled by Pluto are those that arise from the very nature of what is transformed. Its effect is as much an integral part of an entity as an object's weight, size, and color. Every living thing contains the set of circumstances that will eventually bring about all its fundamental changes, including its death. The power of Pluto comes from within.

In a relationship, Pluto is very often experienced as power conflicts between the two of you. In a sexual relationship it also gives special power and impact to your emotions and makes every happening very dramatic and important. This heaviness is one of the more difficult attributes of the planet, because it can warp your perspective completely.

The house position of Pluto indicates the area of the relationship in which there is most likely to be a conflict of power, either between the two of you or with the outside world. It also indicates which area of the relationship is most likely to be transformed through your being together and as a result which area is most likely to produce crises.

The aspects to Pluto indicate whether this energy will be experienced as difficult or easy and what other energy patterns it will be linked with.

Pluto in the Seventh House

Composite Pluto in the seventh house can have two quite opposite effects. On the one hand it can signify that the two of you work very hard to create a viable relationship. You will make any necessary changes in yourselves in order to make it work. And at the same time you both are aware that this is a team effort, and neither of you takes on an unfair share of the burden. You recognize that this relationship is having a great impact on both of you, and you experience it as a way of gaining a new, regenerated life. This can be expected if your relationship is otherwise quite good.

If there is a great deal of stress, however, a quite different effect will emerge. In this case each of you will continually try to dominate the other: in other words, a power struggle. If one of you wins this struggle, the other will feel extremely stifled, which will probably lead to further trouble. The "loser" may accept fate and continue in the relationship with a disgruntled, grudging acceptance, taking every opportunity to make the other's life miserable. On the other hand, he or she might just disappear rather than risk a losing confrontation. If neither of you wins, the battle simply goes on and on.

Most couples experience a mixture of good and bad effects from a seventh-house Pluto. If you wish to keep this relationship going, continue working together for growth and development. And try to lower the pressure.

 

APPENDIX

 

Technical details

The Composite horoscope is a symbolic chart, derived mathematically and never represented by a real planetary configuration on the sky. For all planetary pairs, for example both Suns in the natal charts of the partners, the Composite Sun is determined as the mid-point in between. Also the MC (Medium Coeli or cusp of the 10th house) is determined by this mid-point technique. So far all astrologers proceed the same way to get a Composite.

For finding the Ascendant and the other house cusps in a chart two different techniques are used. One school of thought, also adhered to by Liz Greene and other staff members at Astrodienst, computes the Ascendant and the other house cusps with the same mid-point technique. In the very rare case of an Ascendant falling into the west half of the chart, which is the wrong side, the Ascendant is corrected by 180 degrees, so that it comes to lie in the east half where is must naturally be.

The other wide spread school of thought uses a table of houses for the Ascendant. First a fictious birth time is derived from the mid-point MC, then for this time the Ascendant and other house cusps are read from the table. Because house table entries vary by geographical latitude, the latitude of a reference place is used here. The geographical longitude (east/west location) of the reference place is not taken into account, so that Naples, Italy and New York, NY result in the same Composite chart, because both cities are near 40 degrees northern latitude. The technique is called reference-place technique.

In his book 'Planets in Composite' Robert Hand describes both methods; we have decided to use the mid-point method with the Partner Horoscope, because the Relationship Horoscope by Liz Greene also uses this technique and many readers might be unnecessarily confused if we offered two kinds of partner horoscopes containing different Composite ascendants.

Mercury and Venus can sometimes have an unnatural position in the Composite Chart. In nature, Mercury is never more than 30 degrees from the Sun, Venus never more than 45 degrees. In the Composite, however, each of the two planets can also be in opposition to the Sun. In such cases, some Astrologers mirror the planet into the opposite sign. Robert Hand takes into consideration both possible positions. Our Astrodienst reports follow the method of Liz Greene, who does not do such a mirroring.