posted November 11, 2006 06:36 PM            

Question from a Reader: Additional Questions Not Answered on the Site
Hi Annie,

Your site is very detailed and informative, but I was wondering if you could please answer some additional questions that may help many of us interested in astrology.

1. Who experiences/feels attraction more strongly or how is it different:

a) Person whose personal planet is contacting someone's midpoint or the midpoint person?
b) Person whose personal planet is contacting someone's chart angle or the 'angle' person?
c) Person whose personal planet is contacting someone's Vertex or the Vertex person?
d) Person whose personal planet is contacting someone's Nodes of the Moon or the Nodes of the Moon person?

2. Is there a meaning when partners' Sun/Moon midpoints conjunct (5 gemini mine - which also happens to be my DC line 5.15 and Saturn 5.5 and 9 degrees gemini his) (no hard aspects from personal planets though) and both also conjunct composite Sun/Moon midpoint (7 degrees gemini). What would the meaning/connection be?

3. Can Ascendant be involved in a Grand Trine or are just personal planets considered?

4. What other midpoints besides Sun/Moon are important in synastry and how would they be interpreted? (I noticed that you mentioned Venus/Pluto and Mars/Pluto in one of your responses).

5. Which charts require use of birth location (progressed?) and which current living location (Solar return, Solar arc?)?

6. What is the maximum orb you would use as significant in synastry?

7. Are solstice points done only on natal planets or can they be done on progressed planets as well? If they can, do we compare progressed solstice point charts of two people or progressed solstice point chart of one to progressed or natal of the other?

8. How is Solar arc used in synastry? Do we compare Solar arc of one person to natal chart of the other person or to his/her Solar arc?

I know there are a lot of questions here, but I would appreciate even the short-version answers.

Thank you very much,

T.

Annie's Answer
T,

I'll answer your questions to the best of knowledge, and according to my experience, point by point below:

1. Who experiences/feels attraction more strongly or how is it different:

a) Person whose personal planet is contacting someone's midpoint or the midpoint person?
b) Person whose personal planet is contacting someone's chart angle or the 'angle' person?
c) Person whose personal planet is contacting someone's Vertex or the Vertex person?
d) Person whose personal planet is contacting someone's Nodes of the Moon or the Nodes of the Moon person?

The experience for contacting points in synastry is always a two-way affair. How strong the feelings each individual experiences depends on the nature of the planet or point stimulated, as well as the person and the issues surrounding the contacted point in his/her life. It's always two-way, however. If my Venus conjuncts your Mars, for example, your Mars is activating my Venus, and my Venus is activating your Mars. We're both stimulated, but in different ways and from different perspectives. I will react in a Venus way to your Mars, and you will react in a Mars way to my Venus. When it comes to attraction, it is generally the Venus person who is especially enamored. When inner planets are stimulated by another person's outer planets, it's generally the "inner planet" person who is a little more vulnerable and personally involved. Often, the "outer planet" person holds a special "edge" because of this vulnerability on the part of the "inner planet" person. The outer planet person tends to have the upper hand. This is because inner planets are personal, and outer planets are impersonal.

With midpoints, I tend to think the midpoint person is more vulnerable. I've received plenty of questions through emails regarding the special case of the Sun/Moon midpoint contacting another person's Sun or Moon, which is a strong indication of a powerful bond, for better or worse. When this contact only occurs one way, which is more often the case, readers want to know who is the most needy (so to speak) person in the relationship. The "owner" of the contacted Sun/Moon midpoint is the one who tends to be more attached to the person whose Sun or Moon aspects the midpoint. This sometimes explains one-sided attachments, but it should be noted that plenty of strong relationships occur when the activated Sun/Moon midpoint isn't reciprocated by the partner. In fact, the energy does seem to reciprocate in some way, as both partners can feed off the energy of belongingness. Having it both ways (that is, each person's Sun/Moon midpoint is activated by the other person's Sun or Moon) is perhaps ideal, but one way works well. Also, if one person's Sun or Moon forms a hard aspect to the composite Sun/Moon midpoint, that person also has a strong attachment to the relationship.

When personal planets are contacting personal points, neither person is more vulnerable or more attracted unless the particular point involved is especially sensitive or romantic by nature. For example, one person's Moon conjunct another person's Mercury is naturally, because of the nature of the planets involved, less balanced. The Moon person is likely to be more vulnerable in this interchart aspect. Or, as another example, if a person's Venus conjuncts the other person's Mercury, the Venus person is generally enamored by the Mercury person's intellect, way of thinking, way of speaking, etc. As an aside, it's always helpful to think in terms of the individuals taking on the roles of the planets involved. The person whose Venus is stimulated takes on the role of Venus in reaction the other person's expression of the planet.

Angles such as the Ascendant and Vertex are highly personal and can be considered similar to personal (inner) planets. Item d) of your question is a little trickier for me to answer. Let's say my Venus conjuncts your South Node. The attraction will go both ways, but the South Node person may be the one more likely to "outgrow" the relationship.

2. Is there a meaning when partners' Sun/Moon midpoints conjunct (5 gemini mine - which also happens to be my DC line 5.15 and Saturn 5.5 and 9 degrees gemini his) (no hard aspects from personal planets though) and both also conjunct composite Sun/Moon midpoint (7 degrees gemini). What would the meaning/connection be?

If your Sun/Moon midpoints are conjunct, the Sun/Moon midpoint in the composite chart will be along the same axis by default. Yes, when two people share the same Sun/Moon midpoint, it is significant. It points to the potential for a strong bond, for better or worse. You'll find this connection between charts of many couples who form a long-term relationship. It's always important to note that connections between Sun/Moon midpoints in synastry do not necessarily point to a "good" interaction in and of themselves, but they do point to a fated feeling, or a strong feeling of needing one another.

3. Can Ascendant be involved in a Grand Trine or are just personal planets considered?

Traditionally, no. Grand trines are supposed to involve planets and not points, such as the Ascendant. These can be any planet, not just personal (inner) planets.

4. What other midpoints besides Sun/Moon are important in synastry and how would they be interpreted? (I noticed that you mentioned Venus/Pluto and Mars/Pluto in one of your reponses).

You can consider any midpoint in a synastry analysis. The question will be how much detail do you want to consider? The way I work, I put the Sun/Moon midpoint into any chart I look at. When doing a relationship analysis, I will also note the Venus/Mars, Moon/Venus, and Sun/Mars midpoints. I will also scan computer-generated midpoint trees in a chart comparison for repeated patterns and themes or other midpoint connections that catch my eye. Of course, I work from my personal "bias" in the sense that certain combinations will stand out more than others, perhaps because I've had experience with them or they seem to me to be especially relevant considering the type of analysis I am doing (a romantic relationship analysis, for example) and the nature of the questions I am attempting to answer.

5. For each technique you mention (progressions charts, Solar Return, and solar arc progressions) the current location is generally used for the current chart. In these cases, new charts are created, and these charts are relocated and generally compared to the non-relocated natal chart. Transits involve comparing the current positions of the planets to the natal chart, which is usually not relocated, although it can be if desired!

6. I do not use a strict orb allowance in synastry, although I would say that I tend to favor approximately 5-6 degrees for major aspects--perhaps a little more for conjunctions involving the Sun and Moon.

7. Yes, you can determine solstice points on a progressed chart, and they can be compared, either progressed to progressed or progressed to natal.

8. With Solar Arc progressions, the aspects between the planets in the natal chart remain the same because we are adding the same number of degrees to each planet. Unless there is a large age discrepancy between the two people we are comparing, the interaspects would be largely the same. As well, the Solar Arc interaspects would remain the same indefinitely. As such, comparing Solar Arc progressions doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. If anything, I would compare the Solar Arc progressions of one person to the natal positions of another.