What does a synastry chart tell about a relationship?

overall-attraction-250px.jpg 12andus is now offering a great addition to understanding the dynamics of any kind of relationship.

On the Relationship reports there's a new section “Questions and answers between Person1 and Person2”, where Person1 and Person2 are the two persons you chose for the report.

You can add a private list of people to your birth data list and run the relationship reports between anyone. Also, you can compare your chart with your 12andus' friends.

On the “Questions and answers” section you can read detailed textual interpretations for the most important synastry aspects between any two people of your list.

According to the unique synastry aspects, we will choose the answers of the most important questions of your relationships. A sample of the answers you might see are:

- Do our personalities and egos cooperate or collide?
- How do we express our active and supportive energies?
- How's our communication and mental affinity?
- Do we have a loving connection?
- How is the physical and sexual attraction between us?
- Is fun and optimism part of our meeting?
- Are we responsible and committed to each other?
- How is freedom and unpredictability related to our meeting?
- Do we have a spiritual connection?
- Do we have a magnetic connection?
- How does our meeting relate to career?
- Are sensitivity and caring present in us?
- How do we connect our minds and emotions?
- Is tenderness and sensuality present between us?
- How do our emotions and physical attraction merge?
- How do we deal with maturity and responsibilities?
- Is empathy and spirituality part of us?
- How do we relate with extreme feelings?
- How do our intellects and affection work together?
- Do we compete on our ideas and views?
- Is love and passion part of us?
- Do we match for a long term relationship?
- Is our meeting intense and overwhelming?

A synastry chart reveals how people relate to each other. A synastry chart can bring light to the understanding of any kind of relationship: love, friendship, business, or family.

The synastry chart is a bi-wheel chart showing two individual charts in an overlapping way. The planets (and angles) of one person are drawn to the external wheel and are connected to the planets of the second person in the internal wheel by drawing aspects lines.

You can draw a synastry chart by calculating a Relationship Report in the Astro Reports page between any two people of Your Astro Data list and then clicking on the “Planets positions and aspects” box.

The analysis of a synastry chart results in much deeper and specific information than the generic and mostly useless compatibility between the Sun signs.

As individuals, we have many facets, and we express our inner archetypes differently according to the position of the planets. Also, each relationship is unique and in line with the unique combination of two charts.

We might feel affection towards a person (synastry's Moon trine Venus), but with a poor intellectual understanding (synastry's Mercury square to Saturn), though, still effective in common financial matters (both with good synastry Jupiter's aspects in each other's second house), and a passion for traveling together (Sun in the other person's 9th house trine the other person's Jupiter).

In a synastry chart, any combination of easy or challenging aspects is possible. As most of us know from life experience, every relationship, be it romantic, friendship or business has unique traits.

Even shy people can turn into expansive in the presence of certain synastry aspects (for instance through a synastry Sun-Jupiter aspect in the 1st house), or a deadly serious Saturn dominant can appreciate some lightheartedness with a person whose Mercury or Jupiter forms a good aspect with its Sun.

Any relationship shapes unique traits for the two persons involved. We meet people who trigger or block different kinds of energies so that we have a chance to become aware of certain traits or the lack of it.

The ultimate goal of astrology and as well as any spiritual path is expanding awareness.

In a synastry chart, the two individual natal charts' aspects aren't drawn, but they are nonetheless important.

Every synastry aspect has to be weighted by also considering both the individual charts. For instance, let's suppose that a couple enjoys a trine between the man's Mars and the woman's Venus in their synastry chart.

Such aspect traditionally denotes a strong physical attraction. But we need to consider how each person's planets welcomes (or rejects) the other planet.

If Mars in the man's natal chart and Venus' in the woman's chart are very weak (means with few or no important aspects and located in unfitting signs or houses), then a synastry Mars-Venus trine won't probably magically transform them into an ardent and erotic couple.

However, they might better express a certain degree of passion through each other than with a person where there isn't a Mars-Venus synastry connection.

In an opposite case, when the two individual already enjoys strong Mars and Venus in their birth chart, then we might expect high passion between them.

At 12andus we consider both natal charts when we calculate the power of each synastry aspect.

In the next blog post, we will see which are the most favorable aspects of a synastry chart.

There's another method for understanding relationships: the composite chart. The composite chart considers the mid-points of the two persons' planets.

For instance, if Bob's Sun is at 0 degrees in Taurus and Alice's Sun is at 10 degrees in Geminis, the composite Sun would be in the middle, specifically at 20 degrees in Taurus. This “half-way” method is applied to each planet and house.

The resulting chart is supposed to identify the traits of the relationship itself, instead of the ones of the individual persons.

The composite chart technique was developed in recent times by Ronald Davison and Robert Hand, two great modern astrologers.

I for one think that the composite chart is an important addition in understanding the dynamics of a couple while giving a picture of a relationship at a glance, but I still consider the synastry chart as most revealing.

See also:

Astrology forecasts and astrologers don't know what will actually happen to you

Human astrologers and 12andus' reports

What does your dominant planet say about you?

The difference between “signs” astrology and personalized astrology

Can artificial intelligence be applied to astrology?