"Synastry" is the technical term for chart comparison, a variety of techniques by which we can see -- for example -- how two people will get along, what are the strengths and weaknesses of a relationship. We can also use these techniques to see how a person would get along with a corporation, or a nation, or to analyze international relations between two nations. If you're taking a new job, and can find the date the company was founded, or if you're moving to a new town I can see how you would get along in the new situations by comparing the relevant charts.

Bill Clinton & Hillary Rodham Clinton An interesting working team, but with challenges in the romantic relationship.

Of course most people are most usually interested in personal relationships. I'm glad to share with you a few very general rules, but with the caveat that you can't go just by sun sign! I've known any number of successful couples who shouldn't be compatible by sun sign, but their ascendants, other planets, and house placements.

An in-depth compatibility analysis includes a look at all the planets and placements in each chart and how they inter-relate: How your planets aspect his. How her planets line up against your houses, etc... A very few cases are clear cut, but I generally prefer not to say that any two people are necessarily (or not) a good couple, but rather point out where problems are likeliest to occur and what are the greatest strengths in the relationship.

Many of the older texts identify planets strict gender functions. I see a lot of same-sex couples and more liberated heterosexuals where a man actively engages his Venus (aesthetics) and Moon (feelings) rather than projecting those traits onto the women in his life, and women are taking charge of their own Sun (identity) and Mars (assertion) rather then picking men to act out those functions. I prefer to approach relationships from this basis of sexual equality.

I've seen some couples where one person is so dominating the other can't speak or respond honestly. Granted, these are few, but it is safest for all concerned to have a strict policy: I absolutely insist on seeng each partner individually before consulting with both together.

After all that everyone still wants easy answers to the complex questions of human relationships so here are a few (much too) simple generalizations:

Too similarly competitive, and with the Saturn-Sun and Moon-Pluto conjunctions, Bette and Joan can hardly help but to bring out the cut-throat, vicious worst in each other!

Opposing signs are traditionally considered to be the ideal pairs. Those would be:
Aries & Libra
Taurus & Scorpio
Gemini & Sagittarius
Cancer & Capricorn
Leo & Aquarius
Virgo & Pisces

Air signs (Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius) and Fire signs (Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius) all get along well together.

Earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn) and Water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces) also get along well among each other.

Still, this is a simplistic generalization. Real people and real life are more complex.

Anita Loos once remarked that "Gentlemen prefer blondes, but they marry brunettes." The position and aspects of your natal Venus will show your "blondes", the type that catches your immediate interest, but the Moon shows your "brunette," the kind of person that is best for the emotional sustenance required in a long term relationship.

That's just a few general rules. For a more serious look at the hows whys and whens of human relationship, check with your astrologer or write me for an appointment!

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