Astrologers understand something about our solar system's design that astronomers do not.

By
studying the cosmic clockworks and coming to recognize the patterns these give rise to, star seers
witness a Divine Order at work. Astrologers seek and find cosmic concordance and directly witness
the handiwork of The Master Clockmaker. The planetary bodies have not only been skillfully set on
their various orbital courses, they are also timed to fulfill specific purposes. Each one relays its
mandate through its own unique messaging system. Although the moon is not technically a planet,
Astrologers recognize Luna's relationship to the tidal fluxes that animate human feelings. Like a
graceful conductor, the moon directs the rhythms of the oceans' tides. This luminary also regulates
the hormonal tides that wax and wane within the female body. Think about it: the lunar cycle orbed
to twenty-nine days matches the menstrual cycles of all healthy human females of childbearing age!
Interestingly enough, no research has ever been conducted to study the variables of human emotion
in relation to the lunar cycle. The direct influence of the moon, Yin counterpart to the Yang sun, has
been largely left in the dark. That is until Moon Dance opened "this book of the night" for sentient
souls' further scrutiny.

Mankind is passing through an inordinately materialistic era. The mores that define our collective
value systems reflect the goals and preferences of a "marketplace culture." Its prevailing ethos
places premiums on convenience, profit, and uniformity. With so many aspects of life defined by
those parameters, it's not surprising that psychology and medicine succumb largely to a "one size
fits all" model. But is it true? Factories may benefit from assembly-line efficiency, but human beings
express as 12 basic types. We are not all equally moved (or manipulated) by the same motivation.
It's not a coincidence that Jesus specifically sought out 12 disciples, that Abraham founded 12 tribes,
and that the Zodiac identifies 12 celestial archetypes. The marketplace culture emphasizes
uniformity. Years ago, factory workers took pride in what their efforts built. Today, workers are
placed in niches where they endlessly repeat the same tasks like cogs in a wheel. Nor does the
workplace generally tolerate any shows of emotion. Employees are expected to conform to protocols
and meet deadlines in behaviors ideally suited to robots. It's regarded as "unprofessional" to show
one's feelings. When emotions are forced into suppression, social dysfunctions result. American
society is incredibly violent (recent school shootings are one example); and there are astounding
levels of Depression, alcoholism, obesity, and drug abuse. These phenomena reflect the ways that
people adapt to the emptiness of their inner lives. Whole portions of the human psyche have been
cordoned off. Given the widespread evidence of maladaptive behaviors, can anything be gained
from studying the moon's cycles? As an astrologer who's studied the Moon's vital role in clients'
lives, I believe it can. In fact, genuine enlightenment awaits those who are ready to take the ultimate
journey. Its destination is the inner self, featuring self-awareness as its Mecca. The premise rec
ognizes the inherent wisdom left by Mercury on the Temple wall: "Know thyself."

Every planet exerts both positive and negative potentials, as do all signs; however it is the moon that
serves as the celestial ambassador tied directly to what we feel. Luna's movements give rise to the
vast spectrum of emotions that flesh (especially female flesh) is heir to. If we take the time to
correlate our feelings to the lunar cycle, over time we can anticipate these rhythmic fluxes before
each one manifests. Emotions generally follow a lunar track. If a richer self-knowledge is sought,
treasure can be found by mapping one's inner journey. Moon Dance: The Feminine Dimensions of
Time guides readers in deepening their understanding of their linkage with the moon's orbital
journey. Another factor to consider is that the moon acts as our planet's memory-keeper. Every
sentient soul that's walked this earth has lived their life story under the moon's watchful eye. Luna
retains the template of all human experience. And since human experience expresses largely
through 12 basic archetypes, we enrich our understanding by noting how the Zodiac signs take their
meanings (and character) from the Ancient Myths. When the moon makes her crossing of all signs
(each and every month) she rouses the archetype that resides in each one. Individuals actualize
these archetypal energies in their own unique manners.
I developed Moon Dance: The Feminine Dimensions of Time to serve as a guided tour into those
places where psyche meets (and dances with) the archetypes of time. The Zodiac circle teaches us
that all sentient beings are connected, and that ultimately, everything comes full circle. A part of our
Essence travels with the planets, especially the moon. This allows us to experience what is not
necessarily familiar or not yet integrated into our psychic structure. For instance: Suppose we lack
planets in earth signs? Then every time the Moon transits an Earth sign, we gain the opportunity to
connect with that element. Gradually we build up a connection that offsets the missing elemental
link. What compelled me to write this book from the perspective of the astrologer (who recognized
the pivotal role played by the moon) was learning that millions of persons were being routinely
prescribed anti-Depressant drugs. These high numbers suggest a Canary in the Coal-
mine syndrome being treated through covert social engineering. What does it say about a given
society if millions must medicate to function within it?

Astrology regards the Moon as a Yin planet, so naturally it's

associated with women. The sun, its complement, generally refers to men and masculine behaviors.
American society tolerates some emotional expression in women, but virtually none (apart from
anger) in men. Huge displays of emotion are primarily reserved for our modern day Roman Arenas,
the football stadiums. Is this distinction linked to the moon, gender-based cultural norms, or both?
Bottom line: women tend to be more in touch with their feelings. That's why it's no surprise that most
anti-Depressant medications go to females. (I've also seen Cancer men wrestle with profound
emotional gyrations due to their intimate link with the moon.)

The moon illuminates the landscape of our inner lives with cosmic chemistry factoring powerfully into
the mix. For example: a fire sign moon-native is apt to feel sluggish and earthbound when the moon
transits an earth sign. In contrast, a water sign moon-native tends to feel steady, secure, and
contained during those lunar intervals. The lunar cycle recurs every twenty-nine days; that means
the moon spends about 2.4 days in each successive sign. One can design a personal Moon
Dance journal and thereby record what they feel each month when the moon crosses the same sign.
Over time, clear patterns will emerge. However, it's important to mention that no two days are ever
fully alike. That's because when the moon returns to the same sign every 29 days, the sun will have
moved onto the next sign. Indeed, the entire stellar panoply will have altered. It's best to envision the
Astro-logos as a celestial kaleidoscope. The changing facets constantly create new designs, yet the
basic hues remain. Ultimately, the moon's influence will stand out. Your journal will reveal that your
moods are not accidental. In time you will come to see that there is a profound lunar method to the
great cosmic "madness."

Moon Dance showed me that my best writing comes when the moon transits Virgo. I intuitively
gravitate to the precise word that delivers "the goods." I tend to access visionary ideas when the
moon transits Aquarius, and have more patience for dealing with mundane tasks when the moon
transits Capricorn. I try to avoid long trips or airline flights at such times because things move very
slowly. The Virgo moon rings true to the sign's cleanliness mandate, for it's typically then that I feel
the urge to deal with laundry or clean in places (like behind the refrigerator) that I would otherwise
ignore. Each of us resonates differently to the music of spheres, the keys to Time's Original
Archetypes. My experience may not fit yours. For advanced Moon Dancers, it's helpful to keep track
of the lunar cycles of all family members. In this way, you can anticipate opportunity as well as
potentials for charged intervals before either arrives. That, my friends, is cosmic therapy at its best!

Many moons ago I lived with a difficult, albeit passionate man whose Aries Sun fell in square to his
Mars-Saturn conjunction in Cancer. My Libra daughter's sun exactly opposed his sun and also
squared his Mars-Saturn. Meanwhile my Saturn-Libra opposed his sun (also conjunct my daughter's
sun) and squared his Mars-Saturn Cancer. Needless to say, our family went on "Red alert" each
month when the moon crossed Cancer.

Edgar Cayce, America's Sleeping Prophet defined family life as the hotbed of karma. Not every
family possesses volatile astrological components. However, karmic short circuits certainly exist for
most. They can be discovered if you look for them. Moon Dance was designed to promote each
reader's personal discovery process. We all experience the moon's journey, along with those of
other planets, in relation to our unique natal chart wiring. Because science (apart from quantum
physics) is rather locked into materiality, it's convinced many thinking persons that the planets
cannot possibly affect them. It does not seem logical from an earthbound perspective, that a "body"
out there can influence one's body down here. Mystics, in contrast, regard the living world as a
unified web of life. It's held together through the incomprehensible workings of a vast network of
energized threads of light. Any perturbation to one thread reverberates throughout the entire fabric.

Those who dismiss as "coincidence" the moon's orbital connection to the menses of half the world's
population exhibit shortsighted thinking. The same can be said for those who say they "don't believe
in astrology," I tend to offer the snappy retort that: "Gravity doesn't believe in you, either." Face it:
when it comes to the binding nature of universal law, human belief is not a requirement. Whether
one agrees or otherwise: water freezes when it reaches 32-degrees. Then there's the analogy
between human anatomy, chemistry, and the cosmos. Something profound is observed in the way
that tiny atoms replicate the great cosmic design plan. In the case of atoms, microscopic electrons
spin their orbs around the atomic nucleus. In the solar system, the planets enact similar circle
dances around a central sun. Could our planet serve as a mere atom in the body of Creator? That
sort of conjecture got one killed centuries ago!

To expand empathy beyond what is familiar, the moon invites us to

come along as she journeys through the topography of the Collective Soul. Sharing her passages,
we vicariously experience all 12 archetypal expressions. When we align with our feelings-nature, we
are able to tap into the essence of each one. The moon serves as the vehicle that allows us to truly
become one with all that is. In this way, we can meld with all aspects of Creation. Therefore,
on inner planes we become the 12 archetypes of time.

Have you ever wondered why people ACT, and sometimes even resemble, the signs they are born
under? The answer carries a bit of cosmic poetry. When the sun (the father principle, supreme
Yang) unites with the moon (the mother principle, supreme Yin) during each month's new moon, the
pair's unified force field creates a cosmic consummation. Together they give birth to the archetype
that dwells in the sign-realm of their meeting. This explains how the Aries person takes on ram-like
features, or why the Taurus individual can act like a bull. Each is the progeny of a communion of the
Lights. We mortals reflect in temperament, something suggestive of cosmic DNA.

The zodiac signs are charged with a Divine fire that's qualitatively distributed through 12 specific
prisms. Each one is distinguished by its particular quality of light, or ray. A number of gifted
clairvoyants have refined the Zodiac Mandala into keen analyses of each of its 360-degree rays.
This data pool mirrors the Akashic Record. The correspondences I've witnessed are proof positive of
a Divine Order at work. Ultimately, we live in a mysterious world full of marvels. As the Divine Parent
principles merge regularly at new moon, they invoke each one of timeless archetypes from the
universal tide pool in due order. And so here we are in the great swim of things!

To conclude our discussion, we'll take a look at the archetypes of time as invoked by the moon in her
monthly passage across all 12 Zodiac signs. (For a fuller explanation, check out: Moon Dance: The
Feminine Dimensions of Time.) I have taken a number of liberties in merging specific mythological
personae with certain signs. For instance, I chose the Female Goddess Artemis to represent the
sign of Aquarius, Pan to represent Sagittarius, and Persephone (as well as Pluto) to represent
Scorpio. These choices result from 30 years of astrological research and counseling. It's my view
that the archetypes selected profoundly suit the nature of the signs in question. They also unearth
ancient roots that shape each one's persona. Let's Moon Dance!

Introducing the Archetypes of Time

ARIES

TAURUS

GEMINI

CANCER

LEO

VIRGO

LIBRA

SCORPIO

SAGITTARIUS
Once we become embodied, we Moon Dance, so we might as well educate ourselves about the
process to move consciously with the rhythms of time. I prefer to know in advance when the lunar
cycle will favor my varied interests and pursuits. Being alive is to be fully sentient; and women
(especially) were designed to experience the complete spectrum of feelings that the lunar cycle
makes them heiress to. Those who drown out their emotions by reaching for the latest desensitizing
pill forfeit the capacity to access the 12 personae of time. There is purpose to the tidal forces that
shape and color our inner lives. If each lifetime provides an opportunity to gain greater self-mastery,
turning off the emotional mechanisms is like cheating on your final exams. Only the truth shall set
you free. Chemically anesthetizing sentience does nothing to improve one's spiritual status.

With the moon serving as our lantern, the shadow aspects of our inner selves become illumined.
Through the gift of Her light we can access a higher awareness. It doesn't come from suppressing
how (or what) we feel. Instead, by accessing the range of emotions that color the human experience
we broaden our fundamental humanity. At essence, each of us is a living prism of time. And Creator
has endowed us with various forms of sentience. The Aquarian Age invites us to tame our emotions
not by denying them, but rather by learning what they exist to teach us. The Creation blueprint
consists of twelve quintessential personae. To varying degrees, all of them live inside of us. With this
knowledge serving as medicine, the heavenly plan points the way for human beings to learn to live
more lovingly in a shared world of untold wonders. Moon Dances happen!

"Will I find happiness with this person?" is one of the questions most often asked of an
astrologer. The inquiry may refer to marriage or to any other kind of personal relationship; but, in any
case, the issue deals basically with the longing for happiness which every human being harbors in
his or her heart. We know instinctively that this longing can be satisfied only by some kind of
relationship. However, there can be many types of relationship, and the desire for relationship—and
for happiness—can operate at several levels.

The successful fulfillment of one's desire normally brings happiness; yet in many cases, one finds
within one's nature conflicting goals and desires. As we seek happiness or personal fulfillment, we
may be pulled in several directions, often in two opposite directions; and after one desire is satisfied,
we may find a peculiar sense of emptiness and frustration in our heart because in the process of
fulfillment, other, perhaps equally strong, desires have been blighted or crushed.

The problem of how to find happiness is, therefore, essentially the problem of realizing clearly what
one desires most vitally, most intensely; then of placing an adequate value on any seemingly
important relationship which life brings, according to whether or not it might satisfy this essential
desire—our "heart's desire." In many cases, however, human beings do not really stop to ask
themselves such questions concerning the character of their most basic desire. They live, we might
say, at the "generic" level of human development; they are swayed almost entirely by biological or
collective-social urges. These urges actually compel them to seek personal fulfillment in
relationships which operate almost entirely at a "natural" vitalistic level, according to social, cultural,
religious patterns of normality.

There are many persons, on the other hand, who have succeeded in "individualizing" to a greater or
lesser extent their reactions to life and their attitudes toward the problem of fulfillment of desire. They
experience, no doubt, the basic urges inherent in human nature, particularly the "mating urge" and
the yearning for happiness and self-expression. But they have forced these desires into mental
frameworks; they demand of life that these desires be fulfilled in a particular, individual way, their
own way, if they are to be fulfilled at all.

Often these natural urges are repressed and perhaps altogether denied, and another kind of
psychological and mental (or so-called "spiritual") desire occupies the main focus of the
individual's attention; the attainment of happiness depends then upon the satisfaction of these
desires. Perhaps happiness eludes these individuals altogether, for the conflict of opposite desires
within the total personality introduces as well conflicts and serious problems in the evaluation of
human relationships. A certain relationship may fulfill the basic urge at the biological-sexual level,
while another may satisfy those supposedly "higher" desires which are developed at the intellectual,
cultural or spiritual level. A great deal of confusion may then be the result.

Discrimination as to what any one particular relationship might bring to the individual is indeed often
most difficult, for the relationships between complex personalities—which often means personalities
filled with "complexes"—are always filled with uncertainties and obscurities. How, then, can the over-
all basic question, "Would I be happy with this person?" be answered with
any degree of assurance?

If the astrologer is to give a satisfactory answer, the first thing he or she

must do is to try to evaluate the relative strengths of the two or three
basic levels of desire of the individual who asks the question. How far is
that person "individualized" in his or her reactions and responses to the
basic urges of human nature? How deeply have such basic urges been
affected by difficulties, shocks or crippling psychological (and physiological)
pressures in childhood and adolescence—and this means mainly how
natural and wholesome was the early relationship of the person to his
parents, to his brothers and sisters?
This essay is taken
from Dane
If the questioner reveals strong complexes in his psychological make-up
Rudhyar's book
and an individualized attitude toward life and society, coupled with a strong
"Sex, Love and
intellectual development, then the problem of possible happiness in this or
that relationship has to be judged primarily—but not exclusively, of course— Business" which can
at the psychological level. Yet a relationship which might start tumultuously be ordered
with clashing "complexes" may harmonize itself and change the main level atamazon.com
of operation of the two personalities being related, if a powerful biological-
sexual rapport develops between them.

In any event, the question of happiness in a relationship just beginning is always most difficult to
answer, and any quick and glib judgment based on the relationship between the zodiacal sun-signs
of the two persons is without much validity and may do great harm.

What I am seeking to point out here is that many more complex factors have to be taken into
consideration whenever birth-charts are being compared for the purpose of answering the question
above stated. Indeed, in my opinion, the usual procedures are at best most superficial and in many
ways psychologically unsound, inasmuch as they fail to grasp the true operation of the basic
psychological mechanisms at work in human relationship—particularly in intimate love relationships.

Levels of Desire
First, we must consider what the levels of operation of essential human desires are in terms of
astrological factors.

The primary level is the biological-instinctual-vital level represented by the Sun and Moon. The
second level is the more or less individualized personal-emotional level, affected by cultural
influences and psychological complexes, represented by Mars and Venus. Then there is a social or
religious level, represented by Jupiter and Saturn, which can, in some cases, frame and control the
personal drive toward happiness in relationship.

As to Mercury and the three planets beyond Saturn, they should best be considered, I believe, as
factors which modify or tend to transform and revolutionize, liberate or disintegrate the attitudes a
man and a woman have held toward love and relationship under the pressure of physiological,
parental, religious or social factors during the first 20 years.

Planets in Contact
The next point to stress, astrologically speaking, is that the fact that two charts have one or more
close planetary points of contact (and they should be quite close to be really significant!)
does notnecessarily indicate that the two persons will have much to do together. I have seen many
cases of strong relationship between the charts of two persons who, after a few brief meetings in
which they felt rather attracted to each other, went their separate ways without anything of
significance or importance having occurred in terms of this superficial relationship. Planetary
contacts between two charts indicate merely that if a significant and more or less lasting relationship
is established, the basic meaning of this relationship can be interpreted and understood in terms of
such planetary contacts.

If, however, one of the two persons, or both, wants to know whether the contacts between their
birth-charts indicate a good possibility of happiness, this already shows that the potentiality of
relationship is at work and seeking confusedly to actualize itself. The problem is, therefore, to try to
discern the lines of least resistance in their temperaments or egos along which the urge to
relationship will flow, particularly to seek basic clues concerning the level at which the relationship
can most satisfactorily bring happiness; and, of course, there can be more than one such level
affected at the same time.

Sun-Moon Contacts

The contact between the Sun in one chart and the Moon
in another usually reveals quite definitely a fundamentalpotentiality of relationship operating at the
generic level of vital forces. The Sun and Moon represent, indeed, the two polarities of the universal
life force; but at the psychological level, they do represent these polarities in terms of basic "images"
of what will bring to a person what he or she lacks in order to be complete in power and vitality. In
other words, the zodiacal position of the Moon in a man's chart pictures the type of "ideal woman"
who will bring to him the inner kind of vital energy he lacks or possesses only in a latent
undeveloped state. The Sun in a woman's chart represents her ideal of "the man," the ideal lover.

As every lack attracts what can complete it, it follows that normally (i.e., according to the
unobstructed, natural process of relationship) a man will attract to him women who can polarize and
illumine his natal Moon. Thus, if the man has his Moon in mid-Taurus, he will tend to draw to him
women born with their Sun around mid-Taurus. The actual women will, thus, answer the call of the
potential "Woman-Image" projected by the man—which means, in another sense, the call of his own
latent, unexpressed femininity. If a contact is established, the mutual attraction should be strong,
provided there are not too many disturbances or blockages operating at the more strictly
psychological-intellectual ego level.

Such a Sun-Moon contact operates both ways: the man finds in the woman that which fills with light
and power his "Woman Image" (i.e., his special need for a feminine counterpart who will externalize
what he cannot objectify by himself alone); and the woman finds her "Man Image" (her natal Sun)
reflected in the psychic mirror or the desire of the man and, thus, becomes conscious of her own
unexpressed masculine selfhood. As a result, both partners become more complete, more totally
"realized" through each other.

This is the psychological process which operates in an essentially "human" (and not merely animal)
conjunction of the male and female polarities. But, of course, one may also claim that the reverse
type of contact is equally or more valid: that is, the Sun of the man conjunct the Moon of the woman.
In this case, what we see is a symbol of sheer sexual and instinctual polarization under the
compulsive power of life.

In the first case, at the psychological level, we have the solution of the personal needs of the man's
mind-spirit and of the woman's soul for their psychic counterpart. It is potentially, and it can become
actually a conscious and fulfilling love process—a union which can make two truly human beings
united through and beyond the body. In the second case, at the biological level, we simply witness
the meeting of two polarized energies for the non-personal purpose of life's perpetuation which can
be wonderful enough if allowed to operate in natural perfection of rhythm. Yet this Sun-Moon contact
of itself deals primarily with natural energies, not with human consciousness. (There may be, of
course, other planetary contacts, adding other facets to the relationship.)

By, contrast, in the union of the man's natal Moon and the woman's natal Sun two "images," two
ideals are blended. If there is marriage, it is then a marriage of "images"—that is, of psychic
realities. The physiological-sexual happenings become mainly symbolic rituals exteriorizing the
psychological communion which is, to the joined individuals, the basic factor. The union has a
creative, rather than procreative purpose and meaning in the life of the participants. What is
essential in it, even if there are children, is the creative or recreative potentiality implied in the
relationship. Each participant, by projecting himself in the other, fulfills the hidden side of that other's
nature. Thus, two greater beings are created.

In many contacts between the charts of individuals united by some kind of bond—whether it be a
non-sexual friendship or a love affair or a marriage—the Sun or Moon of one person is in contact
with a planet in the other chart. There are a great many possibilities of interplanetary contacts. But
where the Sun or Moon is involved in the contact, one can always find a basic "image" at work or
being stirred in the depths of the unconscious.
 In the well-known love affair between the Polish
composer Chopin and the French woman writer who took the name of George Sand, the Moon of
the man at 12° Libra was conjunct the very much emphasized Uranus of the woman. The delicate
and sensitive composer had within him an "image" of a strong, transforming, unconventional woman;
and he drew to himself the restless French lady, almost a prototype of the free, independent and
creative modern woman. She also had her Moon in late Aries opposed to Chopin's Jupiter, and her
own Jupiter at 26° Libra was opposed to his Jupiter at 23° Aries. Her seventh-house Saturn at 28°
Virgo was within orb of an opposition to his seventh-house Mars at 2 1/2° Aries.

The Jupiter exchange is interesting, for contacts involving Jupiter and Saturn tend to show either
social pressure or individual karma at work in the relationship. I remember a case in which the man's
Jupiter was conjunct the woman's Sun-Saturn pair, her Jupiter conjunct his Moon. This indicated a
strong soul contact leading to marriage—a marriage which, however, was dissolved some years
later under very special social and karmic pressures. The woman remarried, this time a man whose
birth-chart contacted hers only at one point: an exact conjunction of his Uranus to her fourth-house
Moon (the latter had signified a rather unusual type of "mother complex"). The man's Uranus had
intensely stimulated some phases of her feminine nature, and the result was a child born with
Uranus rising! The contact was strengthened by the fact that the man had his Sun and several
planets in her first house.

In another case which did not lead to marriage but to a very beautiful friendship, a man's Sun was on
a woman's Venus. The woman was able to bring to the man's image of his own positive selfhood
(Sun) a Venusian quality of love and higher significance. The Saturn of a woman on a man's Sun
may bring pressure and karmic confrontations from some ancient past to the man; but it may also
help to bring his true self to a more clearly defined and focused condition.

The important fact never to lose sight of, however, is that such contacts may "work" very strongly in
some instances and perhaps not at all or indirectly in others. I recall a man whose Venus was
conjunct a woman's Sun. They knew each other but slightly through a mutual acquaintance; yet in a
moment of decision, some seemingly not too important advice given by the man to the woman
changed her life, stopping what then seemed to be an unavoidable divorce and leading to the totally
unexpected birth of a child.

It is indeed impossible for any person to fathom or foresee the consequences of a relationship with
another person—and this applies as well to relationships between friends or associates of the same
sex and involving no evident emotional interaction. The study of the points of contact between the
charts of the persons being related cannot reveal, I repeat, whether or not an obviously important
relationship will be worked out; it can only show the essential character of the potentiality of
relationship between these two persons: i.e., the most fundamental reason for their connection if
there is actually to be a concretely active linking of destinies.
Mars-Venus Contacts
When the Mars and Venus of two charts are aspected in one way or another, the potential contact
between the two individuals tends to express itself in terms of very "personalized" psychological-
emotional situations and needs. Here we deal no longer with the basic "natural" level of life
polarities, but instead with the overtones of what the life energy has released and built up in the two
personalities. A French horn and a violin may play the same note, but the two resulting sounds are
extremely different. They differ in "quality" or "timbre." They differ because while the fundamentals of
the two sounds are the same, the distribution of the vibratory energy in the sounds among the
overtones of this fundamental differs immensely. One instrument concentrates this sound energy
among the lower overtones, the other among the higher. Each instrument in an orchestra has its
own pattern of overtones, which gives to this instrument its "individual coloration," musically
speaking.

In a rather similar sense, every human being is basically

"human" as a member of the species mankind; but each differs as an individual, according to the
way he reacts to human experiences and to what special type of experiences he or she has had to
meet, especially during the formative years. These personalized responses to life in time generate
characteristic "emotional attitudes"; and it is to these that Mars and Venus refer most directly.

When the natal Mars of a person is very close to the natal Venus of another person, it is most likely
that (at least insofar as this point of contact is concerned) they will meet on the basis of a search for
someone whose emotional attitude will act as a complementing factor and with the ability to balance
some important personal lack or undeveloped psychic area of the personality or to appease a
psychic disturbance.

The need, I repeat, is a very personal one, often based on some insistent "complex" or at best on the
fact that these two persons have developed emotionally along opposite lines—developed in such a
way that a whole side of their potential nature was left immature or in the shadow realm of the
unconscious.

Mars is the masculine polarity of the conscious emotional life; Venus, the feminine. Venus
represents, therefore, in a man his latent femininity; Mars in a woman is her latent, but
nonetheless real and potentially arousable, masculinity. These planets represent this femininity and
masculinity at the level of the personal soul, rather than in a biological sense.

If, thus, a man has overplayed his masculine role and ability to respond, perhaps because his natal
Mars was strongly emphasized, the feminine side of his personality may be very undeveloped; and it
may call (unconsciously to the man's ego, most likely) for someone to activate this feminine side.
This call often takes the form of projecting a strong "Woman Image" of himself; this image seeks its
complement in the "Man Image" of a woman who longs to see herself related to a man, giving her a
chance to display her own more or less unconscious masculinity.
When, on the other hand, the Mars of a man is conjunct the Venus of a woman, one can expect a
more direct and often less consciously personal flow of emotional vitality from the man to the
woman. The relationship may feed on a simpler and more natural attraction based on masculine and
feminine charm. It is based on the impact of the man's desire for emotional self-expression arousing
a personal response in the woman. This can be a particularly significant relationship if either the man
or woman (or both) has been somewhat afraid of human relationships and as a result living over-
consciously in the mind—or has become enveloped in some intellectual-spiritual cloud of illusion.
The man needs, therefore, to feel more masculine, the woman more feminine.

Planets and Angles

There are also many cases of significant relationships between two people which can be interpreted
astrologically through the contacts between some planet or planets in one chart and one of the four
angles—mainly, the ascendant in the other chart. In the aforementioned case of Chopin and George
Sand, Chopin's Venus was conjunct his mistress' ascendant. She had been stimulated, no doubt, by
his Venusian musical genius, as composer and pianist. The planet in one person's chart stimulates
the psychological function to which this angle refers.

If we use Carl Jung's definition of the four basic functions in man's psyche, we can see how
"intuition" refers to the ascendant, "feeling" to the nadir, "sensation" to the descendant and "thinking"
to the midheaven or zenith. George Sand needed to have her "intuition" aroused.

Part of Fortune Contacts

Such contacts between planets and angles are usually very revealing. Another equally revealing
contact is that between one planet in a chart and the Part of Fortune in another

chart. I began this article by pointing out how many and varied
ways there are for astrologers to answer the familiar question, "Will I find happiness with this
person?" It is well, therefore, to close with a reference to the Part of Fortune, which, in a very real
sense, is one of the main indicators of a person's capacity for happiness and of the particular nature
of the person's happiness or lack of happiness.

The Part of Fortune, as I have often shown, is simply the moving index of the everyday state of
relationship between the Moon and Sun. It indicates the "phase of the Moon"—which, more,
accurately speaking, should be called the phase of the soli-lunar relationship (i.e., of the lunation
cycle). The Part of Fortune, thus, symbolizes in every individual the connection between the Sun
polarity (masculine) and Moon polarity (feminine) of his or her basic nature. It is an all-important
connection; and when it is directly influenced by the position of a planet nearby, the character of the
person is thereby revealed in some essential feature.
A person born with Saturn conjunct the Part of Fortune tends to be the pessimistic type or, at any
rate, the man whose happiness depends on deeply rooted personal factors rather than on superficial
circumstances or events. Jupiter conjunct the Part of Fortune is, on the contrary, an indication of
innate optimism and faith, of social buoyancy and a "good-fellow" attitude.

If a person's natal Saturn is close to another person's Part of Fortune, the relationship may deepen
and make more practical the second person's personal attitude; but it may also be at times heavy
and depressing. The meaning of contacts involving other planets can easily be worked out by
considering the typical characteristics of these planets.

Careful Consideration Advised

In closing, I should not only make it clear that I have merely given here the broad outlines of a
complex subject which, unfortunately, is but too often discussed on a very superficial and not too
relevant basis of quick judgment, but I should also restate most emphatically that the fact the charts
of two persons reveal some strong points of contact does not mean that these persons will or
necessarily should become closely related. I stress this point because I have seen near tragedies
produced by someone discovering that another person's chart was closely related to his or her own.
Also, I have seen happy and lasting marriages between two persons whose birth-charts had only
very slight points of contact.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that if a lasting, or a brief but highly meaningful, relationship is
established between people, whatever points of contact there are between their birth-charts is
almost certainly a remarkably revealing indication of the character and purpose of the relationship. It
is this fact which makes a study such as this valid and necessary; it is "necessary," for astrological
judgment in the matter of inter-chart relationship can only be valid if all the complex intricacies of the
subject are carefully taken into consideration.

Author:

DANE RUDHYAR (1895-1985) was a leading figure in astrology the 20th

Century, introducing reforms to the ancient practice many practitioners and writers today take for
granted. A prolific writer, Rudhyar contributed more than 20 books and several hundred articles to
modern astrology. A multi-faceted creative, Rudhyar was (along with Edgard Varèse,
Henry Cowell, Ruth Crawford, and others) one the seven "Ultra-Modern" composers of the early-
20th Century. Read more about Rudhyar's life and work at the Rudhyar Archival Project, sponsored
by khaldea.com

Image Sources:
Dane Rudhyar: provided by khaldea.com
Heart/Couple: Public Domain CC0, by Takmeomeo via pixabay.com
Heart/Couple: Public Domain CC0, by Takmeomeo via pixabay.com
Chopin/Sand: By after Eugene Delacroix [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Anchors/Couple: Public Domain CC0, by Takmeomeo via pixabay.com
Frogs: Public Domain CC0, by Alexas_Fotos via pixabay.com