'It’s assumed that contacts to both the Nodes (particularly the South Node) and the Vertex feel like ‘fate’ is playing a hand. It’s assumed that both the Nodes and the Vertex axis give us those ‘aha’ moments, those rare, often once-in-a-lifetime meetings that stir us with feelings of forever (at first). They cause us to believe that the ‘one and only’ really exists–it must, because we’ve never felt this way before.

'True friendship is a rare and wonderful thing; I don't mean to belittle it. We share interests; we celebrate each other's victories and commiserate in failure and pain. We share values and assumptions. Unspoken understandings abound. Like good jazz players, we even interrupt each other at exactly the right, comfortable moments. You can feel that kind of friendship instantly. You meet someone at a party and there's an instantaneous sense of being on the same page. Everything a friend does is all right.'

'I think, of all the aspects in synastry, the most misinterpreted is the conjunction. It’s easy to understand why. There’s something romantic about a conjunction, something seductive. Two (or more, sometimes) become one. How lovely. There is a basic archetype at work here, the reconciliation of differing energies, the merging of two separate forces. On the surface, it’s rather Neptunian, the melding, the union. It’s also rather Neptunian in that this melding is often an illusion–elusive, and temporary.

'I’ve had a lot of students come to me with questions about Chiron lately. I think it has a lot to do with Chiron and Neptune dancing together in Aquarius right now. We need a larger focus on how we can heal through connecting with others. But Chiron in synastry, one on one, can be very tricky to interpret. There is a lot of focus on the, by now infamous, Chironian incurable wound. The big question from students is always, “who is the wound-er and who is the wound-ee?”'

'How do you know if a relationship will last, or if it will even begin? When consulting astrology about a romantic relationship, most people want to know if it will develop into a significant, long term union. The underlying question is, “What kind of an impact will I have on the other person?” While there are no guarantees, the following are what I believe to be the top five synastry aspects which strongly indicate that a serious relationship will develop. All five don’t have to be present, but the more aspects there are, the stronger the draw i

'The one thing that is guaranteed to surprise students is when you tell them that there is more than one Venus/Mars polarity in the chart. Sometimes I tell them what it is, and sometimes I’m Virgo-cruel enough to ask them to go find it. After they sweat for a bit my Neptune wins out and I give in. We forget that Scorpio is also ruled by Mars. The legitimacy of old rulerships is something that makes itself known strongly when you study progressions and the progressed chart.

'One of the reasons we abhor Saturn is that he doesn’t let us get away with anything. In this, he is definitely the strict parent who knows us inside and out, especially when we tell him we’re going to the library when we really have plans to stay out way past our bed time. Saturn is the one who pushes us to work harder when we feel like being lazy. Saturn is the one who nags us about the right things at the right times.

"This is one of those inter-chart aspects no one talks about in synastry–the attraction of the Saturn/Saturn opposition between natal charts. It’s always been around, with couples, working partners, and friendships, but it seems to be more prominent than ever now. It’s turning up more and more in the synastry work I do, almost to the point where I can say it’s commonplace.

"It seems to me that the differences between Venus and Mars have become very blurred and we now look at Venus/Mars as one big sexual mish mosh. I think part of this is due to the fact that our sexual stereotypes have been eroding (for the better) and both partners are allowed to take both passive and active roles. But it gets confusing, because, while both Venus and Mars are about desire, their roles are very different. Venus is about what we desire, and Mars is about both how we desire and how we fulfill our desire.

"As we discussed in the Mars article, the markers of love and sex, Venus and Mars, are undergoing a slow evolution concerning the roles they play in our relationships. In the ‘old’ days, it was easy–Mars, men, sex; Venus, women, love. (It always seemed bizarre to me that no one accounted for the Moon in terms of sex, considering that the Moon rules the body and is also the seat of the psyche.) But the dance is shifting, things have been changing for a long time now, and it’s time to cast a fresh eye on Venus to see what rules still apply.