Ever wonder how some couples with incompatible suns and/or moons have more fruitful, longer-lasting unions than some couples who share luminaries in the same element? It could very well be explained through one partner’s descendant making complementary contacts with the other partner’s luminaries, planets, and/or houses. My own maternal grandparents are a testament to this. They have been married for almost sixty years and have barely ever engaged in altercations. My maternal grandmother has a sun in Leo and moon in Aries whereas my maternal grandfather has a sun in Taurus and moon in Cancer. Basic luminary compatibility analysis would suggest they’re an unfit match, but they couldn’t be more in love and devoted to one another. Unfortunately, I’m unaware of their birth times, so I don’t have any information on their angles or house placements. However, I speculate that they must have hard aspects in synastry to explain their harmonious union.
If you thought interaction between both couples’ sun signs was the main significator of love, compatibility, and/or attraction, then you might be surprised to learn that it’s not even as relevant as you may have presumed. When you look at your natal chart, your descendant will be in direct opposition to your ascendant. The descendant signifies who you unconsciously attract and what you unconsciously crave in a partner. In synastry, when one person’s luminary (sun and/or moon) makes a strong aspect to another person’s descendant, mutual indifference will not be a possibility. The descendant, and the planets on or near the descendant (if you have any), will be the main signicator(s) of unconscious attraction. Ever wonder how one person can leave the powerful effect of making the hairs on your arm stand straight up upon first impression? Well, it’s very likely that someone’s luminary is making contact with the other person’s descendant, Vertex, Node, or Sun/Moon midpoint.
Below, I’ve attached an excerpt from a seminar on the book Mapping the Psyche, Volume 2: The Planetary Aspects and the Houses of the Horoscope. The book is authored by Clare Martin, a Zimbabwean-born British astrologer who is known among many astrology enthusiasts:
Audience: What about someone born with Pisces on the Ascendant and Virgo on the Descendant? Are they likely to attract Virgoans?
Clare: Yes, Virgo-type people. That could be someone who has their Sun in Virgo or Gemini, or someone who is Mercury-ruled or with a strongly tenanted 3rd or 6th house. With Pisces on the Ascendant, we tend to instinctively absorb and merge with our surroundings. This is a very chameleon-like Ascendant, and people with Pisces rising are normally so well camouflaged that they tend to attract partners who take on the role analysing and defining and structuring all this fluidity. This can easily feel like criticism, if you have Virgo on the Descendant, but it is of course one’s own projected ability to develop the analytical skills which give shape to, and complement, the Piscean sensitivity and imagination.
I couldn’t have articulated it more eloquently. Though, I should add that planets on or near the descendant will also influence unconscious attraction, as well. For example, if you have Saturn on or near your descendant, you will attract mates who have Saturn as a dominant planet. You may also attract people who have a heavily tenanted 10th and/or 11th house, since Saturn rules the 10th house and co-rules the 11th house with Uranus. Since Saturn is the ruler of Capricorn and co-ruler of Aquarius, you may also attract partners with at least one luminary in Capricorn and/or Aquarius, specifically if the person’s luminary conjuncts your descendant or vice versa.
Having compatible planets is great, but it doesn’t necessarily suggest sparks or relationship longevity. Over time, the flame may weaken or burn out if there are no complementary hard interaspects. Grand aspects to look out for in synastry are contacts between one partner’s luminaries and another partner’s descendant, Vertex, Nodes, and/or Sun/Moon midpoint. Mutually complementary grand aspects will make the partners in the relationship feel like they complete one another. Though, for the sake of compartmentalization, I will be mainly focusing on synastry aspects that involve the descendant and 7th house planets, in this entry.
In synastry, when one partner’s sun conjuncts the other partner’s descendant, the descendant partner will feel invigorated by the sun partner’s energy and conscious personality. The sun partner will be driving force of the relationship and thereby assume the active role in the partnership. The sun partner will also enjoy the admiration s/he receives from the descendant partner. The sun person will also experience this affinity with a person who has a descendant in a different sign but same element as the sun person’s sun sign. This is called a trine, which is slightly less powerful than a sun-descendant conjunction. It is imperative to emphasize that the sun and descendant must be in the same degree, or separated by an orb of few degrees, in order to be a conjunction or trine. The tighter the orb, the more success the results will yield.
When a partner’s moon conjuncts the other partner’s descendant, the descendant person feels nurtured by the moon person’s emotional responses and effortlessly understanding nature. The moon person will appreciate the feeling of being needed and having the ability to comfort the descendant partner’s psyche. In this instance, the moon person takes on the receptive role in the relationship. Trines between person A’s moon and person B’s descendant yield this effect, as well, but to a slightly lesser extent, like mentioned in the previous paragraph.
I will now provide Emma Watson as an example, and determine her top matches by examining her luminaries and descendant.
As shown above on Watson’s natal chart, her ascendant is in 27°Virgo00′, which means her descendant is in 27°Pisces00′. Her moon is less than a mere 0°21′ away from her nadir, in 25°Sagittarius53′. The conjunction of Watson’s moon and nadir indicates a very sensitive point in her natal chart, since the moon represents emotional nature and the nadir symbolizes the base of one’s life force. Watson’s sun is in 25°Aries25′ and tenanted in her 8th house, bestowing her with Plutonian/Scorpian personality traits. Since Watson’s descendant is in 27°Pisces00′, she will attract men with a luminary in or very near 27°Pisces00′. Pisces is ruled by Neptune and co-ruled by Jupiter, so Watson will also gravitate towards men who possess Neptune and/or Jupiter as their dominant planet(s). Jupiter, co-ruler of Pisces, is also the ruler of Sagittarius, which means Watson also feels a powerful connection with men who possess a luminary in or very near 27°Sagittarius00′. Neptune rules the 12th house and Jupiter rules the 9th house, so potential partners with a heavily occupied 12th and/or 9th house will also share a deep connection with Watson. Watson will also feel attracted to men with a luminary in or very near the 27th degree of Scorpio or Cancer, since it will be trining her descendant, but the magnitude of this attraction is slightly less pronounced than a conjunction. With Watson’s moon in 25°Sagittarius53′, she will feel especially attracted to men with a descendant in or very near 25°Sagittarius53′ or 25°Pisces53′. She will also feel a deep attraction for men who have Jupiter on or very close to the descendant. With her sun in 25°Aries25′, she will be attracting men with a descendant in or very near 25°Aries25′ or 25°Scorpio25′, since Scorpio is co-ruled by Mars, which is the planet that rules Aries. Men with Mars on or very close to the descendant will also be enchanted by Watson’s Arian sun.
Now, let’s divert our attention to celebrity BFFs, Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King.
Although, not necessarily a couple in the romantic sense, Winfrey and King have a friendship that most people idealize. Winfrey has a sun in 9°Aquarius00′, moon in 4°Sagittarius32′, and descendant in 29°Gemini41′. King has a sun in 6°Capricorn19′, moon in 13°Aquarius45′, and descendant in 23°Cancer58′. King’s Uranus is in the seventh house conjunct her descendant, separated by an orb of only 2½ degrees. King’s Jupiter is less than one degree away from her Uranus, making it a conjunction right near her descendant. Winfrey’s Uranus is also in her seventh house, but it’s a little over twenty degrees away from her descendant, deeming its role less significant, but albeit still relevant. King’s second and third most dominant planets are Uranus and Jupiter, which attracts Winfrey’s 7th house Uranus and Sagittarian descendant. Winfrey’s second most dominant planet is Jupiter, which is complementary for their friendship, since King has Jupiter less than 3½ degrees above the descendant. As a lunar Sagittarian, Winfrey is able to nurture King’s 7th house Jupiter. King’s 7th house Uranus also feels completed and invigorated by Winfrey’s Aquarian sun, since Aquarius is ruled by Uranus. Winfrey’s 7th house Uranus is nurtured and complemented by King’s Aquarian moon. In conclusion, Winfrey and King’s synastry tell us that they are attuned to each others’ emotions and have an excellent, mutual understanding. With King’s 7th house Uranus nourishing Winfrey’s Aquarian sun, we can assume Winfrey takes on the star role, making her the more dynamic force in the friendship.
Lastly, we have Brangelina.
There is an admiration to be said for same-mode couples making it work. Both Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are exactly 48.4% cardinal, 43.6% mutable, and 8.0% fixed. Cosmic, right? I mean, what are the odds that you meet a person whose modes are dissected in the exact same percentages as you? Both of them have moon, Mars, and Venus in cardinal signs. They also both share suns in mutable signs, that happen to be opposite, as well. Pitt has a sun in 25°Sagittarius52′, moon in 22°Capricorn50′, and descendant in 11°Gemini55′. Jolie has a sun in 13°Gemini25′, moon in 13°Aries05′, and descendant in 28°Capricorn54′. With Jolie’s descendant in 28°Capricorn54′, she is attracted to men with a luminary in or close to 28°Capricorn54′, as well as 28°Aquarius54′, since Capricorn’s ruler, Saturn, co-rules Aquarius with Uranus. With Saturn being the ruler of Capricorn, Jolie will also be attracted to men who have Saturn as a dominant planet. Since, Saturn rules the 10th house and co-rules 11th house, men who have these houses highly tenanted will also be attracted to Jolie. Pitt’s moon in 22°Capricorn50′ loosely conjuncts Jolie’s descendant, separated by an orb of 6°04′. This suggests that Pitt plays the role of the nurturer in the relationship. Pitt also has Capricorn as his most dominant sign, which attracts Jolie’s craving for structure and discipline, since her descendant is also in Capricorn. Pitt’s descendant in 11°Gemini55′ suggests an attraction to women who possess a luminary in or near 11°Gemini55′. Gemini is ruled by Mercury, and since Mercury co-rules Virgo with Chiron, Pitt will also feel an affinity with women who have a luminary in 11°Virgo55′. Pitt will also feel attraction towards women who have Mercury as a dominant planet, as well as women with heavily occupied 3rd and/or 6th houses. Jolie has Mercury as her second most dominant planet. Pitt’s descendant in 11°Gemini55′ conjuncts Jolie’s sun in 13°Gemini25′, separated by an orb of 1.5°. This reinforces that Pitt plays the receptive role in the relationship, not only as the nurturer, but in general, whereas Jolie takes on the alpha role and acts as the driving force of the pair.
Some other couples with luminary-descendant interaspects include Kimye, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, and Oprah Winfrey and Stedman Graham.
ASTROPLAYGROUND 