What's a Synastry Chart?

     Synastry is one of those words that just sounds hot! Astrology is full of words that don't get used by your general public, which can make conversation difficult sometimes. Simply put, synastry is the way astrologers look at, and analyse a relationship. Dictionary.com defines synastry as: "the comparison of two or more natal charts in order to analyse or forecast the interaction of the individuals involved." 

     Over the years, as I've worked with clients, I've heard people say they weren't sure they wanted to have a reading together. There are usually a couple of reasons people are hesitant. For one thing, they don't want to hear me say the relationship will never work out. Usually when I hear that, it has more to do with issues the couple are already aware of on some level. It scares people to think I might tell them they're wasting their time. The other comment I hear is that they aren't sure they want to have a conversation about their astrology chart in front of their partner. If you are that worried about being transparent and vulnerable in front of your partner, you have deeper issues than whether or not to have an astrology reading. I can assure you I have never told a couple they should just quit while they are ahead, but I have had couples try to use me as an excuse to call it a day!

     As with so many things in our lives, not facing an issue is just setting yourself up for failure. As with any system of analysis, there are definitely some indicators of a relationship being easier than others; but who am I to say which relationships will work out and which ones won't? My clients will never hear me say, "it's hopeless." Astrology doesn't tell us if a partnership will last, but it will open up lines of communication. Not only does everyone have preferred styles of communicating, each of us have unique factors that motivate us. 

     Knowing your partner's "why", sometimes makes all the difference for communicating effectively. When a couple takes time to work with an astrologer, a doorway to understanding can be opened. Synastry also takes into account that a relationship of any kind takes on a third identity - the identity of the partnership, whether it is a couple, a business relationship or a group working together toward a common goal, is unique to the people involved. That third identity, the relationship, can become so overpowering people may forget their own motivation and unique identity. The relationship has a motivation and a drive of it's own. When the individual identity and drive of the two people in that relationship no longer work within the confines that third identity provides, the stress can become too much for some relationships to overcome intact. By exploring the motivation of all the entities involved, it's easier to untangle the subconscious behavior from the issues at hand. Looking at your partner and your relationship from an unemotional, controlled situation is one way to see if there is a way for the people involved to gain control over the relationship, instead of letting the relationship call all the shots. 

     I'm not a counselor and I don't try to be one. I'm more like a neutral friend that can help people explore all the unique ways we interact when we are alone, verses how we behave when we are interacting with others. Each relationship in our lives can be the opportunity for self discovery. Each partnership and group we touch in our lives allow us to accomplish more than if we were alone. Relationships can uncover wonderful gifts, but with those opportunities come tough lessons. Most people aren't ready for a relationship when we start one, but if we waited until we were ready some of us would never date! That being said, once past the fun part of getting to know someone, we are faced with getting to know what you bring out in each other. Some couples rarely, if ever, take time to sit down and talk when issues aren't so emotional. I provide that space. I allow couples the opportunity to ask each other questions about topics rarely discussed. And then, we look at ways we can better understand each other. Perspective is so important for acceptance. When we know how much our relationship is asking us to grow as individuals, it is easier to accept each other's growing pains. 

One of my favorite relationships to look at with synastry is the partnership of Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Looking at their relationship from an astrological point of view really shows the bond between the two of them. Their relationship certainly played out with a triumphant rise to world wide fame, a partnership that shaped a generation, ending with a famous breakup that is still discussed and joked about to this day. For all intense and purposes, the synastry interpretation for John Lennon and Paul McCartney reads like the love story of soul mates. By looking through the lens of astrology, we can see unlimited potential and growing pains that threaten to destroy us. With the understanding of synastry, we are given the opportunity to decide how our story ends.     

Why February 29th is My Favorite Day of the Year

It may seem strange to say a day that only "exists" every 4 years is my favorite day of the year, but as an Astrologer, and an observer of nature, leap year is a perfect example of man kinds need to simplify what should be appreciated for its beautiful complexities. Nature is, by design both wonderfully simplistic and unfathomably complex; a dichotomy of the most extreme, living side by side in perfect harmony with no compromise and no apologies for being difficult to understand.

The idea of a leap year is a compromise for the world at large. The ability to easily cut up our years into months, our months into weeks, our weeks into days, and  days that can all be ticked off by hours and minutes, into easy to work with numbers, has long been a quest of evolving man. There’s only one small problem with that idea; the universal clock doesn't work with our number system! There always seems to be this "leftover" bit of time that adds up!

It's this idea of extra time that I love as an astrologer. Does the fact that we are unable to simplify the complex cycle of our planet make sunrise to sunset any less a full day? We adjust our clock for daylight savings time in order to feel like we are living our typical work week during the peak hours of light, but couldn't we just adjust our work day without adjusting the clocks on the walls? What is this obsession we have to cut everything up into pieces, analyze the pieces, and assign value to them? Once they are in little pieces we then declare they are understood. Once we take these pieces of our world apart, does the whole still exist?  It would be very easy for mankind to simply live with the natural rhythms of the sun and the seasons, take the days for what they are and leave well enough alone, but that  seems to be completely against our own nature.

A natural human instinct seems to be the need to explore the world around us and then try to harness our surroundings to best serve us. We have been trying to bend the earth to our will ever since our ancestors began plowing the fields. At the heart of all mankind has done in the name of science, is the basic knowledge that to understand the repeating cycles of time is to master the universe. Leap year is a reminder to me that mankind is still a long way off from mastering time and space. February 29^th is a symbol that we, too, are a complex dichotomy of simple and complex. We can sit back and enjoy how very sweet and easy it is to move through a lazy Saturday in August, and not care one bit how many minutes are in a day. Later that night we can look up at the planets and stars and be marveled at all we still can't comprehend.

That little bit of time we don’t know how to justify with our current clock and calendar system, other than clumsily adding an extra day every 4 years, reminds me that we as a civilization are still evolving. We are not yet masters of the Universe. Leap year gives us the illusion of an extra day every 4 years, as if our mother Earth built in a reminder to stop, pull back, and put that balance back in place. That one out of place day, reminds me as an astrologer that my clock system may be more complicated than would be practical for the every day work week, it is well worth knowing and sharing. Much like everything in nature, my complexity lives in harmony with the everyday simplicity and we don’t complain.

 Leap year is a lot like what I do as an astrologer. I remind people how simple and how complex life can be, all at the same time. I help people understand the wonder and beauty in the natural systems and cycles we live with every day. Astrology as a discipline dissects life and the world around us, but as an astrologer I get to look at the magic of putting it all back together. Just like our days and seasons would continue on without our calendar, there is nothing I can tell you as an Astrologer you wouldn’t find on your own eventually. However, with all that being said, isn’t it nice to have a system in place to let us know when winter is coming? 

As an astrologer I look at seasons. I look for clues of how you naturally adjust, and let you know how you might best prepare for what is coming. I love watching clients start to unfold to their own natural rhythms and embrace the dance they alone can share. Without leap year our simple system wouldn’t work anymore, and regardless of its limitations and imperfections it does work. I don’t claim to read the future any more than our calendar does, but I do know how to help you find your seasons. What an incredible job I have! 

February 8, a good day to change your life (or something...)

Since this is an Astrology blog after all, I thought I would get back into the swing of things by finally looking at the horoscope for the day of my accident. I have always gone back to astrology when life gets overwhelming, and boy was this overwhelming. It was 23 days after I had posted my last horoscope here, for the upcoming month of February, when I plowed head-on into the side of a car that had run a red light. Not only had the car run a red light, it was barreling down the road the wrong direction for the lane it was traveling.

I don't normally let the people in my life be privy to the inner workings of my brain and how I analyze events through the lens of astrology (mostly because I lose them somewhere along the way and their eyes start to glaze over), but I think this is such a great example of how I use astrology in my life, I knew I had to share my process.  For any of you other astrologer types out there, my birthday is May 16, 1974, 4:18 AM, Aberdeen, WA. My life changing car accident happened on February 8, 2014 at 3:25 pm in Colorado Springs.

There was so much going on in my life; yet, I had felt hopeless and stuck for a long time. Although I was struggling through the practice of writing horoscopes and keeping in touch with clients, I was feeling very detached from astrology, friends, clients and all the things that used to make me... well... ME! I can remember talking to an old friend that was telling me she wished I could post horoscopes more consistently because she got so much from them. I thanked her for the complement, but I didn't feel anyone else was getting much from them. I actually shook my head and laughed a few days ago when I actually logged back in here and read what would have been my horoscope for February. The very first piece of advice I gave Taurus: "You are being asked to shake up your routine and bring your focus back to career, the exchange of information, and expanding the idea of what you have to offer the world." 

Up until that day, I had resigned to making astrology a hobby. I was actually in the last semester of a medical assisting program. After the accident, I wasn't even sure if I was going to be able to physically finish the program, let alone do the job once I was done. I had pinched nerves in my neck causing anywhere from 3 to 7 of my fingers to be numb at any one time (not good for phlebotomy, my other certification), I had a pretty sever concussion, and literally sprained the muscles in my jaw and skull. While looking at the horoscope for the day, the first thing that strikes me is the intense tension of all the aspects. Transiting Pluto (the planet of destruction, rebirth, confusion and conflict), is moving right over my mid-heaven, giving my desire for rebirth and change, even if it comes in the form of destruction, a full audience for everyone in my life to watch this play out (my car accident was even in the news that night). 

As Pluto was separating from my natal mid-heaven (Pluto was at 12 degrees Capricorn that day, my natal chart mid-heaven is at 8 degrees Capricorn and transiting Venus, my ruling planet, was at 14 degrees Capricorn and in the middle of it all), these planets were all moving into closer opposition to my natal Mars (The planet of energy, impulsiveness and activity) at 15 degrees Cancer (my natal 4th house and the place where home is felt for me). All of this was happening while Mercury was retrograde (Of course! Did you notice the car I ran into was even going backwards!), and only 2 degrees away from Neptune (chaos) forming a quincunx (discord) to my natal Pluto!  For those of you following along that don't fill in the astrology blanks, what this says to me is that I was reaching a huge turning point in my life. It was coming suddenly, possibly violently, was created by confusion, would definitely cause confusion, and there was no way the universe was going to let me keep the status quo after this event. Another important aspect to the "crash" of the day, is brought together with transiting Mars just starting to separate from a conjunt with my natal Uranus and both of these planets are forming a very tight quincunx to my natal Sun in Taurus. This is probably the most telling of all the other aspects from the day. A sudden, unexpected event, coming together with raw energy and sparking action, all touching off  the elements my 7th house of partnerships, connecting with discord to my natal Sun (the planet symbolizing vitality) which sits in my first house of identity. The accident was the final straw my marriage could no longer withstand. My husband moved out about 3 month later, and it was a huge relief. 

There is so much to the reading of this chart, I'm going to pick it up again sometime, I'm sure. What I can say in short is that with all of the chaos, disillusionment, and forced growth caused by the 8th of February 2014, Jupiter (the planet of expansion and opportunity) was also sitting right in the middle of it all. So, to sum it all up, as I was going through this I knew I was going to be a better and wiser person when I reached the other side. I was being asked to reevaluate who I was and what I had to offer the world - and I was being told to dig deeper; there was more. 

I was given a once in a lifetime opportunity to be helped by outside circumstances (Transiting Saturn was quincunx my natal south node in Gemini) to force through the blockages concerning the past lives and Karma I was ready to be free of. So, for all these reasons, and all the ones I haven't mentioned yet, I don't look at my accident, my surgeries on my neck, my wrist and my jaw, or my divorce as a tragic set of circumstances. I think of these events as the culmination of all the universe was willing to provide in order for me to learn to be the best version of myself. I would never have done the work I needed to do without the catalyst. The Universe, God, the supreme force in the ether, whatever it is out there that I feel never leaves me in the dark longer than I can handle, gave me just as much as I could handle. I didn't handle it perfect, but I know I'm on the right path, because I am right back here where I belong, feeling like Sarah again, and knowing I can survive any test I am given.      

It's been a long, strange road, that seems to lead me back to you....

Wow! So the universe moves in mysterious ways. Around three weeks after my January 2014 post, I was in a very serious car accident which resulted in a concussion, several operations, and months of physical therapy. Now that I am bolted back together and can type again (I broke my wrist and the operation really slowed me down), I will be back on-line and sharing my thoughts on the stars (well, mostly planets, but you know what I mean=o). Stay tuned for some thoughts on the date and time of my accident, what I learned from it, and how I am moving on - using astrology and intuition of course!  

Horoscope: January 20 - February 19, 2014

Happy Birthday, Aquarius!

This is a great time to look within and evaluate all the things you have accomplished and the dreams you have yet to make come true. As the sun transits your natal Aquarius, take this time to connect with, and celebrate, the person you have become, and find your inner voice. If you have yet to start working on that one great gift you have to give to the world, start now! Formulate the plan, start putting it down on paper and talking about it with friends. Your birthday is a natural time to start something new, and this year is a good time to start planning! 


Pieces:
Things in your life may seem a little routine and tired, but you may not have the energy to do anything about it. Inner reflection and evaluation of what you have accomplished for the year will provide a lot of insight right now, especially if you pay attention to your dreams, the clues you are receiving from around you and your inner voice during quiet times. This is a good time for thinking about the person you are becoming and how you would like to grow and change in the upcoming year, Pieces. 


Aries: 

You may find this time preoccupied with friends, family, co-workers and relationships in general. Relationships can bring us our greatest lessons, and our greatest rewards. Even if your accomplishments are your own, the people who surround you have an effect on you, so sometimes it is important to look at these relationships and how they impact your life. This is a good time to invest in those relationships that invest in your best version of you and look at the mirror all your relationships are reflecting back, Aries. They are all lessons and opportunities to connect and grow.  


Taurus:

You are being asked to shake up your routine and bring your focus back to career, the exchange of information, and expanding the idea of what you have to offer the world. Sharing your ideas and exploring other people’s point of view can be a spring board for your growth at this time, Taurus. You may find it hard to relax and take care of yourself,  but you should think of “me time” as part of the work of finding balance right now – it's harder work than you think; try it!  


Gemini: 

Go ahead, Gemini, take a break and play for a while! You're really feeling the need to socialize, play, connect with your inner child, and recharge. If you can’t find the time for a vacation, you may be able to find something to study that peaks your interest. You want to break out of your normal routine, find some excitement or find something new to put your energy into. Don’t forget to take some time to think about how your year is going and if you need to make any adjustments to meet your goals for the year. This is a good time to make those small adjustments to stay on track.  


Cancer: 

This may be a sensitive time for you, as you are being asked to reflect and focus on your emotions and deepest desires. Partnerships may be a source of self-discovery and if you meet someone new, it may be
powerful and offer you a different view of who you could be or what you could accomplish. The relationship may or may not last, but the effects could be intense.  If you are already in a committed relationship, this is a good time to connect in a deeper, more profound way. Nurturing your emotional needs now will pay off in many ways, including a deeper connection to your subconscious now and a better understanding of yourself later.  


Leo: 
If you feel as if everything is coming to a head right now, Leo, you are right. Cooperation is very important at this time. It would be a good idea to take a step back when emotions run high, in order to stay objective. If you have been putting in the work and planning ahead, there is no need to be defensive. What is working will work out great, but light will be shed on what is not working out as well, so adjustments can be made for success. You have plenty of energy and work will come easily, so tap into that vitality and move forward with a team attitude on projects for success. 


Virgo: 

This is a fantastic time to take stock of how you manage your life – or how your life manages you, Virgo. You may find your focus turning to practical matters such as work, health, efficiency, and tasks at hand, and how to balance these things with fun, relationships and your personal goals for the future. There may be a feeling of being behind, or never having time for all the little things that need to be done in a day, or a week, or a month! This is the perfect time to put energy into looking at what would need to be done to be well-organized and disciplined about staying on top of tasks that can pile up in all areas of life. The real question is,” how can you create more time in your daily life for pursuing your greater purpose?”  


Libra: 

You have been putting in a lot of hard work and now you really want to have those accomplishments acknowledged and rewarded with a little more control over your time and the freedom to put your energy where you feel it will be most useful and effective. The ability to balance work and play with the
prospect of multitasking work with being more fun, is a real possibility now. The drive to achieve and find more satisfaction in your profession is strong. If the energy you are expelling is out of balance, you will find subtle clues telling you what isn’t working right now, Libra, so listen.


Scorpio:

You may be yearning for the comforts of home, family, and the familiar. If you seem to be having a crisis in consciousness, or feel like your whole identity may need to be re-examined, consider the idea that this may be a wonderful opportunity to become a better version of yourself than you ever imagined there could be. You might be underestimating what you have to offer the world. You may want to take some time out to reflect on how the past has shaped you into the person you are now, and how are you working toward becoming the person you want to be. 


Sagittarius:

Your schedule is full to the brim, Sagittarius; just the way you like it! You’re always a social butterfly, so you are at your best right now: out with friends; meeting with business associates. This is a good time to take inventory of the people you have in your everyday life and looking at how they support you and your larger goals, and how you support theirs. You are putting a lot of energy into pursuing your dreams and goals, and you need people around that are going to encourage you to keep going. 


Capricorn:

This may be a fairly quiet time for you, with a lot of reflection on what you value in life. It may be tempting to bury your head in work and practical matters like making money, but you are being asked to really contemplate what is important in life. A good conversation with a close friend or partner may help you clarify what your true values are and what philosophies of life you have out grown, or were flawed. It’s alright to admit that with more information you have changed your mind – it shows you are thoughtful and open-minded.