Synastry: Comparing Two Charts

Synastry means laying two birth charts side by side to see how the energies of both people affect each other. It works for any relationship: partners, friends, family, colleagues, or parent and child.

Two things to look at

• Cross-aspects: aspects between one person’s planets and the other’s, such as your Sun conjunct the other person’s Moon. Tight ones involving the Sun, Moon, Venus, Mars, and the Ascendant tend to be felt most strongly.
• House overlays: where one person’s planets fall in the other’s houses. This shows which area of your life the other person tends to stir up. The 4th house, for example, relates to home and a sense of safety. It works both ways: your planets in their houses and their planets in yours, and it needs the birth time of the person whose houses are used.

In the app

The synastry page shows a bi-wheel, with one person’s chart in the inner ring and the other’s in the outer ring, and the reading lists cross-aspects from the tightest to the widest, grouped as harmony, tension that invites growth, and intensity (conjunctions), with a short overview instead of a score. An aspect grid and a table of positions are on separate tabs. The Positions tab also holds the house overlays in both directions: which of the other person’s houses each planet falls in, with the area of life that house stands for. When one person has no birth time, the side that needs their houses shows a note instead of a table. The house lines on the wheel are the inner chart’s. You can choose two charts from those saved in your account, or from the temporary charts you have cast in this tab.

Keep an open mind

Synastry is not a verdict on whether two people are compatible. Flowing aspects can bring comfort but little challenge, while tense ones can create attraction and shared lessons. What matters most is what the two of you choose to do with each other, not where the planets sit. Use the results as conversation starters and as a way to understand each other better.