Outer Planet Contacts in Synastry: Part 1
A natal aspect between an outer planet and personal, relationship planet will inject your love life with extreme situations. As I explained in this article, the energies of the collective are hooked into the most intimate parts of your life. But what happens when someone else’s same outer planet aspects your relationship/outer planet combo? For example, their Pluto to your Venus/Pluto. Hundreds of thousands of people are born with an outer planet in the same sign, within the same 1-2 degree range. This is especially true for the slowest moving planets (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto). Will every Pluto person (born during a certain span of years) connect with you on an intimate level?
If you have natal Pluto conjunct Venus (let’s pick 25 degrees Virgo as an example) the energy of obsession is emphasized in your relationships. Maybe you zero in mercilessly on your partner’s flaws (Virgo) with the intention of helping them, of course. Or maybe you fixate on certain relationship details. Or, you might attract lovers who push you to the limits of what you can handle, as a way to confront your own weaknesses. The bigger theme is Pluto’s survival at all costs, united with Virgo’s M.O. of improvement through crises. You worry and obsess in order to identify what needs fixing. If you ferret out the essential “flaw” in yourself, your relationship or your partner before it becomes a problem, you think you have gained control over the situation.
Anyone born from (roughly) August 1968 to September 1970 has natal Pluto around 25 degrees Virgo, conjunct your Venus/Pluto. Are all these people your potential lovers, ready to be locked in a make-it-better-or-die-trying embrace? Not quite. As always, you must look at the complete synastry between you and the other person.
One synastric conjunction does not create a relationship. There are vast numbers of people with Pluto conjunct your Venus/Pluto, but that’s the only significant connection between your chart and theirs. It’s not enough to trigger much more than a twinge (if that) on your end, assuming you ever cross paths with them.
Let’s say you meet two men, and both their Plutos conjunct your Venus/Pluto. The synastry between you and Guy Number 1 (Stuart) is friendly, but unexceptional. His Mercury conjuncts your Mars (verbal sparring), his Venus conjuncts your Jupiter (you make him feel good) and your Sun trines his Sun (your external energies complement each other). Occasionally, you catch yourself flirting with him (in your Virgo way) by critiquing his appearance pointing out how much hotter he’d be if he shaved his beard. Stuart cheerfully points out how you could dress more strategically to show off your assets, and maybe if you stopped trying to fix every man that crossed your path, you wouldn’t be single. You both connect through the Pluto in Virgo generational theme: transformation and improvement, via analysis of what’s wrong. But things never go beyond this. The accumulated strength of the other synastric contacts is not sufficient to create a powerful resonance between the two of you.
The synastry between you and Guy Number 2 (Velvie) is a different story. His Sun conjuncts your 7th House cusp (he personifies your partnership ideals). Your Sun conjuncts his 4th House cusp (you trigger his childhood/family issues, but he also feels at home with you). His Saturn (commitment) makes strong aspects to one or two of your planets. Most importantly, his Pluto conjuncts his South Node, which also conjuncts your Venus/Pluto. Here’s a past-life (South Node) relationship, with Pluto intensity for added impact. When one person’s outer planet conjuncts the other person’s South Node, it suggests the two of you were part of the same group (symbolized by Pluto). But the inclusion of a personal planet (Venus) means the relationship was intimate within that group.
Maybe you both lived in the same village, and fell in love with each other. Then, the plague swept in and one of you died. There’s a resonance of profound loss from the past life, which amplifies the intensity of your feelings in this life. You feel like you can’t live without each other. Your fix-it urge goes into overdrive, and you find yourself playing the role of lover and nurse, even though he’s perfectly healthy. You also compulsively and involuntarily reveal all your flaws and warts, in an effort to “test” his love. If he sees the depth of your imperfections (Virgo) and sticks around, that means he’s yours for life. Right?
Whether or not Velvie sticks around remains to be seen. But the point is, due to the accumulated intensity of all your synastry contacts (most notably the South Node) the Pluto/Venus issues that are triggered in your chart go into overdrive.
It’s the same idea when one person’s Pluto (or any outer planet) aspects your Venus (if you have no natal outer planets in the mix). Every person born from August 1968 to September 1970 will not become obsessed with you (or you with them). The ones that you do meet will impact you, based on the combined strength of all your synastry contacts. The Venus/Pluto connection will certainly be a theme, but it will only be realized if there’s an overall resonance between you. Mind you, the Pluto in Virgo theme will probably not be as big a deal in your relationship, because your natal Pluto is not aspecting your Venus. Pluto is not personalized for you.
Here’s a quick list of themes for the outer planets. If you have one of these planets aspecting your relationships planets, angles (1st, 4th, 7th or 10th House cusps) or Nodes, and someone activates it with their same outer planet, these themes will become magnified and personalized in the relationship — assuming the other synastry contacts between you are strong.
- Jupiter: growth, faith
- Saturn: responsibility, limits
- Uranus: disruption, individuality
- Neptune: escape, healing
- Pluto: transformation, death
Stay tuned for Part 2, which will explore the impact of mixed outer planet contacts in synastry. For example, their Saturn aspecting your Venus/Pluto.
Related: The Outer Planets and the Angles: Paying the Price for Wisdom
