The Landlady and the Tenant The Value of Inter-Chart Forecasting by Carole Devine

Article by Carole Devine, USA

A forty-nine year old lady, recently separated from her husband and childless, came to live with her aunt in June 2011. It was potentially a great arrangement since the aunt, having plenty of room, could use some extra money, and the niece could take time to find a job and get established while living rather cheaply. The niece had the largest bedroom in the house with its own private bath. It was working very well for several months. Then in September the niece found a 57 year old boyfriend, and the dynamic changed entirely.

The niece, born November 7, 1961 at 11:06 p.m. in Washington, DC, has a motto that she shared with her aunt, which is that it is “easier for her to do as she wishes and apologize later if it was not appreciated by anyone.” One can see this with four planets in Scorpio and Leo rising with Uranus and Pluto in the first house. It is especially strong with Mars in an out-of-sign square to Uranus.

The aunt, born April 1, 1939 at 7:47 a.m. in Charlottesville, VA, is one of those Arians who does not like confrontations. With Sun on the 12^th house cusp (Koch system of houses) or in the 12^th (Placidus system) conjunct Saturn and square Mars in the eighth house, she is not skilled at conflict and could be called “passive aggressive.” Her way of handling conflict is to agree to whatever anyone says, and then forget about it, knowing full well that it is still an unresolved issue. She has Taurus rising, and that is a Taurus trait, as well.

Obviously, they both had something to learn. The niece needed to learn how to respect others’ wishes enough to ask permission when appropriate, and the aunt, how to express a conflict openly and be more skilled at doing so—and they had wounds to heal, as well.

During the two months between September and November the niece, without asking permission, made a key to the house for her boyfriend, started doing his laundry there, invited him to stay overnight five nights out of seven, had him as a guest all of the weekends and essentially allowed him to practically live there—rent free. Since the aunt paid for the utilities, her costs went up considerably. Plus, the niece started asking her boyfriend, who was a contractor, to make cosmetic improvements that she wanted in her bathroom and other places she used in the house, without the aunt’s knowledge until they gave her the bills for the materials they bought so she could reimburse them. The aunt kept thinking it would be ungrateful not to be appreciative, but also hoped each one would be the last improvement they would make. It was costing too much.

The last straw for the aunt was when one morning the boyfriend adjusted the blinds on the windows to suit himself before he left for work although he would not be there all day. It was as though he thought it was his house! The aunt had enough. She told them both they would have to find their own place if they wanted to live together. By that time the niece had a very good job and was able to fully support herself.  It provoked rage in the niece, and she not only moved out, but also stole some of the aunt’s belongings, including a spare laptop computer. Her rage was because the aunt had not given her any clues about her dislike of what was going on, and she had a valid point. She believed her aunt liked what they were doing. However, taking things when she left was a vindictive final statement of taking some “control” with her.

The Back Story

As indicated by the niece’s chart having Neptune conjunct the Sun and Moon in the fourth house and square the ascendant, she came from a home in which there were alcoholic parents. She could not depend on her parents keeping promises or even providing stability, so her very early childhood was extremely confusing. The parents were mostly in the sales profession, and so income was unstable, as well. The niece learned early to take control of her life, and to depend only on herself—thus, the philosophy of doing whatever she wanted and apologizing if it bothered anyone.

The fourth house stellium shows that she is forever seeking a stable home, which eludes her. Even when she was married, she felt she had to earn her own money and pay her own way. And her husband agreed that it was necessary, although it really wasn’t. He decided they would not have children so they could have more freedom. He loved rock concerts and had no interest in having a stable family. We always unconsciously attract that which we believe to be true on a deep cellular level, and so even when it seems possible to attain what we want, we can sabotage it to conform to our inner belief.

The aunt’s father, an alcoholic, disappeared from her life when her mother divorced him when she was about five. She had a sister (the niece’s mother—deceased in 2002) who was two years younger. After the divorce, her father made no effort to contact his children again. She, however, was not raised around alcoholism and had a more stable home.

At the age of nine, when her Sun by solar arc conjoined Saturn, her mother married a career soldier who was a veteran of World War II and had survived the Bataan Death March in the Philippines and thereafter in a concentration camp until the war ended. He was a good man, but very bitter. In the ensuing years, the two little girls heard constantly about how superior Asian or European women were, and how inferior spoiled American girls were. This cemented the low self-esteem of the aunt (shown by Saturn conjunct the Sun in the 12^th house) which started with the disappearance of her father. Further, her mother had two more daughters, and since these two step-daughters had a different last name, they felt like outsiders in this new family, although they were not treated badly.

The aunt was unconsciously forever seeking a father, and had two marriages to very controlling men, who did not seem to have much respect for her, a fulfillment of low expectations that she was used to. But with Mars in the eighth house, anger was always brewing. She divorced both husbands when she felt disrespected beyond endurance.

We can see how this incident in their living arrangement would be a perfect storm to bring out latent issues they needed to confront. The niece had no control over the house but was usurping it anyway. The aunt resented a male presence who was attempting to control the day-to-day habits in the household, and neither one was giving her respect or indeed, acknowledgement.  She was an “outsider” all over again—and in her own home!

Progressions and Solar Arc

Most of us employ secondary progressions and solar arc directions in forecasting. The first thing one would do in analyzing this situation would be to see what was going on with these techniques in the two charts on the day the aunt asked the niece to leave, November 9, 2011. She deliberately waited until after her niece’s birthday.

In the niece’s chart, the main contact was her solar arc Pluto (control) being within one minute of squaring her natal Jupiter. Since Pluto rules her fourth house, and Jupiter rules the fifth, we can see there was a conflict (square) about control of her home (fourth) and her love interest (fifth).  Generically, Pluto square Jupiter indicates that the native sees what is happening as unjust. This is what others think, too, if they are not respected enough to be asked if it is all right to make changes to their home. If she could realize that, she would recognize the lesson.

In the aunt’s chart Pluto (control, again) was transiting natal eighth house Mars (ruler of the 12^th, the subconscious), so the latent anger issue (passive aggressive behavior) was being asked to be addressed. Plus, progressed Sun was square her Jupiter-Neptune opposition in the natal chart, which is another source of escape from confrontation. This opposition often shows people who are “used” by others, not only because of poor judgment, but also an inability to say “no” to people. She, additionally, had solar arc Moon opposing natal Uranus. She was very surprised and upset by such an extreme reaction. The solar arc ascendant was conjoining natal Pluto, showing the emerging willfulness to regain control of her home, since Pluto conjoins the natal fourth cusp.

Inter-Chart Contacts

If we take the niece’s progressions and solar arcs and put them around the aunt’s chart, (figure 1) we can see how the niece’s placements affected the aunt and vice versa (figure 2)—how the niece perceived her aunt’s behavior.

Figure 1

This does not appear to be an accidental or unplanned event. In fact, it was most certainly meant to happen, as is the case with most scenarios. Note that the niece’s progressed Sun is conjoining the aunt’s Mars in Capricorn within one minute of arc. They are both about to be triggered by transiting Pluto and there had been an eclipse in late June that year at 4:46 Capricorn. The niece’s solar arc Jupiter, at 21:12 Pisces, is conjoining the aunt’s natal Jupiter and opposing natal Neptune—putting a spotlight on the aunt’s poor judgment about this drama. Her secondary progressed Saturn is opposing the aunt’s natal Pluto exactly—a challenge to her authority. The transiting Sun is even opposing the aunt’s natal Uranus which, in turn, opposes the niece’s natal Sun. The niece would never be able to control this aunt, since she would immediately feel the Uranus/ascendant conjunction of the aunt’s natal chart.  The transiting Sun’s contact to this was exact the day before when the decision was actually made. Note, too, that the living arrangement started five months earlier when the niece’s solar arc Pluto was exactly square the aunt’s MC. This was an arranged event and promised to be a power struggle. The niece awakened the suppressed anger the aunt does not overtly express. It also addresses her anger toward men specifically (Sun square Mars in the natal chart). It is an opportunity for the aunt to examine and heal these issues in her life.

Figure 2

In figure two, where we see the aunt’s effect upon the niece’s chart, it is important to note the natal configuration of Venus-Mercury in square to natal Saturn. The niece’s main issue is really that she has never felt she was loved (Venus square Saturn). The aunt’s secondary progressed ascendant is separating from an opposition to the niece’s Saturn, but approaching a square to her natal Venus-Mercury conjunction. Her progressed Moon is square the natal Saturn and opposite natal Venus-Mercury, and solar arc Uranus is square natal Venus, as well. Transiting Saturn will be conjoining the pattern in the coming weeks. Clearly, the niece is having her familiar feelings of being unloved and neglected awakened by her aunt’s behavior. Note also that transiting Mars has squared itself a few days earlier when the “last straw” event occurred, and it is in the process of awakening the natal Uranus square Mars aspect. Her reaction is predictably rage. But, if the aunt had understood this, it would have been an opportunity to help heal the issue by handling the whole thing differently.

Conclusion

This rift did not get resolved. Neither party saw what was happening and didn’t have the insight to appreciate the dynamics at the time.  When we work with compatibility analyses and forecasting, it is not enough to just look at the charts of the individuals alone. We need to remember to see what the temporary situation is regarding the way each one’s chart is affecting the other. Then we can see what the drama is that is unfolding, and also the purpose of it. What is each person here to learn, and how is the event teaching that lesson? Often we may be able to help avert the worst way of handling a situation and actually use it as intended…a healing opportunity.