Family Astrology 101: Parenting with Astrology – Part 2

Family astrology is one of the most useful practices in astrology; it can really help navigate parent/child relationships, parent to parent relationships, sibling relationships, and larger family dynamics (grandparents, aunts, uncles, nephews, and nieces). The articles within this series, Family Astrology, will explore various topics each month to help build an understanding of the astrology of family and how it can help you with your family.

A Modern Philosophy of Astrology

This article is a continuation of the previous article.  If you are coming to this topic with this article first, then you would find it helpful to go back and read the previous article. I will be writing under the assumption that you have read the previous article.

One very important idea to understand about astrology is that it has to do with energy and how that energy expresses itself.  If you happen to look at texts on astrology from earlier eras, especially pre-1990s, you will often find deterministic statements like, “with Venus in Aries, you are destined to be alone” or “a person with Saturn in Capricorn is great in business”. Often, the further back you go historically, the more outrageous or specific the claim can be, while, for that time period, also being perfectly normal.

Current and, hopefully, future astrology, when working at its best, is more about the nature of energy, then applied through careful observation about how it manifests through the individual with that energy in the chart.  So, Venus in Aries, generally speaking, expresses a desire to relate independently, respecting and seeking to be respected as an individual.  Such a person might enjoy a lifelong monogamous relationship, be polyamorous, or be a hermit; those will be the choices of the individual journey, not a determination of the point in the chart.  What is also the nature of this energy, in any relationship, is a more willing readiness to move on from something that is not working that would not be found with the energy of Venus in Taurus (or one of the other earth signs), which is more change resistant.

I am taking time to write these thoughts because astrology is powerfully insightful, but not a short cut to simplify people or a tool for excusing or justifying bad behavior. “I am jerk because I have Venus in Aries”, which has the subtext of “I do not have to work to be kind because my astrology says I am made this way, so I get to be jerk with impunity!”  Venus in Aries is an expression of energy, that expresses in a certain predictable way that YOU CHOOSE to embrace, reject, amplify, or repress and then MANIFEST through your choices.  Those choices can be healthy or unhealthy, but they are your responsibility.

Getting to Know the Charts of the Child and Parent – Sun to Sun

This article will look more in depth at the parent/child charts presented in the last article and shown here below. We will begin with how the Sun (Life Path) energies of the two charts are most likely to interact and what each person will need to do to make interaction successful and positive.

Parent Influence on the Child

The inner circle is the child’s chart and the outer circle is the parent’s chart. The parent’s chart “applies” to the child’s chart in certain ways. In the case of this example, the parent has a Virgo Sun, represented by the round red circle with the dot in the middle that is the 6^th pie segment (or House) of the child’s chart. Notably, the child does not have any points in this segment of the chart, so the parent’s potential influence here is quite strong.  The child’s Sun is in Aries and in the 1^st House of the chart. There is quite a bit of information to process with just these two points and their relative locations.

A person with a Virgo Sun (the parent) and a person with an Aries Sun (the child) have fundamentally different energy signatures that are, by the nature of the energy, “incongruent”. At the core of Aries is care of the self, while at the core of Virgo is service to others. By design, this child chose, spiritually speaking, a Life Path (the Sun) focused on developing the self, while the parent chose a Life Path of service to others. These energies can struggle mightily or they can enjoy a life of learning from one another, which will depend on the choices of the parent and the child!

• How Mothers Are Super Moms Based on Their Zodiac Sign (And Dads Too)

These energies do not flow naturally, so it will take work on the part of both participants to develop the most positive aspects of this relationship.  While it is true that the points in signs and houses are not deterministic, it is also true that certain energies work more easily together than others, which is still not a sign of “goodness” or “guaranteed positive outcomes”. In many cases, working hard strengthens us and too much ease can make us lazy, we have to act CONSCIOUSLY to get the best results of any of our own astrology and our astrology with someone else, especially family members!

And here is the most significant point of parent/child dynamics; the parent is the one responsible for directing and processing the energy, especially at the earliest stages of the developing child, but also until the child develops true self-sufficiency (i.e., becomes a full adult in a complete way – meaning a productive member of society).  Hence, the child will likely express the Aries in Sun energy unconsciously in a way that will really “disquiet” the Sun energy of the parent. The parent may view the child’s Aries Sun as a problem or an opportunity; hopefully as an opportunity. Otherwise, the relationship between the parent and child will face the potentially significant strain. Hence the real value in seeing the astrological relationship of the parent and the child is understanding how these energies will likely interact and what choices can be made to make the interaction a positive one.

• Parenting Weaknesses Moms Run into Based on Their Zodiac Sign

In the very specific case of these two charts, the parent’s Sun “shines” on the area of the child’s chart that has to do with service to others (6^th House) and this parent will have a lot to teach this child. And since the child does not have any energy points here, the child can be “open” to this energy and very much learn in the way the parent decides to either teach (consciously) or demonstrate (even through unconscious action) service to others.

Newborn Influence on the Parent

Now let’s look at the reverse of the two charts, and consider the child’s chart influence on the parent’s chart. The child’s Sun is “shining” on the parent’s 5^th House of Creativity. But even more important is the child’s Sun on top of the parent’s North Node (the horseshoe-shaped point directly in line with the child’s Sun). This child is here to teach the parent how to be more Aries-like, to have fun, and to play (5^th House). The Sun of the parent is in the 10^th House which is a house of responsibility and the “making” of prosperity to help “pay for” the family (4^th House). In essence, this parent is all about responsibility and achievement who has invited in a child that is all about the self and self-development.

If we look at the larger schema of both charts in relation to one another, we can see numerous points that align directly, just look for points that “line up”. From an energy standpoint, these alignments create “binding” energy that bond the parent and child energetically speaking. But once again, do not be tempted to think that strong binding is “naturally good”. Depending on how the souls decide to use the charts they selected, this binding energy can express as “I can never seem to escape this person” and I really do not like who they are.  In the next article, we will look at the parent/child Moons and see how they are likely to feel and share feelings with one another.