Explaining How Astrology Works - Planets Are People in Your Chart

by Robert Wilkinson

This is another in the series of how our charts work in terms of our "real world" experiences. If you've ever wondered why people suddenly appear or disappear in your life, today's article may clarify why they did, and what function or lesson they brought.

Our planets show the people in our life. In the natal, progressed, or even the Solar Return chart, each of the planets in our chart represents an important person in our life. Actually, when examining the natal chart, our planets represent many people in our life, past, present and future.

For example, when we were young our Sun sign was represented by our father and our Moon sign our mother. Our brothers and sisters were represented by other planets, maybe even an entire configuration in our chart. In this case, it may be that a sibling set off multiple responses in our life and character development, and helped us reveal how various parts of our inner nature are connected.

The way it works is simple. If each of the planets represents part of our inner makeup, it is useful to remember that we usually shape our character by our interactions with the outer world. This involves relationships. As we get older, the planets no longer are exclusively represented by our family, and increasingly reflect our friends and colleagues.

That's why some people disappear in our lives. They served to represent a planet in the "solar system" of our life up to a point, and then it was time for us to learn something new about that planetary function. For whatever reason, or for no reason, the person representing that old function no longer represented that inner or outer quality, and so the magnetic attraction that held us together no longer had resonance, and the bond was severed. As an aside, "severing" is a quality of Mars.

Then, since nature abhors a vacuum, that quality had to be filled in ways appropriate to our inner or outer hologram. Depending on who we were and what we needed to learn and manifest, another person embodying that energy showed up, and we did what we did with them for as long as they represented that quality.

And we were also a planet in their life, whether we knew it or not. It often is not the same planet, since each learns different lessons depending on the season of life we're in. We become different planets to many people, often at the level of understanding they're at. If we are important to them, we often assume the role of an important planet, whichever that one is to the individual chart in question. Those doing transformational work often act as Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto to others.

Of course, since these are invisible factors beyond individual control, it may show through one of the visible planets, or obvious character traits. For example, though my function as an astrologer is often Uranian (renovating, revolutionizing, individuating), I am often regarded as more of a Saturn influence, since I describe the boundaries of the known and the unknown, and show people the limit where their human-ness meets their Divine Spirit. This "ring-pass-not" function is most often associated with Saturn.

In our life, Jupiter is represented by people who opened our imagination, or gave us a long journey, or showed us how to be more generous or humorous in our life. When we were younger, our Saturn was no doubt represented by the elders who taught us to be afraid, or that we were bound by some inflexible rule or expectation, whether personal or societal. As we get older, Saturn can be our boss, or any authority figure who shows us limits, duties, and responsibilities. Mars may have shown as the endless succession of people who aggravated us, irritated us, our created a need to fight or flee from hassles, or taught us to be good warriors or just simply mobilize our energies in a focused and determined way.

By exploring how we came to manifest certain character traits we show our world, we can see how certain people gave us patterns to imitate or follow into that character trait. Then we can see by when those traits ended and were replaced by new ones how certain planets were embodied by the people in our life, and don't have to feel badly that someone left for no apparent reason.

We learn what we learn by our interactions with the world. Once we learn our lesson on any level, then we move to a new way of framing that lesson, ultimately so that we can serve ourselves and our world from a place of conscious wisdom and compassion. It's not that we don't regret the passing of certain people; it's just that the passages can show us our larger path revealing our dharma, or "true function" on this Earth.

So next time you wonder why someone is in your life, remember that it may be to learn to say yes, say no, say maybe, perhaps glimpse a greater reality, or dance a more enjoyable dance on this beautiful Earth. And in any case, no matter how close or distant, appreciate who brought you to the dance, since God loves gratitude.

(Originally published 11 May 2005)

© Copyright 2008 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Tiffany]

Excellent article! I've spent countless hours and days wondering why certain people show up in my life, why the same type of people tend to appear, etc. It's been difficult to swallow at times and at other times it was absolutely amazing! Pluto in Libra in the 7th house has definitely brought some interesting experiences (some quite difficult). Thanks so much for posting.

[jenganesh]

I loved that article about planetary energy being personalised in that way.I think it will change my outlook on people for ever, but also clarifies relationships. I love your generosity in your teachings, thank you.

[Henry]

Hi dear Robert.

I quote you:
"Those doing transformational work often act as Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto to others".

Well, I've surfed the WEB and always come back to you.
I'm in a very curious process. Due to circumstances, transiting Neptune is now angular in my chart, it is "nailed" in my IC Aquarius.

I have been forced due to life circumstances (separation from a big planet-person in my life) to leave a private appartment where I lived a retired life, perhaps empty with an obsolete relationship, and now I'm just sharing a room with more people living in the same place, with more shared common duties, just learning to share life out of my old lonely and stagnated, sad but comfortable privacy. Also happier to be sharing things, sometimes questioning: is this really ME?.

Seems like Neptune in a community-focused sign like Aquarius has disolved like an acid my "between secure walls" (or prison)life-style while hitting for loooooooong my IC, now exact, being close to it the current North Node.

Security is gone but more deep satisfaction inside is growing. Also confusion.

I know what you think of transiting outer planets in an individual's chart, but I can't help thinking that Neptune is involved here.

Also very confused in my professional goals...really I feel a strong need to avoid high responsabilities like it wasn't before. I'm in a dreamy mood that sometimes worries me...I must wake up!. But there's an unpleasant lack of clarity in what do I mean in this material world and what is my role on it, like a disintegration of the inner self to appear outside and play in some direction without weakness...

Which is the higher manifestation of an IC/Neptune (Neptune opp. MC) conjunction or its meaning? (if you consider the question appropriate, I can't identify a single person but a foggy inner/outer change "softly, tenderly" but extremely powerfully shaking my very self, just a bit afraid of this unknown energies).

A big auuuuuum and blessings, dear Robert.
The Grand Irrationality is a Hitchcock movie...

[Shehzaad Maroof]

dear Robert! beautiful article brother .... (We learn what we learn by our interactions with the world. Once we learn our lesson on any level, then we move to a new way of framing that lesson, ultimately so that we can serve ourselves and our world from a place of conscious wisdom and compassion) beautiful brother :)
we r lovely souls we r the beauty and light of his (GOD) its part of our destiny to do good and help others and form this Universal unity ameen :)

love

[Shireen]

I have Jupiter in Cancer in 5th house in my natal chart and have always claimed that my Jupiter represents my 5 kids!

So I thank you for strengthening my feeling about that and your article sure helps understanding astrology better - so thank you!

(and what happened to my question about Venus+Mercury+Uranus in 19 Pisces etc? did you delete it?)

[Robert]

Hi Tiffany - Thanks for your kind words. Yes, I took a lot of disappearances personally until I realized the dynamics of social change on a personal evolutionary level. Pluto in the 7th shows you to be a purifying agent in others' lives, bringing out their angel (and sometimes ego-devils!) as they transform. I have Pluto in the 1st, which is a similar energy. Glad this clarifies some things.

Hi jenganesh - Thanks for your praise of the work. Glad this can help you understand the dance of relationships from a wider point of view. Since all is given, it's a good thing to pass it forward.

Hi Henry - I have no doubt that once a person finds this site, it becomes addictive (in all the right ways!) Transiting Neptune crossing the IC and hanging out in the 4th is a VERY long range influence, dissolving the past and any sense of foundations. It was conjunct my own IC between 1955-57, a very strange time in my young life, but not necessarily bad. Just very weird. It stayed in my 4th until the mid-70s, giving me some exciting years, some strange, and little of it comprehensible from usual points of view. When Neptune was in my 4th I was at ground zero of the Space Race, Bay of Pigs, and Cuban Missile Crisis. It kicked off with Elvis and Buddy, morphed into Beatles and other 60s icons, then college, renunciation of formal psychology and history models, and ended with my embrace of the Ageless Wisdom.

I wasn't very rooted, but it was a very all-encompassing time that also showed the beginnings of the spiritual community I helped form in Austin in the mid-70s that lasts to this day. Due to the Grand Irrationality, I suspect "a dreamy mood" is more pervasive than personal, especially with Uranus and Neptune in mutual reception in "non-personal" signs. I would think "a higher manifestation" would involve not taking any thing personally, seeing yourself rooted in global culture, spiritual awareness 24/7, and deepening your compassion for self and everyone in your past, this lifetime as well as others. Dreams about other lifetimes, dreams about where and when to go wherever, dreams of groups in the home, visions of the future anchored in the present.

Hi Shehzaad - Aum and blessings to you as well. I put your site on the blogroll. It's true that in fact, we are here "to do good and help others and form this Universal unity." If God is ALL-THAT-IS, then we can do no less.

Hi Shireen - Your kids are no doubt Jupiterian, especially the first one. The second child is ruled by the 7th, the third by the 9th, and so on around the wheel. I have no doubt your 5th child resembles you more than you suspect! As for your question, I didn't delete it. I told you I would post an article on that question, and it went up today!

[Jeri]

Robert, what you do think of someone representing a planets journey through house? (Or is that partly what you meant?) While reading this, I started thinking of a friend I had while Pluto was moving through my Scorpio ruled 12th house. The friendship eventually became quite Plutonian in a negative way. There finally came a point where I became so angry at something she did where I felt very betrayed that I simply severed the relationship, never to speak again. Interestingly, this part of it happened when Pluto was leaving Scorpio, entering Sagittarius, and preparing to leave my 12th house.

Your reply about Pluto in the 7th being purifying really made me take pause, as she had a 7th house Pluto. And a 7th house Uranus as well, so I wonder if she had a few friendships that ended so abruptly. (actually, I can think of another one that did during this time period) I remember those years as those where I was digging deep to find my truth, so to speak. Perhaps that was part of our agreement here on Earth together. I wonder what she took from our friendship?

[Henry]

Thanks truly Robert.

Your experience helps me understand and encompass the nowadays weird-exciting-confusing movie I'm living in terms of its deepest meaning on the way of unexpected changes I've been through in just 3 weeks.

Thanks, thanks, thanks a lot.

[AceStar]

thanks dear Robert! i am really emotional right now :)
Love you brother
GOD bless my friend

[Robert]

Hi Jeri - Yes, that's exactly what I meant! Whether they represent that planet, or the personification of that lesson we have to learn, when that energy function is done, they disappear, either on their own or through us moving on. She did serve as a purifying agent for you through her being Plutonic. And yes, Uranus also, so she helped you liberate and free yourself from some old sign function. I'm SURE she had many relationships abruptly end in her life! And of course, there's no telling what she brought out of the relationship.

Hi Henry - You're quite welcome. Sorry you're going through such upheaval, but it's preparing you for when your Sun is in the Grand Irrationality and you can shine your light on your world.

Hi AceStar - With sincerest respects, we are all on this beautiful Earth together, and all of us together contribute to truth, goodness, and beauty. We are all part of the evolving global culture, breaking free of fear and delusions about the nature of things.

[Rhonda]

Hey Robert! Now I know why my boyfriend kept coming back and leaving and then coming back and leaving! When Mars hit Cancer at the end of last year, we were hot and heavy and then Mars went retrograde and he was gone, no word! Mars went direct and he came back. Mars went out of Cancer and he left agian - no reason! We got back together and things have been fine for 8 months. Mars is going into my fifth house! True love! Or I guess he will be leaving again! This is nuts! Now I'm worried! DOB 7-12-71. Any words of encouragement?

[Sue Moon]

Good Morning Robert,
Thanks for that info on children in the houses. What about grandchildren? I have a grandchild that I co-raise with my daughter. He is my first.
Also, thank you for these articles. I have studied astrology since the early '70's and I find your articles to be the most enlightening. Although I love Robert Hand's Planets In Transit and just about anything the Canadian Rose Marcus puts out, you are the tops! I feel like I am sitting at a wise old sages feet absorbing as much as I can. Pranams to you.

[marlene keller]

I kind of stumbled upon this website and I'm finding it fascinating of course. The letter about the boyfriend leaving and coming back, then leaving and coming back, and leaving again for no apparent reason resonates with me big time.

I was born 2/2/51 and have been married to a Libra born 9/25/47 since 1983. He has left and come back more than a dozen times. While he always prefaced his goings by attacking my character, through criticisms designed to provoke me into defending myself which he thought he could legitimately twist into valid reasons for bailing on me -- again and again -- logic says that if he indeed did have justification for leaving based on my actions each of the dozen + times he's done so, it would have been just plain illogical for him to have drifted back into my life repeatedly. I have concluded that he has used me when he's found it convenient to do so. The then obvious question here is why would I let him slide back in so many times. The answer is that the first several times I actually believed that he might change this time and not bail when I let him return, and also I think I must have bought into the criticisms to some extent, thinking that it was in some way part my fault that he'd left. The last three times I let him back in weren't under the illusion that it was to revive our marriage. By then I'd realized it didn't matter what I did or did not do, he was at some point going to run off again, regardless. Those three times were ones where he had gotten himself into predicaments by his own folly and was in dire need of shelter -- and we have a child who I felt needed her father around even if it were to be temporarily. The last time she was in 8th grade and my mother had been diagnosed with cancer so it served a purpose in having him move in with us. I needed someone at home for when I'd be gone to hospitals and couldn't be there for our daughter. Also, our daughter wanted, and I felt needed, to have her father here; and despite his undependable and irresponsible pattern of behavior as far as staying for the long haul, he could be counted on for my short term absences in this situation. All that I asked of him was a commitment to stay for 4 years until at least our daughter's graduation from high school and he agreed. She just started college and he has recently split -- setting a record for sticking it out past his customary 2 to 2 1/2 years maximum.

I had cut him a lot of slack, too, due to his Vietnam veteran status. I think now, though, in retrospect that I shouldn't have. It's a mystery to me why we were ever in each others lives. I don't see that I have learned from him or that he has learned from me in all this time and it's disturbing to me that so much time was, in all honesty, wasted in a relationship that was never going to go anywhere from day one. It's like I got married but he never did, and then when I had come to terms with the fact that he would never be a husband to me no matter what or how hard I tried to make him want to be, I then offered him my friendship by helping him out and being a friend to him, thinking we could at least have that. I was wrong again -- he'd have to respect me as a friend when he never had when I was in the wife role. I felt anything that would get me the respect I deserved from him was worthwhile, but that didn't happen. I expected that he could, at the very least, cease going through that insane ritual of making me the heavy to establish "justification" for leaving in the future when he was compelled by whatever it is to leave us again. I had, in fact, expressed this to him, but again it was to no avail.

He could have just slipped out the back, Jack or got on the bus, Gus -- but that's just not in his repertoire apparently. You've got these two people who get along from day to day without fights and live harmoniously for the most part for one, two, or even four years at a time -- but, suddenly, one of them becomes just so utterly intolerable to the other at some point and everything they do or say becomes an issue despite the fact that this person -- me -- is doing nothing even slightly differently than they ever have done. And for about a month there is the constant campaign to make me flip out and start yelling at him so as to create the appearance that I am the root of this sudden problem he has developed with me. That worked for many years but I have since realized what's really going on with it so I then stopped all cooperation in this little game. I may have nearly had to bite my tongue in half to refrain from taking his bait during that period. It was very obvious the last few times that he was staging the scene just to bail out again and desperately trying to make me look like this intolerable shrew to the few who will still buy into that picture he tries to paint of me. It was once his few friends and his family, but over time I have become acquainted with his friends who no longer can suspend disbelief in order to swallow that whopper of a story that his family members still do -- although if they were thinkers they'd have to have reached the only conclusion one can logically arrive at: it ain't me who is the catalyst here. I wish I knew what trips his head into going into this by now completely predictable mode but he's steadfastly refused to even acknowledge it, much less explore and correct it, so I guess I never will know. I have a few theories but nothing concrete.

I don't see that we have learned a thing from each other in all this time. I do feel that I have provided for him an atmosphere in which he could have chosen to grow and advance and given him many chances to do so -- but it's come to a point where I can't waste any more time and energy trying; you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink. I gave it my best shot(s) but it is time to admit defeat and let it go.

I, on the other hand, have grown spiritually a great deal during these years, not due to, but in spite of his constant attempts to stifle me. Just like my parents. In fact, he took up where they left off, as I have come to see in hindsight. All these people, all of whom were supposed to have loved me, but all of whom did not, may have made me stronger since I had to fight them all the way, but that doesn't seem a reasonable explanation for it having been this way. I could have been a lot happier all these years even if perhaps not as strong -- and if given the choice I can't imagine why I would've chosen such a scenario. It seems to me that my self esteem would have been as high or higher had I been surrounded by people who bolstered it as opposed to these people who were intent upon tearing it down instead. As a Mom I have done the exact opposite in raising my daughter than my parents did in raising me. I am the Mother that I'd have given anything to have had. Battling against that total negativity and receiving the total lack of support I had from my parents and my husband seems a lesson I would have preferred to have skipped altogether -- if that's what it was. Strength gained in this manner came with a mighty high price; spiritual growth could have occurred without my paying it, couldn't it? Do people usually have this much negativity coming from the large planets in their charts? For what possible reason would this occur?

[Robert]

Hi Rhonda - Well, it sounds like you both have major Mars influence in your 5th house sectors. I cannot say if he has resolved his irresolution regarding his polarity for/against you. You have Venus square Uranus, which can make for erratic relations. With Pluto opposition your Venus, you'll be ridding yourself of strange, extreme, bizarre, and corrosive relations the next couple of years. These are the people who prevent you from getting the results you want from life or who get you lost in loose ends. You're in this world to create festivity and social togetherness, are fairly fortunate, and should be focusing on larger social issues the next two years. At least Pluto is no longer square your Pluto, and Neptune is no longer quincunx your Sun. With Jupiter where it is at present, search for your place of greatest service to your world, keep the initiative in your own hands, and practice a useful and productive form of self-dramatization. Follow your greater vision, put on your show with style, and quest however and wherever you need to.

Hi Sue Moon - Thank you for your kind and generous words about what I offer here. If the first child is ruled by the 5th, then their first child would be the 9th and their second the 11th. If the second child is ruled by the 7th, then their first child would be the 11th and their second child would be the first. Obviously there are more permutations to this concept. "Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now...."

Hi Marlene - I hope you posting your true name with your story isn't a problem. Given his chart and the fact he was born the Year of the Boar, he knows exactly what he's doing, even if it's all a dream due to Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Neptune conjunct. He also has a Mercury square Mars which when non-transmuted creates interpersonal conflict. I suspect he's a very complex person subject to extreme ups and downs, has a hard time hanging on to the deeper truths he senses, wants an ideal of freedom that may not exist on this Earth, and lacks an anchorage within himself where he can center when he feels overwhelmed by all the partially developed stirrings. The ruler of his Solar 7th in Cancer can lead to criticizing others out of insecurity, while his higher function, heart expression, and true security can only come from making life freer and happier through letting go of social rigidity and embracing the joy of equal fellowship.

As for your part in the play: you lived under an illusion until you chose to use him in a hopefully good purpose so that your daughter could have at least part of a father for part of her life. Now you no longer need to indulge whatever magnetics you put out that allowed him to return despite old hurtful patterns. The mystery had something to do with you perceiving something about what you do and do not allow in how others relate to you.

What you learned were to spot inner patterns that created suffering on your part so you could change them. You also learned that we don't control anything but our own responses to things and people, and that we cannot make another be any way they don't want to be. You don't know what he learned from you, and probably never will. And you definitely learned the wisdom of not making assumptions. Repeated pattern of provoking a fight after periods of harmony sounds like there was an element of what has been called "the cycle of abuse" by Lenore Walker. When that's happening, then the abuser usually does try to blame the victim so they can justify the explosion and abuse. If your friends have seen through the game, then who cares what his family thinks? It doesn't matter what trips his head into going into the abusive space. What you need is a lot of distance between you and some study, reflection, and maybe counseling about abuse and how to recognize it and stop it.

Perhaps this is not a defeat, but a true victory. Remember if we are illusioned we must ultimately become disillusioned, which is not a bad thing. Letting go of old material often helps us receive what is better for us in the now. Perhaps you would have been happier, or not. Until you learned certain necessary lessons your challenges would have played out through any number of people and circumstances. Certainly your self esteem is within your own hands; no one actually has the power to lower our self esteem but ourselves. I have a very difficult chart myself, and much you state resonates with my own circumstances. I just chose to move into my highest Self regardless of outer circumstances, and through deaths, betrayals, thefts, lies, and sabotage of the highest orders I kept my integrity and eventually the old karmas ceased to manifest.

Any chart affliction is the result of lessons not learned in prior lifetimes and/or the need to confront those lessons consciously so that we can become part of the light in our world by helping others who go through the same difficulties. To help others, we need authentic experiences AND the willingness to learn how to BE our Higher Self regardless of what happens, otherwise when confronted with abuse we wouldn't know how to act. Incapacity is never strength; only the ability to stand and deliver in the moment, with the highest, most positive view we can muster. Even when we fall short of the ideal, we triumph!

[marlene keller]

Thank you, Robert, for your words regarding my lessons. You confirmed what I have come to believe on instinct alone about my relationship -- he knows what he's done and doing when he's doing it but he just doesn't care.

Oh, well, it's his loss. He does have some good traits but they can't outweigh the bad ones. I never looked at his actions as being abuse, although I have recognized them as being abusive; which sounds contradictory, I'm sure. What I mean is that I have lived with some really abusive people -- my father and a former husband -- and I had felt that I chose the abusive husband coming out of the abusive childhood as people often do because of the dysfunctional situation feeling normal as a direct result of it being familiar along with the self esteem issues that accompany coming from such a background. It is a long road gaining self esteem, and self respect, coming from that beginning. When I divorced the first abuser and later married again I felt that it was a big improvement and that I had risen above allowing myself to be treated badly. There wasn't the physical abuse, that's true, but verbal abuse is just as destructive even if it is periodic instead of non stop barrages of insulting and cruel statements aimed at you. I guess I did actually see that it was abusive but I just never categorized him as an abuser because the put downs were more covert and subtle than those from abuser # 1's blatantly overt ones had been. I did realize, though, along the way that I wasn't going to accept or believe the disrespectful manner in which I was treated and did become confrontational about it -- except when he was on his way out the door and became blatantly overt to bait me into reacting in the way that would have accommodated his self serving agenda to make me look like the one in the situation with a major screw loose to my daughter. I don't care about what his family thinks although she is now in contact with them -- my bad because I engineered the cultivation of relationships between them and her to benefit her emotionally in the future. My side of her family with whom she was close have dwindled from small to just me now and it had occurred to me that were I, and/or her father, to die suddenly she would feel alone in the world when she does have a lot of blood relatives from her father's side of her family. I knew that if I didn't fix it so that she got to know them before she became grown with a life of her own that she'd never be the one to approach these strangers who are aunts and uncles and cousins and half siblings, and her nieces and nephews. So, now her father is where they are and she is going for a visit during her Christmas break. These are covert snipers who don't face off up front but slide in the oh, so subtle innuendo to plant little ugly seeds. But, I'm going to -- as always -- be the bigger person and let it be. I trust in my having raised this young woman 24/7 for 18 years well enough that she can easily separate the BS from the truth and see the motivations behind people's words.

[marlene keller]

I'm not worried about using my name on this because he isn't that enlightened -- his computer time is spent in frivolous pursuit of total escapism, not to better any part of his life -- and to improve anyone else's life is the furthest thing from his mind, so there's not a chance that he'd stumble upon what I've said here. However, this isn't anything I haven't or wouldn't have said to him and had he been interested in hearing my thoughts he'd have heard them before, but even if he were to find this site somehow to read my thoughts and observations about my experience with him I wouldn't apologize for truthful statements I have made here.

[Rhonda]

Thanks Robert! I'm glad to know that I will be free from those types of people that seem to drain the life out of me. It's odd though, I always go out of my way to make sure everyone else is happy and the same people turn on me in a flash. I have started to be more careful of who I let in my life, which now consist of very few. I have to say that I am a bit paranoid though. I have brick walls every where! I had an awful childhood. It made me second guess everyone that I met, friends or whatever, but I have such a free spirit and love to be around people. I hope I'm not doing my own self an injustice. I always feel I'll be okay with just my kids. And then I think of them growing up and moving out. What then. By the way, my boyfriends DOB is 1-10-77.

[Robert]

Hi Marlene - Yes, it is his loss. Abuse comes in many forms, and with enough of it, we become numb to what a non-abusive relationship might feel like. Actually, I have found that our self-esteem is entirely in our own hands in the NOW. And it does depend on which "self" we're looking at. Regardless of whatever has happened in the past, we can change pattern in the moment and move in new directions that feed our sense of Higher Self. The lower self has problems of residual manifestations stemming from past karmas, so we really cannot blame our parents, since they were simply agents for our own formative powers to learn what we had to learn based in agreements we made before any of us were born. As for abusive statements aimed at us, I learned very young that had more to do with the one spewing garbage than me. The trick is to learn how to get out of those kinds of interactions, and not invite them in the future. It took a while once I left home, but it didn't take that long to figure out who says hurtful things and who doesn't. Good that you realized that you weren't going to accept disrespect. As I'm mentioned to others in other streams, it's always good when we learn not to take the bait. No one else should have the power to make us do, feel, or say unfortunate things. Having faith in your daughter's intelligence and compassion is a good thing. As for your name, it has nothing to do with enlightenment. It's about search engines. I have major traction and if a name is put into any of several search engines, up pops my site. But if it doesn't matter, then that's all right, and if there's nothing to apologize for, then that's also good.

Hi Rhonda - With your chart, seek freedom and autonomy in your relationships, with shared ideals and values. Try doing positive affirmations about the types of people you are attracting along with traits you do not want to attract, and allow your natural magnetism to do its magic. We all get the community we're willing to accept, so no one is destined to be solitary if they truly want friends.

[Eliana]

Dear Robert
I found your article so wise and intelligent. Thank you very much for sharing your wisdom

[Layli]

Love this idea, Robert! Can you think of any good books should I want to follow up and study this idea of "planets as people" in more depth? Thanks, many pranams, and Viva Ageless Wisdom!

[Robert]

Hi Eliana - Thanks for your kind words. You're most welcome.

Hi Layli - To my knowledge, there's little to nothing out there. You can do a search, but it's pretty slim, and so I would recommend that you examine charts with an eye to who in your "solar system" correlates to which lessons, past and present. That's the way to learn the most, best, quickest. Keep in mind that these are important influences, so the people must have been or are important to you, in terms of lessons that reveal you to you.

[Jessie]

Hi Robert,

Just found your website and found it amazing. Read the bit by Jeri who had a friend with Pluto and Uranus in 7th house. I have this combination with Uranus, Neptune and Pluto strongly aspected in my chart. My dob is 1st March 1973, born in North Vietnam, Hai Phong at 8am. Only this year, I've come to the realization, I am a walking transformational stimuli where relationships and friendships end as suddenly as they begin. With Sun, Venus and Mercury in Pisces and Moon, Mars in Capricorn, I do wish sometimes to have a little more stability and for my heart not to get broken every few months. Uranus and Pluto in 7th feels like a curse. I met a Scorpio recently with Uranus and Pluto strongly aspecting is moon and venus and it was exciting but he ended it suddenly. Is this my life now? Am I destined to come into someone's life and leave again? Should I just forget about love because relationships just don't last. Some advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Robert]

Hi Jessie - Welcome to Professor Robert's cantina! You were certainly born at an interesting time in that part of the world. Uranus with Pluto is generational, and had to fall somewhere. That's where you're an innovator and transformer. If these fall in the 7th, you represent these qualities in others' lives, and they to you. When you magnetically connect with others transformation is catalyzed, and how another will respond is not in your control. And of course, Pluto does banish that which has outlived its usefulness or purpose.

You have an extraordinary ability to know that which others don't, and have a very powerful and productive chart. Get clear about what roles you want to play in the world to get beyond feeling timid through uncertainty that leads you into uninteresting things. With some of the aspects you have, go for being an influence in your world, since your success there is guaranteed if you just persevere. Your path to a higher destiny begins in January 2009, and by March 2010 you should be living a grand adventure.

Regarding relationships, remember that each shows us something about ourselves, and as we become more consciously evolved into our Higher Self we attract higher beings who are suited to us and repel those that are not in harmony with our Higher Self. You wouldn't want to be with anyone less than the best you both could attract, so relax into the ride, affirm your willingness to learn a higher Love, and enjoy the friends that come. Go for the closeness of genuine friendship, and eventually you'll find yourself surrounded by loving friends. One could be the beloved.

[Jessie]

Hi Robert,

Thank you so much, I was pleasantly surprised.

I know it's not entirely the fault of others that my relationships don't last and most of the time, the ones I want are the ones that I seem to destroy at a faster rate. I seem to crave intensity (Pluto) and losing myself (Pisces) yet crave to be free and in solitude. With Pluto in the 7th aspecting Mercury, Mars, Asc, Midheaven, Jupiter and Neptune. Uranus in the 7th aspecting Moon, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. Neptune aspecting Sun, Mercury, Venus in the 12th and Asc, Saturn and Pluto. The hard part is to combine these two contradicting needs in myself and somehow Neptune comes in and creates magic that's wonderful when things are great but disappears at one point and then it ends. I know that each relationship teaches me something about myself and that I cannot escape interaction as I have too much mental, physical and emotional energy to be on my own all the time but it seems I am too much for most people, too much disruption, change or energy..It's like people can handle me for only a period of time...and always they want to keep the physical side of the relationship but don't see me in their future long-term...It makes me feel alien sometimes and I feel I have to prevent myself from falling in love again because there's the expectation that the relationship won't last.

Bleeding Heart

Feeling the pain, I let it
Respecting it, I listen to it
Hearing it, it says no more
Overwhelming, it overflows, it pours

Bleeding irregularly, I mop it
Cry to be heard, I hear it
Loud and clear, I must obey it
No more, no more, it says no more

I promise my heart
It shall bleed no more
I promise my eyes
That sleep will come for sure
I promise my head
No more tangled thoughts
I promise myself
No more, no more, no more

A poem I wrote. Having my heart shattered so often is making me stronger and I bounce back faster but I just don't want to do it anymore.
With Uranus transiting Pisces right now and Pluto squaring my Pluto beginning next year for 2 years, I feel I should just lay low and become a hermit. You say I have a powerful and productive chart, right now I don't feel that way. I'm trying to take the focus from relationships to my career but it's difficult. I wish for peace but Uranus/Pluto in 7th is not letting me unless I become a monk. Thank you for the encouragement, I'm still hopeful, hoping that anyone who doesn't hang around is making way for someone more evolved.

Am I Plutonian or Nepturian or Uranian? And having Moon, Mars and Midheaven in Capricorn in 10th makes me on occassion feel Saturnian. At work I feel Saturnian, in relationships I feel Plutonian and Uranian. My Nepturian side seems not so strong, maybe it's because Sun, Mercury and Venus is in Pisces in the 12th. I guess I'm at that 35 years point, identity crisis as well...just a little lost.

Thanks again Robert.

[Robert]

Hi Jessie - It's useful to remember that 99% of our relationships will not last 2000 days, so we have to take the comings and goings in good cheer for the higher meaning of what they meant to us. The ones we want that implode or explode sooner than we would like show us unconscious material in ourselves and others where we learn very valuable lessons. Our ideal mate is one who will complement us rather than jam our gears or expect us to be different than the best we can be in the moment. If we are "too much" then probably we need to learn how to regulate energy without losing our integrity, and they need to step up to who we are gladly or they're not right for us. Those who can only handle my intensity for a brief time before self-destructing or bailing are obviously not my true friends, group Soul workers, or my mate. These know me and can handle who I am, just as I can them in their intensity and focus. "Falling in love" is usually a seduction that is unsustainable. Mutual courtship arising from mutual admiration, affection, and respect is always a good thing, whether it leads to anything physical or not. But by all means, we must keep loving, since that's how we come to know conditional from unconditional love. The risks of learning how to love appropriately are always worth the rewards, even if often the result is somewhat painful. As the Bard once wrote, "Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all..." The Spiritual Self is all 3 of the outers, expressed in our own unique Saturnian form. And you're most welcome.

[Jessie]

Thank you Robert.

Yours is a beautiful soul and I feel so privileged to have you touch my life via cyberspace. I'm finding a way to give and when I read what you've written in these pages to help others, it's inspiring.