Is It Possible for A Chart To Be Two Jones Patterns At the Same Time?

by Robert Wilkinson

Can a chart have elements of two different Jones Patterns at the same time? The answer is yes, and since we’re again dealing with a series of New Moons that put that scenario into play, today we’ll take a look at a couple of examples of how this can happen.

I first gave this to you 9 months ago. Today will not be an in-depth look at the various Jones Patterns and how they operate. You can find out a lot just by going back through the Lunation articles and note when the patterns changed, since I explained each time they did what that particular pattern was about.

My first example is my own chart. For those who care, I was born on 1 April 1951 at 1:13:40 pm EST in Upland, PA (39N52 075W21). (To note, it’s a perfect example of a chart where that which did not kill me made me stronger!)

I have an Ascendant at 10 Leo 19 and a MC at 29 Aries 25. My planetary spread involves planets occupying Aquarius in the 7th, Pisces in the 8th, Aries in the 9th and 10th, Taurus in the 10th, Cancer in the 11th, Leo in the 1st, Virgo in the 2nd, and Libra in the 3rd. The widest span between any two planets in that spread is the septile between Venus at 14 Taurus in the 10th and Uranus at 6 Cancer in the 11th.

That means my chart has both a Locomotive tilt (1/3 span empty) and a See Saw (Moon in Aquarius through Venus in Taurus on one side, Uranus in Cancer through Neptune in Libra on the other. My chart is a classic Locomotive, since it’s almost an exact 2/3 occupied, 1/3 empty.

However, while the empty third defines the Locomotive, usually a See Saw has two or more oppositions to accent the polarization that creates the seesawing back and forth dynamic. In my chart, beginning with the Moon in Aquarius and working through Pisces and Aries, in that span I have 11 different oppositions involving planets and angles!

That many oppositions has created a lot of “back and forth” in my life, as well as perfect awareness through seeing the “self-notself,” or “real-unreal” polarities I’ve been confronted with countless times this life. So I’ve seen my chart work both patterns individually at times and simultaneously at times, so yes, I have found that a chart can function as two different Jones Patterns.

How it works at a given time is determined by transits and progressed positions. These shift what sectors are empty and what are active. While we can have a natal inclination to respond a certain way, our inner evolved nature or external conditions may emphasize one way of responding while blunting another.

In my chart, when Venus progressed through late Taurus into Gemini, followed in the past 30 years of prog Sun and Mars in late Taurus and early Gemini, it clearly has filled in the void zone and accented the Locomotive quality. But due to all the natal oppositions (11 distinct oppositions) I'll always have the quality of approaching things through polarity, opposing views, contrasting approaches, and holistic orientation.

For astrologers who care, the oppositions are: Moon/Ascendant, Moon/Pluto, Jupiter/South Node, Jupiter/Saturn, Sun/Saturn (wide), Mars/Neptune, Mars/IC, Mercury/Neptune, Mercury/IC, Saturn/North Node, and Neptune/MC. That’s why I know up close and personal that everything that has opposed me, tugged at me, pushed me, or countered me has made me stronger, i.e., more aware of my existence and my limits!

In the second example for today, at this time we find a combination of both Locomotive and Bucket Jones Patterns in this New Moon, and some to come. In it we have Jupiter in late Leo, two planets in late Scorpio, planets in early Sagittarius, mid-Capricorn, early Pisces, and mid-Aries. So Scorpio through Aries is occupied, with Jupiter in Leo about 130 degrees from Uranus in Aries.

The Locomotive is defined by the empty trine from Aries to Leo, indicating this chart leads with its Leo planetary energy and finishes its experience with its Aries energy. However, we also see what Dr. Jones calls a “hemispheric emphasis,” since we have the span from Scorpio to Aries occupied with only the Leo planet outside the occupied half. That is a Bucket, with the Leo planet the handle, or “focal determinator, for the rest of the planetary spread.

I’ve seen charts that combined elements of the Splay and Splash, the Splay and See-Saw, the See Saw and Bucket, the Splash and See Saw, and other possible combinations, such as the two used in this article. So those of you studying how the Jones Patterns might manifest, remember that there are “pure” types of Jones Patterns, those that deviate slightly from the ideal formation, and those that could be one or another or both.

Those who want to know more should get a copy of The Guide to Horoscope Interpretation by Marc Edmund Jones. It’s still a great work, and gives some charts of great people in history and other factors in chart interpretation.