In parent-child synastry, aspects from a parent’s planets to their child’s Ascendant can often indicate what parts of their personality are inherited by their child. These planets “imprint” upon the psyche of the child, either through direct contact or through observation. The inherited personality traits and familial structures or experiences should be validated elsewhere in the child’s birth chart, of course, but the synastry around their Ascendant can be hugely significant in determining what is potentially passed down.
The house position of the parent’s planet (in the child’s chart) offers insight as to where in the child’s life they absorbed that influence from their parent -- e.g. with a Mars-Ascendant square from the 4th house, the child conflicted with their parent or endured parental aggression many times while at home, in private.
The following are some basic examples of how each aspect might have conditioned the personal inheritance. There are countless other manifestations depending on the planet itself and the rest of the synastry they share.
Trine: traits & behaviors absorbed simply through spending time together. These are the most natural similarities between parent and child; the child instinctively mimicked or reflected certain parts of their parent through whatever bond they shared (often a positive one in this respect) and these adopted pieces of personality become very habitual, to the point where the child may not even notice how much like their parent they are until someone else points it out.
Sextile: traits & behaviors absorbed through active encouragement. The parent intentionally taught their child to act or think a certain way that they believed would be constructive in their lives. The parent openly shared, instructed, or prompted their child to consider their particular way of acting, usually in specific situations, and the child took this deeply to heart so that it became part of how they acted all the time. It’s a mode of being or method of doing things that makes great sense to the child even into adulthood. They’re proud of it.
Square: traits & behaviors absorbed through conflict. This area is where the parent felt most unlike their child, most ill-equipped to raise them, most frustrated with the process of parenting, or most disappointed in their child. They restricted & punished the child unfairly for certain behaviors, forcibly replacing those with new behavior that they could finally tolerate, or forcing the child to stand up for themselves & establish “equal footing.” The reason there is conflict to begin with is because, in this instance, the child possesses something parallel to the parent which they cannot control and find difficult to discipline.
Opposition: traits & behaviors absorbed through active discouragement. Here, the parent recognizes something in the child that they dislike about themselves, so they force the same pattern of repression onto the child which they endure. They criticize, deter, and limit their child in this area in an attempt to “rectify” whatever “flaw” in them they are afraid of. The child eventually resents their parent for this and deals with painful self-suppression issues later on.
Conjunction: traits & behaviors absorbed on a fundamental level, perhaps genetic. These are the purest parallels between parent and child, the visible similarities that are so organic, everyone can see that they’re related. Every part of the child’s life came into contact with that piece of their parent’s personality, so it was an inescapable inheritance, one rooted in closeness and a shared life. Alternatively, it may be the only piece of their parent that they contacted, or the parent put very little effort into raising the child so they raised themselves largely on their own by accepting & utilizing what they were given at birth.
Quincunx: traits & behaviors absorbed through discomfort or subtle difficulty. The parent may have ignored their child in this area or coded their discipline to create shame, awkwardly discouraging certain things without explanation. The child is forced to discover the underlying issue on their own; they sense or uncover something their parent hides about themselves (or hides specifically from the child) which the child may emulate to get close to the parent. That usually fails and it pushes the parent further away. Alternatively, the child may disown that part of themselves or their parent and completely ignore it the same way. In effect, they inherit an “absence” of something in the personality.
Quintile: traits & behaviors absorbed through refinement. The parent recognizes a potential for something wonderful in their child and offers them the tools or experiences they need to bring it to life. They help the child hone their special skill or talent by exposing them to its possibilities early on and motivating them to seek its fulfillment. This is usually because the child is reflecting unfulfilled potential in the parent, becoming a symbol of who the parent could have been had they perfected that part of themselves -- they then want to encourage their child to perfect it, to realize the opportunity they never had.
