Part 1
Hello all! I just wanted to share what I have been learning while reading up on composite charts. The composite chart is a very interesting and helpful tool to show one what a relationship looks like with themselves and another person. The composite chart is casted by using the midpoint of each planet from each individual natal chart and creating a completely new chart for the individuals as one. This method can apply for just two people or multiple people. For a better understanding of midpoints in astrology, please click here.
In this post, I will be using the writings of Robert Hand, from his novel “Planets in Composite: Analyzing Human Relations” to explain the meaning and significance of each house in the composite chart. Please always keep in mind that this is only one vital step to reading an entire composite chart and should not be seriously considered without viewing everything as a whole. This is just one piece. Enjoy!
The Composite 1H
The first house of the composite chart is one of the angular houses, which gives greater significance to any planet that is in it. Beyond that, however, the first house is the persona of a relationship and indicates the kind of impression it will make on its surroundings and how it will be viewed by others. It tells to what extent a couple will be regarded as a unit in their own right rather than as two separate individuals. The first house resembles the tenth somewhat, but there is an important difference, in that the tenth represents the reality of what the relationship is to the outer world. The first house describes the impression the relationship gives rather than what it really is. A strong first house can be an indication of a relationship that is all show and no substance. The tenth more clearly indicates substance, at least from the standpoint of social significance. Nevertheless, a strong first house is usually a sign of a significant relationship that will have a great impact on the lives of those involved.
The Composite 2H
The second house of the composite chart refers to values-what the two people value, and their relationship to what is valued. This can operate on two different planes. The second house can indicate the role that value-systems play in forming the relationship, that is, to what extent people come together because they value similar things or ideas. If the second house contains difficult aspects, particularly ones involving Pluto and Mars, disagreements over values may be a major source of conflict within the relationship. Similarly, positive aspects indicate that the couple has compatible values, which helps to bind the relationship together.
On another plane, clearly related to the first, the composite second house refers to whatever finances and property there may be in the relationship.
The Composite 3H
The composite third house has essentially the same meanings as the third house in a conventional birth chart: communication, mind, routine day-to-day environment, and relatives. In the composite chart the communications aspect is especially important. If the people in a relationship cannot communicate, they are in real trouble. Very often in a close personal relationship, each partner expects the other to understand them on some deep, intuitive level that does not involve words. When the couple discovers that this deep understanding does not exist, they are most upset and hurt. An afflicted third house usually indicates lack of communication in some way. This should be watched for.
A relationship with a strong third house usually comes about because of mental affinity. The two people are fond of talking with each other and exchanging ideas. Their only real problem arises in a close personal relationship, for mental exchange may become a substitute for a much-needed deep emotional exchange. Otherwise, a third-house relationship is perfectly fine.
The Composite 4H
The fourth house represents more than the home, especially in the composite chart. Many relationships have nothing that could be called a home, and yet the fourth house remains important.
First of all, it is one of the angular houses, which gives it added significance. But more fundamentally, the fourth house indicates the basic roots of a relationship-both literally, in geographic terms, and figuratively, in terms of mental and emotional background. The fourth house signifies the innermost depths of a relationship, which may be so far within as to be invisible at the surface.
The fourth house should be checked to see if there is an underlying compatibility between two people. Do they have compatible backgrounds in the senses just described, and are their basic emotional and psychological characteristics compatible?
A composite chart with a strong fourth house usually indicates that the two people share their innermost lives and that they probably share their actual place of residence.
The Composite 5H
The fifth house in the composite chart has many of the same meanings that it has in a conventional chart-love affairs, children (where this is appropriate), creativity, self-expression, and so forth. The interpretation of self-expression, however, is especially critical in a composite chart.
The composite fifth house represents, first of all, to what extent the relationship provides a setting for the individuals to be themselves in the most genuine and honest way possible. The fifth house signifies the ability of the individuals to be real in each other’s presence, which is not always easy. And being real should not be an effort. An ideal relationship allows each person to be real and to feel that it is easy to do so. When the fifth house operates smoothly, it is easy to enjoy oneself with the other without feeling that something unnatural is expected. A badly aspected fifth house, on the other hand, indicates the opposite.
In a fifth house relationship a couple is not together to form a team or partnership, but because they enjoy being themselves in each other’s company and because they enjoy each other. For this reason, this is the house of love affairs and of friendships (which are also ruled by the eleventh house). The staying power needed for a marriage or other long-term partnership may not be provided by a purely fifth-house relationship.
The Composite 6H
The composite sixth house can signify real obstacles to a satisfactory personal relationship. Somewhat like the sixth house of a conventional horoscope, it refers to the duties and responsibilities that the relationship must fulfill. Of course, all relationships have obligations, and in most cases they are not likely to be harmful. Duties become a problem only when they are the major element of a relationship, with no room for necessary self-expression as ruled by the fifth house. In a business relationship this is not a great problem; there are tasks to be done and obligations to be met. Only if the circumstances call for work to be done does a strong sixth house become an advantage. To make good use of these energies requires that the two people approach even a personal relationship from a strong sense of personal duty.
Health, the other traditional meaning of the sixth house, seems to have little relevance to a composite chart, except as it may indicate a business or professional relationship relating to health.
part 2
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