The seventh house represents marriage in astrology and tells us what types of partners we are attracted to and often attract. It is an influence that stays with us all our lives, regardless of how many times we marry. Partners who fulfill the characteristics of our 7th house tend to be our more long lasting relationships and also the most karmic. These are the people who we have many life lessons to learn and teach. There is a deep rooted emotional connection here.
However, the seventh house only tends to give reliable results in predicting a person’s first marriage. With the divorce rate higher in modern times than it ever has been in the past, people are often having second and third marriages. Second marriages are predicted using the ninth house and third marriages are predicted using the eleventh house. This does not mean that if you have planets in the ninth or eleventh houses that you will be married 2 or 3 times or that if you don’t have planets in these houses that you will not get married 2 or 3 times. There is no definite way that is known as of yet to determine whether a person will remarry, there are only factors that make it more likely. What is known is that when people do marry a second or third time, the ninth and eleventh houses respectively give reliable results in prediction. In other words, you will not marry again if the planets are not giving a sufficient number of transits to the ninth or eleventh houses at the time you wish to marry. When looking at transits, we would examine the transiting planets making tight aspects to the house cusp, house ruler, house dispositor and any planets in the house. For the vast majority of cases, there will be at least one exact aspect (often more) and several tight aspects (between 1-5 degrees).
Let me illustrate this concept using a celebrity couple. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt met while filming Mr. and Mrs. Smith back in 2004.
When looking at each of their charts, the deep and passionate attraction is very evident. They each fulfill the other’s desired characteristics in a partner but at the same time have many challenges, which we will examine in turn.
Angelina has her descendant at 28 degrees Capricorn, indicting her interest in Saturnine/ Capricorn type of partners. Brad has Mars, Mercury, Moon and Venus in Capricorn, he strongly embodies this sign. His Saturn is in its traditionally ruled sign of Aquarius and is particularly strong as well.
Brad has his descendant at 11 degrees Gemini, indicating his interest in Mercurial/Gemini type of partners. Angelina has her Sun at 13 Gemini conjunct it within 2 degrees. She also has Mercury strong in its ruled sign Gemini.
Brad’s Jupiter at 9d 50 min Aries makes a conjunction to Angelina’s Moon-Mars-Jupiter (10d-17d) conjunction in Aries. Jupiter adds blessings, luck, good fortune and abundance wherever it goes so it is mutually beneficial for them.
Brad’s vertex at 27 Cancer makes a 1d opposition to Angelina’s descendant. Amazingly, Angelina’s vertex at 11 Sagittarius makes an exact opposition to Brad’s descendant. Recall that the vertex represents fated or destined relationships, this particular double whammy shows an incredibly strong and irresistible attraction.
Her Neptune-Vertex conjunction at 10-11d Sag makes a tight conjunction to his Asc at 11d 54 min Sag. Conjunctions can bring both harmonious and challenging features and often do a mixture of both, they are blending two energies into one. On one hand, Neptune represents glamour, sophistication, creativity, idealism, music, art, spirituality, visions and dreams. They could both enhance the other’s acting ability, actively help the other’s visions and dreams come true and encourage mutual spiritual growth. Together they are very idealistic, engaging in many humanitarian pursuits and standing up for causes they believe in. No one can deny they are the epitome of glamour, a true A-list couple. On the other hand, Neptune is the planet of illusion, confusion and not seeing things as they truly are. Many times, one or both people place the other on an impossibly high pedestal, attributing only good characteristics and making excuses for the bad ones. They see an ideal image of who they want their partner to be and become greatly disappointed when the human flaws come out. The greatest challenge here is to take off the rose coloured glasses and see the other for who they really are, warts and all!
Keep in mind, they certainly have more than their share of challenging aspects. For instance, her Moon-Mars-Jupiter conjunction in Aries squares his Mars, Mercury and Moon-Venus conjunction in Capricorn. Her Saturn at 17d Cancer also makes an opposition to those same Capricorn planets. Planets in square and opposition have a more difficult time understanding where the other is coming from because their basic instincts and approaches to life are so different. They will need to work very hard to make compromises and see things from the other’s perspective.
Angelina’s Moon-Jupiter conjunction at 13d-17d Aries make a tight quincunx to Brad’s Neptune at 16d Scorpio and Pluto at 14d Virgo. The quincunx to Neptune adds an element of delusion, disappointment and unrealistic expectations of the other. The quincunx to Pluto adds power struggles, manipulation and jealousy in emotional exchanges. In the synastry chart, his Mars at 10d 1 min Cap makes a 3d square to her Pluto at 6d 31 min Libra. Similarly, in the composite chart, there is an exact (0d 0 min) Mars-Pluto quincunx which really amplifies these tendencies and adds severe ego conflicts, ruthlessness and competitiveness. Of special note is that his Mars at 10d 1 min Capricorn and her Mars at 10d 42 min Aries makes a 1d square, this aspect in particular is prone to fighting, overt and covert aggression, arguments, irritability, impatience and explosive outbursts. At the same time, between the opposite sex produces extremely high physical and sexual attraction. His Uranus at 10d 4 min Virgo is making a 1d quincunx to her Mars. This challenging Mars-Uranus quincunx exacerbates the tendencies of the Mars-Mars square and also adds an element of surprise and shock, such that the explosive blow up seemingly occurred out of nowhere and without warning. In reality, it is the rash behaviour, impulsivity and feelings of wanting to rebel/ break free of perceived limitations imposed by the other that is the main cause of it.
One can see that while Angelina and Brad have a very strong attraction, they also have a lot of inherent tension and difficulty to deal with. It is my opinion that their relationship works better without the level of commitment and increased expectations demanded by marriage as they each would have more space, something that they both really need. In their composite chart, Uranus at 4d Libra makes a 1d conjunction to the Ascendant at 5d Libra. The vertex is at 4d Libra adding a very destined/ fated feel to the relationship and guaranteeing a Uranian type of experience as a couple that would change their lives forever when activated. This relationship is screaming for independence, freedom, spontaneity, and a lack of tradition, rules and regulations. They simply do not work well together in the conventions of marriage! Eventually there is a real possibility that they will feel stifled, possibly resentful and have the urge to divorce. This is very unfortunate as continuing to live together without being married would have fulfilled each of their needs and they likely could have been happier. Both the passion and aggression run very high in their synastry/ composite and I think being married is going to bring more of the aggression out over time.
Western Astrology- Predictive
Now that we have looked at details of their interpersonal communication, let us examine why at this particular time, they feel the strong desire and have the opportunity to get married. They have been happily living with each other for the past 10 years. However, it is only recently, on August 23, 2014 (1), that they got married in an intimate ceremony at their home in France.
Angelina has her descendant at 28 degrees Capricorn, indicting her interest in Saturnine/ Capricorn type of partners. Brad has Mars, Mercury, Moon and Venus in Capricorn, he strongly embodies this sign. His Saturn is in its traditionally ruled sign of Aquarius and is particularly strong as well.
Brad has his descendant at 11 degrees Gemini, indicating his interest in Mercurial/Gemini type of partners. Angelina has her Sun at 13 Gemini conjunct it within 2 degrees. She also has Mercury strong in its ruled sign Gemini.
Brad’s Jupiter at 9d 50 min Aries makes a conjunction to Angelina’s Moon-Mars-Jupiter (10d-17d) conjunction in Aries. Jupiter adds blessings, luck, good fortune and abundance wherever it goes so it is mutually beneficial for them.
Brad’s vertex at 27 Cancer makes a 1d opposition to Angelina’s descendant. Amazingly, Angelina’s vertex at 11 Sagittarius makes an exact opposition to Brad’s descendant. Recall that the vertex represents fated or destined relationships, this particular double whammy shows an incredibly strong and irresistible attraction.
Her Neptune-Vertex conjunction at 10-11d Sag makes a tight conjunction to his Asc at 11d 54 min Sag. Conjunctions can bring both harmonious and challenging features and often do a mixture of both, they are blending two energies into one. On one hand, Neptune represents glamour, sophistication, creativity, idealism, music, art, spirituality, visions and dreams. They could both enhance the other’s acting ability, actively help the other’s visions and dreams come true and encourage mutual spiritual growth. Together they are very idealistic, engaging in many humanitarian pursuits and standing up for causes they believe in. No one can deny they are the epitome of glamour, a true A-list couple. On the other hand, Neptune is the planet of illusion, confusion and not seeing things as they truly are. Many times, one or both people place the other on an impossibly high pedestal, attributing only good characteristics and making excuses for the bad ones. They see an ideal image of who they want their partner to be and become greatly disappointed when the human flaws come out. The greatest challenge here is to take off the rose coloured glasses and see the other for who they really are, warts and all!
Keep in mind, they certainly have more than their share of challenging aspects. For instance, her Moon-Mars-Jupiter conjunction in Aries squares his Mars, Mercury and Moon-Venus conjunction in Capricorn. Her Saturn at 17d Cancer also makes an opposition to those same Capricorn planets. Planets in square and opposition have a more difficult time understanding where the other is coming from because their basic instincts and approaches to life are so different. They will need to work very hard to make compromises and see things from the other’s perspective.
Angelina’s Moon-Jupiter conjunction at 13d-17d Aries make a tight quincunx to Brad’s Neptune at 16d Scorpio and Pluto at 14d Virgo. The quincunx to Neptune adds an element of delusion, disappointment and unrealistic expectations of the other. The quincunx to Pluto adds power struggles, manipulation and jealousy in emotional exchanges. In the synastry chart, his Mars at 10d 1 min Cap makes a 3d square to her Pluto at 6d 31 min Libra. Similarly, in the composite chart, there is an exact (0d 0 min) Mars-Pluto quincunx which really amplifies these tendencies and adds severe ego conflicts, ruthlessness and competitiveness. Of special note is that his Mars at 10d 1 min Capricorn and her Mars at 10d 42 min Aries makes a 1d square, this aspect in particular is prone to fighting, overt and covert aggression, arguments, irritability, impatience and explosive outbursts. At the same time, between the opposite sex produces extremely high physical and sexual attraction. His Uranus at 10d 4 min Virgo is making a 1d quincunx to her Mars. This challenging Mars-Uranus quincunx exacerbates the tendencies of the Mars-Mars square and also adds an element of surprise and shock, such that the explosive blow up seemingly occurred out of nowhere and without warning. In reality, it is the rash behaviour, impulsivity and feelings of wanting to rebel/ break free of perceived limitations imposed by the other that is the main cause of it.
One can see that while Angelina and Brad have a very strong attraction, they also have a lot of inherent tension and difficulty to deal with. It is my opinion that their relationship works better without the level of commitment and increased expectations demanded by marriage as they each would have more space, something that they both really need. In their composite chart, Uranus at 4d Libra makes a 1d conjunction to the Ascendant at 5d Libra. The vertex is at 4d Libra adding a very destined/ fated feel to the relationship and guaranteeing a Uranian type of experience as a couple that would change their lives forever when activated. This relationship is screaming for independence, freedom, spontaneity, and a lack of tradition, rules and regulations. They simply do not work well together in the conventions of marriage! Eventually there is a real possibility that they will feel stifled, possibly resentful and have the urge to divorce. This is very unfortunate as continuing to live together without being married would have fulfilled each of their needs and they likely could have been happier. Both the passion and aggression run very high in their synastry/ composite and I think being married is going to bring more of the aggression out over time.
Western Astrology- Predictive
Now that we have looked at details of their interpersonal communication, let us examine why at this particular time, they feel the strong desire and have the opportunity to get married. They have been happily living with each other for the past 10 years. However, it is only recently, on August 23, 2014 (1), that they got married in an intimate ceremony at their home in France.
Keep in mind that not everyone who gets married a second time has the same amount of aspects or the same tightness of aspects. The tightness of transiting aspects differs somewhat but usually the average orb of all the aspects are exact to three degrees. The number of transits generally falls into a range with a minimum and maximum depending on how many house indicators one has. It should be obvious that the more indicators one has, the more potential transits there can be, such that someone with three indicators will have on average less transits than someone with five indicators. In a random sample researching first marriages, I found that over half of the sample had 3 indicators. A progressively smaller number of people will have an increasing number of indicators. For example, less than 20% of the population had 5 indicators. Both Angelina and Brad have 5 indicators each and will on average have more transits than most people at the time of marriage.
If someone wants to get married but there aren’t a sufficient number of factors pointing in this direction, external pressures (family, friends, society, finances, career) could limit them or the internal desire of one or both won’t be strong enough to make the leap at that time. Although beyond the scope of this article, an astrologer must also analyze a person’s solar return, solar arcs, and progressions to get a more complete understanding of the stars on the day of marriage.
To start, I will examine Angelina’s details. Angelina has been married two times prior to marrying Brad. Her first marriage was to Jonny Lee Miller in 1996 and her second marriage was to Billy Bob Thornton in 2000. Thus, the 11th house will be analyzed.
Angelina Jolie 11th house indicators
1. 11th house cusp 23d 15 min Taurus
2. Ruler of 11th house Venus at 28d 9 min Cancer
3. 11th house dispositor Moon at 13d 5 min Aries
4. Sun at 13d 25 min Gem
5. Mercury at 22d 19 min Gem
Note: In predictive work, I generally use a maximum orb of 2 degrees for easy minor aspects (quintile, biquintile), 3 degrees for easy major aspects (sextile, trine), 3 degrees for hard minor aspects (semisquare, sesquiquadrate, quincunx, semisextile) and 5 degrees for hard major aspects and the conjunction. The tighter the orb, the more powerful the aspect’s energy will become.
Transits to Angelina’s 11th house indicators
Tr Pluto at 11d 13 min Cap quincunx Sun 2d
Tr Pluto sesquiquadrate 11th house cusp 3d
Tr Pluto square Moon 2d
Tr Neptune at 6d 21 min Pisces biquintile Venus 2d
Tr Uranus at 16d 6 min Aries sextile Sun 3d
Tr Uranus conjunct Moon 3d
Tr Saturn at 17d 32 min Sco biquintile Mercury 1d
Tr Saturn biquintile Moon 2d
Tr Jupiter at 8d 21 min Leo semisquare Mercury 1d
Tr Mars at 16d 11 min Sco quincunx Moon 3d
Tr Mars quincunx Sun 3d
Tr Mars biquintile Mercury exact
Tr Venus at 13d Leo trine Moon exact
Tr Venus sextile Sun exact
Tr Mercury at 14d Virgo semisquare Venus 1d
Tr Mercury quincunx Moon 1d
Tr Mercury square Sun 1d
Tr Sun at 0d Virgo semisextile Venus 2d out of sign
Tr Sun sesquiquadrate Moon 2d
Tr North Node at 21d 51 min Lib quincunx 11th house cusp 1d
Tr North Node trine Mercury exact
There is a total of 19 aspects from the planets and 2 aspects from the Nodes for a total of 21 transiting aspects. Four of the aspects are exact. The average orb of all the aspects is 1.57 degrees.
Now I will examine the details for Brad Pitt. He has been married one time prior to this, in 2000 he married Jennifer Aniston. Thus the 9th house will be analyzed.
Brad Pitt 9th house indicators
9th house cusp 21d 21min Leo
9th house ruler Sun at 25d 51 min Sag
9th house dispositor Jupiter at 9d 50 min Aries
Uranus at 10d 4 min Virgo
Pluto at 14d 13 min Virgo
Transits to Brad Pitt's 9th house indicators
Tr Pluto at 11d 13 min Cap square Jupiter 1d
Tr Pluto trine Uranus 1d
Tr Pluto trine Pluto 3d
Tr Neptune at 6d 21 min Pisces quintile Sun 1d
Tr Neptune semisextile Jupiter 3d
Tr Neptune oppose Uranus 4d
Tr Uranus at 16d 6 min Aries biquintile Uranus exact
Tr Uranus quincunx Pluto 2d
Tr Saturn at 17d 32 min Sco square 9th house cusp 4d
Tr Saturn biquintile Jupiter 2d
Tr Saturn sextile Pluto 3d
Tr Jupiter at 8d 21 min Leo sesquiquadrate Sun 2d
Tr Jupiter trine Jupiter 1d
Tr Jupiter semisextile Uranus 2d
Tr Mars at 16d 11 min Sco square 9th house cusp 5d
Tr Mars biquintile Jupiter exact
Tr Mars sextile Pluto 2d
Tr Venus at 13d Leo sesquiquadrate sun 3d
Tr Venus trine Jupiter 3d
Tr Venus semisextile Venus 3d
Tr Venus semisextile Pluto 1d
Tr Mercury at 14d Virgo conjunct Uranus 4d
Tr Mercury conjunct Pluto exact
Tr North Node at 21d 51 min Lib sextile 9th house cusp exact
There are 23 aspects from planets and one from the North Node. Three of these aspects are exact. The average orb is 2.08 degrees.
Vedic Astrology- Predictive
Angelina was running a Venus-Ketu-Venus dasha on her wedding day.
This dasha sequence is from August 17th to October 27th 2014.
Venus is the natural significator for love and inclines toward love and marriage in its periods for every person. To make Venus a more powerful significator for marriage, Venus is the ruler of the 11th house in the rasi chart and the 11th house is commonly used for discerning third marriages specifically. Ketu is in the 11th house.
In the navamsha chart, Venus is in Leo, its ruler is the Sun which is in Gemini in the 11th house. Therefore the dispositor of the 11th house in the navamsha is Mercury in the 2nd house which makes a full aspect onto Ketu in the 8th house.
Brad was running a Jupiter-Sun-Saturn dasha on his wedding day.
This dasha sequence is from August 10th to September 25th 2014.
In the rasi, the 9th house ruler is the Moon in Sagittarius. Jupiter is the dispositor of the 9th house. The Sun is in Sagittarius and its dispositor is Jupiter. Saturn in the 3rd house makes a special aspect (forward sextile) onto Jupiter in the 5th house.
In the navamsha the 9th house ruler is the Sun in Aries. Saturn is in the 9th house. Jupiter in the Mars is the dispositor of the 9th house.
We can see here the compelling nature of these 3 planets coming together in a dasha for both Angelina and Brad and resulting in the desire and opportunity to get married.
Summary
In summary, the 9th and 11th houses in both Western and Vedic astrology must be sufficiently activated for a second or third marriage to occur. Although the desire to get married again may arise for many people, it will not be motivating enough or the right opportunity won’t be there unless there are enough signs in the stars pointing to it.
Although Brad and Angelina may have wanted to get married before, circumstances were not aligned such that they felt comfortable doing it up until this point. In 2006, Brad said in an interview for Esquire that he and Angelina would consider getting married when gay and lesbian couples were also given the right to marry (2). This is very characteristic of their Neptune-Ascendant aspect in synastry, the idealistic hopes of changing the world regardless of how unrealistic it may seem at the time. Interestingly, in 2006 the transiting planets were not making a sufficient number of tight aspects in either Brad or Angelina’s natal charts, also neither of them were running an appropriate dasha for another marriage. Although they could have gotten married in the sense that no external factors were blocking them, the desire was not strong enough to overlook their ideals at that time. Eight years later, it is not that their loyalty to equality in marriage rights is any weaker. In reality, once the transiting planets were activating both of their charts in the right places and they stepped into a conducive dasha sequence, the desire to marry became too powerful to ignore. They now had both an immense desire and opportunity, destiny took over and as a result they finally got married.
The power of astrology lies in being prepared for events so that when they happen you are psychologically ready for them. You will be more self- aware and self- confident in mastering life’s lessons rather than getting consumed with negative emotion over them. It is better to have a flashlight in a dark passage from point A to B rather than stumbling around in the darkness hitting things and getting hurt on your way.
Are you curious to see if another marriage is in the cards for you in the near future? Click here for a predictive consultation.
References
1.http://www.people.com/article/brad-pitt-angelina-jolie-married
2. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,26334,1533247,00.html
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