The 5 Most Important Factors for Romantic Compatibility in Astrology: What You Need to Know
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, this is naturally a time when we start examining our romantic relationships and how we feel about them. Astrology can help us better understand ourselves and our relationship needs, as well as our partner’s needs, which empowers us to approach our relationships with more compassion and understanding and to build more fulfilling relationships. Here are the 5 most important astrological factors to keep in mind when looking at romantic compatibility:
1. The Moon - Emotional Needs & Attachment Style
Connecting emotionally with our partner is the basis for forming a lasting bond with them. In psychological astrology, our Moon sign shows us our emotional needs, how we express our emotions, what gives us a sense of safety and comfort, and how we form emotional bonds. Understanding your Moon (what sign it is in, what house it is in, and what aspects it forms) is key to understanding your attachment style and how you relate to others. Understanding the similarities and differences between your and your partner’s emotional needs is key to ensuring that both of you receive the type of emotional support and nourishment you seek. It is also useful to understand how your Moon relates to your partner’s Moon, whether your emotional needs are naturally compatible and there is an easy flow of emotional understanding, or rather if it is through emotional challenges and conflict that you two can come to better understand each other. Learning to appreciate the qualities of each other’s Moons is a great tool to help you both recognize what emotional patterns you bring to the relationship and how you can best navigate the emotional sphere of the relationship together.
2. Mercury - Communication Style
The key to any healthy relationship is communication. Mercury in our natal chart depicts how we think, speak, and express ourselves. Knowing how both you and your partner express yourselves can help foster greater understanding and clearer communication between the two of you. For example, Mercury in water signs tends to communicate in a more subjective way, with feelings forming the basis for thoughts, whereas Mercury in air signs will tend to be more objective and fact-based. Understanding the differences in your communication styles is essential to learning to respect how the other person processes information, makes decisions, and shares their thoughts, and can thus help avoid frustration and misunderstandings. Learning to appreciate different styles of communication is indispensable to forming a meaningful and deep connection.
3. Venus - Our Values & How We Express Affection
The experience of loving and being loved is a fundamental part of romantic relationships. In psychological astrology, Venus shows us how we give and receive affection, what we value in relationships, and how we experience pleasure. It sheds light on what provides us with a sense of being valued and appreciated. Understanding the differences between how you and your partner experience and express affection is crucial to making sure both of you feel loved. Venus also shows us what we value and look for in relationships. This can help you understand whether your values are aligned with your partner’s. Recognizing both you and your partner’s needs in relationships and how you experience being valued are key to making each other happy.
4. The Ascendant & Descendent Axis: Our Sense of Individuality vs. Our Relationship Needs
Although the Ascendant (or rising sign) is often talked about, its opposite, the Descendant, is just as important to understanding relationship compatibility. Your Ascendant is fundamental to how you approach relationships because it shows how you engage with the world at large. Oftentimes your Ascendant can reveal other’s first impressions of you, so it can help you understand what draws someone to you initially. It’s also important to understand your partner’s Ascendant and how it relates to yours, because it can reveal differences between how you approach life.
Opposite your Ascendant, is your Descendent (the cusp of the 7th house), which shows what qualities you seek in a partner. These qualities tend to be ones that we admire yet somehow feel that we lack and thus project onto others. However, these qualities are ones that we are meant to experience and to learn to embody through our relationships. When your partner has the qualities of the sign of your Descendent, you might feel a very compelling attraction to them. Understanding both you and your partner’s Descendant can help clarify what qualities you both seek in a partner.
It is interesting to note that your Ascendant and Descendant are two opposite ends of an axis, meaning that your Descendant, the qualities you search for in others, provide an important balance to your consciously embodied qualities. By experiencing the qualities of your Descendant through a partnership, you can work towards consciously integrating those qualities, which are innately part of your own psyche and need simply to be recognized in yourself.
5. The Sun - Core Identity
And last but not least, one of the most important parts of a romantic relationship is feeling like you are truly seen for who you are and that you can simply be yourself. While the Ascendant shows us how we approach the world, the Sun in our natal chart embodies our core identity. The Sun is a crucial part of how we consciously view ourselves and it encapsulates the qualities that give us our sense of self. One of the most important parts of romantic compatibility is not only the ability to see ourselves and each other with clarity, but also to learn how we can support each other’s personal growth and development. Understanding how you and your partner’s Sun signs relate is one of the most fundamental steps in making a relationship work and to feeling like each of you is seen.
Conclusion
There are many different astrological components that factor into romantic compatibility, however by considering some basic yet important factors in both your and your partner’s charts, you can get a better sense of how you both approach relationships. By considering the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Ascendant-Descendent axis, and the Sun in each person’s chart, you can grasp some of the fundamental ways in which you relate to each other and it allows you to have greater awareness of each other’s needs. Whether you are in the early phases of a new relationship or working on strengthening and nurturing an existing relationship, psychological astrology can help you develop greater awareness of your relationship patterns and needs, and thus guide you in the process of developing more fulfilling and authentic relationships.
If you are curious about exploring the astrological factors that affect your relationships or are interested in looking at the dynamics between you and your partner in more depth, consider booking a personal consultation or a couple’s consultation. For more information on consultation sessions, see here.
