How Your Birth Chart Can Affect Love Compatibility

Consider the Planets of Love and Sex

When you look at a potential partner's chart (which you can calculate on a variety of free birth chart sites), you'll want to note not only their sun sign but their:

Moon Sign

The moon is the emotional compass of your chart, shaping your sense of safety and security, values, and intuition. When you express how you feel in your heart of hearts, it's coming from your moon sign. It's how you nurture — and want to be nurtured.

Venus Sign

The planet of love, romance, money, beauty, and art, a person's natal Venus speaks to the way you relate to others and express desires and passions. It colors what you value and how you relate to and experience pleasure and influences how you socialize and attract people.

Mars Sign

Mars, the go-getter planet, speaks to how you take action, your energy, sexual expression, and courage. It's also how you contend with and display anger and passion.

Consider the Planets of Abundance and Boundaries

Rising Sign

The sign ascending on the eastern horizon at the time of your birth is considered your rising or ascendant. It speaks to the image you project out into the world and offers insight into the skills, talents, and strategies you might adopt to make your way in life.

Jupiter Sign

Jupiter is the planet of expansion and abundance. It speaks to how you make your luck and experience fortune, so it's often an astrological compatibility factor for couples who simply feel luckier — or literally experience more luck in life — as a result of being together.

Saturn Sign

Saturn is the planet of boundaries, limitations, and hard work. Your natal Saturn placement speaks to the lessons you need to learn in this life. It's important to consider when you're thinking about long-term relationship compatibility. As the planet of commitment and structure, it provides that stick-to-it mentality you'll need to make it through.

Consider the Connections

Once you've pinpointed the signs that each of these romance planets is in for your love interest, check out the degrees. Every sign spans 30 degrees. Placements sitting 10 degrees or fewer between one another are worth taking note of — and the closer they are, the stronger the aspect will be.

In general, you'll want to think about how your potential partner's placements "talk" to your placements. It's not just about checking to see if their moon sign is in the same sign as yours or in a compatible element. Think about how their big six (aka personal placements) connect with your big six — and also Jupiter and Saturn.

Here are the aspects that speak to a harmonious bond:

Conjunction

This is when two placements are in the same sign, which can be a strong show of like-mindedness. Let's say one person's natal Pluto conjuncts the other's natal Jupiter in Libra, the sign of partnership. This emphasizes the theme of growth between them. If one's Neptune is conjunct the other's Mars in Sagittarius, it can promote a rose-colored glasses vibe between them — especially in sex.

Trine

This is when two placements are four signs — or 120 degrees — apart. This speaks to a shared element, which means that the two of you will get along very well. If you need a refresher, here are the signs in each element:

Fire: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius
Earth: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn
Air: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
Water: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces

Sextile

When placements are two signs — or 60 degrees — apart, they form a sextile, which promotes a friendly, easygoing, and lighthearted connection. It also feels more like an invitation to hit it off versus an immediate, obvious bond.

Here are the signs that sextile one another:

Aries: Gemini, Aquarius
Taurus: Cancer, Pisces
Gemini: Aries, Leo
Cancer: Taurus, Virgo
Leo: Gemini, Libra
Virgo: Cancer, Scorpio
Libra: Leo, Sagittarius
Scorpio: Virgo, Capricorn
Sagittarius: Libra, Aquarius
Capricorn: Scorpio, Pisces
Aquarius: Aries, Sagittarius
Pisces: Taurus, Capricorn

Planetary Connections That May Indicate Major Romance

The following aspects between particular placements — what's referred to as synastry — could be a sign that you're astrological soulmates:

Sun Conjunct Moon

When one person's core identity is the same as the other's emotional compass, it's easy to form the kind of partnership in which you can't help but understand one another intuitively.

Sun Trine or Sextile Sun

Sun trine sun will make for pretty immediate and obvious sparks, while the sun sextile sun connection might be a little less obvious at first but can also offer a hefty dose of harmony.

Moon or Venus Conjunct Ascendant

If one person's moon — aka emotional compass — or Venus, which speaks to what they're attracted to, is aligned with the other's ascendant or rising sign, chances are they're going to be attracted to one another from the start.

In the rising or ascendant person, the moon or Venus person sees what resonates with their heart or perception of beauty. The rising person finds the moon or Venus person super attractive as well — in part because they organically get and appreciate them.

Venus Conjunct, Trine, or Sextile Mars

Venus is the planet of love, and Mars is the planet of sex, so the two together usually indicate equal parts romance and fireworks.

A conjunction is off-the-charts hot from the get-go because the way one of you expresses your love language is the same as how the other expresses sexual desire. A trine makes for an organic understanding of one another's love style and needs between the sheets. The sextile can be a bit more of a slow burn — think a friends-with-benefits situation that ultimately becomes a heartfelt love affair.