When I read in the news that Patrick Swayze had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer earlier this year, I was saddened. He has long been a favorite of mine as an actor and as an example of a Hollywood celebrity whose marriage works.

He and Lisa Niemi met when she was 15 and he was 19, and they were married in June 1975. That will be 34 years this coming June – great by any standards and extraordinary by film industry standards.

Of course, being an astrologer, the first thing I did was track down their birth data and look at the synastry between their charts.  ::grin:: 

Patrick has both Sun and Moon in Leo, with Virgo rising and Saturn conjunct Neptune in Libra in the first house. I’ve observed that Saturn in Libra people either spend as little time as possible married or are faithfully married forever. Patrick falls in the latter category and describes himself as loyal almost to a fault. Lisa’s Sun is in Gemini with the Moon likely in Sagittarius. I don’t know for sure, because I couldn’t find a birth time for her.

A look at the personal planets by sign shows solid compatibility between them. His Leo Sun is harmoniously trine her Sagittarius Moon, and her Gemini Sun forms a friendly sextile to his Moon in Leo. Having the luminaries in compatible elements, in this case fire and air, is an excellent basis for understanding. They both have the Moon in a fire signs giving them an intuitive understanding of the other on the emotional level.

His Mercury in Leo (widely conjunct his Sun) is sextile her Mercury in Gemini (closely conjunct her Sun) making communications a snap! Because they both have Sun conjunct Mercury, there is a strong parallel working here, too. They have great chemistry, too, indicated by the harmonious trine between her Venus in Cancer and his Mars in Scorpio.

In synastry, Saturn is the planet we look to for determining durability in relationships. Patrick and Lisa have a set of Sun/Saturn aspects demonstrating how this works. Her Sun is trine his Saturn and his Sun is square her Saturn. They chose to marry (Saturn likes signed documents) rather than live together, and it obviously works for them. A couple more Saturn aspects in their synastry: her Saturn in Scorpio is conjunct his Mars in Scorpio and his Saturn in Libra is square her Venus in Cancer. These aspects both fall in the stabilizing category and show up with great frequency between couples in enduring marriages.

Jupiter graces this pair with a sense of fun and optimism shown by a matched set of Mars/Jupiter squares (a little over the top but who cares) and a powerful conjunction between her Jupiter/Pluto and his Sun/South Node/Pluto in Leo. The second synastry aspect was the first one that caught my eye. There is another nodal aspect – her Mars is conjunct his North Node – yes, her planets conjunct both ends of his nodal axis! Aspects to the lunar nodes in synastry indicate karmic forces at work.

In many ways, these two support and encourage each other (the Saturn and Jupiter aspects) and have a wonderful sounding board in one another (Sun/Mercury aspects). Here is an instance where the astrology of the relationship clearly supports the reality. I wish them well in their current battle with Patrick’s cancer.

posted by Neith . . .

Importance of Birth Time in Compatibility Reports