Recently a client asked me “Where do you look for ‘passion’ in a birth chart?” And he wasn’t asking about the romantic side of passion. He was asking about day-to-day passion, the stuff that gets you out of bed in the morning. I have been doing astrology long enough that I have ready answers for 95% of the questions I get asked, but this one caught me by surprise. What is passion anyway? It seems to be a mixture of desire, curiosity, hope, joy and energy… right? Dictionary.com has 12 definitions for passion, but only one of them seems to correspond with my client’s inquiry: 6. a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything. The word compelling turns up in a few of the definitions. And the thesaurus offers fervor, obsession, zeal, delight, enthusiasm & excitement as synonyms for passion.
So I took a look at the components of astrology. Sun? It’s the center core of who you are and while some signs are more prone to passionate intensity than others, that doesn’t explain passion in the less passionate signs. The Moon? Lots of emotion, sure, but feeling isn’t always action, and passion seems to be a form of action & drive. Mercury is all thinking, talking… ok, a little nervous energy, too, but that ain’t passion. Venus is the style & method we use to communicate, but not necessarily the motivation.
Mars can be energy. Jupiter can be joy. Add them together and you get optimistic exuberance. You can also get a risky recklessness, depending upon which zodiac sign is involved. But optimistic enthusiasm is only one component of passion, and a Jupiter/Mars combo is not a committed connection. It doesn’t explain long-term dedicated passion.
Saturn is the planet of tradition, and is often regarded as the opposite of passion: cold, calculating and practical, but it is the disciplined dreamers who can take their passion and actually manifest it. And Saturn can sustain long term passion, once it sees the practical side and knows what needs to be done. We can add in Uranus. It ramps up the energy and optimism with out-of-the-ordinary, offbeat ideas, and adds in a kind of unfettered individualism. Mix Uranus with Mercury and you create a curious, unusual mind, but people with more traditional thinking patterns have passion, too.
Neptune offers the ability to imagine, to fantasize, to see what you want when it has yet to exist. A little idealistic dreaminess is a component of passion. But Neptune is a little too fuzzy to supply any drive to passion. Pluto has an intensity & power that some could define as passion, but Pluto is not day-to-day passion, anymore than a nuclear explosion can be considered fireworks.
Passion is more than a planet, a sign or a condition in a chart. Passion is inner motivation. The various qualities of passion are all over the chart, but there is no clear astrological answer to me. At this point, I can only point to free will. Free will can turn a so-called “difficult” chart into power and success. Free will can mess up a free ride. Each person has to decide what makes his or her life worth living. That is a creative decision we all have to make, regardless of what we have in our birth charts.
Asking where the passion is in a birth chart is, to me, a little like asking, “Where’s the painting in a box of paints?”
(I also posted this on Neeti’s PB)
If I were pressed, I would look to the Part of Fortune. Since the PoF describes the connecting points of our “big three”, it may just help point the way to that sometimes elusive spark of passion.
If asking where the passion is in a birth c…hart is a little like asking, “Where’s the painting in a box of paints?”, then I think the PoF may, at least, give us the color scheme. It is , however, early days for me in my PoF experience.
I began working with the PoF rather recently as a result of wondering how I could be an avid traveller with two college degrees and shelves of philosophy books yet have no 9th house planets. Suddenly, that little circle with a cross I’ve been looking at for years caught my attention. Since then, I have been looking at the charts of people I know well and their PoF placement seems to make sense (when using. the different day and night formulas).
I am certainly intrigued.
Curious. I tossed out the PoF very early on in my practice… as I think it is all or nothing, and that would mean adding in more Arabian Parts. Have you tried applying any others than PoF?
I know what you mean. I felt that way for a long time about the parts/lots, asteroids, and fixed stars.
Eventually, I began including a few asteroids/dwarf planets in order to add a bit more nuance, particularly to generational planets and empty houses. As for the parts/lots, I tend to think that the history of the Part of Fortune is a compelling enough reason to take another look. I am wondering how the Part of Spirit fits in and whether it has a yin/yang sort of relationship with the PoF. The charts of the people I know seem to indicate a certain guiding compassion that seems to flow from its position.
Here is an example of both in a chart of an old friend of mine:
Her Part of Fortune is in Leo in her 3rd house and her Part of Spirit is in Pisces in the 10th house. She has worked as a musical performer, music teacher, and a music therapist. I would certainly say that performing is her passion, but being a teacher and a therapist have also been sources of fulfillment.
http://www.noendpress.com/pvachier/arabicparts/index.php
I’m a big one for passion. But I have learnt that it’s its own reward. And punishment.
Yeah blind passion can have some rude awakenings…
Intense feelings, ups and downs. That’s what I meant 🙂
Aha… ok