Eclipses, relationships and Tom Cruise

New Moon in Libra, Monday 3rd October 2005

The New Moon in Libra of last week was a particularly noteworthy one, as it was also a solar eclipse.

As I mentioned in my April 05 newsletter eclipses can bring with them a “wild card” type of energy, especially when they make close contact with key planets or points in our birth charts. For instance, those Librans amongst you who were celebrating a birthday within a day or two of October 3rd will have had the eclipse falling right on their Sun in the birth chart, potentially making the unpredictable flavour of that particular eclipse manifest in the area of self-identity and life direction, which are governed by the Sun in the chart.

To see how the energy of eclipses can manifest, I’ve chosen this month to have a quick look at the charts of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, whose whirlwind romance has been prominent in the news since they started dating in April 2005. It’s also rather appropriate to be looking at eclipses in the context of relationships right now, as we’ve just had a New Moon and Solar Eclipse in the sign of Libra, the sign associated with relating and partnering in all forms. The Sun is currently making its way through the same sign.

On to the fated eclipse moment. In early April, around the time the couple are reported to have started dating, they both had a solar eclipse making a close contact to their birth charts. Tom had the eclipse in close flowing contact to his Venus, planet of love, relationships and values. Katie had the eclipse in challenging aspect to her Pluto, representing the provocation of intense emotional experiences, and in flowing contact to her Neptune, which in its most positive expression can represent spirituality and surrender to a greater force. There will, of course, have been other factors in their charts which need to be taken into consideration at that time, but this eclipse definitely brought a particular kind of energy with it.

Eclipses work in series, or families, with each family having a particular meaning. Bernadette Brady, author of “Predictive Astrology, The Eagle and the Lark” (Samuel Weiser,1999) describes the meaning of the April 05 eclipse series in the following terms: “A very sensual family of eclipses, ranging from sudden sexual passions and lust to birth and procreative drives. This series is not subtle, and can catch people off guard and confront them with their own very deep passion which may have been hidden for many years.”

So! Does this eclipse energy, occurring when the couple’s eyes met across a crowded room (a little poetic licence notwithstanding!) make sense when taken in the context of Katie and Tom’s relationship? Given the numerous gushing eulogies given in public by Tom about Katie, the most ubiquitous of which involved him jumping up and down to proclaim his love for her on Oprah’s sofa, much to the bewilderment of a viewing public of millions, I think most people would agree that it sounds about right!

When looking further into the astrology of relationships, several techniques can be used. The first is Synastry, which involves looking at the contacts each person’s planet is making to the other’s, to see whether there will be positive potential in a relationship between the two. If you think about it, when you meet someone whose planets make no contacts to yours, the way that they approach life is not connecting with the way that you do, so a lasting close relationship is much less likely. In other words, you don’t have much in common.

There are many positive contacts between the charts of our Hollywood heartthrobs. For example, Tom’s Neptune is on Katie’s Venus. This indicates a strong romantic and creative bond between the two. Tom has the Moon and Venus in extrovert Leo, which partly explains his individualistic streak and his need to be adored by his public; Katie’s Moon and Jupiter are also in Leo, giving them a lot in common on an emotional and instinctive level. What’s more, her Venus (love and harmony) is in flowing relationship to his Sun (sense of self, ego), just as his Venus is in flowing relationship to her Sun – a more perfect match seems unlikely to be found than this love struck pair! However, as regular readers of this newsletter will know, nothing can be taken at face value in astrology: on further inspection there’s the potential for a lot of idealism in this relationship, and time will be the test as to whether the pair can keep the fairytale connection going in the longer term.

Another key technique used in relationship astrology is to combine the charts of the two people in question, to see how the relationship looks when considered as a “third party”, so to speak. This chart will show up the potential strengths, weaknesses and challenges that two people are likely to have in a relationship together. In Tom and Katie’s combined chart there is a lot of Libran energy, indicating their willingness to work together and take each other’s needs into consideration. However, the signature of idealism and the potential for their expectations of each other to be unrealistic can also be seen, and the couple will need to work on keeping their feet on the ground whilst using this energy positively in creative pursuits together (Jupiter opposing Saturn and Neptune). There is also a planetary combination which could suggest a clash of ideologies, which leads one to wonder how much tension Tom’s devotion to the Church of Scientology might provoke once Katie finds it part of her everyday life, including, as we’ve heard recently, not being allowed to cry out during labour …I suspect even the most ideal relationship would be put to the test under those circumstances.

If you’d like to find out more about your own relationships, whether they be with a friend, partner, relative, or even a company (yes! a person to company chart can show how you will fit in with that company and its ethos) then please contact me for further information.

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