I’ve been thinking a lot about the Jupiter/Uranus conjunction again, as we’re about to have another one, this time retrograde, on September 19th. Again, it falls in my seventh house. And again it amazes me how accurate astrology is in its execution of the archetypes.

People get excited about the seventh house because they think it has everything to do with marriage and permanent partnerships. It’s understandable. The seventh does represent those things, but that’s not all. It stands for much, much more.

Am I expecting a sudden and strange partnership to enter my life right now, because of this transit? No, not really. (Progressions are really the only reliable indicator of when doors will open for partnership.) But Jupiter rules my fourth house and Uranus rules my eleventh, and it has been a time of great change both in my family life and in my friendships, with sudden and unexpected losses and gains. The seventh , you see, rules “Other.” In other words, anyone who isn’t me.

The changes which happened during this period of the conjunction, and which are still happening, are acutely accurate. I have the Sun conjunct Jupiter in the 12th house. In astrological retrospection, it is no surprise to me that my father suddenly died–the Jupiter of the transit directly translated into my natal configuration. Also, the first Jupiter/Uranus conjunction was opposite my Mercury, which is the ruler of my MC, which also represents the father. Uranus is conjunct my natal Moon, and Jupiter rules the IC, which traditionally represents mother. With the transit affecting my MC/IC axis, their rulers, and also the Sun and Moon in my chart, the loss of a parent seems inevitable.

My dad had his Mars at 5 Libra, which was opposite the conjunction, and at the time square transiting Pluto. Another person in my life who was represented by the transit was my niece, Mari, who pulled herself back from the brink of death not once, but four times during the month of July. She has her Mars at 1 Libra, even more closely opposite the conjunction, again square transiting Pluto. (She is fine now, and officially considered a medical miracle.) There were times we were sure we were going to lose her, and then back she would come, suddenly. Not gradually. Suddenly.

What’s so fascinating about this is the way the houses can represent exact relationships. My niece is represented by my seventh house, because the seventh house is the fifth house from the third house, which represents my brother. If you start counting from the third (as one), the fourth house is the second, the fifth house is the third, the sixth house is the fourth, and the seventh house is the fifth–my brother’s child. I also heard just recently that an old girlfriend of my brother’s (a fifth house relationship, not a seventh house one) had some severe mental difficulties and had to undergo painful electroshock therapy. We almost lost her, too–the fifth house from the third.

It’s good practice to check these patterns out when things happen to other people in our lives. My brother’s wife would be represented by my ninth house (opposite the third). Her mother would be represented by my twelfth (fourth to the ninth), her sister by my 11th (third to the ninth). One of the reasons that grandparents identify so much more easily with their grandchildren is that our grandparents are represented by our 1st and 7th axis (the fourth and tenth houses to the natal fourth and tenth houses). I don’t know if any of you can identify your first and seventh axis with your grandparents, but I had one grandparent representing each end–a pleasant, fair, easygoing grandpa who embodied my first house Libra Mercury, and an aggressive, difficult grandmother who was the epitome of Mars on the Descendant.

You can play Ring Around the Rosy with planetary positions, too, though I don’t recommend this until you get a full grasp of the houses and how they work in sequence. When we are using polarity points of planets (the point opposite the natal planet point) we are, in fact, treating the opposing point as if it were in a seventh house relationship to the planet–it represents the energy that the planet does not have in and of itself. It is ‘other’ to the planet, and represents what must be incorporated in order for the planet to evolve. It also represents the ‘shadow’ side of the planet, much the way the Descendant represents our own darker tendencies which may be unconscious. But you might want to resolve this planetary development by looking at the points square to the planet, both applying and separating. The applying square will represent the fourth house to the planet (the problems inherent in its grounding and stability) and the separating square represents the tenth house to the planet (the qualities that it must ultimately assume in order to function in the world).

Aside from polarities, which represent the 1/7 axis, it can be interesting to look at the houses in 12th position to one another. The twelfth house, of course, is 12th in relation to the first. But this continues in sequence–the first house is 12th to the second , the second  is 12th to the third house, the third house is 12th to the fourth house, etc. What this means is that the house prior to the house in question holds the secret to its rebirth and regeneration–if there are planets there, the karma surrounding that planet can work to transform the house in the first house position. If we have Jupiter in the second, resolving those Jupiter issues will work to reform the third house dynamic. If we have Pluto in the fourth, our work with emotional stability and resolving conflicts with family will help to create the change needed for our creative expression in the fifth. This is different from having Pluto itself in the fifth, which forces us to confront our own creative power.

You can play these games ad infinitum–and you can make yourself crazy with them. I’m offering this to you just, as the title suggests, for fun. So next time a big transit lands in your chart and it doesn’t directly affect you, take a look at the others in your life who may be affected. The results may surprise you.