Please note: Subject headings in this paper are almost identical to those in the Simpson, Arien, Family A, and Damon papers until we get to the actual chart comparisons. That is, material under subject headings titled Introduction, Method, Mars and Saturn in Synastry, and Some Chart Definitions are nearly identical. Material thereafter, beginning with the subject heading Starting Compound Mars and Saturn Sets Between Mrs. and Mrs. F is unique to them.

Introduction
I have written a number of papers demonstrating the difficulty people experience who have mars and saturn influencing Angles in their charts. By "influencing" I mean they are either "on" Angles (with 2°) or they are in a set which has a light (sun/moon/node) and one of the planets in the set rules an Angle. For instance, see the paper on Financial Loss. Or see the one on Mental Retardation. I have also written papers on the good fortune experienced by those whose charts have Angular venus and jupiter. For instance, see the paper on Gurus. Or, see the one on Lottery Winners Or, just look at O.J. Simpson’s life before his wife’s death. (He has venus conjunction jupiter on his birth 4th house cusp, that is, opposite B MC. Astrologically, that is the reason he will never spend much time in jail.)

Here are links to all the synastry papers. If you want to see the greatest venus/jupiter vs. mars/saturn contrast read the Browning and Simpson papers. The links: . Comments on Synastry--Astrological Compatibility--Using This Form of Astrology

Synastry, The Astrology of Venus and Jupiter Between Charts, the Sixth Couple: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward

Synastry, The Astrology of Mars and Saturn Between Charts, the Sixth Couple: Michel and Francoise Gauquelin

Synastry, The Astrology of Venus and Jupiter Between Charts, the Fifth Couple: the D Family

Synastry, The Astrology of Venus and Jupiter Between Charts, the Fourth Couple: Ronald and Nancy Reagan

Synastry, The Astrology of Mars and Saturn Between Charts, the Fourth Couple: Carol and Michael Damon and Homicide/Suicide

Synastry, The Astrology of Venus and Jupiter Between Charts, the Third Couple: Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst

Synastry, The Astrology of Mars and Saturn Between Charts, the Third Couple: Sandra and William A. and Her Homicide

Synastry, The Astrology of Venus and Jupiter Between Charts, the Second Couple: Queen Victoria and Albert, Prince of England

Synastry, The Astrology of Mars and Saturn Between Charts, the Second Couple: David and Jonelle Arien and Homicide/Suicide

Synastry, The Astrology of Venus and Jupiter Between Charts, the First Couple: Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Synastry, The Astrology of Mars and Saturn Between Charts Using the Charts of O.J. Simpson and His Deceased Wife, Nicole

This paper is about the problems mars and saturn create when they exist in two separate charts but are conjunct, square, or opposition each other and an Angle. If I were writing about this condition within one chart, I would state mars and saturn were “in the same set.” But since here we are comparing planets in two charts (also known as synastry), I cannot call them sets. I will have to call them something else. I have chosen the term, “compound set.”

A compound set consists of planets from the charts of two individuals, that are conjunct, square, or opposition each other. Allowable orb is 2° (unless a light—sun, moon, or node—is involved, in which case the orb can go up to about 3-1/2°). Compound sets are more powerful if they contain a light (sun, moon, or node). They are most powerful when they contain either an Angle or the ruler of an Angle.

With the F Family, Stephen was born in Boston while his then wife, Barbara, was born in Glen Ridge, NJ. Data source information implies they lived in Boston, married there (1973), and lived there before their bitter divorce in 1978. Unlike some of the other mars/saturn couples, nobody lost his/her life. About a year after their divorce Stephen took their two daughters for a weekend trip and disappeared with them, found and arrested only eighteen years later. To my knowledge all of the F family is still alive, therefore, I have used “F” to represent their name.

Unfortunately, data given mentions only the year of marriage as well as the year of divorce. When I have a date involving only the year, I usually progress to approximate mid-year, that is, to July 1, Year. Below I present data on compound sets involving Barbara’s locality and progressed locality Angles for their marriage and divorce for each for mid-year.

The following information, on Barbara, is from my data source, Astrodatabank :

[Barbara] had first met [Stephen] in the late '60s when they were both employed at the XX in Boston, he as a bouncer and she a coat checker. Married at the time, he told her that his wife was in an insane asylum. She dropped out of school to marry him in 1973 while he continued school, getting his law degree. By 1977, their marriage was failing and the following year they divorced. [Stephen] obtained affidavits from her neighbors that raised serious questions about Barbara's fitness as a mother, describing her as a drinker who often left her kids unfed, unclean and unsupervised. Other neighbors scoffed at the accusations as unsubstantial. Barbara does have narcolepsy, and her sudden drowsiness could have been mistaken for inebriation. At any event, child welfare services gave her a positive report and she kept the kids.

On 10/25/1979 [Stephen] took the girls, aged five and two, for a weekend trip, and disappeared. It was the last time that Barbara saw her children. For years she hired private investigators and lawyers, to no avail.

Barbara went back to school, earning her doctorate in cellular biology and joining the faculty of the University of XX Medical School. She remarried, but had no more kids and maintained a search for her two missing daughters.

In September 1997 she had a lead on [Stephen}, and had him traced, finding her daughters 18 years after losing them. He was arrested on 4/16/1998. The two girls, now 23 and 21 [that was in 1996 ], spoke at a news conference about their love and trust for their dad and neither mentioned their mom. [Barbara] is left with the hope that someday the two young women might choose to meet with her and draw their own conclusions.

I have not included source notes on Stephen as all we want to know about him is already included above under his ex-wife’s biographical information.

Before we get to their synastry, I want to say something about this astrological method.

Method
This astrological method is not the traditional Western one. It is not traditional, period. True, it uses sidereal astrology, the predominant (traditional) astrology of the East. It also uses the Egyptian harmonic. Both are quite old. This method started with me in 1983. Its working rules were not inherited. They were uncovered gradually through years of research. As they were uncovered, a system which at first seemed too complex became almost too simple. Here are those rules:

Chart Rules

And here are links to my comments on the practical differences between sidereal versus tropical astrology as well as a paper discussing the origin of this method:

Tropical vs. Sidereal Astrology

About This Method

In this paper we want to look at the negative synastry between two people (1) as a given between their birth charts, and, (2) at certain moments in time. The” time” for (2) is the date of their marriage (within a year) and the date of their divorce (within a year). For the most part in these papers on synastry, we are examining their negative synastry by focusing primarily on their compound sets involving mars and saturn, the lesser and greater malefics of astrology. We are examining their positive synastry by focusing on their sharing of venus and jupiter, the lesser and greater benefics of astrology. This paper, along with all the papers on difficult relationships, contains explanations for why shared mars/saturn is so difficult. For the explanation for why shared venus/jupiter is so fortunate for couples, refer to the Home Page, the links on the couples the Robert Brownings, the Ronald Reagans, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies.

Mars and Saturn in Synastry
Mars and saturn in the same compound set produce one of the most difficult synastry situations that exist between two people. Here I have used the synastry of a couple, but these sets work the same among any two people—boss and employee, siblings, parent and child, friends, co-workers, and so on.

In astrology, mars is the symbol for aggression, assertion, cutting, tearing, breaking down, martial, penetrating, and so on. Saturn is the symbol that represents our deepest fears and our least understood limitations. Saturn also stands for deficiency, want, deprivation, darkness, depression, crystallization, sterility, and old age. In old age we become brittle and crystallized, i.e., unable or unwilling to change our ways. In youth, our crystallization (that is, fragility, rigidity, vulnerability) as it is represented by saturn is hidden deep in our personality where it was unconsciously cast during our early childhood. Generally, we are not aware of it, nor do we want to know it exists.

For the purpose of discussion about compound sets, let’s call the individual who contributes mars to the set the “mars individual,” and the one who contributes saturn, the “saturn individual.” It should be easy to see from the defining words used for mars and saturn that when they operate between two individuals some one (the saturn individual) is going to feel aggressed—cut and penetrated—in the most vulnerable, least understood part of his psyche. It almost always starts out that the mars individual inadvertently steps on the delicate toes of the saturn individual. This can go on for a long time (years), but not forever. Eventually the saturn individual “rises up” and figuratively, if not literally, flattens the mars person. At that point, the mars individual can wonder, “what did I do to deserve this?” The mars individual had seen his aggression as “natural” and the other individual’s sometimes apparent discomfort as “weakness.” Seen it, that is, if he has bothered to notice it at all. He wasn’t intending harm, he was just “being himself.” After all, what are you supposed to do if by just being yourself you are making another individual uncomfortable—stop being yourself?

When two individual share more than one compound mars/saturn set interaction gets tricky, indeed. Then the same individual can be both aggressor and the victim, depending on which set she is operating out of at the time.

My understanding of compound mars/saturn sets comes from experience as well as research. With this series of papers, we are presently engaged in finding out if those long, drawn out, bitter divorces we read and hear about (hopefully nothing more) between two people have an “excess” of compound mars/saturn sets between them. And how many sets mean an excess. One? Two? But experience allows me to write something right now on the subject.

When two individuals share one or more compound mars/saturn sets, we have happened upon the astrological situation in which each individual believes himself sincerely in the right as well as sincerely wronged by the other individual. Each tells himself or herself that it would take little for the other individual to make things “right” or stop doing the offensive behavior. Each believes the other individual, therefore, meanly holding out. Each is in pain. Each ends up believing the other individual is fortuitously augmenting that pain. This leads to endless mutual recriminations, both imaginative and verbal. And, of course, it can escalate to violence.

One can live with another with whom they share a compound mars/saturn. It happens, unfortunately, between some parents and their children. Too, it happens among couples when they also share strong positive sets. The positive sets provide the motivation—the liking, loving, pleasure, comfort, laughter, highs—to be together. At first, the quarrels, hurt feelings, and rifts sponsored by the mars/saturn set are ignored or patched up quickly. In fact, healing the rift provides the couple with some fairly dramatic experiences of intimacy, convincing them of the depth of their attachment. The “good” feels really good especially when compared with how awful the “bad” feels. As time goes on, however, healing is less pleasurable and their differences become more painful, more irreconcilable. Unresolved differences lead to the accumulation of bad feelings, resentment, secrecy, and hermetically closed individuals.

At the beginning of relationships we all tend to put our best foot forward, emphasizing the positive both consciously and unconsciously. With couples who fall in love, their fairy tale happiness is helped along by the strong positive astrology active when they met. So, it is not surprising no one wants to welcome discord when and if it happens. No one wants to see herself the snarly, defensive, child-like partner that is represented by a wounded saturn individual.

Even if a married couple did not start out with a compound mars/saturn set, they are together so long that sooner or later they usually experience some through progressions. When that happens, the pain starts with the saturn individual experiencing the previously loving spouse as thoughtless, insensitive, crude, and possibly even cruel. Mutual blame, anger, resentment, and even disbelief begin to accumulate. But, since the condition came about through progressions, it will pass and the relationship be restored. From the point of view of the individuals experiencing it, their temporary pain was a fluke in a usually good relationship. And, since they did not start out with the problem, they would be right. They experienced as passing a difficult condition which some couples experience continuously as part of their life together.

So, it is difficult enough for a relationship to survive intact through a progressed mars/saturn set. It is best not to go into a relationship which starts out with strong one.

It can get worse. A couple can start out with a compound mars/saturn set. Then, one or more sets are formed between them during one period of time.

This can happen in several ways. As stated above, it can occur through progressions (that is, by bringing their chart up to a particular date). It can also occur through a change in locality. The couple move and one (or both) of them provide new locality Angles for mars/saturn sets that were previously in the background (i.e., without a light or Angle). Or the locality Angles coincide with new, progressed mars/saturn sets.

Some Chart Definitions
In the tables below, b stands for birth, c stands for conception, and p for progressed. T stands for transiting. A number following the letters identifies the harmonic chart from which the harmonic planet was taken, e.g., b7 pluto identifies the harmonic of pluto for the 7th chart. All harmonics used are +2 greater than the number of the chart they are applied to. Therefore, the harmonic used for the 7th chart is the ninth, or novienic, harmonic.

MC stands for Midheaven while Asc stands for Ascendant. B-Loc identifies the locality chart for birth, while C-Loc identifies the locality chart for conception. Reasonably, then, pB-Loc MC identifies the progressed locality Midheaven for birth while pC-Loc Asc identifies the progressed locality Ascendant for conception.

Now we can look at some of the synastry in the compound sets which existed between Stephen and Barbara. I do not know in which city they met, but their source notes imply they lived together in Boston, Massachusetts, the locality Stephen was born in. Here we examine what interaction, if any, Barbara’s locality Angles for Boston have with their shared sets.

In this paper chart comparisons are between 7th charts because the 7th chart is strongest in showing relationship. I occasionally include some analysis of 5th charts (sexuality and children).

Angles and House Cusps for Stephen and Barbara F
I have not included drawings of partial charts in this paper, therefore, house cusps are not shown. They are shown below for those who might want to refer to them

House Cusps for Barbara:
Placidus: C MC—16 Capricorn 03, c11—14Aqu, c12—24Pis, C Asc—9 Taurus 46, c2—3Gem, c3—24Gem B MC—9 Taurus 01, b11—14Gem, b12—15Can, B Asc—13 Leo 02, b2—7Vir, b3—6Lib

House Cusps for Stephen:
Placidus: C MC—21 Sagittarius 26, c11—15Cap, c12—17Aqu, C Asc—5 Aries 07, c2—8Tau, c3—1Gem B MC—26 Pisces 16, b11—3Tau, b12—10Gem, B Asc—10 Cancer 46, b2—1Leo, b3—25Leo

Since Stephen “disappeared” from the world for all intents and purposes, adopting a false name and identity while he raised his two daughters, the condition of his B Asc is worth showing:

Stephen’s c moon, at 12 Libra 55, provides a light for the above set, but I did not include it because I don’t believe it necessary for the result he got from this set. Saturn rules c 11th, co-ruling (15 of 34°) c 10th house.

I wrote about saturn/pluto in the case of the disappearing priest—when, by progression, the priest had considerable forefront saturn/pluto influence, he simply cut off all relationships and headed out into the wilderness. Saturn/pluto appears also involved in the astrological formation of autism (of the kind mostly involving the child’s quiet, nearly complete absence from social acknowledgement and participation), but there it is affecting earlier charts, the 1st and 3rd. In the 7th, as it is above, it implies Stephen will spend a certain period of his life “cut off” from the society of important others (7th). As it turned out, his name and identity as Stephen F. was cut off for many years. Under an assumed name and identity, he lived a rather good life as responsible and loving father and twice-more husband, sometimes among the idle rich of Palm Beach society. Moreover, when finally caught, he never had to serve a prison term. He was fined and charged with 2000 hours of community service.

Starting Compound Mars/Saturn Sets Between Stephen and Barbara
By “starting sets” I mean sets that existed between their charts prior to any progressions. The F family started with two compound mars/saturn sets:

In Set (1) her b7 venus rules her B MC, her c7 venus rules her C Asc, his b moon rules his B Asc, and his b neptune rules his B MC. So, Set (1) which contains four lights plus mars/saturn is powerful in its influence to four Angles.

Their initial attraction is easy to see. Her venus in Pisces conjunct his moon in Pisces would have caused her attraction to him. It was reciprocal because his venus in Virgo (plus neptune) was conjunct her moon in Virgo. Conjunctions of venus to moon are the strongest, and are sure to result in the liking/loving/attraction of the venus individual for the lunar one.

But this is still a very powerful compound mars/saturn set. Yes, it contains four venuses—two of hers and two of his. Set (1) actually breaks down in a way that tells a story. Her moon/venus/venus/mars/mars is congruent with his sun2/moon/venus/venus/saturn. She is the sexual aggressor (venus/mars). For her, he is the big turn-on. And, for a period of time, that would be okay with him. At first, both within our own charts and in synastry we all make the effort to ignore (or avoid totally) the unpleasantness of saturn or of a mars/saturn interaction. But, all planets in a set will express, either simultaneously or in a serial fashion (it’s an all-or-none principle). Therefore, in time, the F couple’s emphasis on the pleasurable, sexual part of this set was going to get weaker while the unpleasant friction and disagreement of her mars to his saturn would show up more and more as backlash until it became predominant. While venus interaction is important for feelings of love and attraction, venus is not the best prognosticator of long-term relationships. “Love” as it is portrayed by venus is notoriously undependable. For Stephen and Barbara, all their venus “love” was eventually eroded by the far longer-lasting, more serious difficulty of their mars/saturn.

I only have the year of marriage. Progressions for mid-year shows that her progressed B MC was at 2 Gemini 15 and her progressed B Asc, at 2 Virgo 45, falling into Set (1). Each of their moons would increase orb, so that year, with each experiencing the Angularity of moon/venus, they were “in love.” (The next year, when her Angles brought forefront his saturn, she would have been pregnant or a new mother. Forefront saturn is not unusual at that time because it symbolizes the curtailment of the couple’s sexuality for pregnancy/motherhood.) So, they did start experiencing this set as initially positive. It just could not stay that way.

We saw a compound set similar to Set (1), but with fewer planets, in the synastry between Ronald and Nancy Reagan. There, I was less certain how to interpret it. Nancy had the moon/venus/saturn, all conjunct in Pisces, while her husband’s mars was also in Pisces. I thought it could turn out positive because (1) they had several compound golden benefics, solidly cementing the positive part of their relationship, and (2) it was his mars to her venus. Because of anatomical as well as hormonal differences between men and women, it is almost always better if the man’s mars (the aggressor) falls on the woman’s venus (the receiver). Couple F had the reverse.

Continuing with compound mars/saturn sets:

Set (2) is their second compound mars/saturn. It contains one light (her NN) and influences three Angles—his C MC, his C Asc through its ruler c mars, and her B MC through its ruler, b venus. The second set reverses a part of Set (1) above in that this time his mars (two of them) is to her venus/saturn. When venus/saturn does not work out positively as something like “dutiful love” or “sacrifice through love” (both of which can be very positive), its negative interpretation is “disappointment in love” or “disenchantment.” Then saturn acts to shrivel the love of venus. So, it would have started with the excitement of his mars to her venus, but her saturn would eventually have turned it into hurt feelings and disappointment.

The F’s have one more set, not a compound one, I consider negative enough to badly impact their relationship.

Set (3) influences four Angles—her C Asc, her B MC, her C MC through its ruler, c saturn, and his B Asc through its ruler, b7 moon. Her c saturn turned retrograde about 24 years after her conception and was at 12 Leo 08R at the time of their divorce, in the same set with her B-Loc MC (for Boston) at 12 Taurus 00.

Boston was not a particularly good place for Barbara, anyway. Her B-Loc Asc was at 15 Leo 49 while her C-Loc Asc was 14 Taurus 43, in the same set with her c7 saturn at 15 Scorpio 13 and her b saturn at 15 Leo 48. Angle/saturn shows depression as well as low social recognition. Barbara had three of them. It was a good thing for her well-being she went to work in another state after graduating with her doctorate.

Progressed Compound Mars/Saturn Set
Interaction with sets of some of Barbara’s locality Angles is covered above, with the Loc Angles in bold.

They had one progressed compound mars/saturn set at the time of their divorce. The orb is a bit big, but the presence of his node enlarges acceptable orb. :

C NN started out at 16 Virgo 59, so it is moving slowly. His b7 mars is not moving at all. Since his saturn is moving retrograde and her pC-Loc Asc is moving forward, this set would also have been operative the year following their divorce leading up to his kidnapping the two children.

The F’s started their relationship with two (un-progressed) compound mars/saturn sets and acquired a third one [Set (3)] at the time of and following their divorce.

What Drew Them Together?
Above, in Set (1), I showed Barbara had progressed B Angles to the moon/venus part of that set at the time they married, a condition describing being in (mutual) love. What other positive sets did they share? Two are worth mentioning, one being a compound golden benefic:

Set (a) influences three Angles—his C Asc, his C MC through its ruler c7 jupiter, and her C Asc through its ruler, c venus. This is a strong enough golden benefic, along with their equal exchange of venus conjunct moon mentioned in Set (1) above, to bring a couple into relationship with a belief they had something worth holding onto.

It is perhaps noteworthy that her venus/mars falls on his jupiter/Angle. He is, once again, at first accepting and open to her sexual (venus/mars) overtures.

This theme between them is repeated once again in their 5th charts (showing sexuality and its results, children) in the 5th chart variation of Set (a) above:

Set (a’’) is a golden benefic with influence to three Angles—his C Asc, his C MC through its ruler, c5 jupiter, and her C Asc through its ruler, c venus. This is a powerful golden benefic, but once again, it is her mars to his venus.

They even have second 5th chart golden benefic, this time free from mars:

Set (b’’) influences one Angle through her c5 venus, ruler of her C Asc.

This was surely one of those relationships that started out with powerful, intimate sexuality that could convince any couple they were meant to be together.

Unfortunately, contrary to modern TV soaps and mores, great sexuality by itself does not a marriage make. What a misfortune that upcoming generations are brain-washed by media and romance novels to believe it does.

Barbara’s 5th chart foreshadows the possibility she will suffer through 5th house matters (sexuality and/or children). Her c5 moon is at 23 Pisces 21 conjunct her b NN at 23 Pisces 08, suggesting part of her spiritual growth (NN) this lifetime will be through personal (moon) suffering (Pisces). It doesn’t matter that her moon rules only c 4th and co-rules c 3rd house (ostensibly having nothing to do with children). It is her 5th chart which produces the moon in Pisces for the conjunction to her NN.

Returning to their second benefic set:

I discussed this Angle/saturn/pluto above in reference to Stephen’s “disappearance” for 18 years with his abducted daughters. (Set (b) shows Barbara provided a benefic—jupiter—for his Angle/saturn. His relationship with her pulled him away from his tendency to a covert life, but once it ended, so did his overt social participation as Stephen F.

Above I showed he did the opposite for her Angle/Angle/saturn. He provided it with a light, exacerbating its difficulty for her.

Locality Angles
Barbara had several locality Angles that interacted in their negative synastry, all shown above in bold. They did not interact with any of their positive synastry.

Conclusion
The F Family started out with two compound mars/saturn sets with lights and with influence to numerous Angles, technically eight (without counting whether or not some of them were the same Angle, here we are counting individual references to Angles). At the time of their divorce they had acquired a third, with influence to one Angle.

They also started with one compound golden benefic with influence to two Angles.

In their 5th chartsthey shared two compound golden benefics. Evidence suggests the weight of their relationship rested on their early sexual compatibility, which, in time, was annihilated by the excessive influence of their three compound mars/saturn sets.

Discussion
Although other astrological factors play a role in determining the quality of a relationship, the synastry of mars/saturn and venus/jupiter between charts cover the range from very difficult to very harmonious. In that sense, they are good indices of failed and successful relationships.

Summing for the nine couples written about so far:

William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies, whose love affair lasted over 35 years, started with two compound malefic sets, but one was lacking both light and Angle influence, and the lacked Angle influence. They also started with at least two—possibly three—compound golden benefic sets with multiple influence to Angles and seven more sets comprised of Angle/venus, light/venus, Angle/jupiter, or light/jupiter.

Since neither of their malefic sets influenced an Angle, troubles represented by them tended to stay in the background even when a progressing light entered either set.

All of their benefic sets contained lights, and all but one of them [Set (5)] influenced at least one of their Angles.

Queen Victoria and her Prince started with zero compound malefic sets and seven compound benefic ones, at least one of which approached being a compound golden benefic.

Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning started with one weak compound mars/saturn set (it did not contain a light and had no influence to Angles). They started with eight compound benefic sets, one of which was compound golden benefic. (This number does not include any progressions or their locality Angles for Florence.)

David Arien killed his wife, Jonelle, and then himself. They started with four compound mars/saturn sets—before progressions, and before locality Angles. In earlier papers I referred to mars/saturn sets as dark malefics. I am not happy with the term but use it to represent, so-to-speak, the “opposite” of golden benefic.

O.J. and Nicole Brown Simpson started with two compound mars/saturn sets, one lighted and both with Angular influence. They experienced a confluence of them (four) through progressions and locality Angles at the time of her death. All four influenced at least one Angle, often more. They started with two very weak compound benefic sets. A third compound benefic was strong—Nicole’s San Francisco locality Angles picking up O.J.’s venus/jupiter.

Our third “afflicted” couple—the A’s—started with three compound mars/saturn sets (all with influence to Angles) and gained one through progression (with influence to two Angles) at the time of her death. As discussed above, they had one Angular compound golden benefic and a number of lesser sets (light/venus and light/jupiter) (influencing two Angles) that showed a skew toward attraction for him and forbearance (jupiter) from her.

The fourth afflicted couple, the Damons, started with two compound mars/saturn sets (independent of locality) with influence to three Angles (one of the same ones twice). At the time of their death, it could be said they had acquired tighter and more influential sets such that they had three compound mars/saturn sets with influence to six Angles.

The fifth afflicted couple, Stephen and Barbara F., started with two compound mars/saturn sets, each with lights and multiple influence to Angles. They also shared an important negative set containing only saturn [Set (3) above]. By contrast, they started with one compound golden benefic and only one noteworthy Angle/jupiter set [Set (b) above]. They actually had two mutually receptive moon/venus sets, normally considered positive for relationship, but these were part of one of their compound mars/saturn sets [Set (1) above]. Moon/venus, it appears, cannot survive intact the grueling, cross-purpose, mutually painful onslaughts of compound mars/saturn.

These nine couples have shown a strong separation of happy couples from unhappy couples that correlated strongly with number of compound benefics for the former and number of compound malefics for the latter.

Further Work
I had intended to stop a four couples as examples each of difficult and especially loving relationships, but have become fascinated and am doing more. Since it takes little to write up each new couple, I continue to post results.

Star Flower, a rare 7-petaled flower
From Wildflowers of Michigan Field Guide, by Stan Tekiela

Contact the author at sleeweidner@yahoo.com