I. Introduction

"... Yet everything that touches us, you and me, takes us together as a bow's stroke does, that out of two strings draws a single voice. Upon what instrument are we two spanned? And what player has us in his hand?

Rainer Maria Rilke, Love-Song

The wisdom of the soul reveals itself most explicitly when we enter into a union of souls with another person. This person is waiting with a message, a lesson for us, which we urgently need for our further development. It is solely for this purpose that we fall in love, it is only for this reason that we bind our being to this individual and allow ourselves to become emotionally or existentially dependent on this person. The encounter with a person who exerts a great influence on the rest of our lives, however, only comes about when we are ready for it in our deepest being. In respect to experience, our conscious will and our most pressing desires have little effect on what "happens to us " in a general sense. Whether it is a matter of encountering our own child for the first rinse, or whether it concerns our partner for life or a business partner, this is of lesser significance at the level of the soul. Experiences with our siblings, with long-standing friendships, with our roommates or with business rivals offer us opportunities - pleasant or unpleasant - to grow spiritually and to mature internally. Each of these persons brings us in touch with a different aspect of our own nature. In the one case, it can be our independent and freedom-loving side which gains expression, in the other case, our steady and conscientious side. With the one individual we become involved in a turbulent power struggle, with the other we learn to cope with the demands of daily life. Many themes in our soul's curriculum are easier to deal with in the form of intensive teamwork among colleagues as opposed to an intimate relationship, Other persons, on the contrary, require the deep union of souls typical between parents and their children.

But what are we internally ready for at the moment of our first encounter? Which experiences are possible with this individual? What role should they play in our life and what role should we play in theirs? What kind of conflicts can we expect and where does our potential lie?

All of these are questions which we attempt to approach with the help of astrology. This horoscope analysis can not only help find answers to such questions, it can also help us to view our relationships from a different perspective for the first time.