Over the years I’ve been asked many times why people appear who seem to have familiar traits and then disappear, only to be replaced by someone else with similar traits.

While “real world” factors always determine when we come or go in another’s life, that we attract people with similar traits is explained by the astrological concept known as “planets are people.”

Each one of our planets represents countless people who come and go throughout our life. In the natal, progressed, or even the Solar Return chart, each of the planets in our chart represents at least one, and often more than one, person at any given stage of our lives. As we grow and evolve in how we express our planetary qualities, some people disappear while others appear. Here we get valuable clues from progressions, since they represent our “world of inner space,” as well as the transits, showing outer events which come and go, and people with them.

The planets in our birth chart represent our unique energy fields that we ARE. This energetic complex expresses into the world of our interactions, and therefore have to do with the people we attract at different times. As we evolve, we are tested a variety of ways which shape the expression of each of our planets. Over time, our planets progress, showing inner shifts, and the transits play out their cycles with our planets, which create energetic shifts in us which influence what happens in the outer world.

How It Works

If each of the planets symbolizes “a department of labor” in our psychological makeup, then as we shape our character by our interactions and the choices we make, the quality of our planetary functions change. Here we must remember that every interaction with the “real world” involves relationships.

In traditional astrology, our Sun sign represents our father and our Moon sign symbolizes our Mother. Our brothers and sisters were represented by other planets ruling or inhabiting our 3rd, 5th, and 7th houses, and perhaps even are shown by an entire configuration in our chart. In these cases, it could show as one or more siblings setting off several responses in our life and character development, and help us see how various parts of our inner nature are connected.

As we grow and begin to interact with others in the world outside our family, our natal planets are no longer are exclusively represented by our family, and increasingly reflect our friends and colleagues. Seeing each planet as a person, it’s easy to see that as our planets grow and evolve in their expression, the people who used to symbolize the old expression disappear. They represented a planet in the "solar system" of our life up to a point, and then for whatever reason, or for no reason, that person no longer represented that quality in our inner makeup.

When we go through a planetary evolution, the magnetic attraction that held us together with that other person no longer had resonance, and the bond was severed. Here I’ll note that “severing” is a quality of Mars. Due to Mars’ duality of “Grace/Sin” as explained in my work Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend, when it’s time to end a relationship, we are challenged to find grace in our actions, rather than fall into error through anger, angst, attacks, impulsiveness, or irritability.

When any relationship ends, it’s a clear signal to take a look at our inner changes because we’ll find that something in us has ended and is preparing for a new beginning. Every ending is an opportunity for us to learn something new about our inner planetary function that prior relationship represented. Here’s where taking a look back at our endings always yields valuable insights into which planet shifted expression.

Nature abhors a vacuum. When we create space in our lives, that space is sure to be filled with people and events and qualities which resemble something in our planetary makeup. An ending is inevitably followed with something which fills the void in ways appropriate to our inner hologram expressed in outer life. Depending on who we were and what we needed to learn and manifest, another person embodying that energy showed up, and we did what we did with them for as long as they represented that quality.

Also remember that just as others are shown in our planets, we are a planet in their life, whether we knew it or not. It may or may not be the same planetary energy as the one who left, since our evolved Self may need a different planetary lesson, depending on the season of life we're in. We become different planets to many people, mirroring the level of understanding they're at and their own holographic resonance pattern.

Do People Represent Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto in our Chart?

If we are important to them, we often assume the role of an important planet, whichever that one is in the individual’s chart. However, beyond the shifts in our visible planets and their departments of Life, those who are engaged in transformational work often act as Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto to others.

Since these planets symbolize invisible transpersonal factors beyond individual control, their transformational energies usually show through the quality of one of the visible planets, since the visible planets represent obvious character traits. If all spiritual energies must be grounded in an effective “visible” form, as we learn to recognize the spiritual energies of the transpersonal planets we can translate them into recognizable planetary realizations and expressions.

For example, though my function as an astrologer is often Uranian (renovating, revolutionizing, individuating), I am often regarded as more of a Saturn influence, since I describe the boundaries of the known and the unknown, and show people the limit where their human-ness meets their Divine Spirit. The outer boundary of where our mind meets our imagination is the “Ring-Pass-Not,” which I devote an entire section to in Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend, as Saturn represents the RPN as well as those times when we transcend and expand the RPN into a wider, higher, and deeper dimension of Life.

Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars Shifts

Our planetary “Lights” symbolize inner forces and outer responses. That’s why we resonate with some people and not others. (Here another factor is also at work, and that’s how evolved each is in what they express.) The comparison of relative harmony and friction of our planetary contacts with others and theirs with us is the basis for evaluating synastry and compatibility charts.

That said, our Jupiter shifts may or may not mean a person with Sun in Sagittarius or Pisces will appear or disappear, since it could equally apply to a person with Jupiter prominent in their charts. However, you can bet that when an Aries or Scorpio enters or leaves our life, it does have something to do with Mars, regardless of any other planetary energy they may represent.

As Jupiter’s nature is expansive, imaginative, and generous, that means in our lives Jupiter represents the people who opened our imagination, or gave us a long journey, or showed us how to be more generous or humorous in our life. Jupiter symbolizes all our teachers who opened a broader or wider view or understanding. It also symbolizes all who protected us, or blessed us, or who gave us something we needed that gave us hope. Of course, it also symbolizes those who taught us through extravagance, waste, or extreme events.

When we were younger, our Saturn represented the elders who taught us to be afraid, or bound us to rules and expectations and duties and responsibilities. As we grow older, Saturn can represent our boss, or any authority figure who is associated with our limitations, obligations, and disciplined action.

It’s easy to see how Mars is associated with the endless succession of people who aggravated us, irritated us, or sharpened us up. Mars people in our lives triggered our need to fight or flee from hassles, or taught us to be good warriors, or just simply mobilize our energies in a focused and determined way. Whenever you have to “spring into action” you can bet that person is associated with your Mars!

As I noted earlier, some of the most important people represented more than one planet in our chart, and perhaps even an entire configuration, such as when we learned how to balance opposite energies, or triangulate into a broader understanding or effectiveness. They also could represent any chain of events that transformed our lives for better or worse.

By exploring how we came to manifest certain character traits we show our world, we can see how certain people gave us patterns to imitate or follow into that character trait. Then we can see how certain planets embodied those people, and that when those traits and activities and attitude ended they were replaced by new ones also related to those planetary character traits. By seeing it as a dance of evolution, where we were a planet to them and they were a planet to us, we don't have to feel badly that a relationship ended for no apparent reason.

We learn what we learn by our interactions with the world. Once we learn our lesson on any level, then we move to a new way of framing that lesson, ultimately so that we can serve ourselves and our world from a place of conscious wisdom and compassion. It's not that we don't regret the passing of certain people; it's just that the passages can show us our larger path revealing our Dharma, or "true function" on this Earth.

So next time you wonder why someone is in your life, remember that it may be to learn to say yes, say no, say maybe, perhaps glimpse a greater reality, or dance a more enjoyable dance on this beautiful Earth. And in any case, no matter how close or distant, appreciate all those who brought you to the dance, since God loves gratitude.

Reprinted on crystalwind.ca with written permission from Robert Wilkinson. Copying this article to other blogs is strictly prohibited. It is copyright protected. 

© Copyright 2023 Robert Wilkinson

© 2023 crystalwind.ca. All rights reserved. We track all IP addresses. Using a VPN will now also get tracked to original source IP.