Last month’s essay –the introduction to synthesis illustrated by chord assembly in music (on the piano)—piqued much reaction! I’m delighted. Let’s take the principles a step further, from building tension, to extending that tension to resolution … much as a Grand Trine (which is a defense-mechanism tension) can give way out through a square or opposition or even a sextile to any one of its points).

Case in point: Prince Charles [November 14, 1948, 9:14 PM, GMT in London] has Pluto square Sun, ruler of his Ascendant: a stifling, a smothering, a blanket over his hand grenade; the dominance comes through his mother (the Nodal Axis conjoined with the Moon in the 10th); his defense mechanisms is seen through the Earth Grand Trine (a closed-circuit of practical self-sufficiency, i.e., withdrawal). The stress is focused upon the Moon’s quindecile with Neptune-Venus, Neptune ruling the 9th, Venus ruling the 11th and the 4th (enormous anxiety with tradition, the dictates of law, public accolade, being loved for who he is, etc.

The outlet of all this tension could well be through the sextile with Uranus, ruler of the 7th! The very relationship stage upon which so much individuality is lost becomes the platform for individuality to be supported, regained. Thhis certainly introduces the behind-the-scenes-for-so-long relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles (with whom Charles shares a strong Nodal contact, he Ascendant to his Node).

Both Camilla and Charles have the veiling presence of Neptune upon an angle.

Another outlet for the tension in Charles’ horoscope is through his Mercury, which opposes the Moon center within the Grand Trine. This Mercury is saying that someday, somehow Charles must think for himself, get out of the pressure cooker. Notice that Mercury is co-ruler of the ‘loveableness 11th.’

Now, back to the music analogies Go to the piano with your music knowledge or what you learned in last month’s essay. Play the C-E-G once again. Play all three notes at the same time: this is static, correct, solid, unchanging, defensive in those regards.

Now add the B-flat, the second black key to the right of the G. Play all four notes together: that’s the C-7th Chord. You can here the change now, the solid structure of the C-chord has become shifty; it needs resolution; it needs to go somewhere.

This B-Flat could well be the Mercury factor in Charles’ horoscope, the thinking process leading into change. It could be the Uranus that complements the defense structure with an individualistic development, a way out to new stability.

“The new stability” musically is called the F-chord. Play the C-7th Chord and then do this: move from the E to the next white note (F); move from the G, up to the next white note (A); eliminate (resolve away) the B-flat, and play C-F-A. What a resolution! Hear it? Play the C-7th chord and then the three notes of the F chord (third inversion for the technical people). Wow!

That shows us how tension developmentally can find its way out, its resolution point!

Try another resolution: sooooooooo subtle, sooooooooo simple.

Play the keys D, F, and G simultaneously. [D is the next white note above C; F is the note two white keys above the D; G is the next white key above that, above the F.] Play those three notes again and again. Feel the tension???

Now the resolution: simply go back to our familiar C-chord! Just play the C-E-G combination. –You go from D-F-G played simultaneously to C-E-G simultaneously.

We’ve referred to the C-chord (any tonic chord in any key, of course) as a stable, well-defended position. Here with this resolution, we can feel, hear, see someone leaving the tension and entering into protective stability! --For Charles, the maternal tension/pressure throughout his development as a Royal … this tension is absorbed into a defensive posture. It’s harmonious but static.

Additionally, this could very well be the ‘sound’ of the T-Square outlet in my horoscope [Noel Tyl, December 31, 1936 at 3:57 PM, West Chester PA]: the intense, aggressive, perception group of Pluto-Mercury, the axis squared by Mars is resolved out through the sextile that Mars has with the Moon, ruler of my Ascendant, given welcome harmony through the opposition from Venus! --Play just the F and G together. Even lower the G to the adjacent black note …with the F, this is a jarring sound. Now, ease back to F-G, add the D below (just as we have already done) and hear the resolution working itself out in development, and then arrive at C-E-G!

Now, let’s get a bit fancier! Play the C-chord (C-E-G), then play the C-7th Chord (C-E-G-B flat), then play the F-chord (C-F-A), next the G-7th chord, which is D-F-G, and then finally the C-chord again. –You hear all those developments! Four changes, all integrated among themselves but showing different tension qualities. THAT’s synthesis.

And, upping this experience another notch: play the four changes (preceding paragraph) with the right hand alone AND, with each chord, using the left hand, play a C one-octave down on the keyboard [that means the next C to the left, in relation to the group of two black-keys, or the seventh white key to the left from the middle-of-the-keyboard C you are basing all your synthesis on!] This underlines the fundamental of the inter-relationships. It is the signal/symbol of the homogeneity embracing transient disc(h)ord!

What chord is sounding strongest in our life right now? What part of our horoscope is ringing loud and clear? Is it discordant or tense [just play F-G together, but then add the D, and then the C-chord) searching for steps to resolution? What notes –faculties—can be brought into behavior to make this happen? --Often it is a minor, subtle adjustment [note how little movement on the keyboard brings dramatically obvious changes!] that takes the river around the mountain!

**Thank you for sharing the music with me. I feel it is a very apt metaphorical idiom through which to appreciate synthesis. --Painters can use the same principle through the mixing and juxtapositioning of pigments. Doctors can understand the synthesis among somatic and systemic conditions. Psychologists can appreciate the groupings of thought patterns into behavioral composites. Investors know all about the interplay of information-risk-reaction-evaluation. Athletes in any sport can appreciate the tension points, the gambits, the resolutions in the “plays” that are the strategy of the game.

Astrologers simply can not think measurements, in and of themselves, exist to compel life. They are only guidelines to “hearing” interactive forces –needs and the behaviors to fulfill them—and their synthesis in tension-fulfillment [pain-pleasure] interplay lead to harmony. Synthesis defines the way to harmony.

Next update: July 31, 2002