Lesson Nine: Chart Imbalances

Until now we have been looking at what is in the chart, finding the emphasis and focus and the living energy.
We have seen what happens when planets are brought together in a dynamic way by the aspects and by the
aspect patterns, and we have looked at some of the stories that emerge. But what I want to do tonight is to turn
everything on its head, and to look at what is missing from the chart, because that is important, too. In every
birth chart there will be empty houses, and there may be whole areas of a chart which are empty, or elements or
modes which are absent altogether or under-represented, or planets which make no aspects. We need to pay
proper attention to anything which is absent or lacking in a chart, because it is likely to exert a powerful
unconscious influence over us. If you would like to follow up this idea in more depth, then I would highly
recommend Richard Idemon's book, The Magic Thread.1
Audience: I am not sure what you are saying here, because it sounds as if everything is equally important,
whether or not it is in the chart.
Clare: That is a good point, and I will try to explain what I mean. Let's start with what is actually there in the
chart. No matter how challenging our birth charts may be, they will feel familiar to us because we have been
inhabiting them all our lives. The birth chart defines our personal experience of the world, and tends to be more
or less under the control of the ego, to the extent that it can be made conscious. For example, if we have several
personal planets in air, we are likely to have a well-developed thinking function which we will use to navigate
and make sense of the world. As far as we are concerned, that is normal. And if we have several personal
planets in mutable signs, we will be naturally flexible and adaptable. And if we have several aspects to our
Mars, we will know very well how to assert and defend ourselves. All of these ways of being feel normal to us.
By contrast, anything which is not in the chart will be outside our conscious or ego control. But that does not
mean that it doesn't exist. In fact, the way this seems to work is that whatever we don't have inside, in our birth
charts, somehow has to be manifested out there in the world. In other words, every void or imbalance within
seeks to be filled or balanced in the outside world. This is another example of the compensatory nature of the
psyche.
However, there is a noticeable difference in expression, emphasis and intensity between what is within our
charts and what lies outside, and we seem to have a particular blind spot about what is not in our birth charts,
with the result that whatever is lacking functions autonomously, like a complex. And we do not have complexes
- complexes have us. When a complex is activated, it takes us over, which is why we are prone to finding
ourselves in the grip of anything which is not in our birth chart.
Audience: Can you say a bit more about complexes, Clare, so that we can understand how they function?
Clare: Yes, and I am taking a particularly psychological approach here, because I think it makes the subject of
chart imbalances very clear and easy to understand. Complexes are powerful, compulsive, autonomous driving
forces. However, because they exist outside ego consciousness, they are only experienced in projection, and are
never really 'owned'. They are highly charged - affect-laden - and seem to have a life of their own, acting
independently and often inappropriately or out of proportion to the objective reality of a situation. One of the
easiest ways to recognise complexes is that they lack a sense of humour. I am sure you have all noticed how
perfectly reasonable and relaxed people can suddenly become rigid and defensive and start speaking in an
authoritative or strident voice which is not normal to them. Suddenly, in the place of the person you know, there
is an inflexible, intolerant, rigid, fanatical individual who is completely certain that they are right. If that has
happened to you, then no doubt you have unwittingly stepped on their complex. Does this make sense to you?
Audience: Yes, I can think of one or two examples already.
Clare: Just to take this one step further, singletons and missing functions constellate a variety of different
psychological defence mechanisms, which is the ego's way of trying to keep control. We may well attempt to
deny what we lack by using another function instead. For example, we may try to feel with our thinking, air
function. Or we may try to achieve concrete results with our fire function. Alternatively, we may consciously
devalue, neglect and criticise what we lack, and at the same time work hard to achieve it. This would mean that
we both deny and over-compensate for what we lack at the same time. Another way of balancing ourselves is to

enter into relationships with people who have plenty of what we lack. This is why it is so easy to fall into the
habit of criticising our partners for expressing the qualities we lack, while at the same time being dependent
upon them because they balance and complete us.
Audience: I have no earth in my chart, but I do have an angular Saturn and several planets in the earth houses.
Does that compensate for my lack of earth?
Clare: Your reaction is not uncommon, but it could be interpreted as a denial or defence mechanism, an
example of the ego trying to defend itself, since it is an attempt to give yourself some earth. The same thing
might be said, for example, of a chart with no water but with an angular Neptune, or many aspects to Neptune
or planets in the water houses. The point here is that neither your angular Saturn nor its ruler will be in an earth
sign. The same thing is true of your planets in the earth houses - they will not be in earth signs, and neither will
the planetary rulers of the earth houses, so I am sorry to say that we cannot manufacture an earth function for
ourselves if none of the planets are there.
But the main point I want to make is that our greatest gifts can come from the imbalances in our charts. The
energy that clusters around a complex can be immensely creative, for the very reason that it lies outside the
control of the ego. It is important to remember that obsession and compulsiveness are not necessarily negative.
After all, if we were all perfectly balanced, it is unlikely any of us would bother to get out of bed, let alone work
obsessively on a scientific discovery, climb Mount Everest, write a symphony or a book, or paint a great
painting. It is through what is lacking in our birth charts that we may make our greatest contribution to the
world.
Here is a crib sheet which may help you to identify quickly how the various imbalances in a chart might
function.

Rough Guide to Interpreting Chart Imbalances
What is Absent or Singular in the Birth Chart

Chart shaping:
ASC/DESC axis (self/partner)
Marked emphasis either above or below the horizon will lead to a fascination/obsession to explore the opposite
hemisphere.
MC/IC axis (public life/private life)
Marked emphasis either east or west of the Meridian will lead to a fascination/obsession to explore the opposite
hemisphere.

House/Sign Emphasis:
Lack of planets in first four houses/signs:
Intense involvement with all that is personal & subjective
Lack of planets in second four houses/signs:
Intense involvement with social life and relationships
Lack of planets in last four houses/signs:
Intense involvement with collective or public life

Modalities:
Lack of planets in cardinal signs:
Tendency for sudden action, impulsiveness, leadership
Lack of planets in fixed signs:
Tendency towards resistance, rigidity, perseverance
Lack of planets in mutable signs:
Tendency towards confusion, drifting, deviating from purpose

Elements:
Lack of planets in earth signs:
Powerful emphasis on/obsession with body, sexuality, food, money, e.g. the businessman, naturalist, body-
builder
Lack of planets in air signs:
Powerful emphasis on/obsession with education, learning, writing, communicating, e.g. the writer, philosopher,
actor
Lack of planets in water signs:
Powerful emphasis on/obsession with feelings, relationships, e.g. the musician, psychotherapist
Lack of planets in fire signs:
Powerful emphasis on/obsession with meaning, faith, adventure, risk-taking, e.g. the entrepreneur, the explorer,
the preacher
Unaspected planets and singletons:

Driving motivation, autonomous, compulsive expression of the archetypal qualities of the planet concerned

Audience: What happens if you only have one angle and one planet in an element? Is that still an imbalance?
Clare: Yes, there will still be a sense of deficiency that seeks to be balanced. However, in a case like this, there
is usually an element of awareness of the imbalance - it is more accessible. When someone has a total lack, it
will be immediately obvious to everyone else, but the person with the total lack can be oblivious of the fact.
Audience: What about the outer planets, Chiron, and the Nodes?
Clare: Well, the same thing applies. In charts where only an outer planet, Chiron, or one of the Nodes is in an
element, the individual will be expressing the collective charge of that planet or point in its purest, most
autonomous and archetypal expression. The particular individual expression of this influence will be
experienced in the house in which it occurs.
Audience: I'd really like to get this counting thing straight. I know you only use the seven traditional planets,
but do you also count the angles?
Clare: No, because the angles are not planets. For example, if you have Sagittarius rising, then, although your
Ascendant is in fire, it is the element of the ruling planet which we will be looking for. I think it is unfortunate
that computer programs always include the outer planets in the mode and element count, because this
encourages us to think of them in the same way as the seven traditional planets, whereas they belong to another
order altogether, to a different dimension. I think we need to count again and to take them out, but that is only
my view, and you are welcome to make up your own minds about this.
Audience: What happens if you have two planets in an element?
Clare: That is fairly average, and wouldn't register as a lack. Let's have a look at the element imbalances to see
how they work.















Element imbalances

Lack of fire

How would we describe someone who has a dominant fire element, with several planets in fire signs?
Audience: They will be optimistic, dramatic, radiant, forward-looking, and they will believe in themselves.
Clare: Yes. For people with several planets in fire, these qualities will be an intrinsic feature of their conscious
psyches. They have 'fire within', or true fire, which means that they will usually have plenty of faith in
themselves, and an instinctively optimistic approach to life which feels natural, comfortable and relaxed. They
have nothing to prove. People with a lot of fire don't have to make an effort to be optimistic; they are just
naturally optimistic, because that is how they are wired. And they don't need to preach optimism and faith,
because neither of these things are a problem for them.
With a lack or absence of fire, however, then the quality of the fire expression will be significantly different.
Someone with a lack of fire within will need to find their faith and meaning out there in the world, and this may
well drive them in a fanatical, compulsive and extreme way which can actually be quite exhausting for that
person, and even burn them out. This is an example of false fire, which can never be easy or comfortable, and
which cannot be taken lightly or joked about. There is an important and very noticeable difference in the quality
of these two types of expression. A lack is harsh, exhausting, and obsessive, which immediately gives us the
clue that this person may not have that element.
Audience: This sounds like the difference between trines and squares.
Clare: Yes. A strong element is like a trine, relaxed and comfortable. An element lack or imbalance is like a
square; there is a confrontation, a striving to resolve and manifest something in the world, and it is out of this
struggle and tension that the most amazing achievements come. A shorthand way of thinking about the issues
that might arise with a lack of fire in the chart is to think about the themes that belong to the signs of Aries, Leo
and Sagittarius. Some fire words would therefore be: passion, competition, fame, recognition, self-belief, self-
expression, risk-taking, the excitement of the chase, enthusiasm, optimism, and adventurousness. Without these
qualities as conscious components of our own psyches, we will be driven to demonstrate them in the outside
world. It is no accident that many famous people and film stars, such as Elvis Presley and Sean Connery, are
lacking in fire, because there can be a tremendous drive for recognition by the outside world. Or that successful
entrepreneurs and risk-takers, such as Aristotle Onassis, lack fire. Or that cult figures, visionaries or religious
leaders, those who fire our imaginations and give us faith - anyone who is consumed by a cause - may lack fire.
Inner faith does not have to be preached, it just is. Nostradamus, who had a lack of fire in his chart, was
overwhelmed by powerful visions of the future.
Audience: Does this kind of overcompensation sometimes take a long time to show up? I know several people
who are lacking in fire, but they are very passive and earthy. They are procrastinating all the time, and dreaming
about doing things but never actually doing them. They don't seem to have any driving energy. I keep
wondering if this will come later on.
Clare: It may be that they are already living the fire in their imaginations and dreams, and perhaps it is these
dreams and fantasies that are more important to them than reality itself. Their driving energy may well be going
into the imagination. Alternatively, they may have fiery partners who are living this out for them.
Audience: Let's say you are doing a chart for someone who has no fire. Do you assume that they will be
lacking in basic energy and faith and self-belief, or do you assume they are going to be all fired up with some
kind of goal? How do you approach this?
Clare: I think both are true. Most of what I am talking about tonight has been drawn from my own experience
of working with clients. When I first started seeing clients and, for example, had a chart with a lack of fire, I
might suggest that they had a lack of basic optimism, faith or energy. And I learned very quickly that this was
not the right approach, because there was almost bound to be a kind of rigid defensiveness, a flat denial or over-
compensation going on, and the client would often feel offended and start saying things like: 'No, I haven't', and
then go on to give many instances to prove that what I had said was not true.

Audience: I was doing the chart of a friend of mine the other day, and I explained that she had no fire. She said
that everyone was always telling her how fiery she was.
Clare: Yes, that tends to be the response you will get - something along the lines of, 'What do you mean?', or
'How can you possibly say that?', because it is a sensitive issue.
Audience: It is interesting that you say that Elvis Presley had no fire, because to me he is the archetypal fiery
character. And yet he was a Capricorn Sun, wasn't he?
Clare: Yes, and yet he is one of the most famous cult figures of all time. He has become mythic, almost
godlike, which is also a common theme with people who have a lack of fire.
Audience: And he was, in fact, very interested in religion, because a lot of his music was based on gospel
music.
Clare: For some reason it seems that exceptionally talented people with a lack of fire can also die young, but at
the same time become immortal, because they take on a mythic quality. This was true of both Kurt Cobain and
Mozart, to take two extremely different examples. One of my favourite examples is that of Johannes Kepler, the
sixteenth century astrologer and astronomer. Kepler had no fire in his chart except for the north Node in Leo. In
spite of having double vision, he worked obsessively on the planetary orbits, producing 900 pages of tiny
writing on the orbit of Mars. This is a good example of unbalanced behaviour, but his work led him to the
discovery of the three great laws of planetary motion, which made him famous. What drove him was his desire
to prove mathematically that the cosmos was an expression of divine perfection and harmony. We can achieve
tremendous things where there is a lack in the chart, but they are never achieved easily, or without stress or
tension.
Audience: Bruce Willis is another one without fire, isn't he? And yet he is out there being heroic and saving the
world all the time in his films.
Audience: And I think there is a film where he actually goes out into space to blow up an asteroid that is
heading for the earth. That is a combination of the extreme adventurer and risk-taker acting as the saviour of the
world.
Clare: Quite. And we could certainly see this as a good example of over-compensation. But films - particularly
science fiction - are flights of the imagination, so they can be a fiery medium, and it is through film that he
achieves the fame and recognition he is seeking.

Lack of earth

With a lack of planets in earth signs, we can start to think about the kind of issues associated with the earth
signs of Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn. These will include money, security, the body, sexuality, food, health,
work, practical skills, professional status, and responsibility. But I have learned never to say to someone with no
earth that they may have issues about money, or about their bodies or their careers, because they are most likely
to deny it, and say things like: 'I am very embodied - I go to the gym eight times a week'. The point about this is
that it does not prove they have a good relationship to their bodies - it just proves that they have an obsessive
relationship with their bodies, because it is not normal to go to the gym eight times as week. This will be a
sensitive issue, but the point is that it is this kind of obsession which makes exceptional gymnasts or dancers or
athletes, so it can be very creative.
Audience: I have a friend who is a great nutritionist, and she only has one planet in earth.
Clare: That is a good example of two earthy themes, work and food, coming together. And I would imagine
that she is quite obsessive in her own life about food and diet, so working as a nutritionist is a very good way to
earn money and to be of practical service, while at the same time, it gives her a reason to focus on the thing
which obsesses her.
Audience: Yes, that's right.
Clare: I have often noticed that people with a lack of earth can have real issues about authority figures or
professionals or people who represent structure and organisation. There can be a rather fanatical mistrust or
despising of people in authority, and yet at the same time, the individual often longs for a position of authority

and professional recognition themselves. Having a lack of an element often means that we will simultaneously
despise and crave those things that are associated with that element. It sounds irrational and it is irrational, but it
is very useful to understand that this is an important component of human nature.
Audience: That sounds fairly similar to the way oppositions work.
Clare: Yes, that's right. Bill Gates is an example of someone with no earth, who is one of the wealthiest men on
earth and who has built a huge empire. And now that he has become a philanthropist, a great deal of his money
is being spent on medical research, which is an interesting manifestation of a lack of earth and a corresponding
interest in health issues.
Audience: It's as if he is not actually interested in the money itself.
Clare: That's right. He may well despise wealth and status on some level, and yet, on the other hand, work
fanatically hard to achieve it. This can be a very useful way of helping us to see and accept our inner
contradictions. This is not easy to do, but very helpful in understanding ourselves more fully. Bill Gates has
now made himself whole by 'finding his earth' out there in the world. But that still doesn't give him any earth
within. So, if he was your client and you mentioned 'money issues' during the consultation, he would probably
agree with you - unless, of course, he had an unconscious complex about money, in which case he would feel
offended and defend himself rigorously.
Audience: I only have Mercury and Chiron in earth, so I suppose that means I have a problem with the earth
function.
Clare: It means that the earth function will be extremely important. You will find yourself driven to achieve
something concrete and useful and practical, and that is where your particular gifts and talents may lie.
Audience: What I really hate is when people are tight and mean.
Clare: It sounds as if you judge people who hold on to their money, and yet, no doubt, you also work hard to
build up enough of your own and to hold on to it, because this represents personal security for you. This could
be an example of the kinds of contradictions that are inherent when we have a lack or absence of an element.
Does this make any sense to you?
Audience: Yes, you are right.
Clare: I will just mention a few more examples of people with a lack of earth in their charts, before we move
on. As I mentioned before, this can be a feature in the charts of people with highly developed and controlled
bodies, such as athletes and ballet dancers. Or we might see this in people's life work - for example, Charles
Darwin, whose life was devoted to studying nature, and Thomas Hardy the writer, whose novels strongly evoke
the seasons and the English countryside, and Rodin, the sculptor. Or even the model Elle Macpherson, who has
no earth in her chart, but who is known as 'the body'. An extremely unpleasant example is that of Dennis Nilson,
the serial murderer who was obsessed with bodies, chopping his victims into pieces.

Lack of air

How are we going to approach a chart with a lack of air?
Audience: Will they have difficulty with detachment and with thinking logically?
Clare: That's right, and they are likely to have difficulty with intellectuals, or with the education system, or
with people who are experts in their field, while seeking to be respected for their intelligence and ideas
themselves. An air complex is likely to be fanatical, opinionated and rigid. Or they may well try to do their
thinking by using one of the other elements, which is not the same thing as true air. For example, there may be a
passionate drive or desire to communicate (fire acting as air), particularly strong feelings about relationships or
social issues (water acting as air), or an obsession to objectively prove one's intellectual ability to the world by
learning several languages or gaining several degrees or doctorates (earth functioning as air), none of which are
ultimately the same thing as the thinking function itself, which is cool and logical and rational. All of these
functions masquerade as the air function, but none of them is capable of genuinely replacing or truly
compensating for the lack of air in the chart. But if we are comfortable with our intellects, we don't need to
prove our intelligence to the outside world.

Audience: My boyfriend only has his Ascendant in an air sign, and he is obsessed with studying.
Clare: And no doubt he has made great achievements intellectually?
Audience: Yes, he has.
Clare: I think it is important not to see this as some kind of handicap, but as the source of our unique talents
and achievements. The issues are likely to be those which are associated with the air signs of Gemini, Libra and
Aquarius. This is not just about learning and studying, but it also includes the principles of equality, justice and
harmony, relationships and involvement with social or political issues. And it is certainly true that there is a
long list of famous scientists, writers, thinkers, politicians and philosophers who have a lack of air in their
charts. When the air function erupts from the unconscious, it can bring real genius and brilliance, although the
lack of an integrated air function can also mean difficulty functioning on the ordinary levels of thought and
communication. The philosophers Bertrand Russell and Descartes lacked air, as did the writers Tolstoy, Goethe
and Walter Scott, to name just a few examples. This can also be the case with brilliant scientists, such as Albert
Einstein, whose only planet in air was Jupiter. I believe that he was literally unable to work out how to tie his
shoelaces.

Lack of water

A person with several planets in water is likely to be in constant touch with the natural ebb and flow of their
emotions. They are sensitive to changing rhythms in themselves and in others, and normally able to ride the
emotional waves as they rise and fall. A lack of water, on the other hand, can describe someone whose
emotional responses can be rather inappropriate, absent, or overwhelming. Emotions can erupt from the
unconscious in such a way that the individual can feel as if they are being dissolved or drowned by their
feelings. The issues are likely to revolve around the themes of Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces - feelings about
belonging and nurturing, emotional dependence on others, empathy and compassion, and emotional pain.
With a lack of water, we may well try to feel by using one of the other elements with which we are more
comfortable. We might try to feel with our fire function, dramatising or acting out our feelings without actually
processing them on an emotional level. Or we might use our air function to learn a range of theories about
feelings, and talk about their feelings all the time, whereas the water function itself is mute. Or we might use
our earth function and work with feelings, by becoming a therapist, for example. A more self-destructive way of
trying to access our feelings with the earth function might be to cut our bodies. These are all examples of
compensating for a difficulty in feeling and processing emotions on an inner level. A lack of water is often
found in the charts of exceptionally talented musicians, such as John Lennon, or Claude Debussy, who wrote
the Sea Symphony. The same thing is true of many outstanding psychoanalysts, such as Jung, Freud, and Rollo
May. It is well recognised that psychotherapists and counsellors often seek to heal themselves by working with
their clients' emotional problems.
There can also be a very concrete obsession with water or liquid, as in the case of alcoholics, or people who use
drugs to block out their feelings, or swimmers such as Mark Spitz, who won five Olympic gold medals, or even
those, like Virginia Woolf or Percy Shelley, who drowned. In one way or another, the missing water function
seems to demand outward expression in the lives of those who have a lack of this element in their charts.
Audience: I have certainly heard that people who are afraid of their emotions also have a fear of water.
Audience: Just before we end, can you say something about unaspected planets?
Clare: Yes, although the themes are identical to the ones we have been looking at tonight. A planet is
considered to be unaspected if it makes no major aspects - conjunctions, oppositions, trines, squares or sextiles -
or perhaps just one aspect. An unaspected planet, by definition, lacks integration with the other planets in a
chart, and therefore it is not modified by other chart factors. It is therefore likely to function in a pure,
archetypal and autonomous way, unmodified by the influence of other planets in the chart. Unaspected planets
are always important, and deserve special consideration in a chart analysis.