The Fan
The Fan pattern resembles the Bucket pattern. Both possess a handle planet. The difference between the two is that the Bucket pattern is a Bowl pattern with a handle planet, while the Fan pattern is a Bundle pattern with a handle planet. This modification to the Bundle pattern causes a change in the basic Bundle temperament to the point that it becomes a very distinct pattern.
The Fan pattern was overlooked by Marc Edmund Jones. Robert Jansky also overlooked it in the first edition of Planetary Patterns in 1973. His revised edition in 1975 included the pattern.
We might expect the Fan pattern to be rarer than the Bundle, but the opposite is the case, with the Fan pattern occurring almost twice as often as the Bundle pattern.
The Ideal Fan Pattern
The Fan pattern takes its name from a hand fan with the blade of the fan covering an area of approximately one-third of a circle (120°) It is a Bundle pattern where the handle of the fan extends perpendicular to the center of the blade.
The Fan pattern shares features with both the Bundle and the Bucket pattern.
The two planets on the rim of the Fan pattern ideally will be in trine to one another.
There is no possibility of a rim opposition among the planets in the blade portion of the Fan. There should, however, be a core opposition between the handle planet and an anchor planet located on or close to the midpoint of the blade.
The Kite aspect pattern is possible within the Fan planetary pattern (Figure 22). A Kite occurs when the nine planets in the blade form a Grand Trine with a pair of sextiles (60°) at the base of the triangle. The tenth planet forms a core opposition, to form the Fan’s handle. As Jansky notes, when a Kite aspect pattern occurs, all ten planets form a tightly knit group “with the energy represented by each planet well integrated into the total makeup of that individual” (Jansky 1977, 70).
Figure 22: The Kite Aspect Pattern
The ideal Fan pattern is quite rare. The Fan pattern itself, not so rare. As the pattern departs from the ideal, we will no longer find the Kite aspect pattern within.
Jansky classifies the Fan pattern as bipolar, even though a Grand Trine is a possibility. Presumably the reason for excluding the Fan pattern from the tripolar group is the relative unlikelihood of those conditions occurring. As Stephanie Clement argues, the Fan incorporates many features that are tripolar in nature.
When the handle planet is less than a sextile away from one of the rim planets, the natal chart might instead be a Bowl pattern. The closer the orb of the leading planet and the trailing planet to a sextile with the anchor planet, the more effectively they work together.
As the blade narrows, the thrust of the blade planets become psychologically more intense. The greater the deviation of the handle planet, the greater is the frustration in accomplishment felt by the individual. Also, the greater the deviation, the less likely we are to find square aspects. A lack of squares means the frustration experienced by the individual is interpersonal in nature. Frustration comes from the environment and people with whom the Fan individual must deal in their immediate environment.
The Fan Pattern Temperament
Lance Carter contends that the Fan pattern is a form of the Bucket pattern. He dedicates only two pages to the pattern. Jansky, in comparison, provides an entire chapter. Clement also devotes an entire chapter to the pattern.
The basic psychology of the Fan pattern is to seek out and use the resources of others for personal fulfillment. The leading and trailing planets mark off a 120° section of the natal chart that reveals the limits of the personality and how the outside world perceives the individual. The entire thrust of a Fan planetary pattern is toward the point in the open area of the chart opposite this midpoint, along what Jansky calls the “thrust axis.”
It’s the handle planet that must be kept foremost in mind. Its energy has great bearing on the character and temperament of the individual. Usually there is some separation between the blade’s thrust axis and the handle planet in a Fan pattern. This is particularly significant when the thrust axis and the handle planet are in different signs and/or different houses.
The handle planet is the point of energy input in the Fan pattern. This is the opposite of the handle planet in the Bucket pattern. The handle planet in the Fan pattern is at the center of everything the individual is trying to accomplish. Rather than directing their energy outward through the handle, the Fan individual uses the handle planet as a source of support through which they satisfy their needs.
Individuals with the Fan pattern have a strong sense of directed activity. As Jansky says, they have “a highly directed method of approaching each situation as it occurs in life” (Jansky 1977, 72).
There is an intense sense of lack of those things represented by empty signs and houses.
Fan individuals are pragmatists, ready and willing for new experiences.
Counseling the Individual with a Fan Pattern
The Fan pattern shares traits with both the Bundle and the Bucket pattern.
Fan individuals can develop deep convictions. They can become self-righteous and develop an autocratic style, as we’ll see with Czar Nicholas II and Alabama Governor George Wallace. When they are not boxed in by circumstances, an innate sense of what’s practical allows them to turn on a dime.
The occupied section of a Fan pattern shows the types of activities that would be best for the individual to pursue. Carefully check the hemisphere, houses, and signs those planets occupy.
When deprived of desires, these individuals can become unhappy and develop obsessive thoughts to get what they want.
They have strong impulses to love and be loved. This can translate into a strong need to care for and in return be cared for by others.
The Fan person needs constant psychological growth. They desire to become a better person in one way or another. As they grow older, they can be filled with delightful memories of a life well lived or, if unsuccessful, with bitterness and despair.
The natal chart for Czar Nicholas II of Russia shows a near-perfect Fan pattern (Figure 23). Saturn at 02 Sagittarius 49' in the handle is opposed to Mercury at 00 Gemini 32. The leading planet and trailing planet are within Jansky’s recommended 10° orb for a trine aspect between the rim planets.
In the case of Phyllis Diller, the handle planet, Uranus, is opposed to the trailing planet, Venus (Figure 24). Rather than occupying the space of a trine, the blade occupies approximately 73°, within the orb of a quintile aspect. There was likely tension involving public opinion and what others thought of her performances. The handle planet, Uranus at 22 Aquarius 50, is nowhere near a core opposition. Still, it’s so far from the blade of the Fan that most astrologers would judge this to be a Fan pattern.
President John F. Kennedy likewise possessed a Fan pattern with a skewed handle planet (Figure 25). While Phyllis Diller’s handle was two houses away from the axis of thrust in the blade, John F. Kennedy’s was skewed by about one sign and one house. Mars-Moon, forming the edge of the blade, are strongly trine.
George Wallace’s birth chart possesses a near-perfect Fan pattern (Figure 26). Three planets are in opposition to the handle, amplifying the power of the blade portion of the pattern. Remembered as a staunch segregationist, Wallace was supported by the NAACP when he ran for governor of Alabama in 1958. A populist and pragmatist, Wallace reversed his segregationist views and included many black leaders in Alabama state government following desegregation in the late 1970s.