Love compatibility: what we calculate, what we cannot tell you
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On Profondio, compatibility starts from two dates of birth and a few questions. Here is what we ask you, what the calculation really compares, how to read the percentage and what the reading writes next. And also what it will never say, because that is only for the two of you.
Eight questions, about two minutes
The compatibility questionnaire has eight questions. Three are about you: your first name, your gender and your date of birth. You can answer woman, man, or prefer not to say. Five are about the other person: their first name, their gender, their date of birth, their place of birth and their time of birth. Then you only need to give your email, to receive the link to your reading.
There are no right or wrong answers, and the other person has nothing to fill in. You are the one describing them, with what you know about them. It can be a partner, someone you like or a friend. The gender is mostly used to get the sentences of the reading right, with she or he.
If you do not know their birth time
Not everyone knows what time the person they love was born. In the questionnaire, you can tick “I don't know”: the calculation is then done at noon. For the place, the nearest city is enough. It is used to put the time in the right time zone. For you, we only ask for your date of birth: with no known time, your chart is also calculated at noon.
We should be honest about what this changes. The Sun moves less than one degree a day, so its position stays accurate. The Moon moves much faster: without the time, its position is approximate, and so are the contacts that involve it. The essentials hold, but the details call for a little caution.
What the calculation really compares
Everyone has a birth chart: the position of the Sun, the Moon and the planets in the sky on the day they were born. For compatibility, we keep seven bodies from each chart: the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Then we set them face to face, one of yours against one of theirs, which makes forty-nine pairs.
For each pair, we look at the angle between the two bodies. The conjunction, the trine and the sextile are counted as contacts that bring you closer. The square and the opposition are counted as contacts that rub. We keep only the fairly tight contacts, and those of the Sun, the Moon and Venus weigh more than the others, because they speak of identity, emotions and love. If you want to see how a birth chart is read on its own, our article on the birth chart in detail takes the time to explain it.
How to read the percentage
The result appears between your two first names, with each person's sun sign. The calculation starts at 62. Contacts that bring you closer push it up. Contacts that rub bring it down, but only a little, because they also create attraction. If your two Suns are in the same element, or in two friendly elements such as fire and air, that adds a few more points.
The percentage always stays between 40 and 98. It is not a scientific measure, and it does not say whether you are meant for each other. Take it as a starting point: a high number says your charts talk to each other easily, a lower number says there will be more to tame. No number says what you will do with your bond.
The four parts of the reading
Under the percentage, the reading is written in four parts, one after the other. The first, Your core identities, looks at the Sun, the Moon and the elements of each of you: what unites you and what sets you apart. The second, Love compatibility, rests on Venus, Mars and the Moon: attraction, tenderness, desire, and everyday life.
The third, Karmic destiny, looks at Saturn, the Moon's North Node and the most exact contacts. It is a symbolic way of saying what this bond came to teach you, and the trials that can help you grow together. The fourth, Your friendship, rests on Mercury, Jupiter and the Moon: how you talk, laugh and support each other, and where you may clash.
Each part is three or four paragraphs long and rests on two or three precise positions, quoted simply. It says what works, what may rub, and one concrete thing to do together. The positions and contacts are calculated before the writing: the reading puts them into words, it does not invent any others.
A love, a crush or a friend
The questionnaire says it from the question about the other person: a partner, someone you like, or a friend. The calculation is the same for everyone. What changes is what you do with it. For a friend, the fourth part will probably be the one you read first. For someone you like, the second will give you leads on what attracts the two of you, without telling you what the other feels.
For the person you have not met yet, there is nothing to compare: the calculation needs a real date of birth. That is another path, told in the article on the soulmate portrait.
What the reading does not do
It does not judge you or the other person. It does not say that someone is good or bad for you, nor that you should stay or leave. It does not predict the future of your relationship: you will not read whether you will stay together. What it describes are tendencies and possibilities, never an imposed destiny.
It is a symbolic reading, to be read for reflection and for pleasure. It can give the two of you words to talk about what brings you closer and what challenges you. It does not replace a real conversation, and the decisions of your life together remain yours.
To get started
If you have someone in mind, write down their date of birth, their place of birth and, if you know it, their time of birth. Then you can open the compatibility page and answer the eight questions.
When the reading is ready, you can read it together, as a starting point for talking. And if the person you are looking for is not yet in your life, you can take the soulmate questionnaire, which starts from your own answers.
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