The Fan Pattern (page 318 in You and the Universe) bears the same relationship to the Wedge as does the Bucket to the Bowl. A Fan, shown above, occurs when all the planets save one fall within 128° of each other, and are (ideally) opposed by the remaining tenth planet. In actuality, the tenth planet need only be separated from the remaining 9 by more than 60° for the chart to be considered a Fan. You can think of a Fan as a nine-planet Wedge Pattern opposed by a tenth planet, the Fan’s "handle."

The basic psychology of the Fan is to seek out and use the resources of others for personal fulfillment and completion, utilizing the house and sign of the Handle Planet. If you have a Fan Planetary Pattern, the Handle is the point in your chart that you can rely upon when all else fails, like the roots of a tree reaching out for nourishment.

Consider the 9-planet wedge part of the Fan; now consider the midpoint of the wedge’s boundary planets. The entire thrust of a Fan Planetary Pattern is towards the point in the open area of the chart opposite this midpoint, along this "thrust axis." In the example on page 53 of You and the Universe (shown above) the wedge is bounded by Pluto at 7° Cancer 24’ and Venus at 27° Virgo 07’. Their midpoint is 17° Leo 16’, and the point in the open area of the chart opposite it is 17° Aquarius 16’. The imaginary line starting at 17° Leo 16’ and joining 17° Aquarius 16’ is the thrust axis. The opposite midpoint (17° Aquarius 16’) reveals by its house and sign what the Wedge personality is really after: his or her ultimate goal in life.

Usually there is some separation between the Wedge’s thrust axis (17° Aquarius 16’, page 53 example, shown above) and the Handle Planet (29° Aquarius 40’ in the example) of the Fan; this is particularly significant when the two are in different signs and different houses. In that case your success in coping with reality is strongly affected by how well you can integrate the conflicting forces between the position of your Handle Planet and your Wedge’s thrust axis. The houses and signs of the Handle Planet and the thrust axis characterize these differences.

Famous individuals with Fan Patterns are/were Princess Anne of England, Hector Berlioz, Richard Branson, James Brolin, Chevy Chase, Matt Damon, Robert De Niro, Phyllis Diller, Bob Dylan, Bill Gates, Julio Iglesias, Rose Marie Guy, John F. Kennedy, Cheech Marin, Dean Martin, Oliver North, Nancy Reagan, Linda Ronstadt, George Wallace and Steve Wozniak.