Radical Reposts: Aspects, Aspect Patterns--and Aspects and Timing

Posts © Joyce Mason

Aspects

Is the Semi-Sextile a Good Aspect or a Bad One? (07-Feb-11)

Guest post by Donna Cunningham, MSW

Have you read or been taught much about the semi-sextile?  I’m guessing that you haven’t—in most astrology writings, it tends to get shrugged off as a minor aspect after a half-hearted sentence or two of description. 

It’s a 30° aspect, plus or minus 2-3°. For instance, a planet in Aries may form a semi-sextile to a planet at approximately the same degree of either of the two adjacent signs, Pisces or Taurus. 

Trines: Terrific or Tricky? (01-Aug-12)

When I was a young and eager astrology student, I used to view every trine in a chart as a kiss by Lady Luck. It was like getting one of those Community Service or Chance cards in Monopoly. “Bank error in your favor. Collect $200.” Trines seemed like marks of grace on a nativity. Now I’m not so sure

The Outerplanetary People Series was written for people with close aspects to personal planets from the outer planets. I call us PUNCs for Plutonian, Uranian, Neptunian Chironics.

Outerplanetary (Extraordinary) People, Part 1 of 5, Chiron (19-Oct-10)

Author's Note: This is an update of a five-part series originally published in the 1990s in Mark Lerner's astrology magazine, Welcome to Planet Earth. The Outerplanetary (OPP) People series has been a timeless favorite ever since.

We live in extraordinary times. I call them Outerplanetary Times, marked by the discovery in 1977 of a new outer planet, Chiron. Chiron is trans-Saturnian. It acts like any other outer planet with a similar level of impact.

Outerplanetary (Extraordinary) People Part 2 of 5, Uranus

(25-Oct-10)

In Part 1, we explored the unique role of evolutionary pioneers—people who have the outer planets prominent. We started with Chiron, the “bridge” between the inner and outer planets; now we’ll stop to explore Uranus.

Outerplanetary (Extraordinary)People, Part 3 of 5, Neptune

(07-Nov10)

With Neptune, a boundary is always the point — knowing when something is too much or when have we gone too far. It's the point, beyond which we ruin our effectiveness to help others and ourselves.  Includes tips for activating positive Neptune.

Outerplanetary (Extraordinary) People, Part 4 of 5, Pluto (12-Nov-10)

Pluto asks more of Outerplanetary People than any of the trans-Saturnians. He asks to let go and trust while everything we value is ripped away from us, often down to the barest bones: home, hearth, spouse or lover, job, family. What good is all this loss? Find out.

Outerplanetary (Extraordinary) People, Part 5 of 5, Chiron

(23-Nov-10)

The importance of Chiron to outerplanetary people can hardly be overstated.  Chiron is the thread that weaves together the tapestry of the outer planets as a living aggregate in our charts. Chiron is the glue that makes outerplanetary people solid and capable of handling the strong energies that they are asked to bring down to Earth day by day—first for ourselves, then for others.

PUNCs E-volve! (04-May-11)

Announcing the Outerplanetary People eBook.

Want an even more up-to-date version of the Outerplanetary People series? One you can print out easily, make notes on and maintain in your computer or device for easy reference? Purchase the PDF eBook version here for $9.99 or in the sidebar. See link above for details.

Aspect Patterns

These posts refer to what I call a series of big change transits in recent years.

Evolution: Homo Sapiens Morphs from Homo Asinine to Homo Improvement (30-May-10)

Whadda ya say we all lighten up a little on the Big Change Transits?

For years, I’ve written that the discovery of Chiron in 1977 heralded a new species. I call our new evolutionary line homo improvement. I don’t think anyone would argue that we could use a new and improved human race, considering the havoc wreaked by the people in the really “off”-shoot species, homo asinine. You know, the Missing Their Link. The folks who destroy their home, wage bloody wars in the name of the divine, and collapse an entire global economic system out of personal greed.

The Conscious Convergence, A Wave of Unity: July 17-18, 2010

(11-Jul-2010)

Are you ready for the “second Harmonic Convergence?” If you were gathering with large groups of like-minded, cool and cosmic people on August 17-18, 1987, it’s time, once more, to focus our minds on a single intent. Time to jumpstart a new level of inner evolution and its impact on an Earth in metamorphosis.

Poem: Embrace Uranus-Pluto (25-Jun-12)

What supercharged change feels like.

Uranus Square Pluto: Seven Exact Aspects, Seven Chakra Realignments (05-Jul-12)

At UAC 2012, Aleksandar Imsiragic said that the seven exact hits of Uranus square Pluto, the first on June 24, correspond to realignment of our seven chakras. I deeply resonate to this idea, and it seems too important a concept not to share.

The 2014 Creative Question - The Cardinal Grand Cross (19-Jan-14)

Planets in square create a tension of initial incompatibility that nags to be worked out in some way to bring a workable energetic mix to the person or situation it represents. Better said, squares evoke creative tension. It takes creativity—the God stuff, if you will—to find your way out of the standoff. When the squares make a Grand Cross, you have to find your way out of an enclosed box. Whew!

Humor: How the Signs Get Ready for the 2014 Cardinal Grand Cross

(01-Feb-14)

The first two articles of the year on the Radical Virgo speak to the winter retrogrades and how they help prepare us for the spring Cardinal Grand Cross. In capsule, the winter retrogrades are for reviewing relationships, desires and direction.

The 2014 Creative Question - The Cardinal Grand Cross (19-Jan-2014)

We're heading toward a Cardinal Grand Cross. Winter 2014 asks us to pause and reconsider what's important to us—what's working and what's not in our personal lives. Spring 2014 emboldens us to take action in an even bigger way than the usual Aries charge into the natural New Year, as the sap rises in the trees rises and human energy starts picking up with it.

Rebirth the Earth (24-Jun-2010)

A Prayer for the Cardinal Grand Cross, Lunar Eclipse and Related Skyworks. Drawn and quartered on the Four Cardinal Points I offer myself up to the earth and cosmos. There is no more vulnerable position …

Aspects and Timing

The Art of Timing

(29-Apr-2010)

Guest post by Joanne Hampar

Electional astrology is the art of timing, and its purpose is to give you the advantage by selecting the most appropriate time to achieve a successful outcome. The date and time selected are intended to strengthen the planets and the houses associated with the subject of the election. The Moon carries the most weight in electional astrology. She should always be strong, free from difficult aspects, and favorably aligned with the planets ruling the election matter.

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 Photo Credit: © Maxim Pavlov - Fotolia.com

Got Questions on Chiron? Get Answers!

A Time-Sensitive Announcement

Dear Radical Readers,

As mentioned in my monthly New Moongram (subscribe at the top of the sidebar if you don’t already get it), I’m in the midst of two guest Q&A sessions about Chiron on Donna Cunningham’s remarkable blog, Sky Writer. The first session on February 5 focused primarily on natal Chiron. It was a lively exchange with excellent questions by a very engaged audience. These little centaur kids are my symbol for having the right playful spirit in learning. Bring yourself and your inner centaur-child to the festivities!

Chiron Transit Q&A. The next session on Saturday, February 12 begins at 1:30 pm PST and focuses on Chiron transits. Donna’s Chiron Alert announcement has all the details including a link to view the February 5ths Q&A. While it’s not necessary to be there in real time to read the next exchange (you can always visit Sky Writer later), to ask a question, you need to be on Sky Writer at the appointed hour, ready to pop your question into the comment box. I’ll only take 25 questions, so if you have one on Chiron transits that’s burning for you, get there early for a better chance to get your question into the queue.

Chiron 101 Summer School. And by the way, here’s something to start pondering. I’m planning to do a Chiron 101 Summer School for six weeks in July and August. It will be an online class conducted by group e-mail. I have taken writing classes this way and just love the format. The idea: I write a “lesson” on Mondays and Thursdays, sent to the class via the group e-mail list. There are always questions at the end for response and comment. Each individual Replies All, and we have ongoing dialogue—and, at the end, an e-mail “book” of our learning together. (Just keep a folder for the class in your e-mail box.) There will be a generous discount for early sign-up by mid-June. If you’re interested in this offering and want an e-mail when registration is open, please contact me (joyce at joycemason.com) with Chiron Class in the header.

Till the next offering on my Mobile Mt. Pelion,

Joyce

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Photo Credit: Cute Toon Centaurs Playing in the Snow | © Algol | Dreamstime.com

Is the Semi-Sextile a Good Aspect or a Bad One?

©2009 by Donna Cunningham, MSW

Guest Writer, Round Blog-In

Have you read or been taught much about the semi-sextile?  I’m guessing that you haven’t—in most astrology writings, it tends to get shrugged off as a minor aspect after a half-hearted sentence or two of description. 

It’s a 30° aspect, plus or minus 2-3°. For instance, a planet in Aries may form a semi-sextile to a planet at approximately the same degree of either of the two adjacent signs, Pisces or Taurus. 

Briefly, the aspect involves planets in neighboring signs. But are they good neighbors or bad? That is to say, are they harmonious or at odds, do they support each other or bicker, and do they bolster each other’s efforts or sabotage them?

My answer is: all of the above…depending on the signs and planets involved. There aren’t really any good or bad aspects, you know—just evolved and unevolved ways of using the two planets in the combination. The ultimate effect depends on the choices you make about how to use them at any given moment. 

However, I’ve been watching semi-sextiles in my own life and the lives of friends and clients for 40 years, and for the most part I like them. The good traits of one of the signs can usually offset the less than wonderful traits of the other, especially if we learn to use them consciously. I have several in my chart, and they tend to pull me back off the ledge when I’m about to bungee dive into the worst qualities of the signs involved.

Two of my four are in Gemini-Cancer, so let me tell you what I like about that combination. Gemini can too often be glibly cerebral, and when I get that way about something that’s going on, Cancer reminds me of the emotions I’m glossing over.

On the other hand, one of Cancer’s worst traits is to be hypersensitive and to take someone else’s remarks too personally, then withdraw in injured silence. Gemini teaches to me laugh at myself nd communicate with the person about what was meant. All too often, they didn’t mean what I thought they did, but were off on some track of their own.

Here’s a full list of signs that are semi-sextile to one another, so you can check for this aspect in your own chart. Remember, the degree numbers of the planets should be no more than 2-3° apart. For example, a planet at 23° of Libra could be semi-sextile to planets between 20-26° of either Virgo or Scorpio. If you have a chart with the aspects printed out, look for the symbol shown at the side. 

 What about some other next-door-neighbor signs?  

Aries’ powerful urge to take action can offset Taurus’ typical inertia, but Taurus’ patience in bringing things to fruition can counteract Aries’ impulsive tendency to abandon projects when they don’t get immediate results. Pisces’ compassion can temper Aries warlike qualities, while Aries can provide the initiative to realize Pisces visions.

Libra can tone down Virgo’s criticisms and deliver those essentially well-intentioned corrections with a spoonful of honey. On the other hand, Virgo’s discriminating analyses can offset Libra’s tendencies to fall for a pretty face and charming line. 

Sagittarius can lend optimism to Scorpio’s cynical outlook, but Scorpio can discern what’s really going on underneath that charismatic new guru’s message that Sag is prone to take on faith.  Capricorn’s capacity to create structures, and administer them, can take Aquarius’ theories out of the ivory tower and into the planning stage.

Did you notice how many cans there were in the examples given above? Can presupposes that only one of the signs is showing its rotten side at the moment, and that the other sign is trying to help them evolve out of the murk and mire. What would happen if both signs were taking the lower path? To be perfectly fair, these two signs can also aid and abet each other in mayhem if the combination is misused.

Perfect example: With my Cancer/Gemini semi-sextiles, before I got so bloody evolved, I was capable of firing off some fairly devastating written commentaries to people who offended me. I’d detail what they did, why I was so deeply wounded by it, exactly what sort of worthless human being they were, and what they could do with themselves from here on out.

And I allowed no comeback—this was in those dimly-remembered days when people still wrote letters rather than emails.  Any written reply was returned marked “refused delivery.” No exaggeration. Nope, you wouldn’t have wanted to receive one of those poison pen letters of mine. After a LOT of work on myself, I foreswore that behavior quite some time ago. (It also helped when my progressed Mercury moved into Libra.)

Still, when the positive qualities of both signs are carefully cultivated, next-door-neighbor signs like these can prop one another up like good neighbors do in real life. A solid sense of respect for your own and other people’s boundaries is part of what makes the difference with this aspect, as in so many other areas.  Be guided by what Robert Frost wrote: “Good fences make good neighbors.”

Incidentally, folks, my series of articles about aspects that ran in The Mountain Astrologer in 2008-9 is now available as an e-booklet, Aspect Analysis. It’s designed to teach the nuts and bolts of analyzing aspects–the real building blocks of chart interpretation, whether you’re studying natal, transits, chart comparison, mundane, electional, or horary.

Now that I’m done sharing what I’ve garnered about semi-sextiles over the years, here are some additional perspectives on this aspect found in an internet search today: 

• Annie Heese at Cafe Astrology delineates tons of examples—a quality sadly lacking in most writings about this aspect.
  
  
•  Semi-Sextile from AstroDienst’s AstroWiki
  
  
•  Semi-sextile from a collection of articles on aspects at astrology.com
  
  
•  In AdZe’s Classroom
  
  
•  Rhudyar lovers will be interested to know that there are actually a pair of distinctly different semi-sextiles, as articulated by Michael R. Meyer: the waxing aspect and the waning aspect. (Of Virgo’s two semi-sextiles, the sign afterward–Libra–would be the waxing one and the sign before–Leo–would be the waning one.)

Completely unrelated but a find anyway at Wikimedia Commons is this collection of astrological aspect symbols available to use as graphics:    The semi-sextile glyph used here is from that collection.

More Articles from the Series about the Lesser-Known Aspects

• Understanding Semisquares—Your Input Needed
  
• Understanding the Sesquiquadrate—Your Input Needed

•  Understanding Septiles–Your Input Needed

•  Understanding Quintiles—What’s YOUR Talent?
  
•  Understanding the BiQuintile—Your Input Needed

•  Quincunx vs. BiQuintile–an Answer from Numerology?

• Understanding the Mundane Square—Your Input Needed
  
• Mundane square case study: Outtake from a Moon-Pluto Life
  
• The Not so Minor Aspects—Results of Our Research

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Photo Credit: © Madartists | Dreamstime.com

About the Author: Donna Cunningham, MSW is an internationally-respected author of books, articles, and columns about astrology, flower essences and other metaphysical topics. Her insights reflect her dual background in astrology and psychotherapy. She has a Master’s degree in Social Work from Columbia University and over 40 years of experience in working with people. Her ebooks can be found at Moon Maven Publications Visit her blog, Sky Writer.

Auntie Joyce's recent humor post, Love Thy Neighbor, was all about semi-sextile neighbors. You might want to revisit it with Donna's insights in mind. It might be even funnier the second time around!