Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
CONTENTS:
* Aspects: Traditional and Harmonic
- Traditional Aspects
- Harmonic Aspects
* Orbs
* Time Course of Aspect
* Aspect Patterns
* The Natures of the Aspects
In delineating a chart, one looks not only at the sign and house positions
of the planets and luminaries (Sun and Moon), but at the *relations* among
them. In my opinion, this is where most of the action lies. The relations
give you the dynamics of the chart.
TRADITIONAL ASPECTS
The traditional aspects are those associated with Kepler and Ptolemy.
They are:
Semi-square 45 degrees
Sesquiquadrate 135 degrees
Semi-sextile 30 degrees
Quincunx 150 degrees
Johannes Kepler was the first to make this distinction between "major" (the
first list) and "minor" aspects. He also included among the "minor" aspects
three aspects that have only recently come into widespread use:
Quintile 72 degrees
Biquintile 144 degrees
Decile 36 degrees
Ptolemy recognised only the "major" aspects, but did not consider the
conjunction an aspect. Why? Two planets in the same position cannot
really be said to be "looking at" (aspecting) one another; so the
conjunction was thought of as a position. Ptolemy dismissed the quincunx
and the semi-sextile as "inconjuncts"; this became a common name for
the quincunx (but not the semi-sextile). Jean-Baptiste Morin claims to
have discovered the semi-sextile and quincunx.
You may have noticed that all of these aspects represent divisions of
the zodiacal circle by integers:
Conjunction Division by 1
Opposition Division by 2
Trine Division by 3
Square Division by 4
Quintile Division by 5
Sextile Division by 6
Semi-Square/
Sesquiquadrate Division by 8
Decile Division by 10
Semi-sextile/
Quincunx Division by 12
The answer is one that reveals much about the limitations of the human
mind and little about astrology itself.
HARMONIC ASPECTS
The full set of harmonic aspects includes every angular distance that
is associated with a division of the zodiac by any integer. When we
divide the circle by 5, we get the quintile (72 degrees) and the
biquintile (144 degrees). There is no "triquintile" (216 degrees)
because we measure the angular distance between planets in either
direction; if two planets are 216 degrees apart moving counter-clockwise,
then they are 144 degrees apart moving clockwise (144 + 216 = 360).
Likewise, we have no need of a "quadraquintile" (288 degrees), because
this distance is equivalent to 72 degrees (the quintile) in the other
direction (288 + 72 = 360).
In practice, I have never seen the 11 series used, but I suspect this is
because it requires messy (non-integer) numbers of degrees. Why use the
division by 10 and 12 but not the division by 11?
To increase our ability to observe the messy divisions of the zodiac, there
are three things we can do. The first is to draw (or have a computer draw,
if you have the right software) a chart in which the planets are situated
in their actual positions in the zodiac. This requires a chart with the
zodiac drawn on it, and the divisions for the degrees marked. Each planet
is marked at the degree where it fell at birth. So if the Sun was at
10 degrees 30 minutes Aquarius, then the Sun is drawn on the chart at
a position one-third of the way through Aquarius plus one-half of a degree.
The next step is to make up paper discs for each harmonic series (or for
the ones that are difficult to observe). For the 5th harmonic, take a disc
that will fit nicely on top of the chart but won't cover up the zodiac or
planets (i.e., one that covers just the centre of the chart); draw lines
on the disc that divide it into 5 equal sectors. This is like cutting a
pie into five equal pieces. Do this accurately, using a protractor to
measure the angles (72 degrees) from a point in the centre of the disc.
Now to determine if Saturn, for instance, is making a fifth-harmonic
aspect to any planets in the chart, place the disc on top of the chart
so that one of the lines is lined up with Saturn's position in the
zodiac. If any other planets (or points) are very near any other line
marked on the disc, then such an aspect exists. You can do this for
any of the harmonics (e.g., 7 and 9).
If you have the computing power, you can accomplish the same task in one
of two ways. The first is to customise the programme so that it automatically
computes all of the harmonic aspects. (This set of aspects is rarely the
default. With the current version of Astrolog, you can only get aspects
up to the 9th harmonic, plus one 10th harmonic aspect and the 12th
harmonic aspects; to do so, you must use the -A option; you type
astrolog -A 18.) If this is not possible, you can often produce harmonic
charts. (Astrolog includes this feature with the -x option; astrolog -x 10
gives you the 10th harmonic chart.) What is a harmonic chart? Imagine
that we have divided up the zodiac like a pie into 5 pieces. Some
planets may fall in each of these 5 sectors. Now imagine that we
re-draw the zodiac, the *full* zodiac, within each of the 5 sectors.
So each of the 5 sectors begins with 0 degrees Aries and ends with
30 degrees Pisces. Now each planet has a new position in the zodiac.
We now re-draw the chart with the new zodiacal positions for the planets.
Another way to think of it is that we cut up the zodiac into 5 pieces and
then superimpose them upon one another. We then "expand" the length
of the arc along the edge of the pieces so that it becomes a whole circle
(72 degrees becomes 360 degrees). If we now look for conjunctions in this
5th harmonic chart, we will have found planets in 5th harmonic aspects
in the natal chart. The quintile and biquintile both appear as conjunctions
in this chart. Tenth harmonic aspects appear as oppositions, and 15th
harmonic aspects appear as trines. 20th harmonic aspects appear as
squares. We can do this for any of the harmonics.
A second caution: In natal charts, when we talk about the square (4th
harmonic), we do not include the conjunction and opposition as squares,
even though these aspects are part of the 4th harmonic. In the harmonic
chart, however, all aspects in a harmonic appear as the same aspect. All
5th harmonic aspects appear as conjunctions in the 5th harmonic chart; this
includes the conjunction, the quintile, and the biquintile. All 10th
harmonic aspects that are not also 5th harmonic aspects appear as
oppositions in the 5th harmonic chart; this includes the decile, the
tridecile, and the opposition (but not the conjunction, quintile, or
biquintile, even though they are part of the 10th harmonic).
Why do we call the divisions of the circle "harmonics"? This term comes
from the study of sounds or other vibrations. Suppose we take a vibration,
perhaps a vibration (oscillation) of air waves that produces a sound at
the ear. This vibration has a *frequency* of oscillation. Let us take,
as an example, a tone with an oscillatory frequency of 200 cycles per
second (Hertz; Hz for short). Call this the "fundamental frequency"
because this will be the lowest frequency in a harmonic series. Now let
us produce other tones, each having a frequency that is an integer
multiple of the fundamental frequency (200 Hz). The series we get is:
200 Hz, 400 Hz, 600 Hz, 800 Hz, 1000 Hz, 1200 Hz, and so on. (We can
stop at any point we like.)
So what does this have to do with planetary aspects? What sort of "waves"
are we dealing with when planets interact in harmonic relations? Answer:
we don't know. Perhaps the "waves" are just the roughly circular motions
of the planets themselves (which follow the sinusoidal path we associate with
waves). But harmonic theory seems to be relevant because *observation*
of the effects of planetary interactions suggests that integer divisions
of the circle have a power that arbitrary angular distances do not.
Stranger still, different integer divisions seem to have a *qualitatively*
different effect. I will describe some of the observed properties of the
different aspects at the end of the lesson.
ORBS
Experience shows that a much wider orb can be used for the lower harmonics
(e.g., conjunction, opposition) than for higher harmonics (e.g., semi-
sextile). The orb for a conjunction can be up to 15 degrees (at least
according to the Church of Light) if a luminary is involved and at least
one planet is in an angular house (1, 4, 7 or 10). A more usual orb for
the conjunction would be 9 or 10 degrees. In contrast, for a semi-sextile
or quincunx (12th harmonic aspect), 1 degree is about the maximum orb
we would want to use for planets in cadent houses (2, 3, 5 or 6), and
the absolute maximum orb we would ever use is around 4 degrees, which
we might consider using if the Sun or Moon was involved and one planet was
in an angular house. An average orb for these aspects might be 2 degrees.
(Unfortunately, current computer software does not allow the size of the
orb to vary with the planets and their houses, although it usually allows
the orb to vary with the nature of the aspect. Perhaps Walter or one of
his programming elves will add this feature to Astrolog?)
With harmonic charts (as described earlier), you must increase the orb.
In particular, you must multiply by the harmonic number the orb you would
use in a natal chart for the harmonic aspect. So if you are using a
7th harmonic chart, and you use an orb of 4 degrees in the natal chart
for a septile, then you must use an orb of 28 degrees for the conjunction
in the 7th harmonic chart.
The reason we can use larger orbs for the lower harmonics is that these
aspects are more "powerful." This may be because their "amplitude" is
boosted by higher harmonics. You may have noticed that when I described
the harmonic aspects earlier, some were missing for certain harmonics. For
example, with the 8th harmonic, I only listed 2 of the 8 aspects. This
is partly because of symmetry; we measure aspects in either direction
(clockwise and counter-clockwise). But the rest of the explanation lies
in overlap with lower harmonics. 2/8 of the circle is equal to 1/4 (the
square); 4/8 is equal to 1/2 (the opposition). So two planets in opposition
are simultaneously part of the 2nd harmonic, the 4th harmonic, the 6th
harmonic, the 8th harmonic, the 10th harmonic, and so on to infinity.
The idea is expressed below in a figure showing the locations of "peaks"
for the first 9 harmonics:
9
8
7
6
5
4 8
3 9 6 9
2 8 6 4 6 8
1 9 87 65 9 4 7 3 8 579 2 975 8 3 7 4 5 6 789
_____________________________________________________________________________
0 90 180 270
Harmonic: Amplitude:
1 3.103
2 1.225
3 0.694
4 0.458
5 0.300
6 0.250
7 0.143
8 0.125
9 0.111
10 0.100
11 0.091
12 0.083
If we plot the amplitudes based on the first assumption (i.e., that the
amplitude increases by one unit for each harmonic at a given point), the
decrease in "power" (amplitude) across successively higher harmonics
follows a curve of the following shape (for the first 12 harmonics):
(Like the figure above, i.e., 1 is the first harmonic, 2 is the 2nd;
# is the 10th; + is the 11th; * is the 12th.)
*
+
#
9
8
7
6 *
5 #
4 8 *
3 6 9 *
2 4 6 8 *
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
|
3|'
|
|
|
2|
|
|
| .
1|
| .
| .
| ' -
0| ' ' ' ' ' '
|__________________________________
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
(Harmonic Series)
If we adopt the third assumption and look at the first 180 harmonics,
the frequency plot looks like this:
180|*
|
|
|
135|
|
|
|
90| *
|
| *
|
45| *
| *
| *
| * * * * * * * * *
0|
|______________________________________________________________
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Harmonic
(The vertical axis shows the number of harmonics that peak at the same
points as the harmonics on the horizontal axis.) This curve also appears
log-linear (naturally, since it is a variation of the first one).
The point of this exercise has been to show that the lower harmonics
may be more "powerful" due to some sort of summation of harmonics
such that the "amplitude" of the lower harmonics is pumped up relative
to the others. This increased power may explain the observation that
the lower harmonics are felt for a wider range of positions (i.e., within
a wider orb). They stand out more clearly against a background of noise.
The wider orb may also be related to the shape of the curve; a wave
with a lower frequency is broader, and the area where it is near its
maximum amplitude is wider.
I only know of one astrologer who has stuck his neck out and tried to
explain why the relative positions of the planets have effects reminiscent
of harmonics in various kinds of wave theory. I am not sure the theory
works, but it is an interesting idea. The theoretician is Robert Hand,
and he presents the theory in the chapter entitled "The Wave Theory
of Astrology" in his book "Essays on Astrology" (Rockport, MA: Para Research,
1982, pp. 19-32). Here is an excert (with my clarifications in square
brackets):
=============================================================================
If you pluck a guitar string, you primarily get the fundamental pitch, but
if you listen carefully you can hear other notes going, too: those are the
harmonics. If you put your finger half way down the guitar string, and
touch it lightly exactly half way and pluck it, you get the octave of that
tone [i.e., the second harmonic] without any of the fundamental at all.
This is because by putting your finger in the middle you remove the
fundamental and leave only the harmonics. [Actually, you leave the even-
numbered harmonics.] That is an example of a harmonic standing wave.
My basic proposition is simply this: the planets are like the fingers. The
zodiac is in a continual state of ringing, but it is full of many different
basic waves, making absolutely no sense or order whatsoever -- what we would
call in physics white noise -- a mixture of all frequencies with no
particular bias toward any frequency. What the planets do as they go around
the zodiac is form angles, which represent even whole-number subdivisions
of a circle. They stop out all those vibrations that will not fit in
between them. So, when two planets are 120 degrees apart they will remove
from this white-noise configuration all vibrations that will not divide
evenly into 120 degrees. This includes the conjunction and the opposition.
As you will see shortly, it does not include, oddly enough, the square.
[Actually, the square *is* eliminated; he arrives at the erroneous
conclusion that it is not because of some dubious assumptions he makes
in his later discussion and in constructing curves showing wave summation;
in the 3rd harmonic curve, he finds a peak at 90 degrees which is an
artifact of his assumptions and the way he constructed the curve.]
As this goes on, you will not only have a wave of 120 degrees, but you
also get wave lengths of 60 degrees, 30 degrees, 15 degrees, 7.5 degrees,
and so forth, because these all divide evenly into 120 degrees. [You will
also get wavelengths of 40 and 20 degrees, etc., which divide into 120.]
These all have a curious quality. If the 120-degree wave were a musical tone,
the 60-degree wave would be an octave above it, the 30-degree wave would be
an octave above that, the 15 would be another octave, and the 7.5 would be
another octave -- in other words, 7.5, 15, 30, 60 and 120 are all the same
tone. We know that the trine and the sextile are very similar in nature.
The basic difference seems to be that the sextile is not quite as strong
as the trine. . . . Basically, this suggests that the sextile is nothing but
the octave of the trine, and therefore that they would be fundamentally
similar in nature. [Other astrologers would dispute this claim; see later.]
. . . Similarly, if we take the fundamental, which is the conjunction,
its octave will be the opposition, the double octave will be the square,
the triple octave will be the 45 and the 135, and fourth octave will be
the 22.25. . . . So again, these aspects, which traditionally have been
considered to be rather similar, turn out to be, in terms of this theory,
octaves of each other. . . . If you take a wave and superimpose its various
octaves on it, you create the effect of sharpening the peak tremendously.
The peak increases in amplitude: that is to say, instead of remaining
quite low, it goes much higher, and instead of being wide and graceful,
it becomes almost a point, like a peak. What this suggests is that the
aspect is the sum total of the fundamental and all of its octaves put
together. How many octaves we don't really know, but probably quite a few.
===========================================================================
I won't summarise the rest of his argument, because I think his reasoning
becomes dubious. For one thing, he confuses the fundamental (first
harmonic) series with the octaves of the fundamental; the fundamental series
includes all multiples of its frequency, not just those that are octaves.
He also makes some remarks about the brain being a receiver for the
mysterious waveforms, which does not provide any explanation for mundane
astrology, synastry, and so on. Furthermore, he uses a cosine function
in summing waveforms (i.e., he assumes that the harmonics coincide at
peaks and troughs, not at points of zero amplitude), but the sine function
(i.e., the assumption of coincidence at the zero points or "nodes") is
the appropriate one because standing waves between two bodies end at
nodes (zero-points), not at peaks or troughs. If we use a sine function
in wave summation, we get a saw-tooth curve, with a high, sudden peak at the
degrees for the aspects (e.g., 0, 120 and 240 for the 3rd harmonic) and
gradual change in amplitude between aspects in the series (which predicts,
incidentally, that the strength of an aspect rises gradually as it is applying
and falls off dramatically after the aspect reaches exactitude or a point
just before it). With the cosine function Hand uses, the rises on either
side of the aspect are symmetrical and sharp.
We have seen that orbs differ according to (1) the particular aspect,
(2) the particular planets involved, and (3) the houses in which the
planets reside (angular, succedent, or cadent). There is one other factor
that may affect the orbs, and the power of the aspect in general.
Imagine two planets, one slow-moving and one quicker, the quicker one
being 65 degrees behind the slower one in the zodiac (e.g., the slow one
in Gemini, the fast one in Aries). With a 5 degree orb, the two planets
are in sextile (60 degrees). As the planets continue to move, the aspect
will become progressively closer to 60 degrees (an exact sextile), and it
will then become smaller than 60 degrees. Before the aspect becomes exact,
the aspect is said to be "applying" (or "entering"). After the aspect
has become exact and the planets begin to separate from a sextile, the
aspect is said to be "separating" (or "leaving"). In looking at transits
of planets in the sky to planets in a natal chart, the applying aspect
is what counts. Events almost always culminate as the aspect is applying.
During the separation phase, we experience the aftermath, as it were.
In natal charts, an applying aspect is often considered to be more
powerful than a separating aspect. Some astrologers use different orbs
for the two types of aspect for this reason.
How can you tell if an aspect is applying or separating? You first have
to determine the relative speed of the two planets. If one planet is the
Moon and one is Pluto, you know immediately that the Moon is faster.
For Mercury and Venus (for example), you might have to check an ephemeris
and see if the date they reached the exact aspect was before or after
the date of birth. You must also take into account retrograde motion.
If a planet is in retrograde apparent motion, it can be moving towards
a sextile (i.e., applying to a sextile) with a planet that is 65 degrees
behind it in the zodiac. You must also check that a retrograde planet
actually makes the exact aspect. If it does its station and turns direct
before it forms the aspect, then the effect is greatly weakened. Finally,
you must take into account whether the aspect is "dexter" or "sinister."
The Moon can sextile Pluto in two ways: it can be behind Pluto in the
zodiac and moving towards it, or it can be ahead of Pluto in the zodiac
and moving away from it. In the first case (which is called the "sinister"
sextile), the aspect is applying when the Moon is (say) between 65 and
60 degrees from Pluto. In the second case, when the Moon has already
made the conjunction with Pluto (which is called the "dexter" sextile),
the aspect is applying when the Moon is between 55 and 60 degrees from
Pluto. Most astrological software tells you automatically whether an
aspect is applying or separating. This does not seem to be a feature
of the current version of Astrolog.
ASPECT PATTERNS
o
|
|
o_______|_______o
This pattern produces great tension and difficulty in the areas ruled by
the planets and their houses. But the problems generated by the opposition
can be resolved through the planet in square to the planets in opposition.
Like all patterns involving squares, there is potential for personal growth
inherent in this pattern, where the growth is usually a response to the
difficulties associated with the pattern. The energy exists in the pattern
to address those difficulties and rise above them.
An even more difficult (and rarer) pattern is the Grand Cross; this consists
of two oppositions that are orthogonal to one another:
o
|
|
o_______|_______o
|
|
|
o
This is a very dynamic pattern which generates lots of energy, but there
may be almost continual instability unless there are softer aspects in the
chart (trines or sextiles, for example).
o \
/ |
/ |
o_______/ | 60 degrees (the angle is smaller than shown here)
\ |
\ |
\ /
o
Another pattern is the Grand Trine. This consists of three trines that
form a triangular pattern:
o
/ \
/ \
/ \
/ \
o___________________o
People with a Grand Trine (and no difficult patterns in the chart) tend
to have things fall into their lap with minimal effort. They are "lucky."
This good fortune often generates complacency, and the person may come
to rely on luck and fail to exert themselves. Unless there are some tense
aspects in the chart (e.g., oppositions and squares), the person may be a
"good for nothing," wasting their tremendous potential through a lack
of effort.
A much rarer and much more powerful pattern is the Kite. This consists of
a Grand Trine with an opposition from one of the vertices, and sextiles
from the opposed planet to the other two vertices of the Grand Trine:
o
. | .
. | .
. | .
. | .
. | .
o____________|____________o
. | .
. | .
o
The opposition provides the energy needed for the great potential of the
Grand Trine to be realised. The kite will manifest itself primarily
through the planet in opposition to one vertex and in sextile to the
two others (the bottom one in the picture) and will have its greatest
effect in the house of that planet.
o o \
. . |
. . |
. | 60 degrees
. . |
. . |
o o /
This configuration tends to bring the opposing planets into harmony with
one another through the energies of the planets in sextile and trine to
them. This pattern can facilitate spiritual development. Its proportions
match the proportions of many initiation chambers, temples, and altars
used in older civilisations.
These patterns have been recognised for a long time. But in the light of
the new harmonic approach to aspects, we can see that each of these is
really just a partial or complete harmonic configuration. The Stellium is
a first harmonic (or "fundamental") configuration. The Grand Trine
is a division of the chart into three sectors. The Grand Cross is a
division of the chart into four sectors. The T-Square is an incomplete
Grand Cross, a partial 4th harmonic configuration. And a Kite is a partial
6th harmonic configuration; it has two sextiles and two trines; the full
configuration would have 6 sextiles and would look like a hexagram (or Star
of David/Seal of Solomon; two interleaved Grand Trines) or hexagon. The Mystic
Rectangle is another partial 6th harmonic configuration. The Yod is a partial
12th harmonic configuration (albeit with a dynamic uniquely its own).
HARMONIC
ASPECT NUMBER PLANET SIGN POLARITY ELEMENT MODE
(The last three are the most experimental because in the current tradition
there is no explicit numerological support.)
Of the conjunction, Robert Hand says, "It is often difficult for the person
whose chart has this aspect to be clear about its effects. Usually the
conjunction colors the personality so completely that it is hard for the
native to get perspective on this aspect. Though the effects of a
conjunction may not be apparent to the native, they are obvious to
others. The conjunction has a dynamic quality. It tends to signify
patterns of action rather than passive states of being: that is, its
effects usually consist of events or changes in a person's life. These
are not necessarily events in the physical world; they may be
psychological."
Of this aspect, Hand says, "The symbolism of the opposition aspect is very
much what one would expect: polarity, strife, conflict, and so on, but
also partnership and cooperation, as well as consciousness itself.
... Whatever energies are linked by the opposition, they are combined
in such a way that they produce instability and change through conflict.
If one examines the conflict, it is seen to arise between an aspect of
oneself that has been projected outward and an aspect of oneself that
is experienced inwardly. Put more concretely, the opposition signifies
a conflict between an external factor and an internal one, and the
external factor is the result of an inward energy that one does not
as yet understand to be within the self. . . . It should be clear,
especially in the case of the individual who finds others disruptive,
that the disruptive person, entity, or situation is being used by the
individual's subconscious as a mirror to confront an aspect of himself
which he then tries to make conscious. Thus the opposition aspect has,
through such confrontation, the potential to increase the level of
consciousness. . . . The goal is a state of perfect equilibrium between
the two energies involved in the opposition: it represents the aspect's
partnership and cooperation side."
Tompkins says, "As children we all learn that Jack Sprat could eat no fat
and his wife could eat no lean. Like Jack Sprat and his wife, oppositions
in the chart want opposite but related things. We often experience the
opposition aspect as if we have both Jack and his wife inside of us, each
wanting seemingly opposite things. Or perhaps a better image is that it
is as if we are standing in the middle of our house and hear the front
door and back door bell ring at exactly the same time. Which one do
we answer? We can't be in two places at once. As part of the secret of
dealing with an opposition is to become aware of and use both sides of it,
the important point is that although we cannot attend to the front door
and back door at the same time, we can answer both of them, if we just
take it in turns. Otherwise we are leaving a stranger standing outside
an unopened door and missing a valuable encounter. Even if the stranger
is a foe as opposed to a friend, ignoring the enemy will not make it go
away but is more likely to reinforce its determination to get in somehow.
Invariably, we become aware of and `own' one half of an opposition some
time before we become conscious of the other half. For some time one side
of the opposition does remain like a stranger outside an unopened door.
Usually the planet we accept is the one which is more in keeping with our
image of ourselves. The stranger, the rejected planet is usually the
`heavier' one and, in our view, the less socially acceptable planet.
. . . Reject an energy we may, but the psyche insists upon wholeness
and thus insists that the energy of the rejected planet will intrude
upon our lives in some way, and will intrude to the extent that we have
disowned it. And so we meet this seemingly alien energy outside of
ourselves in another person, group or object and thus become a `victim'
of it. This is of course what is meant by the term `projection'. We are
offered the opportunity of becoming more conscious and `owning' our
rejected planet every time we meet it outside of ourselves in another
person or group. Meet it we will, time and time again, until awareness
dawns. This is not unjust or `bad,' for until we live out all sides of
our nature we cannot become whole. In living out just one side of an
opposition we are only using half the energy at our disposal."
Here is Hand on the 3rd harmonic: "The trine indicates that the energies
linked do not resist or conflict with each other in any way. They are in a
state of equilibrium with respect to one another. Whenever one chooses
to act according to the nature of the energies combined by a trine, there
is ease of action and lack of difficulty -- so long as one chooses to act
within the framework of a status quo into [sic] one's life. . . . When trines
do signify events, they are events in which one is passive. Things seem
to fall into one's lap and work out of their own accord. . . . The principal
flaw of trines is their passivity. Whenever the individual is challenged
by the environment to make a change or adjustment, the energy is lacking.
The old patterns indicated by the trine persist, and even if they are
temporarily deflected, they soon return."
Of the trine, Rael and Rudhyar say, "As the self is able constructively
to respond to this incarnation of purpose and meaning, one not only
displays the faculty of vision and understanding (often-used keywords
for the trine), but also *experiences ideas*. On this basis, the self
actually begins to transform the outer world and all the relationships
in which it has accepted to participate. . . . However, as the self
seeks to meet the outer world (or its companion) in terms of ideas and
mental vision, the inertia of the whole universe resists the transforming
thoughts."
Of the 5th harmonic, Charles Harvey says, "The apple seems intertwined
with the meaning of the number 5 and the development of conscious
knowledge, and as such can serve as a useful image for the 5th harmonic
and its interpretation. In the ancient world, and still today, Pythagoreans
identified themselves to each other by cutting an apple across its diameter
and exposing the two halves. If you do this you will find that you are
looking at two perfect pentagons, for the seed pods in the apple are
always arranged in a fivefold symmetry. In Greek mythology the Golden
Apple, like the sun, is used as a symbol of the conscious mind through
which we can rise above, or, if we are not careful, through which we
can cut ourselves off from, the animal innocence and ignorance of the
body. 5 is said to be the `Number of Man' as a self-conscious being who
takes command of his own destiny. In this it will be recalled that the
most famous apple in history was given by Eve to Adam. It was the fruit
of the tree of the knowledge of Good and of Evil. In other words it was
the fruit of the tree of choice, of free will, which is both the reward
and the penalty of possessing self-consciousness. This idea of conscious,
personal choice -- and the power which comes from such choice -- is the
nub of what fiveness is about. It is knowledge that gives us the powers
to shape and create our world."
Rael and Rudhyar say, "Vibration Five, Mind, can operate in one of two
ways: in terms of purely material, intellectual or selfish desires
(regression), or by expressing one's creative genius (progression or
forward evolutionary motion)."
People with charts dominated by 6th harmonic aspects are often the epitome
of beauty and grace. Catherine Deneuve has two not-quite overlapping
incomplete 6th harmonic configurations in her chart, each with three
vertices occupied by planets, and they involve 9 of her planets; the
remaining planet, Venus, is sextile to the midheaven. Grace Kelly had
a partial 6th harmonic configuration with 4 vertices filled that involved
5 planets and the midheaven. (She also had a sextile between the Sun and
Pluto.)
Tompkins says, "The number six is often associated with Venus and there
is a Venusian feeling to this aspect. The sextile is an aspect of enjoyment,
pleasure and, I believe, valuation -- particularly *intellectual valuation*.
Sextiles have also been linked to rhythm and repetition and thus with
dancers and musicians, which also sounds rather Venusian. Certainly the
sextile is an aspect of harmony and planets linked by this kind of contact
tend to co-operate with each other. That's not quite the same as the
`hand-holding,' non-questioning flavour of planets linked by trine
aspect. Co-operation does involve some degree of effort."
7th harmonic (septile series): A brings B into contact with the unknown.
This link is the key to inspirational experience. A confuses B and
dissipates its energy. A and B together show the nature of the ideals.
Of the 8th harmonic, Charles Harvey says, "those ideas which we can
purposefully and productively pursue; fruitful efforts; built-in skills
and behaviour patterns. The `goods' delivered; the manifest destiny."
A large number of 8th harmonic aspects also tend to make the nature serious.
Ed Sullivan had a partial 8th harmonic configuration with 5 vertices
occupied by planets. (This was a man who sometimes failed to "get" a
joke after it had been explained to him several times.) Stalin had 4
planets at vertices of a partial 8th harmonic configuration (plus a
Sun in Capricorn, whose square to Saturn is part of the 8 H configuration).
He was not only serious, but oppressive.
Of the 9th harmonic, Rael and Rudhyar say, "At the level of the Nine,
the individualized person discovers and envisions the meaning and purpose
of what he or she *is*. . . . the novile (when at all operative in an
individual's life) leads to personal rebirth -- or `Initiation' -- to a
basic identification of the self with the purpose this self is seen to
have within the harmony of the universal Whole. The novile thus represents
the level at which complete fulfillment of individual being is possible --
either as an end in itself (negative approach) or as the condition for
positive emergence into an altogether new and higher realm of being."
Seymour-Smith says, "[the 9th harmonic shows] the nature of anything that
the native achieves."
The relation of the nonile to one's unique mission can be seen in Sigmund
Freud's exact nonile of the Moon and Pluto. Freud was able to show the
relationship between the emotions and the adequacy of the mother's
nurturance (Moon) and subconscious drives and impulses (Pluto).
Carl Jung had a partial 9th harmonic configuration with 4 vertices
occupied by the Sun, the Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn. His pioneering
work focused on the relation of the masculine and feminine principles
(Sun and Moon; animus and anima) and the universal (Jupiter) structures
(Saturn) in the mind and its creations (myth, dreams, literature, art,
religion). Hitler's Mercury-Pluto nonile is associated with his unique
mission to use (or abuse) ideas (Mercury) about enemies (7th house)
to control and exterminate them (Pluto). Richard Nixon's mission was
to be an all-powerful and controlling leader, which is reflected in
his quadranonile of the Sun and Pluto. Robert Browning, the romantic
poet, had an almost exact (2 minutes of arc) nonile between Mercury and
Venus, and both planets were in quadranonile to Neptune. His unique
path consisted in writing (Mercury) dreamily beautiful love poetry
(Venus) about an idealised love and lover (Neptune).
Power is often an issue with people whose charts contain many 10th harmonic
aspects. One example is Hitler; if we include Chiron and the ascendant,
he had 7 vertices of a 10th harmonic configuration occupied by planets (or
points), with 9 points involved. Stalin had 5 vertices occupied in a partial
10th harmonic configuration. One might expect that people with many such
aspects would sometimes have great healing power and a great capacity to
transform themselves or the not-self. They might also have a hypnotic
effect on others, with a great capacity to sway the masses.
Seymour-Smith says, "11H aspects manifest in a very definite way and they
indicate excess. They also, according to Williamsen, describe a `person's
ability to integrate diversities and dualisms.' These interpretations
are reconcilable: the tension of `double-bind' situations, which can be
external -- where you are trapped by feelings of obligation or duty, but
cannot entirely please one or more people -- or internal -- the tug
between scepticism and faith -- is likely to lead to a type of stress
which in its turn will lead to excess in one form or another.
The relevance of the dodecile to the material world can be seen by looking
at the people whose charts contain partial 12th harmonic configurations.
Examples are J. P. Morgan (with 6 of 12 vertices marked by planets, and
with 8 planets involved) and Richard Millhouse Nixon (with planets at
6 vertices, 8 planets being involved in the configuration). Both of these
men had strong ambitions on the material plane.
Of the 12th harmonic aspects, Hand says, "In the past, observers merely
noted that [the semi-sextile and quincunx] were both based on one-half
of a sextile, and they therefore drew the conclusion that both were
essentially weak sextiles. This has not turned out to be the case. In
fact, the weight of opinion on these aspects has changed from a judgment
of weakly benefic to decidedly difficult. . . . They represent tensions
and difficulties that are annoying, but usually too trivial and too
thoroughly bound up in the fabric of everyday life to be worth changing.
The exception to this is that there does seem, according to many
investigators, to be a connection between quincunxes and illnesses and
death." [This is because they fall in the 6th or 8th house from the
position of the aspected planet.]
Tompkins says, "The main problem with the quincunx, as many astrologers
have noted, is that it is too passive an aspect to deal, without
considerable conscious effort anyway, with the conflict. In fact, it
is not so much conflict as *friction*."
SPECIFIC ASPECTS