by Robert Wilkinson
I was asked by a reader to explain the meaning of the void points of the current quintile-biquintile pattern between Venus, Mars, and Uranus and how they work. She wondered if a square to a void point mattered, and how to apply the void points of a pattern in our charts. Though technical, I figured my answers to her would help astrologers who frequent this site understand the very important area of aspect configurations, and add a new dimension of chart interpretation to their analyses of how charts work. For those with little knowledge of technical aspects of astrology, please bear with this post, since it is written for astrologers with a degree of knowledge regarding in-depth chart and aspect analysis.
As I wrote her, “As for the empty points, they are voids that show potential for learning or activity. They show where you learn not from direct action, but through harmonic resonance. Don't worry about aspects to voids. Not relevant. However, when something transits those voids, then the aspects to your planets are activated.”
She wrote back, “Why then do we care where those points are? Simply to note that when the moon, say, passes there it helps fill in the 5-pointed star?” I answered, “We care because if they configure in any way with a planet in our chart, that planetary function and the houses it rules are impacted by the entire star. And of course, any planets in quintile specialize and bring forth gifts relative to the houses they are in and rule in the chart.
The empty points mean potential to learn something. They are not activated until they are triggered by a transit conjunction. A transiting square to a void point means nothing. A conjunction to that point activates everything the entire pattern was/is about. If you have a planet that fills in a void point, then all the other planets making the pattern also aspect that planet.
Example: I have a Sun at 12 Aries and Ascendant at 11 Leo. This activates 11-12 Sagittarius as a resonant trine void point. A square to this point means nothing unless I have a planet at 11-12 Mutable. However, anything transiting 11-12 Sag would trine my Sun and Ascendant, so the void point in Sag shows a zone of harmonic expression (waxing trine) to my Ascendant, and a zone of harmonic truth (waning trine) to my Sun.”
In an example closer to the current one, I have a Moon at 14 Aquarius, Mars at 24 Aries, and Uranus at 6 Cancer, where Moon quintiles Mars, Mars quintiles Uranus, and Moon biquintiles Uranus. This leaves zones of 18-20 Virgo and 30 Scorpio-2 Sagittarius as voids of a Great Quintile in my map. These zones activate by transiting Moon, Mercury, etc, forming four or even five points of a Great Quintile from time to time.
This pattern is activated five times every month by the Moon, giving me reflections, feelings, specific experiences of integrated unique circumstances, gifts, specialized qualities around my natal Moon-Mars-Uranus gifts during those specific days. I have three of those points permanently activated, since they are occupied by natal planets. I get the derived resonant qualities when the Moon goes through the voids in the pattern, augmenting my natal experience and giving opportunities to express the unique qualities I possess as a result of the natal positions.
The voids are derived gifts, etc, that are potential until they are activated by transits. A square to mid-Virgo or late Scorpio mean zilch, UNLESS there happens to be a planet on those points at the time, when all the special qualities of the star are released by the planet making the square.
This is very advanced astrological vector analysis based on angles, aka, a form of trigonometry that most astrologers never learn. Usually aspects are approached somewhat mechanically and "meanings" are memorized, since most texts on the subject are written by those who don't understand there is an advanced mathematical dimension to the meaning of aspects. I have found that if a student of the craft learns about quintiles at all, they learn a biquintile is 144 degrees, is a "double quintile" and then leave it at that, with lots of speculation but usually little or no understanding about the geometric and trigonometric dimensions of what that actually MEANS.
All aspects are part of holographic resonance forms, with every vector creating potential pathways to larger fields. Like opening one door automatically opens three more potential doors, and without having to "choose" which one to go through, you can get a view of what's on the other side of all three. Or imagine opening two doors, and getting a view into what’s on the other side of a third, fourth, fifth or even seventh door without them being opened in that moment.
Another example is that every sextile creates a potential Yod at the inverse midpoint. Every septile creates potential triseptiles at the inverse midpoint. Every square creates a potential set of sesquisquares at the inverse midpoint. This is the foundation of what are called the various kinds of "kite" patterns, and is a subset of the study of configurations.
This material can unlock why things happen when they do, and what we can glimpse of future potentials on the basis of what is happening, as well as what began when and where it's at right now and in the future. This is the symbolic mathematics of Astrology, where the static forms and terms come alive. I used to teach the basic elements of this to my 2nd semester 1st year students, and get deeper into what I've just offered you in the 2nd year classes. My students have reported through the years that my classes taught them more about astrology and how charts work than any other source they'd found. That's what my community gets at this site.
(This was edited to flesh out certain concepts and make the entire theme more comprehensible. Of course, there is a lot more I didn’t cover, in terms of potential meanings and applications of the various aspect harmonics, as it would have made this article into a book length piece.)
This is interesting. I wanted LOL Uranus mars quintile meaning and Mars mercury quintile meaning. I receive a more meaningful answer, in that If I complete these degrees to the empty places and the planets activate the empty, then I get my answer.
I am going back to see when the mars uranus quintile activated by a transit.
Posted by: MaryB | August 12, 2009 at 06:52 PM
Thank you for drawing my attention to this as I missed it before. I certainly did not learn sacred geometry to this extent in the context of astrology though I learnt a lot from re-constructing Celtic knotwork circles during a long period of enforced immobility and it is endlessly fascinating and magical. This clarification has been immensly useful.
Shanti
Posted by: Morvah | August 13, 2009 at 02:00 AM