Transmuting Squares and Oppositions in the Birth Chart

by Robert Wilkinson

Today we take a brief look at how to turn potential conflict into awareness and power.

Learning how to use natal and transiting squares and oppositions productively has been a lifelong lesson in patience with my inability to have perfect knowledge in the moment. I can state that it has taken me over 40 years to learn how to 'navigate' through the various conflicted energies in my natal chart.

I have 9 oppositions and 4 squares in my natal chart. I have oppositions in Cardinal, Fixed, and Mutable signs, as well as Cardinal and Fixed squares. As you can see, there’s literally no part of my chart that I haven’t had to learn how to manage in productive ways. That’s why I know it is possible to turn any negative response to positive intention and productive outcomes, even if they fall short of our ideal.

As I make clear in the Lunation articles, oppositions require us to find broad realization in the axis of "the tension of opposites" through seeing the larger whole encompassing the polarity. Squares are good for braking actions, as well as turning corners. Each of these aspects represents a “phase shift” within the larger “whole cycle” of conjunction to square to opposition to square to conjunction. You can find out more about the “whole cycle” and how the quadrant shifts work and the changes they indicate by taking a look at those chapters in my book Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend.

By understanding the qualitative differences between the waxing and waning squares, and noting the “tensions of opposites” which always come to surface at oppositions, we can see how to use those critical phase shifts to further the broader intention of that cycle. By noting the conjunctions to our planets, and then noting the challenges and/or changes at the waxing (lower) square, we can come to a more perfect understanding of what the cycle is about at the opposition, and use that awareness to bring the cycle to culmination at the waning (upper) square. After that we harvest the “good seeds” from the cycle as it completes itself and naturally moves into the next cycle at the conjunction.

With all my oppositions and squares, I had many difficulties and challenges when I was young. That forced me to learn coping skills so I could get through those points of personal crisis, and compelled me to see the “cause and effect” process so I could stop doing things that would only yield friction, tension, and conflict in the future. The aspects do not “make anything happen.” They do represent phases in a larger process that we set into motion by our own actions and reactions, as well as the actions and reactions of others.

Because it seems life is one gigantic lesson in learning to “pay it forward,” once I learned to deal with my issues involving inner conflicts about what to do and how to do it then I was put in circumstances where I could help resolve tensions and conflicts in others based in what I had learned. While I may not know how to deal with ALL the situations that arise during oppositions and squares, I have learned to detach, see the bigger issues impersonally, figure out the cause and effect cycle that brought the conflict to surface, and find a positive antidote to the opposition or square.

I found that in all cases of oppositions, whether opposing views, opposing forces, or even competing stimuli within my inner space, we can achieve productivity and understanding through finding a third and fourth view that transcends the opposing forces. There is no polarization that cannot be turned into productive understanding and stabilized productivity, though sometimes that may mean we must withdraw from that opposition so as not to waste our time or energy in useless wheel spinning.

In the case of squares, we must find compensatory energies to integrate the conflicted forces into a directed energy of positive change. These are found in the sign qualities opposing the planets in square. Any square is a powerful force to turn a corner, putting the brakes on some things while opening to others. T-squares are particular powerful personality integrators, with problems and solutions indicated by the void sign. Use those sign energies in a positive way, and regardless of what is lost, you’ll learn how to respond the best you can, given the circumstances.

Often, squares and oppositions are associated with various wounds throughout our lives. We cannot avoid these, since they are the points of awareness when we are given choices to turn away from behaviors and attitudes that will create these in the future. These points in time help us evolve in our awareness of the karmic “cause and effect” cycles in our lives, give us opportunities to respond in productive rather than destructive ways, and can open doors to new perceptions and possibilities.

All our wounds help us learn that to be fully human, we must learn to feel all there is to feel, turning fear and anger into compassion and emotional maturity. Every time we are wounded, or re-visit a past wound reawakened by a square or opposition, we have an opportunity to demonstrate our ability to turn difficulty into a practicum for the expression of our loving, wise intelligence.

All wounds force us to examine our response to that pain. When we see our power to detach from the sources of suffering, regarding our wound dispassionately, then we understand that being a wounded human connects us to all others who are wounded in a similar way. As we learn to discern the factors in the cause and effect triggers, we can release our personal sense of suffering and understand how it all relates to our journey from ignorance to greater awareness.

To be wounded is very human; that it gets triggered is also very human. We cannot avoid facing our woundedness and dealing with it, as we don't want to forget it, or ignore it, since it is the doorway for us to serve others who are wounded in that way. It is our pathway to a greater compassion and connectedness with all others, and kills out the roots of loneliness and isolation.

Remember we are Eternals having human experiences. We have a body, feelings, and a brain-mind, but we ARE a Soul-Spirit whose nature is Loving Wise Intelligence. We are here to fulfill our Higher Purpose, shown by our Saturn, and in the process we move through difficulties so we may transmute negative experience to positive power to create a better cause and effect cycle in the future. So be cheerful when the Lords of Karma deem you worthy of taking on hardships, since in transmuting the negative to the positive you turn the Prayer Wheel of Eternity, generating positivity for those who follow in your footsteps!

Comments

I can relate! With 5 oppositions and 6 squares,I've had to adapt, reconstruct, and not give up! Learning that struggle is part of the process, and the growth that comes from that process is worth it. (But not always) I've learned to observe in silence, which includes my self.

Posted by: Catherine Dougherty | September 14, 2018 at 07:39 PM

I recently discovered that the simple act of asking myself "why am I bothered by this?" can lead to transcendence of that issue, even though the answer never became clear

Posted by: Diana | September 15, 2018 at 07:49 AM