by Robert Wilkinson
I was recently asked if I thought some aspects were more powerful than others. I responded that I don’t see aspects in terms of magnitude or importance, since they’re all phase relationships between two points in the Whole Cycle. Today we look at the subject using Chiron transits as brief examples.
When we begin studying, the books are pretty clear that the traditional Ptolemaic aspects (Conjunction, Sextile, Square, Trine, and Opposition) are the most powerful aspects and all the others are “minor” aspects. I believe that approach is both obsolete and unnecessarily limiting in how we can understand the relationships between planets and points.
All aspects measure the distance between two active points. They are not quantitative in the sense of “more powerful” or “less powerful,” but rather describe the phase of the cycle those two planets are in relative to their previous conjunction. While we know that cycles begin at the conjunction, move through all the waxing aspects until the opposition, and then repeat all the previous aspects in reverse order until the next conjunction.
A square to anything from anything is a braking action, a turn the corner action, or something coming in "from left field" as it were. It’s powerful as an impetus to change direction, stop something, or anticipate something coming which must be factored into the process. Of course, a sextile is just as powerful, since it shows a time of maximum productivity, as is the quintile, which shows a period of high specialization and “quintessential” events.
When two transiting planets are in aspect, the faster moving planet is always said to “apply” the aspect to the slower moving planets. All transits make applying aspects to our natal and progressed positions. The planentary/asteroid "department of labor" determines what the initiating action is to whatever function is being stimulated at that part of the phase relationship. A square from something challenges the momentum in whatever is being squared.
Transiting Chiron Aspects
The conversation then turned to Chiron. While Chiron is associated with healing and being healed, it's far more than that. Chiron was the ultimate mentor of gods and people, the master of logic, astrology, mathematics, medicine and more.
Applying our model, a square from transiting Chiron shows the healer/mentor is challenging "right action" from whatever planetary function is being squared. So a square from Chiron indicates a major point where we allow ourselves to be mentored or not, to heal into our Higher Self or not based in the local conditions indicated by transiting Chiron.
Looking at the bigger picture, when Chiron conjuncts one of our planets, it brings a healing or mentoring energy to that part of us. Over a number of years, it makes first a semi-sextile, then a decile, then a novile, and then a semi-square to the planet it originally conjuncted. These bring initial growth, initial specialization, initial realizations, and then the first internal crisis in the Whole Cycle.
This leads to the septile, sextile, quintile, and binovile before it hits the crucial shift at the square. Each of these aspects is “powerful” in the sense that each offers its unique quality to the planet Chiron is aspecting. In this list, the Healer/Mentor brings us to a “fork in the road of destiny” in the planet being septiled. Then comes the productive, specializing, and realization phases which lead us to the shift in direction at the square.
Chiron then triggers the biseptile, trine, sesquisquare, biquintile, quincunx, triseptile, and quadranovile before coming to the results of the first hemicycle of the process at the opposition, which brings the surfacing of the process, forces which oppose the process or help it to the next phase of resolution. At that point, based in the realizations which come forth at the opposition, the entire aspect series repeats in reverse order beginning with the quadranovile, triseptile, quincunx, etc. Every aspect is a powerful phase in the larger process, so it’s better to look at them qualitatively rather than quantitatively. While individual aspect orbs often indicate that phase is more dramatic when they are just separating than at any other point, that’s a different subject than what we’re dealing with today.
Here another factor is of utmost importance. No aspect exists alone or in a vacuum. In our example, a square from transiting Chiron could release a mentoring or healing potential in a planet being trined by another planet indicating that harmony of understanding is now able to be expressed in a different healthier way. A square to a planet being quintiled by another will release that specialized quality through the square.
Then I offered an example from my own chart. Transiting Chiron is now 17 Aries, and been opposed my Neptune in Libra and trine my Pluto in Leo for many months. This period has corresponded with me having to take a look at my ideas about fairness and re-evaluate them based in seeing some core issues in those I've had to deal with. The void in Aquarius is my ticket to healthy function, meaning a certain degree of detachment while keeping focused on the bigger picture has helped me keep a healthy perspective.
This is the next major phase of transiting Chiron’s dance with my Mystic Rectangle created by the Moon opposed Pluto and Sun opposed Neptune, with Moon sextile Sun and Neptune sextile Pluto. (The difference between a Rectangle and a Mystic Rectangle is the latter must have one of the Lights and one of the outer invisible Spiritual Triad in the configuration). It first conjuncted my Sun at 12 Aries while also sextiling my Moon, helping mentor my Aries Light into a new expression. It’s continued to activate the Rectangle from then to now.
At some point it will hit 24 Aries and conjunct my Mars while quintile my Moon and my Uranus. This will create an entirely different specialization energy to both of my natal planets, and activate the two voids of the Great Quintile. That should help me find new unique expressions of the interrelationship between those three planets. From there it will then conjunct my Mercury at 30 Aries while quincunx my Saturn at 29 Virgo and tredecile my Pluto at 18 Leo. This will activate two entirely different sectors in two entirely different ways.
As you can see, no aspect exists in a void. As any transit activates each planet in our chart, it simultaneously activates other planets as well. Seeing the order of what is aspected shows us the trigger points when we will experience the quality of the aspect being made to the various points being activated by whatever planet is bringing their lessons and qualities to the other planet in that phase relationship.
So take a new look at your planets, and see if certain points don’t activate more than one. Those are the crucial periods when multiple parts of your personality and life will be affected. The transits activate our natal qualities which are shaped throughout the Whole Cycle of conjunction to the subsequent conjunction, with all the aspects in between showing changes in how we express our natal planet qualities.
That’s the power of ALL the aspects. Each aspect has its own quality, and each is powerful in its own way.
© Copyright 2023 Robert Wilkinson
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