Trines Sextiles Semisquares and Sesquisquares

[Avshalom Binyamin]

It seems that for natal astronomy, we care about Trines and Sextiles, but not Semi or Sesquisquares.

And for transits, we care about Semi and Sesquisquares, but not Trines or Sextiles.

Is this true? And if so, are there any explanations for why?

[Jim Eshelman]

Also care about ssq and sqq in natal.

[Avshalom Binyamin]

Ah ok! Thank you!

Yes, I see Moon-Mars, Mercury-Jupiter, and Venus-Pluto semi-squares in my chart, and they seem to fit. Not as core themes of my identity, but they flesh out the description of my personality a bit more.

[Veronica]

I found this link to be very helpful
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1772#p11308

[Avshalom Binyamin]

Radness! Thanks V!

[Jim Eshelman]

Last night's class was part 2 of an introduction to aspects. At the very end, I took about 20 minutes to show some extra information that we aren't dealing with actively in the class but that I thought people should know. Part of this was the semi-square and sesqui-square. Here are the contents of the two key slide.

Other Aspects: The 45° Series

• Other aspects have been proposed than the five I’ve shown you. (Some have been validated.) Foremost of these is the 45° series.
• 45° is the SEMI-SQUARE, or “half-square.”
• 135° is the SESQUI-SQUARE, or “square and a half.”
• Because 45° is 1/8 of a circle, the semi-square is also called an OCTILE and the sesqui-square TRIOCTILE.
• I see no reason to distinguish these, and suggest calling both of them OCTILES.

• These are important (though less important than 0°, 180°, 90°).
• While learning to recognize aspects, you can justifiably ignore them: They provide additional information, but you can usually do without them. (Show how to recognize them.)
• They are MORE important than trines & sextiles in the sense that they are dynamic rather than static.
• They are LESS important than trines & sextiles in the sense that they are a weaker level of aspect.
• Their maximum orb is 2°. (Class 1 octiles are partile, within 1°.)

[James Condor]

What is an example of dynamic vs static? What does the change look like? Say Sun semi square moon vs sun trine moon?

[Jim Eshelman]

What is an example of dynamic vs static? What does the change look like? Say Sun semi square moon vs sun trine moon?

That's a tougher one to describe, but let me tell you about some that have made themselves more obvious. Remember, though, tbat what really matters in aspects is the blending of the planets involved, not the type of aspect. (It's also easier to detect the difference in the context of a whole chart, e.g., since some trines and sextiles will act merely as support structures for conjunctions, oppositions, and squares they touch.)

Old school interpretations said that Sun-Mars conjunctions, oppositions, and squares gave "bad" Sun-Mars behavior, e.g., bullies, contentious, etc., while Sun-Mars trines and sextiles are "nice" Sun-Mars behavior like courage, energy to help people, strength, etc. I find this to be approximately the opposite of observable fact. Some of the strongest, least overtly contentious people I've known have had Sun-Mars dynamic aspects (conjunctions, opposition, squares) and some of the dirtiest fighters and even bullies have had close Sun-Mars trines or sextiles. I think the underlying behavior is that when the conj/op/sq people have something on their chest, they do something about it (take action, give voice) so they tend to be emotionally "cleaner" about anger. Trine/sextile people OTOH tend to not do anything about it, so they accumulate resentments and become covert about their feelings.

Venus-Pluto aspects, no matter what the aspect, carry a strong sense of, "Why do people make such a big deal about sex?" But, as a generalization, Venus-Pluto close trines and sextiles are more likely to take that attitude and do nothing, i.e., "Why do people make such a big deal about sex? It's not that important" (more voluntary celibates), while close Venus-Pluto conj/op/sq tend to take that attitude and do something, e.g., "Why do people make such a big deal about sex? Let's just do it!"

Really close Mercury trines and sextiles (1-2°) with almost any planet at all tend to give stubbornness, i.e., static opinion, rigid (or less movable) mind, etc.

That sort of stuff.

[Veronica]

the sun/mars conj. person I know would definitely fit into your assessment. He will put up with stress and you can see in the body language that it is bubbling, and then when it reaches that point of anger, the action happens, quickly and then its over and its as if it didn't happen, it was dealt with and the energy was released.


As for the pluto/venus conjunction I would agree with that as well. The person I know who has a wide conjunction seems to definitely have that attitude, for him self anyways.


I think it is definitely my moon/Neptune conjuction that makes me cry so easily in sad times and happy times. My body acts on all that feeling.