Aspect patterns

Minderwiz, Isthmus and others,

Do you think we could have some general discussion about this? I'm aware of what aspects are and I guess making interpretations is fairly much a similar process to making interpretations in Tarot.

Perhaps it would be helpful to give examples? My natal chart shows a yod between Venus (apex), Saturn and Uranus. What would that mean? What is it about the yod that makes this alittle different from atraightforward aspect?

A friend has so many aspect patterns in her chart it is unbelievable - 13. One of these is a mystic triangle between Mercury, Saturn, Mars and a Partof Fortune. What does this mean? Are Mystic triangles particularly special?

Maybe some general principles would be good to start with.

Many thanks,

Moongold

Wow, you raise a lot of good issues here and ones well worth discussing.

Perhaps I can start rather briefly - In principle aspect patterns should be between the planets and should not involve points such as Ascendant, MC, or the Point of Fortune - which would rule out your friend's Mystic Rectangle (there are four bodies in this pattern so it forms a rectangle not a triangle). The argument for this is that for an aspect pattern to work each 'corner' should be not only capable of receiving an aspect but also of making one. The points are of course points in space with no 'reflective' body present (except by accident) and thus can receive an aspect from a planet but cannot make one.

Personally I have found that this does not hold absolutely and its a rule I have occasionally broken but always with some care.

Essentially aspect patterns are just that - patterns - usually polygons made up by treating planets as corners. The main ones tend to be triangles (such as Grand Trines and T Squares and Yods) and rectangles (such as Grand Crosses and the Mystic Rectangle). Its also possible to have pentagons (Grand Quinitile) and sexagons (Grand Sextile).

Since you mentioned the Grand Rectangle, this is a set of four planets with two in opposition, and the planets at either end of the oppositions being in sextile to each other. This has a blend of stress (the oppositions) and harmony (the sextiles). This suggests that it is possible to obtain a balanced structure (four sided) of harmony between the influences of the planets - this is not automatically so, it needs to be worked for.

How would you like to look at the others - one at a time seems a good idea with people putting in their own examples from their charts or charts of friends and relatives.

Not all patterns are polygons though - the Stellium being an obvious example with several planets all in the same sign, The 'Bowl', 'Bucket' and 'Locomotive' are also examples of patterns where there is no polygon involved.

Moongold,

If you want make a comparison to tarot, thinking of a simple aspect would be somewhat like discovering a dynamic b/w 2 cards, whereas the whole chart dynamic would be considering more than two cards in a complex spread.

w/the aspect patterns, you must consider how groups of planets work together, and then pull this into the greater analysis of the chart, just like reading a c/c spread. The key here is to pull out major themes and to look out for contradictions and similarities in theme, and see how aspect patterns channels these themes: how does the overall pattern of the chart structure the themes? This is why it's imperative to understand how simple aspects function before jumping to aspect patterns.

ie. w/my chart, you'll find a strong desire for independence/solitude w/a Sag moon, Mars conj Aqu ASC in mutual reception w/Uran, 12th house Cap sun, and 5 planets in water houses. Contradicting this theme is a weak conj b/w Moon/Venus, and a stronger conj b/w Venus/Neptune in the 11th house. *However*, the overall aspect pattern is one that is bunched up into the upper left quadrant of my chart, lending more strength to independence/solitude.

Here's a primer from Bob Marks for some non-polygon patterns.
http://www.bobmarksastrologer.com/

aspect this....

Minderwiz said:

How would you like to look at the others - one at a time seems a good idea with people putting in their own examples from their charts or charts of friends and relatives.

Click to expand...

OH this is a great thread...I'd like to see different aspets and patterns at work....
lol...I have a gemini friend...who has Mercury in Gem...and the planet aspects every thing in her chart EXCEPT the moon....I don't know how many times I have had her tell me..."shut me up before I really say something I shouldn't"

isthmus nekoi said:

Moongold,

If you want make a comparison to tarot, thinking of a simple aspect would be somewhat like discovering a dynamic b/w 2 cards, whereas the whole chart dynamic would be considering more than two cards in a complex spread.

w/the aspect patterns, you must consider how groups of planets work together, and then pull this into the greater analysis of the chart, just like reading a c/c spread. The key here is to pull out major themes and to look out for contradictions and similarities in theme, and see how aspect patterns channels these themes: how does the overall pattern of the chart structure the themes? This is why it's imperative to understand how simple aspects function before jumping to aspect patterns.

Click to expand...

You make a really good point Isthmus. I think I may have progressed enough to want to look at how these patterns work, however. Wouldn't you see this understanding a step in putting togher the whole picture?

Perhaps a useful way to do this would be to look at individual charts with specific features or patterns in them? For example, I am looking at Tina Turner's chart at the moment. She happens to be a Sagittarian by coincidence! What an interesting chart, with lots of examples of patterns, including a mystic rectangle. Aleister Crowley, of Thoth distinction, is another. Now here is a fascinating chart, he has four yods, amongst lots of others. I think Crowley was a Scorpio so that would be interesting.

If we were to look at specific examples like this we could into account the context of the overall chart.

What do you think? And others too? There may be another way.

Moongold

yup, I would definetely see this as an important step to integrating for an interpretation. There are a number of celebrity charts analyzed via aspect patterns by Bob Marks on his site, you might be interested.