When Aspect Patterns Attack

Since we investigated aspects a bit recently, I thought we could further unravel the subject by discussing what happens when multiple aspects get together and make a bigger one. We call these “aspect patterns.” An aspect pattern is a collection of 2 or more aspects that create a more complex design. They are called patterns because they appear as geometrical shapes to us in the chart and are often named after those shapes. These aspect patterns have their own meanings that emerge out of a blending of their components. I want to caution you though not make more out of aspect patterns than need be. While they can correlate with famous people doing famous things, they don’t always. For example, just because you have a Yod, Kite, or Mystic Rectangle does not mean you have to save the world, depose a despot, or be a rock star. You may not conquer anything more profound than your own filthy laundry. Yet, aspect patterns do indicate the quality of an experience more than the objective way that experience unfolds.

For the purposes of illustration, I’m going to use personal charts below from myself and my family to show what these patterns look like. I’ll also point out how they can express in someone’s life, using anecdotal examples from the lives of famous people. Many astrologers also only include the planets and luminaries as part of these patters, as opposed to chart points like the ascendant, midheaven, or nodes. However, I do make allowances for some of these if they are in aspect to a planet or luminary. Orbs are also important here and some astrologers are really picky about how much distance to allow with aspect patterns.

This first chart here belongs to my daughter.

It’s a great example because there are 2 obvious aspect patterns that stick right out. The first, is the T-Square which is a combination of 2 planets in opposition (180°) both making a square (90°) to the same apex planet. You can see it all in red with Uranus at the apex making an easterly square to Pluto, which is in turn opposing Mercury and Venus. The latter 2 complete a westerly square with Uranus. The typical orb of about 7° applies here, although we like to see them tighter (closer to 0°). New astrology student often eschew squares and oppositions as unfortunate, but they are aspects that make things happen!

Yes, squares and oppositions are often difficult, and they indicate tension, but it is tension that draws together the needed reserves of force to bring something into manifestation. People with T-Squares may have that abundance of tension, but they are also type A personalities who are interested in results. My daughter is only 7, so I’m not expecting her to manifest much right now beyond making a mess, but she has proved quite adept in that. Another chart with a very tight T-Square belongs to Princess Diana. See chart below.

According to Wikipedia, Diana did quite a lot of manifesting. She was a champion for causes like homelessness, drug addiction, animal cruelty and fighting against the use of landmines (Wikipedia). She was revered as a patroness these struggles and even held administrative positions, like that of president of a children’s hospital.

The other shape you’ll see in my daughter’s chart there looks like a big blue triangle. It has the very creative name, “Grand Trine.” Grand Trines occur when 2 planets are trine (120°), and both are trine a third. Typically, all three will be in the same element. You’ll see the Grand Trine below, between Saturn, the moon, and Neptune, all at 5°. For trines the orb typically doesn’t exceed 7° and the tighter the better. Trines are known as the most easy and harmonious aspect, so it would stand to reason that a Grand Trine is even better right? Well, yes that’s kind of the idea.

The thing about trines and sextiles (the soft aspects) is that they correlate with the things we naturally do well and that come easily for us. Soft aspects are generally thought of as energies that you have harmonized in previous lifetimes. Natives with strong trine and sextile patterns often take the easy things for granted and tend to only notice the obstacles. Grand Trines usually highlight some innate skill or talent that the native brings in with them this life. For example, Grand Trines in water are particularly known for musical abilities. Billy Corgan, founder of the Smashing Pumpkins has one of these Grand Trines all in water signs and his guitar skills were uncanny at an early age (chart below). The energy of a Grand Trine is generally a blessing on the chart, albeit one the native tends to take for granted.

This next chart belongs to my good friend Terry.

He has several unusual patterns here, but the most obvious one is that big blue rectangle with the crisscrossing red lines, like the British flag. It’s called the “Mystic Rectangle.” I know, another very creative name. We have 2 trines (120°) connected by 2 sextiles (60°). These form a rectangle, in which a set of oppositions intersect the vertices, or corners. You’ll notice that Pluto at 13° Libra makes a trine to the Mercury at 13° Aquarius. Pluto also makes a sextile to 11° Saturn in Leo, while Mercury makes a sextile to Venus at 15° Aries. Saturn completes the rectangle through a trine to Venus. Venus then opposes Pluto, while Saturn opposes the Mercury, creating the red crisscross.

Like in the T-Square, the oppositions create tension. However, in this case, it is released through the talents and skills of the native, indicated by the trines and sextiles. As said above, these are the things that come easily. Natives do struggle, but it typically pays off. To them, it feels like they were meant for big things and yet there is a challenge to making them happen. That is because the energies are dissipated through the free flow between the soft aspects. The motivation to create comes from the tension in the oppositions. So, the conflicts in those oppositions on the one hand show the obstacles that must be surmounted, and on the other hand, show how they are surmounted.

In Terry's case, Pluto opposite Venus indicates a conflict between the need for control and the need to relate or belong. The solution is trusting the capacity of his deep mind to solve complex problems others, which is the healthy expression of her Pluto trine the Mercury. Mercury opposite Saturn indicates frustration with authority and structure, as if his creativity is stifled by rigid bosses and small-minded associates. The solution is to learn discernment, trust himself, and to channel his frustration into creative expressions of the visions he perceives in the mental atmosphere. These capacities can be found in the Saturn trine Venus energy, which harmonizes the Saturnian structure and Venusian creativity in order to balance his need for autonomy and his need to be both creative and helpful.

Actress Anna Kendrick also has a Mystic Rectangle in her chart and is renowned as a wonderfully gifted singer, dancer, actress, and comedian.

She worked very hard beginning at the age of 12, pursuing whatever opportunities she could. Kendrick came from humble beginnings and continually pushed herself to keep striving. That struggle added fuel to her fire, inspiring Kendrick to keep honing her craft the while relentlessly auditioning. She eventually became a breakout success. Other celebrities with this placement have similar stories and the common theme of the Mystic Rectangle seems to be turning lemons EVENTUALLY into lemonade.

Now we’re going to look at my chart. See below. I have a couple of interesting aspect patterns we’re going to point out. The first is the Stellium; a conjunction of 3 or more planets in a single sign. Depending on the house system, they can be in more than one house, but whole sign houses will put them firmly in one or another. For a Stellium, I tend to allow orbs of up to 10° if faster bodies like the moon or Mercury are involved, but otherwise we prefer much tighter. The Stellium is one of the most potent aspect patterns because it focusses the energies in one sign and often in one house. Mine here is between the moon, Pluto, and Saturn all in Libra in the 9th House, where Saturn at 28° Libra is conjunct Pluto at 27° and they both pull the moon at 19° into their sphere of influence.

The orb seems wide between the moon and Saturn, but remember the moon moves half a degree per hour or about 13 degrees a day. That’s quite fast. So, I will include 10° conjunctions to the moon and I’ve seen these energies work out very potently in client charts. You will almost certainly recognize this house emphasized in the native’s life. I would say the 9th house is very potent in my own life. The 9th house is traditionally called the house of God or religion, pertains to the mystical and the arcane, and those have pretty much been the objects of my obsession since I was 5 years old. Sure, Saturn is a malefic, but he’s also the ruler of my ascendant and exalted in Libra. Even a well dignified Saturn though will take a long time to do things.

Paul Rudd on the other hand, has a Stellium between the sun, Mercury, and Venus all in Aries in his 10th house, not too far from the midheaven.

If there was ever a recipe to make someone super visible just for being themselves, that would be it. Rudd was born in New Jersey to British-born Jewish parents. He studied acting in high school and college, having a slew of odd jobs to support himself (Wikipedia). It was in the early 90’s though when he got break out success from the movie “Clueless.” He’s well known for his later films, but that 10th house Stellium really highlights the visibility which contributed to his initial rise to prominence.

Stellia (this sounds more correct than “Stelliums” to me) can also involve malefic planets and houses, stimulating less-desirable consequences. You’ll always want to look at what houses the planets involved rule to see how that Stellium may manifest. In Rudd’s case, the objects are well dignified with the sun is exalted in Aries and ruling his 2nd house of money and value. *cash register noises* The ruler of his 10th house, Mars, is placed in the 5th house of performance and creativity, while Mercury rules his 3rd house of communication and Venus rules his 11th house of the audience, which signifies that people enjoy paying attention to him. I can’t think of a more apt signature of a very successful performer.

The other aspect patter in my chart worth noting is the Yod. The Yod, or sometimes called “Finger of God,” or “Finger of Fate,” is made up of 2 planets sextile who both make quincunxes to a 3rd apex planet. You’ll see mine below between 27° Pluto in Libra sextile 27° Neptune in Sagittarius, both quincunx to 27° Chiron in Taurus. You’ll also notice that other planets are conjunct them. I always read these as part of the Yod. To me, a planet who is part of any aspect patter pulls in the energies of any other planet that make a conjunction to it. So, I consider both Saturn and Pluto to make up one leg, while Neptune is conjunct both the moon’s South Node at 25° Sagittarius and the Galactic Center. At the apex is Chiron conjunct the sun at 1° Gemini. The sextile planets represent the talents or things that come easy to the native, which seek expression through the apex planet. The problem is that they are quincunx (150°) to that apex planet which means they of different elements and different modalities, therefore they thoroughly misunderstand each other.

Quincunxes tend to feel like a dull ache, like this ever-present pain you can’t shake. Therefore, the task of the native is to struggle with themselves somehow and their internal discord in order to bring the energies of the sextile to full expression through the apex planet. In my case, it looks like the will, strength, and discipline of Pluto and Saturn, along with the idealism and vision of Neptune, combining with past life lessons from the South Node, are begging to be properly manifested by a scattered Gemini sun personality who really just wants to make memes, prank calls, and play guitar. The activation of a Yod feels like something the native is pushed into against their will, usually for the benefit of others in some way. As we said earlier it could appear as something totally unremarkable or at least only impact a few people. I often think of Bilbo Baggins’ journey in “The Hobbit,” as illustrative of Yod energy. He just wants to relax, but this wizard and obnoxious dwarves barge into his life, break his dishes, and wrangle him into a whole adventure thing.

Some astrologers say Yod’s can be activated multiple times throughout a native’s life. Typically, the activation point, which is the point directly opposite the apex planet, is the spot to watch. You always want to look for planets making hard aspects to it though, like the conjunction, opposition, or square. Princess Diana also had a Yod (refer to her chart above). To me, you can see it manifest in her aversion to being a Royal. She remarked to an interviewer one time that as she walked down the aisle to marry Prince Charles, she felt as though her personality were being stripped away and she was being consumed by the Royal “machine” (Insider.com).

As we said above, however, Diana was able to do a lot of good work because of that Royal status, despite how it pained her. Diana’s Yod is between Pluto and Mercury sextile as the legs and both quincunx to Jupiter. Both Pluto and Mercury are conjunct other planets as well and thus bring additional energies in with them, but they are all seeking expression through Diana’s Jupiterian sense of benevolence. Pluto is the strength and will on one side and Mercury is the written and spoken word on the other. They together forced their way through her sense of goodwill finding expression through her charitable efforts. Diana’s death was of course very tragic, but it didn’t diminish the light she brought into this world.

The final chart here belongs to my brother and he has several wild aspect patterns for us to look at.

The first is the “Grand Cross” or “Grand Square,” aptly named because it makes a big cross and a big square. This is a set of 2 oppositions (180°), which makes each planet a vertex (or corner) in a big square, each making a 90° angle to the two adjacent planets. Usually these will be all in one modality. In my brother’s case, they are all in cardinal signs and therefore constitute a “Cardinal Cross.” You can see his here 7° Neptune in Capricorn opposite 6° moon in Cancer, and Jupiter conjunct the North Node opposite the South Node. Neptune is square both the South Node and Jupiter/the North Node, while each of those is also square the moon. Now, you may say, “well gee Frank, don’t most astrologers only use planets as a part of aspect patterns?” and I would reply yes, yes that’s true. Normally I would only pull the Nodes in if they were conjunct a planet, as in the case with my Yod. However, for the sake of just illustrating the pattern, were going to use it.

Grand Squares are tough. Squares alone are can be challenging aspects, but Grand Squares are another level. They often correlate with childhood trauma, which then becomes a source of inspiration to manifest something the native is passionate about. It is a very difficult aspect pattern to have, but it also seems to correlate with charisma and magnetism. These folks are at odds with reality too, but in a more constructive way. The difference between the Grand Square natives and say, Grand Trines or even Mystic Rectangles, is that the Squares naturally set about changing things to suit themselves. When things don’t suit their needs, they are compelled to remold them as they see fit. Being at odds with reality can be painful, but these natives also are agents of creation.

Gilbert Gottfried, infamous comedian and one of my heroes, has a Grand Square.

Venus in Capricorn at 25° opposite Uranus in Cancer at 24°, with Mars in Taurus at 1° opposite Neptune in Libra at 27°. Then Venus is square both Mars and Neptune, and both are square Uranus. Gilbert was eventually a successful comedian, but he did have a very odd upbringing in working class New York City. He was a strange kid who got beat up quite often. Gilbert is quite creative as a comedian, though, and is known as the “comedian’s comedian,” because only other comedians would usually get the absurdity of his humor. He had no choice but to be his obnoxious self, so he celebrated his weirdness by exaggerating his vocal inflections and facial expressions. Gilbert sort of created a caricature of himself, thereby creating his own niche within the comedy community.

The gimmick worked! Gilbert was successful. He had repeat appearances in films like “Problem Child” and “Beverly Hills Cop,” which led to Disney money from his most famous role as the petulant parrot, Iago in “Aladdin,” all from the schtick he’d cultivated. In fact, he got such notoriety from his work with Disney, that when he was cast for other roles in children’s programming, the directors were frequently aghast to hear how filthy Gilbert’s actual comedy routines were. There was a constant struggle between Gilbert’s need to keep himself marketable and his need to be himself.

Not only did Gilbert struggle to be himself while trying to make a living, he also endured a life-threatening health crisis in the 90’s. While in his apartment one day, Gilbert’s appendix burst, causing a massive internal infection. He nearly died. While in the hospital though, he made sure to milk it for everything he could, asking acquaintances he barely knew to bring him sweatpants and toothbrushes. Gilbert is obviously at odds with reality too as evidenced by his poorly timed joke about the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan. This caused his primary employer, the insurance company Aflac, to drop him as their spokesman. Gilbert’s life is a good example of how creative and yet how tragic those Grand Squares can feel.

The final aspect pattern we’ll look at here is the Kite. Kites are quite auspicious. We often have a Grand Trine where one of the sides of the triangle is the longer side in an adjacent triangle connecting with 2 sextiles (60°). In my brother’s case, he has 9° Scorpio Pluto (domicile, I’ll fight you) trine 9° Pisces Venus (exalted). Both of those are trine the moon at 6° Cancer and they are sextile 7° Capricorn Neptune, which is the apex of the Kite. You’ll notice that Neptune is opposite the moon. This is a complicated aspect pattern and, while it does have a little bit of tension associate with it, it is utterly surrounded by trines and sextiles, the soft aspects.

Kites are often associated with unusual abilities or experiences. The native will have some inherent skill that gets developed through adversity, but manifests a high degree development. It is often associated with gurus. An example is one of my heroes, Ramana Maharshi.

Ramana was a skilled soccer player as a young man, but then one day after his father died, he was overcome with the fear of death. Instead of recoiling in terror though, he stayed with it, and analyzed it. Ramana did a thought experiment using his own consciousness. By the end of the experience, he knew who he was and what he was not. Ramana has since become world renown for his simple, but profound practice of self-inquiry as the most expedient method to achieve enlightenment.

We just went through a whole lot in a brief period. You will notice though that aspect patterns are quite important, and they’ve become a new dimension in chart analysis. Do you notice other aspect patterns we didn’t go over? Are you having trouble making sense of them? Do you get nauseous seeing all the intersecting lines bouncing back and forth? I suggest doing a couple of things. First, get a piece of paper. Go through each of the aspects in chart that may be giving you trouble and write down what you think the significations (meanings) are. Then, look at which of those aspects are in aspect to each other. What does that feel like to you? Write down the first things that come to mind when you think about how these energies relate. Is one more hard and one more soft? Are both hard or both soft? Once you’ve gone through and enumerated the component relationships within the bigger pattern, then you can begin to tell yourself a story about what that means to you. The spontaneity involved here has been invocative for me and I’ve gotten interesting impressions.

Astrology is a symbolic enterprise, but symbols aren’t dead. They are alive, pulsing with energy, changing and fluid. We invest and reinvest them with meaning as we interact with them, consuming them with our minds, and they in turn infect us with their meaning, conferring a context by which to interpret our lives, knowing that it’s just a conceptual scaffolding. We use symbols to approach that which we can’t approach and understand that which evades understanding. Analogy proves once again to be our guiding light through a dark and nebulous existence.