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ASPECTS I AND! PERSONALITY KAREN HAMAKER-ZONDAQ pects are one of the less-well-understood factors in astrology, something often overlooked in the rush * of books that attempt to describe the planets, signs and houses. Yet aspects are the fundamental descrip- tors of relationships, both within the psyche and between the individual and the outside world. Hamaker-Zondag takes a perceptive look at aspects— both major and minor—and at the continuing discus- sion in astrology about the relationships between aspects and harmonics, the question of orbs, sign relationships versus degree relationships, the relationships between the aspects and the elements and qualities. She also addresses less-well-discussed factors: mclining and declining aspects, approaching and departing aspects, the nature of unaspected planets, and the ruling aspect. Her general discussions of these matters are supple- mented by extensive, in-depth delineations of the major aspects for each of the planets as well as the Sun and Moon. These delineations include the aspects each planet makes to the Ascendant and Midheaven. Of special note is the inclusion in these delineations of the inconjunct, or quincunx, an aspect that y astrologers are beginning to agree has important influence in the chart. This is a clear and accessible ap- proach that can be used by students at many levels. Contents Preface ix Part One: About Aspects 1. Kinds of Aspect 3 2. Determining the Aspects 23 3. The Psychological Influence of Aspects 39 4. Approaching and Departing, Inclining and Declining Aspects 51 5. Unaspected Planets 61 6. Aspect Configurations and the Ruling Aspect 7. Judging the Composition of Aspects 91 Part Two: Aspect Interpretation 8. A Few Words on Interpretation 99 9. Aspects of the Sun 103 viii! Contents 10. Aspects of the Moon 137 11. Aspects of Mercury 169 12. Aspects of Venus 195 13. Aspects of Mars 217 14. Aspects of Jupiter 237 15. Aspects of Saturn 255 16. Aspects of Uranus 273 17. Aspects of Neptune 283 18. Aspects of Pluto 291 Bibliography 301 About the Author 303 Preface This book has been written to help students understand the factors that play a part in the interpretation of aspects as they relate to personality. An unquestioning acceptance of ready-made interpretations—however helpful some of them may be—is never satis- factory in the long run. Therefore my intention is to teach students how to work out the interpretations (see chapter 3) after we have studied the essential nature of the aspects and how they are derived from the circle. At the very outset we encounter a number of problems such as what orbs to use and what allowance, if any, should be made for the influence of the signs. Since opinions on these points differ in the astrological world, I have let myself be guided as far as possible by my own practical experience because I have no wish to base this book on theoretical arguments. Practical experience also comes to the fore in the chapter on unaspected planets—the latter being a feature that ought never to be ignored when aspects are being judged. \ / Prt'tdCf Astrological Signs and Svmlrols Sign Symbol Day Ruler Element Cross Night Ruler Aries Mars cT Fire Cardinal Pluto Taurus Venus 9 Earth Fixed Gemini I[ Mercury ^ Air Mutable Cancer Moon 5) Water Cardinal Leo Sun O Fire Fixed Virgo TTP Mercury ^ Earth Mutable Libra \renus ^ Air Cardinal Scorpio Pluto ^ Water- Fixed Mars c? Sagittarius ^ Jupiter Fire Mutable Neptune ^ Capricorn ^ Saturn 'S Earth Cardinal ITanus ^ Aquarius — Uranus 6r Air Fixed Saturn ^ Pisces Neptune £ Water Mutable Jupiter •The ic.nlcr should noic lli.il (hisauihoi usrs Kmopt-.m ^hphslor llu-pl.uu'ls. Puh. Preface / xi I assume that the reader is already familiar with the meanings of the planets, signs, houses and elements, and so I will try to avoid ground covered in my earlier books. The last chapter consists of basic interpretations of the major aspects; the object being to give an opportunity for practice. Let the reader turn to chapter 1 for the effect of a given aspect, and then combine this with the meanings of the planets involved (as explained in chapter 3) to arrive at an interpretation which can be compared with that given in chapter 8. This chapter makes no claim to completeness, but is intended solely as a guide to aspect interpretation; which is, of course, only one part of general chart analysis. As always, my husband, Hans has mulled over the form and content of thousands of words in order to make the manuscript as readable as it now is; thank you Hans. January, 1982 Karen Hamaker-Zondag Part 1 About Aspects 1 Kinds of Aspect What Is An Aspect? As everyone knows, the Earth and the other planets orbit the Sun. The astrologer, however, studies the universe as it affects people on Earth and therefore treats the Sun and planets as if they were going round the Earth. In other words, we retain for convenience the old geocentric view. As seen from Earth, the Sun appears to travel across the sky along a fixed path; a path that is also traversed by the planets. The Sun, Moon and planets all seem to move in more or less the same circle (or, more accurately, in the same narrow track) around the Earth. This 360° circle is the zodiac. It is divided into twelve 30° sectors—the signs of the zodiac. The Sun, Moon and planets move in front of a backdrop of the signs. They can be found anywhere in the zodiac, and can therefore be observed in different directions. When two or three are in the same zodiacal degree, we perceive them lying in the same direction. Figure 1 on page 4 marks a few planets in the zodiac. If we consider Mars as our reference point, the direction in which we view Mars is at a right angle to the direction in which we view -t / A.tpiCI.) jr/J Pirsonuhty o cf 3 26° 90 P 120 £ V 150 ■9 Figure 1. The horoscope viewed from Earth (E) at the center. From this point, the angles of the planets create aspects. Venus. For us on Earth, they are 90° away from one another. But the position of Mars in respect to Jupiter is quite different. Here the distance between the two planets is such that the Mars-Earth- Jupiter angle is 120°. Mars also stands at a specific distance from Saturn in the circle of the heavens as seen from Earth, and the two planets form an angle of 26°. Now this angle is not a recognized astrological aspect. Not every angle between planets is called an aspect. The angles known to tradition as aspects are listed in Table 1. When two (or more) planets as seen from the Earth form one of these special angles, this means they are linked astrologically. The parts of the psyche symbolized by the said planets interact directly. All according to the nature of the aspect, they assist and stimulate or hinder and dampen one another. In psychological terms, an aspect represents a process by which given psychic ener- gies are linked in a way that gives each of them greater freedom