Nuts & Bolts - Astrological Concepts

An explanation of some technical terms

Accidental Dignity | Astro*Carto*Graphy | The Asteroids | Chiron | Cycles | Eclipses | Electional Astrology | Essential Dignity | Fixed Stars | Graphic Ephemeris | Horary Astrology | Horoscopes and when Astrology is not just a horoscope | Local Space Astrology | The Lunar Nodes | Midpoints | Mundane Astrology | The Natural Zodiac | Receptions | Relocation Astrology | Retrograde Motion | Rulerships | Synastry | Transits, Progressions and Directions | Unaspected Planets | The Zodiac

Cycles

Measuring how bodies move with regard to another body or a fixed point. Which ever type you consider the process which is being highlighted is the important factor. All cycles tell the same story. As they move from conjunction – the two points being together – through outgoing square, through opposition, incoming square and back to conjunction again the phases of the cycle are the same. Whether it is the passage of the Sun through the sky, the Sun around the zodiac, Saturn around the natal chart or the Sun and Moon with regard to each other the process represented is essentially the same. You can think of this like the lifecycle of a plant.

Cycle Phases

Outgoing Phases

Energy passes out into the world. A push towards acheivement. The sap is rising. An evolutionary process.

Conjunction – 0°
The seed moment. What ever is represented by the cycle is conceived now. This is a hidden point. The seed is germinating below ground; the Moon is dark.

Semi-square – 45°
The first crisis; the first test, the basis for what is to follow is established. The seedling must break through the soil.

Sextile – 60°
Ideas launched at the conjunction are being set to work and integrated into life.

Square – 90°
Testing of and opposition to the idea in action. Changes must be made in order that the idea survives and progresses.

Trine – 120°
First flowering. The promise of the idea begins to be recognise.

Sesquiquadrate - 135°
A further testing period. As we are now in the flowering phase this will be annalogous to the fertilisation of the flower which will give rise to the fruit later in the cycle.

Quincunx – 150°
An awareness of the nearing achievement - found at opposition - allows a conscious adjustment to fullfil that potential.

Opposition – 180°
The height of acheivement of the cycle, also the furthest point away from the start point. There may be literal opposition to the matter in hand. The fruit is seen.

Incoming Phases

What ever has been achieved must now be applied and absorbed, given out to the world, reviewed and renewed. The sap is sinking back into the roots. An involutory process. The aspect phases mirror those of the Outgoing phase but with an inward focus.

Quincunx – 210°
Conscious adjustment but with a more objective emphsis as you can see what it is you have to adjust.

Sesquiquadrate – 225°
Testing phases. Events deal with properly now will lead to concrete results and feed into the decaying cycle.

Trine – 240°
Harvest. The fruit of the opposition having passed through the adjustments of the previous two phases is now ready to reap. An harmonious time, rich with positive creativity.

Square – 270°

Sextile – 300°

Semisquare – 315°

With regard to another body

Planets, or other bodies, are constantly in motion. Some move faster than others but the differences in speed mean that sooner or later they will all catch up with the other planets. This type of cycle tracks the aspects between two transiting bodies and can be studied independently of a natal chart.

The easiest way to explain this is to think of the lunar phases as you can actually see what’s going on. This is the cycle of the Sun and Moon. From conjunction at New Moon, through the various aspects to opposition at Full Moon and back again to the conjunction this takes 29 days. Most of the cycles are longer. The longest ones can be used as forecasting tools and the key points in them relate closely to significant events. You can break the cycles down as follows:

Outer Planet to Outer Planet

• Neptune Pluto – 490 years
• Uranus Neptune – 172 years
• Uranus Pluto – 127 years

Saturn to Outer Planet

• Saturn Uranus – 45 years
• Saturn Neptune – 36 years
• Saturn Pluto – 33 years

Jupiter to Outer Planet

• Jupiter Uranus – 14 years
• Jupiter Neptune – 13 years
• Jupiter Pluto – 12 years

Jupiter to Saturn

• Jupiter Saturn – 20 years

This is a special case of cycle and is the one which would have been known throughout astrology’s history. Don’t forget we haven’t had the outer planets for that long.

Twenty years isn’t particularly long. It’s certainly not long enough to track the rise and fall of civilisations. However the Jupiter Saturn cycle has another cycle within it. Subsequent conjunctions occur in the same element for 240 years at a time. So you have 20 years between conjunctions, 240 years of conjunctions in the same element and 960 years to go round all the elements and begin again. When the elements change there is usually a small cross over not a clean break. This is where we are at the beginning of the 21st century. Conjunctions in the earth element begin in 1801 but the 1821 conjunction was in fire, the previous element. 1841 saw it back in earth and it continued in earth until 1981 when the first air conjunction took place. 2000 saw the last conjunction in earth and 2020 will see the start of the unbroken air conjunctions.

Fixed point

A planet will make aspects to its natal position, or any point for that matter, as it moves around the zodiac. Most planets will return to their natal position within a lifetime but it’s not only the return to the natal position which deserves consideration, the aspects made along the way are important too.

Time to circle zodiac

Moon – 1 month
Sun – 1 year
Mercury, Venus – around 1 year
Mars – 2 – 2.5 years
Jupiter – 12 years
Saturn – 29 years
Uranus – 84 years
Neptune - 165
Pluto - 240

Neptune and Pluto will not return to their natal position within (current) human lifetimes.

Planets are constantly transiting the zodiac and we are all having transits all the time and transits can happen at any age. Pluto conjunct the MC will be very different at age 10 as opposed to age 40. These cyclic transits will happen at about the same age for everyone and can be used as developmental markers. As always you need to look at the whole situation, not just one element of it.

Cyclic phases and ages

These ages may vary slightly due to the speed of a planet’s movement in a particular chart.

Age 0 - Birth

Age 2 - 3

• First Mars conjunct Mars
• Opening Jupiter square Jupiter

Age 5 - 8

• Jupiter opposite Jupiter (first cycle)
• Opening square Saturn (first cycle)

Age 8 - 9

• Closing Jupiter square Jupiter (first cycle)

Age 11 - 12

• Jupiter conjunct Jupiter (second cycle)

Age 12 - 16

• Opening Jupiter square Jupiter (second cycle)
• Saturn opposite Saturn (first cycle)

Age 18 - 21

• Jupiter opposite Jupiter (second cycle)
• Closing Jupiter square Jupiter (second cycle)
• Closing Saturn square Saturn (first cycle)
• Uranus square Uranus (first cycle)

Age 23 - 24

• Jupiter conjunct Jupiter (third cycle)

Age 27 - 30

• Opening Jupiter square Jupiter (third cycle)
• Jupiter opposite Jupiter (third cycle)
• Saturn conjunct Saturn (second cycle)

Age 31 - 33

• Closing Jupiter square Jupiter (third cycle)

Age 35 - 36

• Jupiter conjunct Jupiter (fourth cycle)
• Opening Saturn square Saturn (second cycle)
• Maybe Neptune square Neptune (first cyle)
• Maybe Pluto square Pluto (first cycle)

Age 37 - 42

• Opening Jupiter square Jupiter (fourth cycle)
• Jupiter opposite Jupiter (fourth cycle)
• Opening Uranus opposite Uranus (first cyle)
• Maybe Neptune square Neptune (first cyle)
• Maybe Pluto square Pluto (first cycle)

Age 43 - 45

• Closing Jupiter square Jupiter (fourth cycle)
• Saturn opposite Saturn (second cycle)
• Maybe Pluto square Pluto (first cycle)

Age 46 - 50

• Jupiter conjunct Jupiter (fifth cycle)
• Closing Saturn square Saturn (second cycle)

Age 51 - 55

• Opening Jupiter square Jupiter (fifth cycle)
• Jupiter opposite Jupiter (fifth cycle)

Age 55 - 60

• Closing Jupiter square Jupiter (fifth cycle)
• Jupiter conjunct Jupiter (sixth cycle)
• Saturn conjunct Saturn (third cycle)
• Closing Uranus square Uranus (first cycle)

Age 61 - 64

• Opening Jupiter square Jupiter (sixth cycle)
• Jupiter opposite Jupiter (sixth cycle)
• Maybe Uranus square Uranus (first cycle)

Age 65 - 70

• Closing Jupiter square Jupiter (sixth cycle)
• Jupiter conjunct Jupiter (seventh cycle)
• Opening Saturn square Saturn (third cycle)

Age 70 - 80

• Jupiter conunct Jupiter (seventh cycle)
• Opening Jupiter square Jupiter (seventh cycle)
• Jupiter opposite Jupiter (seventh cycle)
• Saturn opposite Saturn (third cycle)
• Closing Saturn square Saturn (third cycle)
• Neptune opposite Neptune (first cycle)
• Maybe Pluto opposite Pluto (first cycle)*

Age 80 - 90

• Jupiter conjunct Jupiter (eighth cycle)
• Saturn conjunct Saturn (fourth cycle)
• Uranus conjunct Uranus (second cycle)
• Neptune opposite Neptune (first cycle)
• Maybe Pluto opposite Pluto (first cycle)*

You can see that some cycle will bunch up and highlight periods in the life which are well known trouble areas such as the teens and midlife. As we progress through life the shorter cycles have less impact.

*Pluto has an extremely eccentric orbit and moves almost twice as fast in Scorpio as it does in Taurus. For these reasons cyclical phases of Pluto to itself can vary a great deal. For instance, someone born with Pluto in Taurus would be around 70 before it would square itself, I had my Pluto square at 35. The Queen Mother experienced a Pluto opposition just before she died. The current generation will have that possibility – for Pluto to transit itself by opposition - but it would be impossible at some points of the zodiac.

See also Mundane Matters – cycles, presentations.