Oppositions

Oppositions

In astrology, there’s no such thing as “hard” or “soft” aspects. That’s moronic Modern astrology nonsense. We never prejudge. For those who struggle understanding the meaning of “never” it means “at no time ever.” We practice astrology, not aspectology. The website for the losers doing aspectology is down the hall in the ladies room, last stall on the left (so we’ve been told). We look at the stars in aspect, the signs they’re in, the houses they rule, the stars that the domicile rulers and/or domicile masters of those stars, the bound rulers, and any other stars in aspect to those before we make a judgment about the figure or configuration because that is what the art of astrology is all about.

An opposition is two (or more) stars in opposing signs. So, what is it that causes oppositions to be sometimes fantastically good and at other times an horrific nightmare for which the only apparent escape is death (and some people off themselves to escape the nightmare)?

Robert Schmidt tells us to view the lines tangent to the stars forming a figure (an “aspect”), so let’s do that.

In the chart above Capricorn Sun in the 2nd House forms a right trine to Taurus Moon in the 6th House. See how the lines tangent to Sun and Moon meet forming a triangle? As shocking as it may be, for stars forming a hex, a square or a trine the lines tangent to them will form a hex, a square or a trine.

Now look at Pisces Venus in the 4th House opposition Virgo Mars in the 10th House. The lines tangent to them never intersect because the tangent lines run parallel to each other.

The fact that they never intersect is the problem.

Well, one of the problems. There’s another consideration at play here. With sextiles, squares and trines (and even co-presence) the stars are moving in the same direction (notwithstanding the fact that one or more might be retrograde in motion). In an opposition, the stars are moving in parallel and approaching each other from opposite directions.

Think of two vehicles on a highway traveling in the same direction with one vehicle moving slightly faster attempting to pass the other vehicle. It will take some time for that vehicle to pass the other. Even if the vehicle was passing a slower moving truck, it’ll still take 10 to 20 seconds to pass it.

Now think of two vehicles approaching each other on a highway from opposite directions. You’ll pass each other in a flash, in less than one second. It’s that sudden change of position relative to each other that can potentially throw one or both stars into a tizzy. That’s why oppositions can be problematic.

In our example chart above, Mars is retrograde and moving in the same direction as Venus. In this instance, the effect of the opposition is blunted somewhat because both stars are moving in the same direction. That begs the question what if both stars are in retrograde motion in an opposition and thus moving toward each other. In that case, think “train-wreck” since it’s pretty much two trains going in reverse on a dirt road and colliding.

Let’s look at the charts of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

In both charts we see Moon opposition Sun (always list the faster star first in an opposition). The Moon naturally signifies change but when in opposition to Sun it indicates abrupt changes in people’s lives. In both charts, this opposition occurs on the axis of the 11th and 5th Places. Remember your symbolism. The 11th Place is Good Spirit meaning good fate while the 5th Place is Good Fortune meaning random chance good luck.

How would you initially characterize this Moon-Sun opposition?

Good, right?

Why would you want to go to the Emergency Room because your knee jerked so hard it broke your nose, knocked your teeth out and busted your lip?

We don’t knee jerk in astrology. We read the chart. Is the Moon-Sun opposition on the axis of the 12th/6th House? 2nd/8th Houses? 1st/7th Houses or 10th/4th Houses?

No, so why would you think it’s bad?

It’s good. Is there anything that would change our view of that? Well, what other stars (if any) are forming figures to Moon and Sun in the chart of Kamala Harris?

We have Moon in a right trine to Mars; Mars in a right sextile to Sun; Sun in a right trine to Saturn; and Saturn in a right hex to Moon.

That’s all good. In fact, it’s excellent (but not most excellent). So you judge that Moon-Sun opposition to be most positive thing in her chart.

Let’s do a little astrology.

Isn’t that Moon-Sun opposition in fire-air signs? Yes, it most certainly is. What did we say about fire and air signs? Didn’t we say these are things that come about suddenly and last only a few years? Yes, we sure did.

We’re gonna tell a little fib and say Kamala got her Juris Doctorate in 1985 (even though it was later) so’s we can do easy simple math. 1985 to 2020 is thirty-five (35) years.

In those thirty-five (35) years she was an assistant prosecutor, a state-board appointee, a county prosecutor, an attorney general, a U.S. Senator and a vice-presidential running mate.

That’s 6 different “jobs” or positions actually and 35 / 6 = 5.83 years being the average length of time she held each of those positions. Again, what did we say fire and air signs indicate?

That, folks, is the art of astrology.

Whatever you were doing is magnificent for sure, but it is not astrology.

In the chart of Donald Trump we judge the Moon-Sun opposition to be good initially for the reason we made that judgment in Harris’ chart. It’s on the 11th/5th House axis which are the houses of Good Fate and random chance Good Luck, respectively.

Is there any reason to change our initial judgment? No, since the actual configuration is Sun right trine Jupiter right sextile Moon opposition Sun.

We haven’t taught you Station-Checking yet so you wouldn’t understand that on the 7th day after Trump’s birth Jupiter is stationary (turning direct) in Trump’s chart.

No, that does not make Jupiter stronger. There is no such thing as “strong” or “weak” in astrology but it does make Jupiter more prominent in the chart and you’ll see how that plays out when you learn how to determine who really “rules” a house in astrology.

Because Trump’s Jupiter is more prominent, it makes his Moon-Sun opposition almost as good as the Moon-Sun opposition in Harris’ chart.

Again, that Moon-Sun opposition is in fire and air signs. Trump has worn many different hats over his life time. He was president, then he wasn’t, then he was. Before that, he was in real estate and casinos and even had his own television show and before that he had several other positions.

That is how we use signs to help us interpret figures and configurations in a chart.