Before we get going on the minor aspects, let’s put things into perspective. These aspects were introduced by Johannes Kepler in the 16th century—along with all the non-ptolemaic aspects defined by harmonics. These aspects evolve from the number by which we divide the circle. Did everyone run out and start using these aspects, seeing how effective they were? No. We’ve only got to grips with the quincunx in recent times (post 20th century), and most people still have no clue what to do with a semi-sextile (both introduced by Kepler).
Do you consider a semi-square a major aspect? I do. I’ve seen it do powerful things, particularly in progression. Watch out if you have a planet at the 
midpoint of a square—that planet will make your square implode by creating two semi-squares from inside it. It’s as if the square swallowed a stick of dynamite, like in the cartoons. Do people pay attention to the semi-square? Not much. At their peril. I use sesquiquadrates, too. They behave like a square, only more nervous, and are more likely to get set off at random, sometimes ‘behaving,’ sometimes not. Unlike the square, which eventually brings solutions through practical experience, the semi-squares and sesquiquadrates often point to issues, problems and energies that are irresolvable, and that we must learn to live with and cope with. Where the cousins of the four are concerned, we may never find rest.
If we’re not using aspects in the natal chart, and not using them to figure out what’s going on within an entity, it’s virtually impossible to figure out what this aspect will do between two charts. Research on these aspects is ongoing. The only baseline we have is that everything—and I mean everything—in astrology is built on number. (This article will make more sense to you if you read my piece on why the aspects behave the way they do; scroll to the middle). So we have to go back to number, and personal observation, to tell us what these aspects are about. Aspects to personal planets have more tangible effects. The further out the planets involved, the less likely these aspects manifest in real terms.
These aspects essentially deal with energies that manifest beyond physical reality—depending on your philosophy, you could say that they effect us on different energetic planes and on different levels of consciousness. They can, occasionally, filter down to this mundane plane of existence, but their work is essentially done on a higher, more refined level. (Meditators seem to be able to access these energies more easily in real terms.) By effecting our thought, they alter our way of being, and so affect our world. On the whole, I haven’t seen any of the aspects we’re discussing today manifest in a negative way—each one seems to bestow its own type of gift. We run into problems only when there is an overabundance of them.
Quintiles: Dividing the Circle by Five
When we divide the circle by the number five, we get an aspect of 72 degrees. The meaning of five is complex. In sequence, it’s the first number to step out of the materialistic ‘box’ of the four. It’s the first number to transcend the four, which creates material reality. The five is represented by the pentagram, which shows a ‘four’ transcended by a fifth point above it. This fifth point acts as a funnel through which concentrated higher energies can flow down into manifest reality. The five is considered creative and is associated with the Sun (Leo). It is made up of the energy of duality (the 2) transcended by the 3. Natally, quintiles indicate gifts—the two planets can use their qualities in a beneficial, creative manner. Quintiles may show unusual talents or abilities that seem complete and god-sent—abilities that we don’t have to struggle to perfect.
In synastry, between charts, quintiles can produce an almost other-worldly understanding of the way the individual planets are operating. If my Saturn is quintile your Venus, you will have an innate compassion for my Saturn issues, and I will instinctively know how to support your Venus. However, relationships dominated by quintiles often possess an other-worldly quality of their own, as if they don’t rely on the common things of this life to survive. Loves that continue long after the affair is over are often quintile loves.
Septiles: Dividing the Circle by Seven
The septile family, dividing the circle unevenly at about 51 degrees, are a curious lot. They have to do with Higher Mind (the 3) entering the manifest reality of the four. In essence, they are about higher guidance and contact with the divine mind. Where the septiles are concerned, we have the ability to see beyond the mundane. They are less compassionate and more observant than the quintile series.
The septiles give us the ability to know what is the right move at any given time. We have an instinct for truth where the two planets are concerned, and have a hard time telling ourselves anything that isn’t absolutely honest. In this way, septiles can be a bit ruthless. Septiles are where we know better, and we can’t turn away. Sometimes, it seems that septiles can manifest as a ‘get out of jail free card’—but this only happens when we are jailed unjustly by other elements.
Septiles between charts behave somewhat like high-powered lamps pointed at the planets. Those two planets will relate in a truthful way, and we won’t be able to hide from one another.
Noviles: Dividing the Circle by Nine
Noviles (forty degrees) divide the circle by 9, and represent initiation. Where noviles are concerned, we will experience each planet in a new way, and it will be a revelation. The number 9 represents completion, and preparation for the new beginning which will begin again at the 1. Noviles often take us by surprise, and push us further up the ladder of our conscious evolution whether we like it or not. Noviles are about wisdom, and the responsibility of using that wisdom. When a novile in a chart is activated by a transit, it’s like being shang-haied into a cult of knowledge. When noviles are dominant, life can change in surprising and unexpected ways, but never without added responsibility.
When noviles are active between charts, we push one another forward. If there are a number of them between charts, they can be either stimulating or annoying, depending on how much we like to be nagged in spiritual terms. Noviles between charts can make us feel as if the other person is always expecting more from us. With noviles dominant, we can feel as if we have a purpose together, and may find it easier to share our individual growth processes.
Of the three aspects, I find that noviles and quintiles are more tangible than septiles. And, although I despise hierarchies, I have to admit that I’ve seen them manifest more readily in those who are definitely seekers, and on some path of awareness. It’s as if we need to expand and refine our own consciousness, via the more straightforward aspects, before these energies are able to show themselves in our lives.
Hi Dawn – Another great post with really worthwhile information. I especially enjoyed the visual image painted by your description of a square imploding from the energy produced by the semisquares to a midpoint planet. I have Saturn in the 4th, forming an exact semisquare to my exact Mercury/Moon square and it’s true that I’ve had learn to live with certain “irresolvable” energies, not just internally, but externally as well (responsibilities relating to family conflicting with personal/professional needs).
With regard to the novile, would you consider this aspect in relation to the Ascendant (or other angles) and the Nodes, or would its influence be limited to the energy produced between two planets?
As always, thanks for sharing your insights.:)
Thanks for the kind words, LB. All of these aspects apply to both the nodes and the angles. I just get tired of writing ‘to planets and points’ all the time.
Great, informative post. I have Sun/Mars conjunction exactly: semisquare Venus; semisquare MC; sesquiquadrate Saturn/Pluto. I’ve read other articles that talk about how in your face these aspects can be. The Semisquare and Sesqu. can be likened to being Cardinal, where the Square is more Fixed. Personally, i had an easier time adjusting to all of these. I think it has to do with the sun, mars, saturn and pluto being in air, and mc being in fire. So the elements being compatible seemed to make the adjustment easier. I also think that having easy aspects connected in these aspect structures will relieve these energies tremendously (Saturn/Pluto is trine my NN and Moon, while sextile Neptune). Keep up the amazing work!
My Sun in Virgo (18.04) is square my Saturn in Sag (19.22) on my 5th house cusp. The midpoint is 3.43 Scorpio, if I have my math right (maybe the math is why people don’t use these more esoteric aspects!). So that would put my Neptune in Scorpio at 2.54 within 1 degree orb of being semi-square, right? I’m not sure how that works, but I know when I was younger I used to escape into daydreams in a major way, being hardly present at all sometimes. I think a lot of it was escape from my mother’s criticism, which would make sense for Neptune dealing with that square. I think to some extent I eventually learned to use that Neptune imagination more productively.
Hi, Dawn, this is an excellent post! There’s so little about these lesser-known aspects on the internet, that I’ve been doing a research project about them on my blog,Skywriter, in which readers write about their aspects and how they play out in their lives. I would love to share this article with them soon, featuring you as a guest blogger. It would, of course have your bio and links back to this site. Would you be agreeable? It would be a great finale to the series. Donna Cunningham
Hi Donna,
I would be honoured. Please feel free to use it any way you’d like.
For the few of you who don’t already know, Donna Cunningham is a highly respected astrologer whose blog is a must-read. Visit her at skywriter.wordpress.com.
Thanks so much, Dawn. What I love about it is that you’ve researched these “minor” aspects in your own work, and the observations are original work. I have one more aspect to go–biquintiles–and then will reprint this article. Regards, Donna Cunningham
Hi, Dawn, I couldn’t find an email address for you, so I wanted to let you know that your article is up on Skwriter now–a fitting conclusion to our series on the minor aspects. Thanks for letting me reprint it! Donna Cunningham
Thank you , Donna. Can’t wait to see it. I should put my email up front somewhere–it’s alcuin9@gmail.com.
Do you mind talking a little bit more about the semi-square? Or any good reading on the subject? My most exact aspect in my chart is a Venus/Uranus to Pluto semi-square. Been scouring the internet and mostly coming upon vague explanations…
Semi-squares have all of the tension of the square, magnified by the fact that there is no natural resolution. The gift of a square is that they are about something specific to the two planets involved and that they are joined by quadruplicity–houses or signs that are in the same family. There’s a way out, eventually. Semi-squares are about to explode all the time, are erratic, are irritating to live with, and are often only resolved when a transiting or progressed planet makes an aspect to one of the planets, allowing the tension to spill out and resolve itself.
I started out with the classical aspects in my prognostic charts, and later I added semisextile, quinqunx, semisquare and sesqusquare, assuming that semisextile and quinqunx were harmonious and semisquare and sesquisquare were disharmonious. But I learned from practice that all these 4 aspects are indeed disharmonious. So I began searching for harmonious aspects to outweigh those 4 disharmonious aspects. From try-and-error I learned that the only harmonious series of aspects (apart from the classical aspects trine and sextile) are the noviles: 40, 80 and 160 degrees. Quintiles are all about creativity and anything to do with making and having children. I never found out what septiles are about, put aparently they play a huge role as beneficial aspects when it comes to earthquakes – earthquakes generally do not happen, when septiles are active, and I have no idea why, I have simply noticed that the absence of septiles during earthquakes is statistically significant.
Septiles have to do with wrestling the divine and the mundane, and transcending the polarity. I’m afraid it needs more room than I can offer here.
I dont know anything about the other series of aspects like deciles and elftiles.
I don’t use them at all. I find the standard esoterics quite enough.
Hello
My north node is in 18 deg Capricorn. That makes my draconic chart move 72deg with respect to my natal chart..so every planet is in quintile with itself.
IS that a gift?
The draconic chart only refers to the development of and reconciliation of the nodal polarity. This may be easier with quintiles involved.
Hi Dawn,
I see your response above about quintiles between same planets in draco – natal possibly making the development/reconciliation process easier. I’m wondering if this means that planets square same planets in draco would be especially difficult. I’ve been unable to find any info on a 90 degree rotation from the natal, and it’s got me feeling very overwhelmed.
Thanks Dawn!
You’re right, the squares from draconic charts can be very troubling. Take a look at Mark David Chapman, for example.
Great post! Can you interpret biquintailes same as quintales in synastry? Thanks 😊