Aspects, Okay, it’s officially the hottest summer on record–throughout the world. I heard Diane Sawyer say it on TV last night, so it must be true. Not that I can’t feel it from my sweaty scalp and my failing air conditioner. I knew it was hot here, outside New York, and most places in the States, but I wasn’t aware that it was also the hottest summer in Siberia. Kind of hard to bend my mind around that one.
So, since our brains are all half-melted from heat, I’m going to do a little no-brainer astrology for a change. (I’m not talking to you people who love the 
heat. Please don’t talk to me until November.) Just to give you something to look out for, since you don’t have enough things to look at already.
Venus is joining Saturn and Mars in opposing Jupiter/Uranus today, and approaching a square to Pluto, so I thought we would take some time to use this energy wisely and do a little research. Back in the dark ages when I was doing some studying with the Faculty of Astrological studies in London (note I say ‘some’ studying–I don’t have the fancy degree) there was an exercise where we were required to write an essay on our experience of the closest Ptolemaic aspect in our charts that involved a personal planet. I wondered about it at the time, why we would have to write an entire essay on one aspect only, but as I wrote the essay, it began to make sense. The assignment was assigned to illustrate the energy flow between tight aspects. There was lots to write about, because the aspect was so close. Mine was extra-easy, because the tightest aspect in my chart, using Ptolemaics and taking away angles and axis points, is a first house Mercury sextile an 11th house Moon. (You see what I’m talking about.) People with hard aspects had even more to write about, because the hard aspect facilitated experience between the two planets. Like I said, easy-peasy. Even students who were resistant to writing were more than willing to talk about it. There was lots to say.
In the old days before computers you had to eyeball the chart and do some calculating. Now all you have to do is push a button to get a list of the tightest aspects of whatever planets and points you have up on your chart software. Solar Fire will give you a list of any aspects that are within one degree. When I first got my Solar Fire program, I remembered the exercise and began taking a peek at the tightest aspect, using not only planets but angles and nodes, and expanding the aspect list. (In Solar Fire hit the ‘Reports’ button when the chart is opened, then the ‘Sorted Listing’ button on the right.) It was very interesting. Eventually, it became clear to me that the tightest aspect, using standard aspects and points, had a very clear role to play in the chart.
It isn’t the most important, most dominant or most influential aspect. It doesn’t hijack a chart the way some aspects can, or contacts with angles most definitely do. The person will not necessarily feel the aspect very strongly in a conscious manner. But the tightest aspect seems to point out a general theme in the life where circumstances will flow and affect whatever other planets and points those planets touch. A bit like a conjunction, only with more direction and purpose. A superhighway of experience.
I’m not talking about orbs of even one degree here. I’m talking about minutes. From zero to 10 either side, maybe 15 or 16 if you’re feeling generous. Zeros win the biggest prize, with the influence dwindling rapidly. Not everyone will have an aspect this close. Some people have a lot. They may feel as if their lives were indeed hijacked.
So, on these hot summer days, press a few buttons (or you can pull up a listing on astro.com) and take a look at the charts of your nearest and dearest, to see their secret, inner theme. You may be surprised. Let me know if you come up with anything interesting.
Here’s a list of celebs and their tightest standard aspect. I haven’t added houses or specified aspects in most cases because I’m feeling too lazy with the heat, but if you’re interested, the charts are available online in the astrodatabank. Adding the aspects and houses makes it more fun. As always, contacts to the Nodes seem to up the ante a bit and allows the aspect to manifest in a more extreme manner.
Doris Day: Sun/Chiron, 0 minutes (Conjunct in 7th. Doris switched from a lifetime of tragic relationships to a life of animal advocacy.)
Jacques Brel: Mercury/Asc, 0 minutes; Mercury/Uranus (conjunct), 4 minutes. (Not only did he write constantly, but he was always on the move, literally–either driving (himself) from gig to gig in endless tours, flying his plane or navigating his boat.)
Charlie Chaplin: Mars square Saturn, 8 minutes (workaholic)
Mia Farrow: Mars quincunx Juno, 8 minutes
Katherine Hepburn: Moon sesquiquadrate Uranus, 3 minutes
John F. Kennedy: Uranus/MC 3 minutes
Ted Kennedy: Neptune/MC 6 minutes
Paul Newman: 10th house Saturn square Nodes in 1 and 7, 0 minutes
Jacqueline Onassis: Pluto semi-square Ceres, 2 minutes
Frank Sinatra: Vesta in 12th Libra trine and sextile Leo/Aquarius Nodes, 2 minutes
Woody Allen: Pluto sextile the MC, 0 minutes
John Belushi: Venus square Neptune, 2 minutes
Muhammed Ali: 6th house Moon opposite 12th house Chiron, 2 minutes
Kurt Cobain: Sun trine Mars, 0 minutes
Neil Diamond: Mercury/Venus, 2 minutes
Ed Gein: (the serial killer who was the basis for both Psycho and Silence of the Lambs) Mars on IC semi-square Jupiter, 0 minutes; Pluto rising square Juno, 1 minute
Janis Joplin: Uranus/Juno 1 minute, Sun/Pallas 3 minutes
Liza Minelli: Sixth house Jupiter trine and sextile Nodes in 2 and 8, 1 minute
Charlie Sheen: Mars inconjunct the Nodes, 10 minutes
Stephen Sondheim: Sun/Vesta, 0 minutes; 11th house Moon sextile and trine the Nodes in 3 and 9, 5 minutes
Peter Sellers: 12th house Mercury sesquiquadrate 5th house Jupiter, 7 minutes
Leo Sun(10H) square Scorp Pluto(1H) within 8 minutes, eek! I definitely have a hard time with this one..
So tell us, if you can, Autumn, how and why. Is there a Sun/Pluto theme running through your life that seems different from the other aspects, as if Sun/Pluto is on overdrive? Or is there an intense conflict between the first and 10th house? You don’t have to respond if it’s too intimate, but I think some feedback would be helpful.
Leo Moon (conjunct Asc, H1) semisextile Virgo Sun (H2) within 7 minutes. Royal PITA! Sun is a wet blanket to the Moon, Moon embarrasses the Sun, Sun is critical of the Moon…
for me it is a 10th house Leo Pluto square a 7 th house Taurus Moon – 1 minute from being exact.
it centers on an old and stagnate relationship, security, sensuality, and dependency dynamic of the Taurus Moon and the emergence of a new internal authority/reality linked to solar identity and purpose.
the movement of the progressed Sun thru Scorpio in opposition to that natal Taurus Moon over the past few years has been a tipping point. fear and obsession peaked and something else – something indestructible – is now more frequently there in the place of fear.
Ha, I have a Neptune Opposition Venus 0.21 , so totally ties in with the am-I-deluding-myself/him theme that comes up time and again, lol I shld have done that essay on closest aspect a while back! The second one is Saturn Sextile Midheaven 0.26 (where are the professional rewards of my discipline and hard work ?!)
I have Mercury in Scorpio (6H) exactly sextile (0 minutes) Jupiter in Virgo (4H). I buy way too many books for my own good, languages come fairly easily to me, and,at those times when all else fails, a basic bedrock curiosity about life pulls me through.
I have a confidence in this area of learning and ideas that never seems to wane and is a nice antidote to the self-doubts that come with my strong Neptune and my Venus-Saturn opposition. The aspect feels more consistently accessible than some of the bigger ones in my chart do.
One minute I am loving, outgoing and charismatic the next I hate people am angry and need to retreat to a hiding space before anyone notices the switch. I definitely need my alone time to recuperate before I can go out into the world and share myself. I am constantly reinventing myself, searching to know myself and master myself, I am never good enough…Also I am completely obsessed with psychology, peoples motives, why they do the things they do. I chose healing as a career, I am about to finish schooling to be an Acupuncturist. The list goes on…
That sounds like the epitome of Sun/Pluto in those houses, Autumn. There is an incredible amount of strength in those positions, so hang in there. You can both shine and regenerate at will…
Thanks Dawn, I am just beginning to realize this and it is good to hear your encouragement!
Hi Dawn, my closest aspect is 1 min semi-sextile between Jupiter in Taurus (H7) and Venus in Gemini (H8). To quote your Tale of Two Inconjuncts post “Planets in semi-sextile are working together, but only when we sleep, only when we’re looking in the other direction, only when things don’t work out according to our small, matter-bound plans.” Will I actually be able to understand this aspect? I can’t say it’s something that I can immediately sense as ‘me’.
Also I have 5 aspects less than 1 degree, 9 if I include MC and ASC. Is this a lot and meaningful? Thanks, Rose.
Hi Rose. Tight aspects indicate the intensity with which two planets are working together, and become important because of this–but other things matter more, like planets on angles or in angular houses, or conjunct the Sun or Moon. Five is not unusual, depending on how many points and aspects you’re considering. Remember that traditional planets and aspects hold more weight than asteroids, points, and more obscure aspects.
You may never understand how Venus and Jupiter, and the houses they rule, work in your chart. You may fee that they never ‘click.’ But with Venus and Jupiter working together, I wouldn’t worry about it much. Just let things flow and watch out for excesses.
Hello!
Okay this is contradictory. My friend has Sun in 8’59 Scorpio and Venus in 8′ 59 Scorpio too. That will be a Cazimi.
So does this make him more Taurean/ Libran?? Since venus rules the opposite sign to the sign of conjunction.
( Night chart- 4th house conjunction). Mercury and Pluto are in Scorpio too within a few degrees.
Thankyou!!
It’s actually not contradictory, it’s complimentary. The cazimi allows for greater integration of the polarity. It’s a gift. While it’s not strong enough to turn a Scorpio into a Libran/Taurus, it may allow him to be more of a Venusian, with a Taurean emphasis because of the polarity.
Great article. Intriguing; the list of celebrities’ publicized issues certainly illustrates their tightest aspects – and ones public face goes a long way!
My tightest aspect by 1 minute is Venus in Capricorn/H7 septile Chiron in Pisces H9/MC by 40 min. It makes a lot of sense; love/longing has been a huge there in my life. Its actually a bit of a relief since my Venus is tormented by semi-squares from Sun in Sagittarius/H6 and Saturn in Pisces H9 square that is my tightest Ptolemaic aspect. So: Thank God!
I did a little research and the synastry between my spiritual teacher of 20 years and I see one of two the tightest aspects at 1 minute apart is his Venus novile my Chiron applying, the other is his Athena novile my Ceres separating.
I add separating and applying because I wonder how this makes a difference. Much to learn and look forward to upcoming classes and reading!
I realize this is a very old thread so I probably won’t get an answer, but I wonder about people who don’t have any tight aspects with their personal planets. My tightest aspect is Uranus conjunct Pallas (Scorpio, 8th, 5 minutes). If you allow the Nodes, the next tightest would be Uranus quincunx S. Node (Aries, 1st) (9 minutes). If I go to the tightest aspect with a personal planet, it’s Mercury (Sag, 9th) square the AC/DC (Pisces/Virgo) at 25 minutes. But if you leave out the angles and Nodes, the tightest aspect is Saturn (Virgo, 6th) semi-square Pluto (Libra, 7th) at 32 minutes.
Maybe I just don’t have one of these “themes” in my life, which is ok. Just curious, because I’m sure I can’t be the only one who has no have tight aspects with personal planets.
The Mercury is significant, particularly in Sag, a mutable sign. 25 minutes is very tight. The Saturn/Pluto semi-square is also strong. I think semi-squares are particularly alive.
However, if there are no real contacts with personal planets, it often means that the person is scattered and not grounded, with a tendency to live in the clouds (or the head). It’s difficult translating cosmic experience through personal channels.