Dissociate Aspects - what have you got??

Howl

Well-known member
I have been incubating this particular thread for a long time :D
Within days of my debut on the forum I had sparked debate (to which I was but witness) as to whether a planet in Virgo can trine a planet in Gemini. Consensus indicates that in my chart, there is no trine. I was given two reasons. Either that particular 'trine' of mine is void because the orb is too wide (which I agree with), or because planets CAN'T form dissociate aspects. The insightful debate has stuck with me ever since, and I'm determined to learn more!!

A dissociate aspect is where planets are in an aspect by orb, but the signs they are placed in are not in the same aspectual relationship. For example: a planet at 27' Virgo trining a planet at 1' Aquarius. This is a trine of 4' orb, acceptable according to any technical definition of a trine. However, one planet is in Earth, while the other is in Air; they do not share element, modality or gender. How can the energy flow freely between planets with nothing in common by sign? This is a dissociate trine.

For an excellent intro to the nature of aspects see Arian's thread: An Introduction to Element, Modality and Gender. (Arian where is that thread? it should be part of our new virtual classroom! ;) )

For an enlightening discussion of dissociate aspects, try this article, if you haven't already. It introduces the importance of orbs relative to signs in determining aspects. http://www.skyscript.co.uk/aspects.html#ado

I have three dissociate aspects, which I continue to scrutinise

3H Mars virgo trine 7H Venus Aqua - a trine with nothing in common
3H Pluto libra square 7H Venus Aqua - a square with both planets in air
3H Pluto libra conjunct 4H Jupiter scorpio - conjunction across air/water

The last one straddles Nadir (IC) with a 6' orb. It's probably the least valid according to some, but I am still very interested in figuring out if and how I think it works.

I would love to hear people's experiences or thoughts concerning dissociate aspects. If you do 'count' them, they are much more difficult to read, I think! Here is what skyscript says about them:

Dissociate aspects are considered weakened in effect, or represent a contradictory principle or barrier which needs to be overcome in order for the aspect to fully express itself

So, what do you have? :D
 
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johan

Well-known member
Well Howl,there was a fiery discussion in the thread:Help,strange Mars!
This was my point of view:The nature of the aspects is determined by the mutual relations between the signs where both planets are.
Why is for example a square a sharp conflict aspect?While it is always been formed by planets in two signs which are in mutual conflicting elements.For example:is planet A in a firesign,planet B is 90 degrees,so 3 signs further,in a watersign.The relation is water and fire!That does not work well,cause ór the water extuingishes the fire,ór the fire heats up the fire to steam.Examples:Aries and Cancer,Leo and Scorpio,Sagittarius and Pisces.
The elements earth and fire don't harmonise eather:the earth extuingishes the fire or the fire bakes the earth to stone.Examples:Taurus and Leo,Virgo and Sagittarius,Capricorn and Aries.
Same for air and earth;air blows away the earth or the earths covers the air which leads to suffocation.Examples:Gemini and Virgo,Libra and Capricorn,Aquarius and Taurus.
Finally water and air will give a stormy sea or showers!For example Cancer and Libra,Scorpio and Aquarius,Pisces and Gemini.

An aspect is only an aspect,if the signs in which the planets are,make that aspect
Even if their mutual distance is exactly 90 degrees,but their signs don't make that square,that angle is not valid as a square.
It isn't about the number of degrees according to Cocker,but about the difference of the nature of the elements.

Greetings Johan
 

Howl

Well-known member
Hi Johan,

I see you are somewhat of an expert on the topic :) That's a lot of information for me to digest on strange mars!! Two well presented, and yes, passionate, sides to the story....I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. I know mine don't act like 'traditional' aspects, but I also feel that they act like 'something', rather than no-aspect. Of course, it's difficult to distinguish, and that's why I'm so interested :)
 

23

Well-known member
The only one that I can think of and that I do count in my chart is my sun/mercury (Aqu) opposing Saturn (Can), although the saturn isn't say in Leo, which then would a "proper" clash; I still consider this aspect real in my chart because I can feel the seriousness/morosity of saturn sometimes weighing my sun resulting in lack of confidence and seriousnessa at a young age.
 

johan

Well-known member
If you would count only the degrees,I would have a separating trine with Neptune(Scorpio,3rd house) and Sun(Aries,7th house).

With all the info on this aspect,I really cannot think of anything that can make this a valid trine.
Reading about the separating trine between my Moon(Cancer,10th house) and Mercury(Pisces,6th house),it really is there,even with the wide orb!
 

Arian Maverick

Well-known member
For an excellent intro to the nature of aspects see Arian's thread: An Introduction to Element, Modality and Gender. (Arian where is that thread? it should be part of our new virtual classroom! )

Thank you for the props, Howl! :)

Currently, all of the tutorial threads can be found in the Help with the forums. These include:


Arian Maverick
 

Manic_Monday

Well-known member
Sun (3 degr Virgo H8) trine Ascendant (28 degr Sag)
Sun (3 degr Virgo H8) square Mars (28 degr Taurus H5)

This is the first time I hear about dissociate planets. That's what I like about this forum: I learn something new every day! It also makes me feel like a noob at astrology :p
 

freedomlover

Well-known member
Don't feel like the Lone Ranger, Manic.;)

I thought I knew quite a bit about astrology until I came here. Now I see I don't know jack! But I love it! This is a great learning community, and it all feels like family. Don't it, y'all?
 
I have had this debate in my head a few times over disassociate aspects, because mathematically there is a trine or square etc. Yet they are out of element -I still count them as aspects, and I have Moon/Mercury in an out of sign trine to Jupiter - but they do act differently and don't feel as powerful as my trines in the same element. The aspect book by Bill Tierney covers this topic and he includes disassociate aspects, but believes often the person doesn't fully recognise their gifts in these types of trines.
 
As an afterthought I would imagine an out of sign opposition would have difficulty in finding balance. What do you all think? I have a Virgo- Pisces opposition which can be balanced element wise - water feeds the earth. I had a funny thought in my head about these two today - Pisces heals, and is sensitive and if someone falls down she helps them up, but would Virgo advise them carefully not to fall in the first place. Lost my thoughts again on this one.

Small print: I will not be held accountable for these thoughts late at night. Virgo reads small print, I genrally don't :biggrin:.
 

gaer

Well-known member
As an afterthought I would imagine an out of sign opposition would have difficulty in finding balance. What do you all think?
I agree, and not only about oppositions.

I have a 12th house Venus/Saturn conjunction. The orb is almost exactly 5 degrees. Saturn in Virgo, Venus in Leo. It's very difficult to think about how such a thing works.

Saturn tends to limit whatever it "touches". We think of Saturn trines as limiting, but in a controlled way that may play out positively without a great deal of work. A conjunction is intense. I think Saturn tends to smother Venus. So what happens when Venus, in proud Leo, is getting "smothered" by Saturn in practical but conservative and quiet Virgo?

I think you get the energy of a conjunction but with a flavor or color of adjacent signs, which are always in stark contrast to each other. The aspect is more complicated, and I think reasonably we can assume more difficult to integrate. There is a greater challenge.

Obviously this is heightened when out-of-sign aspects are very close to being dead on. For instance, one planet at 29 degrees of Leo, the other at 0 of Virgo would be more intense and thus more critical, or so it seems to me.
 
I do get where your coming from because I have an out of sign conjunction. And I do think is it less straightforward to interpret the aspect than when they are in the same element. Or in the case of the opposition in mutual elements like a 'true' opposition. I do think there is a greater challenge. I have a Cap and Leo opposition between the benefics, they are so different in element and not mutually understanding of each other. It's not a troublesome aspect due to the benefics, but still the balancing of elements isn't the same.

I agree with you, that you do get the energy of the conjunction but different colouring, and yes stark contrast to one another - yours being warm and expressive Leo to your more analytical and critical Virgo planet.

Thanks for your thoughts on this Gaer :smile:
 

gaer

Well-known member
I do get where your coming from because I have an out of sign conjunction. And I do think is it less straightforward to interpret the aspect than when they are in the same element. Or in the case of the opposition in mutual elements like a 'true' opposition. I do think there is a greater challenge. I have a Cap and Leo opposition between the benefics, they are so different in element and not mutually understanding of each other. It's not a troublesome aspect due to the benefics, but still the balancing of elements isn't the same.

I agree with you, that you do get the energy of the conjunction but different colouring, and yes stark contrast to one another - yours being warm and expressive Leo to your more analytical and critical Virgo planet.
This idea makes the idea of the 29th degree of any sign (the Anaretic) begin to make some logical sense, since it is highly likely that a planet at that degree will form a major aspect with another planet at close 0 degrees. So this emphasizes the "out-of-signness". ;)
 
There is a book published on this one degree. Its nice because my Mars at 29 Aquarius gets one on one attention, not sure if the author explains the signs, planets and aspects. I did a topic on the 29th degree once, but was unsure of it's real evidence. James Van Praggh (forgot how to spell his name) has Mercury (I think) at 29 degrees in the 8th house (psychic house). A sex therapist who has knowledge on all areas of sex has Jupiter at the 29th in sexy Aries :lol: in the 12th house of healing. Mars and Uranus are conjunct in Aries too. A female author from the past had Venus in Capricorn 29th in the publishers 9th house. A dance teacher who was called "A master of Dance" has Mars in Pisces 29 degrees in the 5th house. Some examples are more obvious than others, and I also read this is a critical lifetime, and the traits and skills of the sign, that are attained over lifetimes (if your fall into past astrology) needs to be expressed. I am still debating if a person is skilled or not in the 29th degree. I like to call it the end of a cycle, being in the last degree of a sign. Observing the Planets reaching this 29th degree helps in learning the meaning of degrees. Perhaps I should pay more attention to my progressed Moon or other planets at these points - personally and worldwide. The outer planets in the chart at a critical degree I haven't observed any real difference. I would have to look at how the energy was expressed through the house. I don't know why the house is neglected in degree readings, it fathoms me a bit, because this is the area of expression for the planet.

Well anyway back to your original point of the 29th degree aspect before I trailed off into my 29th degree study :lol:. Yes a major aspect to the beginning of another sign really does emphasise it's "out of signness" I will have to steal that phrase, but I will definitely be done for copyright now. I have Mars in Aquarius 29 inconjunct Jupiter in Leo 0, they are naturally opposing signs and so the inconjunct may work slightly differently for me. The end of one sign and the beginning of another. A good observation to make. :smile:
 

The_Sundance_Kid

Well-known member
I use out of sign (i.e. dissociate) aspects.

There are two underlying rationales behind the meanings of aspects - 1) the relationship between the zodiac signs involved (the "zodiac school") and 2) the nature of the actual aspect configuration itself (the "degree school"). Both have historical precedents you can read about in the articles linked to in the earlier posts to this thread.

Essentially the zodiac school provides that you get an aspect because the signs clash - e.g. Aries v Cancer, the Aries / Libra polarity. It is the essence of the signs themselves and the archetypes behind them that can clash when you get an aspect. I agree with this. So Aries and Cancer clash because fire and water don't mix for example.

The degree school provides that it is the nature of the angular division, e.g. a square being of the nature of the number 4 (360/4), which is the main factor in aspect analysis. As the quality of the number 4 is tense and causes clashing "waves" there is a natural dissonance between the planets. I agree with this also. I also think the modern technical definition of an aspect is based upon degrees. So when we look at quintiles we look at the nature of the number 5.

I think you need to use both rationales in aspect analysis but perhaps the degree school has the upper hand. How would that work? Well say you have a technical out of sign square. An Aries planet square a Leo planet. According to the zodiac school there is a natural affinity between the signs akin to a trine. So the square means there is a tension between the two planets which is unexpected in the context of their sign interpretation. This makes it a more niche, bespoke aspect, and I think house positions become more relevant (the house positions may be more regular compared to the sign positions depending on the house system you use - e.g. it could be a 1st house / 4th house square). You then need to look at what Aries and Leo do not have in common - one is a cardinal sign and one is a fixed sign, so the tension of the square may focus on this difference. Whereas in a trine having a cardinal sign and a fixed sign in aspect would be beneficial here it may cause difficulty. Similarly, whereas in a trine having the same element may be beneficial here it may aggravate the situation - the planets become too similar.

You then need to look at the planets themselves - they may have a relationship with each other by rulership or otherwise be dignified or debilitated which will let you know in more detail how the aspect is working. A Libra Mars conjunct a Scorpio Venus may on a first viewing be a terrible placement as both planets are in their fall but they are in mutual reception so I think this combination actually creates a very positive union of the planetary energies.

So the core nature of a dissociate aspect is that there is a relationship between the two planets which exists out of context of how they might otherwise be expected to work together.

Here is the Mars thread Johan refers to in his earlier post:

http://www.astrologyweekly.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1627
 

The_Sundance_Kid

Well-known member
I should add, my dissociate aspect is a Scorpio sun opposite a Gemini moon. Not a natural opposition according to the zodiac school. But then, if Cancer and Libra clash with a "natural" square because one is water and one is air, why shouldn't Scorpio and Gemini have the same clash when one is also water and one is air? The only difference is that Cancer and Libra share the same quadruplicity, i.e. are both cardinal, but Scorpio is fixed while Gemini is mutable. So Scorpio and Gemini have absolutely nothing in common.

I think this means that whereas the two planets should generally operate completely parallel from each other (i.e. in the zodiac school they are 5 signs apart and so have no relationship to each other) they are "accidentally integrated" with each other by being in opposition. So instead of ignoring each other, my sun and moon are painfully aware of each other. Instead of each doing its own thing, they are aware that they operate in a mutually exclusive way. And this is a 1st house / 7th house opposition, which is a more regular and "traditional" opposition.

In relationships the more I act out my sun - intense and silent, the less I can act out my moon - who wants to talk non-stop. And the more I talk the more I think we're not saying anything real at all. If they weren't in opposition I might be able to do both of these things at the same time but in opposition it's a tricky balance.
 
M

may28gemini

I have a few dissociate aspects. I also have a Gemini opposite Scorpio something!

1. Libra Jupiter trine Taurus Mars
2. Libra Saturn trine Taurus Mars
3. Gemini Sun opposite Scorpio Uranus
4. Libra Jupiter square Gemini Mercury (trine by signs)
5. Libra Saturn square Gemini Mercury (trine by signs)

My Sun and Uranus are not supposed to tied together because it's such an explosive pairing to begin with, but having the opposing aspect gives a smoldering but rebellious vibe to my Sun. The irony is, the more I "act out" Uranus-like, the more my Sun feels happy about flipping the bird to everyone. I really don't quite feel like myself unless I do something to challenge the system and I have a compulsion, that just for the fun of it, I'd like to stir things up just to see what happens. It's that Scorpio test the limit sort thing I have. By the same token, if I have a peaceful and quiet existence, something squirrelly and unpredictable comes to me with full force out of the blue.

As for the oddity of my Jupiter-Saturn square Mercury when they actually trine by signs... that's another kind of rebellion. Mercury sees and knows Jupiter and Saturn as would-be allies but Mercury actually thwarts listening and taking any sort of protection from Jupiter and Saturn and then he challenges them in return. This actually have gotten me in a lot of trouble at school and everyday life... open-mouth-insert-foot sort of thing.

The best thing has been the Jupiter-Saturn trine Mars which actually uplifts and disciplines my detriment Mars which gives me the feeling of having a sense of greater responsibility to society (Saturn) of which I oddly do on many levels :sick: and I'm only glad to go cheerily spreading the word around (for better or worse thanks to Jupiter). I have a great sense of volunteerism, even though theoretically I think that keeping myself to myself is the safe and better bet. Still, I must get involved in whatever I can and I'm often dragged into stuff that I have no intention of being involved in but I secretly like having a lot to do.
 
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Claire19

Well-known member
If you have a lot of dissociate aspects I would be looking at the orbs. I dont use any more than 5 degrees and perhaps a little more for SUn and Moon connections. I think dissociate aspects are weaker because of the signs not being in compatible elements.
 
M

may28gemini

If you have a lot of dissociate aspects I would be looking at the orbs. I dont use any more than 5 degrees and perhaps a little more for SUn and Moon connections. I think dissociate aspects are weaker because of the signs not being in compatible elements.

There's some incompatibility but I don't think the strength of influences is weaken just because the signs aren't supposed to get along. Similarly, there are plenty of people who have signs that are compatible and yet the aspects prove to be disagreeable...does that make the aspect any less powerful?

I have Libra Jupiter/Saturn to Gemini Mercury...but it's square by aspect. Does the square get negated simply because by signs they are allies (trine)? I don't think so. The square is still there, just that the planets do especially Libran and Geminian things that aren't really agreeable with each other but maintain a friendship. I think it's similar to my Libra Saturn/Jupiter trine Taurus Mars. Just by signs there's mismatching being that Libra and Taurus are inconjunct so they do recognize that there's not a natural affinity or enmity towards one another, however they are bound to work together for the greater benefit of the native (me).
 
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This idea makes the idea of the 29th degree of any sign (the Anaretic) begin to make some logical sense, since it is highly likely that a planet at that degree will form a major aspect with another planet at close 0 degrees. So this emphasizes the "out-of-signness". ;)

That's very interesting. I've got three planets in the 29th degree: Sun 29 Tau 35 (3rd House), Mars 29 Pis 56 (1st House), Uranus 29 Lib 15 (8th House). All of them make dissociate aspects to the Nodes.

The 29 Tau 35 Sun is a degree away from the South Node at 0 Gem 56, thus closely opposite the North Node at 0 Sag 56.

The 29 Pis 56 Mars is a degree away from trining that North Node at 0 Sag 56, but the signs involved (Pisc and Sag) square rather than trine.

Conversely, the Uranus at 29 Lib 15 is 1.7 degrees from a quincunx with the South Node, but the signs (Libra and Gem) trine rather than the tension associated with the quincunx.
 
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