Inconjunction

sworm09

Well-known member
Hey! I want to know if the inconjunction is a bad aspect or a good aspect? I have Venus and Moon (who are in a close conjunction in Scorpio, both at 19 degree) and these planets are in inconjunct with my Gemini ASC; also my Jupiter is inconjunct with my ASC too. Please answer if you know.

Hi Cristiana,

First it's important to note that an inconjunction isn't really an aspect in the true sense of the word. Aspects are basically how the planets "look" at each other. Like if you're on a bus and you look up at another guy across the way, you are technically "aspecting" him because you can see him.

Trines, sextiles, squares, and oppositions are true aspects because they involve signs that can see each other. Planets in trine, sextile, square, or opposition are in positions where they can see other planets, look at or make "aspects" to them.

This is why conjunctions aren't truly aspects. When a planet is in conjunction it's not looking at the planet, it's with the planet, breathing down its neck, in bed with it.

For similar reasons (though opposite lol) inconjunctions are not really aspects. An inconjunct is literally the absence of an aspect. The planets aren't looking at each other, they can't see each other, and they're not together. It would be like someone on the other side of town attempting to talk to you as if you were right beside them. You can't see them, they can't see you; there's no connection.

This is why traditional astrologers did not use inconjunctions. The planets are unconnected so why bother?

Because they're blindspots.

Zarathu in his brief list of signifcations mentioned "coming from behind", "Murphy's Law", "not seeing it coming".

That's how an inconjunct works. There's very rarely anything positive about it. The planets can't see each other and thus influence each other in ways that come out of no where and trip each other up. It also shows an inherent lack of communication between planets (greybeard explained all of this).

So let's saw in an EXTREMELY broad manner, than your Sun was in an inconjunct with Mars. Sun represents recognition and vitality, Mars represents aggression and bravery.

This means that there is a disconnect between your tendency to be recognized and your actions. Perhaps you act (Mars) in a brave manner and fail to get recognized, or you get recognized (Sun) when you've done nothing at all. Maybe when you sense of honor is under attack (Sun) you fail to act, but then you lash out at someone (Mars) despite the fact that you're not under attack.

If the Sun ruled the 6th house of illness and Mars ruled your Ascendant we could say that your illnesses (Sun) go unnoticed while you continue to live life as normal (Mars). Though they may cause you problems, you're entirely unaware of the illness until it's too late.

Same goes for house rulers. If Mars ruled your Ascendant and was in a sign where it was inconjunct the Ascendant, it would show a life where you feel disconnected, left in a blindspot, ignored, and hopeless...almost as if you were watching your life go on without you.

A planet rules your 7th and is inconjunct the 7th house? Expect a lot of relationship missteps as you constantly find yourself and the other person on a different page, yet failing to communicate about it.

Interesting note: If you look at disaster charts, you'll tend to see a few potent inconjunctions indicating an event which came out of no where and that no one saw coming.

I wouldn't say that they're necessarily bad (nothing in Astrology is inherently bad) but they are extremely difficult. I'd place them in the same category as squares and oppositions as difficult aspects, but I'd say that they're a little more difficult than those.
 
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Zarathu

Account Closed
If you have a lot of them, like I do, you will tend to experience life as if the sword of damocles is sitting over your head waiting to fall, because at least in your early life, there will be one more aphorism that goes with an inconjunct:

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
 

Zarathu

Account Closed
I have quite a different take on the inconjunct. I have written about it here: http://aliceportman.com/yods-and-quincunx/

My conclusions are the result of observing the charts of thousands of clients over many years.

Alice

Actually, Alice, I don't think that at least you and are in disagreement. You comment about seeing the funny side of life is a direct result of having to live with the sword of damocles possibly falling, or with being stabbed with Murphy's law at every turn. One(like me for example) has a choice of becoming horribly morose, or looking at the whole thing from a humor standpoint.

So yeah. And even the concept of the inconjunct being something that comes from behind: isn't this the very essence of the JOKE? Its something that you didn't expect at all. Like for example, on Facebook somebody just commented:

"Wow this weekend, I had five guys, and I was completely filled up and it was the happiest I've ever been." And the response by another person was, "You are talking about the 5 guys hamburger joint, right?"

Even if you didn't get the sexual innuendo the first time, it was typically come from behind either ways.

So yeah... I agree completely. There is always a different way to experience the endpoints of astrology, but in my experience they are almost always a result of the same starting experience.
 

mdinaz

Well-known member
Because the quincunx aspect is not directly divisible into 360, I consider it a higher-order (spiritual) aspect as it requires combining the affects of multiple aspects to overcome or develop. In this case, you have a square (90) combined with the effects of the sextile (60) - an obstacle combined with opportunity; once mastered it can also be viewed as the trine (120) combined with the semi-sextile (30) - flow of energy combined with making adjustments and bringing out the best of disparate energies.
Why the 90-60 first and not the 120-30 first? Because initially the energy of the quincunx is always viewed as irritating and difficult, in which the energies countered have absolutely nothing in common - not gender, element, mode, hemisphere - nada. It's like an arbiter walking into a room and having to deal with two parties who want opposing things and have nothing in common with each other in order to reach a compromise. But once the arbiter learns to manage this, he can apply this learning to ALL future arbitration meetings, seeking to find common ground between opponents and reaching agreement. As he becomes more skilled at this, he can quickly seek out those elements (flow of energy) to find agreement (common ground). Think here of the semi-sextile - two signs next to each other that do not share gender, element or mode - but they do share hemisphere (either east-west or north-south) - some area of common ground can be found. So the biggest lesson of the quincunx is "adjustment" - finding the best parts of the aspect and learning to adjust with the negative parts of it. Once learned, this can be applied to all areas of life, not just the initial obstacle. It is unlike the more basic harmonic aspects in that it requires more than one step - opposition requires just balance; square requires just going around or through an obstacle; trine just allowing flow of energy. The quincunx requires adaptation and THEN exploitation. It isn't enough to just adapt (square or opposition), or just exploit (trine or sextile), but a two-step process. Without the adaptation, exploitation is not possible; without the exploitation the adaptation is meaningless waste of time.
 

Flapjacks

Well-known member
Because the quincunx aspect is not directly divisible into 360, I consider it a higher-order (spiritual) aspect as it requires combining the affects of multiple aspects to overcome or develop. In this case, you have a square (90) combined with the effects of the sextile (60) - an obstacle combined with opportunity; once mastered it can also be viewed as the trine (120) combined with the semi-sextile (30) - flow of energy combined with making adjustments and bringing out the best of disparate energies.
Why the 90-60 first and not the 120-30 first? Because initially the energy of the quincunx is always viewed as irritating and difficult, in which the energies countered have absolutely nothing in common - not gender, element, mode, hemisphere - nada. It's like an arbiter walking into a room and having to deal with two parties who want opposing things and have nothing in common with each other in order to reach a compromise. But once the arbiter learns to manage this, he can apply this learning to ALL future arbitration meetings, seeking to find common ground between opponents and reaching agreement. As he becomes more skilled at this, he can quickly seek out those elements (flow of energy) to find agreement (common ground). Think here of the semi-sextile - two signs next to each other that do not share gender, element or mode - but they do share hemisphere (either east-west or north-south) - some area of common ground can be found. So the biggest lesson of the quincunx is "adjustment" - finding the best parts of the aspect and learning to adjust with the negative parts of it. Once learned, this can be applied to all areas of life, not just the initial obstacle. It is unlike the more basic harmonic aspects in that it requires more than one step - opposition requires just balance; square requires just going around or through an obstacle; trine just allowing flow of energy. The quincunx requires adaptation and THEN exploitation. It isn't enough to just adapt (square or opposition), or just exploit (trine or sextile), but a two-step process. Without the adaptation, exploitation is not possible; without the exploitation the adaptation is meaningless waste of time.

This is the biggest question I've been thinking for this thread: is there a way to handle a quincunx besides a vague sort of "deal with it". This answered it very nicely, and I really appreciate Alice's take that offers some guidance that doesn't see the aspect (or non-aspect) as a lost cause! Thank you both.

I have the 90-60 with the generational sextile between Pluto and Neptune, where Neptune is quincunx my chart ruler, Mercury, and Pluto square it, all within 2 degrees. What is interesting about this is that Pluto and Neptune transits seem to hit me at the same time -- one is never without the other in strong transit. I have not thought about why this may be, just that it has been, but it makes sense within this context. Obstacles I've overcome during such transits have always had a flavor of both these influences simultaneously, where I've relied or related to the Pluto energy and neglected the Neptune side, despite its effects. And a lot of things are making sense to me now. I've never thought of using the harmony between the Pluto/Neptunian energy to "reach" Neptune. If I am understanding it correctly, this is a great way to look at quincunx aspects if such a configuration is present! :joyful:
 
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