StillConfused
Well-known member
How do you feel about them? Important/not important?
Many thanks for your views
Many thanks for your views
Singleton Planets
- Thread starter StillConfused
- Start date
Depends what you mean by "singleton".
The definition of singleton that I use means a single planet that occupies a hemisphere of the horoscope (East, West, Above the Earth, Below the Earth) alone. There is no other planet but the singleton in that hemisphere.
Holding to this definition, the planet is exceptionally powerful in the life.
If by singleton you mean a planet that is the only one in an Element (a definition I never heard of until I came into this forum), then I would say it has little importance on that basis. It might be important for other reasons.
One of the first things an astrologer should do on beginning to analyze a chart is to see if there are preponderances of any sort in the chart. A preponderance means an exceptional emphasis on one of the Qualities (Modes), Elements, House Trigons, Aspect types, retrogradation and other features. Generally speaking, a preponderance occurs when over half the planets are located in one Quality or Element, or over half the possible retrograde planets are in fact retograde, or one aspect type has at least half-again as many occurrences as any other type of aspect, etc.
But, it is also possible to have negative preponderance... the case when no planet occupies a particular Quality or Element being the most common and important of this type of preponderance. Such a condition has a strong influence of a compensatory sort.
However, with one planet in an Element but no others, it seems to me that this merely shows a rather unemphasized (but present) characteristic. It is not something which "stands out", which is what preponderance is about. Preponderance has to do with Weight, with Emphasized characteristics.
Preponderance shows an over-emphasized characteristic, or type of perspective, or inclination, field of interest that acts so predominantly as to exclude or sharply reduce other aspects of personality. As a (general) example, a person with 7 planets in Earth signs is likely to see the world from a very concrete, practical, realistic perspective -- to the exclusion of abstraction, of being able to see things as belonging to a greater whole, or of visualizing potentials. They are stuck with seeing "things as they are." This is both a great strength and a great weakness. It is neither "good" nor "bad" (except from the observer's point of view. The observer might see such a person as very one-sided, closed-minded, etc.)
But with one planet in an Element (say in the 7 planets in Earth chart), it only says that that Element, although present in the personal makeup, is weak and not strongly emphasized.
If such a planet were strongly Angular, beheld a lot of strong aspects, disposed many other planets -- or many other possible conditions -- so that it was brought to prominence in some other way, then the fact that it is the only planet in an Element might be important. But that requires judgment from the specific chart.
Personally, I do not consider this to be a "singleton." That seems to me a rather meaningless classification for a planet, insignificant. It is straining at gnats, when there is so much in a chart of far greater significance.
But as I said earlier, a singleton by hemisphere is very important, very powerful... because, like preponderance, it "stands out."
A good example of "singleton by hemisphere" is Einstein's chart. Although the chart does not satisfy the criteria for a singleton by mundane hemisphere as set out above, it is the only planet in the zodiacal hemisphere defined by the Gemini-Sagittarius cusps. Uranus stands alone, opposed to the body of all the other planets.
What is the nature of Uranus?
Einstein "overthrew the existing order."
He was a Revolutionary.
He was also eccentric, a bit odd.
He was a genius.
From childhood, he rebelled against rigid authority and senseless convention.
All of these things, Uranian in nature, typified his character and accomplishment. The characteristics, good and bad, of Uranus "stand out" in him.
The definition of singleton that I use means a single planet that occupies a hemisphere of the horoscope (East, West, Above the Earth, Below the Earth) alone. There is no other planet but the singleton in that hemisphere.
Holding to this definition, the planet is exceptionally powerful in the life.
If by singleton you mean a planet that is the only one in an Element (a definition I never heard of until I came into this forum), then I would say it has little importance on that basis. It might be important for other reasons.
One of the first things an astrologer should do on beginning to analyze a chart is to see if there are preponderances of any sort in the chart. A preponderance means an exceptional emphasis on one of the Qualities (Modes), Elements, House Trigons, Aspect types, retrogradation and other features. Generally speaking, a preponderance occurs when over half the planets are located in one Quality or Element, or over half the possible retrograde planets are in fact retograde, or one aspect type has at least half-again as many occurrences as any other type of aspect, etc.
But, it is also possible to have negative preponderance... the case when no planet occupies a particular Quality or Element being the most common and important of this type of preponderance. Such a condition has a strong influence of a compensatory sort.
However, with one planet in an Element but no others, it seems to me that this merely shows a rather unemphasized (but present) characteristic. It is not something which "stands out", which is what preponderance is about. Preponderance has to do with Weight, with Emphasized characteristics.
Preponderance shows an over-emphasized characteristic, or type of perspective, or inclination, field of interest that acts so predominantly as to exclude or sharply reduce other aspects of personality. As a (general) example, a person with 7 planets in Earth signs is likely to see the world from a very concrete, practical, realistic perspective -- to the exclusion of abstraction, of being able to see things as belonging to a greater whole, or of visualizing potentials. They are stuck with seeing "things as they are." This is both a great strength and a great weakness. It is neither "good" nor "bad" (except from the observer's point of view. The observer might see such a person as very one-sided, closed-minded, etc.)
But with one planet in an Element (say in the 7 planets in Earth chart), it only says that that Element, although present in the personal makeup, is weak and not strongly emphasized.
If such a planet were strongly Angular, beheld a lot of strong aspects, disposed many other planets -- or many other possible conditions -- so that it was brought to prominence in some other way, then the fact that it is the only planet in an Element might be important. But that requires judgment from the specific chart.
Personally, I do not consider this to be a "singleton." That seems to me a rather meaningless classification for a planet, insignificant. It is straining at gnats, when there is so much in a chart of far greater significance.
But as I said earlier, a singleton by hemisphere is very important, very powerful... because, like preponderance, it "stands out."
A good example of "singleton by hemisphere" is Einstein's chart. Although the chart does not satisfy the criteria for a singleton by mundane hemisphere as set out above, it is the only planet in the zodiacal hemisphere defined by the Gemini-Sagittarius cusps. Uranus stands alone, opposed to the body of all the other planets.
What is the nature of Uranus?
Einstein "overthrew the existing order."
He was a Revolutionary.
He was also eccentric, a bit odd.
He was a genius.
From childhood, he rebelled against rigid authority and senseless convention.
All of these things, Uranian in nature, typified his character and accomplishment. The characteristics, good and bad, of Uranus "stand out" in him.
Last edited: