Squares - Tension or Growth?

Squares - Tension or Growth?

YOUR STARS WITHIN - ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELING

What is a square? Simply put it is a 90 degree angle between planets.

One axis crossing another is what make squares.

In a post last month I discussed the polar opposites and what the individual axis were about (https://yourstarswithin.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-signs-and-their-polar-opposites.html).

Today we’re going to look at the crossing of these axis's that make the squares.  

There is 3 ways a square can exist:

1. It can be in your natal chart. This means one of your planets is squaring (90 degrees from) another planet. 
2. A transit, a planet currently out in the sky, is squaring a planet in your birth chart. This can occur for as short as a day (moon), a few days (mars), few weeks (Saturn), few months (Uranus) or few years (Pluto). 
3.  A planet in your birth chart can square a planet in another person’s birth chart. This is called a synastry chart and compares two people’s charts.

*Remember it needs to be within a few degrees of each other.

Signs That Square: 

There’s three groupings of axis’s that cross each other. Each grouping consists of 4 signs (which is two axis’s). There is one sign from each element. These grouping have something in common. However, because of the angle they cross each other (90 degrees) they don’t understand one another’s energy very well. Imagine these signs are all pulling in a different direction, see how completely different those directions are? They’re hard angles. Or if they had a car accident they’d be hitting at exactly 90 degrees- ouch! This can lead to a lot of frustration.

Squares get a bad rap for these frustrating feelings and often we don’t talk enough about what can be gained from them. There is a positive and negative expression of every sign and every aspect. Learning to work with these energies and understand their positive and negative potentials and hold yourself to the highest possible expression is what Astro-Counseling and Astro-Conscious Living is about.

There is a lot to learn from opposites and squares. They teach you a balanced approach to life because each energy has a wisdom and is a necessary part of life. To glean the benefits from these aspects, you have to be open and humble to learning. Without squares, nothing significant happens; we need intense energy to push through and break through- to change, to grow, to enlighten. Yet, so many people experience the energy as a negative. They don’t like the push against how they see things and don’t try to open to a wider lens. They fight the energy and often squander the growth potentials inside it.

Learning to live an “Astro-Conscious” life, is about learning to move with these aspects and grow through them, becoming less of just a few energies and more holistic, encompassing appreciation for all energies. Throughout your life you will have many transits, some short and some very long, that will square your chart. What that means is, the planets in the sky, will move to a sign and degree that specifically squares your birth chart planets and believe me you’ll feel it! Especially when a slow moving planet (Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) square a natal planet- it just sits on you for years. Offering you important lessons and spiritual growth, yet often experienced as “bad luck” or “a difficult period”. Learning to work with, not against, is an important part of astrological counseling. It requires a shift in view, allowing all experiences to bring you gifts of wisdom and your job being to extract the wisdom without the suffering of resistance. 

Let’s just jump right in and talk about the first grouping. I think that will clear up any confusions you might be having:

Cardinal Signs:

The first grouping is the Cardinal signs. This includes the Aries-Libra axis and the Capricorn-Cancer axis.

What does it mean for a sign to be Cardinal? This is the trait they have in common, it means they’re all initiating. They are an initial start or burst of energy or motivation. They’re not stubborn or inflexible, but they have an idea and can get it going. What motivates each of them is different, and that is why they don’t understand one another, yet what they do with that motivation is similar, in that they act.

Remember the Aries-Libra Axis is the I-We axis. So, Aries will be motivated to act for self, or to show the world a talent they may have. Libra may be motivated to act for peace, to bring understanding between two foes.

The Cancer-Capricorn axis is about care, doing for or teaching one to do it themselves. Cancer will be motivated to nurture and to care for, Capricorn will be motivated to teach how and to let others learn to provide for themselves. 

If you’re with a group of people and having to decide where to go out to eat, they will be the first ones to suggest ideas and get the conversation going about the decision, though its more likely a fixed sign will push for a specific restaurant. Like I said, the cardinal signs aren’t stubborn, they’re flexible and will often go with the flow, but they will initiate the idea. In fact, they were probably the ones who suggested getting a bite to eat!

Okay, so that is what they have in common. I want you to notice that in this grouping of Cardinal signs, there is one of each element (Fire- Aries, Air- Libra, Earth- Capricorn, Water-Cancer). They are different in what they value and what speaks to them in life. They’re all initiating, but essentially initiating action in DIFFERENT directions, this means they sort of pull on each other.

That’s how the energy feels to one another- it feels frustrating.

Now that you know which signs frustrate one another it can help you focus on important chart aspects quickly. In this example, I know that Aries is squared (90 degrees) from Cancer and Capricorn. Or Cancer is squared to Aries and Libra etc.

Now specifically in a chart, we are actually looking at the degrees. For example, is your Mars is at 4 degrees Aires and the person you’re comparing with has their Mars (or other planet) at 4 degrees Capricorn- you are going to grate on each other’s nerves! Maybe if the planets involved are Mars and Venus you’ll stir up some decent passion. Either way, you’re going to feel the rubbing of energy. You can give or take 5 degrees, but don’t get too wide with it or it won’t be accurate. If you’re having difficulty figuring out the degrees let me know and I’ll walk you through it on the forum:

http://yourstarswithin.blogspot.com/p/forum.html

A good example of this happened the other day. A friend of mine realized that she struggles with how her mother communicates and attributed it to the fact her Mercury is Capricorn, whereas her mother’s Mercury is in Libra. Well that was quite observant of her! Suddenly she realized, wait, her dad’s Mercury is ALSO in Libra, but they communicate just fine. What’s going on here? We took a look at the degrees, and what do you know- she has an EXACT squared degree with her mother and has over 10 degrees apart from her father’s Mercury. So, there it is, one was in an exact square aspect, the other is just in a disharmonious sign, but its not aggravating one another. That’s how important the degrees are.

Apply it to the houses:

Okay so I want to take this one step further. If this gets too confusing don’t worry about it, we’ll touch on it again. Remember when we talked about houses? 

(http://yourstarswithin.blogspot.com/2018/03/houses-signs-and-body-parts.html)

I discussed that in the “natural” houses (not the ones based on your time of birth) Aries would be first, Taurus second etc. So, these squared cardinal signs, also relate to squared houses. The first house- Aries is always opposite the 7^th house Libra. The 4^th house Cancer is squaring those two and always opposite the 10^th house of Capricorn. These are actually very important houses. Just like the cardinal signs being initiators. When things happen in these houses- they happen in your life! You don’t just feel them, things actually change in your outside life, related to the area of life the houses represent. We’ll come back to how to interpret these “bones” of the chart. I just wanted to orient you to remembering that these squares apply to the houses as well.

Fixed Signs:

Now let’s look at the fixed signs. 

Again, there is two Axis's that cross each other. The Leo-Aquarius axis and the Scorpio-Taurus axis. The Leo-Aquarius axis is about how we show up in the social world. Leo says, look at ME, I matter in society; its playful and creative. Aquarius says the collective is what matters, whatever is best for humanity. Now we should note, Aquarius has a very innovative, unique part of its personality and Leo  has a very generous, giving part. This is why opposites are two sides of the same coin. They share the traits, just differently. The square however, is a bit more difficult of energy. Scorpio sees deeply into things and wants to change it at its core, whereas Taurus like to beautify and appreciates historical and traditional values, they want stability. All four of them want to contribute to society what they see is most important.

These four are fixed energies, this means they’re rigid and stubborn. It is difficult to get them to change their mind, or to see things from a different perspective. So, when these signs square up they bring a stuck-ness to the tension, so it can take a while to work out that energy as they’re not highly adaptable signs. 

Of course, all are needed, individuality matters but so does the whole, change is needed for growth but stability and rootedness is important for growth as well. It’s all about a balance, but each of these energies really values the important message they bring and will push for it.

So, at that same discussion of choosing a place for dinner, these signs have a specific idea in their mind of a restaurant they want and will push for it. If others are mutable and cardinal signs, it shouldn’t be a problem. However, if there are other fixed signs, with their own ideas of where they should go, well, its going to be a battle of the wills with bruised egos on the loser.

Let’s think about the motivations of each. Leo wants to show itself to the world, it wants to give but it wants you to know it was them who did it. Aquarius wants to benefit the world but not exactly be a part of it. Scorpio wants to change the world from deep inside, it is willing to go into the deep dark places- psychology, criminology, sexual deviation etc to find what needs to be transformed. Taurus wants to keep the structures steady and strong, the traditions and the history and the culture of a place. Obviously, they’re pulling in very different directions. This is what motivates each and they’re pulling for that in a very stubborn way. 

Now, lets keep in mind that fixed energy makes things stick. It gives concreteness to something, helps it become tangible or makes it matter enough to stay with it long enough to follow through. However, it could also be something hard to shake, or it takes a long time to unlearn and heal because its very stuck. Again, learning to work with the energy and make the most of what is available; to move with it and surf the wave, not fight against and get crushed by it.

Apply it to the Houses:

To touch on the associated houses, this includes the 5^th (Leo) and 11^th (Aquarius) squaring the 2^nd (Taurus) and the 8^th (Scorpio). These houses are related to the social dimensions of one’s world, their social life and friendships (11^th) opposite the creative expression and hobbies (5^th). Remember two sides of the same coin- we often make friends with those we share passions with! The other aspects of our interaction with society, our financial status and assets and values (2^nd house) and our deeper interconnections with others both emotional and financial (8^th house). So, these are the houses that square each other.

Mutable Signs:

So last but not least let’s talk about the Mutable signs. 

As the name suggests they are the opposite of the fixed, they are flexible, they go along with the current energy and they sort of float above or through a lot of life’s energies. The two axis’s that make up this group is the Sagittarius- Gemini Axis, which is all about knowledge, wisdom, communicating and learning. It squares the Pisces-Virgo Axis which is about the micro to macro views, the detailed perfectionism in the minute details or the overall big picture of the whole. So now what you know is that Sagittarius is square Virgo and Pisces and that Virgo is square Gemini and Sagittarius etc.

To reiterate, each of these signs has different motivations. Gemini wants to chat, relate and socialize, yet it might not be thinking much about the content or quality of what its saying (yet it is thinking about the importance of social contacts). Sagittarius is an adventurer and more likely to talk to the outlier or more foreign person in a group, they want to learn, grow and absorb and in turn they churn out philosophies. 

Virgo wants to attend to minute day to day details- this is a great engineering mind. With great patience and detail Virgo can go piece by piece through anything until its exact. Pisces on the other hand trusts the small picture and knows it will all work out, they are more aware of the big motions and movements, they feel it like the ocean, often having good intuition in the way things are heading without attending too much to the details.

However, these signs are flexible and mutable, meaning they aren’t going to hold everyone hostage to get their way. They often attend to their motivations in the absence of others motivations or within the context of someone else taking initiative. In the example of choosing dinner, they might not even make a suggestion unless its something they recently heard about from a friend or read in a magazine. They’re inclined to go with what others want and to meet their motivations within that, chatting, teaching, attending to details etc all while eating wherever the group decided. This is not an initiating energy, so often the things that occur in these signs and houses are more on the mental level. Changes in understanding, thinking, ideas and communication. Not always something visible to everyone else, yet thoughts are often the pre-curser to later what we feel and do, so I don’t want to minimize their importance. 

Apply it to the Houses:

To touch on the houses, these are the 3^rd (Gemini) – 9^th (Sagittarius) squaring the 6^th (Virgo) and 12^th (Pisces). What happens in these houses are generally more internal than external yet setting the stage for the next phase when things become visible. The 3^rd house of knowledge and communication opposite the 9^th house of learning, travel and philosophy. They square the 6th house of day to day tasks and one’s routines/health and the 12^th house of the mysterious, the unknown, the greater whole or unconscious of life.

Now look at your chart, list the following:

I realize there was a lot of information in this particular post. I don’t want you memorize it all (I’m talking to you Virgo). I want you to step back and understand the idea of these opposites crossing one another and that creates squared energy.

How many planets in the grouping of houses (Cardinal 1,4,7,10), (Fixed 2,5,8,11) and Mutable (3,6,9,12)?

Look at plants in signs that square one another and then note the degrees, see if they’re within 5 degrees. (Cardinal: Aries, Libra, Capricorn, Cancer), (Fixed: Leo, Aquarius, Taurus, Scorpio), (Mutable: Sagittarius, Gemini, Virgo, Pisces)?

For the planets you have that square one another, this is important information in your chart- PAY ATTENTION to this. The specific planets they are, signs they’re in and houses they are in will matter to the interpretation.

Please share this in the forum (http://yourstarswithin.blogspot.com/p/forum.html) and I will be happy to offer some interpretive assistance.

If you would like a private reading to discuss this aspect of your chart, I am offering first time readings at a reduced rate of $45, use the code “First Reading” when you email me.
Contact me directly at: www.yourstarswithin@gmail.com

Thanks for reading, and I’m excited already for the next post!

Please feel free to send me ideas as I look forward to your feedback on what you want to learn next.