Aspect by Sign (Whole Sign)

Definition

Aspect by sign is a way of reckoning aspects in which the relationship between the two signs the planets occupy decides the aspect, no matter where in those signs the planets actually sit. The Greek term is schēmatismos kata zōidia. Two planets in signs that stand in a trine relationship — Aries and Leo, say — count as in trine even if they are 88° apart in degrees. Conversely, two planets only 2° apart but in neighbouring signs, such as 29° Aries and 1° Taurus, are not counted conjunct, because a sign boundary separates them.

In Tradition

In Hellenistic and traditional medieval practice — and in the late-20th-century traditional revival — aspects were first thought of as belonging to the signs themselves, not the planets: any planet in Taurus is square any planet in Leo, because Taurus is square Leo. The idea of orb — a little leeway around an exact-degree distance — came later, layered on top of the sign-based reckoning rather than replacing it. Reckoning aspects by sign is the standard within Hellenistic-revival schools.

In Practice

Astrologers read each pair of planets by first naming the relationship between the signs they sit in: same sign is "with" (synousia, which works like a conjunction); opposite signs make an opposition; signs four apart by element — Aries–Leo, Taurus–Virgo, and so on — make a trine; signs four apart by mode, such as Aries–Cancer, make a square; signs two apart by sign-count make a sextile. Degree-distance comes in only afterward, as a finer gauge of how close to exact the aspect is. Sign-pairs that stand in no classical aspect relation — the so-called aversions, the 2nd, 6th, 8th, and 12th signs from a given sign — are treated as not aspecting at all, however close in degree, since a sign-relation has to exist for an aspect to count.

Historical Origin

Holden documents the whole-sign-aspect doctrine as the original Greek framework, with the principle "Taurus was square Leo; hence, any planet in Taurus was square any planet in Leo, irrespective of the degree positions" (Holden 2006, p. 107). Crane keeps the Greek-Hellenistic vocabulary (schēmatismos kata zōidia), and Hand's Whole Sign Houses lays out the doctrine. It was carried into the Arabic-medieval tradition (Sahl, Abu Ma'shar, Bonatti) and restored in the late-20th-century Hellenistic revival.

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Further Reading