Aversion

greek: Ἀποστροφή (Apostrophe)

Definition

Aversion is what astrologers call it when two signs cannot "see" each other at all. Signs are connected only through the five classical (Ptolemaic) aspects — conjunction, sextile, square, trine, and opposition. Signs that sit one apart (30 degrees) or five apart (150 degrees) make none of those, so planets in them are read as fundamentally disconnected. The Greek name is apostrophē, "turning away." Modern degree-based astrology calls these gaps the semi-sextile and quincunx, but Hellenistic practice treats them not as weak aspects but as the absence of aspect.

In Tradition

In Hellenistic practice, aversion is foundational to whole-sign aspect doctrine, where aspects run sign to sign. Planets that aspect each other can witness each other; planets in aversion lack the line of sight that aspects need. Brennan, Hand, and Obert keep the doctrine: a planet in aversion to its own domicile ruler is compromised, because the ruler of its sign cannot reach it to help — and houses in aversion to the Ascendant are unfavorable for the same reason.

In Practice

You spot aversion by counting signs: a planet is in aversion to its target when it sits one or five signs away, no matter the exact degree. A planet in aversion to its sign-ruler cannot draw on that ruler's support, and a planet in aversion to the Ascendant cannot act effectively on the person's behalf. In horary work — answering a question from a chart cast for the moment it is asked — significators in aversion cannot resolve the matter directly and need translation or collection of light, where a third planet carries the connection between them. Aversion is also the structural reason the 2nd, 6th, 8th, and 12th houses count as unfavorable places: none can aspect the 1st by sign. Modern Hellenistic-revival practitioners use the idea to sharpen aspect-judgment, treating aversion as the missing-connection counterpart to a real aspect.

Historical Origin

Aversion, as apostrophē, is foundational to Hellenistic aspect doctrine, attested across the Greek technical corpus including Vettius Valens' Anthologiae (c. 145-175 CE) and the Antiochus-Porphyry tradition. The doctrine survives through the Arabic-Persian transmission and the medieval Latin tradition. The modern revival — Hand's Whole Sign Houses, Project Hindsight (Schmidt, 1990s), and Brennan's Hellenistic Astrology (2017) — preserves it for traditional practice.

Etymology

Origin: Greek. Meaning: Turning away, averting one's gaze.

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Etymology

Further Reading