©7-2-2014 by Donna Cunningham, MSW

 Any time you find one planet in the last few degrees of a sign and another in the first few degrees of the next sign, it may be an out of sign conjunction. If the two planets are within 8° of one another, they’re conjunct. Many astrology students and practitioners ignore them, most likely because they’re complicated to interpret.

I’ve started to research out of sign conjunctions, and I’ve come to the conclusion that not only do they work; you run a risk in ignoring them, because they can represent an important dynamic in your life.

Suppose that you had a Sun-Neptune conjunction. It’s hard enough to understand these two planets merged in a single sign—lots of confusion and denial about who you really are. If they were straddling two signs and you ignored the aspect, you’d have an even harder time seeing your true self clearly and realistically.

Or, let’s say you had a conjunction between Mars in Libra and Pluto in Scorpio that you’ve basically ignored. You own up to Mars in Libra, thinking, “Mars has a couple of drawbacks in Libra, sure—it’s indecisive and has trouble taking the initiative. But it’s so charming and agreeable—a lover, not a fighter. Altogether, it’s a nice little Mars.”

I can’t agree with all those rose-colored interpretations, because Mars in Libra people can subtly provoke others until they explode. Then the Mars person blames the fight on the other person, saying something like, “You started it, but I’m going to finish it!”

In addition, when you leave Pluto in Scorpio out of the equation, you’re leaving yourself in the dark about major issues around conflict and control that can cause serious difficulties in relationships of various kinds. Pluto is the ruler of Scorpio, and with Pluto IN Scorpio, it’s not just Pluto plus Pluto, it’s more like Pluto times Pluto—a powerful placement!

 To team it up with Mars and pretend the conjunction isn’t important leaves you in denial about parts of your personality that need tending to. It also prevents you from capitalizing on the greatest strength of Mars-Pluto conjunctions, something I call Manifestation Mojo. (Read about it here: Mars-Pluto Aspects? Use your Manifestation Mojo!)

By glossing over out of sign conjunctions, you might also miss out on strengths of some choice combinations of planets. Imagine that you have Venus in the latter degrees of a sign and Jupiter in the early degrees of the next sign. t that be a great aspect to capitalize on?

Embrace your out of sign conjunctions, then, and deal with their strengths as well as their drawbacks to realize more of your potential.

I’m working on a new book about aspects, and am going to include a chapter on out of sign conjunctions. I’d like to have examples of how they work. The ones I use will be brief vignettes, no more than a paragraph, and there will be no identifying or birth information. I’d need to know the planets and their degrees, then the house and the two signs involved. Then give examples of how you see the aspect working.

So, Readers, will you join me in gathering information about how out of sign conjunctions show up in the lives of people who have them? If you or people you’re close to have one, share about it in the comment section. (Or, it could be the chart of a famous person, in which case, include the birth information). Your input would help all of us to understand these often-ignored aspects better.

 More research about the Little-Known Aspects: Several summers ago, Skywriter Readers and I did research on some of the so-called minor aspects and learned a great deal. The comment sections are where they shared their experiences, and those sections are great to read. You can still add your own observations, for the more we understand these aspects, the better we can interpret them.

Links to that Series:

• The Least Aspected Planet—What Role Does It Play in your Life?
• Understanding Semisquares—Your Input Needed
• Understanding the Sesquiquadrate—Your Input Needed
• Understanding Semisquares—Your Input Needed
• Understanding the Sesquiquadrate—Your Input Needed
• Understanding Septiles–Your Input Needed
• Understanding the BiQuintile—Your Input Needed
• Quincunx vs. BiQuintile–an Answer from Numerology?
• Planets in Mutual Reception—Join our Online Research
• Understanding Quintiles—What’s YOUR Talent?
• Readers’ Observations about Quintiles and other Aspects
• Understanding the BiQuintile—Your Input Needed
• The Not so Minor Aspects—Results of Our Research
• Understanding the Mundane Square—Your Input Needed
• Mundane square case study: Outtake from a Moon-Pluto Life
•  

Read the full post here →