 |
 |
| |
| Departments |
Home
Columns, Special
Topics & Features:
The Columns:
Angels, Guides, &
Loving Spirits:
Angel Blessings:
with Dr. Doreen Virtue
Ask Valerie Morrison,
Internationally
Acclaimed Psychic
Trust Your Vibes
By Dr. Sonia Choquette, PhD.
Internationally Acclaimed Psychic Healer & Author
Astrologer's Notes:
Carin Martin,
Astrologer
Donna Cunningham, MSW, Astrologer
Basil Fearrington,
Astrologer
Diana Stone,
Astrologer &
Huna Shaman
Jeff Jawer
Astrologer
Glenn Perry,
Astrologer
Ray Merriman,
Financial Astrology:
MMA Market Week
Noel Tyl,
Astrologer
Daily Aspect Calendar
by Care
MoonWatching with Dana Gerhardt and Friends
Creating Bridges:
The Spiritual &
Philosophical
Act of Power
Discovering the Key to Living Your Sacred Dream
by Lynn Andrews
Avant-Gardening:
Insights
by Frank & Vicky
Giannangelo
From The Heart:
Alan Cohen
Teachings from the Western Mystery Traditions: The Esoteric "Paths of Return"
by Jacquelyn Small, Eupsychia
Spirituality in Daily Life: by Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron
The Conscious Column
by David Ault
Spiritual Mastery
for the 21st Century
Dr. Gwen MacGregor
Pearls of Wisdom:
with Care & Aeon
Encounters on the
Shaman's Path with
Dr. Hank Wesselman, PhD.
Anthropologist, Zoologist, Author, Shamanic Healer & Teacher
The Divine Human
by Ornesha De Paoli
Awakenings
by Karen Johnson
Worshipping by Wondering with
Sankara Saranam, MA Founder of the Pranayama Institute
A Woman's Beauty
by Robin Rice,
Shaman & Author
Wisdom Walks
In Circles
Margaret Lewis,
Shamanic Practitioner
The Awakening Generation
by Ann Marie Judge
Divination Systems:
Be Your Own Oracle
By James Wanless, Ph.D.
Creator of the Voyager Tarot Deck
Feng Shui & Chinese Metaphysics:
Inside Chinese Metaphysics
by Barbara Finch,
Feng Shui &
Chinese Astrology
In Practice:
Juliet's Marketing Wisdom
by Juliet Austin, MA Marketing Coach, Author & Consultant
Kabbalah:
Kabbalah Revealed:
Rav Michael Laitman, PhD, Kabbalalist
"Letters from Heaven:" Spiritual Guidance from
the Hebrew Alphabet
by Avigayil Landsman
Pet Care:
Dr. Carson's Holistic Animal Care
by Dr. Kathleen Carson, D.V.M.
Tarot:
Moment to Moment
by Gigi Miner
Author, Tarot Consultant, & Teacher
Reviews:
Tarot, Cartomancy,
Oracle Decks,
Books, & Software.
by Bonnie Cehovet,
Tarot Master
Humor:
Wake Up Laughing.Com:
Swami Beyondananda
Features:
Blessings & Messages
Event Calendar
Historical Notes & Data
The MetaPersonals
Opinion-Editorial
News Briefs
Symbols, Seals,
Amulets & Talismans
The What in the
World Department
Trivia & Life's Other
Novel Moments
Interviews:
Watch for Upcoming Announcements
Healing & Alternative
Health:
Living in Harmony-Astrology, Yoga & Ayurveda:
Venkat & Christine Machiraju
"Spirit and Practice
of the Wise Woman
Tradition"
By Susun Weed
Tai Chi & Qigong
by Bill Douglas
The Holistic Mystic,
by Lonny Brown
Medical Intuition: Tune
in to Your Body and Improve Your Health
by Caroline Sutherland, Sutherland Communications
Transformational Healing through the Violet Flame!
by Eva Kettles
Herbs for Health
with Kami McBride
Lose Weight Permanently: Stop the Endless Cycle of Dieting
Rena Greenberg,
Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming & Hypnotherapist
The Directory
The Book Nook
Archives:
Past Issues
|
|
|
|
|
|
Astrology:
Excerpt from Donna's e-book:
An Astrological Guide to Self-Awareness: 2005 Edition
© Moon Maven Publications
|
|
|
Now THAT’S a Stretch—
How Quincunxes Force Us to Grow
|
|
|
by Donna Cunningham, MSW |
|
|
While many texts relegate the quincunx (a.k.a. inconjunct) to the status of a minor aspect, in my years of consulting experience, that is not true. There can be considerable tension—and considerable growth—when an individual has a quincunx, either natally or by transit. The dynamics of this aspect are a force to be reckoned with in the person’s life, either as a source of great originality or irritation, depending on how it is used. Analyzing the planets, signs, and houses involved in the aspect can help the individual find healthier ways of dealing with the conflicts between the two planets.
The quincunx is a 150-degree aspect with an orb of two to three degrees. Using the table below, find quincunxes by starting with the sign of the faster-moving planet. In order of their average speed, they are Moon, Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. (However, around the time a planet changes direction—retrograde to direct or vice versa—it may move slower than usual, which you could discover from the ephemeris.) Thus, in any aspect between the Moon and Jupiter, the Moon is the faster moving planet, since it will generally move around 12 degrees per day, while Jupiter will move, at the most 7 minutes per day. In looking for a quincunx, then, look at the Moon’s sign in the table below:
Aries: Virgo, Scorpio
|
|
Libra: Pisces, Taurus
|
| Taurus: Libra, Sagittarius |
|
Scorpio: Aries, Gemini
|
| Gemini: Scorpio, Capricorn |
|
Sagittarius: Taurus, Cancer
|
| Cancer: Sagittarius, Aquarius |
|
Capricorn: Gemini, Leo
|
| Leo: Capricorn, Pisces |
|
Aquarius: Cancer, Virgo
|
| Virgo: Aquarius, Aries |
|
Pisces: Leo, Libra
|
The key to the quincunx is a thorough consideration of the tensions between the two signs involved. Generally speaking, the needs and desires of the two signs are conflicting and incompatible. Through being forced to work together, tension is generated which can result in frustration or in a highly creative resolution of conflict.
The signs Cancer and Sagittarius are quincunx to one another, and the differences between them are hard to reconcile within one person. Cancer is highly sensitive and easily wounded, while Sagittarius is blunt and often suffers from “Hoof in Mouth” disease. Suppose that someone had Moon in Cancer but Mercury in Sagittarius—this combination could make a person who could dish it out but not take it. Cancer tends to be ruled by emotions, whereas Sagittarius seeks to be rational.
The personal styles of these two signs in intimate connections are also very different. Cancer clings, while Sagittarius wants its freedom. Cancerians love their homes, while Sagittarians love their freedom. Since resolving the irreconcilable urges of two signs in quincunx aspect often demands an inventive approach, it wouldn’t be surprising if the natal chart of person who designed the first mobile home had a Cancer-Sagittarius quincunx.
Far from being a minor dynamic in people’s lives, the quincunx may actually be harder to resolve than an opposition. At least the opposite signs have a commonality of needs and abilities that can balance each other out. Sagittarius and Gemini, for instance are far more compatible than Sagittarius and Cancer, because of their common interest in things of the mind. Sagittarius and Gemini share a restless intellectual curiosity, while Cancer and its opposite sign, Capricorn, share an innate cautiousness and need for security.
Aries has two quincunx signs, Virgo and Scorpio. Consider some of the qualities attributed to the sign Aries and contrast them with typical Virgo qualities. Aries can be rash and impetuous, while Virgo is slower, more cautious and less likely to rush into action before thoroughly considering possible flaws in the plan. Aries isn’t known for persistence and follow-through, while Virgo dots every i. Aries is sometimes naively, even indiscriminately enthusiastic, while Virgo can be critical and discriminating. Clearly not a match made in the heavens!
As an example of the Aries-Virgo quincunx being forced to work together in one person's life, a social work student had Sun in Virgo quincunx Mars in Aries. This is not an easy combination, as Mars in its own sign Aries echoes the conflict with Virgo, but how it worked for her was admirable. She volunteered at an Inner City church, coaching a baseball team for young boys. She was giving service (Virgo), but in a positive way that put her in touch with that primal male energy.
What about the tension between Virgo and Aquarius, Virgo’s other quincunx sign? Virgo is down to earth and practical, while Aquarius is cerebral and abstract, often visionary. Virgo is task oriented, whereas Aquarius is transpersonal and looks at a bigger picture. Virgo can be critical and sometimes pessimistic about people, while Aquarius preaches tolerance and brotherhood, with a Utopian view of life and humanity. Virgo is cautious and somewhat conservative, while Aquarius is abrupt, fond of change, and frequently radical. Virgo’s sometimes prim and proper demeanor clashes with Aquarius’s propensity for doing things for shock value.
An individual who epitomized the incongruities between these two signs was the late Andy Kaufman, a rather bizarre comedian who had Moon in Virgo and Mars in Aquarius[2]. Incongruity is one keyword that often describes the functioning of a quincunx, and one way it often plays out is in either intended or unintended humor. Actually Kaufman’s chart, shown on the following page, is rife with quincunxes. His Sun in Capricorn in the 6th house is very closely quincunx Uranus in Gemini in the 11th, and his Jupiter in Capricorn in the 6th is quincunx Pluto in the 1st and his Leo Ascendant.
It is true that quincunxes can sometimes mean trouble when not used consciously and constructively and that, especially if the health houses are involved as they are here, the aspect also can play itself out in health problems. Kaufman, with his series of quincunxes involving two of the health houses (the 1st and 6th), died of lung cancer at the age of 35. His AstroDataBank record is also reprinted here, with ADB’s permission, and as his history shows, he could be considered the poster child for the quincunx aspect.
Andy Kaufman
January 17, 1949
6:03 PM EST
Jamaica, NY
73w48; 40n41
AstroDatabank:Detailed Biography
Filte (Unnamed)
Name: KAUFMAN, ANDY Date: 01/17/1949 Place: Jamaica, NY Lat: 40 N 41
Gender: M Time: 18:03 EST Lng: 73 W 47
From memory
Source Notes:
Mary MacKenzie quotes him. Shelley Ackerman quotes him as a friend for 6:30 PM. ("Lost in the Funhouse" gives 2:00 PM, no source.)
Biography:
American actor who performed his off-beat, highly original, stand-up comedy and impressionist routine on TV, in clubs and concerts. His act ranged from brilliant to boring to bizarre. His career snowballed after he began appearing on Saturday Night Live, 1975, and then became a regular on the series, "Taxi," 1978. He was in the film "Heartbleeps" with co-star Bernadette Peters, in which he played a romantic robot.
He died of lung cancer 6/16/1984 at the age of 35. Fifteen years later he had a resurgence of interest with a memoir by his friend Bob Zmuda, "Andy Kaufman Revealed," (September 1999) and a biography by Bill Zehme, "Lost in the Funhouse," (December 1999). On 12/22/1999, a movie based on his life, opens, with Jim Carrey playing Kaufman.
The comic performed for himself from the time he was a kid, alone in his room. As he grew older, he put on his acts for his two younger siblings. As a teen he acted at kid's birthday parties. At Grahm Junior College, he discovered his lifelong interest in transcendental meditation, which also gave him the confidence to take his act into small Manhattan clubs, then to the Improv in Los Angeles. His pinnacle was a 1979 performance at Carnegie Hall, where he rented 20 school buses to take a crowd of 2,800 out for milk and cookies at a nearby school after the show.
Kaufman's twist became darker and was often offensive. Not everyone was amused at the cruelty he leveled at an audience, but eventually, his viewers simply got tired of the abuse. In 1982, after his 14th appearance on SNL, viewers voted him off the show in a call-in poll and the following year, "Taxi" was cancelled. Late in 1983, he was exiled from the TM movement, a bitter blow.
At 20, Kaufman had a daughter with a girlfriend but for the rest of his life, played the field, even when dating film editor Lynne Margulies. Near the end of 1983, a persistent cough was diagnosed as lung cancer. Until the end, he believed he'd get better, trying every remedy including hypnotism and faith healing.
The above datas copyright protected by AstroDatabank Company. You may share it with friends and republish up to ten data before contact us as long as it is given proper citation. We have published guidelines for citing AstroDatabank data at
http://www.astrodatabank.com/DataPolicy.htm
However, with conscious work on owning and expressing both planets in the quincunx in healthy ways, the quincunx can be an asset. The two signs can be used in evolved ways that support one another’s aims. Both Virgo and Aquarius, for instance, are objective, each in their own way, and reasoning is a way that such tensions may be resolved. In a certain sense, both are concerned with principles such as honor, and Virgo CAN be somewhat detached, albeit in a more pragmatic way. With all these considerations, they may make a better pair than Virgo/Aries, as neither is especially self- involved. Both CAN be altruistic, whereas the sign Aries is not necessarily so by nature.
From years of observing this aspect in action, I have a sense that the keyword for quincunx is "stretching." When two planets are quincunx by sign, their basic natures are so completely different that the only way they can connect is a stretch, maybe a creative leap. This produces an expansion of perspectives, and so quincunxes wind up helping us grow in a way that a square or opposition does not—it’s not a conflict as much as it is an evolution.
The reason is that the two signs involved (e.g.Virgo-Aries) have little common ground, in that they are not in the same quadruplicity (Cardinal, Fixed, or Mutable) nor in the same element (earth, air, water, or fire.) Signs that are quincunx are also not in the same grouping by Richard Idemon’s division of the signs into Personal, Social, and Universal. The Personal signs (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer) are very self-referencing, though not necessarily in a bad way. Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio—the Social signs—are focused on their connections to others close by, and Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces—the Universal signs—are more involved in or motivated by longer-range concerns, universal principles, and abstractions.
Many people use the tension and energy created by a quincunx in very dynamic ways. It contains a paradox, a contradiction you are always trying to resolve. Since necessity is the mother of invention, many creative ideas are developed in trying to combine to apparently non-combinable sets of needs and urges. Famous people use these aspects in creative and inventive ways—in fact it can be one source of their genius.
The Transiting Quincunx—An Easily Overlooked Stimulus to Growth
For significant parts of the past two decades, outer planets transiting the Universal signs (Sagittarius through Pisces) have been making quincunxes to natal planets in the personal signs (Aries to Cancer). For example, Pluto in Sagittarius has been forming quincunxes to planets in Taurus and Cancer. First Uranus, then Neptune in Aquarius have formed quincunxes to planets in Cancer and Virgo. The personal signs have been quite challenged and stretched by these quincunxes from such Universal/impersonal/global signs.
There is a bit of near-sightedness about the personal signs, and these transits are forcing them have to think in larger terms—not a comfortable process, yet it broadens them considerably. It makes them put away the "what does it mean for me" perspective and start to develop a more global outlook. Maybe one reason the term paradigm shift has become so popular is that there is no common meeting ground with these quincunxes between the personal and Universal signs, especially with the transpersonal focus of the outer planets. To understand the complex problems these tensions create and to derive viable solutions will require an entirely new paradigm.
The sign Cancer has been caught in the crossfire of outer planet quincunxes from both Sagittarius and Aquarius continually since 1995, so Cancerians with planets in the affected degree ranges have experienced considerable stretching through these transits. Currently, Pluto in Sagittarius is calling Cancerians to look at things from a more universal perspective--the philosophical, the global, the religious. Neptune in Aquarius, likewise, is challenging Cancerians to look beyond tradition, family, to a more universal and global perspective. Cancer often clings to the past and tradition, while Aquarius is oriented toward the future and can all too easily throw out the heritage of the past. Aquarius is very cerebral, detached, and rational, while Cancer is very subjective, intuitive, and emotional.
President George W. Bush has had a series of outer planet quincunxes by transit to his twelfth house Sun at 13 Cancer 44. Uranus was quincunx it 1998-99, as he was running for president, and Pluto was quincunx it in 2000-2001 in the aftermath of 9/11. Now Neptune is quincunx it 2003—2004, suggesting he may find illusions about himself and his place in the scheme of things crumbling. To give him his due, he may genuinely believe he is making the homeland safe, but he has had some difficulty in fathoming how his personal fears and insecurities are simultaneously threatened by and threatening to the global balance.
The United States itself has Sun at 12 Cancer 44, and so we as a nation are profoundly impacted by these same transits and by George W. Bush’s actions. Historically there is a certain tension in our collective nature that seems to be represented by our Cancer Sun, Aquarius Moon. (The clash between Sun and Moon sign seems profound, even though they are not quincunx by degree, only by sign). A chapter in my book The Moon in your life, (RedWheel/Weiser, 1996) details that quincunx and how it plays out in our national psychology.
Used in its highest form, the stretching common to the Cancer-Aquarius quincunx would lead to nurturing individuals who can look beyond the immediate family and surrounding environment. We as a nation could be moved by global hunger, wake up to the way pesticides and other agricultural and industrial practices are destroying the environment for everyone, and embrace the human family, not just the family of origin. Princess Diana surely did that in a way that brought the awareness of others to those needs and causes. She had the same Sun/Moon combination as the U.S., in nearly the same degrees, and that was doubtlessly part of why she was so appealing to us. Though her bulimia was doubtlessly related to this combination and though the tensions between Cancer and Aquarius seem to have created considerable personal anguish, she would be my nominee for Most Evolved Use of this particular quincunx.
Hopefully, this explanation has piqued your interest in this fascinating aspect. A way to understand quincunxes, if you have none natally, is to experience them consciously through current transits or by reviewing your past transits. If you can’t identify any quincunxes, then look for them in the charts of people you know well and ask the people about the ways they are being stretched. To learn more, you might enjoy Karen Hamaker-Zondag’s The Yod Book (Red Wheel/Weiser, 2003.)
[1] A shorter form of this material appeared in the December, 2003-January, 2004 issue of The Mountain Astrologer. It is reprinted here with their permission.
[2] According to his AstroDataBank record, Kaufman was born January 17, 1949, at 18:03 EST in Jamaica, NY, 73W47 40N41. The Data is rated A, from his memory. His AstroDataBank record is reprinted with ADB’s permission.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Donna Cunningham,
Astrologer
& Healer |
|
|
Donna Cunningham is an internationally respected astrologer and the author of 13 books on metaphysical topics.
Donna Cunningham has a dual background in astrology and psychotherapy, with a Masters in Social Work from Columbia University and over 30 years experience as a professional astrologer. She considers doing the astrology charts of children to be a sacred trust. It is a way of knowing who these Indigo children are on their own terms rather than as their families, teachers, and society expect them to be.
In these sessions, she focuses on typical childhood concerns such as family and peer relationships, the best educational approaches, and the child's special gifts and abilities. She can be reached for consultations at (503)291-7891, by email, or at her web page. Ask about her special rate for children's charts.
Donna is also co-editor of Vibration and a frequent contributor. She has written fourteen books on astrology and other metaphysical topics, including her Flower Remedies Handbook. Astrologers who want to know the special considerations involved in doing children's charts can read the chapter on this topic in Donna's text, The Consulting Astrologer's Guidebook.
Listed in several Who’s Who volumes, she has given seminars on astrology around the world and won the prestigious Regulus Award at the 1998 UAC.
She teaches astrology classes online at: astrocollege.com
You may reach her for long-distance astrology consultations at her web site:
DonnaCunningham
MSW.com
by email:
moonmaven @spiritone.com
or by calling:
(503)291-7891.
For the past 20 years, she has worked with the flower remedies, and she is co-editor of Vibration Magazine, a free online educational quarterly at:
essences.com/
vibration/
For information on Donna's online classes about flower essences, visit her website:
DonnaCunningham
MSW.com
"Donna's first astrology ebook will be available in March.
For more
information go to her web page:
http://www.donna
cunninghammsw.com
This series is reprinted with gracious permission from Donna Cunningham.
©2002 Vibration Magazine/The World Wide Essence Society
PO Box 285
Concord, MA 01742
978 369-8454
If you are interested in ordering a copy of Donna's new ebook:
"Flower Remedies--How Plant's Energies Can Heal Us,"
It is $15, available at Moon Maven Publications:
www.moonmaven
publications.com
|
 |
You'll find it in
The
Directory! |
|
|
|
|
