"The sextile aspect is the principle of leverage and
counter-thrust. It has to have something to work against and, in reference to
levels of human consciousness, the thing it works against is always a state of
unregeneracy. We cannot remain in a specific or composite level indefinitely;
to do so would be to insure stagnation."
The function of the sextile and trine aspects is to
reveal relative degrees of the regenerate consciousness of humanity. They are
our points of enlightenment; our "urgings toward greater Good" (sextile) and
"realization of unfolded Good" (trine). The sextile is the process by which
the trine is created.
The philosophically minded astrologer never thinks of
or refers to the sextile and the trine as "lucky" aspects because he knows
that every factor in a horoscope is an effect of a specific cause; the
original cause was, of course, an expression — in action — of a particular level
of consciousness in the past. He recognizes that every sextile in a chart
out-pictures a certain work of regeneration which, started in the past, was
brought to such a point of efficiency that it now registers as a dynamo for
the releasement of further and greater regenerative power in this incarnation.
He recognizes that every trine is a registration of equilibrated relationship
between two planetary factors; a trine is always a result of regeneration of
consciousness — it is never a fortunate "accident of heredity" in any way or on any level of development.
By many, the sextile aspect is considered a "minor" or
"small" aspect; perhaps this interpretation is made because the aspect
involves only sixty degrees — half a trine. When we study the sextile symbol we
are alerted to the fact that the sextile is as "major" as any other aspect;
when we recognize its significance as a picturing of the dynamic phases of
evolution we realize that it is one of the most important of all astrological
symbols and is one by which the astrologer, in understanding it, can render
great service to those who are seeking greater awareness of their own source
of Light.
The essential geometric form of the sextile aspect
symbol is the hexagonal — a figure of six equal sides which rests, as do the
square and trine symbols, on a horizontal base. The cyclic starting points of
the square and trine are the midpoint and the cusp of the second house,
respectively; the sextile "starts" at the Ascendant — the first factor which
reveals the essential dynamic quality and significance of the aspect. As with
the trine, progress around the hexagonal is made by diagonals at the turning
points; a diagonal composite of horizontal and vertical implies an abstraction
of "upward and onward forever" — the symbol of spiritualized evolution.
The first diagonal of the hexagon cuts across the
first and second houses and establishes contact with the cusp of the third
house. In other words, it takes a short cut across the desire potential of the
second house and directly connects the "I AM" of the Ascendant with the "I
Think" of the third house. Following around the hexagon we see that the other
five lines cut across the houses which are abstractly related to the earth and
water signs and that the entire symbol has, as its structure points, the
houses related to the fire-signs (Spirit) and the air signs (Mind). (These
houses are also identifiable as the two pairs of "parallel relationship" —
first and seventh, third and ninth — plus the two houses of Love power
potential — the fifth, and its spiritualized polarity, the eleventh.) The
symbol tells us that the sextile aspect represents the dynamic, positive,
propelling agencies of the human consciousness — it cuts through the levels of
desire and instinct — pulling into expression those factors of consciousness
which neutralize the miasmas in the subconscious resources of intense feeling.
The square and trine symbols are "enclosed,"
representing a stage of consciousness in which something definite has been
arrived at. The square is unregeneracy which has become "lockjawed" — it must
be pried loose by regenerative agencies so that evolution can be continued;
the trine is a specific level of flowering — a level of inner synchronization
and equilibrium. It will, in due time, be decrystallized just as a flower is
decrystallized in its own timing so that the new life processes of the plant
may be inaugurated. The two planets involved in trine aspect to each other are
destined to come into trine relationship with other planets in the future, so
the "static" quality of their present relationship will, in right timing,
become subject to evolutionary forces for the creation of new patterns of
experience out of which new trines may result.
In human experience we see this decrystallization of
trines represented when we consider that those things which represent
happiness, harmony, and contentment to a child of six do not bring
satisfaction to a man of forty. That which may represent a flowering of
culture to an aborigine in the jungle may appear as child's play to a person
who is manifesting as a member of a truly cultured society. "Any planet trine
to any other planet" represents, essentially, a flowering of consciousness;
but, the manifestations of trines are relative to evolutionary
development.
When we consider the sextile symbol we are looking at
a picture of "lines of force." This symbol is, unlike the other aspect
symbols, open — a picture of radiations from a center. Since it is open there
is an implication of indefiniteness of shape. It is in fact, process at work
rather than thing accomplished. The six lines — cusps of the fire and air
houses — represent the charging of new light and warmth from the center; not
the center itself but that which emanates from it.
The sextile aspect is the principle of leverage and
counter-thrust. It has to have something to work against and, in reference to
levels of human consciousness, the thing it works against is always a state of
unregeneracy. We cannot remain in a specific or composite level indefinitely;
to do so would be to insure stagnation. (Translate "stagnation" to mean
"death.") The sextile aspect then is the mechanism by which Cosmic Progress
expresses through us for decrystallization of congestion and makes possible
the great alchemical changes of transmutation and regenerated releasement of
potentials.
Two planets in square aspect to each other depict a
state of inertia through unregeneracy; these forces must, if Life is to
express progressively through the person, be decrystallized so that the soul
energies may be redistributed and thus make possible an eventual harmonious
relationship as trine. A planet which sextiles one of two squared planets is
the alchemical agency — counter-thrusting against the inertia of the square.
The vibrational exchange between that planet and the one it sextiles is the de
crystallizing potential for re-directing the energies of the squared planet.
It is like a chemical which, when put into water, softens the water so that
the work of cleansing is made easier and more thorough, or the liquid which
loosens up the grease in a drain pipe so that the drain may more efficiently
dispose of the waste water. When the two planets of an opposition aspect are,
respectively, trined and sextiled by a third planet, the sextiled planet is
the one that is being worked on by the regenerating agency. If you have
occasion to study a chart one planet of which registers only by the sextile
aspect to other planets, give very careful attention to that planet; on its
cultivation depends much of the person's spiritual on-going; such a planet
provides a very significant counter-thrust against much that may represent
unregeneracy.
Two planets registering as an otherwise unaspected
sextile tell the story that, in their evolutionary inter-relationship, these
two have been allowed to get off to a good start — an indication of direct
awareness of regenerative expression and a fair promise that flowering into
trine relationship is not too far in the future. However, the regenerative
work must be expressed continually to make this flowering possible;
complications by unregenerate patterns can result in a "gumming up of the
works." Help such a client to understand the principles of two such planets so
that he will know how to put to work these particular expressions of his
consciousness as neutralizers for other vibrations of an unregenerate kind,
and to develop their potentials in relationship to each other. We must give
very careful study to the sextiles and semi-sextiles that we find in any
chart; we recognize that they are the workings of the regenerate consciousness
to decrystallize and redistribute energy-patterns which have become stagnated
in unregeneracy.
The symbol for the trine aspect, when related to the
abstract wheel, coincides with the cusps of the second, sixth, and tenth
houses — an equilateral triangle resting on a horizontal base. Symmetrical as
is the water-trine, the Earth trine also represents, by its horizontal base, a
peacefulness — a "perfect resting." In this symbol we see the human
consciousness enjoying the fruits of constructive effort; after a phase of
redirection has been made, the full flowering of the experience is realized
and enjoyed — either at points during an incarnation or during a cycle of
incarnation.
Some astrologers co-relate the symbol for the trine
aspect with the essential meaning of the planet Jupiter — due, it may be
supposed, to the "happiness" or "good fortune" by which they identify that
benevolent vibration. Actually, such an interpretation does not coincide with
the meaning of the trine. Jupiter, with all due respect to his manifold
virtues, is a dynamic vibration; the trine is equilibrated, poised, an
indication of inner harmony, a flowering of spiritualized consciousness, an
awareness of the Higher Self — all the results of transmutative efforts.
Apply the horizontally-based triangle to the twelve-housed wheel and perceive that, cyclically, it starts at the cusp of the
second house; it travels across to the cusp of the sixth house, then directly
to the cusp of the tenth. The wheel is the picturing of the evolution of
human consciousness through experience patterns so the inner meaning of
the trine must be found in consideration of the houses that it abstractly
represents, and from that may be deduced the planetary vibration to which it
most closely corresponds. Since the trine represents regenerated result
let us apply regenerate key-words to the three houses involved:
Second House: "possession and desire for possession"
has been transmuted into consciousness of right exchange of money and
materials, perfect stewardship and the resultant regeneration of
relationships, between people who have learned to direct finance-exchange
through right feeling toward each other.
Sixth house: the consciousness of "Labor" is
regenerated into an expression of Love-Service as a releasement of fifth-house
potentials; as an extension of regenerated second house, people who work and
people who are worked for are in sympathetic and equilibrated relationship to
each other; exchange in money and commodities is balanced by exchange in
work-value; the right consciousness of money-exchange correlates with the best
expression of work potential. "Capital versus Labor" is transmuted into
"Capital and Labor" harmoniously integrated as a base — the horizontal
line — for the vertical structure to the third point which is:
The tenth house: the achievement of a perfected
Society, including and enclosing the best expressions of all classes and
evolutionary levels of humanity. Since the earth-houses succeed the fire-
houses, the picture is shown that perfected society is a manifestation of the
powers of self-awareness, love and wisdom of all people. The single trine
aspect in an individual horoscope represents an attained awareness of some
level or phase, of right relationship of the individual to the world at large;
the symbol itself, as an abstraction of the Great Horoscope, represents the
spiritual, cultural, and economic flowerings of humanity, as an entity, on its
evolutionary Path.
Civilizations rise, flower, and fall; individuals
rise to, pass through, and transcend "points of rest" in their individual
experience but the trine symbol is the apex, the "perfected achievement" — the
blossoming of the best in individual or collective consciousness. Its
planetary correlative is not Jupiter but Venus, the arch-symbol of the
feminine essence of consciousness — Harmony, Love, and Beauty distilled from
the strivings and growings of all people; honey distilled from the nectar of
flowers; the perfection of line, structure, and color of the cultivated human
body; the gleam and sparkle of meticulously cut jewelry: culture that
represents the best of mankind's realizations.
Through your trine aspects you are aware of your God-consciousness — you are "in tune" with your best: the amplitude,
beauty, and
harmony of your outer conditions are the reflections of your regenerated
consciousness. Do more than just enjoy your trines — share them with all people
you contact by keeping your "trined consciousness" alive and expressive
always. In this way you not only share your treasures but, by the power of
sympathetic vibrations, you "ignite" other people to a greater awareness of
their inner Good, and thereby stimulate the good aspects in their charts.
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