Natacha asks…
“Could you please post an article about the Quintile series of aspects? I have hard time understanding how they work together, and the specific vibration of each one of them. That would be: decile (36°), quintile (72°), bi-quintile (144°) and tredecile (108°). I understand that the quintile is the matrix of all the others, but it is hard to grasp the working mechanic of the series. This would be very helpful. Thank you so much.“
Sure. I’ll even do it in bold italic, since these kinds of underlying geometries are bottom line to the way we do astrology.
I use Angeles Arrien’s excellent Tarot Handbook to define the “Harmonics.” If two planets are a fifth of the way ’round the Zodiacal loop from one another, they are “Quintile” to one another, and they dance together in the Fifth Harmonic. I don’t know Music, but if you do, you probably know a lot more about this than I do.
Since we follow Rudhyar’s Cyclical astrology (his Lunation Cycle, for instance), it’s technically more accurate to say that the faster planet Quintiles the slower one, or the slower planet is Quintiled by the faster one. So for instance on 9 June, Vesta makes a Waxing Quintile to Pluto while the Moon makes a Waning Quintile to Pluto. The Angle Waxes while it’s still growing, but then, after the Opposition, it Wanes. The difference is that the Energy of the Cycle is still Expanding while the Angle is Waxing, but when it’s Waning the Energy of the Cycle is moderating.
The combination creates a Quintile Yod Configuration – two planets Quintile to one another, each of which is Biquintiled by a third planet. The third planet is the focus of the Q-Yod.
To interpret the Q-Yod, we would say that we are Transforming (Pluto) the relationship between our Unconscious Beliefs (Vesta) and our Instincts (Moon) – hopefully that means we’re Learning to Trust our Instincts more, so that they’re less censored and censured by our Unconscious Beliefs.
To interpret the Waxing Vesta-Pluto Quintile by itself, we would say that we are Learning (Quintile) more about this Vesta-Pluto Cycle, which is about artifacts of an ancient culture (the Cycle was Initiated at 14 Capricorn), and more specifically, we’re beginning to establish new Habits (Biquintile) based on what we’ve Learned to Trust (we’re now past the Waxing Square, or the place where the Energy of the current Cycle has forced out the Resistance of the previous Cycle) about which of our Unconscious Beliefs still “grow Corn.”
Which, “coincidentally,” resonates with the primary 9 June Energy, which is about Removing our Masks, or the places where we hide from ourself and others.
To interpret the Waning Vesta-Pluto Quintile by itself, we might say that we are Learning (Quintile) to be Grateful for the Gifts of previous Privilege, as we prepare to Let them Go (the Waning Biquintile occurs just prior to the Phitile, or Fruiting of the Cycle) and move on to a different sort of relationship with Slavery (the Cycle was Initiated at 18 Capricorn). Again, the Biquintile is about Changing Patterns.
The Waxing Moon-Vesta Quintile, occurring as it does prior to the Waxing Square, may involve Unconscious Learning (Quintile), as we adapt to the building of the Energy of the new Cycle, which in this case is about Preparedness (Vesta Initiated the Moon at 9 Gemini). Of course, if we were aligned with the new Energy at the Initiation, and we Trust the new Energy, we may be very Conscious about it.
For instance, if we Trust the Uranus-Pluto and Uranus-Eris Cycles and we Believe in Yindependence (which we might paraphrase as Freedom and Compassion), we’d be Preparing for four years of Bernie. If we Believe in Yangdependence (Freedom and Competition) we’d be Preparing for regresssion to the 19th Century with The Donald. If we just prefer Dependence, we’d be relaxing back into the 20th Century and Hillary.
That’s all “tongue in cheek,” so don’t get riled about it – but do try to understand the astrological Perspective I’m offering there, even if it’s not the Perspective you’d use. It’s just meant as a Heuristic, not any sort of interpretation or prognostication.
The Fifth Harmonic, and the Quintile, is about Learning and Teaching. To get quickly to the essence of things, we (I’m using the “editorial we” here, not trying to dictate how everyone should do things) shortcut all Quintile Angles, including the Biquintile, as simply about Learning. A Waxing Triquintile is just a Waning Biquintile. When looking for a first-cut overview, we don’t bother with Cycles, so we don’t worry about which planet is faster, we just look at the Angle between the two planets.
The Biquintile, as distinguished from the Quintile itself, would be about Learning to adopt (Waxing) or Release (Waning) new Habit Patterns, as it combines the Fifth Harmonic with the Second, and the Second Harmonic is about the Power of Ritual. Or, if we were ignoring the Waxing/Waning dimension for the sake of an efficient overview, the Biquintile would be about Changing Patterns. Since it’s Repetitions that cement Habits and Patterns and Rituals and Archetypes and Karma, we could say that the Biquintile is about the Power of Repetition. Roke’s Master Patterner, for example.
Numerologically, the Tenth Harmonic reduces to the First Harmonic, or the Magic of Communication in all its forms and applications. But in a Cyclical rather than Linear context, the Tenth Harmonic is subsidiary to the Fifth, because a Bidecile Angle is in fact a Quintile. The Tenth Harmonic is Fortune. Technically, it’s The Wheel of Fortune, which can run over us as well as turn in our favor.
Our bias, though, is that it’s all about Learning, so even when Fortune seems to turn against us, it’s only in order to provide us with Information that we can use to Manifest even more Fortuitous circumstances than we otherwise would. When we PIAVA, the Universe always Responds. If we’re ready, the Universe gives us what we Asked for. If we aren’t ready, the Universe gives us Information about why we had to Ask for it, and haven’t been Enjoying it all along.
It’s kind of like the old story about Give a man a Fish and he’ll eat, but Teach a man to drink beer in a boat, and he’ll Fish all day long.
This a Powerful Perspective to bring to our Victim spaces. Whatever it is we’re Asking for, someone somewhere probably already Enjoys it. Even if we don’t know anyone, we can Imagine it. So, why not us? Well, if it’s hard, we probably have Unconscious Resistance to Manifesting it. So we get the homework assignment to Get Conscious of any relevant Unconscious Limits and Choose to Create different Patterns.
That’s why we Pay Attention if nothing appeared to happen after a few days of Changing the Subject, so we can Ask ourself what did happen, and Wonder how that might possibly be related to what we PIAVAed. It’s also why we don’t recommend making too many PIAVAs at once – we won’t be able to sort out all of the new Information in order to use it to our greatest advantage.
So we simply regard the Decile Angle as fortuitous. The Tridecile, or Tredecile, brings in the Third Dimension, Love with Wisdom – even more fortuitous. We get the Grace of Love, without the Codependence of Naive Trust.
We could take it a step further. The Tridecile is one Twentieth of the way ’round the Zodiac past the Square. The Square, or the Fourth Harmonic, signifies Healthy Control, as the place where Clarity returns and it’s now Clear that the new Cycle is in Charge (Waxing) – or the place where it’s now Clear that the current Cycle is descending into the Void (Waning). Either way, we don’t have to hedge our bets any more. The Twentieth Harmonic is about Decisions that can withstand the test of Time. So at the Tridecile we’re firing on all cylinders.
If we’re going to talk about Learning, we need to also talk about Curiosity and Confusion. We live in a Patriarchy where the “left brain,” with all its Analysis and Logic and Debate and Rules, dominates the surface. The “right brain,” with its focus on Vision and Intuition and Relationship and Yindependence, runs underground, or, we might say, has been run into the dirt. Logic is a house of cards built on top of Assumptions that are almost never explicit. The Assumptions of Yangtegrity are the equivalent of Unconscious Limits – they need to be brought into the Light of Day where we can see if they still grow Corn.
The “left brain” is useless for examining the Unknown, and by definition, the Unconscious is the Unknown. On the other hand, the “right brain” has a fabulous Skillset for doing exactly this. Intuition, yes, but foremost, Curiosity. Not Curiosity as in Questions looking for Answers, that’s “left brain.” But Curiosity as in Invitation to Insight. As with PIAVA, there must be a Change of Subject between Curiosity and Insight, or our old Patterns will absolutely Resist any Change.
Insight is very different from Analysis, because Insight leads us to New Perspectives, the very New Perspectives that can shift us from Despair to Miracles, as seeing the World through new eyes reveals different dimensions and relationships. Analysis can only shuffle the existing deck. Curiosity is akin to Love (the “greatest of these three”), in that they both eschew Judgment. Analysis seeks out Judgment. Without being Open to the New, we’re condemned to repeat the same old same old.
The first stage of Growth is Confusion, as our old mental structures are no longer adequate to constrain our World. A fundamental question to Ask ourself, if we want to follow the tremendous Changes that are shaking our Planet, is How is it that we Unconsciously Respond to Confusion? Fear is a common Response, as is Anger. Talk to someone whose Rhetoric is different from yours, and you’ll notice that when you get close to touching their faulty Assumptions, they get Angry – and we probably do the same.
One of our most important Masks to remove, is the one between Confusion and our usual Response to it. Neither Fear nor Anger serves to help us Grow quickly into new circumstances. By examining our Fear and Anger, we can work our way back to Confusion itself, and Teach ourself to relish the Feeling of Confusion, to invite it into our house as an honored guest, toast it, and Relax into it. Learn to Enjoy it.
To do that you’ll have to Feel Safe, and to the extent that our Safety depends on our mental structures, that’ll never happen. So to Enjoy Confusion we need to move our Assemblage Point from Understanding to Trust or Faith. We can’t do that “on Faith,” we need some kind of Support for a Belief that Trust or Faith is even possible. How to start on that project? PIAVA it.
jbuss Astrology 