30 Degrees of Separation - The Semi-Sextile

There's little I can write about in astrology that I haven't written about before, at least once during my many years of blogging. While preparing a weekend post, I began scribbling about the semi-sextile, referred to a piece by astrologer Donna Cunningham....then took a quick look back at my archived posts. Lo and behold - I'd written about this in the past - in 2014. Ah well, waste not want not. I shall simply link to the old post and include under the link the additional words I'd already written before discovering my earlier work. The old post has some interesting comments attached too, by the way.

In a Minor Key - The semi-sextile (2014)


(Today)

Something I read at Quora had me perusing my own natal chart - I do so rarely these days. I then clicked around Google quickly and happened upon a piece by Donna Cunningham.

From Is the semi-sextile a good aspect or a bad one?
by Donna Cunningham.

Snips -

Have you read or been taught much about the semi-sextile? I’m guessing that you haven’t—in most astrology writings, it tends to get shrugged off as a minor aspect after a half-hearted sentence or two of description. It’s a 30° aspect, plus or minus 2-3°. For instance, a planet in Aries may form a semi-sextile to a planet at approximately the same degree of either of the two adjacent signs, Pisces or Taurus...........

.........The good traits of one of the signs can usually offset the less than wonderful traits of the other, especially if we learn to use them consciously. I have several in my chart, and they tend to pull me back off the ledge when I’m about to bungee dive into the worst qualities of the signs involved.

I'm most aware of one prominent semi-sextile in my own natal chart: Sun at 6+Aquarius/Jupiter at 6+ Pisces. I like that one. Aquarius chases after logic, while Pisces chases imagination and dreams - the effort expended in maintaining a balance of the two helps make life interesting and satisfying.

I hadn't, until now, taken as much notice of two other semi-sextiles in my chart. Saturn and Uranus are semi-sextile within a degree, in Aries and Taurus respectively. Those are my Aquarius Sun's ruling planets (traditional and modern), and that semi-sextile does echo the feel of the Aquarius/Pisces semi-sextile: in a "stop-go" kind of way - Aries is spontaneous and quick, Taurus is traditional and steady. A feasible balance needs to be maintained, and it's not too difficult to do.

The third semi-sextile in my chart is between Mercury and Venus in Capricorn and Sagittarius respectively- not quite 2 degrees of difference in the semi-sextile. Again, here's that same flavour coming through "steady and careful as she goes" from Capricorn, but "get on the road now and go as far and fast as possible" from Sagittarius!

So, I've discovered what is a recognisable trait in my personality - recognisable to me anyway, only I know for sure what goes on within. There are three pieces of evidence of this trait in my chart. Knock-out fall-down fights of opposites are not a feature of these semi-sextiles, but gentle tussles between two subtly different sides of me, neither being too far beyond the pale to be blended together. One side wins sometimes, but the other side has been known to win equally often too.

For any stray passing reader with an interest in astrology and their natal chart to hand - take a look for any close semi-sextiles and discover how they fit in your own case. I'll finish today in the same way I ended my 2014 post:
"As always, personal experience is key to knowing how it (or anything) works for you."