squares
challenge or opportunity?
I wanted to start speaking some about aspects, and SQUARES are definitely on my mind with my own Saturn Profected year and transiting Saturn moving on from a square with my Sun, as well as transiting through my 8th House (we’ll get to that). While it’s not something we often hear about in Human Design I think it is something we can explore both in our Natal Chart, and our Bodygraph. If you have a square in your natal chart between Mars and Venus, it goes to reason that there is also a distinct conversation between those Conscious Gates, as much as the signs and planetary archetypes we are used to exploring. We are, in fact, here to explore relationships, not just parsed out pieces, their relationship to each other and our relationship to them. With squares we often hear a very negative connotation of the struggles and obstacles but I believe they are also BIG opportunities in our charts to move through controversy, to smooth out discord and to lean into their gifts as we come into right relationship.
What is a square
A square is observed in our natal chart when 2 planets are 90* from each other (or three houses over). You can see them noted in the keynotes with the red square shape. Some astrologers focus on exact aspects at varying orbs while others look at sign based aspects. I tend to like a tighter orb, and especially so when when it comes to transiting planets. With a square there are not only energetic obstacles but we will see outward manifestations of that relationship in our mundane world. It is like these 2 planets (and their archetypes) are having an argument and they both think they are emphatically right. We want to get them to the place where they’d rather be happy. ;)
Squares are, I think, one of the most important aspects to bring our awareness to because we do have agency. They are the places where we are here to grow and to get stronger, our involution + evolution edges. Some believe they are tied to the lessons we didn’t learn in a past life, or that they are part of our ancestral patterns. They are definitely archetypes that cannot be ignored, much like compromise channels in connection charts, these are the themes we will keep coming up against, that we will go round and round with, a pattern that will keep exacting itself in new ways and situations until we get in right relationship with it.
They cannot be avoided and while we may get somewhat used to their grappling in our natal chart (in the ways we can get comfortable or stagnant in our suffering), when a transiting planet squares a personal planet (especially an outer planet or malefic (like Mars + Saturn)), it will be keenly felt, much like a collision, crashing into you, shaking things up, potentially creating discomfort, teaching you something, creating confusion, changing your trajectory in some way. Squares are the aspect I would most relate to the hero’s journey. They are our mountains to climb, our crosses to bear, our places to persevere. When we do not stand up and face them they can become the unwanted self-fulfilling prophecies. Similar to Shadow work, we want to be doing the spelunking and composting so that we are driving the ship, so to speak, rather than being victim to their whim(s).
“Astrology is humanity’s oldest and most precise mind-map. It cannot, however, control you. The planets hold half the cards, you hold the rest. Choices you make within the astrological environment determine what actually happens to you. We are free. No rigid, fatalistic prediction can bind us. There is no astrological event so baleful that creativity, intelligence, and honest self-appraisal cannot turn it to constructive uses - and there is no configuration so glorious that laziness cannot sour it.”
A square will alway result in an elemental conflict but be of the same mode (cardinal, fixed, mutable). For example Aries squares Cancer, cardinal fire and cardinal water. We can think about the characteristics of these elements in relationship to the signs and the planets as part of the conversation they are having.
We want to ask, contemplate, marinate, meditate:
What is the relationship between these energies?
What are the high and low vibrations?
What is this marriage here to teach me?
How can I sit with the discomfort as I move through?
Can I really trust in what this challenge is here to show me? Surrender to the journey as I bring awareness and integration.
How can I better lean into the gifts while balancing the weakening aspects?
i.r.l
There are MANY factors that will illuminate how intensely a square may be felt and in what context, like the dignity of the planet, your chart as a whole, sect, whether it is with a benefic or malefic planet, etc.. I have been open about some of the effects I’ve already experienced since I profected into my first of two Saturn years. This is amplified by the fact that I have a night chart, that transiting Saturn recently squared my Sun and he is transiting through my 8th House, as well as some other relationships in my chart, including a very long Chiron transit on my Moon, and Uranus on my natal Chiron. The 8th House is one of the houses of health, and a Saturn transit through it can be one of the most affecting health transits one will experience. I wanted to mention this because I tend to attract a lot of Cancer Rising folks, and if you have a Cancer AC then you have Aquarius on the the 8th House so it is a year (till March 2023 actually) to really pay attention to and take care of your body. Saturn brings cold, dry, constricting energy and there are always ways we can bring balance. In Aquarius, he is at least home and in an energy of forward progress. So while it may feel uncomfortable, he may trigger things within that have long needed to be dealt with, we may also find new solutions.
It is also an opportunity to really work with my relationship to Saturn both his supportive and taxing qualities. No planet, even a malefic, is all difficult. There are many times in my practice I have recommended Saturnian energy to clients, either to lean into for support, to visit a Saturn line, connect to those places, etc.. and other times when I would’t advise that (like I was thinking of a trip along my Saturn line soon and am postponing/changing destinations as I’m already so steeped in that energy). But, Saturn offers some great qualities, like concretizing our manifestations on the material plane, which is feeling supported right now in my life. He helps us to set healthy boundaries, to say no when we need to, to practice greater self discipline. In many ways Saturn is an ally in helping us to endure and overcome the obstacles he himself may bring. He is also a great support for Sacral beings to prune our lives and release the things that are no longer lighting us up.
I am someone who often follows the path of learning according to what I most need at any given moment (Need Motivation ;). The Collective is chock full of tools I picked up a long the way when I was experiencing some form of discomfort, and the crankiness I feel now in my body has led me back to a greater focus there, on more somatic practices coming to SPACE, on a revisiting and deeper dive into medical astrology and herbalism as well as cultivating a deeper relationship with my mediation practice and spirituality (natal Saturn square Neptune in one of my other Houses of Health).
If you have an Aquarius Saturn and are in the middle of your Saturn Return, you want to look at what needs reevaluation, what chapters are ready to be closed, what new foundations you are laying + how to support yourself as you move through.
Wherever he lives in our chart this is an area where we need to walk the path alone in some ways. However, when we are in right relationship with his relationships and archetypes in our chart he can bring great rewards and a profound faith in our own destiny. Much like our Squares.
Ultimately the challenges, wounds, opposition’s, etc.. in our charts are not to be feared. With our awarness they can be pathways to some of the great lessons of our lives, to our purpose and what we ultimately share with the world, to our highest highs, and to alchemizing the life we desire into reality. With no opposition or challenge we would not know how to richly experience love, joy and ease. Without challenge we would never grow.