In episode 328 astrologer Rick Levine joins the show to talk about minor aspects in astrology, and whether they should be regarded as “minor”.
Minor aspects are generally categorized as any aspects besides the five classical “major” aspects that were originally introduced in western astrology around the 1st century BCE, which are the conjunction, opposition, trine, square, and sextile.
The minor aspects include the semi-sextile, quincunx, semi-square, sesqui-square, quintile, bi-quintile, septile, novile, and others.
Several of the minor aspects used today were first introduced by the German astronomer and astrologer Johannes Kepler in the 17th century CE, although their adoption in the astrological community has been uneven, with some astrologers using them and others not.
During the course of the episode we discuss the history of minor aspects and some of the debates surrounding them, and then later look at some charts where Rick demonstrates how he uses minor aspects in practice.
For more info about Rick check out his YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/RickLevine
This episode is available in both audio and video versions below.
Timestamps
Here are some timestamps for topics covered at different points in the episode:
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:44 Rick’s views on whether they are really “minor” aspects
00:02:15 Major aspects review
00:03:36 History of the aspects
00:04:30 Kepler’s aspects
00:07:45 The inconjunct
00:08:40 Importance of major aspects
00:09:14 Mathematical harmonics
00:15:28 Minor aspects diagrams
00:18:28 Importance of the quintile
00:21:37 The septile
00:21:54 The quindecile
00:23:52 Kepler
00:30:38 The zodiac
00:34:44 Harmonics
00:43:47 Sign-based aspects
00:45:37 Aspects as divisions of a circle
00:52:09 Orbs
01:09:35 William Lilly quote about aspects
01:12:35 Kepler’s justification for the minor aspects
01:19:13 Synodic cycles
01:29:40 The quintile
01:36:16 The septile
01:39:06 More on harmonics
01:40:40 Yod
01:43:44 Kite
01:45:50 Quincunx yod
01:50:20 Modern string theory
01:51:14 Minor aspects and outer planets
01:52:13 Why do we need minor aspects?
01:53:21 Natal interpretation vs. mundane
01:58:40 Quincunx and aversions
02:00:31 Optics
02:02:17 More on yods
02:06:46 Difference between quintiles and septiles
02:12:32 Ram Dass’ natal chart
02:22:29 How Rick uses minor aspects in horoscopes
02:23:05 Harmonic convergence 2012
02:23:50 When Rick started using minor aspects
02:25:39 Rudhyar’s take on minor aspects
02:28:11 David Bowie’s natal chart
02:31:05 Rediscovery of whole sign houses
02:36:12 More on David Bowie
02:42:49 Michael Jackson’s natal chart
02:45:32 Emily Dickinson’s natal chart
02:49:40 Bob Dylan’s natal chart
02:57:51 Marilyn Monroe’s natal chart
03:01:20 Mozart’s natal chart
03:03:43 Princess Diana’s natal chart
03:09:59 Summary of the chart examples
03:18:02 Resources about minor aspects
03:21:50 Concluding remarks
Watch the Video Version of This Episode
Watch the video version of this episode on minor aspects:
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Transcript
A full transcript of this episode is available: Episode 328 transcript
Listen to the Audio Version of This Episode
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:25:32 — 188.5MB)
This episode inspired me to take a closer look at my inconjunctions, and I am blown away by how accurate the interpretations I am finding for them are. Now that I have these missing pieces illuminated, I feel like I understand my birth chart and myself even more deeply. It’s a little difficult to stomach how truthful some of these aspects are, but I am grateful for the information.
I am also so grateful for how much you covered harmonics in this episode. I discovered natal astrology around the same time I took the leap to enroll as a full-time music student earlier this year, and was immediately struck by how similar music theory and astrology seemed. I’ve always believed that timing is everything, and how vibration connects us to the universe. I refer to the moment we are born as the moment your life began playing in the rhythm of it all. Once I began learning about the circle of fifths, I made it my goal to find a way to transpose planetary placements into tones. When I found out it was a whole other branch of astrology, I knew it was more than a coincidence that I tripped over astrology on my way to music school. The concept of two planets in perfect opposition creating a chord just made my heart burst! I am so excited to learn as much as I can in this field. Thank you so much for all of your generous teachings.
Thank you for this great discussion! These aspects are SO important and I’ve tracked them for years. Acknowledging new knowledge is vital to progress in all study. Can you imagine medical practice if we insisted on maintaining the mindset of 1000 or even 50 years ago?
We now know of new planets and celestial bodies. We are perceiving and documenting the correlations of these new energies. Can we also explore the NOVILE (9th harmonic)? Is the 40 degree aspect initiatory?
I am loving Rick Levine. He is astrology Santa. And he brings such fascinating tidings about my birth chart.
I so badly want to understand my Mars/Saturn conjunction, which is 1) in my first house, 2) 28° away from my ascendant, 3) the apex of a T-square and 4) the apex of one (of two) quintile isosceles triangles.
Rick, yes please write the book! Or do workshop!
Chris, you need glasses! And thank you so much for all you do.
XO
Why do I need glasses?
You’re squinting a lot! I usually listen rather than watch so just noticed and thought I’d cheer this further indication that you are becoming one of the older astrologers.
I think I just have the monitors too far away from me so that they aren’t in the camera shot, so I end up squinting sometimes in order to see them. That and the new lights in the studio can be kind of intense during long recording sessions, and my eyes get kind of tired.
Rick Levine is ON FIRE in this episode! Intellectually humming with harmonics.
The interaction and energetics between Levine / Brennan is delightfully engaging.
I have been trying to look up the book Rick mentioned, but can’t find anything by David Hamblin under that title given. Do you think you could reach out to Rick and let us know for sure what the book is?