FEATURE ARTICLE

©Marianne E. Payton

I decided to explore a bit further into Declinations because of the questions that keep coming in. Parallels happen when two planets fall in the same degree, either both north or both south. Contra-parallels happen when two planets are in the same degree of declination, but one is north and the other is south. When two planets that are in longitudinal aspect i.e., square, trine, conjunction be sure to look for they may be in declination aspects also. This is why things happen that you are not looking for because of the "lack" of aspects you **see** in your charts. When this happens, the energy of the pair is multiplied ~ that is much stronger than you expected.

The usual orb of influence for a declination aspect is 1º. The closer a planet is to the 0° line, the faster it moves, so a larger orb should be considered. After a planet passes 19 to 20º of declination, north or south, the daily motion slows down, so don't stretch it too far.

For instance, as I explained in an earlier ezine, the action of a natal Moon in parallel aspect to natal Pluto brings trouble. The Moon and Pluto in declination brings control issues and power struggles with women as well as female surgery. I had one gal who lost a friend, had to move and lost a body part during a transit of Pluto to her natal Moon. In the case of a declination, the same results happen but tend to last longer. In her case, Pluto stationed on her Moon, thus crossing it a couple of times before leaving her alone.

When you have two natal planets square, and they are also parallel, this is a very powerful aspect. The energy is reinforced. But it is the hidden aspects, such as the semi-sextile with its opposition, that you will not see unless you use the declinations. The declinations are important and unless you are using all the tools of the trade, you will miss out on much needed information.

When we erect a chart for a client with the Ascendant at 0 Aries, this also represents the intersection of the ecliptic and equator. This is where the planets begin going North and/or South in their declination. How many strange things begin happening to this person when each planet reaches this degree by declination several times a month?? Or, maybe stay there for several months, or maybe be hit by several planets during this month that cannot be explained without the declinations?

The same applies to planets at 0° of the cardinal points. Strange things begin to happen without any obvious reason you can explain by aspects in their chart. Been there? How did you explain it without declinations?

Suppose you have a planet at 0° Cancer (declination 23°27' South) and compare it to a planet at 7°30' Cancer (declination 23°15' South) . Here, with the same separation of 7°30' the difference in declination is only 0°12'. This pair of planets can be much further apart in zodiacal longitude yet still be within orb by the declination. This makes a much tighter conjunction!

There are still parts of the declinations for which I haven't found answers, such as the house cusps and their association with a planet if found in the same declination. In case you haven't seen these yet, go to

This article may be distributed freely on your website, as long as this entire article, including links and this resource box are unchanged.

Here is an interesting link for a better introduction on declinations, which I suggest you read when you have time:

For those tired of all that spam in your email, give Mailwasher Pro a trial run. I have used it now for almost a year and would not want to be without it. If you like it, then you can buy it.

Fair enough? The free trial did it for me.

SPOTLIGHT
Online Public Survey