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Preface-
This post is about the opposition formed on your birth chart, based on your birth date. An oppsition is known as an aspect of astrology. I will be explaining slightly what these two terms mean but it may help to use the following links as reference-
Astrology 102- What’s a Birth Chart? An In-depth Simple Explanation! Natal Chart
Astrology 101- The Sun, Moon, and Ascendant / Rising Sign Meaning
What is an opposition? Short Answer: An opposition represents friction between the planets involved.
What is a Birth Chart?
The photo above is a birth chart. Every person’s birth chart varies, to look up your’s click here and fill the information on the page. It shows where the planets were on your date of birth and exact time of birth! Do not let this overwhelm you, I promise it is not as scary as it looks! Also check out our How to read a Birth Chart article. This chart has an awful lot of shapes in the middle of it! These shapes in the chart are made by “connecting the dots” the dots, being the planets. The planets are the symbols around the outside of the charts. They are in these positions on your chart because this is where the planets were on the day of your birth! Aspects are determined based on how many degrees away your signs are from each other.
For example, the photo below shows how birth charts connect planets. Venus is connected to the moon (The pink symbol is Venus and the moon symbol is the moon.) This is because Venus is about 180 degrees from the moon. Any planets directly across from each other on your chart, will be oppositions.
This photo below will give you an idea of how the planets connect to make the entire birth chart! Venus is connected to the moon, and Mercury (on the left) is connected to Saturn (on the right). Mercury and Saturn are connected because they are about 120 degrees apart, this makes them a trine.
Each planet is connected to other planets (based on how many degrees apart they are) until there are no possible connections left. We are generally looking for signs that are about 360, 120, 180, 90, 60, 45, and 30 degrees apart. Don’t worry, we’re only going over one shape (or aspect) in this post! We are going to be talking about the opposition; the straight line, that occurs when the connections of planets happen to form a line straight across from each other making them 180 degrees apart!
There are other aspects in astrology including squares, trines, conjunctions, etc. Each of these influence your chart in different ways, and these aspects influence your personality and life. These concepts in astrology can become complicated because you need to have a firm grasp of the meaning and representation of zodiac signs, the houses in astrology, and the ruling planets of each, not to mention you should also be familiar with your own birth chart. However, I will be explaining what an opposition is as simply as possible!
What is an Opposition?
Literally speaking, an opposition is an angle created on your birth chart, where planets and other astrological points are about 180° apart in the circle. An opposition forms a straight line when looked at on a chart! Opposing planets are always directly across from each other on the zodiac wheel!
The two photos above show a straight line in a circle, or in astrological terms, an opposition in a birth chart. (Notice the birth chart is a calendared wheel that contains the 12 zodiac symbols.) In these birth charts, all of the other shapes are gone just to show you the opposition. There are many many layers to these astrological charts. The points where the straight line ends, connect the objects that make this opposition!
What does an Opposition mean in Astrology?
An opposition in astrology creates a tug-of-war relationship & power struggles, among the aspects or planets involved. It is a hard and difficult aspect to have in your chart. It shows you an area in your life that is naturally unbalanced. The planets involved are working with zodiac signs that are polar opposites. These signs are known as polarities. It is common to think of oppositions as planet versus planet. Because the planets seem to be at a tug-of-war, when you are involved in one that means that the other is completely neglected.
If you have an opposition in your chart, that means there are two connections that made it so! Let’s say that Venus is connected with Neptune. What this means in astrology, is that the area of life represented by these planets will have friction. So to continue, Venus is the planet of love, and Neptune is the planet of creativity and imagination. If they are connected in an opposition that means that your love and creativity oppose each other. They cause a “tug-of-war” effect, meaning that one is always dominant while the other is nonexistent. Causing a great imbalance between the two. In this example, the oppositions suggest that you are either creative or in love, when you are in love you probably have struggles being creative, or sometimes when you are being creative you have less room for love. (More Examples on interpreting your opposition below)
An opposition is considered a “hard aspect” because it is a quality that will take lots of hard work and lessons in order to fix. Because the planets interact this way you will have natural struggles, usually it will take until adulthood for people to resolve the issues made by this aspect.
A trine is astrology is a triangle in your birth chart, it occurs when planets form three, 120 degree angles. A trine is a very fortunate and welcoming aspect. When one of the lines in a trine on your birth chart happens to also be an opposition, the trine eases the friction and the planets become harmonious and stable like the structure of a triangle!
How to Interpret Oppostions! With Examples
The birth chart above shows only one oppostion on this person’s chart (as you have seen above in the first photo, many shapes overlap each other making many different shapes in a chart). The points where the straight line connects are the objects that make this opposition! When these planets connect we refer to it as “Planet” opposes “Planet”. For example, Mars opposes Jupiter in the chart above.
For example, in the photo above the Moon (to the left) opposes Mercury (to the right) these two planets make an opposition because they are about 180 degrees apart! There are 3 steps to interpreting what your opposition means. Step one is to identify and define your planet (Mercury the planet of communication), Step two is to identify what sign that planet is in (Aries the Ram), Step three is find what house it is affecting (I Self). I will fully explain how to do this below!
1. The First Step to interpret what your oppostion means is to find the planets involved.
Just like I explained above, there are many aspects to interpreting your trines. The first step is to understand what each planet means in astrology. Here is a quick simplistic list of the planets and other objects on a chart.
Quick Reference to Planet Meanings in Astrology
Sun- Ego Moon- Inner Emotions
Mercury- Communication & Thoughts Venus- Love
Mars- Passion & Aggression Jupiter- Luck & Abundance
Saturn- Duty & Achievement Uranus- Rebellion & Revolutions
Neptune- Creativity & Imagination Pluto- Purging & Catharsis
Ascendant- Attitude
This means that if these planets oppose each other, you can know what are of your life is causing friction. For example, Mercury opposes Venus, this would mean that your communication and thought process is causing friction in the way you love! Maybe your communication makes you less lovable, or you are not able to communicate your love in a healthy way.
2. The Second Step to interpret what your opposition means is to find the signs that your planets are in!
If you are familiar with astrology, then you probably know this concept. (Your Moon in Libra, Venus in Virgo, Ascendant in Aries etc.) But for those who do not know, on your birth chart, each planet has a sign based on where it was on the sky, when you were born.
In this photo Jupiter is in Gemini (the bottom symbol represents the planet Jupiter and is in the Gemini placement on the wheel) and the Mars is in Sagittarius (the top symbol represents Mar and is in the Sagittarius placement on the wheel) These two planets, Jupiter and Mars are about 180 degrees apart, forming an opposition.
Here is how to interpret the oppositions above, we’ll focus on one at a time first, Mercury opposes Neptune. We know from looking at the chart above that Neptune is in Pisces. If you research Neptune in Pisces then you will know that their imagination is emotionally charged when in this placement. We also know from the chart that Mercury is in Leo. If you research Mercury in Leo then you will know that they Communicate confidently when in this placement. So finally, this Neptune opposing Mercury, means their emotionally charged imagination will work against their ability to communicate confidently or vise versa.
The zodiac signs are a bit more complicated to create a quick chart, if you just google the placement, you can find short descriptions! (Coming Soon)
3. The Third Step to find what your trine means is to find what Astrological ‘House’ this is happening.
This concept confused me for a long time, and I intend to explain it well to not confuse you! Here are two birth charts placed next to each other
Notice the inner markings of the inner white circle. On the left middle side (9pm on a clock) it starts counting the houses of astrology. With AS (your ascendant) as the first house, then it is followed with II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IIX, IX, MH (Midheaven), XI, XII. These tics and sections represent the “houses” in your birth chart. Only focus on those markings for now!
These sections are called the houses of astrology! Each house has their own meaning. (Short meanings below). Each birth chart will have different signs and planets in their houses. The placement of these columns never change, the houses will always be in that position, the thing that changes is the turning of the zodiac signs on the wheel and each person’s specific chart. Notice on the left how the sign in the first house is in Pisces and the sign for the chart on the right it’s first house begins in Sagittarius.
Quick Reference to House Meanings in Astrology
I First House– Self II Second House- Possesions
III Third House- Communication IV Fourth House- Home
V Fifth House- Love VI Sixth House- Health
VII Seventh House- RelationshipsVIII Eighth House- Death
IX Ninth House- Exploration X Tenth House- Career
XI Eleventh House- Groups XII Twelfth House- Wholeness
Now, to finally put all that we have learned together, we know that we have an opposition that we are trying to interpret. We have found the two planets that are involved. We’ve also found the signs for each planet. Now let’s add the extra dimension of knowing what it means in the house it is in.
Let’s look at a new example and start from the beginning!
We know from the chart above that Venus opposes Pluto.
Step one, find the meaning of the planets, Pluto is the planet of purging and catharsis, and Venus is the planet of love. Step two, find the zodiac signs, Pluto is in Virgo and Venus is in Pisces. So far, we have researched that this Pluto in Virgo means this person will experience catharsis and purging in areas pertaining to analysis control. After research, we know that Venus in Pisces means this person is dreamy while in love. Step 3 is to find out what area of life these things will be happening in! (Or what house this is occurring in.) Pluto is in the second house and Venus is in the eighth house.
To summarize, Pluto opposing Venus in this chart means, their catharsis and purging (pluto) in analysis and control (virgo) is affecting their possesions (2nd house), which opposes their dreamingly (pisces) love life (venus) which is mainly affecting their ability to let things go (death; 8th house).
To summarize even further, Pluto in Virgo will have to deal with catharsis, purging, and letting go of things when it comes to their control and analysis of the world. Because this is in the second house, that means that this will be happening to their possessions. They will have to (during this life) learn how to let go of control or how to get rid of their controlling urges specifically relating to their possessions. For example, they may not want to give away a certain item in their home because they like to control their environment.
Venus in Pisces are very romantic and dreamy while in love. Because this is placed in the eighth house, that means they will be experiencing this imaginative and romantic love through “death” or the eighth house. This could mean a number of different things because death has many meanings, could mean letting go of the old. For example, they may find imaginative true love after many “dead” relationships.
Because these two placements oppose each other the need for catharsis when it comes to possessions works against the imaginative love in ‘death’. It seems that the need to control ones possessions may be keeping them from true love, or vice versa, love is stopping them from being able to purge their possessions. These two entities pull against each other in some way.F
I hope I’ve given you some understanding of an opposition in astrology!
Feel free to leave a comment if you have any thoughts or questions!
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