Mars Unaspected
Another person whom we did previously that has an unaspected planet is little Marie “Killer” Schneider. 
For Marie, her unaspected Mars works well in her chart — her desire for the the gold earrings, the quick push, the “I don’t know why” reason. The red line shown on her chart above is an opposition to the midheaven, that both we and Dr. Hamaker-Zondag ignore but at 03.19 Sagittarius suggest that her life will be marked by impulsiveness. The green line partly hidden by our notes, is a sextile to her ascendant that we also ignore on the same grounds — they are not planets just mathematical points and but are the only two aspects that we can find. The rest of the planets are blacked out following Marc Jones piano key method where only the planets under consideration are shown.
In short, unaspected planets though hard to find in a chart, are important because the individual overemphasizes them in their life. The British astrologer Sasha Fenton¹ has an unaspected Neptune and openly admits that she has “worked in every kind of Neptunian field, including prisons and mental health hospitals,” and so an unaspected planet works like a focal determinator in the chart.
Questions? Comments? Send them in. We are always willing to talk.
Footnotes:
- Fenton, Sasha, The Planets: Discover the power of the planets. London, UK: the Aquarian Press, an imprint of HarperCollins, c. 1994.
- Hamaker-Zondag, Karen, Aspects and Personality, York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc. c. 1990
We constantly vet our posts for accuracy. This essay was updated on 10 May 2018.
Here is another example of a ‘missing Saturn’ – Andrew Brietbart’s chart. Interesting that his successor Steve Bannon has suddenly arisen to fame and now sits at the right hand of the Man. I wrote this piece about 2 years ago, it appeared in the North Texas Astrologers newsletter.
I, not being “a political blogger junkie”, only recently heard of the existence Andrew Breitbart. His name came to my attention when the news story broke about the government employee, Shirley Sherrod, who lost her job as a result of a doctored video recording of her that was released by him. Mr. Breitbart was the “journalist” who had also previously published reports that contributed to the resignation Representative Weiner and the blackballing of Acorn.
I would not have taken the time to even look at Mr. Breitbart’s chart except a friend bought it up. I have not gone to the trouble to research his birth time, so I set up a sunrise chart for Los Angeles where he was born, February 1, 1969. Unless he was born three or four hours after midnight he has the moon in Leo; which seems to fit his personality perfectly, especially in his proclivity to be an arrogant blowhard. His sun at 12 Aquarius makes him a full moon birth, and by a bit of translation-of-light, Mars gets picked-up in this light as the focal planet of a T-Cross. Mars is in Scorpio, approaching Neptune, so we see here his love of digging up dirt, giving it a “creative twist” to suit his ideological mind-set, and then zealously broadcasting it.
Perhaps the more intriguing feature of his chart is his Saturn, 20 Aries, that dangles in the wheel with no major aspects. It does, however, form a quincunx, rather closely, with Mars, which tends to corroborate his alacrity for attacking authority figures. The quincunx can be the most difficult aspect in the chart because the signs it connects do not have any common factors ( by triplicity, quadrature or polarity). So, the planets that are unfortunate enough to be involved in a quincunx tend to be sort of like “two ships passing in the night”. These vessels may want urgently to find each other but are incapable of doing so. Mr. Breitbart perhaps felt in his life experience the persistent challenge of effectively structuring and disciplining his energy (Competitive frustration, fights blockages, angry over repression, etc.)
Saturn in Aries is not a desirable place for the ‘old man’ to be, either. Saturn is the archetype of good order and structure, Aries is the antithesis of these. Here we see shades of the quincunx. Saturn inhibits the natural drive for freedom from restraint of Aries, while the wild energy of Aries disturbs Saturn’s attempts to establish stability and order. As a result there is the probability of fear and insecurity, misdirected energy and very bad timing. This can be the signature of either the bully or the wimp. Bullying behavior arises from an attempt to compensate for feelings of fear and insecurity.
Unaspected planets, logically, would seem to be a non-factor in the natal horoscope because it through the interpretation of the various aspectual connections of the planets that a major part of the astrological portrait is constructed. But, in reality the unaspected planet often plays a dominate role in the personality, in fact it seem to “run away” with the native. Perhaps this is because it is not “restrained” by the normal constraints that naturally occur in relation with the other planets.
In her book The Yod Book, Karen Hamaker-Zondag writes, “that the unaspected planet will elicit a feeling of “searching” and an inexplicable uneasiness, which is, however, inherent in it. This searching also involves feelings of insecurity”. So, a person with a unaspected Saturn will not have the benefit of a “built in” Saturn function. He or she will have to figure out a way to “make one”, and this process of making might take a long time, or never be done, the later seems to have been the fate of Mr. Breitbart. But, probably when the archetype of the unaspected planet is successfully “self-created” it is a marvelous thing, unique and self-actuating.
It is interesting to note that Mr. Breitbart was an adopted child and I suppose he never knew his father (Saturn).
He died suddenly just after midnight, March 1. At that time transiting Uranus was at 3 Aries within a few minutes of an exact opposition to natal Uranus. The natal North Node is 1 Aries (so, natal Uranus is conjunct the South Nodes). Transiting Mercury, 28 Pisces, also plays a role, as does transiting Venus, 25 Aries. Transiting Saturn, 29 Libra, is in the 8th solar house and opposes natal Saturn. As is frequently the case the moon’s nodes are often activated at time of death.
yes I’ve noticed that in particular, the South Node is in effect.