Understanding the Mundane Square—Your Input Needed

©7-12-2010 by Donna Cunningham, MSW

Skywriter’s readers have participated eagerly in a series of research projects into little-known aspects like the septile (51.5°), semisquare (45°), and sesquiquadrate (135°). As of today, 137 of you have reported on your semisquares in the comment section. It’s been great  fun to see these mysterious aspects come alive through your stories, so let’s continue.

In my early days in astrology, I heard an ancient teaching about an aspect called the mundane square in which any planet on the Ascendant is considered square to any planet on the Midheaven or IC. The two planets may or may not actually be  in numerical aspect to one another, but supposedly they act as though they were square.

Skeptical at first, I discovered a mundane square between Pluto on my Ascendant and my Moon on my Midheaven. It not only rang bells, it sounded a gong that pretty nearly deafened me! Certainly there are other chart features that speak of a difficult relationship with my mother, but when I read descriptions of a Moon-Pluto square, they were eerily accurate.

We can find justification for mundane squares in the research done by the Gauquelins, which proved statistically that planets falling within 10° either side of the angles of chart (ASC, MH, IC, and DSC) assumed a powerful significance in people’s lives.

I haven’t heard anything about mundane squares in ages but have been thinking about this aspect-that-isn’t-an-aspect lately as one we might explore together. Here’s what you can do to join in:

1) Look at your chart to see if you have a mundane square.

2) Consider whether those two planets form any other aspect to one another, even a minor one.

3) Is there any other type of connection between the two planets?  For instance, if the Sun and Uranus are in mundane square, do you have the Sun in the 11^th or in Aquarius or Uranus in Leo? If so, that creates another sort of connection that could partially explain any effect of the mundane square.

4) If there is no other aspect or connection between the two planets, then think about the qualities and issues they represent and see if they are a pattern in your life. (If you’re new to astrology, then read descriptions of aspects between the two planets in books or look for them on line.)

In your report, think about the meanings, urges, and needs represented by these two planets and about how they affect each other. Ask yourself whether you can see that combination of planets operating in your life.

How do they show up in your life in terms of behavior patterns, feelings, urges, repeated situations or events, and inner and outer conflicts?

Conversely, what gifts, abilities, and personality traits do they convey? Think of specific, concrete details, not abstractions.

5) Tell us your conclusions in the comment section for this article by scrolling down below the bottom of this article.  Read what others are saying about their own mundane squares.

Incidentally, in looking for what was written about the mundane square, I came across a mention of this and other little known aspects being studied by Placidus de Titus in the 1600s.  (That would be the Placidus for whom the house system is named.)

Since astrologers have known about these aspects for centuries, it’s a wonder we don’t understand them better than we do. I suspect they spent more time looking through telescopes than looking at what was going on in their own homes and lives.  Here’s a detailed  case example of a mundane square: Outtake from a Moon-Pluto Life

More Articles from the Series about the Lesser-Known Aspects:

• The Not so Minor Aspects—Results of Our Research
• Understanding Semisquares—Your Input Needed
• Understanding the Sesquiquadrate—Your Input Needed
• Understanding Septiles–Your Input Needed
• Understanding Quintiles—What’s YOUR Talent?
• Understanding the BiQuintile—Your Input Needed
• Quincunx vs. BiQuintile–an Answer from Numerology?
• Mundane square case study: Outtake from a Moon-Pluto Life
• Breathing Refined Air: The Esoteric Aspects
• Is the Semi-Sextile a Good Aspect or a Bad One?
• Pluto and the transiting Antiscia–not Over ’til It’s Over
• The Antiscia are Coming! The Antiscia are Coming!

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