My teacher used to say that having a bunch of planets together in the same sign or house of a chart is sort of like having a nursery full of screaming babies and only one set of hands. Things can get pretty noisy and overwhelming with so much energy in one place.
In technical terms, this bunch of hollering astro-infants is called a stellium. If you were born between 1962-69, 1981-83, or 1987-90, you’re especially likely to have one in your birth chart. That’s because these were years when outer planets Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto were engaged in various cozy conjunctions with one another. If personal planets (Sun, Mercury, Venus, or Mars) in your chart fall in the same signs as these outer planetary heavies, your nursery tends to be very loud indeed. How can you quiet them long enough to hear what each one is saying?
Now, beloved astrologer and author Donna Cunningham (Healing Pluto Problems, Being a Lunar Type in a Solar World) has written a comprehensive guide to untangling these knots of planetary energy. After hearing her lecture on this subject at UAC 2012 (you can buy an mp3 of the lecture here, near the bottom of Track 2) I was especially eager to get my hands on this book, and it doesn’t disappoint.
Why eager? Because more and more of my clients were born during the late 1980s, and the most eloquent astrologer can find herself struck dumb in the presence of a chart with practically every planet in, say, Capricorn. I recently contended with one of these in a Mountain Astrologer Chart Challenge column, and I wrote, in part, “If we take everything ever written about the sign of Capricorn and put it in all capital letters with a big exclamation point next to it, we can begin to understand what the world wants from you.” For the stellium person, it’s as though the world demands something so specific and needs it so urgently that subtlety is out of the question.
As Cunningham writes in her book,
This group’s special abilities are bound to make a huge difference in our vast global problems and may alter the course of world history. And, yet, because the energies of the planets involved are so difficult to combine, many of them are struggling. It was for these exceptional young adults, in particular, that I was impelled to create this guidebook.”
For the purposes of her book, Cunningham differentiates between a triple conjunction, a stellium by sign, and a stellium by house:
- The triple conjunction has three planets within about 8 degrees of each other, regardless of sign or house.
- A stellium by sign has four or more planets in the same zodiac sign, but not necessarily in the same house.
- And the stellium by house has four or more planets in the same house, though not necessarily by sign.
Classically, two of the planets in the stellium or triple conjunction need to be something other than the Sun, Mercury, or Venus, which travel pretty close together all the time.
Those born with stelliums have great gifts, Cunningham asserts―a strong sense of mission, passion, intense focus, a unique range of skills. But stelliums also make you vulnerable, since too many of your astrological eggs occupy a single basket. Your life may lack balance, and with so much depending on success in one area of life, setbacks can really wipe you out. (With four planets in the 9th house, myself, let’s just say I can relate to this.)
Donna Cunningham is extremely effective at laying out complex astrological concepts in a user-friendly way. And what I love best about her books is that she doesn’t just leave you stranded with a technical understanding of the astrology, but also offers a self-help life raft of tools and resources to help you get the most out of your chart.
Here, beginners are offered a very accessible introductory chapter to the subject of astrology. But if you’re an absolute beginner, just know that it will take some extra work to grasp the basic astrology needed to get the most from the book. If you at least know what the planets are, and the signs and houses, and can recognize a conjunction when you see one, the rest of the book will guide you through a systematic analysis (including helpful worksheets – I love worksheets!) of these configurations for yourself or your clients.
The e-book is $20. You can check out a factsheet and sampler, and get information about how to order your copy, at Donna’s site.
© 2014 by April Elliott Kent
