Now I believe in semi-squares

The past few days, I've been overcome with anger and resentment -- which would make sense, since today is a Scorpio Full Moon -- but it hasn't until now, because I didn't see the Full Moon making any hard aspects to any of my chart points. I play by a hard-and-fast rule that a lunation doesn't have much of an impact unless it's making a conjunction, square or opposition (and maybe a quincunx) to a planet or angle. Trines and sextiles just don't force one to get out of bed in the morning, you know? So I've been confounded all day ... why do I feel so pissy? The Full Moon is making a not-so-tight trine to my Pisces Sun. Big deal.

But now I know. This Full Moon is exactly semi-square my natal Pluto, the ruler of Scorpio. When I was studying astrology with John, I was amazed that he could immediately identify semi-squares and sesquiquadrates, because unless they're identified by those little symbols in the center of a computerized chart, they don't exactly pop out at you. All the Ptolemaic aspects are pretty easy to notice, because they're in the same degree areas, unless you're looking the last degrees of one sign and the first degrees of another. But 45 and 135 degree angles don't share that heuristic. 26 Virgo and 11 Scorpio don't scream out, "Aspect!" You have to do the math in your head. 26 Virgo (my natal Pluto) + 30 degrees = 26 Libra. 26 Libra + 15 degrees = 11 Scorpio (today's Full Moon). Therefore, 26 Virgo + 45 degrees = 11 Scorpio.

The math isn't so easy, but it's worth it, because now everything has fallen into place. The tension, the seething underground rage ... there's a precise astrological corollary to it. All is right in the Universe.