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Opposition

An opposition is two planets 180° apart, on opposite sides of the zodiac. It is the second harmonic — the circle cut in two. Ptolemy explained it most simply of all the aspects: the two signs "meet on one straight line". An opposition usually links opposite signs, which share a modality — cardinal, fixed or mutable — and pair a fire sign with an air sign or an earth sign with a water sign (Aries with Libra, Taurus with Scorpio), so the two ends are different in kind and yet complementary.

Its character is polarity. Each planet sees the other plainly, which makes the opposition the aspect of awareness: the person feels both sides and may swing between them, or meet one of them in other people before owning it. It pulls, confronts and, at best, balances.

Orb

Most astrologers treat the opposition as one of the strongest aspects and allow it as much room as the conjunction: commonly 8–10° with the Sun or Moon, 6–8° otherwise, with traditional authors working from each planet's own orb. In the charts here the allowance is set by the two bodies — 8° for the Sun and Moon, 7° for the Ascendant and Midheaven, 6° for the other planets and the nodes, 2.5° for asteroids — taking the tighter of the pair. Its strength is how close it sits to exact against that allowance, from 1 at exact to 0 at the edge. See orb.

Ease or tension

The opposition counts as tension in the ease and tension chart, at full weight. Tension here means pull, not misfortune: an opposition held well becomes perspective, the ability to keep two truths in view at once.

In a chart

Look at the axis as a whole: the two signs, and the two houses facing each other — self and partner across the 1st and 7th, home and career across the 4th and 10th. The task an opposition sets is integration rather than choosing a side. When a third planet squares both ends, it forms a T-square.

In transit

A transiting planet opposite a natal one tends to bring its theme from outside — through another person, an event, a reaction. Every full moon is an opposition of the Sun and Moon, the classic moment for things to come to light. Slow planets can repeat an opposition through retrograde motion.

Kinds and conditions

  • Applying or separating: building toward its peak or easing away from it.
  • Out-of-sign: at the edges of signs, an opposition can join signs that are not opposite, so the two ends share less than usual.
  • Exact: the moment of perfection, usually when the matter is most visible.
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