← Encyclopedia of Astrology · lesson 101/235
Sesquiquadrate
A sesquiquadrate — also sesquisquare or sesquare — is two planets 135° apart: a square and a half, three-eighths of the circle, belonging to the eighth harmonic with the semi-square. At four and a half signs it has no fixed sign relationship and may join signs four or five apart. deVore describes it as the inversion of the semi-square, "deemed equally unfortunate but less powerful"; Robert Hand reads the two together as the minor hard aspects, cousins of the square.
Its character is strain. The planets pull at angles that never quite line up, and the person may overreach — push too far, commit too much — and then have to adjust. Agitation is part of it, but so is the capacity to recover and refine. It is often noticed when something has gone a step too far.
Orb
As with the semi-square, nearly every tradition keeps it tight, usually 1–2°. In the charts here it is capped at 2°; the bodies' own allowances only matter if they are tighter still. Its strength is how tight it is against that allowance, 1 at exact and 0 at the edge. See orb.
Ease or tension
The sesquiquadrate counts as tension in the ease and tension chart, at the same light weight as the semi-square — under half a square. It inclines toward agitation and correction, not toward lasting blockage.
In a chart
Ask where the two planets keep overstepping each other: Jupiter sesquiquadrate Saturn might show a pattern of grand plans followed by sharp reckonings — and, with practice, a good sense of measure. Two planets in square, both sesquiquadrate a third, form the finger of the world, with the third planet as the outlet for the square's tension. Sesquiquadrates also help make a hard rectangle.
In transit
The transit lists here follow the major aspects with the quincunx and semi-sextile, so transiting sesquiquadrates are not listed; those who use them treat them as minor triggers.
Kinds and conditions
- Applying or separating, like any aspect.
- Being four and a half signs, it has no "in-sign" form, so the idea of out-of-sign does not really apply.