Some four years ago, I resurrected the quindecile aspect from a passing reference to it in early writings of Thomas Ring, a brilliant German astrologer-theoretician early in this century. The aspect's drama and significance in life development are absolutely compelling. The passionate nature of the aspect led me to pronounce it, in all my lectures through many countries and in all my articles, in the Italian way: quin-deh-chee'-leh. The British 'quin-dehss-aisle' is simply too sterile for the power of this aspect. I'm delighted that the Italian way has caught on everywhere!

"Quin-deh-chee'-leh" is the Latinate word for fifteen, referring to the fifteen-degree increments of all aspects in the 24th harmonic (360/24=15: 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105, 120, 135, 150, 165, 180. Of these aspects, all but the 105 and 165 are already covered (named) by existing aspect references. Research showed the 105 to be unreliable, inconclusive, insignificant, and boring; research showed conclusively, adamantly, that the 165 is an aspect of unrelenting moitvation, obsession, determination, upheaval, disruption, even separation. I have studied the quindecile now in some 900-1,000 cases.

Easy to See: the quindecile on paper in a horoscope looks like an "almost opposition." Test it with your eye: add fifteen degrees to one of the planets (or subtract); does this bring the two planets into opposition? If it does, it is a quindecile! I.e., the quindecile is 15 degrees less than or more than an opposition. --I recommend a tight orb: 2 to 2.5 degrees; the theory being, the tighter the orb, the fewer the aspects, the more reliable the aspects at hand.

One or more quindecile aspects are found in probably 85% of all horoscopes. The quindecile, with rulership routings to be respected as well, suggests a burning point of focus, often a place of extreme concern and effort in the life, even to the point of upheaval, disruption, and obsessive mania.

Arnold Schwarzeneggar (July 30, 1947 at 4:10 AM CED in Graz, Austria) has four quindecile aspects, most issuing from his Capricorn Moon in his 6th House: the lethal workaholic driving himself into prominence (qd the Ascendant; qd Mars, co-ruler of the MC; Uranus conjunct Mars); his Neptune, ruling the MC is qd the MC! Schwarzeneggar is a self-made man of prodigious achievements, in business an uncannily as well in the movies, the profession of illusion.

General Norman Schwarzkopf (August 22, 1934 at 4:45 AM EDT in Trneton, NJ) also has four quindecile aspects! Also from a Capricorn Moon in the 6th, we see Moon qd Ascendant; we see Saturn retrograde (the paternal phenomenological insight measurement) also qd the Ascendant (the motivation for the drive and belligerence. The complex is also part of the profile of his prostate cancer illness (see Tyl, "Astrological Timing of Critical Illness").

----In fact, the sub-generation of males with Saturn-quindecile Pluto natally has an inordinately high predispoition to prostate cancer.

Prince Charles (November 14, 1948 at 9:14 PM GMT in London, England) has a qd between Neptune-Venus in the 4th and his singleton Moon in the 10th (conjunct the Nodal axis!), clearly showing a mania, a disruption, a disillusionment, separation, upheaval with regard to his mother, to feminine ideals, all linked to tensions in the home.

Princess Diana (July 1, 1961 at 7:45 PM GMD in Sandringham, England) had Mercury retrograde, ruler of her 7th (and 9th), qd her Ascendant focusing a tremendous relationship anxiety through her mind and nervous system, affecting her health center. Her 10th House Neptune made a qd with her Venus in Taurus, ruler of her MC and 5th (final dispositor of the horoscope) focusing a remendous bewilderment and unsureness into relationships, romance --a preoccupied passion to have relationships and to doubt them or be let down by them at the same time, and much more.

Marilyn Monroe (June 1, 1926 at 9:30 AM PST in Los Angeles, CA) had her isolated and intensified Saturn retrograde qd her Midheaven: how the tragic circumstances of her father-lack drove itself into overcompensatory professional exploits, father surrogates etc! --That same Saturn was qd Mercury in Gemini, ruling the 11th (the need for love) and the 2nd (self-worth). paralleling a lifelong depression that eventually led to suicide.

It goes on and on. --Astrologer Ricki Reeves, an honors graduate of my Master's Degree Certification Course, has become an expert with the quindecile. She lectured on the quindecile at ASTRO2000 last April in Denver, Colorado, and stole the show! A packed lecture room and tape sales topped all other lectures tape sales by 8 to 1! She is writing a book on the quindecile, which will probably be published by Llewellyn in a year. Ricki came up with a glyph for the aspect: an oval with a line down the center, leaving the oval to the lower right as a lightning bolt! The glyph is beautiful, powerful, and easy to draw; she is presenting it to software manufacturers for inclusion in their packages.

That's the quindecile, a powerful avenue of insight for dynamic analysis. It's here to stay.

Next Update: August 20