Combustion

Combustion is a condition in which a planet sits very close to the Sun, traditionally within about eight and a half degrees, so close that its light is lost in the Sun's glare. A combust planet cannot be seen in the sky, hidden by the brightness around it, and astrology treats this as a weakening of the planet's power. A combust planet is considered overwhelmed, as if the Sun has burned away its ability to act on its own terms. The matters it governs can be obscured, dominated by ego or willfulness, or hard for a person to see clearly in themselves. The planet's nature is not destroyed, but it struggles to express itself freely while overshadowed by the Sun. The closeness is measured by degree, and the effect is strongest the nearer the planet sits to the Sun, easing as it moves away toward the looser condition of being under the beams. At the very center of the Sun lies the rare and opposite condition of cazimi, where a planet is strengthened rather than burned. The work of a combust planet is to bring its hidden energy into conscious awareness, since it can easily operate unseen.