Opposition

The opposition is the aspect formed when two planets sit one hundred and eighty degrees apart, facing each other across the chart. It is a hard aspect, setting up a polarity between two planets that want different things. An opposition brings tension, but of a particular kind: it is the tension of balance, of two forces that need to be reconciled rather than one simply overcoming the other. Oppositions often play out through other people. A person may experience one side of the opposition as their own and meet the other side in partners, rivals, or situations that seem to come from outside. This makes relationships a natural arena for working out an opposition, since the missing half keeps showing up in those we deal with. The challenge of an opposition is swinging between the two extremes or projecting one side onto others. The growth lies in awareness, in seeing both planets as parts of oneself. The work of an opposition is integration, holding two opposing needs together and finding the balance point between them.