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BESIEGEMENT
A planet is besieged when it separates from one of the malefics and applies to the other. In besiegement only the
conjunction, square and opposition are considered. Just like a besieged city, the planet in this condition is in
serious trouble which will be difficult to escape. We can say it is between a rock and a hard place. All that is
related to, and signified by, the besieged planet will encounter difficulty and impediment.
Besiegement especially afflicts the faster of the planets -Moon, Mercury, Venus and the Sun -for they are the ones
most likely to became trapped by hard aspects between the slower malefics. Jupiter can also be besieged, but
only under very particular conditions; because it is slower than Mars, it can only be besieged by mutual
application to either of the two malefics. Besiegement is particularly significant when it afflicts one of the major
significators of the chart, for example, the ruler of the Ascendant, ruler of the MC, the Moon or the ruler of the
year. When one of these points is afflicted by besiegement, the problems implied by this condition become more
exaggerated.
Examples of besiegement
In this page we will examine three examples of besiegement which produced extreme results. Needless to say,
besiegement cannot by itself lead to these extremes, and these example charts present other signs of difficulties
which reinforce the afflictions signified by besiegement.
Marie Antoinette (November 2nd 1755, Vienna, Austria)
Besiegement in prediction:
The effects of besiegement are much easier to identify when applied to the solar return, for they usually indicate a
drastic turn of events for the native in that year. This is particularly true if in the solar return the besieged planet is
the ruler of the year, the Moon or the ruler of the natal Ascendant. The matters signified by the besieged planet will
describe the areas of life affected by these problems. So for example if the besieged planet rules or is placed in
the 6th house of illness and health problems, they will become the main feature of that year, if it is connected to
the 2nd house, the difficulties will arise in matters of finance.
AID
Besiegement has its benefic counterpart in a configuration called aid (or sometimes besiegement by
benefics). A planet is aided when it separates from one benefic, either Jupiter or Venus, and applies to the other.
In this case only trines, sextiles and conjunctions are taken into account. All that is represented by the aided
planet will have some kind of help or relief. Again, some planets can benefit more from aid than others; the major
beneficiaries are again the fast planets: Moon and Mercury. The other planets, which are slower than Venus, can
only be aided when there are mutual applications, which is not as frequent. As a besieged planet implies difficulty
and hard work, an aided planet signifies ease and assistance in its significations.
Amandine-Aurore-Lucile Dupin,
Baroness Dudevant (aka George Sand)
was a highly regarded French novelist,
well known for the social and emotional
acuteness of her writings. Being of noble
descent she was expected to behave in
a conventional way, but instead she
revealed herself as a freethinker. She
became a political activist with very
definite socialist ideas. As a novelist, she
adopted a masculine name George
Sand and sometimes she appeared in
public wearing mens clothes and
smoking a pipe, however her subjects
were always concerned with romantic
and social matters. She died on June 8th
1876.
Unsurprisingly, the aided planet in
Georges chart is Mercury, the planet of
writing skills and communication. The
aid from the benefics is enhancing an
already favourable situation, for Mercury
is strengthened by essential dignity in its
own sign, and by its angularity (closely conjunct to the IC). With such a strong Mercury, and some help from the
benefic planets, she had the chance to express her literary talents by writing several books and plays. Notice that
Mercury is translating the light from Venus, ruler of the 3rd, to Jupiter, ruler of the Ascendant and MC, thus
bringing these facets of her life into public view and bestowing success on her career.
The ruler of the 4th, Mercury, can be related to her nobility, as her father was a French aristocrat. Her privileged
social position allowed her to expand her horizons and granted some degree of tolerance for her eccentricities.
Mercury also rules the 7th house of marriage; George not only had a good marriage to a nobleman (Baron M.
Casimir Dudevant), but also had relationships with several influential and famous men, Alfred de Musset, Franz
Lizt and Frederic Chopin, among others.
Ruler of the yer is the planet ruling the Ascendant of the profected nativity, in a given year
Via Combusta is usually defined as the area between 15 Libra and 15 Scorpio, and it is said to promote
instability, particularly if the Moon is placed there.
4 The Reign of Terror (5 September 1793 28 July 1794) or simply The Terror was a period of about ten months
during the French Revolution when struggles between rival factions led to mutual radicalisation which took on a
violent character with mass executions by guillotine.
5 By the time of her death, Marie Antoinette was under a Mars-Saturn firdaria and her profected Ascendant was
religious or not.
Helena Avelar