Sextile

An aspect in which two planets are separated by an angle of 60 degrees. The sextile is a "halved trine" and is considered to be a harmonious aspect. The planets involved usually stand in signs which are naturally complementary (Fire and Air or Water and Earth).

The sextile has a different harmonious quality than the trine: In the trine this quality is so easily expressed that it seems natural and obvious whereas the sextile represents a harmonious quality which does not unfold in such an automatic way. Chances are there for the taking, but can be overlooked and wasted if an individual wavers for too long. This means a sextile can be rather non-committal. It is usually easier to tap into a sextile's potential if the planets involved have similar energies (Moon/Venus or Mars/Sun) rather than if they are archetypally at odds with each other (Moon/Saturn or Mars/Neptune).

Therefore, the sextile represents a challenge to act, although the motivating factor is different to the analytical aspects in which the element of pressure is more prominent. The sextile gives us an opportunity to learn and expand our horizons without the same degree of stress.