Sun sextile South Node

What these two are about together

The self and what is already known. The South Node is read as the familiar competence, so this is about identity resting on something a person is already good at.

What a sextile does

A sextile is traditionally read as opportunity rather than event. The two planets are in compatible elements and can work together easily, but the tradition is specific that a sextile describes something available rather than something that arrives. It is the aspect most often described as a door that is unlocked and still shut.

How it reads

The old competence supports the self. Associated with a comfortable, capable self-image.

In practice

Reads as ease that is not automatic. Where a trine tends to be used without thinking, a sextile tends to be noticed and then either taken up or left alone.

What to watch for

Nothing happening. A sextile that goes unused is the most common way this aspect is experienced, and it is not a failure of the aspect.

The two planets

Sun: Identity, vitality and what you are becoming

South Node: What comes easily, and what you hide in

Sun and South Node at other angles

• Sun conjunction South NodeTwo bodies at the same degree, acting as one
• Sun semi-sextile South NodeThirty degrees apart: neighbouring signs, with little in common
• Sun semi-square South NodeForty-five degrees apart: half a square, and read as half its weight
• Sun quintile South NodeSeventy-two degrees apart: a fifth of the circle, and the odd one out
• Sun square South NodeNinety degrees apart: two things that will not sit still together
• Sun trine South NodeA hundred and twenty degrees apart: the same element, working together
• Sun sesquiquadrate South NodeA hundred and thirty-five degrees: a square and a half
• Sun quincunx South NodeA hundred and fifty degrees apart: two things that cannot be compared
• Sun opposition South NodeDirectly across the chart: two ends of one axis