Aspect shapes
Cradle
Modern
A cradle bridges an opposition with a chain of sextiles and trines, so the hard pull of the opposed bodies is surrounded by supportive, talent-bearing aspects. The gift is a real capacity to mediate, to find the helping resources around a problem, and to soothe tensions for yourself and others. The shadow is leaning on the supports to avoid facing the core opposition. The work is using the helpers to actually resolve the tension, not just pad it. At your best you turn a hard place into a place of healing and mediation.
Traditional (Hellenistic)
The cradle strings sextiles and trines between bodies so that the chain bridges an opposition, the agreeable regards forming a supportive arc beneath the tension of the opposed pair. In the older language the sextile and trine behold with goodwill, so the figure surrounds a hard regard with helpers. The condition is supportive: the opposition has a cushioned path between its ends.
- configuration
- support
- mediation
Sources
- Hand, Horoscope Symbols (1981)Defines the cradle as sextiles and trines bridging an opposition, a supportive arc.
- Tompkins, Aspects in Astrology (1989)Reads the cradle as soft aspects surrounding and easing a hard one.
- Carter, The Astrological Aspects (1930)Catalogues the sextile and trine as the easy aspects forming the cradle.