☉ Sun ☌ Conjunction ☽ Moon

0° · major aspect · neutral · default orb ±8°

The conjunction of the two luminaries is the New Moon, the syzygy that opens each lunation, and classical doctrine gives it a weight no other pairing carries. Ptolemy reads the Sun as vitality, authority, and the honor of kings, the Moon as the body, the mother, and the common people; joined at the same degree, the tradition sees will and instinct fused into a single expression rather than negotiated between two lights. Hellenistic and medieval sources tie the pair to sovereignty and populace acting as one, to beginnings taken at the dark of the Moon, and to the affairs of both parents considered jointly.

Traditional reading

Because the Moon is the swiftest body, she always applies, carrying her condition toward the Sun rather than the reverse. Within roughly seventeen minutes of arc the older texts call the Moon cazimi, in the heart of the Sun and strengthened; farther out but within the beams she is combust, her light effaced. Sect distinctions blur here, since the leader of the diurnal team and the leader of the nocturnal team occupy one degree. Hellenistic natal doctrine also fixed the preceding New Moon as a working point of the chart itself.

Classical reading

Ptolemy treats conjunction as bodies sharing the same degree. Nature depends on the joined planets - benefic with Jupiter, malefic with Mars or Saturn.