First of all, we must try to better define what is an unaspected planet, also called singleton.
A planet is said to be singleton if it’s in a sector of the sky where it does not form any other notable aspect (Conjunction, Opposition, Square, etc) with another planet or karmic factor (Lunar Nodes, Black moon, Chiron), or with one of the angles of the chart(Ascendant, Descendant, Imum Coeli, Midheaven), it does not therefore fall within the scope of any “remarkable pattern” (kite, bucket, Grand Cross, Grand Trine, yod, etc).
This obviously does not take into account either its position in house, nor for example Interceptions (which may also reinforce the “blockages” inherent in the lack of aspects in singleton).
Dane Rudhyar in his very good book “Practice of Astrology”, defines things better in this way :
“The real problem with vital accentuation is not the position of the planets, but the relationship between them. The red spot on the green landscape is a small touch of colour, but how it attracts attention ! How it makes the dramatic meaning of the whole painting converge on it ! It’s a valorization that gives new intensity to all that it’s not itself. It makes the landscape much greener than if it wasn’t there.
An isolated planet in a chart (singleton) has a similar value. This isolated planet accentuates the functions that it represents in the consciousness of the individual, and, perhaps, as a consequence, acts to such a degree in his or her practical life that the individual cannot escape its influence. Indeed, this accentuation or focusing of attention often has a binding character. Everything else is affected.”
The fact that the planet is thus “lonely” tends to make it much more “compulsive”, i.e. much more difficult to understand and control in its acts, since by definition the planet is a “free electron” that can be quite inflationary…
In order to understand this phenomenon, we must already understand what Aspects are, how they act, what is their “role” ?
To schematize, an Aspect is simply an angular relationship that materializes the “quality” of the link between 2 planetary energies, it’s a bit like if a planet was in a city and it got along more or less well with some of its neighbors…
In this respect, an unaspected planet singleton is a bit the opposite of a Stellium ! Since there, the planet is in a state of loneliness where precisely it has more difficulty to come into contact with its neighbors, it has difficulty to find mediations that can allow the externalization of its own planetary energies, it has difficulty to communicate somehow, and inevitably this can lead to different Complexes, repressions or frustrations.
It’s obviously necessary to pay particular attention to the Progressions and Transits affecting this planet because they can have an important triggering effect ! A little as if a person, isolated for a long time on a desert island, sees new unknown visitors arriving, the excitement can be very important but so can the psychic instability…
Liz Greene had an interesting metaphor for this : Imagine that there is a stranger living in your basement and you ignore him for years. One day, during a “nervous” transit, he grabs an axe, smashes the floor, and finds himself “by force” in the middle of the living room… This is what can happen if you tend to overcontrol, ignore or constrain a planetary energy.
Other things also intervene in the analysis of the unaspected planets, such as first of all their Rulerships ! The more the planet will have, the more the evoked blockages will be likely to have repercussions on the parts of the concerned chart… Even if for the rest, the classical analyses of each planet remain valid, positions in sign, house, quarte, hemisphere, mode, elemental energy, etc etc…
Thus we often fear for example the square aspect for what it represents in terms of tensions between 2 planets, but at least this is a principle of action, of Fire, Martian, which precisely allows the evolution because it creates dissatisfaction which brings precisely behind the force of rupture and thus the change !
Here in singleton the spark of action is not intrinsically present, there is a “fixed / frozen” notion, which will be further reinforced if there is, for example, an important Fixed dominant, which will crystallize and retain in immobility, security, the known…
For this purpose, the various updates of Mars in transit will be even more important, as a fast transit, it will regularly dynamize this singleton planet several times a year and thus be able to force it out of its nature reserve.
So, in astrology, even an “absence of something” allows us to deduce a lot of things from these singleton planets… 😉
Read my article on the Void in astrology to complete.