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A stellium in astrology is a grouping of multiple planets in a single sign or astrological house in one’s natal chart. This birth chart grouping can make for intense karmic outcomes and strong personalities. Some astrologers only consider inner planet stelliums, while others consider outer planet, asteroid, and hypothetical planets in stelliums.
Stelliums are not very rare, but neither are charts without a stellium. That focused energy in one zodiac sign or astrological house can cause discomfort and extreme situations, however.
Every planet has its own individual rate of movement through the Zodiac. For example, the moon changes signs every few days, but the sun changes sign once per month. Planets further from the sun change sign even more slowly. So when multiple planets are in the same sign or house, it’s a notable astrological event.
Transits will hit stelliums hard, since multiple planets will be effected at once. When you know how your stellium effects you, you can take advantage of these transits to create powerful changes in your life.
What It Means To Have A Stellium In Astrology
Stelliums can be chaotic or a gift, depending on how you grow as a person. If you have a stellium in your chart, you should become well acquainted with the gifts and issues associated with that sign or house.
Interestingly, most of the people who have made a real impact on society have had major stelliums in their natal chart. A stellium of planets will magnify each other’s energies. These conjunctions can have a real impact on your life and your personality.
Look to your stellium planets if you find you have difficulties in life. There’s a good chance that the level of focus on them and the zodiac sign or single house they’re in is contributing to any restless energy or intense emotions.
Sometimes stelliums can bring up conflicting energies when the planets in the stellium typically oppose one another energetically. This oppositional energy can cause difficulty with relationships, struggles with how one sees themselves, and a heightened level of chaos in one’s life.
When this happens, it’s important to train your emotional awareness and form a powerful connection with each of the aspects, planets, signs, and houses being effected. With the right shadow work, you can tame a chaotic stellium.
Is A Stellium More Relevant Than Your Sun Sign?
That stellium is multidimensional and has a more intense effect on your life than your sun sign does. The different roles you play in your life will be effected by these planets.
It’s more relevant than your sun sign because it represents a larger portion of your personality and character traits. It can be useful when you want to understand yourself better and find out how others perceive you.
A stellium that involves multiple personal planets will effect your personality, mood, and relationships intimately. These personal planets are the sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars.
The more distant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto) will express itself more as overarching themes in one’s life.
How To Find A Stellium In Your Astrology Chart
Looking at your astrology chart, it’s simple to find a planetary stellium. All you have to do is find 3 or more planets in the same house or zodiac sign.
As you can see in this chart, there is both a Scorpio stellium and a 1st house stellium. If you include more than just the inner planets when looking for stelliums, there is also a gemini stellium, an aquarius stellium, a 4th house stellium, and 8th house stellium.
In this birth chart, you can easily see that there is a 7th house stellium, a Sagittarius stellium, a 9th house stellium, an Aquarius stellium, an 11th house stellium, and an Aries stellium.
If you want to check your own charts for a cluster of planets in a sign or house, I generated these ones at astro.com.
What Counts As A Stellium?
What planets count in a stellium really depends on how you want to read a chart.
In The Art of Chart Interpretation, a stellium is defined as “traditionally involving 4 Planets (or at least 5 if the Sun, Mercury and Venus are included) with each planet within 8 degrees of the next, and all within the same sign. The meaning holds true for any 4 Planets, even if 3 are interior Planets or if all are within the same house rather than sign”.
Most modern astrologers I have spoken with say that a stellium is actually 3 planets. More planets in a stellium creates a deeper relationship and stronger influence on every arena of life.
Stellium Interpretation
It can be difficult to interpret a stellium, and the more planets involved the more complicated it becomes. Stelliums create a layered personality.
Looking at your stellium can reveal your life’s purpose, or what you’ll feel happiest exploring and focusing on during your life. A Libra stellium can make you hyper-focused on justice, whether in your personal life or in society.
Meanwhile an Aries stellium can make one focus on leading others, living life in the extremes, and making everything a competition. Aries stelliums need to learn how to control and restrain their enthusiasm because others can find it off-putting.