A stellium in astrology is a rare and phenomenal combination when a person has four or more personal planets in one sign and house in their birth chart. The personal planets are: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter. True stelliums are actually quite rare and yet they are really important, and always have been – as they show that a person has been born in this life with a special mission by God to change humanity for the better through their unique gifts, talents, vocation and innovative ideas.
In Vedic astrology such stelliums are called Sanyasa yoga. A soul being born as sanyasa is essentially one who was thought to be here to renounce the material life and walk a devotional path. This doesn’t literally mean become a monk or priest, and many people with sanyasa live very good material lives and enjoy their pleasures – however, they are always innately spiritual and somehow they just have a natural understanding and connection to God without being initiated by ceremony, ritual or higher studies. According to Bhagavad Gita, they can pursue the path of higher knowledge without the need to “tend the sacred fire”.
People born with stelliums in their birth chart come with a special divine mission or a vocation which they’ll use to serve humanity for the better. They are innovators and often times, incredibly creative, especially if they have their Venus, Moon, Mercury or 5th and 3rd lords as part of the stellium. Often times they are born in families where they give the entire lineage of the soul and family consciousness a new lease on life – and their life path is one that changes the consciousness of the family, clears out karmic debts, and paves a new path for the future generations with new lessons to learn and new experiences to have. Stellium people bring new ideas and new ways of being just by being themselves and by their mere presence. The special vocation or divine mission and how they’ll accomplish this are seen by the planetary combination, sign and house of the stellium.
For example, let’s say that you have a stellium in the 3rd house. You are immensely talented. The 3rd house is a house related to natural gifts, talents and great skills – and these people usually have not one but many unique gifts. This can make it hard for them to choose one talent, and that’s because our societies usually want us to focus on thing – but for such stelliums, it is their mission to experience themselves through all they desire and keep an open and curious mind.
While most people connect the 3rd house to writing, storytelling and the power of words and communication – it is a house of all gifts and talents, and the actual ability to shape them into life through the skills this house gives you, which is usually through their hands and lips. So you might be an amazing writer that touches people’s hearts or has the ability to translate complex and high spiritual knowledge into something that is more easily understood by others and is more accessible to them. You might have a great intelligence, and through your sharp insight on the essence of the higher teachings and your incredible ability to express this in an understandable way – people actually learn and expand their own perceptions and consciousness growing spiritually.
Yet you don’t have to be a famous writer at all. Remember that God’s touch is light as the wings of a butterfly and changes us from within in often very subtle ways. So perhaps throughout your life you just always had a natural magic that touched others through the way you shaped words and spoke to them. Something about your words and what you said stuck with them, even strangers on the streets, and that might have remembered your words for many years after. Perhaps you raised your children to be free thinkers and independent in spirit, to breathe life into their creativity and give voice to their hearts. Perhaps no one else in your family did that before, and people would see you as a free thinker with new and innovative ideas, who encouraged and empowered your children not to be followers but to be their true selves fully. That’s a divine mission too.
Aside from the house, we look at the signs too – and you can view the house as the noun and the sign as the adjective. So in our example above, suppose the stellium is in the sign of Cancer. This is all about the heart connection, the emotions and the soul. So you have the ability to become an amazing teacher in emotional intelligence, or teach people how to feel their feelings and connect to their hearts. Your words move people and they touch their souls. This combination is all about love – and you help people love more and in fuller, deeper ways. You are essentially a teacher of love. You can be very poetic, romantic, and have a great imagination which inspires others also. And your words can be very soothing, loving and nurturing, which calms people and gives them a sense of comfort within. You can also be a great children books writer, storyteller or poet; or you can somehow innovate and re-awaken people’s interests in old stories and lore, bringing new insights from the deep past – and reconnecting them to the importance or family and belonging. Essentially, you help people connect or re-connect to the innocence of spirit and to the purity of heart, and learn how to love unconditionally.
The reason why I mention teaching as part of 3rd house stelliums is because we can often express our stellium energy through the opposite house also – which in this case is the 9th house. The 9th house is the house of publishing, teaching, higher spiritual knowledge, diverse cultures and far away overseas travel.
Since stelliums can feel very intense for the individual, as they create a powerful one directional energy, you can look opposite the stellium house for comfort, soothing, calmness and a relief of inner tensions. So in this example, whenever you feel overwhelmed, as you might be almost obsessed with learning new things and have continuous flow of ideas and inspirations, to give your mind a rest and balance out the energy, look to the 9th house – have belief in God, have a spiritual practice, book yourself a travel overseas, and try to see things from a higher perspective – not only focusing on the small details.
Life for stellium people can feel really intense especially in early years. This is because as we mentioned you essentially have many planets together in a one directional strength – all talking and needing their own things and yet they speak loudly at the same time! It’s like having few radio stations playing simultaneously all the time. Your creative ideas and inspirations have no limit and you don’t need to “feel inspired” – you just are all the time, even in your sleep.
You receive insight and inspired creativity from the divine like an open channel – so it can feel overwhelming. And the reason it feels overwhelming is because you just know that you are here with a particular mission, and if you are sensitive and intuitive you knew that ever since you were little – but it’s just hard to live an average life like all other people around you. There is an urge, a desire, undeniable and unstoppable, and until you step into your life’s purpose nothing much will fulfill you.
I am not of the belief that you need to renounce material pleasures, because these can be actually grounding for you throughout life, but you are just not really dependent on them – because you are naturally more spiritual. You enjoy them when you have them, and you are not devastated when you don’t. However, be mindful that your happiness will not come from the material or financial realm, and you will only feel fulfilled when you are doing your soul’s purpose and mission.
In the old days, when a child was born as sanyasa they’d put the child into an ashram or monastery. The child was a gift they knew that they have received from the divine, but they also knew that the child had a specific God’s mission and in order not to overwhelm or burden him/her with everyday life, they wanted the child to feel more calm and peaceful – focusing on and developing its skills and talents that it came into this life with in order to fulfill its higher purpose.
So the first thing to do if you have a stellium is find your unique gifts. Your greatest obstacle in this life is confidence – so you need to develop trust and belief in yourself. This may take years, and that’s okay, as most sanyasa step into their purpose in their 30s or 40s.
What you need to be mindful of is not to be obsessed and let your frustrations throughout life lead you to addictions – because this can happen also to many people who just don’t know how to handle the energy. It’s a powerful energy, and it is not one people can handle, but you can because if you weren’t able to you would not have taken on that God’s mission in this life. So just remember the power that you hold and the responsibility that comes with it – which is one aligned to integrity, self-care, love and compassion.
There is deep spiritual hunger within you and a seeking for higher knowledge and meaning throughout your life, and probably since childhood. Devoting your life’s work and every day life’s gestures towards something of higher benefit and contributing towards greater love towards your family through your every day words and gestures is what will give you meaning and purpose. It is not always about the big wordly stages and becoming a global inspirationa figure or leader, so recognize the way God speaks and acts through us every day.
A stellium is one of the most, if not the most, powerful indications of spirituality. And what is the true essence of spirituality? It means opening and expanding our perceptions. It is the ability to see beyond the veil, and apply our spiritual knowledge towards deepening our human connections. The greater purpose of life is learning to love – and when you have so many planets in one sign you have God’s love powerfully flowing through an area of your life which will make an inevitable change into the consciousness of other people. Being and staying in purity of heart and wisdom of heart, and developing your skills, talents, gifts and natural intelligence will help you to channel your inspired creativity in a way makes a real change in the world.
Honouring your passion and deep desire to the area where your stellium is will give your soul the soothing you need. If it’s in the 3rd house, this means you need to learn new things all the time and share your knowledge. If that means browsing the internet, listening to podcasts, reading books all day – then let that be it. And then share what you learned with those around you, for there is a special way in which you speak and shape information which helps them understand and learn in better ways.
Connecting to your spiritual self and to God is soothing for you also, and you need to recognize that you are here with a special mission to complete. A big part of your life may feel almost fated, so learning to trust in life and in the unfolding of your life, and letting go of your need to control is something that will help you. Focus on your unique gifts and talents, develop your skills, build confidence and self-trust, and life will help you on your path, so don’t worry about that.
Because of the fatedness connected to stelliums, you may find that financial wealth doesn’t come to you in traditional ways or that you couldn’t really hold a normal job for too long. Perhaps every time you had a normal job, something happened so that you were let go of or the company itself went out of business etc. I’ve seen really unusual things happen and they were all because life itself will be pushing you towards stepping in your soul’s purpose. Another aspect of stelliums is that you may find long periods of time when nothing much is happening, and then suddenly everything is happening. This is because of transits, and just one transit will trigger all your areas of life because of your planetary alignment. So just learn the cycles of the land, have patience and use the quiet times for rest, relaxation and developing your gifts, talents and skills.
Sometimes it can feel uneasy knowing that we are here for a spiritual purpose because material success may not really come the way it comes for others. It can also feel really uncomfortable and we might feel as loners or isolated from others, because we just can’t connect to the common every day pleasures of life – or just go out and making money or just talking shallow talks and having shallow friends. In these times go back and reconnect to your gifts and interests and this will soothe you. Regarding money don’t worry about that too, as God will provide you for you with what you need when you are living your life’s purpose and divine mission.
Connect to your spiritual self as this will be soothing for your also. Remember that God is found in the church within you, in your heart, but you can also have daily practice such as prayer or meditation, or just spend some quiet time each day when you can be left alone to do your own thing. In relationships, you need a partner who will understand your sometimes reclusive nature, as you need your time to do your own thing surrendering yourself completely towards the creative thing that consumes you.
The tarot card that corresponds to sanyasa is The Hermit as this is one of the most spiritual cards, symbolizing deep wisdom, higher purpose, the seeking for higher truth and the attaining of spiritual knowledge. It is a card for the devotional pathway, the looking within, and developing deeper self-awareness and soul growth. The Hermit also shows your introspective nature, need for quietness and intentional space and solitude, as well as your highly independent nature, which relies upon the truth within and seeks the answers within rather than externally.
The other card associated with stelliums is the Magician – because this is about making miracles happen with the immense creativity, talent and skills that you have. The Magician is one who has the spark of God and has all the talents, gifts and skills to make anything and everything happen. He is the master of creativity and he is also master of the high mind, so develop your intelligence, calm the false thoughts and ego, and master your inner worlds. He is also a card of great power, so trust and belief in yourself, develop real true self confidence – which is done when we start doing things and see just how well we actually did them; and how much we helped someone by doing them.
Stellium people can be absolutely magnetic and very charming especially if their stellium consists of the Sun, Moon, Mercury and Venus. The Sun is essentially shining a light on your most beautiful and loving qualities – you have immense creativity and people are drawn to you like bees to honey! Stelliums are also very powerful in energy which means that you might look very youthful until late in life. If you feel overwhelmed, focus on the opposite house and do some calming things to spread the energy around such as exercise or spas.
Dedication, perseverance and high service – married together with great passion – is what your life is and you’ve been blessed in many ways even if it doesn’t seem that way always. You are here to pave your own path, and inspire all others through your heart and self-belief. Have the courage that the passion of your heart gives you, develop your skills and talents – and breathe life into the desires of your soul.
If you’d like to book a private consultation with me, I welcome you to browse through my Offerings.
For more of my articles, browse through my Art of Love.
If you wish to support me, you may do so by sharing my articles and poems, buy my poetry books or donate some magic coins in my hat on Paypal. If you would like to work with me, visit my Offerings.
Your support means so much to me! Thank you wholeheartedly!
Cover art by Margarete Petersen. All rights reserved by the artist.