What is a Basket pattern or Bucket pattern in astrology?
Since I seem to have gone off with the shapes by covering the Yod, the grand trine, the grand kite, the grand sextile and the talent triangle, let’s just do it, let’s cover the bucket or basket pattern.
Want to learn more about these chart patterns? Check out the rest of my posts.
What is a basket or bucket in astrology?
This chart configuration can be created using a variety of aspects, including squares, trines, sextiles, quincunx, and oppositions. The main stipulation is that most of them are clustered in one area of a the chart with an opposition closing the top of a bucket or basket shape.
A basket concentrates the energy of the chart into that one area- putting all your eggs in one basket, if you will.
The container represents a collection of energy. It’s different from the conglomeration of energy in a stellium, where the energy of the planets involved merge together and are often in just one sign or house. The basket pattern is spread across multiple signs accumulating energy from multiple interactions. It’s not the single-minded energy of a stellium, but instead, picture it as a well that gets periodically refilled and utilized, then refilled again.
Here’s something only astrologers know about this pattern. 🤫
There is a “secret tap” in this container. When this tap opens, the energy collected inside the vessel can then flow out into your life.
So where is this secret tap and how do I open it????
It’s at the bottom midpoint of your container. If there is a planet here, this planet and its topics become the tap. Tap into the planet and you tap into the energy. If there isn’t a planet at the bottom midpoint of the pattern, don’t worry, it still gets activated every time a planet passes over this midpoint degree. Find out what your midpoint is and when something will pass over it. You can use an ephemeris or hire someone like me 🤭 and I can tell you.
(Bonus tip: the moon passes over this point once a month. Find out when and get ready for action!)
Does your basket have a handle?
If there is a planet on the opposite end of the chart making aspects to the basket, this is called a basket handle. Not all baskets have a handle. A planet that is a basket handle, especially a personal planet, gets a boost of importance in the person’s life.
If you have a handle on your pattern, then this planet has a special position in your chart. It is the planet that wields the energy of the container. Where a basket without a handle collects energy that can be curated in various ways, the basket with a handle most likely uses the energy in one way- the handle’s way.
This planet is the CEO of the basket pattern. It uses the energy in this container for its own purposes first and foremost. So it can be a bit of a selfish placement, a tendency which can be enhanced or decreased by the planet in charge (Mars and Moon gonna do what they want, but Venus or Mercury here might throw the group a bone).
Now this is not to be confused with the purpose of the Secret Tap planet or point. The CEO decides how to use the energy, but the Secret Tap decides when it’s released.
The Vibe
This pattern can also give someone the vibe of having a self-contained energy- whether it’s someone who’s cool, calm and collected or someone more like shook-up soda bottle waiting to burst, depends on what’s involved.
More trines or sextiles? It will probably lean calm and collected. More squares thrown in? Might shake things up a bit.
Same with the planets. Lots of softies like Venus, Moon and Jupiter? Collecting abundance. Hard players like Saturn and Mars? Could be more of a fight or a long game. (If this is you, don’t despair, instead focus on building your Strategy and Mastery skill set. 💪🏽)
Conclusion
The basket or bucket pattern is a configuration that can have a lot of variety in its meaning based on what planets and aspects make it. It is thought to be like a well where energy can be collected and used by the group. There is a “secret tap” in every container that can drain the energy from the well so you can use it.
If there is a handle, the planet at the helm becomes the CEO of the basket and decides how the resources are used. It can play a highlighted role in the person’s life and give the topics of this planet a lot more airtime.
It is generally a useful pattern to have in your chart. With a little understanding and a bit of planning, you can really tap into its energy for your benefit.
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Want to learn more about chart patterns? Check out some of my other posts.