60° · harmonious · 6th harmonic
opportunity · ease · talent · cooperation · potential
The aspect
A sextile occurs when two planets sit sixty degrees apart, generally in signs of compatible elements: fire with air, or earth with water. The two functions cooperate easily and support one another without friction.
The distinguishing feature of the sextile is that it is available rather than automatic. Where a trine operates on its own whether or not you notice, a sextile has to be picked up. It describes a talent or an opportunity that will develop considerably if used and will simply sit there if not. Many people carry sextiles their whole lives without ever activating them, and nothing bad happens as a result, which is precisely the problem.
Because the aspect is gentle, it is frequently underrated in favour of the more dramatic squares and oppositions. This is a mistake. Sextiles are where growth is genuinely comfortable, and a life that deliberately develops its sextiles tends to accumulate real capability without the accompanying difficulty.
The elements involved indicate the character of the cooperation. A fire-air sextile tends toward ideas put into action; an earth-water sextile tends toward practical care and durable emotional work.
How it feels
A sextile feels like something that comes reasonably easily but requires you to actually do it. There is no pressure attached and no penalty for ignoring it. People often describe these as things they were always told they were good at and never particularly pursued, which is an accurate account of an unactivated sextile.
Working with it
Sextiles reward deliberate attention, which is the whole of the technique. Identify the two planets, ask what a collaboration between those two functions would produce, and then arrange to do it on purpose rather than occasionally. Unlike the hard aspects, nothing here will force the issue, so the work is entirely a matter of choosing to pick it up.