The Grand Cross is created with a minimum of four planets involved. There are four squares in total and two oppositions. Squares are 90 degrees while the opposition is 180 degrees.
The Grand Cross can also be known as the Grand Square.
The Grand Cross can have various appearances depending on the position of the planets - with that in mind, some individuals can have only the four squares or just the two oppositions. It depends on the orb used by the astrologer.
Planets involved in the Grand Cross are in the same modality so with that in mind, you can have the following Grand Crosses:
Cardinal Grand Cross
Fixed Grand Cross
Mutable Grand Cross
With this in mind, natives with the Grand Cross will often encounter issues with the expression of energy.
Those with a Cardinal Grand Cross will face lessons in learning how to initiate their own energy. Those with a Cardinal Grand Cross can often be overly ambitious and they must learn how to harness their energy in a productive, solid direction.
Those with a Fixed Grand Cross will face lessons in learning how to stabilize their own energy. Those with a Fixed Grand Cross can often feel stuck, and they must learn how to maintain their energy and power in even the most volatile of situations.
Those with a Mutable Grand Cross will face lessons in learning how to be flexible with their own energy. Those with a Mutable Grand Cross can often will lost, and they must learn how to establish boundaries, yet still remain energetically flexible.
The Grand Cross is often seen as the “opposite” of the Grand Trine. Unlike the Grand Trine, the Grand Cross is generally seen to be a challenging aspect pattern, since only squares and oppositions, discordant aspects, are involved.
However, like the Grand Trine, there are many successful individuals that have the Grand Cross. Those with a Grand Cross are very ambitious, since they are usually always facing some kind of problem. Due to the many obstacles, there is a great potential for fulfillment and growth.
Those who have a Grand Cross tend to be very hardworking. However, they can easily feel hopeless or discouraged with their failures, the opposing circumstances sometimes being too overwhelming to handle.
There are also Grand Crosses in different houses:
Angular Grand Cross (1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th House) - Dealing with with core pieces of the self
Succedent Grand Cross (2nd, 5th, 8th, 11th) - Dealing with issues that stabilize the self
Cadent Grand Cross (3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th) - Dealing with issues that expand the self
The Grand Cross will often bring balance issues. With the Grand Cross, the native will often face volatility when the native expresses too heavily of a certain sign. For example, in a Cardinal Grand Cross, if the native acted too strongly upon their Aries energy, the Capricorn and Cancer energies will block the Aries energy while the Libra energy will provide a way to give balance to the individual.
The planets involved in the Grand Cross will all have different elements. If the native successfully utilizes the Grand Cross, they will have mastery in a certain modality in all four elements, meaning that the native has the power to positively express their energies on any medium, whether it be emotionally, intuitively, physically, and mentally.
Whether asteroids is involved in the Grand Cross is up to the astrologer. Angles such as the Ascendant and Midheaven can be included in the Grand Cross.