I've been known to employ the silent treatment, but not so much as a punishment as a way of keeping my anger in control until it eases up. My Gemini Mars (+ Mercury aspects to Uranus and Pluto in the 3rd) seems to ensure that if I do speak when I'm mad, the result is a quick and nasty flood of words - unacceptable to my Pisces Sun and "detatched" Aquarius stellium.

The only thing that does seem to knock me out of angry silence (other than waiting it out) is humour on the other person's part. If they can make me laugh somehow, I "get over" an argument surprisingly fast. My Aquarius grandmother had a great knack for that; she'd just start doing this cooky little giggle she had.

Silent Treatment=psychic murder.

I think it really depends on how comfortable you are with your own emotions. Communicating when you're hurt can be as damaging as silent treatment. Sometimes we need to process those emotions- be it anger, sadnes, hurt...whatever.
I love to communicate (can you tell? Lol) but often a lot depends on the other person. How to understand what you are saying without making it worse...
And I try not to use it. Consciously at least. Be aware of my actions....not always easy. but I've witness it way too many times in my past in family relationships- my mother used to "silence" when my father was "disbehaving" - in my opinion it only caused him to get used to it and actually enjoy those peaceful moments of solitude lol.... family sucks

Interesting thread.

My father was moody and often would stop speaking to my mom. Anything could trigger it and sometimes it would go on for weeks. She is a Gemini and it really hurt her. He did the same sometimes to his children, though not as often. It was toxic behaviour and caused a lot of fear.

My Chiron is in Gemini in 4th house. I guess that might indicate communication difficulties in family home.

Wow my husband used to punish me with silence all the time. He has a Scorpio Sun, Capricorn Moon, Scorpio Rising, Libra stellium. There is nothing worse. As opal said a few pages back, I would have rather been hit. My husband would leave arguments unsettled and give me the silent treatment for days on end. I would try everything to get him to talk to me. Everything. It hurt my Pisces Sun/Moon a lot, not knowing where we stood, not knowing if I still had my husbands support. My stupid Leo Rising and Aries Venus and Mars would sometimes get so frustrated, I'd eventually start going belligerent. I'd try telling myself I could just go about like normal but everywhere I went inside our home, there he was. 

Eventually, I'd end up begging. I'd end up saying everything was my fault, that I was wrong. And eventually I did figure out that was what he wanted. The silent treatment is a form of control. I do agree that Capricorn and Saturn have a lot to do with it. It's using restriction as punishment in order to control...all Sat/Cap themes. I used to think this was a Scorpio/Pluto thing but it's not in and of itself. Scorpio may need time out to sort out emotions but generally will not want to be around you when they do this and its not something Scorpio by itself does to punish another person. Capricorn/Saturn dominant people, especially with other strong features in their charts, do this for control. You have to be extremely strong to do this.. to be in the same room with someone for hours upon hours, and days upon days ,without giving in. But Cap is used to the restriction, having the guard up, being patient, and waiting for a result.  I personally could not do it. You're not only punishing the other person but punishing youself. 

i think silent treatment is very abusive. i dont like it, and i like to hash things out and get to the root of the problem. Maybe it's a combo of Plutonian/with Air placements. as i've seen both my parents give eachother silent treatment and they both have air and are plutonian, my father is mostly neptunian, while my mother is plutonian with capricorn, libra and aries placements. 

i never see my husband give me silent treatments at all even if he's angry, and i dont give him any either, however our angers are usually in yelling but it's short lived yelling. lol we calm down later and get to the root of the problem if we do have come across problems we need to hash out. silent treatments are horrible,  no one is hashing out any problems so they continue until you are old and never get to the root of the problems. It's like they dont want to face things and hate confrontation.