Besiegement
Besiegement, also called enclosure, is a planet bracketed between the two malefics or the two benefics with no ray of the opposite kind breaking in.
It happens by body, when Mars and Saturn occupy the degrees immediately either side of a planet in the same sign, or by ray, when the two of them aspect the places either side of it. Enclosed by the malefics it is the harshest condition in the classical vocabulary; enclosed by Venus and Jupiter it is one of the most fortunate.
The siege can be lifted. A ray of the opposite kind cast into the gap breaks it, which is why the doctrine is read as a relationship between planets rather than as a state of the planet itself. The strict version concerns the two malefics or the two benefics specifically, not any two planets that happen to surround one.
Frequently asked
Does besiegement override a planet's dignity?
No. Dignity describes a planet's own condition and besiegement describes what other planets do to it, so classical judgement weighs both.
Can any two planets besiege a third?
Not in the strict doctrine. It concerns the two malefics or the two benefics; a looser reading of any two surrounding planets is a later relaxation.