(This was written by Ares in 2020. Slight edits have been made.)
In this channel, you will learn about aspects, how to spot aspects in a chart, and some common aspect patterns you'll come across. In this channel, I recommend taking out a traditional birth chart and comparing information as we go along! This is so you can get a good visual sense of them and make observations.
As you may have learned from previous learning channels, you have placements such as your sun, moon, and mercury sign. Alongside depicting your personality with individual placements, the planets also make interesting connections with one another, either positive or negative! These connections are called aspects. In a birth chart, aspects are depicted with a line in the middle of your traditional chart.
(each individual line is an individual aspect. in this chart, there are multiple aspects that seem to make shapes with other lines, with red lines and blue lines. we will get to the difference between all of them later.)
As you may have caught on from previous learning channels, math is implicated in astrology within a certain degree (haha get the joke?). You may have gotten a slight clue, but let's clarify it all:
The zodiac wheel is a 360º circle. → There are 12 signs in the zodiac and each sign takes up 30º in the wheel (360º/12 = 30º). → Any planet can be from 0º to 30º in a sign. → The degree of the placement depends on the position of the planet of/and when the chart was created.
For example: one person has 5º aries sun, but another has 25º aries sun. They're both aries suns, but they just have different degrees that they're in. As you may have learned from about-planets, this makes these two people two different aries decans.
Aspects are when planets are within a certain distance/degree from one another. When this happens, there some are observations you can make about a chart. There are more than 11 astrological aspects, but for the sake of today, we will be learning about only the main ones.
Here is a list of aspects that you will run into. Make sure to memorize these symbols, since they will come in handy!
☌ conjunction (0º to 10º) ✱ sextile (60º) Δ trine (120º) ☐ square (90º) ☍ opposition (180º)
You'll come across them, but you won't need to know them as much. (we couldn't provide the symbols for these aspects, since notion doesn't support these– apologies! feel free to search them up if you'd like to see the symbols.)
semi-sextile (30º) semi-square (45º) quintile (72º) quincunx/inconjunct (150º)
These aspects and their degrees have a certain degree of logic to them. For example, a square is 90º, and all of the corners of a square are conveniently 90º! The same with opposition– the planets will be directly opposite from one another.
Here are what aspects can look like in a traditional chart.
Aspects are the lines across the wheel. You can usually find a list of all the aspects that appear within a specific birth chart. They are located in a staircase (see intro to astro). The harmonious aspects are in blue lines, whereas the difficult aspects are in red lines.
Since the impact of individual aspects will highly depend on which planets affected, you should do some individual sleuthing to find out what you’re looking for. We will be doing a quick rundown of the general effects of an aspect between planets. Make sure to take this information into future observation!
Conjunction: 0 to 10 degrees. (+/-)
Conjunctions are usually considered to be a harmonious aspect, but it really comes down to which planets are affected. The two planets in conjunct will share a similar experience with one another, which can let them relate to one another. conjunctions will usually appear when two planets are in the same sign. Let's look at this chart:
In this chart, moon (☾) is in conjunct with pluto (♇) in sagittarius, because they are 10 degrees away from one another. Since they are in conjunction, they will share similar experiences or things in common. For people with moon conjunct pluto, you may react and have emotions based on what your intuition tells yourself. For this chart specifically, moon and pluto are conjunct in sagittarius. They both share things in common, since they are both in sag: moon and pluto in sag are concerned with the idea of self-expansion and learning more about life as a whole.
Sextile: 60 degrees. (+)
Sextiles are a positive aspect. They represent opportunity: in order to reap the benefits, you must initiate action. It has effects like a trine, but it is weaker than one. Sextiles will usually be two signs apart.
In this chart, sextile is a line in blue. In this aspect, these two planets have to make it work, and it will ultimately good if they take action. For this example, venus (♀) in scorpio is sextile saturn (♄) in capricorn. For people with venus sextile saturn, you don't waste any time on things that may not turn out well, you may gravitate towards traditional viewpoints on relationships.
Trine: 120 degrees. (+)
Trines are a harmonious aspect! The planets affected by this aspect will work together in a way that compliments one another. A trine usually involves two placements of the same element.
In this chart, venus (♀) in pisces is trine mars (♂) in cancer. The trine is the line in blue, since a trine is a positive aspect. For people with venus trine mars, you may find yourself as an extremely passionate individual. You can be direct with your wants and expressing yourself.
Square: 90 degrees. (-)
A square between two aspects are obstacles that you need to overcome. Life isn't easy, after all.. sighs. But when you use this aspect positively or for change, it will wield amazing results to your benefit. Squares usually form between two placements of the same modality.
In this chart, moon (☾) in cancer is square mars (♂️) in virgo. It is represented with a red line. The reason why they are not of the same modality is that it's a 90º angle. For people with moon square mars, you may find yourself as an extremely passionate individual. You can be direct with your wants and expressing yourself.
Opposition: 180 degrees (-)
Whew. This is the big scary guy. iIs meaning is in its name: opposites. The two planets will have difficulty understanding one another. But do not worry- you can use this to your advantage. Since they are opposites, they compliment in places where the other is lacking. Use this knowledge to your advantage!
In this chart, both sun (☉) and venus (♀) in leo are opposition moon (☾) in aquarius. The opposition is the red line going directly across the chart. For people with sun opposition moon, you will have difficulty between your needs and wants: how you want to be perceived as a person, versus how you are really feeling emotionally. You may have difficulty and trouble voicing out your thoughts.