Aspects and Advanced Astrology
Now that I have discussed the basic understanding of a birth chart, we can look at examples to implement the understanding in an astrological scenario. Don’t be overwhelmed! With a beginner’s understanding, you can draw more conclusions than you think when looking at a birth chart.
Aspects are a more advanced part of astrology. As you can see in the chart above, there are pink and green lines in the center circle of the chart. Those are the aspects. They are vital to your understanding of the interplay between your birth chart and other charts. Without aspects, the planets/actors are stagnant. No matter what, every planet (or other placements) projects seven rays each. An aspect occurs when the ray aligns with another planet. An aspect can be described as the relationship between the signs.
In addition to this concept in your toolset, consider the fact that the planets in astrology can either be benefic or malefic. The benefic planets (beneficial) are the Moon, Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury. The malefic planets (harmful) are the Sun, Mars, and Saturn.
The Degree-Based Aspects:
Sextile — planets are 60 degrees apart. Harmonious aspect. Associated with Venus. An opportunity. May not be significant but provides support.
Square — planets are 90 degrees apart. Tense aspect. Associated with Mars. Direct combat between the same modality. As you can see in the picture above, the Sun and Moon (called planets for convenience, but are luminaries) create a 90 degree angle from the center point of the chart, or the Earth. As a reminder, the center point of the birth chart is your exact location on the earth.
Trine — planets are 120 degrees apart. Most harmonious aspect. Associated with Jupiter. Same element. Effortless.
Opposition — planets are 180 degrees apart. Most tense aspect. Associated with Saturn. Polarizing and combative. These are the sister signs, that we will get more into in a later discussion.
Conjunction — Although not technically an aspect, it is a 0-degree meeting of two planets. An aspect typically means that the two planets are degrees away from each other, but in conjunction, two planets are on top of each other. However, there is still a relationship between the two. This is generally a more neutral quality.
Those are all of the aspects! What would you like to know heading into more advanced astrology?
