When you start to study astrology, you are faced with an avalanche of innumerable topics and possibilities, the study of which can seem daunting. Astrology is a massive body of information that has been passed down for millennia. Ancient man could count and observe his natural environment and the experiences of it. Through his observations of the heavens and the natural sequence of life, he made connections or associations, turned those observations into a body of information, and then passed that knowledge on to the next generation. My point?
There is so much to learn, that it is necessary to make decisions in that study. Those choices become a personal perspective, not a judgment. What has been retained and followed is valid for the user, we use what works for us. What has not been followed is simply another avenue that has not been explored. This series is intended to help you understand those options. In previous articles we have discussed the astrological options in the material that is available for our study and use. Each decision requires us to choose what and how we will study, learn and apply as astrologers, from our personal perspective. For this article, we will look at aspects to determine our personal choices.
What is an aspect? In basic astrology, we stay primarily within our solar system: the Sun, the Sun’s satellites (the planets), and a satellite of a planet (the Moon orbiting our planet Earth). We use ten bodies: the Sun, the Moon and the eight planets. The Earth is not counted in this collection as it is the center around which the other bodies operate. (I know the Sun is in the center, I took science in high school.) However, we are all standing on Earth, our physical location, so it represents the center of our personal experience (perspective). The angular relationship between those ten bodies (not including the Earth) is what is called aspect. Angular ratio is equal to aspect.
We are not limited to just those ten bodies. We can also use intersection measures of space itself, with or without a physical body present. Those are called Personal Sensitive Points (PSPs) and include important positions like Midheaven, Ascendant, Lunar Node, Vertex, etc. These could also be included in our primary aspect determination.
The aspects are really quite simple to understand. If you have two bodies that occupy the same part of the sky to a reasonable extent, they will appear to be close together (even though they are actually millions of miles apart) and are considered conjunctions. The aspect literally indicates that there is zero degrees of separation zodiacally. If two bodies were on either side of the Earth, they would be considered opposite due to their angular relationship of 180 degrees. The same goes for other measures, the square, the trine, the sextile, the sets and many more. As a developing astrologer, how do you decide which aspects to study first and which aspects can be left for later study? The division is simple and for convenience they are called major or minor aspects.
Important aspects are determined by a simple division of the zodiac, which is represented as a 360-degree circle. If I divide 360 degrees by one, we have two bodies together, the conjunction. If we divide 360 degrees by two, we have 180 degrees, the opposition described above. If we divide 360 degrees by three, we get 120 degrees, the trine. If we divide 360 degrees by four we get 90 degrees, the square. If we divide 360 degrees by six we get 60 degrees, the sextile. Wait a minute, what happened to the division by five? If we divide 360 degrees by five, we get 72 degrees, very different from our previous divisions of 0 degrees, so this doesn’t qualify as an important aspect; it is automatically thrown into the lower category. The main aspects are conjunction, opposition, square, trine and sextile and are easily calculated and observed. (Note: there is a sixth major aspect called parallel declension which is rarely used and will not be covered in this article.) There is ample information available on the five main aspects described. All other aspects are considered minor.
Minor aspects are determined in the same way but produce odd multiples or unusual combinations for responses. I don’t want you to think that the word minor means unimportant. Think of these aspects as less understood or less researched rather than unimportant. As mentioned, the division of 72 degrees produced by the five is called a quintile. Dividing 360 degrees by seven produces an aspect of more than 51 degrees called a septile. Dividing by nine produces 40 degrees, a nonagon or novile. The division by 11 is called a decagon and this division process to identify aspects continues.
Did you notice that I again left a couple of numbers out of the divided-by series? Why? Because as the number of divisions increases we start to get multiples of previous calculations. For example, the sextile is a multiple of the trine, 60 degrees and 120 degrees. Division by eight is an exact bisection of our division by four. In other words, the division by eight is exactly half the division by four, so it is a multiple of the square. The division by ten is exactly half of the division by five and is a multiple of the quintile, which is already classified as a minor aspect. The division by twelve is the natural 30-degree division of the zodiac and exists in all major aspects and some minor ones. This division by twelve is the common base for many aspects, but the 30 degree angle itself is considered minor in nature. When you get into these multiples later in your studies, you can also look into the field of harmonics for a deeper understanding. The minor aspects are not less valid, they are less understood and studied.
One more consideration: it would be so easy to make these aspects Yes the planetariums or PSP were exact every time. It is not difficult to compare ten with ten. But it is possible that these positions are close but not exact and still in aspect. That allowed separation is called an orb of influence. These space bodies are massive. Bodies occupy a physical space that can be clearly measured, but they have an area of influence around them, so they physically affect a much larger space than the one they occupy. This in a human would be the aura of him. Scientifically, this could be the magnetic field of a planet. Astrologically it is the orb of influence of the planet. Major aspects offer much larger orbs than minor aspects. Traditional orbs for conjunctions, oppositions, squares, and trines have eight degrees on each side of a body. While still considered an important aspect, sextiles (a multiple of a trine) have a six degree orb on each side of the body. All other multiples have tighter orbs. One-half of a square (semi-square) or one-and-a-half squares (sesquisquare) usually carry a four degree orb, and as aspects are refined, the orb decreases to a single degree in many cases. Broad (major) strokes carry wide orbs and tight (minor) multiples carry tight orbs.
So where do you apply your attention? Which aspects should you study early and which can wait? Which are the most important? First of all, they are all important. I doubt that whatever created the universe did anything unimportant. The universe is mathematical at its core, so the old Hermetic maxim “God geometrizes” is appropriate. Start with the five main aspects as they are given. Take the time to study, understand, and apply literally thousands of examples until you thoroughly understand them. Then turn your attention to a second group, such as semisquares and sesquisquares, insets (quincunxes and their associates, the semisextile), and quintiles. Work with these until your understanding develops, and then move on to balancing the minor aspects. Note that a multiple of a (minor) aspect will operate in the same basic nature as the major aspect but with diluted impact. Half of a trine is a sextile, so the trine will be stronger than the sextile. A semisquare or a sesquisquare is of the same nature as the square but has half the power, and so on.
As you develop your understanding, try out various aspect orbs to refine your understanding. I mentioned harmonics earlier, save this for further study because this will take you the rest of the way in your understanding of aspects and the sky truly is the limit.