What are aspects in astrology? Conjunction, square, and trine explained

An aspect is the distance in degrees between two points on a birth chart. A Conjunction is that distance at 0 degrees, a Square is the distance at 90 degrees, and a Trine is the distance at 120 degrees. The same list names a Sextile at 60 degrees and an Opposition at 180 degrees.

What is an aspect in astrology?

An aspect is a measured meeting of two places along the zodiac. Tetrabiblos I.16 calls the chief connections between parts of the zodiac their mutual configurations, and it gives four exact distances. The opposition contains 180 degrees, two right angles, or six signs. The trine contains 120 degrees, one right angle and a third, or four signs. The quartile contains 90 degrees, one right angle, or three signs. The hexagonal distance contains 60 degrees, two-thirds of a right angle, or two signs. On a chart here those four are the Opposition, the Trine, the Square, and the Sextile.

Ashmand's note on application quotes Kepler: an aspect is an angle formed on the earth by the luminous rays of two planets. The reading order is bodies and signs, then houses, then these angles, as in a beginner's guide to the birth chart. The house where a planet acts is in what the 12 houses rule.

What does a conjunction mean in astrology?

A Conjunction is two points separated by 0 degrees. Tetrabiblos I.16 leaves the conjunction off its list. Ashmand's note records Whalley's surprise, and answers that the chapter treats parts configured with each other, so a part configured with itself falls outside the list. Later chapters, the note says, return to the conjunction and describe its efficacy.

Sharing a sign is not required. In a chart for 2:30 p.m. on August 15, 1990, in the Asia/Shanghai zone, at latitude 23.1291 north and longitude 113.2644 east, Universal Time is 5:30 a.m. Venus stands at 1.6 degrees of Leo. Jupiter stands at 29.3 degrees of Cancer. The gap is 2.3 degrees, inside the 6-degree allowance between planets other than the Sun and the Moon, so Venus and Jupiter are in Conjunction across the Cancer-Leo line.

Tetrabiblos I.27 applies one rule to a bodily conjunction and to the aspects already described. The planet which precedes applies to the one which follows, and the follower is separating. Ashmand's note reads "precedes" as more occidental: a body in the first degree of Aries applies, by regular motion, to one in the sixth degree of Aries. The bodily conjunction also uses latitude, the distance north or south of the ecliptic. Whalley, in that note, says a wide difference of latitude lessens the meeting.

What does a square mean in astrology?

A Square is the quartile in Tetrabiblos I.16: 90 degrees, three signs, one right angle. Ptolemy calls the quartile discordant because it joins signs of different natures and sexes.

Tetrabiblos I.15 calls Aries and Libra masculine and diurnal, calls the next signs feminine and nocturnal, and then alternates. Leo is masculine. Taurus is feminine. In the August 15, 1990 chart the Sun stands at 22.1 degrees of Leo and Mars stands at 21.2 degrees of Taurus. The shorter arc is 90.9 degrees, 0.9 from an exact Square, inside the 8-degree allowance that opens when the Sun or the Moon is one point.

A second Square uses the same allowance. The Moon stands at 13.0 degrees of Gemini, masculine, and Mercury stands at 19.2 degrees of Virgo, feminine. The shorter arc is 96.2 degrees, 6.2 from exact, still inside 8 degrees because the Moon is one point. Tetrabiblos I.4 says the Sun produces heat and moderate dryness, and Mars causes dryness together with strong heat. The house of each body is in what the 12 houses rule.

What does a trine mean in astrology?

A Trine is 120 degrees, or four signs. Tetrabiblos I.16 calls the trine harmonious because it joins signs of the same kind, feminine with feminine or masculine with masculine.

Tetrabiblos I.21 forms the second triplicity from Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn, three feminine signs, and allots it to the Moon and Venus, the Moon by night and Venus by day. On August 15, 1990 those signs hold other bodies: Mars at 21.2 degrees of Taurus, Mercury at 19.2 degrees of Virgo, and Saturn at 19.9 degrees of Capricorn. Mercury and Saturn stand 120.7 degrees apart, 0.7 from exact. Mars and Saturn stand 121.4 degrees apart, 1.4 from exact. Mercury and Mars stand 118.0 degrees apart, 2.0 from exact. Each pair sits inside the 6-degree allowance, so all three sides are Trines.

What do the sextile and the opposition add?

A Sextile is the hexagonal distance in Tetrabiblos I.16: 60 degrees, or two signs, grouped with the trine as harmonious. An Opposition is 180 degrees, or six signs, grouped with the quartile as discordant.

Among the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn on August 15, 1990, every pair inside the allowance is a Conjunction, a Square, or a Trine. No pair among those seven is a Sextile or an Opposition.

How many degrees of allowance does an aspect get?

Tetrabiblos I.16 states the exact distances. Take the shorter arc between the two longitudes, and name the aspect when that arc sits inside the allowance of 0, 60, 90, 120, or 180.

On this site the allowance is 8 degrees when the Sun or the Moon is one point, 6 degrees between the other planets, and 4 degrees when an angle is one point: the Ascendant, the Midheaven, the Descendant, or the Imum Coeli.

Venus at 1.6 Leo stands 120.4 degrees from the Ascendant at 2.0 Sagittarius, 0.4 from an exact Trine between two masculine signs, inside the 4-degree allowance. The Moon stands 84.5 degrees from the Midheaven at 7.4 Virgo, 5.5 degrees short of a Square, past that allowance, so the pair stays off the list.

Ashmand's note on I.27 records an older reading of the small gap he calls trifling: Saturn 10 degrees, Jupiter 12, Mars 7 degrees 30 minutes, the Sun 17, Venus 8, Mercury 7 degrees 30 minutes, and the Moon 12 degrees 30 minutes. The chart in front of you uses the 8, 6, and 4 degree allowances.

How do you use an aspect in a question you already have?

Write the two points, the aspect name, the shorter arc, and the allowance that let the pair in. Then write one sentence with the background you know, the options still open, and a date you can look back on. How to turn a prediction into a useful reflection keeps the measured angle separate from a life claim you can check later.

A personal reading calculates the Conjunctions, Sextiles, Squares, Trines, and Oppositions from the date, the clock time, and the place you provide. How to rank a remembered hour against a written time is in what birth information a reading needs.

A question about a diagnosis, a contract, or a tax bill belongs with a doctor, a lawyer, or a financial adviser. The aspect is the angle between two chart points, and the decision uses the records those professions read. To keep the chart for two years and ask follow-up questions about the same angles, see pricing.

FAQ

What is an aspect in astrology?

An aspect is the degree distance between two points. The five names are the Conjunction at 0 degrees, the Sextile at 60, the Square at 90, the Trine at 120, and the Opposition at 180, each kept only inside its allowance.

What is the difference between a square and a trine?

A Square is 90 degrees and three signs. Tetrabiblos I.16 calls that quartile discordant because the signs differ in nature and sex. A Trine is 120 degrees and four signs, and the same chapter calls it harmonious because the signs share a kind.

Can two planets in neighboring signs form a conjunction?

Yes. Venus at 1.6 degrees of Leo and Jupiter at 29.3 degrees of Cancer stand 2.3 degrees apart. Sharing a sign is not required, and the 6-degree allowance keeps the Conjunction.

Which of those seven bodies form a sextile or an opposition in that chart?

None. The pairs inside the allowance are the Venus-Jupiter Conjunction, the Sun-Mars and Moon-Mercury Squares, and the three Trines among Mars, Mercury, and Saturn.