The five aspects
- ☌︎ Conjunction — 0°, orb up to 8°: two planets at one pointNeutral: the meaning comes from the planets themselves. At least one conjunction — in 95% of people, 2.6 per chart on average.
- ✶︎ Sextile — 60°, orb up to 5°: one nudges the otherSoft: an opportunity you have to take. At least one sextile — in 97% of people, 3.2 per chart on average.
- □︎ Square — 90°, orb up to 6°: two sides get in each other’s wayTense: friction between two sides. At least one square — in 91% of people, 2.7 per chart on average.
- △︎ Trine — 120°, orb up to 7°: one helps the other outSoft: the sides speak the same language. At least one trine — in 93% of people, 2.9 per chart on average.
- ☍︎ Opposition — 180°, orb up to 8°: a seesaw between two sidesTense: the sides take turns. At least one opposition — in 75% of people, 1.6 per chart on average.
Shares — our measurement for every day of 1950–2010 from the NASA ephemeris, with the same orbs as in the chart calculation.
How many aspects a person has
From 5 to 34, usually 13; eight people out of ten have from 9 to 17. So “I have a lot of squares” says nothing on its own: on average a chart has 2.7 squares and 3.2 sextiles. What says something is between which planets the aspect is and how exact it is.
How to read an aspect
The meaning comes from the two planets. In the calculation each planet has one side noticeable in a person: Sun — self-regard; Moon — mood; Mercury — thoughts and words; Venus — likes and taste; Mars — anger and drive; Jupiter — reach and generosity; Saturn — self-control and sense of duty; Uranus — an urge for change; Neptune — dreaminess; Pluto — a need for control.
The kind of aspect tells how the two sides are linked: in a conjunction they switch on together, in a sextile one nudges the other, in a square they get in each other’s way, in a trine one helps the other out, in an opposition they swing like a pendulum. The smaller the orb — the distance to the exact angle — the stronger the aspect by tradition; on the chart screen the aspects go from the most exact, and each has a sign of when it’s not about you.
Aspects of the year and of the generation
The slow planets stay in the same aspect for months and years. 96% of people have at least one aspect in their chart that most people born within half a year also have; 78% have the Neptune–Pluto sextile or the Uranus–Neptune conjunction, shared by 9 out of 10 peers. Such an aspect speaks of the birth year, not of the person, which is why it’s marked on the chart screen.
- Neptune — Pluto, sextile — in 9 out of 10 peers · generational aspectbefore 1950 — July 2000, with breaks
- Uranus — Neptune, conjunction — in 9 out of 10 peers · generational aspectJanuary 1989 — December 1997, with breaks
- Uranus — Pluto, conjunction — in 9 out of 10 peers · generational aspectSeptember 1962 — August 1969, with breaks
- Uranus — Pluto, sextile — in 8 out of 10 peers · generational aspectMarch 1992 — January 2001, with breaks
- Saturn — Uranus, conjunction — in 8 out of 10 peersJanuary 1987 — November 1989, with breaks
- Uranus — Neptune, sextile — in 8 out of 10 peers · generational aspectSeptember 1964 — July 1969, with breaks
- Saturn — Pluto, conjunction — in 8 out of 10 peersNovember 1981 — November 1983, with breaks
- Uranus — Neptune, square — in 7 out of 10 peers · generational aspectJuly 1951 — May 1958, with breaks
- Saturn — Neptune, conjunction — in 7 out of 10 peersDecember 1951 — November 1953, with breaks; March 1988 — November 1990, with breaks
- Saturn — Uranus, sextile — in 7 out of 10 peersOctober 1978 — August 1980, with breaks; June 1995 — April 1997, with breaks
- Jupiter — Saturn, conjunction — in 7 out of 10 peersDecember 1960 — December 1961; September 1980 — October 1981; March 2000 — March 2001, with breaks
- Jupiter — Uranus, conjunction — in 7 out of 10 peersAugust 1954 — July 1955; October 1968 — September 1969; December 1982 — November 1983; January 1997 — October 1997, with breaks; April 2010 — and beyond
- Saturn — Neptune, opposition — in 6 out of 10 peersJuly 1970 — March 1973, with breaks; September 2005 — May 2008, with breaks
- Saturn — Pluto, sextile — in 6 out of 10 peersOctober 1952 — October 1953, with breaks; July 1976 — July 1977; February 1989 — December 1990, with breaks
- Saturn — Neptune, square — in 6 out of 10 peersMarch 1962 — January 1964, with breaks; October 1978 — August 1980, with breaks; May 1998 — May 1999
- Saturn — Pluto, opposition — in 6 out of 10 peersMay 1964 — February 1967, with breaks; June 2001 — May 2003, with breaks
- Saturn — Uranus, square — in 6 out of 10 peersDecember 1950 — October 1953, with breaks; July 1975 — June 1977, with breaks; May 1999 — April 2001, with breaks
- Saturn — Pluto, trine — in 6 out of 10 peersFebruary 1958 — November 1960, with breaks; June 1970 — May 1972, with breaks; May 1995 — January 1998, with breaks; August 2006 — July 2008, with breaks
- Saturn — Neptune, trine — in 6 out of 10 peersApril 1965 — March 1967, with breaks; July 1976 — May 1978, with breaks; July 2000 — June 2002, with breaks
- Saturn — Neptune, sextile — in 6 out of 10 peersJanuary 1959 — November 1960, with breaks; November 1981 — September 1983, with breaks; April 1995 — January 1997, with breaks
- Jupiter — Neptune, conjunction — in 6 out of 10 peersDecember 1957 — November 1958, with breaks; December 1970 — November 1971; December 1983 — October 1984, with breaks; November 1996 — February 1997; March 2009 — February 2010
- Saturn — Pluto, square — in 6 out of 10 peersJanuary 1955 — December 1956, with breaks; June 1973 — April 1975, with breaks; April 1992 — March 1994, with breaks; September 2009 — October 2010, with breaks
- Saturn — Uranus, opposition — in 5 out of 10 peersMarch 1964 — January 1968, with breaks; November 2007 — September 2010, with breaks
- Saturn — Uranus, trine — in 5 out of 10 peersJanuary 1955 — November 1958, with breaks; July 1971 — May 1974, with breaks; September 2001 — June 2004, with breaks
“In 9 out of 10” — how many of those born within half a year before and after a person with this aspect also have it. Dates — when the angle held within the orb, 1950–2010.
What we don’t calculate yet
Minor aspects — the quincunx (150°), the semi-square, the sesquiquadrate and others; aspects to the Ascendant, the Midheaven and the lunar nodes. Without an exact birth time some of the Moon’s aspects come and go within the possible window — the calculation shows them separately and doesn’t interpret them.
How to check it on yourself
The statement below may turn out to be false about you — that’s how it’s written. The aspects of your chart with their orbs are on the chart screen. The check for each kind is on its page.
If your chart has two aspects of personal planets — the most exact one and the widest one
What should match. For a week, note each evening which of the two pairs of sides made itself felt more. By tradition — the pair from the exact aspect.
When it’s not about you. More often the pair from the wide one was more noticeable — ordering by orb doesn’t work for you, and it’s worth reading aspects without looking at the orb.
Checks by kind: conjunction, sextile, square, trine, opposition. How we check the rest — the site’s method.