Shares — our measurement for every day of 1950–2010 from the NASA ephemeris, with the same orbs as in the chart calculation.
What a square means
“Tense” doesn’t mean “bad.” Tradition sees the square as an engine: friction forces you to look for a solution. There’s nothing to confirm this general claim with, so the check below isn’t “is the square bad” but whether it works in you at all.
How to read a square in your chart
The meaning of an aspect 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.
On the chart screen a square reads like this: “in you they get in each other’s way — when one speeds up, the other brakes.” Not about you — if the two sides get along without friction.
For example: Mercury (thoughts and words) and Mars (anger and drive) in square: in an argument, words outrun thought — first it’s said sharply, then thought over.
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.
When a square marks the year, not the person
The slow planets stay in the same aspect for months and years, and such an aspect is found in most people born in the same half-year. On the chart screen the aspects of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto with each other are marked as generational, without an interpretation of character, and for the rest it says how many peers have them.
- Uranus — Neptune — in 7 out of 10 peers · generational aspectJuly 1951 — May 1958, with breaks
- Saturn — Neptune — in 6 out of 10 peersMarch 1962 — January 1964, with breaks; October 1978 — August 1980, with breaks; May 1998 — May 1999
- Saturn — Uranus — 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 — 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
“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.
How to check it on yourself
Each statement below may turn out to be false about you — that’s how it’s written. The aspects of your chart are on the chart screen: each has its orb there. Write your answer down before you compare it with the interpretation.
If your chart has a square of two personal planets — the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus or Mars — with an orb of up to 3°
What should match. For a week, note in one line each evening whether one of the two sides got in the way of the other that day. There are at least two such days out of seven.
When it’s not about you. Not a single day, or one — this square is silent in you.
If your chart has more than one aspect of this kind
What should match. Take the most exact one (the smallest orb) and the widest one. For a week, note which of the two pairs of sides made itself felt more. By tradition — the exact one.
When it’s not about you. More often 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.
All five aspects — on the general page. How we check the rest — the site’s method.