Aspects in astrology: conjunctions, squares, trines and more
What aspects are, how orbs work, and how to read the five major ones, with the aspects in today's sky worked out live.
Angles between planets
An aspect is an angle between two points in a chart, measured round the zodiac. Astrology treats a handful of angles as meaningful: when two planets sit at one of them, they're said to be in conversation, and the angle sets the tone. Your chart's aspects are often where its story is, because they show which parts of you pull together and which pull apart.
The five major aspects
conjunction · 0°
A conjunction is two points at the same spot in the zodiac. Their energies fuse, which makes them stronger and harder to tell apart.
sextile · 60°
A sextile is 60° apart. It's an opportunity: helpful, mild, and easy to waste if you don't act on it.
square · 90°
A square is 90° apart. The two sides want different things at the same time, which creates tension and, in time, strength.
trine · 120°
A trine is 120° apart, usually in signs of the same element. It's harmony: talent and comfort that can turn lazy.
opposition · 180°
An opposition is 180° apart. The two points face each other across the chart, which feels like a pull between two needs, or between you and someone else.
Trines and sextiles are called easy or soft, squares and oppositions hard. That isn't good and bad. Easy aspects are talents that can go unused; hard aspects are friction that, worked with, turns into drive. Many people's most useful qualities sit on a square.
Orbs: how close counts
Planets rarely sit at exactly 90° or 120°. The orb is how far from exact an aspect can be and still count. There's no single rule; we use about 7° for the main aspects (a degree more when the Sun or Moon is involved, less for the slow outer planets and the node), and 4° for sextiles. The tighter the orb, the louder the aspect, which is why charts list them tightest first.
An aspect is applying when the faster planet is moving towards exact, and separating when it's moving away. For transits (the planets today against your birth chart) this tells you whether something is building or fading.
Aspects in the sky right now
These are worked out live from the planets' positions at 2 November at 17:32 UTC, using the same orbs as your chart:
- Venus sextile Jupiter0.9° applying
- Moon conjunct Mars2.1° separating
- Moon conjunct Jupiter3.0° applying
- Moon sextile Venus3.9° applying
- Sun conjunct Mercury4.3° applying
- Mercury square Mars4.9° separating
- Mars conjunct Jupiter5.0° applying
- Moon square Mercury6.9° separating
- Sun square Pluto7.2° separating
When one of these lands on a planet in your own chart, it becomes a transit for you. That's what the "Today" panel on every Charthood chart shows.
Reading an aspect in your chart
Put three things together: what each planet stands for, the kind of angle between them, and how tight it is. Moon square Saturn, for example, joins feelings (Moon) and duty (Saturn) through friction (square): someone who learned early to keep their feelings in check, and who often becomes very dependable for others. The same planets in a trine would read as emotional steadiness that comes easily.
See it in your own chart
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