Astrology Basics – The Aspects

This is part of the Starzology Astrology Basics series of posts on the four building blocks for reading a chart.

This is what you need to know to read a chart.

The other blocks are:

by Alison Price

The Meaning of Aspects

The astrological aspects are the angular relationship between the planets and points (the Ascendant and Midheaven etc.) in a chart.

In your chart some planets will be in aspect to each other and some will not have aspects. Some planets may have easy aspects and some may have difficult aspects.

There are five main aspects.

The Conjunction

The Sextile

Planets in sextile work well together and support each other. They suggest that you have latent talents in the nature of the planets involved and this can be brought forward for the creativity and vision in your life. The sextile is a soft aspect.

The Trine

Planets in trine to each other are easy going and let the other planet be themselves. This is the best aspect of support and being positive. The trine is an easy or soft aspect.

The Square

Planets that are square to each other have some tension between them. Their energies compete for dominance and challenge each other. Planets in square create internal dilemmas for you. The square is a hard or difficult aspect.

The Opposition

Planets that oppose are in tension with each other and will struggle to work together. These planets create external dilemmas for you and can indicate where you project the issues to the other. The opposition is a hard or difficult aspect.

And another – The Quintile Aspect

Although not one of the big five aspects I use the quintile aspect as well as it is the aspect of creativity. Planets in quintile to each other show your creative expression in line with the meaning of the two planets. The quintile should always be considered when analyzing creative expression and outlets in your life.

Jupiter Trine Uranus – Get Fired Up!

by Alison Price

by Alison Price

We have experienced several challenging planetary placements in recent years. I am of course referring to the Uranus Pluto square which has had astrologers and laymen alike buzzing with excitement.

Enter the Jupiter Uranus fire trine.

Whilst it is typical that we have both easy and challenging aspects within the zodiac at any one time, it is the individual and combined mixture of flow and resistance between the planets making the aspects that shape our lives.

That Uranus appears in both aspects (square Pluto and trine Jupiter) is telling. He seems to want to fit in and stick out at the same time.

We can live with this.

Aspects

One way to interpret an astrology chart is by a technique called aspects

Astrological aspects are the angular distances between the planets.

Every planet has a measurement in degrees with the other planets but only certain angles are noted in astrology charts.

By dividing the circle of 360 degrees by any whole numbers we get the aspect angles.

The Trine Aspect

If you divide 360 by 3 the result is 120 degrees (360/3=120) and this is the size of the trine aspect.

Two planets that are 120 degrees apart in the zodiac will be in trine to each other.

The aspect degree does not have to be exact but can be within 8 degrees (the orb) either side of 120.

So when the two planets become between 112 to 128 degrees apart they are considered to be trine to each other.

Transiting Jupiter Trine Uranus

When the slower planets like Jupiter and Uranus trine each other it is to be noted.

It is a phenomenon that only happens around every six years then there is a gap of seven years before the next trine.

The elemental sequence is fire, earth, air then water. With two trines in each element, one waxing and one waning trine. Then it slowly shifts into the following element.

The Jupiter Uranus Synodic Cycle

Jupiter and Uranus have a fourteen year synodic cycle.

This means they are together and Jupiter (which is quicker off the mark) races off around the zodiac as Uranus moves forward slowly. Jupiter will catch up with Uranus around fourteen years later.

In 2010 Jupiter was conjunct Uranus at zero Aries. They will next be conjunct in 2024 at twenty-one Taurus.

Looking further forward in 2037 22 Cancer direct and in 2038 at 20 Cancer retrograde.

This shows the conjunction moves around either 30 degrees when at the retrograde three pass conjunction, or around fifty-one to fifty-four degrees and fourteen years during a one pass direct conjunction.

Because there is a trine in place for such a long period, when planets pass through the other fire sign of Sagittarius, they will create a fire grand trine when they trine both Jupiter and Uranus.

The most frequent planet to do this is the Moon.

It will provide huge opportunities and original approaches to how you can use that planet in Sagittarius.

The trine from Jupiter offers good things in line with your natal planet being aspected and the trine from Uranus offers unique and up-to-date solutions which allow things to move forward with ease and flow.

Get fired up!

Fire is all about inspiration. It gets the juices flowing and everyone hot under the collar. It gets people raving about things and issues. It creates fireworks and burning issues. We can get incandescent and want to burst. We are filled with bright ideas and get excited about anything with fire in it like dragon’s breath, candlelight, torches, barbecues and camp fires.

Make the most of this special fire trine.