I have gotten such wonderful responses to my last few articles which are about trying to make Astrology easy to understand. Thank you very much to everyone who said such lovely things to me. It keeps me going! In this article, I will try to give an overview of the aspect graph.
One thing with Astrology is that everyone started as a total newbie. I never discourage any question because I was the worst at trying to bum off information from people. I became a beggar on Linda-Goodman.com. I would beg for crumbs of information from the Astrologers, of whom I was in awe. I wanted to understand Astrology so badly. That drive was what took me through the hard and boring places such as this. We all had to go through this, so ask away with your questions and we all will learn more about the wonderful world of Astrology.
First of all, one must learn the symbols for the planets. This is not too hard. Many are obvious. The Sun and Moon are obvious because they are a little Sun and a little Moon. Mercury has a little winged hat. Venus is the sign for the female. Mars is the sign for the male. Jupiter looks like a 4. Pluto looks like a P. Uranus looks like a funky U. Just memorize Saturn. Just memorize Chiron. There you have it for the planets.
One must memorize the symbols for the aspects. This is not too terribly hard. The conjunction is a little circle with a small stick sticking up, on an angle. The trine is a small triangle. The square is a square. The opposition looks like a dumb bell with two circles at each end. The sextile is a little *.
The aspect chart is read like a graph. One can see which aspects the Sun makes, which aspects the Moon makes etc by going down and across as in any graph.
Now, onto a brief description of each aspect.
The Aspects
Conjunction–The conjunction is like sitting on top of another person. You are as close as you can get. Hence, it is the strongest of all aspects. Some conjunctions are good and some are bad. Venus conjunct the Moon is good because it confers great charm, The Sun conjunct saturn is bad because it makes for great self doubt. Mercury in an exact conjunction to the Sun is bad. It is called a combust and is a classic factor for mental/emotional illness. Neptune conjunct the Sun is bad. It is the classic sign of the addict. Mercury conjunct Mars is good. It is a person who will speak his mind. You know exactly where you stand. Hence, one can see that the nature of the conjunction changes based on the planets involved. However, what remains is that the conjunction is the most intense aspect of any of the aspects.Hence, when doing a chart, I look at the conjunctions first.
Trine–The trine is always good. It is an easy flow of energy between two planets. Both will work together to confer a gift on the native. A trine is a pure, unmerited gift. It is given by God to the native.
Sextile–The sextile is a trine which is buried. One must work hard and pay attention in order to dig it up. Then, it functions similarly to a trine but will never be quite as effortless, in my opinion.
Opposition–The Opposite is like a chick on a moody day. One day, she is up, the next she is down. One minute she wants love, the next she is pushing you away. One minute she is seet as pie, the next she has let the inner monster run amok. Such is the nature of the opposition. It see -saws from one side to the next. It sits on one pole OR it sits on the other. It never finds balance. It tries but the nature of the opposition is that it really never can. Hence, when one sees oppositions in the chart, know that one is dealing with a native that is back and forth in the domain of the planet and the houses.
Square–The square is a locked in energy. I don’t think it can be unblocked. I think it will stay like an immovable force forever. However, one can work around it. People differ with me on this, just as they differ and say I should not label aspects as good or bad. I say that I am not politically correct and if you don’t like it, find another Astrologer 😀