Astrology for Business

Many insights from an astrological reading come from a discussion of the interplay between planets. When two or more planets are at important angles with each other, their energies interact in ways that create interesting and significant dynamics. Remembering basic geometry, points on opposite sides of a circle are 180 degrees apart? One quarter of a circle is 90 degrees and one third of a circle is 120 degrees?

These important angles in astrology, which are called aspects include the major aspects – conjunctions which are planets right next to each other, oppositions which are planets that are approximately 180° from each other (i.e. half a circle), trines which are planets that are approximately 120° from each other (i.e. a third of a circle), and squares which are planets that are approximately 90° from each other (i.e. quarter circle), as well as the numerous minor aspects which include sextiles which are planets that are approximately 60° from each other (i.e. sixth of a circle), semisquares which are 45° (i.e. eighth of a circle), inconjunct which are 150° (i.e. five twelfths of a circle), and sesquiquadrate which are 135° (i.e. three eighths of a circle). The bad news is that I just introduced a bunch of new glyphs. The good news is that these are the last of the glyphs to be used in this tutorial. Actually, I lied. There is one last one coming up when we discuss transits.

Let’s look at an example of aspecting planets. Referring back to the natal chart below, we see a number of colored lines (either red or green) in the innermost portion of the chart. Where we see green lines with the trine symbol , we have planets which are approximately 120 degrees apart. For example, we see in natal chart that the Sun is trine Uranus . The thicker green lines mean that the two planets are almost exactly 120 degrees apart. The thinner green lines correspond to planets that are a bit further from being exactly 120 degrees apart. This exactness is referred to as the orb. A zero degree orb in the example above would mean that the Sun and Uranus are exactly 120 degrees apart where a one degree orb would correspond to the planets being either 119 or 121 degrees apart. The smaller the orb, the more strongly the energies interact between the planets. In the natal chart below, the box on the lower left provides a summary of the planets which we say are in orb. Typically I use an orb of 7 degrees for the major aspects and don’t even use the minor aspects because there is already a wealth of important information from just the major aspects.

Example of a Natal (Birth) Chart

When planets are in aspect, the energies of these planets interact with each other. The nature of the interactions is determined by the type of aspect. For example, if two planets have a square (90°) aspect, the planets interact in ways that result in the solving of problems, meeting of challenges, or handling of obstacles. As another example, if two planets have an opposition (180° ) aspect, the planets interact in ways that require the resolution of tension or conflict. The table below shows the types of interactions associated with selected aspects.

Next: Putting it Together