A Guide to the Aspects

Aspects are the angles the planets make to each other as they move through the 360-degree circle of the sky. If two planets fall within the orb, or range of a certain number of degrees (usually five, give or take) of a specific, salient angle (such as ninety or one hundred eighty degrees), they are said to be in aspect to each other -- that is, the drives and energies they represent are bound up together in some way, reinforcing, complementing, contrasting or conflicting with each other in different and distinct ways. Different angles signify different combinations of energy, or ways that two signs are able to integrate -- or block -- each other's influence.

The energies of two planets may be easy or difficult to integrate together, and certain aspects may be hard to use constructively in your chart -- but like all other components of astrology, difficult aspects are neither "good" nor "bad." It's up to you to rise to the occasion of using them positively or negatively, constructively or self-defeatingly. Difficult aspects handled well can spur a person to change, grow and achieve, while too many easy aspects often lead a person to be complacent and take life for granted, never questioning the modus operandi that comes easily and gets them along just fine -- and hence neither growing nor feeling true sympathy for those who have known insecurity and suffering.

As the planets move through the sky, the aspects they make with planets in your natal chart (known as transits) can activate the aspects that planet makes with other planets in your chart and, if you're receptive, could help you learn to integrate those natal aspects better into your chart.