A list of placements is not yet a person. "Moon in Cancer, Saturn in Aries" are two facts that could sit side by side and never meet. But if the Moon and Saturn are ninety degrees apart, they meet every day: the part of you that needs comfort and the part of you that insists on discipline are in a permanent negotiation. That angle is an aspect, and aspects are where a chart starts to sound like someone you know.

Planets in aspect are in conversation. They act together, get in each other's way, or lend each other something. Planets with no aspect between them tend to work as if the other were not there, which is its own kind of information.

The six aspects in our report

The angles come from dividing the circle of the zodiac, and each has a character of its own.

The conjunction, zero degrees, puts two planets side by side. Their energies fuse so closely that it is hard to tell them apart. Venus conjunct Mars is someone in whom affection and desire arrive together, often at full speed.

The sextile, sixty degrees, is an opportunity. The two planets cooperate easily, but only if you do something with it. It is a door that is unlocked, not a door that is open.

The square, ninety degrees, is friction. Two parts of you want different things and will not be reconciled just by wishing it. Mercury square Neptune can be a mind that is wonderfully imaginative and occasionally unsure whether it actually sent that message or only thought about sending it.

The trine, one hundred and twenty degrees, is ease. The planets support each other naturally, so naturally that the talent is often taken for granted.

The opposition, one hundred and eighty degrees, puts two planets face to face. It is a tension between two poles, and it very often plays out through other people: you meet the other half of the opposition in a partner, a colleague or a rival, until you learn to hold both ends yourself.

The quincunx, one hundred and fifty degrees, joins two planets whose signs have almost nothing in common. It describes an awkward fit that needs constant small adjustments, like two people sharing a kitchen with completely different ideas about where the spoons live.

There are also smaller angles, such as the semi-sextile at thirty degrees and the semi-square at forty-five. Our calculation finds them, but the report leaves them out of the readings, because next to the six above they add more noise than meaning.

Hard aspects are not bad aspects

The square and the opposition are called hard aspects, and the sextile and trine soft ones. It is tempting to read that as bad and good. It is not. A square describes something that keeps asking for work, and work is what produces most real competence. Many people find that the thing they are best at grew out of a square they spent years wrestling with.

A trine, meanwhile, describes something that comes so easily it is often wasted. Imagine two people, one with Mars square Saturn and one with Mars trine Saturn. The first has to fight for every bit of discipline, and ends up with a great deal of it. The second has steady discipline from the start and may never notice it is there. Read the hard aspects for where the life happens, and the soft ones for what is available if you bother to use it.

Orbs: how close is close enough

Planets rarely sit at exactly ninety or one hundred and twenty degrees from each other. The orb is how far from exact an aspect can be and still count. In our birth charts, a conjunction or opposition involving the Sun or the Moon is allowed up to about eleven or twelve degrees, the other planets a little less, and the smaller aspects much less: a quincunx counts only within three or four degrees. Asteroids and other small bodies get tighter orbs still.

Within the orb, closeness decides how loudly an aspect speaks. An aspect within a degree or two is unmistakable; people meet it in the first conversation. At seven or eight degrees it is background colour.

Why the report lists them by strength

Most software lists aspects in a fixed order, Sun first, then Moon, then Mercury, down to Pluto. That is tidy and not very useful. Our report sorts your aspects by strength, which weighs how close each aspect is to exact together with how important the planets involved are in your chart. The strongest come first and carry five stars of importance; the stars decrease as you go down the list.

The two strongest of all are your signature aspects, shown in their own cards at the top of the report. Their readings are the most detailed we give: they take into account both the sign and the house of each planet involved, so they describe not just the conversation between two planets, but the rooms of your life where it takes place.

Every other aspect reading is written for the two planets in their signs. Sun square Moon from Leo to Scorpio is a different argument from Sun square Moon from Taurus to Aquarius, and each gets its own text. Aspects to the Ascendant and the Midheaven are included too, when your birth time is known.

Reading a whole chart's aspects

Aspects also combine. Several planets bound together by aspects form patterns that say more than any single pair: a planet that squares two others which oppose each other becomes the pressure point of the whole chart. You do not need to name the patterns to notice them. If the same planet keeps appearing near the top of your list, that planet is a main character in your story.

Above the aspect readings, you can ask the AI astrologer to synthesise them into one reading of what your aspects add up to. And many cards show famous people who share that same aspect, which is a reminder that the same square can produce very different lives.

When you are ready, read the aspects in your chart here, starting from your two signature aspects and working down.

Frequently asked questions

What is an aspect in astrology?
The angle between two planets in your birth chart. It describes how two parts of you deal with each other: together, in tension, or with an easy exchange.

Which aspects does the report include?
The conjunction, sextile, square, trine, opposition and quincunx. Smaller angles such as the semi-square are calculated but left out of the readings, since they add little next to the major ones.

Are squares and oppositions bad?
No. They describe friction, and friction is where the work is, and usually where the competence comes from. The easy aspects describe what comes cheaply, which is exactly why it often goes unused.

What is an orb?
How far an aspect is from exact. Within a degree or two an aspect is unmistakable; at seven or eight degrees it is background. The report sorts aspects by strength, so the closest and most important come first.

What are signature aspects?
The two strongest aspects in your chart. They get the most detailed readings in the report, written with both the sign and the house of each planet involved.

Do I need my birth time for aspects?
Not for aspects between planets, which barely change during a day, except for those of the fast-moving Moon. You need it for aspects to the Ascendant and the Midheaven, and for the houses that the signature aspects are read in.