Aspects in Astrology - Meaning Explained - Conjunction, Opposition, Square, Trine, & Sextile

Hey everyone, welcome to this video on the aspects of astrology. This video's intention here is to help those of you understand more about the aspects in the birth chart, which essentially are the configurations between the planets. So are the planets next to each other, which is like a conjunction? Are they opposite, in opposition? You know, these configurations really help us work with that planet and work with the energy. This is also very important too for transits, of course. So if you have, you know, like returns or conjunctions, like Saturn returns, do you have trines or squares with Pluto or Uranus or something? Understanding these aspects can go a long way. So it's important to understand here that aspects aren't actually a thing, like it isn't visible in the sky. You know, it isn't something that is really considered a component of astrology. The three main components of astrology are planets, houses, and signs. Aspects are essentially just getting additional information in terms of the planets particularly, and of course the houses and signs once you read into that. But it's the configuration of the planets. Are these two planets in your chart or in the sky easy to work with? Are they in ease working with two of them? Or is there more of a clash between the two of them? And this represents essentially the aspect of our personality in a birth chart of is it more of a clash or is it more supportive in those two components of the personality, like say the sun and moon or Venus and Mars? You know, what is the configuration there? So let's go ahead and start by looking at fundamentally what are planets. So planets are, again, either aspects of the personality in the birth chart, but also there are experiences. So for example, Mars type experiences are the ones that have more to do with self-assertion, action, removing obstacles, these kinds of experiences. And so through these kinds of experiences, it does represent the side of ourself that is built through that. So it represents that side of ourself. So when something is in a certain aspect, let's say Mars is in a certain aspect, you know, is this going to be more challenging for that side of ourself, for that assertive side of ourself? Is it going to be more easy or is it gonna be more challenging or more easy when it comes to those aspects of our experiences, those Mars assertive related experiences? So this is basically what aspects are showing is, is there ease or is there more challenge when it comes to that either personality characteristic or experience of life? Now, I think it's also important to note that the planets do naturally tend towards imbalance. I do believe that as human beings, our goal is to strive towards health and growth. But of course, this requires a sense of balance because there's always an over or under extreme of any energy. And a planet is a great example. Let's take Mars again. There the over extreme of Mars might be aggression or anger or frustration. The under extreme of Mars might be passivity or passive aggressiveness, or, you know, not not feeling confident to express our needs. And so both of these are potentials with the energy. But the healthy expression of Mars, which is that centered approach is that of directness, independence, assertiveness, clarity on who we are, what we want, these things that are a very important vital part of life. So all the planets essentially have this kind of natural tend towards imbalance that we are working on finding the healthy expression of that. So this is where aspects come in is, is that side of ourself, i.e. the planet, is this side of ourself more easy to work with or more challenging? In other words, does it tend more towards imbalance? Or does it tend more towards or is it easier to work with the more balanced side to it? Or is it more challenging to balance? Or is it easier to balance? And even with the easy aspects, the challenge is to incorporate that easy aspect, right? Because sometimes we get lazy, or we get apathetic, you know, if it comes easy, and there's no real challenge, and life isn't challenging us, then we may not, you know, cultivate that healthy expression of that planet. So it's easy to see it as, is there an over, you know, with whatever the planet is, let's again, say we're analyzing Mars in your chart, are there more challenging aspects with it? Are there more easy aspects? Does it tend to be a little bit more challenging to bring into balance the Mars energy? Or is it easier to do that? Or does it require a little more of that intention with that, you know, intention to integrate it, even though it's easy? Alright, so the chart essentially is showing these aspects. So if you look at in the middle of most charts, and if you don't have your chart, down in the comments section, there's a birth chart calculator using the actual size of the constellations called true sidereal astrology. So do check that out if you want to take a look at your chart. But in the center of this particular chart, and most charts, you're going to see those lines. And those lines are going to show essentially, what are the aspects. And those lines are showing the degree of association. And so let's get into it. What are the different lines mean? Well, first of all, starting with the conjunction, which actually doesn't have any lines is the is when two planets are next to each other. So you could say that when they're at zero degrees, right when they're next to each other, they're considered conjunct. And we use what's called orbs in astrology, which is saying, okay, well, then how close does it have to be? So usually in Western astrology, about a 10 degree orb is given two conjunctions are on either side of, of that planet. So if we're talking about, let's say Mars and Venus, if Venus is within 10 degrees on either side of Mars, it's usually considered a conjunction. Now, every astrologer is obviously going to have a different set of orbs, but that is the most popular for conjunctions. So when they're next to each other, that's the conjunction. Now, looking at the lines, when they're opposite each other, you're going to see a red line and it's when they're opposite. So same thing. In this case, they're also given 10 degrees for oppositions. Most astrologers give about 10 degrees. So again, if it's say Mars and Venus, if Mars is over here in one, one part of the chart, Venus is in the completely opposite part of the chart. And when she's within 10 degrees of that opposite point, that's considered an opposition. So this can be seen as 180 degree, 180 degree association between the planets. All right. And then looking at the other red lines, which are called the squares, which is when there is a 90 degree, uh, association between the two. And you'll even see a little, uh, red square, um, between the two in the chart down below. So, um, this is the 90 degrees. This is, um, if you were to see all four planets in a perfect 90 degree relationship in the whole chart, it would form a square in the middle, which is called the grand cross, but it would form that square as well, which is where that name sort of comes from. But the 90 degree relationship is also a bit on that challenging side. And we'll talk a little bit more about each of these when we go through here. Now the, uh, trines are the blue lines that are in a 120 degree relationship. And you'll also see a little, uh, triangle. So the blue lines with little triangle, and that's going to be about four houses away from each other. That's forming the synergy, the trine, which we'll talk about. And that's on the easier side. And then you have what's called sextiles. And these are considered minor aspects relative to the other ones. So the major aspects are going to be your conjunction, your opposition, those two arguably being the most important. Then you have your squares and trines, by the way, squares and trines are given about an eight degree orb usually. And these four are the ones that are considered the major aspects. Then you have sextiles, which are still used a lot. These are at the 60 degree, uh, relationship. So this is when they're two houses apart and these are considered a little bit easier to work with, kind of like trines, but nothing that is completely supportive. Sextiles are a little bit more about just an opening. Okay. And we'll talk a little bit more about those, but they are certainly on the easier side to work with. All right. So those are the five, the four major, and then the sextiles that are most often used. Now you do also have other aspects in astrology. You have what's called the semi sextiles, which are minor as well. I would consider even more minor than the sextiles. And that's when you have a planet, that's one house away. So the relationship there is, um, 30 degrees. And then you also have quincunx or in conjunct, which is when the planet is, uh, five houses away. And I can't remember the degree off the top of my head. I'll put down the comment section below, but that is, um, the relationship there. So it's almost an, almost an, uh, an opposition, but one house away from that opposition. So it's kind of like what a semi, semi sextile is to a conjunction is the quincunx or in conjunct to the opposition. It's one house away from the opposition there. I guess that would be 150 degrees, right? So if you have 180, yeah. So then the, uh, quincunx would be 150 degree, um, relationship. Okay. So those are now, as you can imagine, that's the whole chart, right? Because we've now looked at the whole chart from one house away is the semi-sextile, two houses away is the sextile, three houses away is the square, the 90 degree relationship. And the, um, the fourth house away is the trine. And then the fifth house away is the quincunx or in conjunct. And then the sixth house away opposite 12 houses in the chart, six is the opposite. That is your opposition. And then of course, the same thing on the other side. Now let's talk about, okay, what do these aspects mean? What is a conjunction? What's the point of it? So again, we're talking about, is there a tendency towards balance or imbalance with the planet? So when it comes to conjunctions, this is felt in the chart as a blend of energy. That's really the key word with conjunctions is that it's a blend. And so in this case, it really is going to be determined by the type of planets that are in the conjunction to determine if it's going to be more easy or more challenging because conjunctions are considered inherently neutral in that they are blending. So it's more about what is the energy that's being blended? Is it more challenging or is it easier? For example, if Pluto is conjunct up to say the moon, a very personal planet, you know, Pluto being a very deep and intense energy makes that conjunction slightly a little bit more challenging to work with collectively just by its very nature. Now it's still a neutral aspect and a lot of it is going to be determined on our perspective of it and our approach to it. Are we willing to do the plutonic thing? In this case, are we willing to dive deep? Are we willing to see the intensity of the matter or about our feelings and emotions in the past and be non-attached and practice that? These are the kinds of experiences, but you can see just by those words, Pluto is a very deep planet. And so by nature, it's going to tend a little bit more towards the challenging to work with, but still again, inherently neutral. That is conjunctions. Now the key is again, to bring balance to it. So it's all about incorporating the energy consciously. This is really the case for all the aspects, but in this case, especially the conjunction and to see how we can become aware of them separately. Because when you have a blend of energy that blends in our personality, like moon and Pluto, intense, deep feelings, you know, whatever that is. And so the more transformative deeper aspects of life are meshed with the personal and emotional aspects of life. So what helps us is to see them as distinct, although they aren't for us because it's a conjunction, to see them as distinct so that we can work with them, to see what is Pluto energy by itself. You know, Pluto being about empowerment and transformation, breaking cycles. And so once we become more aware of Pluto energy, then we learn a little bit more about how to incorporate that into the moon energy, into the emotions, into the personal life. So being able to separate the two, just to have that conscious awareness of it really helps tremendously with helping again, find that balance towards the planet involved. And this brings up a really good point for all the aspects. It can get confusing looking at all these aspects in the chart. So the simplest way of reading these is always take the most personal planet and then look at the aspect relative to that planet. So for example, we were talking about the moon and Pluto. We're not looking at it as from Pluto's perspective. We're looking at it from the moon's perspective. We were talking about it in terms of the emotional and personal life perspective. Another example is if you have say like Mercury squaring Uranus, Mercury is the personal planet here. It's closer. So basically if it's closer to the sun, also including the sun and moon, sun and moon being the most personal, but those inner planets, right? Also very personal. So if Mercury is squaring Uranus, we're not going to look at it from Uranus's perspective, because that's a very distant planet, very deep part of the personality. We're going to look at it from the Mercury perspective. How is our mind, our Mercury related side involved with that? Is our mind more erratic? So these would be some descriptions. Our mind is more erratic perhaps, or uneasy or nervous when there's a square to Uranus. So again, it's from the perspective of the mind of Mercury or maybe communication, Mercury related things. Okay. So with this being said, so we talked about the conjunction. Now in terms of oppositions, incorporating these, how do we incorporate this? So oppositions, I consider to be more neutral in nature, but most astrologers will say it's on the more challenging side. I would agree. It's definitely more on the challenging side, but inherently neutral in the sense that the key here is to incorporate these opposite areas, which is again going to help us bring balance. So let's take the analogy again. Let's say it's, let's continue with Pluto. So if you have the moon on one part of the chart and Pluto in the completely opposite part, and they form that opposition, this is where we do have a distinct awareness of the two different ones. We have a very clear awareness of our emotional inner world, the moon, as distinct from the deeper aspects of life, Pluto. And so this awareness of both is a gift in the sense that we can work with both clearly. Another really good example of this is if you're born during a full moon, your sun and moon are opposite each other. This is the inner world being very distinct from the outer world or the emotional world from the conscious, outer conscious world, can even say mind and body. And so there's a clarity there can really help us become aware of both as distinct, not so much enmeshed, right? So that's the gift of oppositions is seeing them as distinct. But the challenge is, is of course, to balance them because the natural tendency here is going to be to seesaw, to do one or the other. So with moon Pluto, it might be to go all into the emotional aspects of life without much depth, or, you know, more about wanting to protect and have the safe and secure environment. But then the other side, then it oscillates to the other side of our soul that wants to really dive deep with the feelings and disrupt the feelings, you know, in such a way that we're connecting to what truly matters most, and we're becoming more vulnerable. So there's an imbalance here, one side that wants the security, one side that wants the change. And so that's the challenge with the opposition is we're already seeing them as separate, but to incorporate the two. So as we're conjunctions, we're about, again, a little easier to see them as separate and work with them separately, we want to do the opposite with oppositions, which is we're already seeing them separate, we want to incorporate the two, how can we bring that Pluto depth, deeper awareness into the moon energy, into our emotions, the feeling and the personal life. So oppositions, awareness of both is the gift, the challenges is to blend them and incorporate them both, because both are needed in that experience or in those experiences. All right, so those are the two most important, I believe, is the as the conjunctions and the opposition. Now the next most, the square and the trines. Now squares, like we said, that's the 90 degree relationship when there is what's considered a bit of a clash. And the reason there is a clash, and you can think of it as like two planets squaring up to each other, you know, that expression squaring up. The reason there is, is because in the sky, when we have these constellations, in the 90 degree relationship between constellations represents very different energy. For example, Aquarius and Taurus are considered in that square relationship. And if you know Aquarius is about free spiritedness, progressiveness, innovation, disruption, then you have Taurus, which is about stability, stabilizing, security, you know, this kind of earthy grounded energy that doesn't want to be disrupted. So squares are naturally just two energies that are very different from each other, more different than an opposition, because at least in opposition, you're dealing with duality, and they're two sides of the same coin. With squares, it's they're very, very different. And so the challenge here, between the two planets is to be conscious of them, as we were saying before, to be conscious of them, and to intentfully integrate the two energies, not because they're opposites, but because they're different. And so if let's say, moon is squaring up to Pluto, then there's a very, you know, there's this sort of clash, this is intensity, perhaps with the deeper feelings, with the deeper plutonic stuff, that's more uncomfortable for the emotional body, right, or for the personal life, because they're so different, right, these, these deep, intense experiences are very different from what we're wanting in terms of the security and the emotional fulfillment with the moon. So there's a clash, it's intense, sometimes with like, for example, with Pluto, it's intense, if it's Saturn, maybe it's more serious, maybe it's more, you know, we're feeling more detached, or, you know, this kind of thing, but it really brings out the more imbalanced energy, the most, I would say, is with the squares. And so that's why it's so important to integrate the two, and to have that conscious attention to say, okay, how can I integrate these two, it might be very, you know, it might be a bit uncomfortable, or sometimes very uncomfortable, depending on the energy, but how can I do this intentfully, consciously, I know that, I know they're very different, but that there is actually an integration point. And so in this case of B, you know, yes, there is this value of vulnerability, depth and willingness to change that I can incorporate into my personal life or emotional life, it may not be easy, but I can set the intention to do that, and take the actions to do that. And to face the fears to do that with Pluto, that then can be incorporated. Okay, so setting intention, taking action and consciously integrating are really good ways of working with the square. All right, so now we have the trine, which is about synergy, and harmony, these are on the easier side of things. So this is what comes natural and easy. So if you have planets that are trining in the chart and your birth chart, you know, these are, these are aspects of your personality that come easy. So let's say Moon was trine Pluto, you would just be naturally willing to, you know, dive deep with things emotionally, and there'd probably be some changes in your life, you'd be probably very non attached to your home life and personal life, things of this nature, because you have a, you know, you're, you're, again, emotional relative to the moon, because that's the personal, most personal planet, relative to your mood to how you feel and the emotions, it's easy for you to transform and dive deep and make changes. And so because it's easier, you're more willing to do that. So like I said before, though, the challenges is that it may become too easy. And so if there's anything that you can do to also set intentions with to say, okay, I have this gift, I have this ability to dive deep with Pluto emotionally and personal life at home, how can I use this in a way that benefits myself and others more, you could say, or benefits my life more or the lives of others more. And so setting that intention only helps strengthen the shrine. Because again, if we're talking about easy energy, you know, things in life that come easy, the challenge is there that they don't grow, right, they stagnate, or they become weak, right. So I heard a good analogy of like, if you help a butterfly come out of the cocoon, you know, if you strip away the what do you call it the pot or whatever to allow to help the butterfly come out the butterflies too weak to fly. If you help the butterfly, the butterfly needs that challenge to press through to grow through that pod, you know, to, to fly to be able to fly. And so the trine is that easier energy. So anything we can do to, you know, be aware of how we can challenge ourself more with that energy, with the trine energy can be super, super constructive and really help strengthen that trine even more. Alright, so those are the four major ones. Now you also have the sextile, which is the the opening. So this is also a bit of a gift. But unlike the trine, it is going to require you to make some choices with the energy. What are some choices, you know, in other words, you can choose or choose not to work with it, it's there, it's maybe easier, there's an opening, it's like a door opening, we still have to walk through the door. So that this whole analogy of what comes easy is easy. What I would say with the sextile is that it's if it if it's there, it may never even integrate into your life, unless you actually develop it consciously, you know, or choose to work with it. All right, it does require that to be utilized. And so if you do choose to, there is a bit of support a bit of synergy to help make that happen. Alright, so that's the sextiles. They're also consider them as gifts, but gifts that have to be utilized and developed. Alright, so then this leads us to the two very minor aspects, which are the semi sextiles and the in conjuncts. These are, you know, oftentimes these aren't even used in birth chart analysis. But I'm not even sure if they're in the birth chart calculator below. But if they are, they'll be either dark or light green color, if you do want to look at them. And by the way, the orbs are even less for these. So with sextiles, the orbs usually about five degrees. And so those are minor and five, but these are sometimes two and three degrees. Okay, so this is, you know, how minor they are. But anyway, semi sextiles are very different energies that again, require a bit of intention like the sextile does. Very different in the sense of if you if you think of when constellations are next to each other in the sky, they're very different, right? So for example, Pisces is next to Aries. And Pisces being a water receptive sign is very different from that active direct assertive sign. And so it does require again, that sort of intention to work with consciously with that because they're very different. So it probably tends a little more towards the challenging side. Some would say it's more on the easier side. But I'd say it's more important to just know these are very different energies that are an opening, like the sextile that you can choose or choose not to, again, set intentions with and focus on and develop. Then you have the quincunx or the inconjunct, which is very different energy as well. I would say even more different than the semi sextiles. Because again, it's not the opposition on the same spectrum. It's like next to the opposition. It's the sign next to the opposition. So if we take the energy of say Aries again, where the opposition would be Libra, you know, Aries is about assertiveness, directness, and the opposite to that is working with relationships and focusing on others needs. And although that is an opposition, you know, our needs and others needs, what's even more different than that is like Virgo and Scorpio relative to Aries. Those are the quincunx relationships. So this is how, you know, with Aries, which is about our drive, our independence, and then you have Virgo, which is about doing the work and self improvement and nitty gritty energy and focusing on the details of things, which to an Aries, which just wants to take action and be direct and assert ourself is very, very different. And so this also does require that, just like the semi sextile, that conscious intention to integrate, but in a transformative sense to really come outside of our comfort zone is the way I would describe it. It holds that energy of transformation and of it being so different that as we are willing to learn more about and explore it more and to improve it a little bit, right, we set intentions to improve and get outside of our comfort zone with it. But to develop it a little bit, then it becomes very constructive. And I would say, again, it's an opening, just like the others. But in this case, very different energy that maybe requires coming out of that comfort zone, probably the most from all the other ones, though, again, the square is that more challenging and clashy energy. This is more of it's just very different kind of energy. All right, everyone. So that is aspects. I think that pretty much covers it. So if you have any questions, feel free to comment down below. I hope this was helpful and I will see you all in the next video series. If you do have any specific topics you want to look at, comment down below, because I do plan on making more videos like this to cover these, you know, astrological topics, whatever it might be. All right, everyone. So a fantastic day. Thank you for watching. See you in the next video.