Orbs of Influence
I actually had a Tarot deck in my youth, one PROPERLY gifted to me -- not purchased by me -- so I could PROPERLY use it and blah blah blah. Tarot never really clicked with me the way astrology does, in part because astrology is highly mathematical and I was a big time math geek in my youth.
So overly wide orbs are a pet peeve of mine.
When astrologers use TEN DEGREE orbs, they are just telling people "Oh, astrology is hand-wavy BULLSHIT with lots of room for seeing what you WANT TO SEE." when in reality it's very mathematical and it takes advanced math to properly pursue this art.
An orb is an allowance of plus or minus a few degrees from exact in which you will still count it as that aspect.
Here are the most commonly cited aspects in astrology and the mathematical angle they represent:
They are just easy to work with. Any idiot can find them by counting how many signs apart the two points are.
Since the signs are all 30 degrees, a sextile is two signs apart, a square is three, a trine is four and an opposition is six. A conjunction is usually in the same sign, though not always.
The above list leaves out 30 degrees and 150 degrees though it really shouldn't. Those are no harder to find than the ones I listed.
Thirty degrees is called a semi-sextile and 150 degrees is called a quincunx or inconjunct.
The inconjunct is one of my FAVORITE aspects. Why it gets short shrift, I don't know.
But those are STILL not all the aspects that you can READILY find information on how to interpret. There is also the septile, which is 51 degrees and some-odd minutes, and the quintile, which is 72 degrees exactly.
Why the funny numbers?
The septile is one seventh of the circle and the quintile is one fifth. They just don't come out even the way a trine (one third) or a square (one fourth) do.
So if you use a ten degree orb, like SOME astrologers do, you will call it a "sextile" if it is anywhere from 50 degrees to 70 degrees, even though anywhere from 50 to 54 degrees really ought to be called a septile and at 70 degrees you should be looking up how to interpret a quintile.
Those are both important aspects with completely different meanings from the sextile (one sixth of the circle).
One degree of orb is considered EXACT and also gets called a fate aspect because it has a powerful and undeniable influence.
I tend to use about a three degree orb most of the time. A LOT of texts I have read use five to seven degrees, but some actually use ten and it just makes me want to SPIT NAILS.
I also once read a hand-wavy, bullshit explanation phrase "stellium by transition of light."
Some people insist a stellium is a conjunction of four heavenly bodies, which is very rare. Others say it is a conjunction of "three or more" heavenly bodies, which is still pretty darn uncommon.
"Stellium by transition of light" was the author's nonsense explanation for why sometimes you have three or more heavenly bodies that are kind of close but NOT actually conjunct and yet they sometimes seem to function as a unit anyway.
There is a group of four things in my chart that fits this nonsense phrase and I have an actual mathematical explanation for why they work that way in my chart: Midpoint involvement.
You can mathematically determine WHY other things seem to connect to both/all three/all four items and the explanation is usually "It has an exact aspect to the MIDPOINT of these things." If you can CAST a natal chart, which takes a LOT OF MATH, you can look at Midpoint involvement.
Please stop making up nonsense explanations. DO THE MATH. It's NOT THAT HARD.
It's just tedious to run the numbers by hand. Surely, someone could create an algorithm for an astrology program these days to do it for you.
So overly wide orbs are a pet peeve of mine.
When astrologers use TEN DEGREE orbs, they are just telling people "Oh, astrology is hand-wavy BULLSHIT with lots of room for seeing what you WANT TO SEE." when in reality it's very mathematical and it takes advanced math to properly pursue this art.
True Story: I bought my first expensive trigonometric calculator -- around $100 at the time, which was a LOT of money for me -- to cast natal charts more easily.
What is an "orb"?
A big part of astrology is seeing how things interact, both within a single chart and between two charts. Aspects are a large part of how you try to gain insight into those interactions and aspects are mathematical angles.An orb is an allowance of plus or minus a few degrees from exact in which you will still count it as that aspect.
Here are the most commonly cited aspects in astrology and the mathematical angle they represent:
- Opposition: 180 degrees apart
- Trine: 120 degrees apart
- Square: 90 degrees apart
- Sextile: 60 degrees apart
- Conjunction: 0 degrees apart
They are just easy to work with. Any idiot can find them by counting how many signs apart the two points are.
Since the signs are all 30 degrees, a sextile is two signs apart, a square is three, a trine is four and an opposition is six. A conjunction is usually in the same sign, though not always.
The above list leaves out 30 degrees and 150 degrees though it really shouldn't. Those are no harder to find than the ones I listed.
Thirty degrees is called a semi-sextile and 150 degrees is called a quincunx or inconjunct.
The inconjunct is one of my FAVORITE aspects. Why it gets short shrift, I don't know.
But those are STILL not all the aspects that you can READILY find information on how to interpret. There is also the septile, which is 51 degrees and some-odd minutes, and the quintile, which is 72 degrees exactly.
Why the funny numbers?
The septile is one seventh of the circle and the quintile is one fifth. They just don't come out even the way a trine (one third) or a square (one fourth) do.
So if you use a ten degree orb, like SOME astrologers do, you will call it a "sextile" if it is anywhere from 50 degrees to 70 degrees, even though anywhere from 50 to 54 degrees really ought to be called a septile and at 70 degrees you should be looking up how to interpret a quintile.
Those are both important aspects with completely different meanings from the sextile (one sixth of the circle).
One degree of orb is considered EXACT and also gets called a fate aspect because it has a powerful and undeniable influence.
I tend to use about a three degree orb most of the time. A LOT of texts I have read use five to seven degrees, but some actually use ten and it just makes me want to SPIT NAILS.
I also once read a hand-wavy, bullshit explanation phrase "stellium by transition of light."
Some people insist a stellium is a conjunction of four heavenly bodies, which is very rare. Others say it is a conjunction of "three or more" heavenly bodies, which is still pretty darn uncommon.
"Stellium by transition of light" was the author's nonsense explanation for why sometimes you have three or more heavenly bodies that are kind of close but NOT actually conjunct and yet they sometimes seem to function as a unit anyway.
There is a group of four things in my chart that fits this nonsense phrase and I have an actual mathematical explanation for why they work that way in my chart: Midpoint involvement.
You can mathematically determine WHY other things seem to connect to both/all three/all four items and the explanation is usually "It has an exact aspect to the MIDPOINT of these things." If you can CAST a natal chart, which takes a LOT OF MATH, you can look at Midpoint involvement.
Please stop making up nonsense explanations. DO THE MATH. It's NOT THAT HARD.
It's just tedious to run the numbers by hand. Surely, someone could create an algorithm for an astrology program these days to do it for you.
