side. While everyone experiences some tension between these two principles, an indi-
vidual with a Mars-Saturn square (a conflict aspect) in her or his chart experiences
this conflict in an exaggerated manner, often over-repressing outgoing, aggressive
urges and at other times exploding with impulsive actions or words. A trine, on the
other hand, represents the easy flow of energy between two points; so an individual
with a Mars-Saturn trine would find that these two facets of the personality work
together easily, bringing patience and discipline (Saturn) to the side of ambitious
aggression (Mars), and vice versa.
The major aspects are the conjunction (0°), sextile (60°), square (90°), trine
(120°), and opposition (180°). Squares and oppositions are regarded as hard aspects,
meaning they usually present challenges the native must face and overcome. Sextiles
and trines, on the other hand, are regarded as soft aspects, meaning the energies repre-
sented by the planets and other points in the aspect combine in an easy, harmonious
manner. The conjunction indicates a powerful blending of energies that can be easy or
challenging, depending on the planets involved and the aspects that other planets
make to the pair in conjunction. The traditional names for hard and soft aspects
(names one still finds in older astrology books) are malefic and benefic. Beyond the
undesirable connotations of malefic, these terms were dropped because malefic aspects
are not always “bad,” nor are benefic aspects always “good.” For instance, an individ-
ual with numerous soft aspects and no hard aspects can be a lazy person who is never
challenged to change and grow. On the other hand, an individual who has risen to the
challenge of numerous hard aspects and overcome her or his limitations can be a
dynamic, powerful person.
The “traditional” minor aspects are the semisextile (30°; sometimes called a
dodecile), the decile (36°), the semisquare (45°; sometimes called an octile), the
quintile (72°), sesquisquare (135°; sometimes called a sesquiquadrate or sesquare), the
quincunx (150°; sometimes called an injunct), and the biquintile (144°). Other
minor aspects are the vigintile (18°; also called a semidecile), the semioctile (22^1 ⁄ 2 °;
sometimes called the semi-semisquare), the quindecile (24°), the novile (40°), the
septile (51^3 ⁄ 7 °), and the tredecile (108°). The ancients, who referred to the aspects as
familiarities or configurations, used only the major aspects. The major hard aspects
come from dividing the horoscope circle into halves and quarters, soft aspects from
dividing it into thirds and sixths. Some of the minor aspects derive from further divid-
ing the circle into eighths and sixteenths (semisquare, sesquisquare, and semioctile)
and twelfths (semisextile and quincunx). Yet other minor aspects derive from 5-way
and 10-way divisions (quintile, biquintile, decile, and vigintile), a 7-way division
(septile), a 9-way division (novile), and a 15-way division (quindecile). For general
interpretation purposes, the minor aspects are rarely used unless they are very precise.
Few aspects are ever exact (exact aspects are referred to as partile aspects). For
this reason, astrologers speak of the orb—or the orb of influence—within which spe-
cific aspects are effective. For a sextile, for example, many astrologers use a 6° orb in a
natal chart, which means that if any two planets are making an angle anywhere in the
54°–66° range, they are regarded as making a sextile aspect with each other. The clos-
er an aspect is to being exact, the stronger it is. For the major aspects, astrologers often
allow an orb of 8° or more; for minor aspects, 1° to 3°.Aspect
[56] THEASTROLOGYBOOK