The Aspects
Which Side Are You On?
This might make it simpler: Let's say I am cooking
dinner and send you on a round of errands, a circular
route that takes you past various stores, as you are
picking up some various items for our meal. I live in
Michigan and it is winter and perhaps snowing, and,
since I have no idea of where you are on the route, I
don't know whether to start the peas or not. So, I call
you on your cell phone and you tell me that you are on
the route at a 90-degree aspect, one quarter of the way
from home. Now, your cell phone cuts out. I don't know
whether you are 90-degrees out and just getting started
going through all of the snow, or, 90-degrees from home,
on the way back, in which case you will be here in a few
minutes and I should start the peas.
This kind of problem with aspects is true for all aspects,
aside from the conjunction and opposition, which, of
course, are directly opposite of one another.
When you say you have a sextile aspect or a trine
aspect, I have no way of knowing which sextile or trine
you refer to. One is a waxing or outgoing aspect, and
the other is a waning or incoming aspect—very different
aspects and interpretations. Perhaps in the past it was
enough to know that there was a square aspect. Period.
But in the world we live in today, where every thing is
monitored down to the last microsecond, it is time to
give a little more attention to the phase of the aspect we
are looking at. Well known astrologers such as Dane
Rudhyar and L.E. Johndro have been pointing out this
discrepancy for decades.