Aspects — how the parts argue
An aspect is an angle between two planets, measured around the wheel. Certain angles are held to matter, and they are where a chart stops being a list and starts being a description of somebody — because they say which parts of you are pulling against which other parts.
Most of what makes a chart feel specific is here. Anyone can have Venus in Capricorn. Venus in Capricorn squaring Uranus is a different story, and the story is in the square.
| Aspect | Angle | Orb Gori allows | What it is read as |
|---|---|---|---|
| conjunction | 0° | ± 8° | Two planets in the same place. They stop being separate — you get one blended motive, for better and worse. |
| opposition | 180° | ± 7° | Facing each other across the chart. A tug-of-war you tend to solve by picking a side, then regretting it. |
| trine | 120° | ± 7° | Same element, easy angle. It works so well you may not notice it is there, which is its own problem. |
| square | 90° | ± 6° | A right angle, and the most productive friction in the chart. Two things you want that will not fit in the same hour. |
| sextile | 60° | ± 4° | A friendly angle that only does something if you use it. An offer rather than a fact. |
Orb — how close is close enough
Planets are almost never at exactly ninety degrees. An orb is the tolerance allowed: how far from exact the angle can be and still count. A square at two degrees of orb is loud; the same square at six is background.
Orb is also where astrology quietly becomes unfalsifiable. Set the tolerances wide enough and everything aspects everything, at which point the chart can be made to say anything you already wanted it to say. Gori uses deliberately tight orbs — listed in the table below, read straight out of the engine that computes them — so that when a reading names an aspect, the aspect is really there.
Hard and soft
Squares and oppositions get called hard, trines and sextiles soft, and the labels mislead people into wanting a chart full of trines.
A trine is two parts of you that agree, which is comfortable and often means you never develop it, because nothing ever forces you to. A square is two things you want that will not fit in the same hour, and it is where competence tends to get built. Gori will not tell you a square is secretly a gift. It will tell you what the two sides are asking for, and leave the arrangement to you.
If you would rather see it on your own chart than in the abstract — Gori computes yours and writes it out. Today’s reading is free.
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