01 August 2016

★ How to find the strongest aspect in your Birth Chart / Natal Chart ★


Aspects were one of the last things I studied when I got into astrology. It probably took me almost two years to really start considering them. They seemed complicated and rather insignificant then.
However, the planets are the protagonists of the chart so their relationships to each other are crucial.
Plus, aspects are so important because, even though the zodiac signs may change when you use different zodiacs (tropical or sidereal) and the houses may change when you use different house systems (placidus, koch, equal... there's a lot!) the spaces between the planets and thus the aspects stay the same.
That is why aspects are the most reliable part in chart interpretations!

Finding the strongest aspect of a person can tell you a lot about them and their main way of interpreting the world and reacting to it.
If you don't know what exactly aspects are and how to find them in your chart, read my blogpost about aspects first! :-)

Rules for aspect strength  

1. The tighter the orb the stronger the aspect
2. Aspects involving at least one personal planet (sun, moon, mercury, venus, mars) or the ascendant are strongest in an individual
3. The hard aspects (conjunction, opposition, square) are stronger than the soft aspects (sextile, trine)
4. The applying aspects are stronger than the separating aspects (more about this later!)
5. Aspects of two generational planets (uranus, neptune, pluto) arent as relevant for the individual


Finding the tightest orb with astro.com 

First of all, you should look at which of your aspects are closest to being exact.
There's a calculator on astro.com that helps you do that;



Once you have your Pullen aspect grid, you will see little numbers under the aspect symbols. Those are the orbs.
The smaller the number, the closer the aspect is to being exact, and the stronger it will be!


In an example chart I used, I would consider the conjunction between the Sun and Saturn as the strongest aspect.

Although there is an aspect between Mercury and Uranus that has a smaller orb, that one is a sextile and the hard aspects are usually stronger than the soft ones.

You can also see that there's either a + or - in front of the orbs.
Those are the applying (+) and separating (-) aspects.
The applying aspect are those that are getting closer to being exact and the separating ones are those that were exact and are now moving away from exactitude.
As stated before, the applying ones are usually stronger! (if the orbs are roughly the same degrees)



Once you know which of your aspects have the smallest orbs, try using the rules above to find your strongest aspect. Often, there is not one single aspect that stands out.
Finding three or so of the strongest aspect can already help you narrow down all the different factors in your chart a lot.
And once you read about each of the aspects, you will probably know which one dominates your personality and life.

4 comments:

  1. On point, my advice is usually "you can do it if you wish" or a variation of it. People answer me with a look of "what...what is wrong with you? are you listening to me?I can't".
    My philosophy is Shia LaBeouf's "Just do it"

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  2. I also think about this at times. I used to think my tightest aspect was my sun conj Pluto in Sagittarius. After taking a second look at my chart I realized my tightest aspect is mercury and mars in an EXACT square. Mars at 12 degrees Virgo and mercury at 12 degrees Sagittarius. I can be very verbally aggressive, sometimes to my own detriment. I say the most brutal things and then mentally kick myself and wanna take it back a minute later.

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  3. I've known for a long time what my strongest aspect is, Sun in Taurus square Moon in Aquarius. the orb is super tight, less than two minutes

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  4. Could you please help me out with this?
    I am having trouble figuring what is my strongest aspect
    an email I can reach you?

    ReplyDelete