"Astrologers generally allow 2°- 12° of "leeway" for aspects. This "leeway" is called an orb. So two planets within this orb are considered to be in aspect. Some astrologers allow bigger orbs and some naturally enough allow less. The closer to exact the aspect the stronger, when the orb is very wide the influence may be quite weak. Standard orbs are given for each aspect. The modern theory of aspects espouses that by dividing the 360° circle by two gives us the opposition.

"The nature of life is such that we are enabled to circumambulate the quintessential core of truth of life (whatever that is!) by experiencing facets of it, strung out in a movie-like storyline. Life is itself a cycle passing through many stages – if we experienced childhood, youth, maturity and old age at the same time we would not only get confused, but would also miss the main gist of what living on a planet is all about!

"How the planets relate to each other is shown by the aspects they form. Angles between planets reflect attitudes and the energy patterns they have toward each other. They are like force fields that mark turns in consciousness. Aspects bring out facets, sides of the self and character traits"

A short and clear explanation of the main planetary aspects: conjunction, sextile, square, trine, opposition, inconjunct,semi-sextile, semi-square, sesquiquadrat, quintile.

'The quincunx—also known as the inconjunct—is a 150^° angle formed by planets five signs apart with orbs of up to 3^°. Whether in the birth chart or by transit, making the two planets in a quincunx work together can be demanding—even a stretch. Charles Jayne said that in this aspect, people are asked to reconcile the irreconcilable, and thus the quincunx requires a creative leap to blend the two sets of needs and traits.'