"Is it REALLY possible the angle between two planets in the heavens can really affect things here on earth? I'm mean these 'aspect' things. Astrology is a hobby, so I know what aspects are, such as when two planets are in 'conjunction', this means they are next to one another - and that if they are 'square' each other, then they are 90� from each other, and so on. But how did planets being apart at certain angles come about to have meanings?
If you held a piece of string that was connected to a ball - and began to swing it around you - then you could actually FEEL the affect of the ball pulling "harder" at certain angles in relation to you. All bodies in motion produce different affects at different angles.... in ANY medium - a passing train's horn will sound different depending where (at what angle) you are standing in relation to hear it (the Doppler effect), and Sunlight that hits the earth's atmosphere (bending it at a certain angle) is what makes the color of the sky blue, instead of some other color.
John Nelson, an American radio engineer, proved that the angles of planets have a tremendous effect on earth when he investigated the connection between the positions of the planets and the static disturbances of short-wave radio beams. His discoveries even enabled him to forecast static interference months in advance, with an accuracy rate of 93 percent!
While working at RCA communications from 1949 to 1971, Nelson found that when planets were square (90�) and opposition (180�) apart (the "hard" aspects in astrology) there was a high degree of static interference in short-wave transmissions, which would be reduced immediately when a "soft" aspect (sextile 60� or trine 120� aspects) aspect came into affect! There was also evidence that the static effects by slower moving outer planets in aspect would be triggered off when a faster moving inner planet joined the configuration.
The word "aspect" comes from the Latin aspectum, which means "to look at". Even in other earlier cultures, the description for planets at different angles was referred to as "glance", "gaze", and "appearing" to one another. So, in ancient times, the different angles between planets was regarded as to how each planet looked at each other - that is, in a friendly and unfriendly manner! (For those of you who have read ancient astrological text, and were confused by such expressions as "Mars will FROWN on Venus this day, causing...." this is where these "facial expression" terms come from).
The first records describing aspects come from writings that are over 6,000 years old. These early descriptions specially noted certain events within the kingdom in relationship to whenever two planets "joined each other in the heavens", or what we would call a conjunction (when two planets come very close together, or occupy the same position. It from many of these early descriptions of aspects - conjunctions being the first, since they were obvious to see - that planets began to acquire their characteristics.
Aspects and an Ancient LOVE story In one of the early accounts a certain prince fell in love with a girl from a farming village when Venus and the Moon were conjunct in Taurus. The Moon since pre-recorded history was regarded as an influence of the emotions, and Venus (from examples such as this one) started to be associated with attraction, artistic energy, and LOVE. Although the King was against such a marriage (the village was in an area that apparently caused much trouble for the King), the Queen consulting the court astrologers and discovered that a union resulting from this attraction would actually produce good fortune for the prince, and the entire kingdom.
While we do not have the astrologer's records to show how they came to this conclusion, we do know that a factor was since the attraction began while both heavenly bodies were in Taurus - the sign of the earth and farming. (It might also be noted that although rulerships were not yet a part of astrology - the Moon is Exalted and Venus is a ruler of Taurus.) It turns out the Queen convinced the King to approve the marriage; which produced a happy couple, lots of future heirs to the throne, and an end to the "troubled region", since on of their own was now a part of royalty and enjoyed the riches and status of such a connection.
from general positions to exact degrees Before the ancient Greeks, aspects were not calculated by degrees in many cultures, since they did not have a precise measuring system for planet positions. Instead, angles were considered by what SIGN the planet was in. For example, if two planets were in opposite signs - such as Aries and Libra - the planets were considered to be in opposition. Later, when the system of using degrees to measure bodies in the sky was introduced (by the Egyptians) did aspects then become calculated by what degree planets were from one another.
The first classification of aspects was done by Claudius Ptolmey (AD 100 - 178), a Greek who lived in Alexandria, Egypt. His book Tetrabiblos, was not only his works, but an attempt to record all of the astrological knowledge of his time (since most of the world's astrological and other knowledge was lost when the Great Library of Alexandria was destroyed). Ptolemy listed and only described the MAJOR aspects (�0-conjunction, 60�-sextile, 90�-square, 120�-trine, and 180�-opposition) and characterized these as being benefic (good) or malefic (bad).
While the idea of "good" or "bad" aspects in astrology still exists in some books, enlightened astrologers prefer to look at these aspects as being helpful or challenging to the individual. Looking at aspects (or anything in life, for that matter) in terms of good or bad often convey a feeling of unfortunate determinism, which can affect a individual response system and attitude. It should be noted, that all challenging aspects are derived from dividing a circle repeatedly by two, and helpful aspects from dividing a circle by three.
The first person to formulate a general theory of aspects was Johann Kepler (January 6, 1571 to November 15, 1630) who can be considered the father of modern astrology. Kepler was the court astrologer and astronomer to the Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, and also discovered the three laws of planetary motion governing elliptical orbits, which later led to Newton's law of universal gravitation.
Kepler also was first to record evidence of the MINOR aspects (planets separated by angles of 30�, 45�, 72�, 135�, and 150�), the discovery of which actually came about by his association with music and planetary motion! This happened when he further developed the ancient Greek Pythagoras's theory that an ethereal musical harmony was produced by the movement of the planets, which is known as Music of the Spheres. Kepler also advanced the idea that each planet had its own specific rhythm, and correlated each planet's orbit to the musical scale.
In modern times the effect of aspects has been greatly assisted by using computers, which are able to analyze data in a few minutes what would take earlier astrologers years to do. Although complicated to compare ALL the angles between ALL of the planets, considering the aspects is a very important part of horoscope interpretation.
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