If you have read the guides on planets, signs and houses, you have three of the four questions a chart answers. Aspects are the fourth. An aspect is simply the angle between two planets — and when that angle is one of a handful of specific values, the two planets form a relationship. Some of those relationships cooperate; some grate. Together they are the conversation your chart is having with itself.
The five major aspects
Tap any of them to see the angle it makes, what it does, and the geometry drawn out. The colours match the lines on the Cosmiclogy chart wheel.
Hard is not bad, and easy is not good
Aspects get sorted into "harmonious" and "challenging", and the labels mislead people. The square and the opposition create tension — but tension is where drive comes from. The most driven, accomplished charts are usually full of them; the friction is the engine. Meanwhile the trine, the easiest aspect of all, hands you a talent so freely that it can sit unused for a lifetime.
Orbs: how close is close enough
Planets rarely sit at exactly 90 or 120 degrees, so an aspect is allowed a little slack — an orb. If two planets are within a few degrees of an exact aspect, it still counts, and the tighter the angle, the stronger the effect. Cosmiclogy uses a modest orb, so the aspects it shows you are the ones actually doing work, not distant near-misses.
The one thing both zodiacs agree on
Here is a detail worth keeping. Almost everything in a chart can differ between the sidereal zodiac Cosmiclogy uses and the tropical one most Western sites use — because the two start counting from different points. Aspects are the exception. The angle between two planets does not care where you begin measuring the circle, so it is identical in both systems. Your Sun sign might differ between a Western site and this one; the aspect between your Sun and your Moon will not. It is one of the few things everyone agrees on.
What to remember
Aspects are the angles between planets — the fourth question, after planet, sign and house. Five matter most: conjunction, sextile, square, trine, opposition. Hard aspects build drive, easy ones can go slack, and the tighter the orb the stronger the effect. And uniquely, aspects read the same whichever zodiac you use.
Common questions
What are aspects?
The angles between two planets, drawn as the lines across the middle of a chart. Certain angles form a relationship — some cooperative, some tense.
What are the five major ones?
Conjunction (0°), sextile (60°), square (90°), trine (120°), opposition (180°).
Are the hard ones bad?
No — squares and oppositions create the friction that drives action and awareness. Easy aspects can go slack for the opposite reason.
Do aspects differ between zodiacs?
No. The angle between two planets is the same whether the chart is read sidereally or tropically — one of the few things both systems agree on.
See the aspects in your own chart
Your Cosmiclogy profile draws every major aspect between your planets, and reads what each conversation means — in plain language.
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