In today’s episode I decided to take a look at the aspect, and elements/modes grids when casting a chart using astro.com in order to assess elemental and modal weighting in the natal chart, and also to understand how to read the aspects grid the natal chart ‘feels’.
This can be identified when looking at whether an aspect is applying, separating or is exact/partile.
Each aspect glyph is displayed in the aspects grid with a number and the letter A or S giving an indication to how soon (or recently) the aspect made it’s contact, and will give us a feel of how that person experiences the conversation between the planets in their chart.
Using Johnny Depp as an example, I demonstrate which elements and modes feature most heavily for him, and which are under-represented in the chart so we can get a feel for how he interacts with his environment, what motivates him and how he deals with conflict.
I also take a little look at how strong or weak the aspects are in contact with his Sun, and Venus and Mercury.
I hope you enjoyed todays episode and feel able to take a look at that mystical grid at the bottom of your horoscope wheel to see which planets are talking to each other, what type of relationship they have and how you interact with your environment based on your elemental and modal weightings.
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Related Episodes
➡️ Check out episodes on The Elements
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➡️ Check out episodes on The Aspects
The Aspects Grid
To show you how the aspects grid works I decided to look at Johnny Depp’s natal chart.
Below is Johnny Depp’s aspect grid in the format you would find it on the Astro Data Bank at astro.com.
➡️ View Johnny Depp on Astro Databank
As you can see on the left you have a box with each planetary listing and the specific degree, minute and second of arc.
You also have the aspect grid starting at the Sun, concluding at the AC & MC. These steps (which remind me of the stepped pyramid of Chichen Itza) make it possible to look at a glance and see how many planets are in aspect to each other.
On the right there is a 4×3 grid which details which planets are in each element and also each mode.
- The rows with F, A, E, W along the left correspond with planets in Fire, Air, Earth and Water signs.
- The columns with C, F, M along the top detail planets in Cardinal, Fixed or Mutable signs.
As explained in this enhanced podcast episode you can add the individual columns and rows to ascertain the strongest or weakest elements and modes. This can offer additional insight into the way the native interacts with their environment, how they deal with conflict and what motivates them. Each planet and angle holds a specific type of planetary weighting or strength depending on it’s personal influence. Like everything in astrology, this is open to interpretation and you can assign higher points to a planet (like I did with Saturn in Johnny’s case) if you feel the planet is worthy.
It is for this reason (alongside many others) that lead me to the understanding that Astrology is not a science, but an art or craft open to interpretation.
The colour of the aspect indicates the type of influence over the planetary ‘conversation’:
- Red indicates major hard aspects (conjunction, opposition and square)
- Blue indicates major soft aspects (trine, sextile)
- Green indicates some of the more commonly observed minor aspects (semi-sextile and quincunx)
- Black aspects are for the rest of the minor aspects detailed (Semi-square, Bi-quintile, Quintile, Sesquiquadrate)
In Johnny Depp’s case the Sun is in hard aspect to Chiron. It is in soft aspect to Jupiter and Saturn, and makes a minor aspect to the Midheaven (MC).
The numbers and letters detail how many degrees between the planets, and whether the aspect is Applying or Separating.
At a glance, I can see that the Sun is applying to Saturn by trine with 5 degrees of orb, meaning in 5 degrees, the trine will be an exact 120° aspect.
The Sun is separating from a sextile to Jupiter with 4 degrees of orb, meaning 4 degrees ago the Sun and Jupiter were in an exact sextile of 60° from each other. You could also read this as approximately 4 days prior, as the Sun tends to move about a degree a day.
It is always read that the faster moving planet is applying to or separating from the slower moving planet it is aspecting, so it helps to know which planets move faster and which move slower.
To read the type of aspect you can view the aspect table I’ve created (below).
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➡️ The Contemporary Astrologer’s Handbook by Sue Tompkins
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➡️ The Development of the Personality by Liz Greene
➡️ Become A Patreon For Exclusive Access To:
- Discounted Rates & Priority Access to Readings
- Monthly Astrology Overviews
- Full & New Moon Monthly Interpretations
- Early Access to Interviews
- Patreon-Only Access to Part 2 of Interviews
- Behind the Scenes Content
- Astrology Resources & Additional Content
- Much More…
Please contact me to let me know if I have missed any charts or links!