Understanding the meaning of words like Aspecting, Astrological Degrees, and Astrology placements can help you better understand your Horoscope; here’s what they mean.
One of my clients who follows my post asks me what I mean every time I say, “Aspecting?!’
I commonly use terms that make sense to me but might confuse a reader or listener of my podcast.
In Astrology, some words you frequently hear when an astrologer is referring to planetary interactions are things like placements, degrees, and aspecting.
That can all sound like weird language, so I often hear things like, “But what does it all mean?!”
“What does the word placement mean in Astrology, or degree, and aspecting?!”
Honestly, Astrological jargon can be confusing for those just getting into Astrology and the casual reader of forecasts and horoscopes. I was once there myself when it came to the terminology and would like to make this stuff as digestible as possible for all of you.
Degrees In Astrology
Because planets travel through Signs, they have an entry point and an exit out of a particular zone. This is broken up into 30 degrees for each sign from 0 to 29.
So, when looking at your Natal Chart, you will notice there are numbers next to the Zodiac Signs glyph, which is the number of degrees a planet has transited through this Sign.
One of the easiest ways to understand this is to think about birthdays or Zodiac Seasons. During each month, the Sun transits in and out of Signs causing it to go over the degrees of each Sign.
Say you’re a Leo, and your Signs Season just started; this means you have a birthday coming up. July 22nd in the evening, the Sun enters Leo, so anyone born around that point would be 00 degrees of Leo.
If you’re Born on July 29th, your degree would be 6 degrees of Leo. Let’s say you’re birthday is August 18th; that would put your Natal Sun at 25 degrees of this Sign.
All Signs have the 00 to 29 degrees so think of the people you know; how early or far are their birthdays into a Zodiac Season?!
If you know a bunch of Aquariuses, they don’t all have the same birthday, so you could know someone born on January 24th, making them a 4-degree Aquarian. Or, one of your friends could be born on February 11th, making them 23 degrees of that Sign.
As we observe transiting Mercury which moves about 2 degrees a day when it’s not Retrograding, it will travel through the Sign and one day be at 2 degrees, then 5 days later be at 12.
The same goes for all other planets; they also traverse through the backdrop of Signs Degrees. So, it could be a day of transiting Venus 7 days into Scorpio, which would put this planet at 8 degrees of that Sign.
Slower-moving celestial bodies like the outer planets move unhurriedly than the Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars. The inner planets move to degrees in a matter of days. At the same time, a planet like Saturn could stay at the same degree for close to a week.
Whenever I write or podcast about New and Full Moon, Retrogrades, and other crucial alignments, I always mention which degree of a particular sign will be more affected than others. This is because whatever celestial event occurs will be in a specific degree of a sign-planet combination.
As I write this, Mars is in Retrograde in Gemini and will move through 25 to 8 degrees of this planet-sign configuration. Because this celestial body is in a Mutable Sign, anyone with placements in this Mode will be more affected than others. Therefore, Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces will experience this Retrograde on a deeper level within those degrees.
So, whenever you see me, post something like look at your Natal Chart to see if you have planets in specific signs with the particular degrees; it’s for this reason. That way, you get a more accurate understanding of how you’ll experience a transit or event.
What The Word Placement Means In Astrology
This is another word that usually confuses people because it usually sounds like jargon unless you’re familiar with your Birth Chart.
But the word placement means the planets, chart points, and asteroids a person would have in their Natal Horoscope. Since we are more than just a Sun Sign, individuals would have multiple combinations in their personal scope.
So, your Natal Chart Placements could be something like 3 planets in Gemini such as the Sun, Venus, plus Mars, Mercury in Cancer, Jupiter and Saturn in Taurus, Uranus along with Neptune in Aquarius, and Pluto in Sagittarius.
This combination makes up your chart placements along with other areas of your personal horoscope like the Ascendant, The IC “Imun Coeli,” Descendant, Midheaven, and other areas.
Sometimes, you’ll hear the word Zodiac Placement mentioned; therefore, your placements are your planetary combinations and other areas of your Natal Chart.
What Aspecting Means In Astrology
Aspecting means a Transiting planet that connects to your Natal placement and happens to be at the exact point or within a few degrees.
For example, say you get your chart done and see that you have the Sun, Moon, Mercury, and Venus in Taurus. Mars in Aries, Jupiter in Leo, Saturn in Virgo, Uranus in Scorpio, Neptune in Sagittarius, and Pluto in Libra would be your planetary placements.
Now that you have that info say there is a New Moon in Aries at 5 degrees, and you wanted to know if you will be affected by this, but your Sun isn’t in this sign.
You would look up your Birth Chart and see that you, in fact, have something in Aries, which happens to be Mars. This would mean that the New Moon is Aspecting your Mars.
This Moon would affect the Cardinal Modality because Aries is part of that grouping. Therefore, any placements like Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn between 00 to 8 degrees would feel this New Moon the most.
Say your Mars in Aries is at 5 degrees and your Natal Pluto in Libra is at 2 degrees; this would mean that this lunar event is aspecting your placements.
Let’s do one more for funsies, this time with a visual.
Say you’re born with Uranus in Scorpio and transiting Mercury along with Venus are connecting with your Natal planet. This would mean that these planets are aspecting your Natal Uranus, which would help bring in some unexpected romance and communication.
We would place it in a Bi-Wheel, which shows us the Transiting Planets Aspecting your Natal Placements.
It would look something like this:
Also, where those arrows point, show where other transiting planets are linking to your Natal chart. Some are approaching, and others are moving off the degree of your placements.
Therefore, even if your Sun Sign might not be involved in a particular event, it’s still a good idea to be familiar with your Natal Chart; that way, you’ll know if this will connect with you on an individual level.
Hopefully, this sheds some light on what these terms mean for all of you. So have fun with this; look up your Chart to see what it contains; it might surprise you how an event in a Sign that isn’t your Sun is actually playing a role in your development.
If you enjoyed this blog post, a fresh cup of java would be greatly appreciated; thanks again!! 😺☕😻