Where in the Cycle? Astrology

Where in the Cycle?

If you only want to know when two planets are within orb of an aspect, you are missing a lot. Of course it is more important to know when an aspect is exact or nearly so. But it is also important to know even roughly about the relationship of any two planets. Where are they in the cycle of their relationship? This is what you should be asking.

The point here is that the activity of any two planets or bodies does not just manifest at the exact aspect points. It is a process that is ongoing, and we can take a snapshot of that process at any time, not only when an exact aspect is reached. While orbs are very helpful in spotting the high points, we also need a general idea of where we are at in the entire cycle. For example, as aspect may be short of being called a square (90-degree aspect), but it is more a square than it is anything else and you or your clients need to know this.

For most of my work, which is with large-scale patterns, I don’t look at orbs; only at the patterns. A misshapen (out-of-orb) grand trine is still a grand trine and nowhere near being any other pattern. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. The same with aspects. Don’t get hung up on exactness; grasp the whole picture.