Reference
What each pairing means
An aspect on its own is an angle. What the tradition actually has to say is about a particular pair of planets at that angle — the Sun square the Moon is not the Sun square Saturn, and the older sources treat them as different subjects entirely. These are those readings, one per pairing and aspect, each traced to a work and a page you can open for free.
10 of a possible 372, written in order of how much they bear on an individual chart rather than alphabetically. The rest are being sourced. Pairings involving Pluto are not on that list and will not be: it was discovered in 1930, after every work this site is able to cite, so there is nothing to quote.
Sun and Moon
- Sun conjunct Moon
- A Sun–Moon conjunction is the new moon, so this is a birth within about a day of one. One 1918 reading holds the sign the two lights share to be so strongly marked in the person that even a careful astrologer may mistake it for the rising sign.
- Alan Leo, How to Judge a Nativity (1912; pages from the 1928 printing at archive.org/details/howtojudgenativi00leoa), ch. IV, pp. 39–40Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 157–158
- Sun sextile Moon
- Sixty degrees apart — roughly five days past the new moon. A good aspect between the lights is associated with paternal harmony and the favour of the family, of superiors and of employers.
- Alan Leo, How to Judge a Nativity (1912; pages from the 1928 printing at archive.org/details/howtojudgenativi00leoa), ch. IV, pp. 39–40Alan Leo, How to Judge a Nativity (1912; pages from the 1928 printing at archive.org/details/howtojudgenativi00leoa), p. 153
- Sun square Moon
- Ninety degrees apart — a birth at the first or last quarter moon. One 1918 source reads a square or opposition between the lights as a vacillating, changeable disposition — rash to plunge into untried ventures, without the persistence or continuity of purpose to carry anything to a successful conclusion.
- Alan Leo, How to Judge a Nativity (1912; pages from the 1928 printing at archive.org/details/howtojudgenativi00leoa), ch. IV, pp. 39–40Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 232
- Sun trine Moon
- A third of the circle apart, about ten days past the new moon. A good aspect between the lights is associated with good home conditions and esteem in the community, and is said to favour a rise in life on the strength of the person's innate ability.
- Alan Leo, How to Judge a Nativity (1912; pages from the 1928 printing at archive.org/details/howtojudgenativi00leoa), ch. IV, pp. 39–40Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 232
- Sun opposite Moon
- A Sun–Moon opposition is the full moon, so this is a birth at or near one. One 1918 source reads a square or opposition between the lights as a vacillating, changeable disposition — rash to plunge into untried ventures, without the persistence or continuity of purpose to carry anything to a successful conclusion.
- Alan Leo, How to Judge a Nativity (1912; pages from the 1928 printing at archive.org/details/howtojudgenativi00leoa), ch. IV, pp. 39–40Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 232
Sun and Saturn
- Sun conjunct Saturn
- Alan Leo reads this as bringing responsibility into the life, and holds it really fortunate only where the two share a congenial sign. He then divides it by sign class: in the fixed signs a subtle pride or dignity with a keen sense of honour and justice; in the cardinal, intellectual pride and a somewhat cold nature — which he puts down not to a lack of feeling but to a want of breadth of thought.
- Alan Leo, How to Judge a Nativity (1912; pages from the 1928 printing at archive.org/details/howtojudgenativi00leoa), p. 133Alan Leo, How to Judge a Nativity (1912; pages from the 1928 printing at archive.org/details/howtojudgenativi00leoa), p. 133
- Sun sextile Saturn
- Sixty degrees apart. Alan Leo takes the sextile with the trine here: the whole nature is steadied, the responsibility it brings is not difficult to discharge, and progress upward is slow but held to be sure. One 1918 source groups the two the same way and adds foresight, method and organising ability, with the stamina to carry a project through delays and obstacles — though it holds recognition to be generally late in coming.
- Alan Leo, How to Judge a Nativity (1912; pages from the 1928 printing at archive.org/details/howtojudgenativi00leoa), p. 134Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 261–262
- Sun square Saturn
- Ninety degrees apart. Alan Leo reads this as domestic affliction — limits on progress through the conditions of home, parents and family, and through difficulties the person cannot control. One 1918 source treats the square and the opposition together as adverse to what is generally termed success while abundant in experience: plans thwarted by delay and obstacle, difficulty finding and keeping work, and a sense of being held in leash.
- Alan Leo, How to Judge a Nativity (1912; pages from the 1928 printing at archive.org/details/howtojudgenativi00leoa), p. 134Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 262–263
- Sun trine Saturn
- A third of the circle apart. Alan Leo takes the trine with the sextile here: the whole nature is steadied, the responsibility it brings is not difficult to discharge, and progress upward is slow but held to be sure. One 1918 source groups the two the same way and adds foresight, method and organising ability, with the stamina to carry a project through delays and obstacles — though it holds recognition to be generally late in coming.
- Alan Leo, How to Judge a Nativity (1912; pages from the 1928 printing at archive.org/details/howtojudgenativi00leoa), p. 134Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 261–262
- Sun opposite Saturn
- A hundred and eighty degrees apart. Alan Leo calls this pairing very evil, causing obstacles, disappointments and failures, and holding progress back through separations. One 1918 source treats the opposition with the square as adverse to what is generally termed success while abundant in experience: plans thwarted by delay and obstacle, difficulty finding and keeping work, and a sense of being held in leash.
- Alan Leo, How to Judge a Nativity (1912; pages from the 1928 printing at archive.org/details/howtojudgenativi00leoa), p. 133Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 262–263
How to read these
Each entry says what a named source held, and says which one. Where only a single interpreter carries a claim it is attributed to that interpreter rather than to “the tradition”, because those are different assertions and the difference matters. Where the sources hedge, the hedge is kept.
Two of these entries will read almost identically to their neighbour. That is not an oversight: the source treats the two aspects in one breath — Heindel writes “the Sun square or opposition to the Moon” as a single passage — and rewriting one of them to look distinct would be inventing a difference the tradition does not draw.
None of this is a verdict. A hard aspect is not a sentence and a soft one is not a promise; astrology is a tradition of interpretation rather than a body of established fact, and a chart is not a prediction about anyone’s life.
Which of these you actually have
The birth chart page works out every aspect between the planets in your own chart, with its exact orb, and shows the relevant entry below from your date, time and place of birth. Nothing is transmitted; it is calculated on your own device.
For what the five angles are in the first place — the geometry, the orbs, and which pairs can never form which aspects — see aspects.