Okay, so today I wanted to dive into something I’ve been researching: orbs in astrology. Honestly, I was a bit confused about them at first, so I figured, why not document my learning process? Maybe it’ll help someone else out there too.
What the Heck is an Orb?
First things first, I needed to figure out what an orb even is. I started by, you know, Googling it. I found some stuff, but it was kinda jargony. Eventually, I pieced it together. Basically, an orb is like a “margin of error” around an aspect in a birth chart.
See, aspects are just angles between planets. Like, if two planets are 90 degrees apart, that’s a “square” aspect. But things aren’t always exactly 90 degrees. That’s where the orb comes in. The orb is how many degrees “off” an aspect can be and still count.
Digging Deeper: How Big is the Orb?
This is where things got a bit tricky. There seemed to be different opinions. Some sources said bigger orbs are okay, some said smaller. I felt lost in a sea of astrological opinions!
I tried to find the most practical way and finally figured it out. The size of the orb depends on the aspect and the planets involved.
- Major Aspects: For the big ones (conjunction, opposition, trine, square), I saw people using orbs anywhere from 6 to 10 degrees.
- Minor Aspects: For the less common aspects (sextile, semi-square, etc.), the orbs seemed to be smaller, like 2 to 5 degrees.
- The Sun and Moon: I noticed that some people give the Sun and Moon a bit more leeway, maybe because they’re so important. So, they might use a slightly larger orb for aspects involving them.
Putting it into Practice (My Chart!)
I pulled up my own birth chart, just to try it.
For example:
I have a trine between my Venus and Mars. It’s not exact, but it’s within, say, an 8-degree orb. So, it still counts as a trine. The strength of the aspect, based on how tight the orb is.
My Takeaway (For Now!)
Orbs are basically a way to make sense of the “close-but-not-quite” aspects in a birth chart. It looked more difficult than it is.
I’m going with slightly tighter orbs for now, just because it feels more “precise”. But hey, that’s just me. Maybe I’ll change my mind later, I think it is all about the personal perfernce.
Astrology is a big one, and I feel like I’m barely touching the surface. But hey, gotta start somewhere, right? I hope my amateur journey is helpful.
