Topic: On the factors that contribute to the power of aspects.

Of the four ways a planet can influence a house, aspects stand third in order of importance after physical position and rulership (dispositorship). Last in order of priority or importance, after aspects, would be ricochet, that is, wherever you see a planet, the opposite point in the zodiac is influenced by that planet as if by reflex.

When it comes to the influence of one planet on another, the conjunction of one planet with another and the dispositorship of one planet over another planet are more important than aspects between planets per se, but there are exceptions. (Although a conjunction is classified as an aspect, it is not; it is a special case in a class by itself.) These issues are not the topic of our lesson.

Our focus will be on those factors that increase or decrease the quantitative impact of one planet on another through aspects. We introduce the concepts of a planet's (1) daily motion, (2) orb of influence, (3) direct and retrograde motion, and (4) approach and departure. As planets are seldom in exact aspect to one another, we must have a set of rules to measure if two planets are within "orb of influence". We enumerate these rules and give copious examples from the horoscopes of the Dalai Lama, Heather Locklear, VP Dick Cheney, Elvis Presley, and Bonnie Lee Bakley.

It is these four factors along with the houses in which the aspecting planets are posited that account for the intense and dramatic effects we see often in a person's life. It is also the case that when these factors are contrary to what we expect, we have the expectation of events but there is not their realization. This can be fortunate or not depending on the nature of the events in life we are considering as for example marriage, death, friends, children, hospitalizations, and so on.

Sincerely,

Robert M. Corre
New York City