Expert: LeLonni Campbell - 9/8/2009

Question
Hello!

I have Venus Conjunct Mars in synastry with someone, but the Orb is 8°32.  

1. Is this too wide?
2. Generally, what are your guidelines when counting Orbs for the various aspects in Synastry and why (Conjunct, Opposition, etc)?
3. What effect, if any, do planets have that are aspected by sign but not by Orb (Sun Conjunct Sun in Virgo for example, but not Conjunct in degree).

Thanks for your time.


Answer
This is one of those questions that has a lot of maybe's involved in the answer. I tend to use pretty tight orb's, 3 degree's or less, but that does not mean wider ones or ones just by sign do not work.  I tend to look at the entirety of the charts involved, so for example lets say That Venus conjunct mars was in Aries, well I would give the wider orb,especially if their were a lot of other strong Mars energies.  But if it was in Libra where Mars is not strong I would more than likely not consider it within orb.  You questions goes to the heart of the art of astrology, like all of life very few "rules" are written in stone, a certain amount of judgment or common sense is needed, a good amount of intuition and practice helps you sorting it all out. I give wider orbs to the conjunction and opposition, trines and sextiles I usually keep very tight not a whole lot more than 1 to 1 1/2 degrees.  Squares I sort of play by ear, so if the square sets off a patter in the charts I allow wider orbs if its a free standing aspect I normally keep the orb very tight.  

Your last question is a good one and like the rest of my answer I am going to say it depends, for example when I look at comparison charts the first planets I look at are Mercury, I feel if people cannot communicate it doesn't matter what else is going on you will have some tension in that relationship.  for Mercury I don't use orbs I use signs, because it doesn't matter what the aspect is if you can understand each other, I use elements for this, signs that square each other are the most difficult as then the person just has a hard time understanding the view of the person they are communicating with. I do the same thing with the Moon, I am not convinced you need to have a strong aspect as much as you need Moon;s in signs that understand or have empathy with the emotional needs of the one your involved with.  so yes signs count, sometimes more than the actual aspect.

Hope this has helped

LeLonni
www.astrologybylelonni.com