Aspects

A conjunction fuses two functions so that they run as one, which makes the pair powerful and very hard to tell apart from the inside.

Under a degree the two are effectively a single body, and you rarely experience either function without the other arriving with it.

The two are still closing, which usually reads as pressure that is building rather than a fact already settled. The two are already separating, which usually reads as an established trait rather than something still forming.

An opposition sets two functions against each other so that satisfying one tends to cost the other, and awareness comes from the swing between them.

Within a degree the pull is close to symmetrical, and the trade-off is usually worked out through other people before it is worked out internally.

The opposition is tightening, so the trade-off is still being negotiated. The opposition is separating, so the trade-off is more likely to be known already and lived with.

A trine lets two functions cooperate without friction, which makes the ability easy to use and easy to leave undeveloped.

Within a degree the cooperation is close to automatic, and it is often not recognised as a skill because it never had to be learned.

The trine is still closing, so the ease is gathering rather than settled. The trine is separating, so this is long-standing ease — the kind that gets taken for granted.

A square forces two functions to interfere with each other until some working arrangement gets built, which is why it produces strain and competence from the same source.

Within a degree the friction is constant rather than occasional, and it tends to be one of the first things a person notices about themselves.

The square is tightening, so the pressure is still increasing. The square is separating, so the conflict has already produced whatever structure it was going to produce.

A sextile offers cooperation that has to be taken up on purpose; unlike a trine, nothing happens if it is left alone.

Within a degree the option is close at hand, though it still has to be picked up rather than waited for.

The sextile is closing, so the opening is still forming. The sextile is separating, so this is a resource already available rather than one arriving.

A quincunx joins two functions that have no language in common, so every adjustment on one side calls for an unrelated adjustment on the other.

Within a degree the mismatch is a daily fact rather than an occasional one, and it rarely resolves — it gets managed.

The quincunx is closing, so the adjustment is still being worked out. The quincunx is separating, so the adjustment has usually settled into a habit by now.

A semisextile links two functions that sit side by side without seeing each other, producing a small persistent pull rather than an event.

Within a degree the pull is noticeable, though it stays minor next to anything else in the chart.

The contact is closing, so the small pull is still gathering. The contact is separating, and this one is quiet enough to be easy to miss.

A semisquare is minor friction: small repeated irritation rather than a structural conflict, and it tends to be felt as a nuisance rather than named.

Within a degree the irritation is frequent enough to become recognisable.

The contact is closing, so the friction is still building. The contact is separating, so the friction is fading from this pairing.

A sesquiquadrate is friction that arrives late: the strain tends to appear in the results of something rather than at its start.

Within a degree the strain shows up reliably at the end of things rather than occasionally.

The contact is closing, so the strain is still increasing. The contact is separating, so the strain is on its way out of this pairing.