Meaning
A square is a quarter of the circle, the side of a square drawn inside the zodiac. Counted by signs it joins signs three apart, which share their modality, cardinal with cardinal or fixed with fixed, but differ in element and in Ptolemy's kind, one masculine and one feminine. That unlikeness is why Ptolemy, who calls it the quartile, classes it with the opposition as discordant.
The tradition reads the square as friction and challenge: two drives at cross purposes, each getting in the other's way, which forces a person to act. Modern readings add that it builds strength by the effort it demands. Modern astrology calls it a hard aspect; our readings call it tension and effort, never misfortune.
Our orbs
We allow 10° when the Sun or Moon is one of the pair and 8° otherwise, and half that to Chiron, the North Node, the Ascendant and the Midheaven. Within a quarter of a degree a square is marked exact, and each is labelled applying or separating from the speeds of the two bodies. Our chart draws squares and oppositions as solid lines.
In the sample chart on our system page the Sun at the very end of Capricorn squares Mars at the very start of Taurus, less than half a degree from exact and applying. Capricorn and Taurus are four signs apart, the distance of a trine, so this is an "out of sign" square: we count aspects by degrees, while whole-sign schools would not call it a square at all.
Other schools
astro.com's default gives every major aspect but the sextile 10°; its classical style scales by planet. CHANI counts by sign, so bodies three signs apart are square whatever their degrees. Jyotisha has no square as such: its drishti are cast by sign, and Mars, Jupiter and Saturn have special ones of their own.
Correspondences
Each item with how it stands: “sourced” is in the work cited, “our construction” is EsoTerrier’s own, and “disputed” means the sources disagree.
- Angle (Ptolemy)
- 90° sourced
- Class (Ptolemy, in Ashmand)
- disharmonious sourced
- Modern class
- hard or challenging sourced
- A musical interval
- A modern table; Kepler built aspects on harmonic ratios in 1619, Ptolemy on halves and thirds of the circle disputed
- Invented by Ptolemy
- No: in use before him; "Ptolemaic" records his later authority disputed
- One standard orb
- No: orbs differ by school disputed
- Our orbs
- 10° with the Sun or Moon, 8° otherwise, half to the points our construction
How the schools read it
- Ptolemy (2nd century CE)
- Disharmonious: it joins signs of unlike kind.
- astro.com default
- 10° for every pair, points at half.
- astro.com classical style
- Orbs by planet: luminaries 9°, Mercury, Venus and Mars 7°, the outer planets 5°.
- CHANI
- Aspects counted by whole sign, not by degree.
- Kepler (1619)
- Built the aspects on harmonic ratios and added the quintile, biquintile and sesquiquadrate.
- Jyotisha
- No aspects by degree: each graha aspects the seventh sign from it, and Mars, Jupiter and Saturn further signs.
- EsoTerrier
- 10° with a luminary, 8° otherwise; applying or separating; called tense.
Claims about it
-
Ptolemy invented the five major aspects, which is why they are called Ptolemaic.
disputedWhat the record shows: He lists the configurations, but the aspects were in use before him and Valens uses them without crediting him; "Ptolemaic" records his later authority, not an invention.
-
One set of orbs, such as 10° for every aspect, is the standard.
disputedWhat the record shows: Orbs differ by school: Lilly gave each planet its own; astro.com's default is a flat 10°, 6° for the sextile; others scale by planet; CHANI counts by sign. Ours are printed with every chart.
