Astrology basics · The five aspects
What a conjunction is in astrology, and how it reads in a chart
A conjunction is two planets at the same place in the zodiac, 0 degrees apart, or within 8 of it in a natal chart. In the sky it is two bodies side by side, rising, crossing and setting together; a new Moon is the Moon conjunct the Sun. In a chart the two functions act as one, and the person does one with the other.
- Exact angle
- 0 degrees
- Natal orb
- 8 degrees
- Transit orb
- 3 degrees
- Daily orb
- Moon 7 degrees; Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars 1 degree
- Hard or soft
- Neither; it takes its color from the planets
Two planets in the same degree
An aspect is the angle two planets make with each other, measured around the zodiac, the band of sky the planets travel through. The conjunction is the angle of zero: both planets at the same longitude, usually in the same sign. An orb is how far from exact still counts. This site allows 8 degrees for a natal conjunction, the widest it gives any aspect, shared with the opposition, because two planets within 8 degrees keep each other's company for weeks or for years, depending on how fast they move.
The two act as one
Two planets in conjunction cannot be told apart in the person. Neither function runs on its own; the second is present in everything the first does, and from the inside there is nothing to notice, because there was never a version without it. Tradition calls the conjunction neither hard nor soft. It takes its character from the planets in it: Venus with Jupiter is one thing, Mars with Saturn another.
Two conjunctions, seen from outside
Sun conjunct Mercury is the commonest conjunction there is, since Mercury never strays more than about 28 degrees from the Sun. A person with it thinks by talking and does not know what they mean until they have said it, so a meeting with them is a draft being read aloud. Moon conjunct Mars: feeling, and the going after something, arrive in one motion. The person is already on the phone to the landlord before the annoyance about the leak has been named, and the heat is in the voice while the words stay reasonable.
The conjunction in transit
In a transit reading a moving planet reaches the degree of a natal one. The site keeps the orb tighter, 3 degrees for the slow planets, because a transiting Saturn within 3 degrees of a natal Sun is a season of a few months, and 8 degrees would make it most of a year. For the day's reading the Moon gets 7 degrees, since it covers about thirteen a day, and the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars get 1.
A transiting conjunction puts the moving planet's function on top of the natal one for its stay: the Moon over a natal Venus for a day, and what the person finds beautiful is what they want to eat, wear and look at from breakfast on.
See Conjunction in your own chartA free birth chart, with the reading, from your date, time and place.
Questions
- Is a conjunction good or bad?
- Neither on its own. It is the aspect that most depends on which planets are in it, because the two merge: Venus conjunct Jupiter is generous to a fault, Mars conjunct Saturn is effort with a brake on. Tradition leaves it out of the hard and soft lists for that reason.
- How close do two planets have to be to be conjunct?
- Within the orb. This site uses 8 degrees for a birth chart, 3 for a transit from a slow planet, and 7 for the daily Moon. Astrologers differ on these numbers; a planet 2 degrees away is conjunct in nearly every convention, and one 8 degrees away only in the wider ones.
- Can two planets be conjunct in different signs?
- Yes. The orb crosses sign boundaries, so a planet at 29 degrees of Aries and one at 2 degrees of Taurus are 3 degrees apart and conjunct, though they stand in different signs. Some astrologers read such a pair as weaker; this site counts the angle.