If you’re newer to astrology, you might have heard the term “orbit” or “orb” thrown around a little.
“I have [aspect] in a 0° orbit,” or “What aspect is your tightest orb?” Stuff like that. Orbits are generally considered key in aspects. The wider the orbit, the less influence the aspect itself has on you.
What if I told you that this isn’t necessarily the case when it comes to the outer planets?
Outer Planets & Their Wider Influence
This theory of mine started when I realized some of my wider orbit aspects actually had a profound impact on me.
But I knew those aspects generally involved an outer planet. I thought “Well, outer planets are more powerful, so it would make sense that they don’t necessarily need a tight orbit to make an impact.” I carried on the thought, putting it together that Neptune, with its loose, subtle, and ethereal energy, would have more of an influence in a wider orbit.
I tested this with the same aspect in two different orbits.
Mercury Trine Neptune
Mel has Mercury trine Neptune in a 7° orbit, while I have Mercury trine Neptune in an 18° orbit.
This aspect has very similar effects on us, but also incredibly different effects. I’ve noticed that for me, it’s more of a Neptune dominant effect, and for Mel, it’s more of a Mercury dominant effect. Mel can feel free to correct me or add on to this, but she’s always had a VERY visual memory.
(Mel: I’m very visually oriented to begin with, but this is 100% accurate, I literally see everything in my mind’s eye.)
The Tighter Orb
Mel has incredible spatial awareness compared to me.
If you ask her if a piece of furniture could fit in a certain spot, she’ll usually be able to tell you without measuring it. On top of that, she can rotate objects in her mind. I was playing the Resident Evil 4 remake a while ago, and there was a puzzle in it that required exactly that, and I couldn’t figure it out very easily.
She came over, and it was done in a couple seconds.
Mel: I can also tell you exactly where Whitespring is on the Fallout 76 map and tell you what is around it and where… 😂 That was a new talent unlocked when Sam figured that out.
The Wider Orb
My memory is pretty visual too, but not with the accuracy hers is.
And I can’t rotate physical objects in my head really at all, but I can rotate digital things, or things that don’t really exist. For example, if I imagine an apple in my head, I can rotate it just fine, but if I’m actually looking at an apple, I can’t rotate it. (Mel: in contrast, mine has to be a physical object, it’s weird.)
On the other hand, If I’m looking at an astrology wheel on my phone, I can easily spin it in my head.
A Literal Mind Palace
The strong suit of my Mercury trine Neptune is constructing a literal mind palace for me.
Whereas Mel’s aspect gives her more of a visual mental ability towards her physical surroundings, mine gives me the ability to physically sink into the very back of my head to figure things out. This has happened to me all my life. I’ll zone out and my vision will essentially turn off. It gets all blurry, and the vision I have inside my head will turn on.
In this state, it depends on where my brain wants to go next.
Music & My Neptune Dominance
If I’m listening to music while it happens, I might see the music video to the song playing in my head (or make one up).
My personal favorite is when I manage to imagine the singer in the vocal booth recording the vocals (happening as we speak actually). Sometimes it can be as simple as seeing the lyrics in my head. If I’m trying to figure something out, the inside of my skull suddenly becomes a whiteboard.
If I’m just thinking about something, I’ll have some sort of scenario playing out in my head, and if whatever I’m thinking about aggravates me enough, it’ll be a worst-case scenario.
How it Actually Works
This is also how I make most, if not all of my edits, image or otherwise.
I can see the finished product and literally open Capcut in my head and figure out how to achieve the effect I want. Very quickly too because the only loading time I have to worry about is that of my own mind. And my mind has NASA’s internet. 😂
In any case, my vision is tapped out and my body will go on auto-pilot if I’m doing something like cleaning the kitchen at the same time.
Additional Effects
I’m equivalent to a biblically accurate angel.
Not only does my Mercury trine Neptune give me a very active imagination and an entire mind palace, but it also gives me eyes everywhere. For example, say I reach to scratch my back, right, no one can actually see their back, and I can’t either. But, in my head I can literally see what my hand would have seen if it was made out of eyes.
I actually do have eyes in the back of my head, I fear.
Back to Orbits
This is why I say outer planets have a much wider range of influence than planets like Mercury do.
Another out of orbit aspect I have but still feel the influence of is Sun square Neptune, and again, that’s a 10° orbit, but it’s Neptune. I’m a very big advocate for cranking the orbits of your aspects, but especially when it comes to outer planets. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really think aspects with a 72° orbit would have any influence on a chart, but who knows.
An example of why you should crank the orb is the quindecile.
Why You Should Crank the Orb
The quindecile is said to be an incredibly powerful and rare aspect.
But it’s essentially an opposition with a 15° orbit. Typically, oppositions only go up to 8° orbs. This means, if you don’t crank the orb to at least 15°, you completely miss the quindecile.
Mel: I’m an advocate for cranking the orb even higher for this one because we have found 17° quindeciles that explained a lot!
A Quick Guide to Aspects
What helped me escape the trap of orbits was learning what the aspects actually were, so here’s a little guide:
Trine is an aspect between two planets in the same element. A few examples could be Scorpio trines Cancer and Pisces, Aries trines Leo and Sagittarius, etc.
Square is an aspect between two planets of the same modality. The examples here would be Gemini squares Pisces and Virgo, Cancer squares Aries and Libra.
Opposition is formed by two planets in the same modality but they have opposite elements. The are literally 180° apart. So Gemini (Mutable Air) opposes Sagittarius (Mutable Fire). Cancer (Cardinal Water) opposes Capricorn (Cardinal Earth).
Sextile occurs every other sign, and have opposing elements. Aries sextiles Gemini and Aquarius, skipping over its neighbors Taurus and Pisces. Cancer sextiles Taurus and Virgo, skipping Gemini and Leo.
Conjunction is the easiest aspect to see because the planets are right next to each other, making it the only orbit dependent aspect, actually. Mars in 1° Aries and Mercury in 29° Pisces are conjunct within 1°, despite being in separate signs.
Understanding how the aspects actually worked helped me see “hidden” aspects in my chart and other people’s charts.
For example, my Saturn is in 6° Leo and my Pluto is in 26° Sagittarius. I didn’t know it until I understood what a trine really was, but that gives me Saturn trine Pluto within a 20° orbit. You would think that would be so far out of orbit that I feel no influence from it at all, but I just read up on it and it has actually been a huge part of my entire life.
Again, this is a perfect example of why outer planets don’t need as tight of an orbit.
Wrapping Up
I think I’ve just about yapped sufficiently, but this is something I never see other astrologers talk about.
The outer planets are so powerful that they just don’t need tight orbits, and sometimes they can even work better in wider orbits. Although, let’s say you have a super out of orbit opposition that doesn’t really resonate. You might ask yourself, “Are the planets involved already badly afflicted?”
If the answer is no, that’s probably why it doesn’t resonate, and of course that can go the other way around too.
I would have Mercury opposition Pluto within a 25° orbit, but it doesn’t resonate because my Mercury and Pluto are already very well-aspected. So an extremely out of orbit affliction isn’t gonna do much.
And if just in general, you don’t relate to any of your out of orbit aspects, then this can just be food for thought.
Brightest Blessings,
Sam :)