Orb
HellenisticRenaissance & early modernModern WesternTraditional doctrineEditorial synthesis
Definition
How far from exact an aspect may be and still count. Orbs are a convention chosen by each school rather than a measured quantity, so any figure must be stated rather than assumed.
Also called: Orbs · Orb of influence
In more depth
Two bodies are rarely exactly sixty, ninety or a hundred and twenty degrees apart. Practitioners therefore allow a margin (the orb) within which the aspect is still treated as operating. Early modern practice assigned orbs to the planets themselves, so the allowance depended on which bodies were involved rather than on the aspect alone.[1]
There is no canonical table. Schools disagree about the size of orbs, whether they attach to the planets or to the aspects, and whether an applying aspect is allowed more room than a separating one. Because the choice is conventional, this platform's position is that an orb policy must be identified and versioned wherever it is used, never silently defaulted.[2]
References
Numbered citations in the text link to the records below; each record links to the full source registry.
- William Lilly. Christian Astrology, Modestly Treated of in Three Books. T. Brudenell for J. Partridge & H. Blunden, London. 1647. Historical primary source View source record
- Chris Brennan. Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune. Amor Fati Publications. 2017. Modern practitioner interpretation View source record