The Optics Blind Spot

In episode 328 astrologer Rick Levine joins the show to talk about minor aspects in astrology, and whether they should be regarded as "minor". Minor aspects are generally categorized as any aspects besides the five classical "major" aspects that were originally introduced in western astrology around the 1st century BCE, which are the conjunction, opposition, trine, square, and sextile. The minor aspects include the semi-sextile, quincunx, semi-square, sesqui-square, quintile, bi-quintile, septile, novile, and others. Several of the minor aspects used today were first introduced by the German astronomer and astrologer Johannes Kepler in the 17th century CE, although their adoption in the astrological community has been uneven, with some astrologers using them and others not. During the course of the episode we discuss the history of minor aspects and some of the debates surrounding them, and then later look at some charts where Rick demonstrates how he uses minor aspects in practice. For more info about Rick check out his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/RickLevine This episode is available in both audio and video versions below. Timestamps Here are some timestamps for topics covered at different points in the episode: 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:44 Rick’s views on whether they are really “minor” aspects 00:02:15 Major aspects review 00:03:36 History of the aspects 00:04:30 Kepler's aspects 00:07:45 The inconjunct 00:08:40 Importance of major aspects 00:09:14 Mathematical harmonics 00:15:28 Minor aspects diagrams 00:18:28 Importance of the quintile 00:21:37 The septile 00:21:54 The quindecile 00:23:52 Kepler 00:30:38 The zodiac 00:34:44 Harmonics 00:43:47 Sign-based aspects 00:45:37 Aspects as divisions of a circle 00:52:09 Orbs 01:09:35 William Lilly quote about aspects 01:12:35 Kepler's justification for the minor aspects 01:19:13 Synodic cycles 01:29:40 The quintile 01:36:16 The septile 01:39:06 More on harmonics 01:40:40 Yod 01:43:44 Kite 01:45:50 Quincunx yod 01:50:20 Modern string theory 01:51:14 Minor aspects and outer planets 01:52:13 Why do we need minor aspects? 01:53:21 Natal interpretation vs. mundane 01:58:40 Quincunx and aversions 02:00:31 Optics 02:02:17 More on yods 02:06:46 Difference between quintiles and septiles 02:12:32 Ram Dass' natal chart 02:22:29 How Rick uses minor aspects in horoscopes 02:23:05 Harmonic convergence 2012 02:23:50 When Rick started using minor aspects 02:25:39 Rudhyar's take on minor aspects 02:28:11 David Bowie's natal chart 02:31:05 Rediscovery of whole sign houses 02:36:12 More on David Bowie 02:42:49 Michael Jackson's natal chart 02:45:32 Emily Dickinson's natal chart 02:49:40 Bob Dylan's natal chart 02:57:51 Marilyn Monroe's natal chart 03:01:20 Mozart's natal chart 03:03:43 Princess Diana's natal chart 03:09:59 Summary of the chart examples 03:18:02 Resources about minor aspects 03:21:50 Concluding remarks Watch the Video Version of This Episode Watch the video version of this episode on minor aspects: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UffPp1e6Sbw - Transcript A full transcript of this episode is available: Episode 328 transcript Listen to the Audio Version of This Episode You can either play the audio version of this episode of the podcast directly from the website or download it as an MP3 to your device by using the buttons below: