First of all, when you read any aspect in a chart, remember that aspects are really there to refine an analysis. In my book, you shouldn’t be looking at aspects first. You should be looking at the conditions of the planets themselves by sign and house placement.

I’m going to show you five techniques from Abu Mashar for assessing aspects in a chart. Feel free to use a chart that you are familiar with, like your own natal chart, to try them out. I’ll be explaining each technique using examples from Game of Thrones only because Abu Mashar lived during the Middle Ages and it helps to think of medieval imagery when imagining these techniques.

When you’re looking at aspects, you want to picture the chart as a thing that is not stationary but in motion. Certain planets will always move faster than others. The Moon will always be the fastest moving planet. The luminaries, Mercury, and Venus will always move faster than Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The apparent motion of Mercury and Venus will depend on their solar phase. You’ll need to look at an ephemeris to see how many degrees Mercury and Venus are moving that day. Usually, we say that Mercury and Venus move slower than the Sun but, in actuality, they can move faster than the Sun when they’re coming out of a retrograde.

Look at your own chart and find the ephemeris for the date of your birth. Take a look at how many degrees each planets moves in the day before your birth and the day after. Make a list of your planets, starting with the fastest moving planet and ending with the slowest. You might be surprised. For example, because Mercury is stationed direct on the day of my birth, it is actually moving slower for me than Saturn even though Mercury usually moves much faster than Saturn does.

Next, make another list of all of your planets. This time, take a look at your natal chart and the degree of each sign that each planet is in. List each planet by degree, starting with the one in the earliest degree and ending with the one at the latest degree of their respective signs.

In order to assess the strength of aspects, you’re going to need all of these lists. Start with the fastest moving planet in your natal chart which is going to be your Moon. For the purposes of learning each of these techniques, write only only the aspects that the Moon pushes into the planets that it is in relationship with even if those aspects are far in terms of degree. For example, if your Moon is at 10º Scorpio and your Sun is at 12º Leo, your Moon is applying a square to your Sun. The faster moving planet, the Moon, is applying a relationship to the slower moving one, the Sun.

If your Moon is at 10º Scorpio but your Sun is at 8º Leo, then this would be a separating aspect. Separating aspects still count because they show a sign to sign relationship but they’re not as strong. For the purposes of learning the techniques that I’m about to show you, we’re not going to be counting separating aspects.

Another thing to watch out for is if a slower moving planet which is being aspected to by a faster moving planet is at a very late degree and moves out of that sign before an exact aspect can be made. In this case, the aspect still applies but the faster moving planet is able to escape before an impact. Planets that appear to apply an aspect to another planet but revoke their application by retrograding before an aspect is made also need to be considered. Strike both of these types of aspects from your list.

Note each applying conjunction, opposition, square, trine, and sextile that you find. After that, take a look at the strength of your planets. If a planet has essential or accidental dignity, if it is in its own sign, exalted, or angular—make a note. Now, you have everything that you need to assess your aspects.

Pushing Nature

Take a look at your planets. Do you have any domicile planets, which are planets in their own signs? Domicile planets are: Moon in Cancer, Sun in Leo, Mercury in Gemini or Virgo, Venus in Taurus or Libra, Mars in Aries or Scorpio, Jupiter in Sagittarius or Pisces, and Saturn in Capricorn or Aquarius.

Is there a planet trying to apply an aspect to any of your domicile placements? Are those planets in signs that are ruled by the domicile placement that they are trying to apply to? Unless your domicile planet is Mercury or Jupiter, this will happen by applied conjunction. If your domicile planet is Mercury or Jupiter, this can also happen by square.

If a planet is trying to apply an aspect to its own ruler, then what happens with that aspect is that the ruler’s nature is given back to itself. That domicile planet receiving the aspect is not only going to be able to receive the aspect well—it will also have control over how that aspect is received. The domicile planet is in control. What is receives is conditions that it is in control over.

In Game of Thrones, King Robert goes to the north to ask Ned Stark to come down to Kings Landing with him. When Robert goes to House Stark, he is able to get everything that he asks for. When Ned Stark goes to King's Landing, however, he finds that he is unable to control the affairs at court. This is because Robert is king. Robert would be like the domicile planet. Even if Ned Stark goes to King's Landing, he is only able to influence Robert how Robert wants to be influenced. Robert is in control of the relationship.

Returning

Take a look at your planets again and note if you have any planets that are either combust or retrograde. A combust planet is a planet that is too close to the Sun (within 7º).

If a planet is combust or retrograde, see if any other planets are applying aspects to that planet. If a planet is trying to apply an aspect to that combust or retrograde planet, the weakened planet isn’t able to hold onto the nature of that applying planet. This means that the applying planet’s nature will be returned back to itself.

Because the weakened planet isn’t able to hold onto an aspect, that weak planet may not benefit from the return but the appling planet, particularly if it’s strong, can benefit when it’s own resources are returned back to itself. Abu Mashar write that the benefits are less if both planets are in cadent houses but, even so, if the applying planet is domicile then it will be able to experience itself through the weakened planet.

For the Game of Thrones example, there’s a scene where Tyrion Lannister finds himself held captive in the Eyrie. Lysa Arryn tries to try Tyrion Lannister for the death of her husband by he chooses trial by combat. His soldier, Bronn, beats Lysa’s soldier, Ser Vargis Egen. Lysa Arryn is unable to hold onto Tyrion because he is stronger than her and his agency over himself is returned back to him.

Favor

This is a relatively simple one. Look at your planets and see if you have any of the following: Mercury in Pisces, Venus in Virgo, or Saturn in Aries.

Now, look and find the planet that exalts in the same sign that your fallen planet is in. For Mercury, look for Venus. For Venus, look for Mercury. For Saturn, look for the Sun. What sign is that planet in? In the case of Venus and Mercury, is Mercury nocturnal or diurnal? Does Mercury share sect with Venus?

If a planet in in fall but experiences an aspect with a faster planet that exalts in the same sign, then that planet is pulled out of its depression through the exalted planet’s favor. This favor is in effect until that formerly exalted planet transited into the sign of its own fall. If your Mercury is in Pisces but, before your birth, found itself in conjunction with Venus also in Pisces then your Mercury has been pulled from its depression. Same thing with a Virgo Venus meeting a Virgo Mercury and same thing with a Saturn in Aries meeting an Aries Sun.

This technique doesn’t work for the Moon because nothing exalts where the Moon falls. It also doesn’t work for Mars or Jupiter even though they exalt where the other falls because the fallen planet and exalted planet must be sect mates for it to work and Mars is nocturnal while Jupiter is diurnal. It doesn’t apply to the Sun in Libra because Saturn always moves slower than the Sun.

Game of Thrones example: When Jon Snow goes to the Wall, he doesn’t know that he is the true king. At the Wall, he meets Samwell Tarly who is also an exiled son. Once Jon Snow finds out that he is the true king, he is able to bring Sam out of his exile and into a position of freedom. Sam’s position is dependent on Jon. If Jon were to fall into exile, Sam would also lose his prestige. Sam also works to Jon’s advantage and with his on his affairs.

Collection and Resistance

Look to see if you have a planet to which more than one planet is applying an aspect to. For example, if both your Moon and Sun apply an aspect to Saturn. These types of configurations can live in configurations like t-square, grand trines, or stelliums but not always. Sometimes, you just have two faster planets in one sign that both apply an aspect to a slower third in another sign.

That slower third planet, the one that the two faster planets apply an aspect to, has to contend with both of the aspects at once. This is called collection. The slow planet will show natures that are contributed to the faster moving planets that it collects. How this affects the planet depends on its strength. If it's debilitated, this slow planet will be shaped by the planets aspecting it. If it’s dignified, this slow planet will shape the planets that aspect it.

In Game of Thrones, there’s a huge difference between Winterfell when there is a Stark at the fortress and when there is not. When there is no Stark in Winterfell and only Theon, the house is overtaken by Ramsay Bolton. Theon, not having dignity, is unable to control the aspect that Ramsay makes on him and is shaped by Ramsay instead. However, when there are Starks in Winterfell, they are able to withstand the white walkers.

If one of the faster applying planets, however, is not moving direct but retrograde and aspects the slow planet after the first planet by retrograde, then the aspect that the first planet made on the slow one is affected. If the first planet is faster than the retrograding second planet, then its impact is resisted and not felt. If it’s not, then its impact is still cut but not resisted completely.

Let’s look at two battle scenes from Game of Thrones for this example. When Stannis attacks King’s Landing, he fails because Tyrion uses wildfire on his ship. Tyrion in this example would be like a retrograding planet that allows King’s Landing to resist Stannis.

In another battle scene, Daenerys is forced to fight the Night King before she is able to fight Cersei Lannister. The Night King would be the retrograding planet. In this case, he wasn’t powerful enough to allow Cersei complete resistance to Daenerys but he cuts her impact. I know that things got fucked up in the show and Daenerys seemed just as powerful after she fought the Night King but a lot of her Dothraki and Unsullied actually died. She was supposed to be less powerful.

Translation and Transmutation

Translation happens when a fast moving planet aspects one planet and then, immediately after, aspect a second one. This fast planet would be able to apply some of the nature of the first planet that it aspects into the second one. This is called translation. It’s like if a fast planet moved from one planet to another and delivered messages between them.

Another technique, called transmutation, is a bit similar. Find the ruler of your chart. Is there a planet in your chart, perhaps in houses two, six, eight, or twelve, that doesn’t make an aspect to your chart ruler? If there is a third planet that happens to make an aspect to that planet and your chart ruler, then that third planet will be able to reflect the two planets not in aspect into each other. They can talk through a third planet.

A translating or transmuting planet does have an impact on what kind of messages are communicated between the planets that it speaks through. The nature of the translator or transmuter is important when thinking about what kind of translation or transmutation takes place.

If you watch Game of Thrones, you can think of these translator or transmuter planets like Littlefinger or Varys. Varys facilitates contact between King’s Landing and Daenerys. Littlefinger influences both the Lannister and the Starks using Lysa Arryn as a conduit. You’ll notice that neither Varys or Littlefinger are objective communicators. They have their own motivations and influence the people they communicate between.