Unaspected Saturn in the 9th?

My Saturn in the 9th house (Gemini) does not form any major aspects with other planets, although it is in a nice trine with Asc and in mutual reception with Mercury. Would it still be appropriate to interpret it as an unaspected planet? Also, does the fact that it is retrograde intensifies whatever it does as an unaspected planet in the chart?

Chart attached for reference. NB: It allows for massive orbs, so consequently may show some aspects that are not actually there.

Thanks for your thoughts!

From my perspective, your Saturn is not unaspected. It trines your Moon and opposes your Mars and Venus. I use aspects by sign rather than by orb. You can add the outer planets to the list too but I personally don't use them, so that's why I haven't included them.

Thank, Solar Flare. May I ask what you mean by 'using aspects by sign rather than by orb'?

I started off with the assumption that Saturn does aspect Moon (and Uranus), which would makes it part of a Grand Trine, but then found a body of opinion that these aspects are too loose to consider. With so many different approaches it can get a bit confusing and difficult to work out which makes more sense. So all I really have to go on is what feels psychologically and experientially more accurate. A Grand Trine would have been nice to have, but based on experience, it sounds a bit too good to be true. An unaspected Saturn, on the other hand, would explain a fair bit.

I would treat your Saturn as definitely being aspected.

It scrapes in within the either way orb allowed for aspects to the luminaries, max. 10* for a trine. There is a Moon trine Saturn retrograde.

Using max. 8* orb for planet to planet trine aspects, Saturn forms a trine to Uranus (in the 1st house giving it extra stength!). As Moon also trines Uranus, the GRAND Trine in Air is functional.

Orbs are too wide for any opposition to be considered.

Inconjunct/quincunx aspects with the luminaries are allowed a max. 5* orb.
There is an inconjunct aspect between Sun and Saturn. Also strengthened by Sun in Saturn's sign.

A Grand Trine would have been nice to have,

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Not necessarily when it involves Moon, which is automatic and habitual without forethought of nature, and is in a sign governed by both Saturn and Uranus. A sort of push me-pull you regarding precedence of abstract mental application (i.e. of the mind and not outwardly visible).

The Mutual reception with Mercury in its natural 3rd house can work positively or adversely as well. How one thinks can get (ir)rationally (un)stuck
in concrete with a strong Pluto also applying Air power behind it.

all I really have to go on is what feels psychologically and experientially more accurate

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Why else the challenging aspects from Sun (conscious raising awareness) from the 3rd house (thought processes) to apply its own will.

I have a weakly aspected Jupiter in my chart (a single trine to an outer planet).

My experience of this has been that Jupiter energies are not very strong in my life, even with a Sag ascendant. It's almost like this planet isn't wired into the rest of my chart circuitry in a huge way.

The main impact I have noticed of having a planet like this unaspected is that its major transits have little effect on my life for better or for worse. By contrast Saturn, which is tied into 70% of my chart by aspects within a 4 degree orb, has a profound and easily identifiable impact wherever it goes.

So, taking that interpretation across, you might not find Saturnian energies or transits to be a major player in your life when there are no tight orbs linking it to the rest of your chart.

THan said:

Thank, Solar Flare. May I ask what you mean by 'using aspects by sign rather than by orb'?

I started off with the assumption that Saturn does aspect Moon (and Uranus), which would makes it part of a Grand Trine, but then found a body of opinion that these aspects are too loose to consider. With so many different approaches it can get a bit confusing and difficult to work out which makes more sense. So all I really have to go on is what feels psychologically and experientially more accurate. A Grand Trine would have been nice to have, but based on experience, it sounds a bit too good to be true. An unaspected Saturn, on the other hand, would explain a fair bit.

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An aspect basically means a certain amount of degrees between two planets. There are five major aspects: conjunction, sextile, square, trine and opposition. But the thing is that the signs can aspect each other too! Taking your Saturn in Gemini as an example, Gemini as a sign sextiles Aries and Leo (because they are 60° away from Gemini), squares Pisces and Virgo (90°), trines Aquarius and Libra (120°) and opposes Sagittarius (180°). What this means is when you find two planets in the signs that aspect each other, the planets make an aspect as well. In your case, for example, Venus is at Sagittarius 26° and Mars is at Sagittarius 6°. That's quite a long distance between two planets but since they're in one sign, they are considered to be in conjunction by sign. Aspects by sign also mean that out-of-sign aspects are generally now allowed, except when the orb is less than 3°. For example, Saturn at 1° Gemini and Moon at 30° Cancer can be said to be in a sextile relationship, even though Gemini and Cancer don't aspect each other.

An orb is a possible degree of deviation from an exact aspect when two planets can still be considered to aspect each other. For example, AstroDienst (the site where you created your chart) takes the orb of opposition as 10°. Taking your Saturn at Gemini 15°, it means that any planet lying within 5° and 25° of Sagittarius will be marked as being in opposition to your natal Saturn. There is no universal opinion on how big or small orbs should be, if the orbs should be different depending on aspects and planets or not etc.

Yes, surely you have to stay true to yourself and choose methods that seem to fit you best. Well, as I mentioned, I don't use the outer planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto (and others) so I wouldn't say that you have a Grand Trine anyway. But decide for yourself! There are a lot of astrologers with different opinions and I'm not saying that I'm 100% correct, I'm just providing my opinion on your question.