#declinations

Today we’re gonna learn a lil about how we measure out stuff in astro (over simplification but ok) 💞💞💞Dimension wise…. things….we’re gonna ignore the speed for now (even though we can just talk and get it over it, you might…prefer, me hitting you with this one at a time) 

So first let’s acknowledge…. Where Things Are and What It Be/How Things Work….

Here’s a picture for better survival/visualization, trust me it’ll help instead of discussing science and math all the time on this subject (from astro.com right here btw) 💞💞

You can see how there’s the ecliptic and there’s the ‘celestial equator’ right? The ecliptic is the path we orbit the sun (the dark grey line where the sun is positioned) – we measure planet’s relative longitude and latitude 

First of all, why do we only look at one ‘set’ of degrees (longtitude) and not the other? 

So see planets (in natal chart right), just cause they share the same longitude doesn’t always mean it shares the same latitude. Just bc something is ‘conjunct’ across the longitude, doesn’t mean it’s the same in the latitude. That’s why we don’t get– like, as much eclipses as we expect, y know? Imagine if you just keep seeing ‘conjunct’ planets in your chart showing up all the damn time, the night sky would be filled with them (not that they aren’t but– y know, not to the exact degree like that). Longitude/latitudes are important. 

Imagine just like– a circle. The Sphere. You have the longitude going across, and the latitude is the up/down right? Sometimes in the North Ecliptic and thus you can’t see it from the South Ecliptic sometimes. That’s why there’s the N/S stuff for the latitude and not for the longitude ya know– mapping the path of the sky and stuff. 

For those who forgot what longitude and latitude are (we’ve all been there don’t worry) just remember that longitude is ‘across’ while latitude is ‘up/down’

Ok now, think of your google maps co-ordinate. There’s 3 sets of things right (listen: I tried to spoof pokemon go recently so this is fresh in my mind right now) longitude latitude and altitude (rip me spoofing locations) 

This is where we go more into the ‘which side are you on’ N/S discussion and introduce: the declination to the subject. 

The declination is measured from the celestial equator-- confusing, but the celestial equator is essentially the band from the equator– expanding in all direction. For some differentiation, both declination and latitude uses N/S in their measurement. But they’re not the same?? N/S ok

So:

Longitude’s N/S is measured from the ecliptic, is the planet north or south of the ecliptic right now? Refer to the picture above. Isn’t the ecliptic like, ridiculously big? Shit’s long. Why we got seasons and stuff (our orbit around the sun)

Declination N/S is measured from the celestial equator. So like, the equator. Where the sun is positioned in the sky relative to us y know, shit like that. Phew. 

tl;dr (as to not confuse you): ya’ll we have 3 dimensions (let’s not mention speed right now) the one we use most is the longitude, but we also have latitude and declination that can help reinforce longitudinal aspects too (if they’re making parallel/contra-parallel themselves) – or if otherwise, declination can make aspects itself (conjunction or oppositions: see later) that might clear up some stuff, y know?  

So what’s parallel and contra-parallel then?

Aiight since we talked about the N/S stuff. We can get to it now.

Let me pull up my ephemeris for you:

First let’s acknowledge what we see— you see the ‘planet’ and the second column says ‘longitude’?? Shocker! That’s what we look at typically. 

We’re gonna skip speed cause I don’t wanna freak you out right now, and look there’s our latitude and declination! Remember what we said about the N/S stuff being there?? There it is!!  

Ok so, let’s look at my declination. You can see my Mercury at 20′50 S right? And look wow there’s my Jupiter at 20′38 S too! 

With these parallel aspects, try to keep it below 1′ y know? The more accurate/tight the better. But notice how BOTH of them have S (and close degrees) – that’s ‘parallel’ (being– y know, close or ‘south’ in relative to the ecliptic and the earth)  

When it’s contra-parallel: uuuh i don’t have it in my chart. But say your Sun might be at 12′50 N while your Jupiter is 12′50 S. That’s contra-parallel. When ya planets are on the other side but same distance from the ecliptic, that’s a good indicator of it.

So: why is this important?

Some people might not even have longitudinal aspects two planets, but figured there’s something fishy going on besides what they see in their longitudinal parts. Maybe if they heard/was brought up that oh they can check their declination aspect too, they’ll perhaps see that it might have aspects that reaffirm their suspicion. 

These are elements that we might’ve missed out, and while there are Talks about whether or not it’s important– having emphasis of both longitudinal aspect and declination aspect between two planets, would make that certain aspect even more prominent/stronger y know? 

Right so see, if say you have a Sun/Jupiter aspect in your longitude right? And then you get this— parallel aspect in your declination as well, parallel aspects usually brings a stronger emphasis/attention to the longitude aspects. Now you might think this is like ‘oh of course but that’s nothing special’ – but see, sometimes it does make a difference.

Longitudinal aspects can often be very blanched out on it’s own, like ‘oh Sun/Jupiter of course you have that characteristic/problem’. But with looking at the declination aspects— maybe you’ll see that your Sun/Jupiter is not the only one (or it is emphasized more prominently) but you’re also making aspects to your MC/Mercury and other things as well. This can be helpful, since it gives a layer of depth/dimensions to things (or make aspects of it’s own as well)

There’s more elements to it than one, and often there’s also a lot more to consider. 

Look at mine for example, there’s the Mercury/Jupiter in the longitude (sextile) and Mercury/Jupiter in the declination (parallel). There’s also Neptune/Uranus in that equation (declination/parallel) and this definitely adds a layer to it that I didn’t expect. 

My Sun/ASC is at 22′ S – that declination parallel does clear some stuff up about myself, and doesn’t make an aspect longitudinally. You can learn things about yourself, even if it’s minor/you ‘thought’ you were just ‘paranoid’ here as well. 

(btw parallels are usually ‘conjunct’ while contra-parallels are ‘opposition’ – just y know, describing the declination aspects in it’s position)

So to: actually answer your question on What Does Yours Mean

Sun square Jupiter is emphasized. Since parallel might be considered a ‘minor’ aspect so it’s most likely this Sun/Jupiter square for yours will be more prominent in your characteristics. 

Self-identity/ego and the characteristics of your Jupiter might also be more emphasized. Ask those around you as well. Read for Sun/Jupiter conjunct just as well as you read Sun/Jupiter squares. Your declination is a conjunction/parallel whilst your longitudinal is a square towards each other, you may show an emphasized trait in your conjunct before acknowledging the problems with your squares here too. 

We went on a long lesson talking about the ‘oh longitude, latitude, declination’ but I hope— I hope you got something useful out of it in the long run 💕

Ending extra notes: 

There’s this thing called ‘occultation’ y know? Where planets do eclipse each other, the faster moving planet (Moon is the fastest, then Mercury, etc.) usually over takes the other one that’s parallel/contra-parallel to it. If the longitude is making aspect and the latitude/declination is also making the same aspect– it can be pretty powerful and this is something to look for.   

Sources/Links you can check out:

Cafeastro

Good vibes astrology

Alice Portman

The real astrology