How to Read an Ephemeris for Trines of Planets

Planetary trines in your astrology chart represent the harmonious and happy things about you--the things that are a breeze and come easy and naturally to you. Read on for a little lesson to locate the trines in any kind of astrology chart using an ephemeris.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Find a good copy of an ephemeris and turn to the page that interprets and lists all the symbols for you. You will find the symbols for Sun, Moon and all the planets. Find the symbols for the signs of the zodiac. The symbols for planetary aspects will be here, as well as a few other symbols you will not need for this lesson.

2. Turn to the page for the explanation for Phenomena. There are three boxes or charts you are interested in, to read your ephemeris for trines. They are the Astro Data that notes aspects between outer planets, the Void of Course charts and the Planet Ingresses.

3. Go to the Astro Data for aspects first. This part is easy. Wherever you see the symbol for a trine tells you where there is a trine between all other planets including the Moon and Sun.

4. Look at the Void of Course section. This section shows the last major aspect made in a given month to the Moon. The Moon moves very quickly, so there are a lot of changes noted here. You are interested in the trines only.

5. Move on to the Planet Ingress section. This is the only place where things get a little tricky. At this point we have all trines to the Moon by all planets, and trines to all planets for the outer planets of Jupiter through Pluto. This section will give us trines between the smaller planets of Mercury, Venus and Mars, of which there are very few.

6. Draw a big circle on a sheet of paper. Draw twelve lines on the circle like a clock. At the top put Capricorn, at the 3 o'clock will be Aries, at 6 will be Cancer. Fill in and label all 12 of the lines of the zodiac.

7. Choose a month and a year for which you want to find a trine. In the Planet Ingress box, transfer onto your piece of paper the information for Mercury, Venus and Mars. For instance, if Mercury enters the sign of Capricorn on the 9th day at 2 a.m., note that at the 12 o'clock line. Do the same thing for Venus and Mars.

8. Study the month you are interested in. Place your finger on the date on which each of these planets enters a sign (one at a time). Follow your finger in a straight line across to the columns for the other two planets (Mercury, Venus, or Mars) that did not enter a new sign. Study the zodiac sign symbol last appearing in that column above your finger, and note the numbers in this column. The numbers are the degrees of the planet.

9. Put the degrees and matching planet on your piece of paper where you already have the planets that entered the new zodiac sign. This is how you can pinpoint trines between the smaller planets. Trines will be 10 degrees away from one another give or take 4 or 5 degrees (astrologers use different degrees of separation). Trines between smaller planets are rare. Now you know how to find trines for all the planets.