Aspect Pattern Scanner

An aspect pattern is a closed circuit between three or more planets connected through major aspects. The key word is closed: energy has nowhere to dissipate, so the pattern dominates the chart while its planets are active.

Most charts contain at least one pattern. A T-Square or Stellium is common. A Grand Sextile is vanishingly rare. Each type carries a different signature, which is why the scanner sorts results rarest first: the rarer a pattern, the more defining it tends to be for that person.

Each pattern is defined by a precise set of aspects. A Yod needs two planets in sextile and both of them quincunx a third. A Grand Trine needs three planets each 120° apart. The scanner walks your chart's aspect graph and finds every configuration that matches.

Golden Yods use the quintile family (72° and 144°), which most calculators skip. The scanner computes these from planetary longitudes so they don't get missed. Stelliums use sign occupation rather than aspects, and the scanner catches any sign with three or more eligible bodies.

The scanner runs every pattern detector in parallel against your chart. It finds Yods (sextile plus two quincunxes), Golden Yods (quintile plus two biquintiles), Grand Trines (three trines), Kites (Grand Trine plus opposing body), Grand Crosses (two oppositions plus four squares), T-Squares (opposition plus apex), Mystic Rectangles (two oppositions plus four supporting aspects), Stelliums (three or more bodies in one sign), plus the Tier 2 patterns Cradle and Grand Sextile. Each pattern uses its own orb convention appropriate to the aspect types involved.

Eligible bodies are the ten planets, Chiron, and the Ascendant. Including the Ascendant lets the scanner surface apex-ASC Yods and other ASC-anchored configurations that planet-only scanners miss. Lunar nodes, Midheaven, IC, and Descendant are not currently included in pattern detection. Results are sorted with rarer patterns first because rare patterns tend to be more distinctive when they appear.

Running your chart through this scanner and another one and getting different pattern lists is common. Four drivers explain most of the disagreement. Orb settings are first: different tools use different defaults, and the same Grand Trine appears valid in one and just miss in the other. Quincunx and quintile inclusion is second: calculators that skip these aspect families never find Yods or Golden Yods, no matter how close the geometry is.

Angular inclusion is third: patterns involving the Ascendant appear in scanners that treat the ASC as a pattern participant (this one does) and vanish in scanners that do not. Scanners that also include the Midheaven, IC, Descendant, or lunar nodes may flag additional patterns this tool will not. Stellium definition is fourth: some tools require tight conjunctions, others accept any three planets sharing a sign. Pick one convention and stick with it; mixing results from tools with different defaults produces inconsistent readings.

Four priorities rank which results matter most in your chart. First, tightness: patterns with all arms under 3° feel most active in daily life. Second, Ascendant involvement: patterns touching the ASC express most visibly in the native's presentation and body. Third, personal-planet content: patterns containing Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, or Mars affect daily life more than outer-planet-only patterns. Fourth, repetition: patterns that share planets with other patterns mean those shared planets are structurally load-bearing.

Rarity matters too, but as a tiebreaker rather than a primary filter. A tight Grand Trine on the Ascendant usually outweighs a loose Grand Sextile even though the Grand Sextile is rarer. After identifying your priority patterns, open the relevant learn pages (hub, main pattern, and variant) for full interpretation. If a pattern you expected did not appear, the orb on one of its aspects probably sits just outside the scanner's default tolerance; run your full birth chart and check the exact orb on each aspect to see whether the pattern is borderline rather than absent.