Sextile Meaning in Astrology

Nadia's Venus at 22 degrees Cancer is 112 and her Mars at 25 degrees Virgo is 175, a 63-degree gap and a sextile with a 3-degree orb.

A sextile is an aspect, an angle between two points in a chart, of 60 degrees: one sixth of the circle, or two signs. Its glyph is a six-spoked asterisk. A common natal orb, the allowance on either side of exact, is about 4 to 6 degrees, so planets between roughly 54 and 66 degrees apart qualify. That is narrower than the six to eight degrees many astrologers allow the conjunction, square, trine and opposition, because the sextile is treated as the mildest of the five.

There is no official orb. A reader who allows 5 degrees will see sextiles that a reader allowing 4 will not, so note your own setting before you compare charts.

You can check any pair by hand. The only trick is turning sign-and-degree positions into one number from 0 to 360.

1. Convert each position. Aries starts at 0, Taurus at 30, Gemini at 60 and so on in steps of 30 to Pisces at 330. Add the degrees within the sign: 6° Aquarius is 300 + 6 = 306, and 3° Aries is 0 + 3 = 3.
2. Subtract the smaller number from the larger: 306 − 3 = 303.
3. If the answer is more than 180, subtract it from 360 to measure the short way around: 360 − 303 = 57.
4. Subtract 60. The remainder, 3 degrees, is the orb. It sits inside a 4-to-6-degree window, so this pair is a sextile.

Signs two apart are sextile signs. Their elements are always friendly in the traditional sense, since fire pairs with air and earth with water, but their modalities always differ. That mix is the sextile’s signature: the two sides can understand each other’s aims and still move at different speeds. Because each sign is 30 degrees wide, two bodies at the same degree number in signs two apart, such as 14° Leo and 14° Libra, are an exact sextile.

Classical astrologers counted the sextile among five aspects, with the conjunction, square, trine and opposition. They grouped it with the trine as a friendly angle but a milder one. They also worked by sign: planets in sextile signs were said to see each other, so the link counted even when the degrees ran wide.

Modern astrologers usually call the sextile an aspect of opportunity that has to be picked up. A trine is said to flow by itself, while a sextile is a door that is unlocked but not held open. Not every astrologer accepts that difference, and it is an interpretive convention, not something that can be tested.

The same angle reads differently depending on who is involved. Treat the themes below as starting questions. One limit is worth knowing: Mercury never travels more than about 28 degrees from the Sun and Venus never more than about 47, so neither can make a sextile to the Sun.

Nadia is a constructed person, not a real one. Her Venus is at 22° Cancer, which is 90 + 22 = 112, and her Mars at 25° Virgo, which is 150 + 25 = 175. The difference is 175 − 112 = 63 degrees, a 3-degree orb from 60. Cancer and Virgo are two signs apart, so the sign relationship agrees with the degrees.

A reader might say that Venus in Cancer values closeness and protection, while Mars in Virgo acts through careful, practical steps. Under a sextile those styles fit, so her care can turn into useful action. The sextile does not force her to act, though.

Now a trap. Give her a Sun at 29° Aries (29) and a Saturn at 2° Cancer (92). The gap is 63 degrees, a sextile by degrees, but Aries and Cancer are square signs. Astrologers call this an out-of-sign aspect. Some reduce its weight, so say which choice you use.

Most people do not notice a sextile the way they notice a square, because there is no friction to announce it. It tends to appear as something that works without comment: a way of talking that suits your temperament, or two interests that feed each other. That is also its weakness. An aspect that asks for nothing is easy to leave unused.

Four small steps keep the reading practical.

• Write one sentence for each planet’s sign, then one sentence that joins them. If the joined sentence feels forced, another contact may matter more.
• Pick one small action the pairing makes easy and try it once this week. A sextile responds to use, and a note about what happened is enough.
• In whole-sign houses, planets in sextile signs always fall in houses two apart, such as the third and fifth. Note which two life areas are cooperating.

Is a sextile better than a trine? Neither is better. A trine joins signs of one element and usually feels smoother, while a sextile joins friendly elements with different modalities and usually asks for a nudge.

How many sextiles should a chart have? Among the ten main bodies, with 45 pairs and a 5-degree orb, chance alone gives roughly two or three. A chart with none, or with five, is within the ordinary range.

Does a sextile need to be exact? No. Closer is usually read as stronger, but a sextile at 4 degrees still counts. Exactness matters more for transits, which use tighter orbs.

A sextile describes easy cooperation but cannot create an opportunity, and with no official orb, two readers may count different sextiles in one chart.