A friendly guide to the different kinds of conjunction

A conjunction is when two planets sit in the same spot in the sky, so they work as a team instead of on their own. (If that idea is brand new, start with the shorter "What's a conjunction?" guide — this one builds on it.)

That's the simple version. But once you start looking at real charts, you find that conjunctions come in lots of flavours. Here are the main ones, in plain English.

(Quick honest note: I'm not a professional astrologer — my mum is. So this is a friendly guide from someone who's still learning, not the final word.)

How close are they? (tight and loose)

Two planets don't have to be in the exact same spot. They just have to be close. The little bit of space we allow is called the orb.

• Very close — almost the same degree — and the conjunction is strong and loud.
• A bit further apart, but still inside the orb, and it's gentler — more of a quiet hum than a shout.

Simple rule: the closer they are, the louder they speak.

Coming together or drifting apart? (applying and separating)

Planets are always moving, so a conjunction is either still building or already fading.

• If the two planets are moving toward each other, it's applying — growing, like a wave still rising.
• If they've already met and are moving apart, it's separating — the big moment has happened, and now it's settling.

This matters most when astrologers work out timing — whether something is about to happen, or has just happened.

When they're in different signs (out-of-sign)

Usually two conjunct planets are in the same sign. But because we allow that little orb, sometimes one planet is at the very end of one sign and the other is at the very start of the next. They're still close enough to team up — but they're standing on different sides of a line.

This is an out-of-sign conjunction. It feels a bit mismatched — like two friends holding hands while looking in different directions.

Is a conjunction good or bad?

People often ask this, and the honest answer is: it depends who's in it.

• Two of the gentler planets together (like the Sun, Venus or Jupiter) usually feel warm and easy.
• Two of the tougher ones (like Mars or Saturn) ask more of you.

Old astrology liked to stamp planets as "good" or "bad," but I'm not a fan of that — it's too simple, and not very true to real life. A tough conjunction isn't a curse. It's just a part of you that takes a bit more work, and what you do with it is the whole point.

The Sun's glare: combust, under the beams, and cazimi

The Sun is so bright that planets sitting near it get lost in its light — a bit like trying to spot a star right next to the midday Sun. Old astrologers had three names for how close is too close:

• Combust — a planet fairly close to the Sun. Its light gets drowned out, so it acts weaker, or hidden.
• Under the beams — a little further out. A milder version of the same dimming.
• Cazimi — and here's the surprise. If a planet is extremely close, right in the Sun's heart, it doesn't get drowned at all. It gets super-charged, lent the Sun's own power.

I love this one. There's a big difference between standing in someone's shadow and standing so close to them that you're inside their light.

Two special planets: superior and inferior conjunctions

(This bit's a little more advanced — feel free to skip it for now and come back later.)

Two planets, Mercury and Venus, travel closer to the Sun than Earth does. So when they line up with the Sun, there are two kinds of line-up:

• One where the planet is between us and the Sun — called an inferior conjunction. It's a fresh start, like the planet's own "new moon."
• One where the planet is on the far side of the Sun — a superior conjunction. It's more of a high point, like its "full moon."

So a Venus–Sun conjunction isn't just one thing. It depends which side Venus is on.

A whole crowd: the stellium

Sometimes it isn't two planets but three, four, or more, all bunched in one place. That's a stellium (say "STELL-ee-um"). It turns the volume right up on one part of life — that area becomes a huge theme for the person.

Conjunctions on the chart's special corners (the angles)

A chart has four special points around its edge, called the angles. The most famous is the rising sign — the part of the sky that was just coming up over the horizon when you were born. A planet sitting right on one of these points is like an actor stepping into the spotlight: whatever it does, it does out loud, where everyone can see.

The really big ones: great conjunctions

Now zoom right out. The two slowest of the old planets, Jupiter and Saturn, meet up only about once every 20 years. Astrologers have watched these for centuries as a kind of clock for history itself — the start of a new chapter for whole countries and generations. These are called great conjunctions. They don't say much about your Tuesday; they're about the mood of an entire age.

Where you'll meet conjunctions (different kinds of reading)

The same conjunction means slightly different things depending on what's being read:

• In a birth chart — it's part of who you are, baked in from the moment you were born.
• In transits (the moving sky, measured against your chart) — a planet arriving on one of your spots switches on a new chapter. The famous one is the Saturn return at about age 29: a big "growing up" moment.
• In relationships — when your planet lines up with someone else's, you often just click. It's one of the first things astrologers check when they compare two people.
• In a question reading (called horary) — a conjunction shows things or people coming together, a sort of "yes, these will meet."
• In world astrology — the great conjunctions and other big line-ups mark new beginnings for whole countries.

One last thought

Here's how I hold all this. I don't think a planet reaches across space and pushes you around. To me, astrology is more like a language — a way of noticing patterns in yourself and in the people you care about. A conjunction is just the chart saying something loudly: these two things in you travel together.

And once you can see it, you can work with it. That, in the end, is the whole point.