Astrologia Previsionale - Astrologia oraria, elettiva, classica e Magia Astrologica
THE ROLE OF GALACTIC ASPECTS IN THE NATAL CHART
Identifying and Interpreting Galactic Aspects
In the article published in the previous issue, we saw that celestial bodies may form aspects not only by zodiacal longitude, declination, right ascension, or other familiar systems of reference, but also by galactic longitude and galactic latitude. A galactic aspect is present whenever two bodies stand at angular distances of 0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 90°, 120° or 180° from one another within the galactic coordinate system. These are harmonic angles because they divide the 360° of the celestial sphere into equal parts, and for this reason they correspond to the principal major and minor aspects used in astrology.
Galactic coordinates are not geocentric in the usual astrological sense. They are oriented to the structure of the Milky Way itself, above all to the Galactic Center and the Galactic Equator. Whereas geocentric coordinates describe the way celestial influences are refracted through the natural, psychic, and biographical sphere of human life, galactic coordinates seem to point to the deeper cosmic order — the metaphysical essence, one might say — of the stars themselves.
Particularly revealing are those cases in which a galactic aspect is superimposed upon another configuration already formed by the same celestial bodies. On the one hand, the galactic aspect greatly intensifies the effect of the other configuration. On the other, it appears to raise the meaning of that configuration onto a more spiritual, initiatory, or transpersonal level. In certain cases, it may even open the way to experiences that border on the transcendent.
For this reason, these aspects deserve special attention in the charts of saints, mystics, visionaries, and all those who, in one way or another, have been able to build bridges with subtler dimensions of being. Yet galactic aspects are by no means confined to explicitly spiritual lives. Even in the charts of people far removed from mysticism or religion, they often seem to give ordinary planetary patterns a transpersonal resonance, as though the same configuration were being sounded at a higher octave.
One of the examples examined below will show that galactic aspects are not concerned only with the irruption of transcendence into earthly life, nor solely with events that appear to touch the supernatural. They also seem to encourage the exploration of reality from unusual angles. They can indicate a tendency to follow paths not yet opened by others, while at the same time magnifying the power of any additional configurations involving the same planets or stars. This is why events associated with galactic aspects are often exceptional, and in any case tend to belong among the most memorable experiences in a person’s life.
Our first example will be the natal chart of Carlo Acutis, recently canonized by Pope Leo XIV. We shall then turn to the chart of Albert Einstein.
The Southern Cross in the Natal Chart of Carlo Acutis
Carlo Acutis was an Italian boy venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church. From early childhood he showed deep faith, together with a precocious gift for computer science, creating websites devoted to the Christian faith. At the same time, he dedicated himself to charitable service among the homeless and in soup kitchens for the poor. He died at the age of fifteen from acute leukemia. In the years that followed, after he had been declared a Servant of God, the Catholic Church recognized two miracles attributed to his intercession. He was beatified under Pope Francis and, eventually, canonized on September 7, 2025.
His natal chart gives a remarkably prominent role to the Southern Cross, to the point that we may regard it as his true Generating Constellation. I have devoted both an entire book and an earlier article in this journal to the concepts of the Generating Constellation and the Mother Star.
At the moment of Acutis’ birth, Mimosa, one of the stars of the Southern Cross, stood on the Imum Coeli. It was also the last star of the constellation to anti-culminate. As I have often noted, whenever the first or last star of a constellation becomes angular, the whole constellation tends to acquire far greater prominence and strength.
At the same moment Jupiter, the planet of sacredness, faith, and spiritual meaning, was rising, while Saturn was setting. The two superior planets were therefore in paran with the star of the Southern Cross. In this way, the constellation that represents the supreme Christian symbol was drawn directly into the fundamental Jupiter-Saturn opposition angular at birth, giving that opposition a clear tendency to manifest in a spiritual, and specifically Christian, key.
The planetary activation of the stars of the Southern Cross does not end there. On the day of Acutis’ birth, the Sun culminated while certain stars of the Southern Cross were at their maximum eastern digression. In addition, Venus was rising and the Moon setting while other stars of the Southern Cross stood at their maximum western digression.
What exactly is the azimuth of maximum digression? We discussed this in a previous article. It is the greatest angular distance that a circumpolar star can reach from the North Celestial Pole, either eastward or westward, during its diurnal motion. The same principle may also be applied to anti-circumpolar stars, in which case the reference point is the South Celestial Pole.
The Moon and Venus were respectively in parallel and contra-parallel to the maximum declination once reached by Imai, another star of the Southern Cross. The Lunar Nodes themselves were in parallel with the maximum declination of Mu¹ Crucis.
For some time now, in my astrological practice, I have also been using the last minimum and maximum declinations reached by a star during its precessional cycle. These extreme declinations remain clearly linked to the star for approximately 26,000 years — that is, until the star reaches a new minimum or maximum declination. We may therefore consider them permanently connected with the star, at least in relation to the scale of human life. Within the precessional cycle of a fixed star, these extreme declinations play a role analogous to that of the solstices in the annual cycle of the Sun.
Let us now return to Carlo Acutis. The crucial point is that his birth chart also contains galactic aspects superimposed upon these other planetary contacts with the stars of the Southern Cross. His natal Moon had a galactic latitude equal and opposite to that of Mimosa. The Sun formed a 45° aspect to the galactic latitude of certain stars of the Southern Cross. Mercury formed a 60° aspect in galactic latitude to two stars of the Cross, Mimosa and Imai. Saturn, for its part, formed a 30° aspect to the galactic latitude of Acrux, the alpha star of the constellation.
Here I have limited myself to exact contacts. If we allowed an orb of one or two degrees, many more would come into view.
These galactic aspects, added to the other configurations, greatly reinforced them while infusing their meanings with a mystical and transcendent dimension.
Galactic Aspects in the Natal Chart of Albert Einstein
In previous articles we have already examined Einstein’s natal chart from several points of view. It is now time to consider the role played by galactic aspects within it.
In order to follow the analysis, it is important to keep in mind that Pegasus is Einstein’s Generating Constellation. In an earlier article, I explored this concept — together with that of the Mother Star, derived from Platonic thought — using Einstein’s chart as one of the principal examples. It is no coincidence that Pegasus is among the constellations most closely associated with the astonishing scientific and technological advances of the last few centuries. This is especially true of the stars forming the asterism known as the Great Square of Pegasus.
In Einstein’s chart, the Mercury-Saturn conjunction prominent in the tenth house is of central importance. This conjunction also speaks eloquently of his revolutionary discoveries concerning the nature of time itself, a theme symbolized above all by Saturn. It is therefore highly significant that both the Sun and the Mercury-Saturn conjunction have the harmonic galactic latitude of -60°. They also form a 30° harmonic aspect in galactic latitude to Scheat, one of the stars of the Great Square of Pegasus — precisely the star that, in the earlier article, I identified as the most probable Mother Star of the scientist. Saturn is also conjunct Algenib, another star of the Great Square, by galactic longitude.
Einstein’s natal chart also powerfully activates one of the most important stellar relationships connected with scientific and technological revolution. This relationship links Scheat, a star of the Great Square of Pegasus, with Betelgeuse, the brilliant star on Orion’s right shoulder, which is currently at its maximum declination. Both Betelgeuse and the Great Square of Pegasus were angular at Einstein’s birth.
We should also add that Betelgeuse itself was then reaching its own maximum declination, approximately +7°, exactly matching the minimum declination once reached by Scheat. Here we have a bright star acting as the activator of another star’s extreme declination, with especially powerful, enduring, and radical effects. In Einstein’s case, these effects were all the more remarkable because Pegasus can legitimately be regarded as his Generating Constellation.
Furthermore, Betelgeuse formed a 90° aspect in galactic longitude to another star of the Great Square of Pegasus, namely Algenib. These relationships between Betelgeuse and the stars of Pegasus are capable of producing highly significant effects. One of their clearest historical manifestations has been the prodigious development of science and technology. A brilliant star such as Betelgeuse, when it reaches its maximum declination for the first time in roughly 26,000 years, can powerfully activate the stars with which it forms relationships of this kind.
The decisive point is that Einstein’s chart was able to express this stellar connection with exceptional force for several reasons. First, on the day of his birth, the Mercury-Saturn conjunction not only formed galactic aspects with these stars, but was also connected by paran to both Betelgeuse and Algenib, as were the two luminaries. In this way, the Mercury-Saturn conjunction could fully activate the potentials contained in the stellar relationships between Betelgeuse and the Great Square of Pegasus, channeling them into Einstein’s horoscope.
In this case, because Betelgeuse is itself a brilliant star, its principal effect was to amplify the meanings of Algenib, which today manifests above all through scientific and technological research. It is hardly surprising, then, that Einstein’s most famous work concerned the nature of time and the speed of light: themes perfectly symbolized, respectively, by Saturn and by Pegasus, the winged horse on which Perseus traveled with lightning speed.
We may conclude by emphasizing once again that one need not be Einstein or a mystic in order to experience the effects of galactic aspects. In every natal chart, these aspects point to areas of life in which we may encounter some of our most extraordinary and formative experiences.
Readers who wish to explore the use of galactic aspects in natal astrology in greater depth will find a fuller treatment of these themes in my book Galactic Astrology: The Milky Way as a Bridge Between Worlds
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