Orbs of Influence

Here's a comment from this week's forecast I'd like to respond to that others have brought up too:
"I am curious- my experience can sometimes be, that my life aligns with these forecasts a day ahead. Is it possible that the energy felt from Mars square Uranus, and such, can be felt in advance? Thus, speeding up our experiences of time/space development? For instance, Monday was my Sunday- and Tuesday, my Monday. "

Timing in astrology depends on orbs. The planet that is moving faster makes an exact aspect at some point in time. In the above comment, Mars moves much faster than Uranus, so the square was exact at 9:34 AM this morning. Mars is moving a little more than 1/2* per day right now, so even with an orb of 1*, it would be very close to exact from Mon-Wed, so this is the period when its energy would be at its apex. However there's more. Many astrologers have found that the orbs of influence are much wider than 1*, except for lunar transits, in major aspects between planets. When it come to an inner/outer combination like the above square (from Mars on in to Moon are inner/personal planets and Jupiter on out are outer/Collective planets), the orb is at least 7* and possibly up to 10*. So if we do the math: Mars is moving a 1/2* per day - that's a 14 day orb of influence both before and after the exact hit today. So, in effect, Mars will be in orb of its square to Uranus for 4 weeks! To top that off, because it is involved in the Grand Cross and doesn't get an exact square to Saturn until 8/25, I feel that extends the orb of its square to Uranus and opposition to Pluto until the square to Saturn is out of orb around September 10th (note: same day that Mercury gets out of retro shadow - it is not until then that I think we will see a shift in the current energy/challenges we are facing). Also, this is all based on an orb of 7* - many astrologers make it 9* or 10* and others even use whole sign aspects - that is, Mars is square by sign to Saturn until Mars ingresses into Leo. Also, many astrologers have found the energy is stronger when the aspect is approaching (ie - "applying") exactness versus when it is seperating, but still in orb. Then there's the orbs of influence in our own charts from outer planet transits to our inner planets/points: there is usually 3 or 5 exact hits - the whole period between the 1st and 3rd or 5th hit is under the influence of the aspect - events related to it can happen anytime during that period. This can also happen when inners go retrograde in the midst of aspecting an outer: once again we have an example I blogged about this week: Mercury Retro opposes Neptune 3 times in the space of a month, and thus is in effect the whole month! Orbs are one of those areas in astrology where there is healthy disagreement and one just has to feel it out as they experience astrology intimately/subtlely in their own life and determine what works best for them. So, my answer to you is: "Wow, it hit when it was basically exact for you! The riots in London did too. But the ones in Syria have been building up for weeks and have hit a high point." - 3 different manifestations of same energy all working under the influence of it but in different ways due to free will choices of the humans involved.