Here’s a fast and dirty about the orbs I use in my weekly forecast posts.

cat’s eye nebula

For the daily/weekly transit posts, I use ridiculously tight orbs—1-2° tops.

Here’s my thinking:

The inner planets move so fast.  They whizz in, then out of aspect to one another that the effects don’t last more than a day or two.  And, geez, with the Moon, she is only within orb for a couple of hours, she travels soooo quickly.  Of course, this can change with retrograde motion, where a planet can go over a spot 3 times (sometimes 5 for Neptune and Pluto!) in one cycle.

Now, I do feel aspects involving inner to outer planets build for maybe a week before perfection, then dwindle at a slightly faster rate.  Outer planet to outer planet, well—the energy can stick around for a good long while, simply due to their slllllooooowwww speed and retrogrades.  Those I take case by case.

I try to post 2 days before the perfection of an aspect, since I feel most folks will probably already have noticed the energy gaining strength and be wondering what the heck is going on?  I see no need to talk about something weeks in advance when it will be most certainly forgotten precisely when you are in the thick of it.   A couple days fair warning and it will be fresh in your mind when it is at peak manifestation.

More about the orbs I use in my individual chart readings as questions arise.

Lona