Absolutely a grand trine that involves the angles counts. Purists wouvld say otherwise but if angles don't count in a Grand Trine then why would they count in any measurement? If angles are unreliable then why would we use them at all?by
The problem is really establishing the birth time. So if we are sure of the birth time then we can do all kinds of things with a horoscope. If we are not sure of the birth time then we become a lot more limited about everything in the horoscope.
The angles are not bodies. They are points or lines of intersection of an earth-bound, earth-generated plane -' the horizon or the meridian -- with a celestial plane, the ecliptic. They are not the same as planets. They are imaginary lines without corporeal reality.
Fundamentally, they establish the orientation of earth to sky. Secondarily,in the quadrant house systems, the angles provide the framework from which the derivative houses are hung. And very importantly they serve as conduits for the rays of the celestial bodies to be channeled into earth and properly distributed.
The houses are earth-rooted. That is why the houses show "our immediate surrounding circumstances". They have to do with our earthly situation.
The trine aspect's fundamental meaning is: momentum. Out of momentum come equilibrium, accumulation, The orbits of Jupiter, Neptune and Earth, at their L4 & L5 points contain many captured asteroids, trapped on the zone of neutral gravity where the gravitational fields of earth and sun meet in equilibrium. L4 & L5 form an equilateral triangle with Sun. Here we have a material demonstration of the nature and mode of operation of the trine.
Therefore, if one of the apices of the grand trine is an angle of the horoscope an imbalance is created--planets and angles have very different natures and functions--that is contrary to the nature of the trine.
In certain seasons and latitudes where the angles can be in trine, by this reasoning we could form a grand trine with two angles and a single planet.
The ancients were no fools. They accurately described the nature of the trine and we come along in the space age and discover material manifestations in physical reality.