Solar and Lunar Returns

Solar returns

Solar returns are also sometimes known as solar return directions, and they are a form of transit, so they can be read in much the same way as any other list of transits. I think these are easiest to interpret when they are read as a stand-alone chart, rather than being put against a natal chart. Please try both methods for yourself before you make up your mind.

A solar return is arrived at by taking the Sun back to the exact spot that it occupied at the time of a subject’s birth. This usually happens on the subject’s birthday but it can occur a day before or afterwards. In plain English, it shows where the planets actually are in the sky at the time of the Sun’s return, and this is, of course, a picture of the transits at the moment that the Sun returns to its natal position.

Solar returns are extremely awkward to do by hand, because you need to work out the exact moment of the return and then alter everything else on the chart to fit. However, this is very easy to do on a computer, and all good astrological programs include solar returns. Whatever program you have, simply request ‘solar returns‘ from your menu and then follow the instructions. Most programs will ask you if you want the solar return for the place of birth or if you want to relocate. This simply means that if your client was born in one place and is now living somewhere else that you enter the coordinates for the new place.

Precession

Some programs ask you if you want to take ‘precession‘ into account. Precession is a slight backwards movement of Earth that occurs over a period of time. Some astrologers use this precession feature, others don’t. I suggest that you try both and see what works best for you.

What to look for

The solar return offers a flavour of the year from one birthday to the next. Start your interpretation by looking at it in its own right, rather than against the natal chart. The most important thing to look at is the new ascendant and the new midheaven, because these alone will tell you what kind of a year you are looking at. If, for example, the new ascendant at the time of the solar return is in Capricorn, this denotes an excellent year for work and ambition. However, it may be a stressful year, in which nothing comes easily but much will be learned. A radical change of midheaven could signify a major change of direction, even if only for the year in question. Otherwise, see what houses the solar return planets fall into and generally assess the chart for that year.

Now follow this up by working out any aspects that are formed between the solar return and the natal planets and angles. The chances are that your computer program will throw up a nice list of aspects if you ask it to.

An example of a solar return chart

Figure 21 shows the natal chart for my friend Anne Christie and the solar return chart (with precession) for her birthday on 19 July 1994.

During the year 1994-5 Anne was running her own business, which comprised two Montessori nursery schools. She began the year fit and well except for a nagging pain and slight swelling in her left foot. During the next few weeks this became much worse and, as a result, Anne paid a number of visits to her doctor and the local hospital. It became apparent that none of the doctors really knew what was wrong with her foot, until she eventually found her way to a top or thopaedic specialist. In December she had an operation to free a trapped tendon in her ankle and, at the time of writing, she is on the way to recovery.

Anne’s solar return chart has a Libran ascendant, indicating that she would neither be living nor working alone in 1994-5. In fact, Anne is married, with her family all near at hand, and she works among many people. The Cancerian midheaven with the Sun close by indicates working in a caring profession (Cancer), probably teaching children (Cancer and Leo). Her descendant (relationships) is in Aries and her husband is an Arian. Her sixth house of health is empty but it has Pisces on its cusp (Pisces rules the feet). Uranus in Capricorn is opposing her Sun, suggesting unexpected problems (Uranus rules unexpected events and, incidentally, the ankles). The pain in her foot also affected her knee (Capricorn rules the knees). Neptune is opposite her Sun as well, and this suggests that her problems are mysterious and hard to diagnose (Neptune rules the feet). The main problem, of course, was the pain and swelling caused by the water that was collecting around the wounded tendon (Neptune rules fluids). Chiron and Saturn are in opposition and, although you are probably aware that Saturn rules the knees, the bones and chronic conditions, you may not be aware that the Roman god Chiron had a wounded knee and couldn’t walk! The Moon opposite Mars suggests surgery, and as the Moon is in Sagittarius one could speculate that Anne would have to wait until the Sun was also in Sagittarius before having her foot operated on. In fact, she first saw the specialist as the Sun in Sagittarius opposed her Mars, and the decision to operate was made just as the Sun in Sagittarius crossed the solar return Moon at 12 degrees of Sagittarius! I have often noticed that the Moon is a trigger when dealing with acute health matters.

I haven’t bothered to assess this solar return chart against the natal chart because, quite frankly, the whole story of Anne and her foot is there in the solar return chart for all to see.

Lunar returns

Lunar returns are exactly the same as solar returns but they occur every lunar month (27.32 days). The idea is that the Moon returns to the exact position that it occupied at the subject’s birth, and the remaining chart is worked out around this. As this occurs every month, this will give a close-up view of the month in question in the same way that the solar return does for the year in question.

Anne’s lunar return chart

The chart shown in figure 22 is Anne’s lunar return from 26 November to 24 December 1994, and it covers the period of her operation and her return home on crutches. The most obvious thing about this chart is the stellium (group of planets) in Scorpio. Scorpio rules surgeons and surgery. The Sun, Pluto, Jupiter and Mercury are all square to Mars and the

Moon, indicating something pretty drastic occurring. Remember that both Pluto and Mars indicate surgery. Chiron i_s trine to Uranus and Neptune, suggesting that the surgery would be successful. Aries, which is ruled by Mars and therefore connected to the idea of surgery, is on the cusp of the _sixth house of health. Venus rules, among other things, the motor nerves, and thus the ability to move around. Anne’s Venus is well aspected, with a sextile to Mars (surgeons) and a trine to Saturn (also surgeons, if you accept Michel Gauquelin’s theories). The outlook seems to be good.

My friend Jonathan Dee has been experimenting with lunar returns, and he maintains that the effects are evident from about a week before it becomes exact until about three weeks afterwards. Jonathan has also discovered that these are an extremely effective way of focusing on an event that is very short term or fleeting. This is really quite a handy astrological tool, because so much astrology is too wide in its scope and its timescale to focus itself in this way.

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