by Robert Wilkinson
Solar returns, as well as major planetary returns, show the “action beats” across the years as we move through time and experience. Each of these begin certain long wave patterns of evolution as we dance down the timestream on Eternity Boulevard.
We’ll begin with some basics. First, the Solar Return.
Each year when the Sun returns to the exact degree and minute of our natal Sun we have our Solar Return. That chart is a snapshot of the transits in that moment and those patterns offer us clues as to what we can expect in the year to come. The Solar Return always happens around our birthday, which is why we celebrate our birthday every year as that time represents the renewal of our Light.
Because of when and where we were born, while our Solar Return might occur on our birthday, it could also happen the day before or the day after. In fact, over the course of my life my Solar Return has occurred at some time in the day before my birthday about twice as often as it has fallen on my birthday.
We can definitely influence the chart by where we choose to do the Solar Return, since the location of where we are when the Solar Return moment happens determines that chart. As you can see, it could literally happen any hour we choose. That’s why many want a favorable Ascendant and Midheaven in their Solar Return if they have the luxury of being somewhere else when that frozen moment in time occurs.
Remember, when it’s 5 pm in California, it’s 7 pm in Houston, 8 pm in New York and 1 am the next day in London (except for the period in March each year when the most US has DST and the UK does not). So you can see that the Ascendant will change based in our physical location, which in turn affects the planet house positions in the Solar Return. In our example, the Sun will be near the 7th cusp in California, but closer to the 6th house in Houston, 5th house in New York, and the 3rd in London the next day.
Regardless of where we do the Solar Return, the signs and degrees of the planets don’t change. The Moon will be in the same degree no matter where we are, and if it’s trine another planet, that trine will be in any Solar Return chart done for anywhere on Earth. The only things which change are the signs of the house cusps and the location of the planets in the chart.
All the aspects will remain the same between the planets. A quintile from Mercury in Cancer to Mars in Taurus will be exactly that anywhere we are at that time. A square from Jupiter in Gemini to Saturn in Pisces will be in every solar return done for August, regardless of where those Leos live. However, by adjusting which house certain planets in aspect occupy in the Solar Return, we shift the focus of which planetary energies play out in which house, and where aspects and configurations might yield best results in the following year.
I’ve noted there are clear patterns across the years when people do Solar Returns at home rather than in another location. Because the time shifts each year, the Ascendant shifts each year. Of course Mercury and Venus might be in the same signs or different signs in consecutive years, while Mars and Jupiter are always in different signs. Often Saturn is in the same sign in consecutive Solar Returns, while Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto will occupy the same sign in our Solar Return for 7 (Uranus), 15 (Neptune), and 20+ years (Pluto). We’ll discuss this in greater detail with examples in part 2.
There is no universal agreement among astrologers about where to do the chart. Some think it should always be done for the birth place. Others think it should always be done for wherever your body is at that moment. And others believe it should be done for where you live, if that’s different than the place you’re at.
In my direct experience, over the decades I've found the most accurate chart is done for where we are, since that's where our body was breathing the Prana (Light force in all Life) when that return of the Sun to our natal Sun occurred. In that respect, the Solar return is an inceptional chart for the following year, and so it must be done for where we are rather than any other place.
Another school of thought says regardless of the above considerations, a Solar Return chart should be done for our progressed Sun’s position. That chart could very well yield interesting insights for how our progressed Light/Life will evolve in the year that follows. However, since so little has been done in this sub-branch of Astrology, it’s going to take some extensive research on it to see if that chart is as important as the natal Solar Return.
The Solar Return illuminates new current transit patterns showing how our Light/Life will “become itself” during the following year. The SR is the moment when the Sun exactly “attunes” with our natal Sun, shining a current light on our “illuminated heart-knowing.” Our Sun is our central shining “Is-Be-Ness” vitalizing our physical vehicle from its first breath. The SR is a snapshot of the moment in space-time when the Great Light returns to its harmonic resonant point when we took our first breath.
As an aside, some believe that the Solar Return is a cure for problems they’re dealing with. Though it is a snapshot of our Sun’s next year, and so affects how we frame our illuminated experience of our Life during that year, a Solar Return in and of itself cannot "make anything happen." While we can see a lot of important illuminating factors in that snapshot, including primary and secondary influences, the Solar Return cannot bring what is denied in the natal chart, nor can it prevent something which is an inevitability of prior actions or karma.
One of the greatest misconceptions about Astrology is that we can somehow magically change something by moving somewhere or trying to manipulate our various planetary returns. As I offered in my book A New Look at Mercury Retrograde.it is we who are acting, reacting, or being acted upon. No astrological indicator makes things happen without our participation somehow.
That said, I've traveled many places in the United States to do my Solar Return over the decades, and I will say it absolutely works its magic, if we follow its prompts toward our illumination of whatever we’re supposed to be illuminated about during the following year. If it promises wealth, it will come, but only to the degree that we cooperate with our own process of evolution. If the natal chart promises forms of success, the Solar Return will show where, how, and when that success will come forth. That’s why we must be patient, since often something indicated in the chart doesn’t seem to be happening until later in our Solar year.
Other Planetary Returns
Every natal planet in our chart has at least one return except the outer invisible triad. If we live to 84, we’ll get a Uranus return. Most will never get a Neptune or Pluto return unless we live 150 or 250 years, an unlikely possibility for all except fully realized Jivanmuktas!
Because the Moon moves through all the signs each month, we get a Lunar return when the transiting Moon conjuncts our natal Moon. We get Mercury and Venus returns once a year, or even three times if either of these conjuncts our natal Mercury or Venus, then goes retrograde and conjuncts the natal planet while retrograde and then the final time when direct.
We get a Mars return every two years, a Jupiter return every 11-12 years, and a Saturn return every 27-29 years. Sometimes these also yield more than one return. (In 2010 Jupiter conjuncted my Jupiter THREE times!)
As you can see, if we live to adulthood, we have countless planetary returns across the years. Each planetary return finishes the previous return cycle, and sets a new planetary cycle into motion until the next return. The field of Lunar Returns has been extensively explored, as have Solar Returns, but the power of Mercury and Venus returns is not to be ignored or underestimated, since these planets are integral to healthy personality expression.
If Solar Returns re-set the lighting in our Life, Lunar Returns show us where our internal Moon is at for any given month. A Lunar Return is a “real time” snapshot of our evolving Lunar response to events. The returns of other planets of personality also give us hints about our evolving consciousness.
If Mercury is “the Guide of Souls,” and Venus shows us the vanities and attachments we must transcend, then Mercury and Venus returns give us “real time” information about what we’ve learned and what we have to learn. In Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend I offered that the duality of Mercury is Life/Death and Venus is Wisdom/Folly. Our Mercury and Venus returns help us to get a new view of our innate responses and make adjustments as needed so our thoughts bring us living ideas and experiences, and our attractions show us the wisdom of seeing the beauty of our world.
Because the Mars and Jupiter returns happen at a slower rate, they are far more powerful in their influence, since they show points where we’re re-setting the parts of us which “attacks the problems of life” to open wider vistas of understanding life’s adventure. Each of these planetary returns mark endings of socialized parts of us.
The difficulty in getting a 100% accurate return chart for these planets as well as those farther out is that because of their slow speeds, the “exact” return could take place over the span of several minutes or even hours depending on the speed of the transiting planet. While a Jupiter return gives us a snapshot of our Jupiter line of expansion spiritually and a more abundant future for the next 11-12 years, finding the exact degree and minute of that return yields a span of several minutes or even hours when the return is exact.
Probably the return which is most feared and misunderstood is the Saturn return. It marks the point where we understand certain “hard realities,” and must make important choices about what we can and cannot live with. It is the point in every life where we can use our free will to throw off our fear and inhibitions, “chains of mental slavery” which make our lives frustrating or a struggle, and claim power to move forward toward our destiny. The Saturn return gives us a clear picture of what has oppressed us but need oppress us no more.
These are times when we can move purposefully into the life we should be living, rather than the life others have imposed upon us. While there are usually significant endings, these are times when we choose to live our lives on our own terms. That’s why what we go through at 28-29 and again at 57-59 creates how we will live in the following decades.
These are the times when we align with our destiny or find ourselves in limiting conditions. Whatever we have learned of Saturn’s virtues before the Saturn return allows us to take command of the process of our own Self-unfoldment on the material, emotional, and mental planes based in the emotional and experiential “re-set” which occurs at each progressed Lunar return which happens a year or so before the Saturn return.
There is a chapter on the Saturn return in my book Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend, as well as chapters on different Saturn cycles, when they occur, and what you can do to make the most of them. There’s also a chapter on the dance of our progressed Moon with transiting Saturn, since these combine to form a pulse of “feeling then form.” The cycles of the progressed Moon and transiting Saturn each have important turning points every 7 years which are reality checks helping us to know what matters to us and what doesn’t so we can consciously choose which life directions are in our best interests. Please consider getting the book to learn more about how various planetary cycles evolve as they wax and wane.
Every planetary return has its place of importance in our lives, since each planet has its own unique “department of labor” in the worlds of inner and outer space. Each planet expresses part of our Eternal Self, and we’re here to elevate our planetary responses from dysfunctional to healthy expression. Planetary returns show us pictures of each planet’s future cycle of realization and what it will take to apply those realizations.
It is important to note that a planetary return chart has to be interpreted from a different angle than a natal or progressed charts. A planetary return is a “real time” snapshot of where the planets are in the sky when it happens. So they must be interpreted based in their relative importance in the natal chart and progressions. While they can reveal a world of information about the cycle to come, they must be interpreted in the light of the natal rulerships and configurations.
All return charts show individual cycles existing within larger cycles made across larger synodic periods. We are all influenced by prior transit to transit events affecting our individual planetary positions. And as we study the changes in the outer planet positions across the years of our Solar Returns, we can see patterns of what we were learning for those periods. We’ll discuss these things and more in part 2.
© copyright 2024 Robert Wilkinson
Comments