Predicting the future?
Along with the development of the astrological practice, the question of prediction has again arisen to be discussed. Even if it might be seen as somewhat outgrown, the art of prediction has been and is still an important part of the astrological practice. By being able to “read the weather forecast” the upcoming astrological possibilities for a person to discover during a coming astrological year, we can offer our clients to both be prepared and enlightened to fully explore the upcoming possibilities.
With all client work it is very crucial to understand that there are no absolute truths to be imposed in a reading. We can maybe view it as possibilities or assumptions, however never being 100 percent accurate. It is also crucial to get an understanding of where the client is at in their life right now. Consultation skills are therefore of high importance.
The impose a yearly chart might have on the birth horoscope is highly dependent on the individual’s free will and choice. We cannot be certain of which developmental stage the client is experiencing at a certain lifespan, or the level of insight in that experience. Besides this, there is also to be taken in consideration the client’s own relationship to certain events and planetary energies in their own life. The transit in itself might have a rather clear explanation, however without taking the whole picture in consideration a prediction might at its worst become a negative or harmful experience.
The solar return chart does not change the personality for a year. It provides us with a possibility to explore the given planets and signs, adds to the possibility to learn from the lessons and energies that are presented to us each year, at the time of the degree of our birthday sun.
When predicting, we as astrologers have a tremendous responsibility not to impose our own ideas or visions on the reading. Of course there is no such ability as to step out from all our own biases and developed schemas, but to be as objective as possible when interpreting another person´s chart, it is crucial to really listen to the client´s questions and to inform that even though astrology is a predictive tool it does not mean that we are looking in a glass bowl and getting the answers directly from there. There are always so many ways an aspect might work out, and even when it looks really good we have a human factor to consider. The final decisions to act upon lie in the hands of a client. We can only provide suggestions.
The goal is not to create the person’s future nor to make them vary of it, but to give hints and suggestions on different scenarios that might be working through during a year. By providing the client with examples from our own life or what other people experienced during such a year, we can make sure not to impose too much of a certainty to the forecast. By referring to the last time the client experienced a similar return chart we give them the opportunity to remember how things felt and worked out that year. In readings and especially when talking about prediction there might be a need to check the synastry between the chart of the client and the one’s own to see how your presence and words might be interpreted in their world. People turn to astrologers also when desperate about a matter and there might therefore lie a danger in reading overly positive or negative things in the interpretation.
The author of a book on “Interpreting Solar Returns” James A. Eshleman gives a good example of how a reading might end up becoming something else than what was initially expected. When seeing a very favorable pattern in a Solar Return it is tempting to take this as a certain sign of a successful year. But here lies a pitfall that he experiences when doing a reading. Even how strong Jupiter is in a yearly chart we are not able to predict how an individual will respond to this Jupiterian energies. As he tells, seeing a favorable Jupiter on the Solar Chart Midheaven made him assume that the client’s year would be an expanding and favorable in the matters of career. However, it turned out to be a rather quiet year. This is a good example of how a prediction might be in error. In this particular reading, the client chose to take a step down careerwise, to smell the roses instead, and this was nothing the astrologer could foresee.
The Solar Return Chart
When imagining a year chart, we might at first think of the Roman Calendar Year starting at the 1St of January. This however is not what we refer to as an astrological year. The astrological year (in this case of Solar Return Year) starts at the point in time when a person’s Sun returns to the exact same degree in the chart as at birth. This does not however mean that the Sun is exactly at the same place as at birth but at the same astrological degree. The Solar Return can be viewed as a transits- based prediction method because the chart is made up of the transits occurring right then. However Solar Returns are not ”only” transits. The Solar Return is due for one year ahead, occurring at the Sun’s conjunction of the Natal Sun. It provides us with the information about person’s being for the coming 12 months. These energies are usually felt already a few months before the new chart is due because of the energy shift and depending on the sensitivity of the person. This type of chart is many times interpreted two times around or in two phases. The first time it may be interpreted as a totally different chart on its own and read as it is. The second time it might be seen as a comparison with the individual birth chart. Of course this type of interpretation can be done simultaneously.
A chart made for the Sun return to the same degree as in the natal chart is possible to interpret as an independent chart, however it is advised always to compare it to the Natal horoscope, to see how that is highlighted by the chart energies of the Solar Return. This is only a personal choice and astrologers use the type of system they find most accurate. As with all astrology, there are different ways of viewing the interpretation of a Solar Return. I chose to see it as a period analyzing technique because of its possibility both to predict the future and go back in life and further explore the past.
These charts usually follow a four year cycle, (if You’re place of residence is the same) so the same ascendant signs are changing every four years in the cycle, depending of course on the place of the residence. There are different house systems to calculate a return chart. This is totally depending on what the astrologer wishes to use and considers as a best working system.
Therefore using a system that is good when looking at the here and now energies, as the chart is often calculated at the place where a person is resident most of the year, adds to the importance of understanding the here and now. This is however up to the astrologer to choose. If an important happening is taking place during the year, at another place than the person’s current residence the Solar return chart would most likely show the event strongest at this particular place. In that case we can’t entirely rely on the place of residence to tell us all. The current location for the individual will be of great importance when determining the astrological effect of certain happenings.
Planets and cycles of the chart
Some astrologers don´t see the houses as a big matter in the return chart, because of the shortage of time a chart like this is valid. An individual will not be able to go into the same depth of a Solar Return as they can do with their birth chart or heavy transits to the chart. This might explain why the angular planets in the chart, planets placed close to the angles, AC-DC, MC-IC and houses 1, 4, 7, 10 might stand out and be felt during the year. Together with the ascendant that might work a little bit different in the Solar Return than in the birth chart, these major outstanding planets might be a good way to get an overall grip of the themes of a particular chart/year. Planets in the foreground of the chart, is said to have an important effect on the year. If we define these planets as being close to one of the charts angles or rulers of the chart, we might with their help get a picture of wich planets will have the possibility to stand out when taken in account that the time of the chart is only a one year period.
Background planets are also as important, because they are the ones that are least represented during the year, also important when comparing their strength to that in the natal chart. The middle planets will be the ones that are neither strong nor weak during the year, depending on other personal factors, such as transits.
Even though we have rules for interpretation or so called cookbooks for the different signs and charts, in the end it really comes down to the person’s awareness of their own chart, as well as their interest and ability to take advantage of the Solar Return energies that are given. Some persons are more susceptible and sensitive to the energies of the Solar Return. What the natal chart contains with its challenges and how well it will cooperate with the Solar Chart energies, is also something to consider. Important points in the Solar Return activating points in the Natal chart, especially talking about angular houses in the birth chart can give valuable information about the areas of life that might be highlighted. Sometimes putting the individuals Natal chart outside of the Solar chart wheel might help in highlighting the activated points. (illustrated in fig 1.2.)
For a person with a lot of fixed energy in the birth horoscope, a Solar Return that is very flexible might seem more out of tune with their own basic temperament, so to speak more foreign to explore. At the same time, this chart might provide a person with the mutable energy that is usually not present in their daily life, giving them the opportunity to act less stubborn than usual but instead take some chances and step out of their comfort zone, if they dare to go with these energies. Some people are less prone to go with the energies at hand, while others might experience them too intensely.
The same goes for the combinations of feminine and masculine cycles. A person with a strongly feminine birth chart might feel that a masculine cycle or year is a bit harder to manage or then be able and dare to become more outgoing and active during such a year. The basic personality will not change with a chart, but tour reaction patterns during a certain Solar Return year might differ a bit. The human psyche is constantly undergoing changes. When a person with a strongly mutable chart experiences a strongly mutable year this might bring a danger of over living this energy to the point where stability is not a virtue. This is then another type of lesson, where the astrologer might have a crucial role to play in guiding the individual to understand that some impulsive acts or decisions during a certain type of year might not be as stable or durable as they first seem to be. One way to get in touch with some of the yearly energies is to tune in to the feelings and happenings at the exact day of the return chart start. This is not always the person’s actual birthday but might be the day before. By observing and tuning in to the energies you might get some hints about the year ahead.
Aspects
We know that the Solar Return chart is one of the most powerful and frequently used forecasting techniques available. It might be used as predicting the future, but also to tell us something of the evolution of our inner selves.
The dynamics between planets in the Solar Return chart are of course as important as they are in other astrological readings. In the Solar Return however, we might like to look especially at the dynamics or stressful aspects, as these might be the ones most strongly manifesting. In this chart we are considering the short timespan but in both natal chart and in other chart analyzes, the positive aspects might be seen as passive and therefore in a chart as short as a year chart encompasses on the squares, oppositions and other such major dynamics in the chart. When talking about aspects there are also some special features that might be of interest. These particular aspect figures are referred to as parans, describing the special feature two key planets are having in the chart. For example a paran is made of two planets being situated on the axis of the Solar Return Chart, most visible often on the ascendant and on Midheaven. These planet figures are also prominent in the Natal Chart of individuals that have accomplished a lot in life. Planets situated on the Imum Coeli or Descendent are of course of highly importance and especially when in Paran aspekt. These might though be a sign of a more inward change when IC is involved. When seen in a Solar return this might suggest a more prominent year. The paran might also consist of an opposition or of a conjunction of planets on the chart’s axis.
Stages of Solar Returns
So, You have a year chart. Does it stay static during the whole astrological year? Well, to make things a bit more complicated, it doesn’t. During the astrological year, there is also a possibility to calculate semi-solar returns that will occur every quarter. This way the astrological year is brought forward through a certain developmental cycle of a Solar Chart. The Solar return is calculated for one year (or for exactly 365, ¾ days ahead. But it is also possible to pin down this Solar Year into different sections. These stages are more refined methods to check out the different stages of the Solar year by also including Quarti-Returns and Demi-Returns. These are done by looking at the times of the year when the Sun is squaring and opposing its personal natal degree, creating supplementary charts to add in the yearly interpretation. These charts will be useful in forecasting the three-month periods after the Sun has squared or opposed it’s natural birth degree. Planets being situated foreground in these charts together with the angles might tell you a bit more of the particular period in question. These charts will be of special importance to work with when a client asks for a yearly reading in the middle in their Solar Return year, when they are right in between the charts, instead of taking the former birthdays chart too much in Quarti-Solar charts being done for three months and Demi-Solars for six months and three months. Solar Return charts might also be progressed, just like a birth chart. More about this coming up in part II!
References:
James A. Eshelman Interpreting Solar Returns (Acs Pubns Later Printing 1985)
Maija Urmas Auringonpaluukarttojen toimivuudesta (1997)