Solar Returns

We start with our natal chart and from that moment, we can follow the planetary transits and progressions to keep us updated of the cycles of our life. Something that is not mentioned frequently are the Solar Returns.

What is a Solar Return? It is a chart made for when the Sun is in the same degree, minutes and seconds of when we were born. That is defined as our astrological birthday. We celebrate our birthdays on the calendar day when we were born, but astrologically it could be at a different day.

I leave the following point to consideration. Every four years we have what is called “Leap Year” where an additional day is added to the month of February. This is done because, with the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, the solar year was defined with 365 days but it is not exact. To compensate for the difference from the astronomical point of view, a day is added every four years to compensate for the lag of accumulated hours.

Considering this, the person born on February 29 during a leap year, will celebrate the birthday only every four years. (Maybe someone would like the idea!) However, what about the person born on March 1^st. of a leap year? In a regular year, this person would have been born on March 2^nd.

With these simple examples, we can see that the birthday day from the astrological point of view, it can vary. Astrology takes the day and time of the birthday when the Sun is in the same degree, minute and second as at birth.

With this information, a chart is drawn called Solar Return chart. To draw the chart, as with a natal chart, the place where the birthday happens is very important, since depending on the location, it will be how the planets are located in the chart.

If the person celebrates the birthdays in the place where it was born, the Sun will occupy the 12 houses in that same number of years, fulfilling a cycle of Solar Returns.

Two Solar Returns are shown for better understand how it works. One chart shows the place where the person lives, and the other one, passing the birthday somewhere else to change the position of the planets in the houses.

What is important to understand, is the concept behind celebrating the birthday in a different place. The trend of the year can be evaluated by the houses were planets are present. The houses where there is no planet will not be evaluated. By changing the position of the planets from one house to another, it makes the energy of the planets manifest in a different way. The energy is the same, but depending on the characteristic of the house is how they will manifest (home, children, health / work, marriage, etc.).

As the Solar Return can be done prior to the birthday, and depending on the result and possibilities, the person has time to schedule a change of place. Different locations can be analyzed for evaluating what houses the person likes to avoid any impact on the Solar Return.

In the Solar Returns in the examples, the person was evaluating changing the city to move the planets of the house I and the house IV to another position. In the case of spending, the birthday in Seattle instead of Miami (going from the east coast to the west coast of the United States) moves the three planets of the house I (from the Self) to the house XI (of the groups) and the Sun and Uranus from house IV (home) to house II (form of income).

The energies that will be active during the solar year are represented by the position of the planets in the houses.

This is an important aspect of astrology, which usually people don’t consider and clearly determines that beyond a certain pre-determinism, one has some control of how to handle the planetary energies during a solar year.