Solar Return

A Solar Return is a chart cast for the exact moment each year when the Sun comes back to the precise position it held at birth. This happens around a person's birthday, give or take a day. The chart drawn for that moment is read as a forecast for the year ahead, from one birthday to the next. The solar return chart is interpreted much like a natal chart, but it describes the themes of a single year rather than a whole life. Its rising sign, the house its planets fall in, and the aspects it forms all point to what the coming year will emphasize, whether work, relationships, change, or rest. Comparing the return chart to the natal chart deepens the reading. Some astrologers note that the chart changes depending on where a person is located at the moment of return, which is why a few choose to travel for a more favorable solar return. The technique gives a yearly snapshot, a way of asking what this particular year holds. The solar return answers the question of what is coming in the year ahead.