I strongly disagree that Solar Return charts are "simply glorified transit charts". I have studied various return charts in depth since at least 1987, and find them to function more as mini-natal charts. They contain numerous promises about what will occur in the individual's life over the period in question. For instance, a Solar Return (SR) will make promises that can be reliably depended on to be fulfilled sometime between one birthday and the next. The fact that they do not narrow down exactly WHEN in those 12 months the promise will be fulfilled does not reduce the value of the promise.
Over the course of my 25 years of studying return charts, I have learned a few things about them that are not always mentioned or obvious by other astrologers:
1. For one, return charts tend to become partially active about 10% - 12% earlier than the actual timing of the chart. In other words, even though my birthday is in early April, my SR will actually start manifesting results as early as mid-February, about six weeks ahead of schedule.
2. There are two extremely useful return charts that the mainstream astrological community under-utilizes : tertiary lunar returns (TLRs) and secondary lunar returns (SLRs). The SLR is the actual lunar return that occurred in the first months after a subject was born, but used according to its timing in the secondary progressed chart. Thus, the subject's first SLR occurs around age 27, and that chart will reliably portray the subject's life conditions and life developments over the following 27 years (of course, due to the 11% rule, the SLR actually starts coming into effect about two years before the actual Moon-conjunct-Moon event in the secondary chart, or around age 25. Thus, a subject will only have a few SLRs over the course of their entire lives, and so these few charts naturally and reliably divide the subject's life into very distinct 27-year chapters. Mortality is usually indicated in these charts by multiple (no less than two) malific afflictions to Sun, Moon, ASC, and/or MH. Similatly, the same sort of chart can be used in the tertiary progressed chart, only in that case the chart will reflect a two-year-long period of time. Thus, between SLRs, TLRs, and SRs, we have return charts that divide the life into one year, two year, and 27 year charters.
Regardless of where the native has moved to over the course of his life, I find that the TLRs and SLRs drawn up for the birthplace are best, at least so long as the native was still at his birthplace during the first few months of his life.
Effectively, the return charts show what will happen in a given period, while the transits and progressions will define how and when those developments will occur. If you are hoping for a career advancement in a given period, look in the return charts. If there are no beneficial aspects to the MH, your hopes will not pan out no matter what is going on in the transits or progressions. Similarly, if you are worried about losing your job in a given period but the return charts have only positive aspects to the MH, you will likely be okay regardless of what is going on in the transits and progessions.
There is a hierarchy of authority :
1. Natal chart
2. Secondary Lunar Return
3. Tertiary Lunar Return
4. Solar Return
5. Transits, Solar Arcs, Progressions, and Lunar Returns
Nothing can happen in the life unless it is indicated in the natal chart, but in the same way, all major developments in a given 27 year period will be represented in the current SLR, and the same goes for the two-year TLRs and the one-year SR. These charts show the overarching design of the life, while the transits and progressions simply fill in the timing details. When the return charts seem to contradict the transits and progressions, the return charts always prove to be the superior indicators.
I rely very, very heavily on return charts in my work, using them to define the broad outlines of a given period of time, and then using transits and progressions to fine-tune the exact timing of the promises made in the return charts. I find this is a very reliable recipe for successful prediction in my work.