Are there certain kinds of transits that tend to show up when someone starts a new romantic relationship, or gets a new job, or sees a new opportunity appear?
My inspiration for this question is the many threads that get posted over on the Read My Chart board, where people want to know if they're going to find a boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse anytime soon, or get a job, or things like that. Common sense says that transits won't do the trick for you by themselves, you have to be out there looking... but if you are out there looking, are there transits that are especially good? Ruler of x house making a significant transit or being transited, or something like that?
Start with your perceptive comment, "Common sense says . . . you have to be out there looking." That's what a transit that's "good for" a given kind of development actually predicts, that in some sense you'll be "out there looking" (for that sort of outcome) more insistently than at other times. Transits don't indicate, symbolize, or predict events per se. Rather, a given kind of transit times a recurrent kind of motivation (or psychological drive since it's intrinsic rather than extrinsic) that sometimes is strong enough and/or interacts with circumstances in such a way that it results in a visible external event. Mars transiting conjunct, square, or opposite its natal place, for instance, tends to coincide with decisions or commitments that result in a change in your daily routine — where you go, how you get there, what you do, who you encounter and interact with, and how, how you move around in space and time. Some characteristic events: looking for a new job, or a job change at your current place of employment, rearranging or buying new furniture, changing the grocery store, department store, hardware store or bank we normally do business with, buying a car, starting an exercise regimen or diet plan, a new activity or a revision of an existing one, beginning or ending a relationship (or both). Don't have a lot of data, needless to say, but love affairs appear to begin and end with one of these Mars transits.
I like to think of age transits, a planet conjoining, squaring, or opposing its natal place, as primary and transits of that planet to other "planets" as secondary. When Mars transits the Nonagesimal*, or NG, we're less likely to put things off, more likely to overcome inertia and
do something. Some action we take during one of these transits, that we don't notice or think much about at the time, will turn out to have been the beginning of an ongoing pattern of activity or involvement. You might want to break up with your boyfriend during a Mars-Mars transit but shy away from a confrontation, or you might want to ask your boss for a raise but lack the nerve. During the next Mars-Sun transit following that Mars-Mars transit you might find the courage to confront your boyfriend or ask for that raise. Keep in mind, though, that it's the impetus, not necessarily the outcome, that coincides with the transit. You might give notice to your landlord during a Mars-Mars transit but not actually obtain another apartment and start moving your things until several weeks later. You might get that raise but it won't necessarily go into effect immediately.
Change happens on different levels. A colleague turned professional as an astrologer as Saturn transited opening square his NG. That is, his sense of identity changed. He came to
see himself as a professional astrologer. Within the longer period of the Saturn transit Mars squared its natal place. At that time he contacted the telephone company and arranged for an ad in the yellow pages as a consulting astrologer. That decision both reflected his changing self-image and manifested it at a more immediate level. Now he was taking calls, setting up appointments to meet with clients, doing charts in preparation for such meetings, and meeting with clients. Now he was
doing the things a consulting astrologer does.
Marriage or the equivalent often begins or ends during a Saturn-Venus transit. At such times we feel a need, not necessarily consciously, for emotional and material security, and formalizing personal or financial relationships helps accomplish that. Mars transits will supply more specific timing than the months long period of the Saturn transit. If a marriage is rocky and one of the partners decides to separate, he or she will ordinarily do so during a Mars transit. If a couple decide to get married the instigator — it need not be the man, or the person who "pops the question" — will likely be experiencing Mars conjunct, square, or opposite its natal place. Again, it's the impetus, not the final outcome, that coincides with the transit(s). The couple might set a date six or more months in the future, by which time the Mars transit will have long since passed and the Saturn transit, too, might be out of orb. Not necessarily the ceremony itself but the commitment, and the manifestation of that commitment in the decision to get married, is what coincides with the transits.
*The Nonagesimal is the point on the ecliptic you were closest to at the moment of birth. It's where you personally are at in the zodiac. Both the ASC and DSC are by definition 90°
from that point. They're aspect points
to a factor — you! — rather than factors per se. The MC
could be that personal point. Doubtless most astrologers will think so. It's the birthplace projected onto the ecliptic along the
geographic meridian, rather than along the
ecliptic meridian as with the NG. But I think the NG, not the MC, is relevant, and that the latter seems relevant mainly because it approximates the former. The ASC and DSC are
on average 90° from the MC but
always 90° from the NG.
Another question, really out of curiosity: what about new opportunities that turn up when you're not particularly looking for them? I've had that happen on more than one occasion. Finding love when I wasn't desperately looking for it, having a job opportunity come my way that I hadn't thought to want, getting adopted by a stray when I wasn't planning to get a pet, hearing about a new educational opportunity out of the blue that was just what I wanted but hadn't known to look for...all of those things have happened in my life, some more than once. Are there particular "lucky" transits linked to that kind of thing?
Finding love when you weren't desperately looking for it doesn't necessarily mean you weren't unconsciously looking for it, or coming across, during a given kind of transit, in a way that attracted someone else's attention. As for opportunities in general, they occur all the time, but we aren't all the time equally opportunistic, equally able to
recognize opportunities and take advantage of them. Lots of things in life are random. Astrology doesn't predict or account for everything under the sun. It predicts where we're coming from and therefore what we
cause to happen. It doesn't predict what happens that happens to intrigue or affect us, like a lightning strike near our house or the death (or birth) of a relative. It doesn't predict what happens
to us, although we do sometimes
elicit responses from others, such as when an aggressive dog bites you if it senses your fear, or when someone unexpectedly makes you a job offer because you're feeling (and expressing via body language) confidence during a Mars-Jupiter transit.
Note that in all instances I'm talking about hard-angle transits — conjunctions, squares, and oppositions. During hard-angle Mars-Mars transits, for instance, change occurs when latent dissatisfactions with our daily routine come to a head, when we feel like we
have to
do something. During trines we're satisfied, relatively comfotable with things as they are, inclined to make do. That's when we're least likely to want to change things. During hard-angle transits we tend to be dissatisfied, not so comfortable, and more inclined to do something about it.
