Looking at Progressions

BobZemco

Well-known member
A lot of people seem to have problems understanding progressions. The progressed Planets are nothing more than very very slow moving transits. Progressions are very internal in nature, meaning they're more likely to affect you mentally than physically. That doesn't mean progressions don't affect you physically, they can, for example a Planet progressing into the 6th House or the 6th House Ruler progressing into the 8th or 12th House or into certain aspects with the rulers of the 6th, 8th or 12th Houses can signify an illness.

Progressions are something you do maybe once in your life, and one of the best ways to do that is to write them down. You can use a spread sheet (like I use) or a word processor or write them on a legal pad, or you can use construction paper and crayons, it doesn't really matter. Other than that, all you need is a list of your Planets and the Ascendant and MC, and an ephemeris, which you should buy, but you can also find them online.

An ephemeris will look something like this:

Date............Sun....... Moon..... Mercury...Venus
May 26 1962 04°Ge28' 26°Aq47' 20°Ge23' 03°Cn43'
May 27 1962 05°Ge25' 10°Pi51' 20°Ge22' R 04°Cn55'
May 28 1962 06°Ge23' 25°Pi05' 20°Ge16' 06°Cn07'
May 29 1962 07°Ge21' 09°Ar25' 20°Ge05' 07°Cn19'

The symbolism is "day-for-a-year" so each day after your birthday is one year of your life.

Generally, you want to look at 120 days, which is 120 years of your life. Yes, I know you're not going to live 120 years, but none of you are special. When you die, the Solar System does not grind to a halt; it continues moving. Your chart lives on, even after you die.

There are somethings you might want to know about. Is your Will contested? Does your Estate end up in Probate Court? Does the government seize your Estate? Do your children fight over it? Does your spouse remarry? Maybe you want to comeback and haunt your spouse (or protect your spouse). Do your children marry, divorce, have more children, do your grandchildren marry etc.


Will you receive any awards or accolades, or publish a book? No kidding, a guy in Australia found his grandfather's diary of life in the trenches during World War I. He published it. Guess what? It showed up in the progressions of the grandfather's natal chart.

Here's a snippet from my progressions (sorry the formatting is less than desirable):

Natal .. Position.. Action.. Age.. Date .. ..........Location .. Contact
Venus.. 04°Cn39' Sign .....19 ....Jun 13 1962... 25°Cn14'.. 9th House
Saturn .11°Aq22' Square ..19 ... Jun 13 1962 ...11°Ta17'.. Mars
Neptune 11°Sc29' Opp .....19.... Jun 13 1962 ... 11°Ta17' Mars
Mars 28°Ar29' ...Square ...22 ....Jun 16 1962 .... 28°Cn47' Venus
Uranus 28°Le37' Qu .........22 ....Jun 16 1962..... 28°Cn47' Venus
Venus 04°Cn39' Sign .......23 .....Jun 17 1962..... 29°Cn58' Leo
Mercury 20°Ge22' D ........26...... Jun 20 1962 .....11°Ge52' D Mercury
Mars 28°Ar29' Sextile ......26 ......Jun 20 1962 .....28°Ge23' Sun
Uranus 28°Le37' Sextile ....26 ..... Jun 20 1962 .... 28°Ge23' Sun
Venus 04°Cn39' SSx........ 27 ......Jun 21 1962...... 04°Le41' Venus
Sun 05°Ge13' Con........... 28 ...... Jun 22 1962 .... 05°Le52' Venus
Sun 05°Ge13' Sign ..........28 ....... Jun 22 1962..... 00°Cn18' Sign
Jupiter 10°Pi38' SSx ........28....... Jun 22 1962...... 10°Aq38' Saturn
Moon 07°Pi41' Qu ..........29....... Jun 23 1962 ...... 07°Le03' Venus
Pluto 07°Vi32' Con ........29 ...... Jun 23 1962....... 07°Le03' Venus
MC 01°Vi31' Sextile...... 29 ........Jun 23 1962....... 01°Cn15' Sun

All I've done is write out the year in which there is some contact with progressed Planets.

At age 19, my natal Venus progressed to conjunct the 9th House Cusp at 25° Cancer.

How do you interpret that?

The 9th House Cusp is Cancer ruled by my Moon in my natal 4th House. What is the 9th House? Among things, it's long journeys. 4th House is the home.

I left the United States and didn't return for about 10 years.

See? It ain't so hard.

At age 23 my Venus progressed into the Sign of Leo. I got married. Because Venus progressed into Leo? Not entirely. My natal Mercury was Stationary in the natal 7th House, then it went Retrograde and then it went direct at age 26. In reality, I was actually 25 1/2 years old when Mercury went Direct in my 7th House of Relationships.

That is one of the advantages of writing out your progressions. When you see something like that, natal Venus progressed into the 9th House then into the Sign of Leo while Mercury goes Direct, you want to actually do a chart for that time period and then also look at the transits so you can get a sense of the timing (in this case transiting Moon conjunct Ascendant).

When I was 28, natal Sun changed Signs and entered Cancer. Did I become a Cancer? No, but I did take on some of the traits of Cancer. I became more sensitive, very emotional and extremely traditional, plus I took on a few of the negative characteristics, like brooding and being way too cautious, but then I was suffering from PTSD and the effects were starting to manifest themselves in a serious way.

When my Ascendant progressed into Sagittarius, I did not become a Sagittarius, but I did take on a few traits, like being really straightforward, to the point of being very blunt, and also broadminded and quite the procrastinator.

Natal .... Position .. Action ....Age... Date ............ Location .. Contact
Asc...... 20°Sc43' ..Sextile ....90 .... Aug 23 1962 ...20°Vi41' ... Mercury
Sun..... 05°Ge13' .. Sign .......91 .... Aug 24 1962... 00°Vi33' ....Virgo
MC ......01°Vi31' ....Sextile.... 91 .... Aug 24 1962 .. 01°Cn06'... Mars
Sun.... 05°Ge13'.... House .... 92..... Aug 25 1962 .. 01°Vi31' ...10th House
MC ......01°Vi31'..... Con .......92 .... Aug 25 1962... 01°Vi31' ... Sun

There's where I exit stage left. Not because of those particular progressions, mind you, but because of that and other things going on with transits and the Anareta wants to Tango.

The other benefit to writing out your progressions is that if you don't know the houses, signs, elements and natures (and that would be about 80% of you), then you will when you're done. The elements trine, the natures oppose and square, sextiles are always Fire/Air or Earth/Water etc.

I recommend using some of the minor aspects, like the quincunx, semi-sextile and semi-square.

Often in your life you might notice periods where your relationship with your children, spouse, parents, friends, co-workers or supervisors is a little testy and irritating. I guarantee you'll always find a semi-sextile or semi-square there. And the advantage of knowing that in advance is that you can take a "time-out," give yourself a "yellow card," take a different approach or do other things to make your life and everyone else's more pleasant.

Aspect orbs for progressions are 30' to 1° maximum. In addition to aspects, Planets changing Signs, Houses or going Direct or Retrograde are very important to note. For Planets that go Direct or Retrograde, flip ahead in the ephemeris and look to see if any transiting Planets are conjunct that point, because it will be emphasized. The same is true if a progressed Planet goes Direct or Retrograde at the pre-natal eclipses or the last Moon before birth (which will either be a Full Moon or a New Moon).

What if a progressed Planet goes Direct or Retrograde at the same point where there is a transiting Eclipse or New/Full Moon for that month? I don't know, but note it and look at it in detail later. You can ignore Lunar Eclipses after 3 months, but for Solar Eclipses it'll depend on the nature of the Sign (ie 3 months for Cardinal, 6 months for Mutable and 12 months for Fixed).

After you make your list or table, look at past events and see if you can make sense of them. As I said, not everything will manifest itself in a way that you can physically see. Once you get a feel for past events, you can start looking at future events.
 
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Effie

Well-known member
So Bob, my progressed Sun in gemini has started conjuncting natal venus and mars in gemini (they are in conjunction anyways in the 9 house). This means that I will get married to a foreigner?

Thanks.
 

Inside Out Orange

Well-known member
Bob ... that's a really excellent discussion and post on progressions.

There's one bit I get stuck on understanding ... your second table where you discuss your progression aspects from age 19 - 29. Are these aspects what the progressions are doing against your natal chart (i.e. your natal chart has 9th house cusp at 25Can14) or is it he aspects that are set up within the progressed chart (i.e. your progressed chart has 9th house cusp at 25Can14)?

What's the best way of finding out all these aspects? Is there a good online program? Did you manually look at every planet for every day against every other planet?

I definitely want to do this because my chart is becoming ever more Libran. My sun progressed there five years back, in 2017 even my Pluto progresses into it; to give me Sun/mercury/venus/uranus/pluto in there; at the same time that my Ascendent moves into Cancer (squaring progressing pluto - hmmm) and my progressed midheaven will oppose my natal Leo planets.
 

BobZemco

Well-known member
Bob ... that's a really excellent discussion and post on progressions.

There's one bit I get stuck on understanding ... your second table where you discuss your progression aspects from age 19 - 29. Are these aspects what the progressions are doing against your natal chart (i.e. your natal chart has 9th house cusp at 25Can14) or is it he aspects that are set up within the progressed chart (i.e. your progressed chart has 9th house cusp at 25Can14)?

Those are progressions to the natal house cusps.

What's the best way of finding out all these aspects? Is there a good online program? Did you manually look at every planet for every day against every other planet?

I use The American Ephemeris for the 20th Century and The American Ephemeris for the 21st Century (2000 to 2050) (both are for Noon). They're great desktop references and they make wonderful paperweights, plus they look cool on the coffee table.

There's also Adobe files on astro.com I think or something like that if you search for "swiss ephemeris." I attached one so people could see it.

It doesn't really take that long. The Outers move only a few minutes and your main concern is will they go Retrograde or if they are, will they go Direct.

I definitely want to do this because my chart is becoming ever more Libran.

If your Sun or Ascendant, progresses into Libra, you'll take on some (but not all) of those qualities. As a Virgo, if you're a perfectionist and Venus is in bad shape and the Sun moves into Libra, you might become a little apathetic and that'll take some of the edge of that perfectionist streak. That's probably a bad example but the only one I can think of at the moment.

My sun progressed there five years back, in 2017 even my Pluto progresses into it; to give me Sun/mercury/venus/uranus/pluto in there; at the same time that my Ascendent moves into Cancer (squaring progressing pluto - hmmm) and my progressed midheaven will oppose my natal Leo planets.

Then that house is going to have a lot of activity, especially as transiting Planets move round and set off aspects. Jupiter goes round in 12 years or so and spends about a month in each sign more or less and is currently retrograde in Aries until about mid-November. Jupiter will oppose those Planets, then move to trine, then square, then sextile, and you'll need to look at the natal houses Jupiter rules, plus the houses ruled by the progressed Planets in Libra and the house of Libra to get a picture of what to expect.
 

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Claire19

Well-known member
So Bob, my progressed Sun in gemini has started conjuncting natal venus and mars in gemini (they are in conjunction anyways in the 9 house). This means that I will get married to a foreigner?

Thanks.
More likely travel with this one. Marriage belongs to the 7th house aspects but you could marry a foreigner or someone met whilst moving around on trips... You may meet someone whilst in a study situation such as at college or training of some kind. You may take up linguistics or become involve in the tourism industry.

An orb of no more than 2 degrees for progressions. Gemini is more a mental sign and so the effects will be more focussed with intellect. Transitting planets that oppose the natal ones are more outward in their expressions where as squares are more inner conflicts. The element is also important. Earth is a practical day to day influence for instance.
 
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Re: Looking at Progressions - A50 take

progressed planets/charts are more 'internal' changes, evolvements rather than 'events or external' matters. I don't read prog charts as stand alones it's more important to see where these planets are moving in the natal chart

Your natal chart is like a photograph as unique as your fingerprint, BUT the 10planets in the sky have not stayed where they were in your natal chart, they have all moved. Predictive astrology is mostly maths where those 10planets are now and the mathematical aspects they make to your natal charts ie: 180'=opposition, 90'=square, 60'=sextile and 120'=trine.

So your personality, grows, develops, changes, matures as we get older, this is reflected by your sun sign changing from it's natal position to the next sign along, so does your Asc and MC sign change. In fact from sun to mars especially are important, as the outer planets really don't move much, using a 'day for a year' secondary progressions.

What's the difference between Transits and Progressions?
“Transits are the planets currently orbiting in the sky and the relationships they form to each other and additionally, to your chart. Transits happen for everyone. They're important and effect you personally when they contact a planet or point in your chart. Transits represent outside energy, things happening outside yourself. They describe external events and your responses to them. Progressions, however, move very slowly and are a natural progression of your original birth chart. The events and emotions they describe are part of you, deeply ingrained in your psyche, internal, and psychological. And as they form aspects, these inner feelings start to become more important and central to your life”
http://www.artcharts.com/learn_astrology/progressed.html

If you want to research more into Secondary progressions try here
http://cafeastrology.com/secondaryprogressions.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrological_progression
http://www.aquamoonlight.co.uk/progressions.html
http://www.astrologyweekly.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=67
http://www.khaldea.com/rudhyar/astroarticles/progressionsinastrology.php
http://www.aquamoonlight.co.uk/progressions.html
http://astrolmass.com/progressions.htm


The most important of progressed planets is of course, sun & moon and then upto mars, as the outer planets hardly move by progression. Now like with transits, solar arcs --- it's what these progressed planets are doing NOW by mathematical aspect to your natal planets and Angles that is ultimately important.

Also I would take this opportunity to mention there is a ‘plethora’ of information in every forum top, called 'stickys' which cover, explain in great depth what each forum is all about, plus we have an Education forum for further research..
 

MaeMae

Banned
Several many years ago, around the time i was 25, - an astrologer gave me a teaser on my progressed venus, which had moved from pisces into aries around the time i was 10 years old. He told me, "around the time you turn 50, your progressed venus will move into taurus and you will likely find yourself more comfortable and complacent in middle age," (or something to that effect...).

well, i'm 50 now, and in recent review of my progressed venus - at 29' of aries - i note that my prog. venus stations at 29 aries when i turn 53 then retro's for the rest of my life....Should I live to 90, I will have lived 80 years with progressed venus in aries. as if 40 years hasn't been enough?

:surprised:
 

Claire19

Well-known member
A lot of people seem to have problems understanding progressions. The progressed Planets are nothing more than very very slow moving transits. Progressions are very internal in nature, meaning they're more likely to affect you mentally than physically. That doesn't mean progressions don't affect you physically, they can, for example a Planet progressing into the 6th House or the 6th House Ruler progressing into the 8th or 12th House or into certain aspects with the rulers of the 6th, 8th or 12th Houses can signify an illness.

Progressions are something you do maybe once in your life, and one of the best ways to do that is to write them down. You can use a spread sheet (like I use) or a word processor or write them on a legal pad, or you can use construction paper and crayons, it doesn't really matter. Other than that, all you need is a list of your Planets and the Ascendant and MC, and an ephemeris, which you should buy, but you can also find them online.

An ephemeris will look something like this:

Date............Sun....... Moon..... Mercury...Venus
May 26 1962 04°Ge28' 26°Aq47' 20°Ge23' 03°Cn43'
May 27 1962 05°Ge25' 10°Pi51' 20°Ge22' R 04°Cn55'
May 28 1962 06°Ge23' 25°Pi05' 20°Ge16' 06°Cn07'
May 29 1962 07°Ge21' 09°Ar25' 20°Ge05' 07°Cn19'

The symbolism is "day-for-a-year" so each day after your birthday is one year of your life.

Generally, you want to look at 120 days, which is 120 years of your life. Yes, I know you're not going to live 120 years, but none of you are special. When you die, the Solar System does not grind to a halt; it continues moving. Your chart lives on, even after you die.

There are somethings you might want to know about. Is your Will contested? Does your Estate end up in Probate Court? Does the government seize your Estate? Do your children fight over it? Does your spouse remarry? Maybe you want to comeback and haunt your spouse (or protect your spouse). Do your children marry, divorce, have more children, do your grandchildren marry etc.


Will you receive any awards or accolades, or publish a book? No kidding, a guy in Australia found his grandfather's diary of life in the trenches during World War I. He published it. Guess what? It showed up in the progressions of the grandfather's natal chart.

Here's a snippet from my progressions (sorry the formatting is less than desirable):

Natal .. Position.. Action.. Age.. Date .. ..........Location .. Contact
Venus.. 04°Cn39' Sign .....19 ....Jun 13 1962... 25°Cn14'.. 9th House
Saturn .11°Aq22' Square ..19 ... Jun 13 1962 ...11°Ta17'.. Mars
Neptune 11°Sc29' Opp .....19.... Jun 13 1962 ... 11°Ta17' Mars
Mars 28°Ar29' ...Square ...22 ....Jun 16 1962 .... 28°Cn47' Venus
Uranus 28°Le37' Qu .........22 ....Jun 16 1962..... 28°Cn47' Venus
Venus 04°Cn39' Sign .......23 .....Jun 17 1962..... 29°Cn58' Leo
Mercury 20°Ge22' D ........26...... Jun 20 1962 .....11°Ge52' D Mercury
Mars 28°Ar29' Sextile ......26 ......Jun 20 1962 .....28°Ge23' Sun
Uranus 28°Le37' Sextile ....26 ..... Jun 20 1962 .... 28°Ge23' Sun
Venus 04°Cn39' SSx........ 27 ......Jun 21 1962...... 04°Le41' Venus
Sun 05°Ge13' Con........... 28 ...... Jun 22 1962 .... 05°Le52' Venus
Sun 05°Ge13' Sign ..........28 ....... Jun 22 1962..... 00°Cn18' Sign
Jupiter 10°Pi38' SSx ........28....... Jun 22 1962...... 10°Aq38' Saturn
Moon 07°Pi41' Qu ..........29....... Jun 23 1962 ...... 07°Le03' Venus
Pluto 07°Vi32' Con ........29 ...... Jun 23 1962....... 07°Le03' Venus
MC 01°Vi31' Sextile...... 29 ........Jun 23 1962....... 01°Cn15' Sun

All I've done is write out the year in which there is some contact with progressed Planets.

At age 19, my natal Venus progressed to conjunct the 9th House Cusp at 25° Cancer.

How do you interpret that?

The 9th House Cusp is Cancer ruled by my Moon in my natal 4th House. What is the 9th House? Among things, it's long journeys. 4th House is the home.

I left the United States and didn't return for about 10 years.

See? It ain't so hard.

At age 23 my Venus progressed into the Sign of Leo. I got married. Because Venus progressed into Leo? Not entirely. My natal Mercury was Stationary in the natal 7th House, then it went Retrograde and then it went direct at age 26. In reality, I was actually 25 1/2 years old when Mercury went Direct in my 7th House of Relationships.

That is one of the advantages of writing out your progressions. When you see something like that, natal Venus progressed into the 9th House then into the Sign of Leo while Mercury goes Direct, you want to actually do a chart for that time period and then also look at the transits so you can get a sense of the timing (in this case transiting Moon conjunct Ascendant).

When I was 28, natal Sun changed Signs and entered Cancer. Did I become a Cancer? No, but I did take on some of the traits of Cancer. I became more sensitive, very emotional and extremely traditional, plus I took on a few of the negative characteristics, like brooding and being way too cautious, but then I was suffering from PTSD and the effects were starting to manifest themselves in a serious way.

When my Ascendant progressed into Sagittarius, I did not become a Sagittarius, but I did take on a few traits, like being really straightforward, to the point of being very blunt, and also broadminded and quite the procrastinator.

Natal .... Position .. Action ....Age... Date ............ Location .. Contact
Asc...... 20°Sc43' ..Sextile ....90 .... Aug 23 1962 ...20°Vi41' ... Mercury
Sun..... 05°Ge13' .. Sign .......91 .... Aug 24 1962... 00°Vi33' ....Virgo
MC ......01°Vi31' ....Sextile.... 91 .... Aug 24 1962 .. 01°Cn06'... Mars
Sun.... 05°Ge13'.... House .... 92..... Aug 25 1962 .. 01°Vi31' ...10th House
MC ......01°Vi31'..... Con .......92 .... Aug 25 1962... 01°Vi31' ... Sun

There's where I exit stage left. Not because of those particular progressions, mind you, but because of that and other things going on with transits and the Anareta wants to Tango.

The other benefit to writing out your progressions is that if you don't know the houses, signs, elements and natures (and that would be about 80% of you), then you will when you're done. The elements trine, the natures oppose and square, sextiles are always Fire/Air or Earth/Water etc.

I recommend using some of the minor aspects, like the quincunx, semi-sextile and semi-square.

Often in your life you might notice periods where your relationship with your children, spouse, parents, friends, co-workers or supervisors is a little testy and irritating. I guarantee you'll always find a semi-sextile or semi-square there. And the advantage of knowing that in advance is that you can take a "time-out," give yourself a "yellow card," take a different approach or do other things to make your life and everyone else's more pleasant.

Aspect orbs for progressions are 30' to 1° maximum. In addition to aspects, Planets changing Signs, Houses or going Direct or Retrograde are very important to note. For Planets that go Direct or Retrograde, flip ahead in the ephemeris and look to see if any transiting Planets are conjunct that point, because it will be emphasized. The same is true if a progressed Planet goes Direct or Retrograde at the pre-natal eclipses or the last Moon before birth (which will either be a Full Moon or a New Moon).

What if a progressed Planet goes Direct or Retrograde at the same point where there is a transiting Eclipse or New/Full Moon for that month? I don't know, but note it and look at it in detail later. You can ignore Lunar Eclipses after 3 months, but for Solar Eclipses it'll depend on the nature of the Sign (ie 3 months for Cardinal, 6 months for Mutable and 12 months for Fixed).

After you make your list or table, look at past events and see if you can make sense of them. As I said, not everything will manifest itself in a way that you can physically see. Once you get a feel for past events, you can start looking at future events.
Has anyone really taken the time to read all this!!! My God where is the moderator lol!!!
 

JerryRR

Well-known member
Quote Claire 19.
"Has anyone really taken the time to read all this!!!"

I have Claire,a very good explaination.Thumbs up.deserves star rating.

I have read Allende's,Portrait in Sepia,Daughter of Fortune and Paula.Thank you for the recommendations Claire 19.

J. :)
 

MaeMae

Banned
What are folks' take on Prog. Moon conjuncting midpoints? Any weight? I have a bunch of low Aries midpoints and progressed Moon low Aries. Get muddled when considering T Pluto and Uranus low cardinal aspects to it. This or that?
 
kannon said on thread…. And I agree http://www.astrologyweekly.com/forum/showthread.php?p=349658#post349658

Simultaneous progressed aspects like these are more common than you think. They occur off and on many times over your lifetime.
You can go to astro.com and once you are looking at your progressed chart from the "Extended Chart Selection" click the link right above the chart: _View the additional tables (PDF)_ ... this will open up a pdf document that shows two aspectarians on the second page (progressed): one for progressed to progressed aspects only and the second at the bottom shows progressed to natal aspects.
You will probably notice at least a few of these aspects are very tight (under 0*10') for major events in your life.

I would add to this is, keep the orbs very tight, 1' approaching 1' exact and 1' departing. The aspect grid will show ALL orbs upto whatever ratio you set it....
 
What are folks' take on Prog. Moon conjuncting midpoints? Any weight? I have a bunch of low Aries midpoints and progressed Moon low Aries. Get muddled when considering T Pluto and Uranus low cardinal aspects to it. This or that?

I think there is some merit but keep the orbs tight max 1'
I only really use ASC/MC and sun/moon
 

Claire19

Well-known member
So Bob, my progressed Sun in gemini has started conjuncting natal venus and mars in gemini (they are in conjunction anyways in the 9 house). This means that I will get married to a foreigner?

Thanks.
If you have the connection also in the natal chart then yes very strong possibility of meeting someone but can be in a church or college situation too. The 9th means more than travelling....Studying or taking a course or during a short trip somewhere overseas too.

I would say younger and there will be more than one significant love for you in life for sure. SOmetimes twins are involved in some way.
 

Annette1029

Well-known member
Outer planet moves really slow in progression,when they progress to aspect natal planet,does it mean anything?Or they just make the existed natal aspect stronger?Thanks
 

Claire19

Well-known member
Outer planet moves really slow in progression,when they progress to aspect natal planet,does it mean anything?Or they just make the existed natal aspect stronger?Thanks
Progressed planets coming into about 1-2 degrees of a natal planet and there is the echo in the natal chart then whatever the influences are indicated are more likely to happen because of the triggering of the natal placements indicated at birth. i.e
Progressed Sun conjuncts Venus in the natal chart. The natal Sun and Venus are in aspect. Then there will be a significant event.
 

JUPITERASC

Well-known member
Some good advice from Bob Zemco :smile:
The progressed Planets are nothing more than very very slow moving transits. Progressions are very internal in nature, meaning they're more likely to affect you mentally than physically. That doesn't mean progressions don't affect you physically, they can, for example a Planet progressing into the 6th House or the 6th House Ruler progressing into the 8th or 12th House or into certain aspects with the rulers of the 6th, 8th or 12th Houses can signify an illness.


Will you receive any awards or accolades, or publish a book? No kidding, a guy in Australia found his grandfather's diary of life in the trenches during World War I. He published it. Guess what? It showed up in the progressions of the grandfather's natal chart.


All I've done is write out the year in which there is some contact with progressed Planets.
At age 19, my natal Venus progressed to conjunct the 9th House Cusp at 25° Cancer. How do you interpret that? The 9th House Cusp is Cancer ruled by my Moon in my natal 4th House. What is the 9th House? Among things, it's long journeys. 4th House is the home. I left the United States and didn't return for about 10 years. See? It ain't so hard.


That is one of the advantages of writing out your progressions. When you see something like that, natal Venus progressed into the 9th House then into the Sign of Leo while Mercury goes Direct, you want to actually do a chart for that time period and then also look at the transits so you can get a sense of the timing (in this case transiting Moon conjunct Ascendant).
When my Ascendant progressed into Sagittarius, I did not become a Sagittarius, but I did take on a few traits, like being really straightforward, to the point of being very blunt, and also broadminded and quite the procrastinator.


Often in your life you might notice periods where your relationship with your children, spouse, parents, friends, co-workers or supervisors is a little testy and irritating. I guarantee you'll always find a semi-sextile or semi-square there. And the advantage of knowing that in advance is that you can take a "time-out," give yourself a "yellow card," take a different approach or do other things to make your life and everyone else's more pleasant.



Aspect orbs for progressions are 30' to 1° maximum. In addition to aspects, Planets changing Signs, Houses or going Direct or Retrograde are very important to note. For Planets that go Direct or Retrograde, flip ahead in the ephemeris and look to see if any transiting Planets are conjunct that point, because it will be emphasized. The same is true if a progressed Planet goes Direct or Retrograde at the pre-natal eclipses or the last Moon before birth (which will either be a Full Moon or a New Moon).



After you make your list or table, look at past events and see if you can make sense of them. As I said, not everything will manifest itself in a way that you can physically see. Once you get a feel for past events, you can start looking at future events
.

 

Zaphod

Well-known member
Contacts to natal planets by "slow" progressed planets can set the tone for long stretches of one's life. Case in point: progressed Jupiter will stay in partile trine to my natal Saturn for a total of 47 "symbolic" years due to reaching its station at that degree. For information, Jupiter rules the 2nd House (and, traditionally, the 4th House) and Saturn co-rules the (Placidean) 2nd House since Capricorn is intercepted there (along with the 3rd House by traditional rulership), and disposits the Capricorn Moon. (I haven't transitioned to equal-house or whole-sign models at this point.) Jupiter plays no part in the dispositor tree, except that it is in mutual reception "by face" with Saturn in addition to the natal trine.

I had natal Jupiter at 23Sagittarius14 at birth, 3 degrees above the 2nd House cusp (technically a 2nd House placement by traditional reckoning). It was trine Saturn at 19Leo17 in the 9th House. Although the trine was past "perfection," Jupiter was retrograde and moving back toward partile. When I was 31, the trine "perfected" once again when progressed Jupiter reached 19Sagittarius17. At that time, I entered upon the career path that engaged me for the next 29 years. I had a number of powerful supporters in upper management who saw to it that I received positions of increasing authority and responsibility over the succeeding 24 years. Jupiter never got to 18 Sagittarius; in 2003 it stationed and went direct at 19 Sagittarius 06. Only then was I "liberated" from a demanding 17-year stretch in middle management and (after a year in career purgatory when transiting Pluto spent 3 months at 19 Sagittarius and another month at 23 Sagittarius), I returned to a staff assignment better reflecting my area of greatest professional strength (with, of course, no loss in pay). My wife also says "That's when you got happy again."

Marc Robertson considered the Jupiter-Saturn pair to describe how you "make it in practical terms" and this waxing trine from the 9th House to the 2nd House (I just finished re-reading "Engine of Destiny" so I'm horsed up on phase relationship stuff), which was persistently reinvigorated by the "perfecting" progression of Jupiter, clearly showed a stable, fortunate and fruitful (oh, and lucrative) bond between the two. The other side of the picture was that I was to some extent "held hostage" by my own success, which I attributed to the exhortations of Saturn to stay the course (as represented by my management sponsors) and the drawn-out retrogradation of Jupiter.

Certainly there was plenty of other planetary stuff going on during this period, but when I began studying traditional astrology last Fall I was reassessing the importance of Jupiter in my chart and found this interesting background theme. Progressed Jupiter will remain in 19 degrees of Sagittarius until my 78th year, and I will be casually observing it for other manifestations now that I'm retired. In the meantime, I'm starting to seriously study primary directions.
 

Zaphod

Well-known member
According to my astrological guru, natal aspects that progress to exact (to the minute) aspects are "background " aspects, so if you have say a natal jupiter/uranus aspect that is a full degree from exact, the full effect of that aspect will take some years to become exact to the minute. What this means is that while the slow moving progression moves closer to exact you are already incorporating the symbolism involved, so the exact aspect isn't really a surprise to you, because the symbolism has been involved over quite a few years.

Precisely, which is why they generally represent "themes" or "phases" rather than visible "event triggers." The astrological gurus I've had over the last 40 years of doing this stuff generally look to "hard" aspects of transiting Mars and progressed Moon for the latter, along with the current solar return chart. Transits of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto can operate much the same way as a slowly-resolving progression. One approach that has been suggested is to allow time spans rather than degrees and minutes of arc when figuring transiting aspect durations for them since they may stay within conventional orb (say, two degrees of exactness), for the better part of a year, especially when retrogradation is present. For example, when Pluto moves to an exact (down to the minute of arc) aspect to its natal position, the native experiences the pinnacle of his or her "pure" response to its influence (that is, in isolation from any other modifying factors), after which awareness of the influence slowly fades as it is fully integrated into their consciousness and experience (unless, of course, its presence is "refreshed" by a triggering aspect from a faster-moving planet). For sake of argument, this might be three months or six months, but certainly no longer than the year represented by the current solar return cycle. This philosophy might also be applied to planets that progress to exactness, but it would seem that longer "phases" of life would be indicated; think of the three 28-year cycles the progressed Moon makes in an 84-year lifespan.

As someone has said, astrology is complex and, I would add, highly nuanced. Every individual experience of a particular astrological emphasis is just another data point to be added to the empirical base. I would certainly never say to someone, "Tomorrow (or in the next week or month) progressed Jupiter comes to an exact trine to natal Saturn and you will be rewarded for all your good work. I might in good conscience say you are entering an extended phase of life where the possibility for positive recognition of past efforts is brought into sharper focus.
 
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