For what it’s worth:
I started out with a book by one of the early 20th Century writers (who I still respect but won’t name) who said in reference to timing: Take the progressed planets (ie, secondary/major progressed), timed by the progressed Moon, and that will show you almost everything. Consider lunations (meaning new moons) as triggering events like the progressed Moon, and occasionally outer planet Transits through the houses. This author did not use the so-called minor aspects or progressions of the planets beyond Mars, and paid almost no attention to planet to planet aspects (beyond the inner planets), using mainly progressed Sun, Moon and angles.
I thought, hey, that sounds pretty straightforward, I can do that!
Needless to say, it didn’t take too long for me to be disappointed in my ability to predict things. While that pretty limited set of tools does work, it misses just about everything. Zeroing in on an event that occurred on a specific day was virtually impossible. But 50 years ago, there really was very little available other than reprints of the early 20th Century writers. One really had to scour the bookstores to find anything more (which I ended up spending a fair amount of time doing).
I had a huge “aha moment” reading a book by one of the English astrologers, with a technique to integrate Transits with progressions. I’ve long since abandoned his technique (nothing against him) but he opened me up to some of what I’d been missing.
Another moment came with the books of Elbert Benjamine (C. C. Zain/Church of Light), which I highly recommend, both for astrological theory (what/how it works) and technique. Of the moderns, Robert Hand.
A major fairly recent moment goes back to Ptolemy, with the idea of the Antiscia positions of the planets. I find those positions are as important as natal positions in receiving progressed or transiting aspects. To me, use of the Antiscia has been a major breakthrough, and I very highly recommend using it.
I think if one continues to work with astrology, one continues to have moments of inspiration and intuitive understanding. Maybe not every single day, but certainly on an ongoing basis. I’m still pretty much focused on the timing of events, and feel I’ve made definite progress and learned a lot along the way.