Re: The Different Modalities to Read a Chart
The natal chart is a snapshot of the sky at the moment you were born, and it serves as a very general blueprint for the unfolding of your life. Progressions and transits provide some clue about how your life is unfolding at any given time. The solar return chart is a specific type of transit chart--a snapshot of the sky at the moment your sun returns to its exact position in your natal chart, which typically happens on your birthday, although it can happen the day before or day after (or possibly two days before or after if you're in a vastly different time zone, ie halfway around the world, from where you were born).
What exactly the significance is depends on whether you're using modern or traditional astrology. Transits carry much more weight in modern astrology than in traditional, where they're the last thing considered if they're considered at all. In both systems, the solar return chart is important--it sets the tone for the year ahead, showing the kind of themes and the kind of issues that can be expected to come up. Progressions add another layer to all of that. For instance, if transiting Saturn is aspecting your natal moon, the effect is greatly strengthened if it's also conjunct your progressed moon.
If a theme repeats itself several times over, in transits to your natal planets, and transits to your progressed planets, and the solar return chart, it's much more likely to manifest in your life than if it only shows up in one of those places. Let's say, for instance, that transiting Saturn is square your natal moon. If no significant Saturn/moon theme turns up in your solar return chart or progressions, that square is probably going to show up in a very minor way if you experience it at all. But if your progressed moon is conjunct or aspecting either transiting or natal Saturn at the same time, the chance of it being noticeably felt increases, and if your solar return moon also squared your natal Saturn on your last birthday, it's guaranteed that something very noticeable is going to happen that involves a Saturn/moon theme and the houses involved. And very likely, it will happen on a day when the moon is either transiting or strongly aspecting your natal Saturn.
