Solar Return: the chart of your year
A Solar Return is a chart cast for the moment when the Sun returns to the exact position it held at your birth. This happens once a year, around your birthday, and the chart describes your personal year until the next birthday. The calculator finds the exact moment, builds the chart for the place where you will be and gives a detailed interpretation of the year.
You need your date, exact time and place of birth. The Solar Return year defaults to the current one (from your last birthday). "Where you will spend your birthday" is the place where you will be at the moment the Sun returns: the Ascendant and houses depend on it. Latitude, longitude and UTC offset are needed only if the place is not found in the search.
How to calculate a Solar Return
- Natal Sun. From your date, time and place of birth we find the exact longitude of the Sun in the tropical zodiac, for example 21°14′ Taurus.
- The moment of return. The Sun travels around the zodiac in a year and comes back to its natal degree around your birthday. The calculator finds this moment to within seconds.
- The chart for that moment. For the place where you spend your birthday, the Ascendant, MC and Placidus houses are calculated. In the Solar Return the Sun is always where it was at birth, while the houses, axes and other planets are new every year — they are what make the forecast.
- Reading. The Solar Return Ascendant sets the tone of the year, the house of the Sun the main area of events, the Moon where feelings and changes will be, angular planets what comes to the fore, and aspects to the Sun what helps and what gets in the way. At the end comes the overlay on the birth chart and a summary.
What is examined in a solar return
House of the Sun. The main indicator of the year: the Sun in the 10th house of the Solar Return points to a year of career and status, in the 7th to partnership and marriage, in the 4th to home and family, in the 12th to quiet and endings.
Solar Return Ascendant and its ruler. The rising sign sets the overall tone of the year, and the house where the Ascendant's ruler sits shows the area of life through which that mood plays out.
Angular planets. A planet within a few degrees of the Ascendant, IC, Descendant or MC speaks loudest of all: Jupiter or Venus on an angle signals a lucky year, Saturn a year of responsibility, Uranus a year of change, Pluto a year of deep transformation.
Overlay on the birth chart. The natal houses where the Solar Return Ascendant and MC fall are the areas of life that get the emphasis of the year.
Solar Return, Lunar Returns and transits
The Solar Return is the framework of the yearly forecast. Month by month it is refined by Lunar Returns, and the exact days of events are looked for in transits. Slow development over the years ahead is shown by progressions and directions, and the "lord of the year" by profections. These techniques answer the same question from different angles and sometimes contradict each other; an astrologer reads them together.
An Honest Look at the Method
The Solar Return is part of predictive astrology, which has no proven predictive power. We calculate it by the rules of the tradition and with astronomical precision (the moment of the Sun's return and the houses are checked against the Swiss Ephemeris), and we write the interpretations as a description of what astrology traditionally says, not as knowledge of your future. As a reason to take stock once a year and make plans, the Solar Return works well enough, but paying for a trip for the sake of a "lucky" Solar Return is not worth it.
Frequently asked questions
Why doesn't the Solar Return begin at midnight on my birthday?
The moment of the Solar Return is the exact second when the Sun comes back to its natal degree. Because of leap years and time zones, it can fall the day before, on the birthday itself or the day after. The calculator shows the exact date and time.
Which place should I enter?
The place where you will be when the Sun returns. If you are at home, it is your city. If you are travelling, it is the city you are visiting: traditionally, the Solar Return is cast for the place where you are.
Is it worth travelling to another city for your Solar Return?
Within the system, a different place gives a different Ascendant and different houses, which is why some astrologers recommend "relocation". There is no verified evidence for this, and the trip costs real money; you can see how the chart changes without travelling — just choose another city in the form.
Do I need an exact birth time?
Yes. It determines the exact longitude of the Sun and therefore the moment of the Solar Return: an error of one hour shifts the moment by about an hour, and the Solar Return Ascendant moves by 15° or more.