Reading a Solar Return
First, we have to remember that the Solar Return is a cyclic chart that starts with the natal chart. If you compare any S/R to the prior or following S/R you will find that the MC advances (apparently) some 90 degrees from year to year, and that the Sun's house position shifts about 3 houses. This is a regular and repetitive phenomena, a cycle.
Since it derives from the natal chart it is necessary to read the S/R chart in reference to the natal chart. The natal chart provides an imprint that affects our whole life experience. Consider these few points:
** The natal Sun is found within a house. This house or zone is determined by the rotational position of the Earth relative to the Sun at the time of our birth. That house position symbolizes one of our focal points in life that we seem to generally express today, tomorrow, forever.
** The natal Moon has a specific relationship or aspect position to the Sun. We can look at this relationship in terms of degrees of arc, or in terms of signs or houses, or in terms of phase relationships such as were noted first by Dane Rudhyar and later by Marc Robertson. This again shows how we tend to act and respond to life's situations.
** The S/R chart offers us new placements of these two bodies. These are challenges of the present that have to be considered relative to the natal influences that seem to generally prevail over a life time. How will the short term influence of S/R Sun and Moon relationships and placements fit with the natal chart?
As soon as you think about these basic questions, you are on your way to understanding a S/R chart and the reading of that chart.
Later, you will come to realize that some natal patterns such as conjunctions, squares and oppositions are very important in S/R charts due to the fact that they strong influence the S/R when they are angular in the S/R chart. When one part of those patterns is at a S/R chart angle, the other planets in that pattern are likely to be at one of the other angles. These amplify the strongest parts of the S/R --- the angular areas.
All in all, reading a S/R chart may be more complex and more simple then reading a natal chart. There are many systems of interpretation that differ widely from each other. I would suggest serious deep thinking on your own first to see what you discover. Later, you can choose several of the popular books on Solar Returns.
Recommended:
** Cycles of Light by Lynn Bell.
** The New Solar Return Book of Prediction by Ray Merriman.
** Solar and lunar Returns by Donald A. Bradley.
Not recommended for early-studies astrologers:
** Solar Returns Formulas & Analyses by Nance McCullough
** What Will Happen When Your Sun Returns?
** Interpreting Solar & Lunar Returns by Babs Kirby & Janey Stubbs.
Books for those who are deeply interested in S/Rs:
** Transits and Solar Returns by Ciro Discepolo.
** Primer of Sidereal Astrology by Cyril Fagan and Brig. Firebrace.
** Astrologia Gallica Book 23 Revolutions by J.B. Morin.
Dave
