A solar return is when your sun returns back to the degree, minute, and second it was when you were born. This can be seen as your birthday, but this is a slightly different scenario. The difference comes in because your birthday is based on the calendar year and the day you were born. Where, the solar return is dependent on the exact conjunct that the Sun makes with its original natal position. Sometimes, your birthday and your solar return will not occur on the same day.
Astrologers can calculate a solar return chart for the year based on the time of this solar return. This chart will provide insight into your personal year ahead based on where the planets are placed in the chart’s houses and the aspects the planets are making to one another. Essentially, it can be read similarly to a natal chart, except, we can see it as zoomed in and focused on a specific time period.
The solar return chart can be compared to the natal chart to give even more insight and specificity to the areas of your life that will be activated for the year.
In one of our favorite books, The Light of Egypt: The Science of the Soul and The Stars (listed on our reading list), Thomas H. Burgoyne writes, “… the solar force renews the life energies of the Soul and regalvanizes them with additional force (we are speaking spiritually, understand). These germs of new forces are Virtues, Powers, and Potencies and Deific attributes of the great Solar Orb”.
Have you taken a look at your current solar return chart?
Sources
- Burgoyne, Thomas. The Light of Egypt: The Science of The Soul and The Stars. Martino Publishing, 2013.
