How to Read a Birth Chart: An Extra-Chill Primer on Natal Astrology (+ Hella Cute Worksheet 📝)

“You and I are flesh and blood but we are also stardust.”

— Helen Curtis

In this post, I’m gonna show you how to read and interpret your own natal chart! 

But don’t you need some kind of astrological training for that?

Bruh. This is how you train. 👐🏻✨✨

But, ya, learning natal astrology is sort of rough ‘n tumble at first…  just because there’s lots of ground to cover, and once covered, takes a minute to come into focus. 

Here’s why it’s worth the effort, and will come in handy down the line: knowing your natal chart is like getting a Marauder’s Map of your psyche. 🤩🔎

Remember the Marauder’s Map in Harry Potter?
(No? …crap, this might be a problem… 😳) >

An enchanted map of the Hogwarts school and grounds, labelled by little moving glyphs of actual witches, wizards, and night-patrolling housecats moving in real-time through the castle, unaware they are being tracked via an enchanted map in the possession of a 12-year-old boy.

And through natal astrology, I want to help you become that 12-year-old boy. ✨

To get the most out of it, bookmark or Pin this post now, so you can come back whenever you’re about to wade back into your self-study.🌹

TWO QUICK THINGS BEFORE WE START >

FIRST, DO YOU HAVE A COPY OF YOUR NATAL CHART? > This post will take you to my three go-to sites for casting stars, all favorite for different reasons, with step-by-steps for through creating an account with Astro Dienst. 💫

TWO, DID YOU GET YOUR HANDY STATIONERY FOR FOLLOWING ALONG AT HOME? > Get a totally free printable worksheet for helping you delineate your natal chart by subscribing to my newsletter, which is not a strange request, but might get stranger afterwards. (HINT: I printed mine onto Astro Brights paper for fun and glory.  ☺️✨)

I'D LOVE A PRINTABLE WORKSHEET, THX! 🌟

Remember, this is totally extracurricular, and you’re gonna KICK ASS! 🙌🏻

But first, let’s dig into the nitty gritty, so you actually understand what’s up. 😎

WHAT EXACTLY IS A NATAL CHART?

…and how does one read one? 🤔

“Natal” means “birth.” A natal chart is a picture of the planets’ positions in the sky at the time and location you were born. Those positions are segmented by Houses and overlaid by Signs. The “house” is the quadrant between the spokes, corresponding with a different area of life, while the “sign” is the style that area of life expresses itself through. The relationships amongst the planets are described by the Signs and Houses they land in, as well as by their aspects to other planets, represented by the lines criss-crossing the center of the chart.

SO, reading natal charts, or astrology charts in general, is about learning to interpret the symbols based on what they reference (the planets), the quadrant or area of life they show up in (the House), the way they express themselves (the Sign), as well as their relationship amongst each other (aspects).

Okay, and what exactly are we translating all that into?

Like—what does “Mars in Taurus in the Seventh House” mean? 🤔

Chart interpretation depends on the interpreter. Meaning, however you think of the chart—the “concept” of what it represents, whether that’s a “soul” or a “personality” or “time + matter + evolution”—that’s what it’ll translate into.

So, your interpretation of your own natal chart might come out like an epic poem, or as a dossier, or maybe even as a robust essay about your secret gifts—never before articulated until trying to compare/contrast your true-life experience with astrological symbolism! 🤩

ways you can conceptualize, or think of, a natal chart >

I’m highlighting these perspectives, because they are the points of view EYE am reading from, and analyzing for—these were the perspectives I was studying astrology from before I knew there were perspectives in astrology. 😳

When interpreting a chart, you’re basically reading four layers of information (planet, sign, house, and aspects) all at once, then trying to collapse them into one cohesive idea, or aesthetic. You’re learning to read a language that, for our purposes, has codes for a certain kind of person—based on the quality and categories of experiences he or she will have, according to her trajectory through time and space, given this astrological disposition. ✨

So, ya, it’s kind of useful having a central theme or framework to hang all the little details that are about to start comin’ at you. 🙀

Consider each perspective as a lens that guides and filters all the finial particulars, like planets-in-’da, aspects, etc.

• PSYCHOLOGICAL. Dr. Jennifer Freed (psychologist, Use Your Planets Wisely) calls an astrology chart a map of the psyche. Carl Jung wrote in Memories, Dreams, Reflections that he would consult the natal charts of acutely psychotic patients, just to help him better frame what was happening for the person. Basically, a psychological interpretation of a natal chart seeks to explain your psyche, or personal experience, across your life, given this astro disposition. 💫

• METAPHYSICAL. An astrology chart as a map of time. Chart markers, and even the chart itself, describe a matrix (environment) where where energy collapses upon matter over time, producing my (or your) organism. In the metaphysical context, we wouldn’t translate the experiences described in the chart (that’s the psychological interpretation), but instead try to describe the lessons and everlasting truths represented in the chart. Steven Forrest, author of The Inner Sky, remarks that astrology is fundamentally metaphysical, and also, “a finger pointing at reality.” Basically, the astrological chart points to a metaphysical reality we might understand, though not very well, due to our psychological limitations.

• EVOLUTIONARY. Jeffrey Wolf Green (occultist, Evolutionary Astrology) explained that an astrology chart illustrates the soul as a genome. Astrological markers describe potential, and foibles to that potential. Reading for those markers helps the user optimize environment, knowing what’s actually in there to be unlocked and used, and also understand the intuitive boundary-line between the ego-Self and the Soul. In effect, the interpretation rests on reading for the intention or motive of the psyche the chart represents, and the “soul’s strategy” for evolving experientially in this life.

• ARCHETYPAL. Reading the natal chart as a symbolic journey. This might coalesce all interpretations, or at least in my nascent understanding. Richard Tarnas (philosopher, Cosmos and Psyche) also refers to the natal chart as a map, but an archetypal one: basically, a hero’s journey where the placements preclude certain experiences, karmic lessons, and the revelation and unlocking of one’s ultimate potential.

FOR ME, pour moi 💕 > I think of the insight I get from natal charts in the same way I think of insights gained from literature, movies, music… art in general.

Like—it’s all just a metaphor, and there is no right or wrong way to interpret it. As you learn more astrology (especially when you start layering on transits and progressions), you’ll start understanding

Also, must be said: you’re allowed to “veto” the astrologers. You’re allowed to say, But that doesn’t FEEL like what’s happening here, or even, But that’s not HOW THINGS WORK.*

With astrology, especially if you’re using it as a journaling tool, or as a guide for personal inventorying, you’ll have a literal chart, totally scientific, produced by software, in which to compare / contrast your own interpretation of your experience.

🌟 PRO TIP > Create space for documenting your chart study, so that you can revisit it whenever you need to.  I outline all my own astro learning tools and process in this post about finding your chart ruler, but it’s pretty straight forward: designate a notebook, Pinterest board, and new desktop file to store your research, where you toss in quotes, images, URLs, and recommended reading, watch, or browsing.

You’ll definitely want all that material in one space where you can pull it out and really rut in (probably during your next break-up or unlucky streak 💔😫).

HOW TO READ A NATAL CHART IN 4 EASY STEPS, LOL 😂

Yes, just FOUR STEPS ✨, but you’ll probably run jump back and forth and all around between them.

AND, OH, HAY—DON’T FORGET YOUR HYPER-CUTE, SUPER-HELPFUL NATAL CHART WORKSHEET ✅ >

I'D LOVE A PRINTABLE WORKSHEET, THX! 🌟

FIRST, ID THE SIGN FOR EACH PLANET. 

OKAY BISH, IN TOTAL, YOU HAVE TEN PLANETS TO READ FOR > Mercury (☿), Venus (♀︎), Mars (♂︎), Jupiter (♃), Saturn (♄), Uranus (♅), Neptune (♆), Pluto (♇), plus the Sun (☉) and Moon (☽).

We’ll also look at your Rising Sign, which isn’t really a planet, but an angle on your chart. Because it is the first angle, representing the hour through which you emerged from the womb into the light, the sign of this angle is your Rising, and the rest of your special planetary-zodiac seasoning filters through it.

So, you want the scratch on all ten planets plus your Rising Sign. 💫✨

GO THROUGH ALL TEN PLANETS ON THE LIST, AND FOR EACH PLANET, WRITE THE SIGN IT SHOWS UP IN > To find out the sign, look to the zodiac symbols on the outer rim of your chart. You might have multiple planets in one sign, and none at all in another.

So, for your first two columns, you should have written a planet, and its sign. Written out, it should read like: Mercury in PISCES, Venus in AQUARIUS, Mars in TAURUS… etc.

NEXT, ID THE HOUSE FOR EACH PLANET. 

GO THROUGH THE LIST AGAIN, THIS TIME LISTING EACH PLANET’S HOUSE > The “house” is the segment of the chart that the planet shows up in, each segment corresponding to a different realm of human life and experience.

To find out the house, look to the numbers near the center of the chart, between the spokes. You might have multiple planets in a house, and zero planets in other houses. You might have houses split between two signs, called “interceptions.” Focus on the individual planets, not the clusters (a.k.a. stelliums), though note the houses where you have stelliums, or lots of planet-play. ✅

For our purposes, just write one sign and house to each planet.

Each planet should now read like this: Mercury in PISCES in the FOURTH HOUSE. Venus in AQUARIUS in the FOURTH HOUSE. And so forth.

If you’re following along on your worksheet at home, you’re working with the first three columns: planet + sign + house. 

And if you’re ready for some freaking answers, man, start Googling for (1) the planet in the SIGN, and then (2) the sign on the HOUSE.

How do I search for my natal chart placements, tho? > First search: “Mercury in PISCES” (or “mercury” + [the sign]). Then search, “Pisces on the FIFTH HOUSE” (or “pisces” + [the house].)

Obviously, this is already a bit all over the place, so go slow. Be methodical. Go planet by planet. Each planet’s sign says how that planet expresses itself, and each planet’s house shows where that energy gets expressed.

And make sure you’re saving quotes + links to your favorite hits of intel.

HINT > the AstroFix “brainstorms” are my favorite place to get insight about the planets, signs, and houses.

Omg, you’re doing it, you’re an astrology student! 🤩

AFTER THAT, LOOK UP ASPECTS.

“The planets in the signs represent the basic urges toward expression and needs for fulfillment, but the aspects reveal the actual state of energy flow and how much personal effort is needed to express a particular urge or to fulfill a particular need.”

— Stephen Arroyo, Astrology, Psychology, and the Four Elements: An Energy Approach to Astrology and Its Use in the Counseling Arts

The fourth and last column is for aspects, or the relationships between the planets. Aspects are those red and blue lines crisscrossing the center of your chart. It’s not just about where and how the planets show up, but how they work together. 

(Psst, Cafe Astrology spits out a graphic explaining all your aspects, plus a summary, which you can enhance with a Google search! 🤩🥰)

Some types of aspects are more “desirable” than others, just like some planets are considered more “beneficial” than the rest. You might be more aware of your “hard” aspects, just because those might echo internal conflict or extra you’re working with.

• Hard aspects: conjunctions, squares, and oppositions. Planets squaring off or in opposition throw static on each other, whereas conjunct planets can be too close for comfort.

• Easy aspects: trines and sextiles. You don’t have to worry about planets with easy aspects. In fact, if it suddenly dawns on you that you have plenty of easy aspects working for you in your chart, permit yourself to lean more on that planetary harmony.

If you need more info than contained in the summaries provided by Cafe Astrology (or wherever you downloaded a copy of your chart), hit up Google. ✅

In case you don’t remember how to Google things: Just search for “[the planet] + [the aspect] + {the other planet].” 

FINALLY, START SYNTHESIZING ✨ EACH PLANET IN ITS SIGN, HOUSE, AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER PLANETS.

Synthesis is critical to chart interpretation, and the reason why learning to read your own chart matters. Synthesis is the process of fusing disparate things together, like the concepts of a planet + a zodiac sign + the quadrant it showed up in on an astrology chart.

ALSO, you won’t find many articles about your planet in both the sign and the house, plus the aspects amongst everything. Once you gather up all the Internet astrologers’ brainstorms and summaries of all the little bits, you’ll have to do a little creative analysis, a bit of contemplative interpretation of all the details.

BASICALLY, you will not achieve synthesis in a single afternoon of astrology study.

(Psst—THIS is why you need a place to store quotes / links that you can come back to, and also where the worksheet might help, just sayin’. ✌🏻)

Here’s some guidance. 🌟

Your natal planets will show up in one of twelve signs and houses. The sign tells you something about the quality or style that planet is being expressed in, while the house tells you where in your life that planet is exhibited, in that style.

Here’s a pretty common analogy to help you take in the whole scene > imagine the planets as actors, the signs as their costumes, and the houses as the stage scenery. ✨

If scenes, vibes, and characters from a book or movie jump to mind, start writing it out: you’ll remember the placement better and make faster intuitions about what it means in the overall chart if you can synthesize the meaning of the placement with one of these little scenes you’re already familiar with, with all its splendid subtext you’re privy to.

Also, bear in mind that you are comparing and contrasting Internet astrologers’ descriptions to your own awareness. Pay attention to whether experts say a planet is strengthened or weakened, a.k.a. “exalted” or “debilitated” by the sign it’s in. Would you agree? Can you think of any ways this strength or weakness manifests in your life? How would you disagree? Have you actually proven otherwise?

This is when you can start an active comparison between what astrologers say your life is about, and what you feel your life is about. 🌀✨

I want to mention something about how the planets are grouped and interpreted.

Here’s the explanation:

• PERSONALITY PROFILE. Your Sun, Moon, and “Rising” Signs make up the hard strokes of your personality. Your “Rising Sign” is calculated by your birth time, and is the sign that was rising in the sky at the time/location you were born. Rising Signs are also how you discover your chart ruler, hayyy… ✨

• INNER PLANETS. Your Mercury, Venus, and Mars make up your preference-modes, almost like the moods of your chart.

• SOCIAL PLANETS: Your Jupiter and Saturn correspond with lucky streaks and hard knocks. Usually personified as the Good Cop and Bad Cop of reality. (Psst—most people know about their Saturn’s Return, but not about Jupiter’s Return: when good tidings come our way.)

• OUTER PLANETS: Your Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. These are the “meta” planets, the slow-moving titans shaping our big picture, higher self concepts. Often your Outer Planet signs are the same as your peers and siblings, though the house will be particular. Outer Planets are big energy, the kind humans tend to weaponize against themselves, but also important, representing evolutionary impulses in our shared psyche (wow astrology is so cool).

In your notes, try to create as clear a scene as possible for each of your natal planets. You can invent whole scenes, or borrow from books, movies, or Netflix. What scenarios best represent your placements? What mood does the information evoke? What aesthetic? 

(I will never stop asking you about the aesthetic, and if that’s gonna be a problem, get off the blog. ☠️)

What true-life incidences can you think of where these aspects came into play? Planetary aspects are basically like unconscious patterns, and studying them now brings them into light. You can get mindful, even strategic, about them. 

Do a little Googling for some ideas about making your aspects work for you, and see what insights happen. 😘

DEEPER ASTRO LEARNING:
FIND THE RULERS FOR YOUR PLACEMENTS 👑 

I like how Miriam explains the astrological learning process. ♥️ I’m going to highlight what she mentions here, and point you to where else you can go to continue your chart learnin’.

For Miriam (and most bonafide astrologers), synthesis isn’t just about understanding the planets in the signs, in the houses, and the aspects amongst them. That’s the cookbook approach to astro interpretation, or basically a “placement by placement” research process. 

(And basically what I’ve outlined for you here. You’re welcome. ☺️)

But to get a spooky-insightful understanding of your natal chart, as Miriam indicates, you have to understand how each placement works in relationship with the other placements… which you can’t Google. 🙈

Thus, dispositors. ✨

From The Astrologer’s Handbook:

“The dispositor of any given planet is the planet ruling the sign in which the given planet is found. A planet placed in the sign of its rulership—for instance, Mars in Aries—has no dispositor or disposits itself.

A dispositing planet will have some effect upon the affairs governed by the sign and house in which the disposited planet is placed. In other words, there is a sublte influence on a planet and sign and the house it is in by the planet it is disposted by. The house placements and sign placements of the disposited and dispositing planets are also subtly linked.”

Okay, so, a tiny bit complex, but only until you dive in and start feeling it out.

I’d prefer you’d just do what I say (in general) and write out your placements, just to see them, and have them in one place. ✨

After that, when you’re ready to start reading for depth and accuracy, do what Miriam says, and go around the chart, looking for the proper “rulers” of your planets, so that you can see glimpses into the spooky-creepy psychic mojo lurking within.

Start by going around the zodiac looking for the rulers for your Ascendent, Sun, and Moon signs…

Start with your Ascendent, the left-hand angle of your chart, which represents the “entry point” of your chart. The sign of your Ascendent is your Rising Sign. Which planet rules that sign? (Ask Google.) In which sign (and house) is that planet hanging out in your chart? …Where is the ruler of that sign hangin’ out?

You basically keep going until the dispositor you’re looking for happens to be in the sign it rules, OR you keep cycling between the same couple of planets. (Indicating that this particular planet has a vibe that toggles.)

(You might want to write dispositors down on a piece of scratch paper to help you keep track.)

(Also, this blog post goes into detail about chart rulers and finding the Ascendent. ✌🏻)

Now, do the same for the Sun and Moon! 😁

Make sure to throw keywords you find in astrology articles next to the placements, especially if they speak to and unlock unarticulated truths in your secret heart of hearts. 

How do the articles about the ruler compare to the articles about the literal placement? 

What are the Internet mages telling you about yourself?

Although going by dispositors is super-chilling and noticeably elevates your astro sagacity, it’s stranger, slower-going terrain to learn astrology through, especially if you’re just learning the lingo and still trying to “see” astrological relationships in your “inner eye.”

SO, BEFORE WE CLIMB OFF THE MERRY-GO-ROUND > If you’re just now learning to read and interpret your natal chart, start with writing out your placements, hitting up Google for the full scoop, antagonizing your friends by offering to look up their astro placements, and otherwise procrastinating on your grad school application. ✨

Then… once you’ve been at grad school for awhile (or chillin’ back at home), pull out your chart, and start going around the zodiac, looking for the dispositors, or rulers, of your placements.

You must do this if you want to know your chart with the spooky-zen accuracy that a pro astrologer might know it, although (as I appreciate Miriam also pointing out), chart interpretation always depends on the astrologer.

Miriam walks you through a chart example in this post. Fix some tea, grab your notebook, and enjoy!

Remember—this is all extracurricular, and so far, you’re doing fantastic. 😉👌🏻

RESOURCES FOR DEEP-STUDYING YOUR STARS:

I was totally serious, what I said about helping you go varsity with natal chart reading, so here are the links I think you need to really get going!

Have a question that isn’t answered by any of these? Drop your Q in an email, and I’ll try pointing you in a new direction. ✌🏻

• This post by Miriam @ Fugitive Umbrellas about learning to read a chart: start at your Rising Sign (then Sun, and Moon), and go around the zodiac, looking for the Rulers of their signs, and where those planets are hanging out on your chart.

• All about planets, the signs, and the houses! Looking for intel about which signs a planet is “strengthened” or “debilitated”? Cafe Astrology has great graphics illustrating the signs and houses each planet vibes with best.

• What exactly are 'aspects' in astrology? 🤔 Aspects are illustrated by those red and blue lines criss-crossing the center of your chart, and they explain the relationships between your natal planets. If you score a natal chart report from Cafe Astrology (see option #2), you’ll get a graphic AND summary of your planetary aspects!

• What are the House Systems, and why do they change the chart’s layout? Each house system is a different way of distributing the zodiac in the chart. If you want to compare your chart in all the different house Systems, use this generator.

• Need a visual aid for your natal chart? Employ the tarot. Corrine Kenner’s book Tarot and Astrology was my introduction to astrological tarot, and has lots of exercises that can show you how to map out your natal chart with the cards! 🤩

• Personal vs. Social vs. Transpersonal Planets: what you need to know. Hint: your ♅, ♆, and ♇ signs don’t much affect you as an individual. They actually reveal how similar you are with other people in your age group! But the house they show up in? Ya, that’s personal, and can tell you the realm of life / activities that plug you into the zeitgeist!

• Too much to do on your own? Aeolian Heart Astrology has a free eBook, HEARTBEAT, that walks you through all of your stars! (Psst—she’s also re-opening her class on natal chart reading, DISCOVERY, very soon! Get on her email list to find out when!)

• Want to continue your education? This post compiles all my fav astrologers, most of whom have books, programs, or resource pages about all things astrology. (Is there an astro-mage you luv who’s not on my list? Email me a link so I can check them out! ✌🏻)

When you make it through all 10 planets’ placements and aspects, think of a way to encapsulate the info…

…an art or literary project, or maybe a presentation you upload to your YouTube channel. Write poems about your stars, or vision boards. Readers have shared that they attributed celebrities or literary characters to their personal planets, or that learning their chart inspired them to write whole memoirs out in Mead notebooks, each chapter representing one of their planets. 🥰🥰🥰

The more you study and work with your chart, the quicker and more common the a-ha moments. Print off one or all three versions of your chart for your planner-grimoire, bulletin board, fridge, and bathroom mirror. Print your natal chart onto Astro Brite paper for coolness, or--if you're a savage with your printer settings--miniaturize and print your natal chart onto cardstock to make into a hella sick bookmark, which FedEx Office can laminate for you. ✨✨✨

(And if you've made something off-the-wall with your natal chart, you should definitely let me know.)   

This is the fastest way to internalize what you’ve studied! The faster it’s internalized, the sooner you’ll find yourself drawing on the insight from your chart, using it to delineate matters of preference from purpose, to forecast your hopes and ambitions, and overall, learning to spot omens all around us, everywhere.

And just before we end, this final word from Stephen Forrest (Inner Sky) about your natal chart …✨

“Your chart is perfect.

You yourself aren’t perfect. Me either.

But your chart itself perfectly reflects your karmic predicament and your optimal path forward from that starting point. Your chart is perfect; your personal imperfections can be best understood as your imperfect response to the challenges and evolutionary opportunities your chart represents. It models ‘your best life.

That is the gold standard – and like most gold standards, we can only approach it, never fully achieve it.”

OKAY, IN MY NEXT POST…

I’ll show you how I’ve loved-up on mah chart with music playlists, movie scenes, quotes, and various media, to help vivify and tighten up the aesthetic of my astrological soul. ❤️‍🔥🌟

Want to find out when it’s posted? Subscribe below! ✌🏻

P.S. DON’T FORGET YOUR HANDY-DANDY WORKSHEET, HAAAY… ☺️✨

I'D LOVE A PRINTABLE WORKSHEET, THX! 🌟

How to Find and Use Your Progressed Moon in Astrology 🌙⏰

OKAY SO, last time, we learned about progressions. 👐🏻✨

Although the technique of progressing your natal chart is kind of weird (adding one day to your birthdate for every year you’ve had a birthday 🤔), your progressions symbolize your evolving soul. 🌀

Or basically, where and how your soul has developed since you were born. If your natal chart shows your ultimate source and potential, progressions show how your natal chart is developing. As time scootches them into new zodiac signs and houses, your progressed planets take on new flavors (signs), concentrate down into new areas (houses), and switch up their interactions with other planets (aspects).

Your progressed planets don’t reveal themselves through external events (the way transiting planets do), but instead influence how you feel about those events…

…most importantly, how you might respond to circumstances and situations in your life.

but out of all your progressed planets, the progressed moon yields the most insight… 🌙

Astrologers use the Progressed Moon as a context clue, for insight into how you might be coping with your current transits, where you might retreat during introspective moments, and for hints about the timing of big opportunities and relationship changes.

“The progressed moon represents the cycle of our emotional evolution. We will always have our baseline emotional needs as part of our emotional makeup which is represented by our natal moon’s location in our chart.

Yet, we experience and express those emotional needs in ever-evolving, ever more mature ways as we grow older and, through trial and error, find better and better ways of getting our emotional needs met but still within the context of what our natal moon will always need.”

— Llewellyn, “A Deeper Look at the Progressed Moon and Saturn Cycles” 🌙🪐

In general, the Moon in your natal chart symbolizes your most subjective, personal inner wants and needs, a.k.a. your core vitals.

Your Progressed Moon in particular points to where + how your needs and preferences are evolving. Your Progressed Moon illuminates where in your intuition and somatic awareness is concentrated, whether you’re craving comfort, adventure, a new rhythm, or foundation-setting. Your Progressed Moon also dictates what sort of energy you’re unconsciously attracting into your life.

Essentially, your Progressed Moon tells astrologers whether you’re feelin’ it… whatever it is.

Also, the Progressed Moon is considered the official "trigger agent" in our charts. The Moon is the fastest moving planet in the sky, in our transits, as well as in our progressions. Your Progressed Moon spends about 2.5 years in each sign and house, and about 2 months aspecting other natal or progressed planets…

…as opposed to, for example, your Progressed Sun 🌻, which takes about 30 years to cross through a sign (and / or house), and can spend a whole year conjuncting another planet. 😳

Obviously, both the Progressed Sun and Moon are major trigger agents, but the Moon is the one who determines where and what in your chart is deep-felt and resonant. Your Progressed Sun might be a motivating factor in much of the unwritten story of your life, but the Progressed Moon determines the tone, mood, and feeling of that story.

Thus, the Progressed Moon writes the subtext, characterizes your intuitive hunches, and guides your gut-level feelings about the people and events in your life.

in this post, i’ll show you where + how to find out about your progressed moon 🌙, with instructions for accessing all your lunation charts (…there’s more than just one 😳), as well as link you to articles to help you interpret it by sign, house, and phase, via google and internet witches… 💫✨

…and also low-key demonstrate how to turn your research into an astrologically-lucid lifestyle guide to last you two and a half years (or basically, until your Progressed Moon moves into a new sign and / or house). 🌙✨

You’ll learn where and how to get charts showing your Progressed Moon, how to go about interpreting what you see in the charts (Google ✨), and then using that information to contextualize your current transits.

Remember, Progressions must always be compared to your natal chart. We’re basically reading for your Progressed Moon placement, and then comparing how that one placement influences the whole of your natal chart.

Because… your Progressed Moon is the trigger-man, the mostly-secret planet activating different features in your personal horoscope in confluence with your current transits... 😳😱

…and we need to understand its condition in order to understand its true motives, and why we might be responding (or not) to our circumstances.

HINT > You might want to review my previous post about Secondary Progressions ✨, just to familiarize yourself with “the rules” of progressing a chart, and to orient yourself to this pretend fifth-dimensional perspective on your secret inner-life. ⏰🌟

ALSO, AFTER WE SNAG AND LEARN TO DELINEATE YOUR PROGRESSED MOON  📝 > I’ll unpack what’s going on with my own Progressed Moon (in Aries ♈️ and my Sixth House ♍️), which will get kind of gnarled up in my own random observations, but might also hopefully help you see where and how you can apply the cool insight to your own weird life. 💗

AND MAAAYBE… the details about your Progressed Moon will inspire you to a find a therapist, break up with a creep, get your credit report, or generally make a choice that minds your Moon better than when you’re just auto-piloting your life according to your whims and janky rationale (or just going off what Oprah tells you to do 🙋🏻‍♀️). 

OKAY, let’s find that intel! 🔎✨

HOW THE PROGRESSED MOON “WORKS” IN ASTROLOGY

The Moon progresses (“moves” 😋) about 12° per year, or 1° per month, and takes about 2 1/2 years to progress through a sign / house. Your Progressed Moon’s sign indicates the theme, the house indicates the field of perception, and her phase suggests the tempo of your inner life.

As the Moon progresses within 1° of another planet (natal, progressed, or transiting ✨), that planet's energy tints your subjective time and inner mood for about one  - two months, until the Moon progresses over and away from that planet. ✅

When the Moon progresses towards or upon an angle (natal or progressed ✨), it often coincides with internal shifts, equivalent to major “I’ve changed my mind” moments that might not have correlating external events at fault.

FOR EXAMPLE, when the Moon progresses over your Ascendant (the “starting line” of your chart, on the left-hand side, cusping your First House of Identity, Appearance, and Persona ✨), it might feel like a total turnaround, a re-orientation, or attitude shift…

When the Moon progresses over your Midheaven (the “zenith” of your chart, the top-most angle, cusping your Tenth House of Status, Reputation, and Highest Potential ✨), you might feel ready for a change of course, for re-training your focus and reaching towards for something new…

…but if asked, you might not be able to pinpoint what exactly caused the change of perspective or ambition, it just felt like the cumulation of lots of quiet reflection. 🤔🤷🏻‍♀️

When your Progressed Moon approaches and conjuncts a planet, angle, or other special point, there’s a quickening, an alchemical reaction happening on an unconscious, somatic level. You might notice more tricksters or warriors or super-pretty girls on the scene (mercury, mars, venus). You’re not necessarily learning anything from this archetype (that’s more related to transits 💫), but the archetype is bringing awareness to your mood and inner-balance.

Basically, the people you’re drawing towards you are mirroring a sub-persona, and bringing an energy your inner-Moon wants to internalize… beckoning these archetypes to you as the Moon tugs at the ocean tides… 🌕🌊

in terms of timing, looking up your progressed moon helps you understand the onset, duration, and offsetting of sudden feelings, whether enthusiasm for a project or opportunity, or affection for a new character who’s just appeared…

…and if you experience a sudden inner departure (a waning crush, lessoning enthusiasm, loss in momentum), your Moon might be progressing away from those planets it’s been canoodling with for the past couple months, or venturing towards a different planet.

In other words, conjunctions made by the Progressed Moon can feel like slow-detonating crises or awakenings, without any specific person or event to blame the feeling on. 😬😖😓

Your Progressed Moon might explain the hunger-pains in your gut during a hard-won job interview, the heavy-heartedness felt while on a much-anticipated date, or unexpected defensiveness in a discussion about vacay destinations.

You might think, OMG, this must be totally wrong for me, what am I doing, why do I feel like this…? 😬😓

But that random-seeming gut-rumble or sudden antipathy doesn’t mean what’s happening is wrong. It more indicates the direction the current in flowing. You showed up to the interview, date, or conversation expecting a certain outcome…

…but that’s not where your Moon is at. 🤷🏻‍♀️

studying your progressed moon might help you attune to her evolving state, and help you understand where compulsion or resistance might be coming from.

Basically, the Progressed Moon can help guide your introspection about those surreal moments, and (through time, attention, and practice ✨) can help you calibrate your inner “set-point.”

ESSENTIALLY, your Progressed Moon helps you recognize the voice of your intuition, and anticipate that your intuition is changing on an almost monthly basis, depending on what else is going down in your sundry charts. 🌟

AND USUALLY, if you already know where you’re at on your major astrology cycles (this post outlines the major transits we all go through ✅🌟), checking up on your Progressed Moon will help you plug back into your core vitals, and reset course.

WHERE TO GET CHARTS SHOWING YOUR PROGRESSED MOON 🌙✨

OKAY SO, there are actually two different Astro-Seek calculators you can use to get the full picture on your Progressed Moon.

I’mma show you how to look up and use both…

…then give you the step-by-steps for getting all the charts you need to read and start researching your Progressed Moon. ✅😊

🌟 First, we’re going to look up the Moon on the Astro-Seek Progressed Moon Calculator. ✨ From the dropdown menu labelled “Ingresses/Lunation cycle/Conjunctions”, you can select to know…

• When your Moon will progress into a new sign

• When your Moon will progress into a new house

• When your Moon will progress into a new sign and a new house

• When she’ll change phase 🌓🌕🌗, OR…

• When she’ll conjunct an angle or planet (🥵)

Basically, you won’t get all the details you want about your Progressed Moon on the same page results. You’ll have to toggle between-amongst all the choices in the dropdown menu for a holistic picture about when, where, and how your Moon is progressing through your chart. ✅

EVEN THEN, for the full scoop, we’ll need to visit a different calculator…

🌟 After that, we’re going to look up the Moon on the Astro-Seek Progressed Lunation 8 Lunar Phases Calculator. ✨ This is pretty much the same calculator I just linked you to, but with “8-fold Lunation Cycle (moon only)” already selected from the dropdown menu. This calculator displays the date, links to transit charts, annnd a visual map of where on your natal chart your Progressed Moon will switch phases.

Because… Moon phases matter. 😳

Moon phases determine the impact of the conditions of your Progressed Moon. Being full in a sign or house would heighten those themes and experiences, whereas being new in a sign or house would feel quiet, less obvious to intuit.

And that’s why your Progressed Moon phases need their own chart and interpretation. ✅

Don’t worry, I’ll explain more below, and show you how to make meaning (+ apply) all the intel from the signs, houses, aspects, and phases of your Progressed Moon… 👌🏻

BUT FIRST, let me show you how to actually procure the charts!

HOW TO LOOK UP YOUR PROGRESSED MOON 🌙✨ >

1. Go to the Astro-Seek Progressed Moon calculator, and type in your birth data

2. Next, from the dropdown menu (labelled ‘Progressed Planet’—there are options ✨), select the Moon 🌙

3. After that (more options ✨), you can choose to know when your Moon will enter…

• A new zodiac sign, OR…

• A new house, OR…

• A new sign and new house (what I selected ✨), OR…

• When your Prog’d Moon will conjunct other planets or angles ✅✅✅

4. Next, select the year you want to start from (I’ve been selecting 2020, because… maj’ year for everybody, amirite?)

5. After that, choose the house system (I didn’t adjust this… Placidus ftw ✊🏻)

6. Et voilá—on the next page, you get a list of dates for every change of sign / house your Progressed Moon makes! 🌙✨

7. To see the actual chart, click the orange hyperlink to the far right, labelled “chart”

8. On the page displaying the chart, you can toggle to compare your birth and progressed chart, or just look at your progressions alone, or even just refer to an aspects table, it’s literally everything right at your fingertips, EVERYTHING IS BECOMING WONDERFUL! ✨✨✨

HINT 1 > Find or create space to collate and compare your research about your Progressed Moon. You might want to integrate it with your journal, diary, or planner-system to compare what the Internet astrologers believe your Progressed Moon says about your concerns, pangs, urges, intuitions, and dream-life. 

You can basically take a screenshot of or download the chart, but I suggest writing it out in your little astrology grimoire ✨, or typing it into a spreadsheet that also stores all your upcoming transits alongside seasonal and administrative calendars (or however you organize your life). 💫

(Want tips and a free spreadsheet template for organizing your transits? Visit my post about learning to read your transit charts. ☺️💫)

HINT 2 > If you click a chart, and notice that your Moon will soon progress over an angle or natal planet, reverse back to the input page, and select “Conjunctions with all Natal Planets and Angles” from the dropdown menu. This will produce a different list of dates and links to charts showing when the Progressed Moon will pass over that planet or angle specifically. ✅👍🏻

HINT 3 > Want to see the phase of your Moon’s progress? I’ll unpack the meaning and use of your Progressed Moon Phase below ✨, but if you’re curious to find out, revisit the data input page, and select “8-Fold Lunation Cycle” from the dropdown menu. You’ll see a totally different list and visuals, but basically displaying where / when your Progressed Moon will wax and wane along your chart.

THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT TO NOTICE ABOUT YOUR PROGRESSED MOON 🌙⏰ >

• When your Moon progresses into a new sign or house

• When your Moon progresses upon a planet (natal or also progressing ✨)

• When your Moon progresses over one of your angles (Ascendant-Descendent, Midheaven-Nadir)

• When your Progressed Moon changes phases ✨

In the next section, I’ll explain how to figure out each of these elements in your Progressed Moon placement. ✨

HOW TO INTERPRET YOUR PROGRESSED MOON 🌙✨>

OKAY, so… now that we know where + how to get the charts, we’ll focus on interpreting them.

This is where delineating your Progressed Moon can get unwieldy and complex (especially the way eye do it 😌).

I’m going to basically guide you step-by-step through reading the actual charts, and you’ll probably flip back ‘n forth between a couple-few of them. You’ll need to pull on all your astro-knowledge about signs and aspects, as well.

DON’T FREAK OUT THO, because this might be the only time you really do this kind of intensive research on your Progressed Moon. Once you know the lay of the land, and how to combine the various elements (sign, house, aspects, phases, and dates, oh my 😵‍💫), you’ll be able to look up your’s or anyone else’s Progressed Moon and know what’s up at-a-glance.

I’ll also link to other astrologers and Internet witches to help you make meaning out of your current Progressed Moon placement, and then share a few of my own observations about the micro-changes in my own life correlating with my Progressed Moon, to give you an idea of how it “functions” in your psyche, and how you might use its rad insight! 🤩🥰

🌟 FIRST, IDENTIFY YOUR PROGRESSED MOON SIGN AND HOUSE >

If you’re using the Astro-Seek Progressed Moon calculator, you’ll be presented with a list of dates showing when your Moon will progress into new signs, or houses.

You can see that my Moon “ingressed” into Aries in March 2020. When you see the Moon (or any planet) at 0° of any sign, it indicates that planet as juuust squeaked into the sign.

By March 2021, a whole year after my Moon progressed into Aries, I felt that somatic-fever refocus itself on my rhythm and routines (I share all my crib notes about this transition below).

What I immediately recall about that time (…aside from… y’know, the pandemic 😳), was feeling angry-hot all the time, as though I’d entered a tunnel of wildfire. I remember waking up hawt and achey every night around 11PM, snarled up in sweaty bedsheets, feeling as though all the collagen was melting out of my joints, and soaking into the Tempurpedic mattress.

And then I’d stay awake until sunrise taking personality quizzes on my phone and texting my friends Lady Gaga lyrics and Donnie Darko memes… 🔥

“When our Progressed Moon enters a new sign – we take on a ‘new skin’ or go through a new phase.

Each skin we are in is very similar to the traits of each of the 12 signs of the zodiac. After a 24 year period, we’ll have made it through each of the signs – gaining experiences from each ‘skin’ we were in. ”

— Crystal B. Astrology, “Finding Your Progressed Moon: What Skin Are You In?”

REMEMBER, the Moon progresses about 1° per month, and spends about 2 1/2 years in a sign and house. The sign of your Progressed Moon describes the tenor or tempo of your inner life for those 2.5 years, while the house describes the matters and environment you will feel most concerned with, or fixated on. Your Moon might progress into a sign before entering a new house, or vice versa, like my Moon progressing into Aries a whole year earlier than progressing into a new house (the sixth).

“The house position of the progressed moon indicates, among other things, that we are becoming aware of that area of our life and that field of experience. We will be attracted to it unconsciously. The mind will not stop thinking about it. We will have to pay close attention to that area of experience during the time that the progressed moon is there: about two and half years, more or less.”

— Dane Rudhyar, “The Astrology of Transformation, ch. 8 Progressions and Transits”

You’ll have to peek at the actual charts (one showing when the Moon progresses into a new sign, the other showing when she progresses into a new house ✨) to see the difference (just click the orange hyperlinks on the right-hand side ✅).

WANT TO SEE YOUR MOON MOON ON THE ACTUAL CHART? > Click the orange hyperlink labelled “chart.” Your natal Moon will be blue and on the inside of the wheel, while your progressions will be orange and on the outside. 

HINT > Backtrack to the data entry page and select either “Into 12 Zodiac Signs” and “Into Natal Houses”, or toggle between the two, to see the full scope. 👍🏻

BECAUSE I LOVE YOU + WANT YOU TO SUCCEED AT ASTROLOGY  🙌🏻 💕 > I’m going to copy ‘n paste a radically-good description of the Progressed Moon through the Houses here, supplied by Dane Rudhyar in his book The Astrology of Transformation, which you can read the entirety of by following that link (enjoy ☺️).

There’s links to more resources to help you get dialed in on the “skin” and “turf” your Moon is progressing through below. ✨

“In the first house (♈️), a person tends to experience the results of being-an-individual; in the second (♉️), that of having to use and manage resources or possessions — and, more deeply still, the experience of ‘potency’ or lack of potency in any field.

As the progressed Moon passes through the third house (♊️), a person would do well to focus his or her attention on problems dealing with the family environment, the neighborhood or matters concerning a learning situation — and as the progressed Moon crosses the I. C. into the fourth house (♋️), the focus should shift to defining one’s personal space, whether in a physical or psychospiritual sense. This includes matters concerning one’s place in one’s home and/or country, and one’s relation to the parent who most deeply affects the roots of one’s feeling nature.

The fifth house (♌️) refers to experiences resulting from desiring to be or seeing oneself multiplied in a biological or psychological progeny; the sixth house (♍️) to the realization that it is necessary, willingly or not, to fit into some kind of sociocultural or interpersonal pattern of development — and often of ‘service’ at whatever level service may be asked of the person.

The seventh house (♎️) is the field of experiences produced by associating with, or merging one’s identity into, the life of another or several partners for an implicit common purpose. In the eighth house (♏️), a person experiences the results of partnership in terms of set patterns of social or ‘occult’ activities; this is the house of business (the result of contractual agreements), and of communal rituals (whether sociocultural or religious), in which a number of people participate.

As the progressed Moon passes through the ninth house (♐️), a person would do well to focus on the opportunities to expand and to fit, more meaningfully or successfully, into either legalistic, intellectual-academic, or religious-cosmic patterns. This should lead to a more significant or valuable type of participation in one’s community or nation — thus to professional or public experiences adding a larger dimension to one’s field of activity; all of which relates to the tenth house (♑️).

In the eleventh house (♒️), this tenth house type of participation will show its results — as various kinds of social and cultural enjoyments and entertainment, or as frustration and experiences of revolt or transformative activity. In the twelfth house (♓️), the results of an entire cycle of experience have to be concentrated upon, accounts should be closed, and a person should prepare to enter a new cycle, perhaps at a higher level of consciousness.”

— Dane Rudhyar, “The Astrology of Transformation, ch. 8 Progressions and Transits”

Go here for descriptions of the Progressed Moon through the Signs, and compare to Dark Pixie Astrology’s descriptions of the Progressed Moon through both the Signs and Houses. ✨

Also, if you’re focusing on the Houses, check out The 12 Houses of the Horoscope: Themes and Issues of Each, and balance it against Bustle’s Ultimate Guide to the Twelve Houses in Astrology. ✌🏻

ALSO also, do you have any intercepted houses, where a couple of the houses on your natal chart engulfs an entire zodiac sign (and its opposite sign)? Read more about that here. ✨

🌟 NEXT, CHECK UP ON ASPECTS TO YOUR PROGRESSED MOON >

Aspects describe the relationship between planets in a chart, whether the vibes are hostile or amicable.

With progressions, aspects also dictate timing. ⏰

For the Progressed Moon in particular, aspects to other planets can draw certain archetypes towards us, as though our “secret” Moon were craving that quality. We unconsciously attract people and situations representing that planet and its energy.

TO HONE IN ON ASPECTS > Select which chart you want to peek at, whether it’s when your Moon progressed into a new sign or into a new house, and click the orange hyperlink on the same line (scroll up for an image of where you’re clicking).

When the chart is displayed, click the tab furthest to the right labelled, “Aspect tables.” You’ll see a graph comparing each progressed planet’s aspect(s) to each of your natal planets.

Your progressions (orange, top) will be compared to your natal planets (blue, left-hand side). Those black, emphasized boxes indicate exact aspects. Exact aspects matter most. This means that your Moon is within 1 - 2° of another planet.

HINT > You’ll need to be familiar with the annotation for the aspects (for example, ☌ = “conjunction”). This article shows you how to interpret aspects, plus how to recognize the symbols you’re seeing in the Aspect Table. ✅

IN GENERAL, trines and sextiles are considered harmonious or “easy” relationships, while squares and oppositions are considered challenging or “hard”.

IN PARTICULAR, especially with progressions ✨, conjunctions are considered both harmonious and challenging. Conjunctions are where you really feel and attune to what’s connecting with your Moon, because the Moon internalizes the energies and environment it connects with.

“Harmonious aspects of the progressed Moon indicate periods when one feels natural or comfortable in the areas of life affected. Challenging aspects indicate periods of time when we feel that our natural responses do not bring us what we want in the affected areas.”

— CafeAstrology, “Progressed Moon’s Aspects”

Basically, whatever our Progressed Moon is in contact with becomes a deep-felt experience. Our progressions feel palpable, but in a vague, interior way, as though we’re tonguing a cavity, or digging our toes in the sand.

Like—even without knowing your Moon has progressed upon another planet, the intuitive-feeling is similar to coming home to your apartment, and sensing as soon as you’ve opened the door that your roommate has a guest in her bedroom… 🧐💡

when your progressed moon conjuncts a planet or angle, you’re essentially looking at one or two months window of time 🌙✨ >

• One month as the Moon progresses towards the planet (coming within an “exact aspect” or 0-1° orb)…

• And one month as Moon progresses away from the planet. 

REMEMBER, our Moon progresses 1° per month, meaning that the aspect formed with another planet is fleeting. Not as fleeting as when a swift, transiting planet comes upon our Moon (such as the Sun, Venus, Mercury, or transiting Moon, all of which only last a few days), but more fleeting than a long-term transit (such as Jupiter, Saturn, or one of the Outer Planets). 💫

WHAT ARE “ORBS”, THO? 🤔 > “Orbs” represent the distance between planets (and asteroids, math points, etc.). Astrologers might consider 5-7° orbs between planets on a natal chart, but only 1-2° orbs for progressions, otherwise you’re factoring in influences that might be hella dayz away from registering or having an impact. 🤷🏻‍♀️

SO, if you’re casting a chart and notice your Moon has progressed within a 4° orb of your Venus, you’re still about three months away from feelin’ it (but werk it anyway).

Sometimes archetypes of the planets in aspect to our Progressed Moon show up as actual people, but in my (limited) experience, they don’t stick around. They might deliver a message (Mercury) or mirror our inner conflict (Mars), but it’s slippery, almost dream-like. 🦄

SO, if you see your Progressed Moon forming an exact aspect to one of your other planets (natal or progressed), that planet is part of your world…

REMEMBER THO, ONLY FOR ABOUT 1-2 MONTHS! ⏱

And mostly in a surreal way that won’t be easy to translate to your friends, family, and fans.

also note if any transiting planets are in the same sign, and same degree°, of your progressed moon. 🌙✨

Transits impact our lives as events. Unless it involves a transiting planet, that experience described in our secondary progressions might not have any kind of correlating event or impact.

Like—the contact that happens between our Progressed Moon and other progressed planets might be totally subconscious, private, something we tune into during meditation, introspection, creative flow, or during our nighttime dreams. ☁️✨

How might we feel about the aspect? Depends on its nature. Sextiles and trines might feel inspiring or coaxing, while squares and oppositions feel more agitating. We might interpret squares to our Progressed Moon as a type of inflammation, or scratchiness somewhere in our somatic awareness.

Document real-life events (whether in your true-life experience or via news headlines) that you can revisit and review later on, after your Moon has progressed away (or the transiting planet has moved on).

HINT > Planet Watcher will show you what’s goin’ down right now, while this Astro-Seek calculator will show you a chart combining your natal, progressions, and current transits! 🤩

SO, is your Progressed Moon aspecting any of your natal planets?

Which planets?

What kind of aspects? …are they exact?

REMEMBER… prioritize exact conjunctions (0 - 1°) to your Progression Moon, and if you notice another planet in the mix, pay close attention to archetypes related to that planet that might show up on the scene, as well as any current transiting planets that might be moving across that conjunction in your progressions, and note real-life events. ✅

This Astro Library database links you to summaries for aspects amongst all your progressions, which you can compare to this introduction astrology aspects on the Cosmo blog, as well as to this overview on CafeAstrology. 🌟

And go here to learn more about aspects between your Progressed Moon and natal planets. 🌙🪐

🌟 AFTER NOTING THE SIGN ✅, HOUSE ✅, AND ASPECTS ✅, NOTE THE PHASE OF YOUR PROGRESSED MOON 🌖🌘✨>

OKAY, now we’re switching over to the Astro-Seek Progressed Lunation 8 Lunar Phases Calculator. ✨ This is pretty much the same calculator we’ve been using, but with “8-fold Lunation Cycle (moon only)” pre-selected from the dropdown menu. This calculator displays the date, links to transit charts, and a visual map of where your natal chart your Progressed Moon will switch phases. ✅

Your Progressed Moon phase basically describes how dilated your inner eye might be (whether ample or tight) for 2-3 year increments of your life. A crescent phase (when the Moon is a sliver) feels quieter, emptied out, while a last quarter phase (when the moon is about halfway between full and new) feels like dissolution, as though losing effervescence, or dialing down.

Your Progressed Moon goes through about 8 phases, lasting about three years in each phase. Each phase unfolds within a quadrant of your chart, with each quadrant encompassing about 3 signs and houses. It takes about 30 years to experience all 8 Lunar Phases, as the Moon progresses ahead, around, and behind the Sun.

Thus, each phase then sort of frames the illumination and exchange between the Sun and Moon in your progressed chart.

Or basically, the phase of your Progressed Moon illustrates the manifold of your most nonverbal, most subliminal self-awareness.

how to find out your current progressed moon phase 🌓🌕🌗  >

1. Hit up the the Astro-Seek Progressed Lunation 8 Lunar Phases Calculator, and enter your birth data. (Or just reverse back to the Astro Seek Progressed Moon Calendar input page, and select “8-Fold Lunation Cycle (Moon Only)” from the dropdown menu.)

2. On the next page, Astro-Seek will display the dates and links to charts of each phase change your Progressed Moon will undergo. 🤩🎉

3. On the furtherest right-hand side, you’ll notice links to charts that will show the transits that will be current as your Progressed Moon changes phase. Click to see the charts of when your Moon changes phase, and see if it yields clues about what will be going down in your life.

ONCE CALCULATED, take stock. Note the dates, phase, sign, and house where your Progressed Moon will change phases. ✅

Pick a date when your Progressed Moon changed or will change phases, and click to see the chart.

Once you have the chart, what aspects do you spot? Does the Progressed Moon form a “hard” (square or opposition) aspect to another planet? What are the energies of those planets? Are they natal, transiting, or a progression?

(HINT > Click on the tab labelled “Aspect table” to see the annotation instead of trying to discern the aspects from the cross-crossing lines. at the center of the chart. ✅)

What are the themes of the planets aspecting your Progressed Moon? Peek at the zodiac signs of your Moon and the planets aspecting her.

BUT WHAT DO THE PHASES MEAN?? > Your Progressed Moon phase tells you how pronounced its conditions might be in your psyche, whether dialed up (full moon) or dialed down (new moon).

there are eight phases in the moon cycle 🌓🌕🌗 >

(JUST FYI > These are copy ‘n pasted from my post The Truth About Your Moon. 😁)

🌑 PROGRESSED NEW MOON, 0 - 45°  > Just noticing something out of place, but not recognizing that it’s a clue. Sensing a stranger is about to arrive in town. Pregnant pause. Fresh new whims. Omens everywhere.

🌒 PROGRESSED WAXING CRESCENT, 45 - 90°  > Sudden pursuits. White rabbits to chase, flinging yourself down rabbit holes. Gathering momentum, pluck. 

🌓 PROGRESSED FIRST QUARTER, 90 - 135° > Showing up, meeting the resistance, learning the stakes. Passivity will be challenged by adversarial viewpoints and thought-provoking circumstances. Keeping the faith.

🌔 PROGRESSED WAXING GIBBOUS, 135 - 180° > Launch mode. Crystallization. Serendipity. Thunder cats GO!

🌕 PROGRESSED FULL MOON, 180 - 225° > Ripening. Fate. It’s all happening. From Steven Forrest: “Depending on our natures, this may happen on a grand scale or a modest one—and much of that depends on the nature of the original vision.” Stuff gets mystical and momentous for the 3-ish years you’re in this phase.

🌖 PROGRESSED WANING GIBBOUS, 225 - 270° > Waning motivation, interest, fervor. Clutter descends. Starting to take its toll. Gifting your final performances to the allies accrued during the hype and visionary ascent. Farming out what you worked like hell to cultivate. Take it, it’s your’s. I remember when… and at this point, you could make use of it than me.

🌗 PROGRESSED LAST QUARTER, 270 - 315° > Tired performance. Release waivers. Tying up loose ends. Johnny Cash playing Nine Inch Nails on an acoustic guitar. Delegating final touches. Last words. Leave it with my apprentice. What does it all mean now? Where will it all end up? Reparations, final handshakes. Sweet sorrow. Clarity.

🌘 PROGRESSED WANING CRESCENT, 316 - 360° > Witnessing. Waiting for inspiration, the miracle. Disintegration, becoming indistinguishable. Watching the world go by. Longer, lingering goodbyes. Delays, waiting games. Total eclipse of the heart. Amen.

Pay attention to when your Moon will be progressing through a NEW or FULL Moon Phase 🌑🌕, denoting important changes along the lines of new beginnings and culminations, as well as the QUARTER Moon phase, as this denotes a quickening (first quarter 🌓) or winding down (last quarter 🌗). Each phase lasts for about three and a half years.

🌟 WHEN THE SUN + MOON ARE CONJUNCT (SIDE-BY-SIDE), IT SIGNIFIES A NEW MOON PHASE > Newer, “dark” Moon phases (0 - 90 degrees) reflect the least about of Sun, offer the least amount of zest, but the stillest environment, heightening our inner awareness, making subtle motion and indicators the most noticeable, and most likely to surface in our consciousness.

🌟 WHEN THE SUN + MOON “OPPOSE” EACH OTHER, OR CAN SEE EACH OTHER IN FULL VIEW ACROSS YOUR CHART, IT SIGNIFIES A FULL MOON PHASE > Waxing and Fuller Moons (180 - 0 degrees) reflect the most and brightest light for inner focus, into nooks and crannies, illuminating possibilities formerly shaded by the nooks and creases of our psyche.

HINT > Enter your birth data into the Astro-Seek Progressed Full + New Moon Calculator to see a display, along with a list of dates with links to charts showing when your Progressed Moon will become full or new. 

Obviously, it’s a much smaller list, and you can use this calculator if you’re more focused on just finding out the most momentous phase changes. ✅

REMEMBER, phases are determined by the Moon’s relationship with the Sun, and suggests how “powerful” or luminous her position is. The Moon progresses about 12° a year, while the Sun progresses about 1° per year. This is why it’s not a bad idea to peek at what’s up with your Progressed Sun for a wider perspective on the conditions of your Progressed Moon (I link below to some resources to get you started). 🌻🌙

“The phases happen at different times in everyone’s life, depending on what phase the Moon was in when they were born. For example, someone born during a Full Moon will jump right into the Waning half of their cycle, while someone born on a Crescent Moon will begin life with their Moon growing brighter (Waxing). Exactly how each phase plays out depends on what sign and house the Progressed Moon is in. But there is a general theme to each phase, no matter where it occurs in your chart.”

— Sasstrology, “Your Personal Lunar Phases: The Cycle of Your Relationships”

OBVIOUSLY, none of the Moon’s phases (whether progressed or transiting) is better or more useful than the others, but the phase that feels most natural might be closest to your birth moon phase. Think of your birth moon phase as a descriptor of your natural set-point, and that you’ll always be primed to settle in or develop from that particular mood setting.

Compare to your current Progressed Moon phase for clues about where or how you might feel a bit wonky, if not totally on point (which we’re about to do in the next section ✨). Googling about the Moon phases’ affects can help you find questions and activities for calibration.

Go here for full summaries of your current Progressed Moon phase, and then compare to this other article’s summaries for a full picture. 

Go here to learn more about the Progressed Sun, and apply to Nic’s insight about interpreting your Progressed Sun.🌻⏰

🌟 FINALLY, COMPARE YOUR PROGRESSED MOON TO YOUR NATAL MOON 🌙 >

NOTE > Your Progressed Moon doesn’t replace the core temperament, needs and desires, luminosity, or past-life stuff represented by your natal Moon. 

Our secondary progressions do not change our source or potential. ❌

Progressions must always be read in reference to your natal chart. ✅

Your natal Moon is your native temperament, while your Progressed Moon describes your current mood-scape. Even if you’ve evolved far beyond the wants and needs described by your natal Moon, your progressing Moon hasn’t forgotten.

After all, our Moon holds our memory. 💁🏻‍♀️

NOTE > You’ll want to be familiar with the conditions of your natal Moon: sign, house, aspects, and your birthday moon phase. Go here to learn more about delineating your natal Moon. ✨

how do we compare a progressed moon to a natal moon? 🌙✨ >

Because we’re comparing two different Moons (natal + progressed ✨), we’ll do what Stephen Arroyo advises for basic chart comparison (similar to what we do in synastry ✨): blending the Moons’ elements. 🌿💧🔥🪶

How do we find out the Moons’ elements? By comparing their zodiac signs, as well as the signs that are native to the houses they’re in.

You’ll also want a grasp of the elements and modes of the zodiac signs… not every sign, but the ones that are in the mix right now. I link to some articles below, but if you need a refresher, start here. ✨

We also want to account for the element and mode of the sign that is native to the house our Moon is progressing through. For that, you’ll want to reference the natural horoscope, a.k.a. “god’s” natal chart, showing all the planets in their native signs, and the houses where those signs belong. This article has more intel about the natural horoscope. ✨

THIS IS THE NATURAL HOROSCOPE > You basically just align Aries on the First House, Taurus on the Second House, Gemini on the Third House, etc… ♈️♉️♊️

No matter the zodiac signs lined up against them (whether in a natal, transit, or progressed chart ✨), these houses naturally and energetically align with their native signs. ✅

• First consider the element and mode of your Progressed Moon sign

• Next, consider the element and mode of the sign that is native to your Progressed Moon house

For me, my progressed Moon is in Aries would be cardinal fire 🔥 (a.k.a. the element + mode of Aries ♈️), combined with mutable earth 🌿,  a.k.a. the element + mode of Virgo (sixth house of the natural horoscope ♍️).

AND THEN, compare that to your NATAL Moon….

• First consider he element and mode of your Natal Moon sign 

• Next, consider the element and mode of your Natal Moon house (according to the natural horoscope)

For me, my natal Moon is in Capricorn (☌ Neptune) in my Third House (kindred, interconnection, primary understanding). ♑️(♊️)

My natal Moon is cardinal earth ⛰ (a.k.a. the element + mode of Capricorn ♑️), combined with mutable air 🪶, a.k.a. the element + mode of Gemini (third house of the natural horoscope ♊️).

FOR ME, my Progressed Moon is in Aries (cardinal fire 🔥) and my Sixth House, native to Virgo (mutable earth 🌿). Moons progressing through Aries can expect a burning off, while Moons progressing through Virgo can expect a calibration of the systems governing minutiae.

Basically, no matter the house, Aries brings the theme of identity, and no matter the sign, the Sixth House governs how we self-regulate.

WITH ARIES ON MY SIXTH HOUSE ♈️💕, this will be an identity detox, concerned about refining who I am in the overall functioning of my life. 

Compared to my natal Moon, Aries ♈️ has set flame (aries = cardinal air 🔥) to my rocky-soiled emotional core (natal moon in capricorn ♑️🪨)…

…spotlighting and purging temperamental weaknesses incoherent with my Best Life (a.k.a. sixth house territory).  ♍️🪨🔥

OBVIOUSLY, you might want to review the elements + modes of the zodiac signs, and apply a bit of analytical intuition to feel out how each sign interrelates with the others. Here’s The Cut’s “How to Understand Every Zodiac Sign by Element”, to compare with Astro Style’s version of the same, and also Well + Good’s write up.

IF IT GETS TOO COMPLICATED 😣, ditch this, and ask Google. 💁🏻‍♀️

In fact, in the next section, I’ll present how I’ve collated articles from Google to understand mental, emotional, and functional pivots in my life coinciding with my Progressed Moon’s changing signs and houses.

Again, go here to learn more about delineating your natal Moon ✨, including how to interpret its sign, house, and aspects to your other planets. Even if she’s no longer aspecting those planets (or the nature of those aspects have changed), you’ll have insight into how your Moon defaults to those old patterns and dynamics despite her current progress.

For more examples of blending the elements and modes of planets-in-their-signs for comparison, revisit my (amateur) tutorial on synastry, where I compare the elements and modes between a random barista’s and mine’s Moons. 😊✨

HINT > Your Moon progresses back to her natal placement every 27ish years, basically revisiting (many) of her original conditions, unless faster-moving planets in close aspect have progressed away.

Under “More Resources” below, I have links to articles about your Progressed Lunar Returns, and subscribe to my newsletter to find out when my tutorial on the subject goes live! 🤩

Also, because it plays such a vital role in your Progressed Moon, here’s the link again to find and learn more about your birth Moon phase 🌙🎈

CRIB NOTES WHILE MY MOON PROGRESSES ARIES ♈️ + MY SIXTH HOUSE…

(INCLUDING ADVICE FROM GOOGLE WITCHES 🌟) >

OKAY SO, totally coincidental (I didn’t know about progressions yet ✨), but around the time my Moon progressed into into Aries (March 2020*), I quit Netflix.

(*Kind of funny, because that’s when the COVID lockdown hit, so while everyone was perfecting their #NetflixandChill, I was, like, Kevin Spacey in American Beauty trading in his sedan and pumping iron in his garage… 🤔🕊).

And when my Moon shifted into my Sixth House (March 2021), I quit my marriage.

There were actual true-life events prompting those decisions (🤐), but something had definitely shifted, like a Jenga tower (made of woe and delusion) finally collapsing.

And I was just… so… sick… of…

…coping. 🤢😒

Or rather, sick of relying on short-term palliatives to feel better about long-enduring dissatisfaction.

I felt like I was coming out of anesthesia (my moon leaving Pisces and entering Aries… ♓️♈️).

My Moon progressing into Aries may articulate my super unconscious mood shift, but not the outer events that were also happening in my life, which are better articulated by how transiting planets were impacting my chart.

My Sun, Jupiter, annnd North Node are in Aries. While my Moon progressed over my North Node, transiting Saturn was simultaneously scooting back and forth over my Nadir, the bottom-most angle of my natal chart. I got some surprise news that lit-er-all-lee pulled the rug out from under me (😓), while transiting Chiron (“soul wound”, “soul teacher”) came conjunct my North Node, and opposite my South Node, which is in Libra (“harmony”, “partnership”).

BASICALLY, all these little “astro moments” happened to coincide with pivotal mood-shifts, staging a couple major, recent turning points in my life. 👍🏻

REMEMBER, though it represents your ultimate source and potential, your natal chart isn't doing anything. Your natal chart is like your genome, housing all of our species’ genetic potential, refined and calibrated by your parents’ specific sexual alchemy…

…but… like… it’s not doing much at the moment… 🤔🤷🏻‍♀️

Your natal chart is just kind of storing everything…

…until triggered. 😳🎯

Since I started hardcore tracking transits (circa June 10th, 2021 🌗✨), I’ve found that each event that has happened in my life can be traced back to an interplanetary gyration.

Since learning about my Progressed Moon specifically, I’ve been able to trace the arc of my moods, almost like tracking period symptoms over time. 🩸

Transits, especially correlating with our life cycles (Saturn transits, Nodal Returns, Progressed Lunar Returns, et. al….) definitely seem to coincide with external “triggers” or events that can force us to make decisions (such as Saturn transiting my Nadir and receiving that jarring email… 😓)…

…but our Progressed Moon, seems to be the trigger agent, the element in the astrological system that can make bad news seep in and become real…

…as in, flipping a switch, creating the thoughts and feelings that precede a pivotal decision.

Transits and progressions are basically epigenetics. 💁🏻‍♀️

WE. ARE NOT. CONTROLLING THE NARRATIVE. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

We are only… manipulating it. 👐🏻✨

Erstwhile, based on where my Moon is progressing (Aries, my Sixth House ♈️🌿), my mood and fixations have centered on a “lifestyle colonic”, clearing out the mucus and dross and plaque, erstwhile external events and people and other transit-coincidental “trigger moments” continue to present new twists, creases, and revelatory unpacking moments.

some other “random” stuff that coincided with my moon progressing into aries / my sixth house 🌙♈️♍️ >

🌟 FINDING A SUPPORT GROUP + DOING RECOVERY WORK ✊🏻 >

I started going to CODA, a.k.a. “Codependents Anonymous” (start here: "Patterns and Characteristics of Codependents"), and honing in on steps #5 and #10 ("admitting to wrongs" and “continue taking personal inventory”, see the rest ✨).

WHAT EXACTLY IS “CODEPENDENCY”? > Being a codependent is like being a child in an adult’s body. If you were abused or manipulated as a child, you’ll seek and repeat those same dynamics with other adults.

And here’s the thing. YOU, the codependent, will still be responsible for that car payment, that cancelled job, that ruined marriage, those kids, and your own reputation.

Annnd… you will still feel ashamed, lonely, and angry…

…as well as powerless over the circumstances of your life.

You feel crappy and powerless, and thus… seek another, more confident, more majestic person to serve and harmonize with, hoping that by enabling them, they’ll return the favor, and help parent you through your tragic foibles.

Codependency is undergirded by an inability to regulate your own moods and emotions. You feel angry and embarrassed about your debt, so you jump into Tinder, or start DM’ing your exes over IG. You feel burned out and scared, so you’re hitting up Rite Aid for that “better priced” Ben & Jerry’s and curling up with a 90s TV series you’ve already streamed.

Basically, being codependent is feeling incapable of having any useful or healthful impact on your life conditions, and validation-seeking in the form of parental-like affection and comfort.

WHAT IS IT LIKE BEING CODEPENDENT ON TOXIC LOVE? 🤔 > “It’s like eating ice cream when you’re thirsty. It can feel good for a time, but ultimately this approach leaves us wanting. In codependency, you feel your life force draining, and you stay anyway, because ‘you love him.’” 🙋🏻‍♀️😓

If you had told me ten years ago that I was a codependent and sabotaging opportunities and other relationships in order to elevate the significance I felt about a toxic relationship I was in, I would have shoved you out of the car and left you standing on the side of the road. 🚙💨

With a group like CODA, I’m realizing that my insecurities, bad habits, and gross inter-personal relationships are not special, but symptomatic of a deeper issue, something fetid and gnarled up in the living tissue of my psyche…

…and that literally nobody can protect me from it, because it’s inside me. 😱

So, CODA has been rad (👍🏻), especially in combination with the two other therapeutic endeavors I’m about to roll out….

🌟 ENERGY MEDICINE, SPECIFICALLY, “BIO-TUNING” 🧘🏻‍♀️>

By a twist of fate (😉) I started receiving totally free bio tuning sessions with my Lunar-Jupiterian friend Moira… 🌙🕊

(…beginning, coincidentally, on a Friday when transiting Chiron was exact-conjunct my North Node and exact-conjunct Moira's Midheaven… 😳🤯🤩)

WHAT THA’  HECK IS “BIO TUNING”? 🤔 > "Biofield tuning is an energy therapy that uses sound to bring balance to all dimensions of your health. Using specific tones generated through tuning forks, this therapy clears congestion and stress in your energy field, also known as your biofield. Your biofield is the energetic blueprint of the physical, mental and emotional aspects of your health. It envelopes you and is embedded within every cell and particle of your body."

SO BASICALLY…. it’s magic. ✨ Moira uses the reverberative-sound created from waving tuning forks around my body to identify pain points in my auric field, and then, without any physical contact (mostly), rings chimes and claps together cymbals to soothe and sculpt those areas as though they were play-doh.

After the first session, I cried my eyes out on Moira's bed, then went home and rearranged all the furniture in my house, and didn’t take an edible (Pomegranate-flavored Wyld 1:1s THC: CBD Sativa-Enhanced Hybrid Gummies ☢️) for TWO AND A HALF DAYS… the longest amount of time since I haven’t vaped or eaten edibles since… like… I was pregnant with my daughter (circa 2019 😓).

I also had a weird moment a few hours after the first session where it felt as though I'd dunked my head in kerosene and lit it on fire... it felt like the mercury fillings were melting out of my back molars. 😩😮‍💨

I’ve been returning to Moira for another session every week and a half while she logs hours (+ bodies) for her certification exam, and although I leave the sessions feeling like that super-charged crystal in Iron Man's chest (💪🏻), they haven't felt as intense as that first one.

If I've piqued your curiosity, check out Eileen Day McKusick’s Electric Body, Electric Health.

Also, shout outs to  Adrienne’s Detox and Reset yoga tutorial and 9th Limb Yoga (Morro Bay, CA), as well as Donna Eden’s Energy Medicine for Women for complementing Moira's work. 🙏🏻🌀

🌟 THE ENNEAGRAM + INNER CHILD THERAPY 🦋 >

This section is about the type of therapy I went into after my divorce. I started cognitive talk therapy with an Enneagram-certified facilitator. I got super lucky that SLO county has one credentialed therapist who uses the system, which I find helpful for helping me name and break down my emotional-defense-system. (Hi, I’m a Self-Preservation Four. 💁🏻‍♀️)

WHAT IS THE ENNEAGRAM THO? 🤔 > The Enneagram is a personality typing system that describes 9 patterns for interpreting the world and managing emotions. Each personality type lands somewhere on a nine-pointed diagram. For optimum emotional regulation, you’d want to be able to flow from one point to the next. Your Enneagram type reveals where you get stuck on that optimal emotional flow.

I discovered the Enneagram by accident through the Personality Hacker podcast, where I used to go for intel about applying the Meyers-Briggs personality system as a self-help tool. Sometime in 2020, the podcast interviewed Dr. Beatrice Chestnut, who specializes in applying the Enneagram in therapeutic and team-building settings. She explained the hella fucking occult history of the Enneagram, as well as the way that our “emotional defense system” operates as a foil in our personality.

The Enneagram helps me identify this defense system I’m walking around with (…you, too 😉), how that system protects me from re-experiencing a particular kind of emotional pain, and how that system also works against me… in particular, hijacking my intuition regarding what is “safe”, and subverting emotional growth.

Basically, your Enneagram type is an adaptation, a way of coping with emotional turmoil, and the “better” it works, the more difficult it is trying to heal and resolve emotional suffering.

Once wading into talk therapy with the Enneagram (where we use the Enneagram to articulate and dialogue about my triggers and defenses), I discovered this totally rad book combining the Enneagram, Meyers-Briggs, and inner child therapy (not the same as talk therapy), which has a couple badass, self-directed exercises for revisiting (and getting hands on) with old memories where my janky coping skills were adapted.

WHAT IS “INNER CHILD WORK”, THO? 🤔 > Inner child work endeavors to bypass your rational, cognitive, story-telling brain with activities that engage your body and senses…. or basically, the part of you that was most alive during childhood, prior to the development of your personality.

“[C]oping skills that were necessary to survive childhood are brought, fully operational, into adulthood. Dangerous territory to say the least. These coping devices are outmoded and often contradictory to who we want to be. However, after many, many years of living defended it is hard to realize there are alternatives. Even when psychologists and religious figures point out there is a better way, more than likely we are without a clue as to how to access that part of ourselves.” 😒😣🥺

From Three Keys to Self-Understanding: An Innovative and Effective Combination of the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator Assessment Tool, the Enneagram, and Inner-Child Healing, where the author-therapist, Pay Wyman, describes guiding her patient "Reilley" through a visualization:

“I invited her to close her eyes and go back in her mind to the house in which she was raised. I asked her to imagine entering that house as the adult she is today. By asking her to note sights, colors, smells, textures and other sensory data that would compel her to completely enter the imagery, I anchored her in the experience.

I suggested that she move through the house until she found her inner child, age five, alone in the house that was devoid of furniture and carpeting. I encouraged her to enter into a dialogue with the child. Although she was willing, she found herself having trouble making eye contact with the child and could not touch her. I suggested she leave the child a gift by which to remember her and as a promise that she would be back. Reilley decided to leave the child ‘a jam box’ for ‘tunage’ because she knew the child was lonely and liked music.

We processed this experience, and I encouraged her to allow any feelings that came during imagery to surface because it is through feelings that we can trace the threads back to their origins and disconnect them.”

Did you ever seeThe Cell(1998), where JLo portrays a child psychologist who uses a futuristic hypnotic device to enter the psyche of a comatose serial killer (in order to find out the whereabouts of his last hidden victim), and is sidelined trying to rescue his inner child from the psychopathic monster of his adult-self as he stalks her through his tortured psyche…?

Like—in Wyman’s visualization technique, I was basically JLo (but on an hypnotic jaunt through my own abysmal psyche), and the experience felt so real, it became an actual memory (and my outfit was hella cute 💁🏻‍♀️), so… HIGHLY RECOMMENDED*.

(*PRO TIP: Have a little hot chocolate and a weighted blanket waiting for you when you come out of it. 👌🏻)

Other recommended reading: The Complete Enneagram by Beatrice Chestnut, but definitely also check out this book combining the Ennea, Meyers-Briggs, and Inner Child work, which I just quoted above, and kinda-sorta reads like a textbook for psych grads, but you can totally use in combination with other types of therapy. 👍🏻

if you’re also having a progressed moon in aries / the sixth house moment, please consider these other articles 💁🏻‍♀️✨>

• THE MOST VIRGO HEADLINE I’VE EVER READ ♍️> "Can You Have It All? Yes. The Secret is in Your Hormones." Pair with “Cycle Syncing with Herbs and Supplements", and also, "How to Biohack Your Orgasm" ☺️✨

• CONTINGENT WITH THAT 💫 > Start accounting for your Infradian Rhythm. ✅ "The infradian rhythm is one of your body’s two internal time keepers. (The other timekeeper is the circadian rhythm.) The infradian rhythm influences six different systems of the body: brain, metabolism, immune system, microbiome, the stress response system, and the reproductive system.”

• HERE, LET ME RUIN YOUR DAY: WOMEN AND CAFFEINE TOXICITY 😳😫😖 > "Women’s bodies are brilliantly designed to conserve energy (so we are better able to conceive and carry a pregnancy). Our bodies retain fluids longer and we metabolize the compounds contained in foods and beverages much more slowly. Men drink and excrete both alcohol and caffeine faster and more efficiently than women, meaning these substances don’t have as significant an impact on their physiology or lead to caffeine toxicity.”

• HAVE YOU HEARD THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT MUSHROOMS? > Just stocked-up on Host Defense mushroom supplements. Also, here’s Rogan’s interview with mycologist / multiverse-crusader Paul Stametz.🍄✨

• Hella superfood soups ✅✨

• Mandala-shaped habit trackers! 🤩✨ ✨

• Virgo-inspired self-care rituals ♍️✨ and for the house ♍️ ✨

• SIXTH HOUSE READING LIST  📖 > Nadine Artemis, Holistic Dental Care + Renegade Beauty, and canvassing Dr. Kelly Brogan's recommended home-health-body resource page ✨

• FYI, THE SIXTH HOUSE IS ALSO THE DOMAIN OF DOMESTIC PETS  🐹> Just fresh-stocked my purse and SUV with those fancy treats (with the wolf in the picture on the bag, hay now ✨), and perving extra hard on the dog walkers in my neighborhood. ALSO, did you know pigs are delighted to eat your compost items?! I’m basically a Hocus Pocus witch, but coming for your pets. 🪄

OH, BTW, EVERY 27(ISH) YEARS, YOU GET A PROGRESSED LUNAR RETURN! 🥳

We might experience three Progressed Lunar Returns in our lifetime, at ages 27, 55, and 83 (…ish).

At age 27, we have our first Progressed Lunar Return, where the Moon has progressed through our entire chart, canvassed all 12 signs and houses, conjuncted every planet, angle, and point, and now has a full-circle, full-bodied feeling-perspective on our needs, desires, and patterns.

As Steven Forrest puts it in The Book of the Moon, by your first Progressed Lunar Return, you are optimized for “dreaming up” a future for yourself, just in time for Saturn to begin its return (ages 27-30). You will no longer be able to abide daydreaming, but instead crave some true life, real-world correlation. You’re ready to start feeling at home in your own skin, and building a life to accommodate your true needs and wants (as best you understand them at this point). 🌙🪐

By age 55, we have our second Progressed Lunar Return, where we are faced with becoming an elder, and less concerned with dreaming or materializing, and more concerned with consolidation and, ultimately, dissemination. We become natural mentors. Steven Forrest recalls his own private epiphany during his second Progressed Lunar Return as a preoccupation with “the fine art of becoming a happy ghost.”

Though the other transiting planets at the time of our Progressed Lunar Returns will always be different, the themes of each return are pretty much the same, based on the phases, signs, and houses your Moon has “returned to.”

Or basically, every Progressed Lunar Return, you “come home to” the condition of your natal Moon. 👐🏻✨

Because they detonate major coming of age moments, I have a post specifically about Progressed Lunar Returns, and tips for managing the true-life drama that might coincide, as well as consolidating all the experiences of your Lunar Progressions.

Subscribe to find out when it goes live. 😁

YAS, SUBSCRIBE ME, DO IT!

MORE ABOUT YOUR PROGRESSED MOON 🌙 > 

• NEED MORE PERSPECTIVE ON ALL THE REST OF YOUR PROGRESSIONS? ⏰ > Check out my tutorial on delineating your progressed chart ✨, and compare to this other tutorial on what you need to know (you’re becoming an expert! 🤩)

• MORE REFERENCES FOR GETTING THE FULL PICTURE ON YOUR PROGRESSED MOON  ✅ > What you need to know about your Progressed Sun🌻, and what each of the Progressed planets represents (Mercury, Venus, Mars…) Plus, this article lists all major aspects between Progressed and Natal Planets to help you delineate all the factors involved. Nic also says more about interpreting Progressed Suns and Rising Signs in this post, and finally, Your Guide to Interpreting Astrological Aspects. 🌟

• NEW MOON, FIRST QUARTER MOON, FULL MOON, ALL DA’ MOONS 🌖💫 > How to interpret the phases of your Progressed Lunation Cycle ✨ Robert Blaschke (via Leah Whitehorse in that article I just linked you to), recommends looking up the Sabian Symbols at the start of every progressed Moon phase > “[H]e suggests paying particular attention to the Sabians of the New, Full and Quarter Moons and I have found this to be valid. Bear in mind that the Sabian of the progressed New Moon will say something of the entire cycle for the next 29 or so years until the next Progressed New Moon.” Learn more about Sabian Symbols here ✨, and calculate the Sabian symbol for your changing Progressed Moon phase ova here (scroll down and click “Sabian Symbols of progressions chart). ✌🏻

• WHAT ABOUT TIMING RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE PROGRESSED MOON? > In terms of meeting someone new 💕, astrologer Alice Bell explains in this article all the transits that have to be in place (Jupiter, Saturn ✅), and what the Progressed Moon will be aspecting (natal or progressed Venus, natal or progressed Sun ✅) or progressing through (Libra ♎️, and/or the fifth or the seventh houses ✅) plus notes about the role of the Solar Return chart, and even ECLIPSES! (DUDE I HAVE ALL OF THIS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW, WTF!! 😱✅😱✅😱✅ …Don’t the astrology fairies realize that I’m in CODA?? …is this a test?? 😓)

• THIS MIGHT BE KIND OF HEADY, BUT WHAT YOU CAN LEARN ABOUT “TIMING RELATIONSHIPS” ALONGSIDE YOUR PROGRESSED MOON AND SATURN TRANSITS? 🌙🪐 > “Speaking of marriage, marriages at this time [Progressed Lunar + Saturn Return 🌙🪐] are not particularly recommended… They can be an indication of a desire to cling to the tribe, rather than individuate, and may be a doomed attempt at filling the gap of emotional insecurity we feel at this time. They may also fulfill, albeit temporarily, the urgings we have to ‘move on.’ I have no statistics, but from my client database I can see clearly that marriages at this time can be short-lived (or perhaps this is only true for people who consult astrologers). The other thing that occurs at this time is divorce, the divorces of those early marriages that may have been substitutes for other kinds of internal development.”  (via Dawn Bodrogi the astro queen. 🤤🙏🏻🕊)

• ALSO, FOR THE PROGRESSED MOON + SYNASTRY > Check out this astrologers’ forum concerning synastry connections between Progressed Moons, to compare with answers on this forum. Both have spooky-cute examples of synastry connections between parents and offspring! 😍

• “HOW DO I KEEP TABS ON MY MOON’S PROGRESS, THO?!” 😳 > Via transit apps (Time Nomad has an “add on” option for progressions 🤩), diary-keeping supplemented with self-care habit trackers (perhaps in your planner-grimoire ✨), and maybe working something out with your local astrologer for keeping you in-the-know about your Moon on-the-go. ☺️🤙🏻

• REMEMBER, YOUR PROGRESSED MOON ALWAYS REFERENCES YOUR NATAL MOON > Here’s my tutorial, The Truth About Your Moon. 🌙

• HOW TO PREPARE FOR YOUR PROGRESSED LUNAR RETURNS (ages 27 and 54) > “The progressed lunar return (PLR) can set off explosions in close friendships (especially those with people who remind you of your original mother figure) and partnerships. Heartache is par for the course, though some lucky people have a blast during this period. (It’s okay to hate them a little for it. They’re having so much fun they won’t notice.) How we hold those we love, how we want to be held, how close we actually want to be – all undergo the kind of nausea-inducing scrutiny that can make us fear we must choose between our self-care and the one(s) in whose hearts and familiar skin smells we make our home.”

SO, does your Progressed Moon speak to your emotional fixations du jour?

Did delineating it help you alight on any mysterious ambiance that’s settled in the past few months? Help reframe how and where you’ve felt out of step from the rest of your fam, friends, the world?

Do any of the “ingress” dates correspond with major life events, like throwing dilettante exes out on their asses (after locking yourself in the bathroom to get drunk on leftover birthday wine and stream Disney’s “Brave” on your iPhone)?

Knowing about and being kinda-sorta familiar with your Progressed Moon doesn’t mean you can articulate all of what’s happening 💫, but at least you’ll understand what that tingling awareness means when it comes ripping through your soma.

And perhaps knowing about your Progressed Moon’s current conditions actually does help elevate your perspective on some weird shit that’s been going down in your life, and having that leverage really does help you make the most of the time you have, though you can only grasp at it through intuition.

Anyway, GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR MOON, and feel free to email me if you get stuck and need more hints! 🤗🌙

How to Find + Interpret Your Secondary Progressions (a.k.a. the Secret Subtext of Your Astro-Life) 🌙⏰

I did not want to learn Progressions. 😣

WHY ADD ANOTHER LAYER…?? We have our birth chart, we have our transits, we have our transit apps and newsletters, we’re full.✌🏻

But learning synastry (comparing two natal charts for relationship potential 💕) through search engines kept fetching me articles that cautioned, If you want to really understand whether anything is going to happen, you need a PROGRESSED chart... otherwise you’re just looking at POTENTIAL. 😳🤦🏻‍♀️

OKAY SO, “progressions” matter, whatever the hell they are!

“Frankly, speaking for myself, I wouldn’t attempt to do an analysis without it.  How can you advise someone if you don’t know the state of their inner being, or what the soul is requiring us to focus on?”

— The Inner Wheel, “The Chart Workshop: The Progressed Chart Confusion”

what exactly are “secondary progressions” in astrology? 🤔 >  

Basically, your chart is “progressed” one day for every year you’ve had a birthday. One year = one day. 

FOR EXAMPLE, I am thirty-five years old, born March 22nd, 1987. For my secondary progressions, my chart is progressed thirty-five days to April 27th, 1987. 

“The days used are those immediately following your birth. This means that whatever planetary aspects and influences were active 10 days after your birth will influence you when you are 10 years old. If you are 35, 42 or 57, it’s the planetary activations when you were 35, 42 or 57 days old that influence your life now.”

— Astrology University, “How to Use Progressions to Track Changes” ✨

Progressions push your closer, faster, more personal planets into whole different signs or houses of your chart…

(Your Aries Sun is now in Taurus ♈️♉️, or your Scorpio Ascendent has scootched into Sagittarius ♏️♐️, etc.)

…thereby tinting your most essential, immediate experience with the secret styling and concerns of their “progressed” signs and houses. ✨

Basically, the subtext of your super-secret inner life shifts according to your Secondary Progressions.

but… why would astrologers do that…? 🤨 >

I know, dude—it sounds fucking insane (lol and all the rest of astrology is super sane 👌🏻), but astrologers use progressions for prediction. Our progressed chart paint a picture of our most palpable inner perceptions. Progressions reveal the “inside feel” of our in-the-moment experience and help astrologers consolidate all the options. understand timing.

Though your Progressed chart is basically just a transit chart from the past (from your birth year), your progressions at the time of any current transit moment give spooky-accurate insight into how you might process coinciding events, and make the choices that will broker your fate. ✨

What makes progressions predictive is that your progressed planets weight or anchor the evolution of your natal chart. Your natal chart is inert until tripped by transits, and Secondary Progressions help astrologers understand what choices you will most feel like making, depending on the potential outlined, where those planets are heading, combined with thee opportunities / pains presented by your current transits.

“The progressed chart shows how you’ve moved on, according to a measurement of time. The progressed chart reveals nothing more nor less than the slow unfolding of your spiritual development. It’s the big picture. It’s also the ‘why’ to the natal chart’s ‘what’ and the transit’s ‘how’. ”

— The Inner Wheel, “The Chart Workshop: The Progressed Chart Confusion”

There are other predictive techniques (I link to some under “resources” below 😁), but secondary progressions are the most popular, and for most of us, the most intuitive. 👁 

So basically, your progressions speak to your secret, inner-most mood, and “chart” your subjective evolution. 

I feel like… if you understood the bookcase scene from Interstellar (even if you can’t explain it in words 🤔🤷🏻‍♀️), then you will be able to use and get a ton of clarity by applying secondary progressions to your boss astrology studies. 🤘🏻✨

(Here’s the bookcase scene… 👇🏻)

TL; DR [spoiler alert] > REMEMBER?? Because Matthew McConaughey was ejected from his rocket ship and floating in fucking SPACE, but in… like… the fifth dimension ✨, and through the gravitational force of LOVE 💕 was pulled to a moment in his past, like—hella years in the past 😳… in fact, to the moment when he was explaining to his daughter (baby Jessica Chastain) that he’s leaving on a rocket ship to find a new planet for humans to relocate to, and she’s like, “Why you gotta save humanity, why can’t you just stay and be my dad?” And then alluva sudden, the books start dropping off the bookcase in her bedroom, and she’s like, “SEE, WE’VE GOT GHOSTS, WHY YOU LEAVIN’ ME??” And he’s like, “Ghosts aren’t real, but famine totally is, and Michael Caine over at NASA has asked me, so I gotta go…”

…So then, Matthew McConaughey (floating in the fifth dimension) is overcome by heartbreak and starts banging on the barrier between him and his past in the third dimension, knocking books off the bookcase, and you realize that HE WAS THE GHOST… 😧🤭🥺

…Secondary Progressions in astrology are basically a fifth-dimensional glimpse into our three-dimensional reality (I think).

Then again… all astrology might be a higher-dimensional glimpse at 3D reality…? 🤔

(BTW, I totally have a 6 1/2 minute verbal essay about how all the major characters in Interstellar correspond with our astrological “meta” cycles > Saturn [Michael Caine], Uranus [Matthew McConaughey], Neptune [David Oyelowo], Pluto [Anne Hathaway], and Chiron [Jessica Chastain], buy me coffee and I’ll tell you all about it, and also how astrology can save the world! 🤩☺️)

Anyway… ✨

below, i’ll show you where + how to cast a chart with your secondary progressions ✨, along with guidelines for interpreting it >

We’ll learn how to cast a chart with progressions, and how to interpret it in relation to a natal chart…

…and then next time, deep-examine our Progressed Moons, which are not only super-useful in synastry (for timing relationship readiness 😍🥰), but also for guiding your lifestyle and self-care focus for 2 1/2 years. ✨

heads up, this is intermediate-level astrology learnin’, but you can totally master it in an hour or so…

…especially if you’re already familiar with your natal chart ✅, and have learned how to compare it to your current transits / larger astro cycles. ✅

I also link hella to sundry Internet witches and astrology articles to help you detangle all the details of your secondary progressions, so that even if you decide you’re not totally in favor of using progressions, you’ll feel dialed in, and know where to find that intel when you need it.

(And don’t worry, they move so slow you only have to check on them occasionally. 👍🏻)

WHERE + HOW TO CAST A CHART TO SEE YOUR SECONDARY PROGRESSIONS ⏰💫

1. Visit the Astro Seek homepage, hover your cursor over “Free Horoscopes”, and select “Secondary Progressions” from the dropdown menu

2. Select “Secondary Progressions” again from the list that appears (it will be second from the top). Enter your birth data, and the date you’re casting the chart for

3. Click “calculate”, and see ALL your secondary progressions, yay!

4. Scroll down to see the Astro Seek’s descriptions of your Secondary Progressions, then compare to articles you find via Google and Internet witches ✨

🌟 HINT 1 > Your natal chart is on the inside with your natal planets in blue, while your progressed planets will be on the outside and in orange (exactly like when casting a transit chart via Astro Seek 👌🏻).

🌟 HINT 2 > That “progressed” chart doesn’t become your new natal chart. ❌ Your progressions must always be read in reference to your natal chart. Our natal chart is our ultimate source and potential, and doesn’t change.

In fact, the natal chart is rather inert (like a poem, or a watercolor painting) until triggered by transits. Our natal chart explains our disposition towards the experiences detonated by our transits. What’s actually triggered by those transits depends on our grander astrological cycles (Saturn, Chiron, Pluto, etc.). 

And whatever you feel like doing with those transit moments depends on what’s going on in your Progressions. 👐🏻✨

I’ve already dropped this quote, but it’s the perfect definition for why progressions matter, and how to use them, so here it is again > 

“The progressed chart reveals nothing more nor less than the slow unfolding of your spiritual development. It’s the big picture. It’s also the ‘why’ to the natal chart’s ‘what’ and the transit’s ‘how’.”

HOW TO INTERPRET YOUR YOUR SECONDARY PROGRESSIONS ⏰✨

BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE 💫, FIND OR CREATE SPACE TO STORE ALL YOUR RESEARCH 📝 > You’ll want to download or take screenshots of the charts as they pop up on the Astro-Seek software, so you can refer back as time goes by. 

For a full-picture perspective, you’d want to delineate (“break down”) the PROGRESSED chart all on its own (I’m about to show you what to look for 💫), then compare the Progressed Chart to your Birth Chart.

There’s a bunch of stuff that you could fixate on—all the same markers you like looking up in your your natal chart (except new 🤩), but remember, your Progressions are not very pronounced… only your Progressed Moon, Sun, and maaaybe your Progressed angles.

THOUGH, as we’ll find out next time, it’s mostly your Progressed Moon (and her whereabouts in your chart, as well as her relationship with other progressed planets) that determines the expression of your secondary progressions. 🌙⏰

FIRST, CHECK UP ON YOUR PROGRESSED SUN AND PROGRESSED MOON 🌻🌙✨ >

What we all learn in astrology 101 (nerd alert 🤓), is that the Sun and Moon are not considered “planets”, but lights. 

Our Sun (natal, progressed, or by transit) is the direct light of consciousness, our wide-awake, alert, emanating life force. 

Our Moon (natal, progressed, or by transit) is the indirect light of consciousness, or subconscious, reflective of the conscious light. 

In our secondary progressions, the Sun and Moon represent the super-subliminal lights of consciousness, and knowing the conditions and whereabouts of your Progressed Sun and Moon (sign, house, aspects, etc., we’re about to dig into it 👍🏻) will help you hone in on where your subtle vortex of self-awareness is actually fixated.

Like—it might be helpful to visualize the Progressed Sun and Moon as glowing from somewhere beneath your natal, transit, and synastry charts, like underwater lamps, radiating the hue of the progressed sign wherever they’re stationed, with any near-conjunct progressed planets striating its deep glow. 👐🏻✨

find out the sign, house, and aspects to your progressed sun 🌻 ⏰ >

“The Progressed Sun travels through a sign in approximately 30 years, some characteristics of the natal Sun sign will remain throughout your life but as the Sun progresses through the next sign it takes up some of the features of that sign and also of the modality of the sign it enters. For example if you are born with a Gemini Sun which is a mutable sign then sooner or later your Secondary Progressed Sun will move into Cancer a Cardinal Sign and eventually into Leo a Fixed sign. The year in which your Progressed Sun changes signs or makes an aspect to a natal or progressed planet or angle will probably be an important period of personal development and self-expression.”

— Kepler College, “An Introduction to Secondary Progressions”

Our Progressed Sun corresponds with the very germs of our ego, the roots of our most personal self, what emanates from our life force.

Which house is the Progressed Sun currently stationed? What zodiac sign is natural to that house (if Aries were cusping the first house)? How compatible is the style or flavor of the sign that’s currently cusping it? Does the Sun appreciate the concerns represented by that house? …said another way, is the Sun able to shine?

“As your Sun, which symbolises identity and essence, settles into a new sign, you will be influenced by a new element and modality. Your interests, habits and hobbies will be updated. It’s a bit like having a personality transplant, in that you become a new and refreshed version of yourself. This can bring latent talents to the surface, or mark the end of a longer chapter.”

— Astrology University, “How to Use Progressions”

This PDF article explores the Progressed Sun in the signs, while this article describes the Progressed Sun in both the signs and houses.

This PDF article explores the Progressed Sun in the signs, while this article describes the Progressed Sun in both the signs and houses.

You might want to apply your knowledge of “planets in the signs” to determine whether your Progressed Sun is dignified, exalted, or debilitated (a.k.a. whether the planet prefers the condition of that sign, based on element and mode). 

FOR EXAMPLE, my natal Sun is exalted in Aries ♈️, and soon progressing into Taurus (July 2022). ♉️ Aries is an assertive fire sign ♈️🔥, while Taurus is steadfast earth. ♉️🌿

TRANSLATION: My nuclear-level angst (which will heighten as my Sun progresses towards the “anaretic degree”, more below ✨) will slacken from a propulsive heat (such as a blowtorch) to more of a broil… a light and heat quality more compatible with baking seeds and shit-packed top soil into fertile mush, transforming heat and light into subsistence.

From wildfire (♈️🔥) to photosynthesis (♉️🌿). 👐🏻✨

FOR YOUR SELF-EFFICACY, this article explains more about the elements and modes of the zodiac signs, and this one is focused on how the Sun functions in each sign. 

Astrology University also suggests peeking at the progressed house cusped by (“lined up with”) Leo ♌️, ruled by the Sun, for hints about emerging talents and opportunities. 🏆

To assist you in that, this Astro Fix page features descriptions of summaries of Leo on the houses, while this page describes how the Sun shines in all the different houses. 🌻✨

Does the Progressed Sun conjunct another progressed or natal planet? How tight is the orb? What are the themes of their relationship (based on the zodiac sign they share)? How does the other planet synergize with the Sun? How does the house they’re progressing through support their interaction?

Astro Library has a database of references for Progressed Aspects for your Progressed Sun, Moon, Venus, Mercury, and Mars (yay!), and this Dark Pixie article has summaries for the Progressed Sun in the signs, houses, and also aspects to other planets. 💫 

“When the Sun progresses to make an aspect to natal planets, it is time to become conscious now of different aspects of the ‘Ego Self’. These are times when our ego defences can be very strongly resistant; however, the soul has a great need at these times to identify with this energy consciously and to strive to integrate what the planet (being aspected) symbolises in our lives. Some planets the Progressed Sun touches, by nature, are much more challenging to the soul (for example aspects to Natal Pluto or Saturn). At these times, we are often confronted with owning the shadow aspects of our psyche. In this way, we are given an opportunity to accept and own the darker aspects of the ‘Ego Self’, as well as different ways of being, which is important for our soul’s evolution and growth in this lifetime.”

— Jeanni Monks, “Progressions”

FINAL CONSIDERATION, how is the Progressed Sun’s relationship with the Progressed Moon? How do they aspect each other? How tight is the orb (more about orbs below, but note any progressed planets within 0-2°)?

HINT > The relationship between the Sun and Moon determines the phase of the Moon, thus, the luminosity of the Moon in the chart (I’m about to say more about that…). ✅

find out the sign and house, aspects to, and phase ✨ of your progressed moon 🌙⏰ >

I have an in-depth tutorial all about analyzing (+ interpreting) the Progressed Moon ✨, but this is what you want to know: your Progressed Moon sign, house, and phase.

Your Progressed Moon sign tells you the mood, and the house tells you the field of perception, or the life category you invest the most emotion into, and the concerns your thoughts always settle on.

“Moon is about moods and feelings, protection and nurturing as well as patterns of behaviour and routine. It progresses through the signs in about 2 ½ years and takes on the flavour of the sign it progresses into. Every 28-29 years the Progressed Moon will begin a new emotional cycle as it conjoins the natal or the progressed Sun in your chart. This is known as the Progressed New Moon. Transits from and to the Progressed Moon are very important since the Moon moves quickly and each degree of orb will be active for approximately two months. This is one of the most important planets to follow in the Secondary Progressions.”

— Kepler College, “An Introduction to Secondary Progressions”

Your Progressed Moon’s Phase determines her luminosity, or how illuminated the themes and field of experience of the sign / house she’s progressing through. Every 3(ish) years, the Progressed Moon changes phase, depending on her aspect (“relationship”) to the Progressed Sun, and takes 27-30 years to cycle through all 8 moon phases before finally returning to your birthday moon phase (click here to find out your’s, and go here to learn more about it).

And when your Moon progresses through all 8 phases, and all 12 zodiac signs and houses, you have a Progressed Lunar Return! 🥳🌙

The “condition” of your Progressed Moon sets the whole vibe for your progressions, and some astrologers (Stephen Arroyo, Dane Rudhyar, probably more 💫) believe that the Progressed Moon actually activates the rest of the other progressions. 🧨

In fact, you don’t need to invest a ton of research into your progressed chart (but other stuff to note below👇🏻), not unless any planets / angles are within 0-1° of the Progressed Moon… 

…or the Progressed Sun... 🤔

...but mostly the Moon.

Probably only because we tend to become absorbed by our Moon, while our Sun just emits and emanates. Our Sun simply shines, whereas the Moon draws into itself.

“You can also watch for when the progressed Moon will conjunct each of your natal planets. For example, when your progressed Moon passes over your natal Venus you can better understand your true desires around love, beauty and pleasure. When your progressed Moon passes over your natal Uranus you learn more about what freedom and independence mean for you.”

— Astrology University, “How to Use Progressions”

also, determine the “who, what, where” of the dispositors (a.k.a. the “rulers”) of your progressed sun and moon signs ♈️♉️♊️…

By rulers / dispositors, we mean the planets that "rule" the sign(s) of your Progressed Sun and Moon.

The dispositors of any sign reveal where the energy from your Progressed Sun and Moon will "spill over." As Dawn Bodrogi explains, dispositors don't rule, own, control, or do anything to your planets, but receive from them.

“All of this activity, all of this new energy, has to have a focus, a pulling point. If the aspects are ‘squeezing’ the planet, the energy of that developing planet has to go somewhere. It has to spill out, play out someplace. This is where the dispositor of a planet kicks in. The dispositor of a planet will receive that planet’s newly forming energy and test it out, use it within the house it finds itself in. The planet has an indirect, but important, influence on the dispositor’s house.”

And we LOVE checking up on dispositors, because they point us to the secret exits, miraculous tools, and benevolent characters that might dodge in to assist the evolutionary development our Progressed Sun and Moon. 👍🏻

Which planets are your Progressed Sun and Moon disposed to? What archetypes do those planets represent? How do they behave within their sign and house of your progressions?

…has anyone reminding you of this archetype traipsed through your life, or within these contexts?? 😳🤔

Just more stuff for introspection. ✨

KEEP IN MIND, that progressions are the super subliminal, deep-historic netting of your astrological soul 👐🏻✨, so they can be interpreted SUPER loose and intuitive.

That’s why I think it’s important to build a sense-rich, intuitive model of your Progressed Sun and Moon, so that you can superimpose it over your natal x transit charts, and appraise your soul-mood and set point in the context of your transits.

In terms of significance (or weightiness of your progressions), pay keenest attention to your Progressed Sun and Moon 🌻🌙 , followed by your changed or changing angles, and the other useful factors I’m about to unpack below. 👇🏻

🌟 NEXT, CHECK OUT THE PROGRESSED ANGLES (AND THEIR DISPOSITORS) ✅ > 

Look at the Progressed ASCENDENT (left-hand side) and Progressed MIDHEAVEN (topmost angle). The angles are basically the “antennae” of our chart, and where they progress might reveal internal shifts regarding our orientation (ascendent) and public perception (midheaven).

Our Progressed angles can also be activated or energized by any planet that transits (or progresses 💫) over them. 

If your angles have progressed into new zodiac signs, or conjunct any of your natal planets, you’ll be feeling that planet throbbing away in your subtle awareness… at worst, like your foot falling asleep, and at best, like getting a hand massage.

“For example, if progressed Venus conjunct the Midheaven, there may be some development in your long-range plans, in your vocational outlook, or in your place in society which seem promising and pleasant. 

On the other hand, if progressed Venus conjuncts the natal Ascendant, it is more likely that the dimension of experience symbolized by Venus will come to your attention in some immediate personal way, e.g., a love affair, financial developments, artistic activities, or pleasant social contacts, any of which may awaken you to the significance of Venus in your particular birth chart.”

— Stephen Arroyo, “Astrology, Karma, & Transformation”

We all experience our Ascendent progressing by age 30, or much sooner, if your Ascendent was at a very late degrees of a sign. Every zodiac signs spans 30 degrees, though the angles can fall at any degree number of the sign… birth time determines where the angles land in a sign. ✨. 

When the ASC progresses from the First House (“identity, persona, appearance”) to the Second House (“personal values, skills, and inner treasure”), we’re ready to lead from our values more than spearhead our identity. The zodiac sign (and any natal or progressed planets in that sign) might clarify an internal shift, almost like an about-face turn.

FOR ME, POUR MOI 💕 > The Ascendent has literally juuust progressed from natal Scorpio into Sagittarius ♏️♐️, and the Midheaven has also scootched from Leo into Virgo ♌️♍️.

REMEMBER, these shifts might not correlate with any grand, coinciding events—they only indicate subtle shifts, like when a movie or a novel returns to the present after a flashback to the past.

ALTHOUGH, INTERESTING TO NOTE… within days of this switcheroo, I had to update my make-up palette. 😳😅

Like—for real. I’ve worked a black, winged cat eye since 2016 (typical Scorpio ASC 🙄), and it suddenly looked too stark, almost cartoonish, though I hadn’t changed my hair color, nor had the seasons (thus, the lighting) changed. 

So, I got a consult with an aspiring drag artist (and make-up connoisseur), and he suggested I go from “Raven” to “Midnight”, and now everything is wonderful (thank you, kristopher, here’s some Vegas Britney 🤗💕).

“Since house cusps are connected to the life areas and activities ruled by the house, it is important to note when they change signs by progression, because it heralds the beginning of a major cycle in a person’s life and describes the type of events that are going to unfold.

Whenever I see that a house cusp has reached 29 degrees by progression, a “red alert” sounds in my head because I know the client is on the verge of a new cycle. Oftentimes, the person is starting to feel that “something’s coming, something big” but they lack any sense of definition or clarity.

When the house cusps move from 29 degrees of one sign to 0 degrees of the new sign, the transition connected to the affairs of the affected houses actually begins.”

— Debra Anne Clement, “Predicting with Progressed House Cusps”

IF YOU NEED A REFRESHER, this article explains the concept of and rules of interpretation for your chart angles, while Dark Pixie Astrology has this article to help you delineate the relationship between your progressed angles and natal planets: how they might feel, and what might manifest in your awareness. 💫

“The passage over the Ascendant is particularly important, for it often correlates with a change in one’s environment or in one’s psychological or physical relation to the environment. The change should lead to some kind of personal readjustment, perhaps the readjustment of one’s intuitive feeling of identity in terms of the new environment or of a new realization of the meaning and value of the already familiar life-situation — the sense of individual selfhood being always intimately related to and most often conditioned by the various kinds of close relationships and associations one has entered, positive or negative as these may be”

— Dane Rudhyar, “The Astrology of Transformation”

ALSO, LOCATE THE RULERS OF THE PROGRESSED ANGLES (A.K.A. THE “DISPOSITORS”) > Transits to the rulers can reveal tucked away influences that will play out in the overall scheme of things. You’ll want to note both the natal and progressed placements of the angle rulers. 

Because my Ascendent just switch signs, I took a peek at its “new” ruler, Jupiter. In my natal chart, Jupiter conjuncts my Sun (☀️👑).

HINT > Unless aspecting one of your inner planets (especially your Progressed Moon 🌙), you can skip reading for the “Social” and “Outer” Planets in your secondary progressions.

Jupiter and Saturn (the “social” planets) and Pluto, Neptune, Uranus (the “meta” planets) move too slow to actually progress through your chart, so unless they’re in the flightpath of one of your other natal or progressing planets (or angles), don’t worry about mixing them into your analysis. ✅

I mean—you totally can read for them, and probably should if you notice them sidling up on anything interesting in your chart, but remember that secondary progressions are super, super subtle, and unless the Progressed Sun or Progressed Moon is forming a very close aspect with one of ‘em, you might not notice.

(You can totally scroll down the Astro Seek page that produced your progressed chart to see the robo-descriptions and summaries for these planets anyway. 👍🏻)

🌟 NOW, NOTE ANY “INGRESSES” OF YOUR OTHER PROGRESSED PLANETS > 

Any planets progressing into new signs or houses soon or recently? Ingresses, or planets entering new signs / houses, often correlate with a palpable shift in your concerns and circumstances.

“The most important shift is when a progressed planet changes signs. This means that everything ruled or symbolised by that planet is being refreshed, and that new desires will emerge. If your progressed Venus changes signs, you will want new experiences in relationships.”

—Astrology University, “How to Use Progressions to Track Changes”

You’ll have to consult with articles provided by Google witches to find out the specific effects and influence of your progressed planets changing signs or houses.

Just Google for “Progressed [ planet ] in [ the sign ]” and “Progressed [ planet ] in [ the house ].” 

Where is the planet progressing right this moment? What’s the sign? What’s the house? Does that planet prefer the element and mode of that sign? Given that sign, how would that planet express itself through the activities of the house?

What each of the Progressed planets represents (Mercury, Venus, Mars…) 🌟

REMEMBER THOUGH, unless in very close aspect (0-1°) of your Progressed Sun or Moon, you might not register much of that planet, or it just won’t show up or factor into the super quiet subtext of your life.

…Not unless one of the following is happening.👇🏻

🌟 NOTE ANY PLANETS OR ANGLES AT 29° OF ANY SIGN OR PLANETS GOING RETROGRADE ✅ > 

Also known as the anaretic degree, any planet at 29° of any zodiac sign feel agitated, intense… as though that planet is waiting for the clock to strike midnight, so it can preorder concert tickets. 

“The progressed personal planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars) can show how you shift in personal ways. When they’re anaretic or in new signs, this can be felt deeply and personally. If Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto are anaretic or change signs in the progressed chart, this can be quite significant, and show a period where there is major change, upheaval, developments, growth. They move much slower than the personal planets, so most people don’t experience them anaretic or moving into new signs, which makes it significant when they do.”

— Dark Pixie Astrology, “Important Points in a Progressed Chart”

Basically, planets at the anaretic degree feel tense, more so if they’re also conjunct (“side-by-side”) an anaretic planet in our natal chart, or when a transiting planet (in the sky right now) is also anaretic and conjunct an anaretic progressed planet. 😵‍💫

Retrograde planets are any planets that are going in reverse, or about to go direct, in your chart. All the planets (except the Sun + Moon) go retrograde or direct. They don’t actually change direction in orbit, but just look that way from earth. As they go backwards or direct (forward), it toggles where that planet directs its energy (into your third versus fourth house, for example).

Read more about anaretics here, and about progressed planets in retrograde over here. ✨

HINT > Is your Progressed Moon forming a tight aspect (0-1° orb, more about this in a minute) with an anaretic or retrograde planet? …then you’re mos’ def’ feelin’ it. 👍🏻 

🌟 FINALLY, READ FOR THE REST OF YOUR PROGRESSED PLANETS IN ASPECT TO YOUR NATAL PLANETS AND ANGLES ✅ > 

We have the most luminous awareness of our Progressed Sun and Moon (reportedly), and not so much awareness of our other progressed planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars), not unless they form a tight aspect with your Progressed Sun / Moon OR one of your natal planets or angles. 💫

HOWEVER, you can totally scroll down the page results on Astro-Seek to read the description of the dynamic symbolized by your close-aspecting progressed planets, and decide for yourself if it explains any subtle vibes in your life.

Focus on exact aspects, a.k.a. a “small orb” (about 1-2°) between your progressed and natal planets. Because Progressions move slow, even an exact aspect (“exact” = 0° orb) might influence the relationship between the two planets for about one year to eighteen months. 😳⏱ 

“Using a rigid orb of 1° or 2° for these aspects is not nearly so useful as utilizing an orb of time… I recommend using a maximum of a one-month orb (before and after the aspect) during which time the potential situation indicated may manifest.”

— Stephen Arroyo,  “Astrology, Karma, and Transformation”

IN GENERAL, you want to pay the keenest attention to when the Progressed Moon is about 1-2° away from one of your natal or progressed planets, as the Moon progresses about 1° per month, indicating that for about one-two months, the Moon will be absorbing the influence of that planet.  🗓

“…the rationale for it is simply that many progressions (and transits also) don’t seem to ‘act’ until the transiting Moon trips them off. Hence, by using a one-month orb, there will be two different times when the transiting Moon conjuncts each point involved in the progressed aspect.”

— Stephen Arroyo,  “Astrology, Karma, and Transformation”

Refer to Kepler’s College’s descriptions of all the Progressed Planets for hints about how to interpret the connections, and this article tells you more about how to find and interpret aspects in astrology charts. ✨

Also, here’s Cafe Astrology’s take on progressed planet aspects, just so you’re covered. ✌🏻

AN OMINOUS NOTE ABOUT WORKING WITH PROGRESSIONS…

(+ WHY THEY SEEM MORE COMPLICATED THAN THEY ACTUALLY ARE)
😳😩⏰ >

Most people live long enough for their Moon to progress around the zodiac and all twelve of their houses at least twice, and experience two-three of every Moon phase, in their lifetime. 💫

When I started to realize this... I got a little worried. 

Disappointed. Disquieted. Angsty. 😓

If (like me 💕), you’ve used astrology for inventorying your personality (a.k.a. natal astrology ✨), then studying your Secondary Progressions might have brought upon you a certain kind of reckoning… the notion that whatever potential ✨ you discover in your natal chart… 

Well, you might not… actualize it. 😳

I mean—not all of it.

Progressions reveal how MUCH of our potential can actually be developed.

Timing is everything, and our time is limited.

Magnificent opportunities and lovely encounters might arrive… but we’re just… not ready… it’s not the right mood… 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

I really, really love this ominous note from astrologer-extraordinaire Dawn Bodrogi 🌟✨ about how… yes, studying your Secondary Progressions does induce a bit of existential anxiety, as it outlines the natural limits on our ultimate potential….

“I have a hunch that folks have a resistance to progressions these days because they in fact delineate the natural limitations of our lives.

Intellectually, we know that we can’t live forever, but most of us live our lives as if we can. The progressed chart outlines our natural limits. (😳😬)

In a life span, how many years can we expect to live? Let’s say we live to 90–the progressed Sun moves at roughly one day per year, so the chart at ninety days will move the Sun 90 degrees. That’s a generous limit of my life span, and the planets there at the ninety day mark will delineate the limits of my existence.

If the progressed Sun will only ever move 90 degrees within my lifetime, how important then is it when the progressed Sun changes signs, or houses, or makes aspects to planets? My Virgo natal Sun will progress to learn the relationship/balance lessons of Libra. Thirty years later, it will take the accumulated knowledge and move on to learn the intensity and focus of Scorpio. I remain a Virgo, but a Virgo who has evolved through the tests of the following signs and other planets that may reside there. The same goes for Mercury, Venus, Mars.

The progressed Moon moves relatively quickly and shows us what we are focused on right now. Progressed aspects to the natal chart matter, but hard aspects between progressed planets come alive in a unique way. They are great indicators of change, both inner and outer.”

— The Inner Wheel, “The Chart Workshop: The Progressed Chart Confusion” ⏰💫

SO BASICALLY, reading your progressions (and transits ✨) alongside your natal chart can help focus your attention on your feeling-based experience, reframe expectations for this phase of life, and give you language for an internal dialogue about your hopes, expectations, dreams, and obsessions.

ALSO, help you rumble with your natural limitations.

MORE RESOURCES FOR MASTERING YOUR SECONDARY PROGRESSIONS ⏰🌟 > 

• Astro Library has a database of references for Progressed Aspects for your Progressed Sun, Moon, Venus, Mercury, and Mars (yay!), and this Dark Pixie article has summaries for the Progressed Sun in the signs, houses, and also aspects to other planets. 💫

• Here’s more: What you need to know about your Progressed Sun🌻, and what each of the Progressed planets represents (Mercury, Venus, Mars…) 🌟

• IF YOU NEED A REFRESHER, this article explains the concept of and rules of interpretation for your chart angles, while Dark Pixie Astrology has this article to help you delineate the relationship between your progressed angles and natal planets: how they might feel, and what might manifest in your awareness. 💫

• Combine the above with Kepler’s College’s descriptions of all the Progressed Planets, and how long they take to move ‘round your chart, and this article tells you more about how to find and interpret aspects in astrology charts. ✨

• Also, here’s Cafe Astrology’s take on progressed planet aspects, just so you’re covered. ✌🏻

• Also, did your ASC angle shift into a new sign recently, such as mine? 💕 > read more about when the Ascendant and Midheaven change signs.

• Plus, this article lists all major aspects between Progressed and Natal Planets to help you delineate all the factors involved, and Nic says more about interpreting Progressed Suns and Rising Signs in this post.

• ALSO, you’ll need this > Your Guide to Interpreting Astrological Aspects.

• Want to trip out on progressions? Cast your progressions for 120 years after you were born. You’ll “see” how your life events are still playing out, long after you’re dead! This forum describes looking at progressions for hints about how your family might settle your affairs! 😳🤯 > “Will you receive any awards or accolades, or publish a book? No kidding, a guy in Australia found his grandfather's diary of life in the trenches during World War I. He published it. Guess what? It showed up in the progressions of the grandfather's natal chart.”

Remember, Secondary Progressions only point to subtext. Many progressed charts are cast not for their own sake, but to help an astrologer hone in on the undercurrents of your life, and better understand the questions you’ve asked, especially if you’ve asked about the timing of an opportunity or relationship.

Though a tight orb between your natal and progressed planets can last 18 months (😵‍💫), it won't be felt in your psyche, or become a dominant theme in your life the way a transit does. 

So, reviewing your progressions is more like noticing the wind-chimes on your neighbor's back porch, or tuning into background chatter coming from your roommate's bedroom. You’re just trying to feel out the mood and ambiance of your inner life.

ULTIMATELY ✨, your natal planets show the what, transits show the how, while progressions show the why.

In my next post, I'll be focusing on delineating your Progressed Moon 🌙⏰, which is really the queen of your progressions. Your Progressed Moon feels the Secondary Progressions, and moves fastest around the chart (1° per month), eventually connecting with every body, angle, and point (progressed or natal) within 27 years. 😳

She’s on a journey, yo’!

And because she’s so swift (+ trying to connect with each body in your chart), your Progressed Moon has the most insight into your most subtle matrix of consciousness.

In fact, as you might have noticed earlier in this tutorial, it’s believed that your Progressed Moon might even activate your other progressions. 🌙🧨

WE NEED THAT INTEL! 🙀