1, 3, 5

Generally, *exact* transits make action and/or life developments happen. It's fun (for me) to watch charts and see what's causing what, because I get to be what Jeffrey Wolf Green calls "astrological detective." When I say "exact," it means that mathematically, the angle of the transit is 0.0, or zero degrees and zero minutes (here's how I look for exact transits and you can either do it my way or with Rob Hand's Planets in Transit—instructions are in the intro—and a calculator, because your astrology app is wrong. When I find an app that accounts for precession, I will tell you, but if it doesn't account for precession, it will not be accurate*). Non-exact transits happen when a planet gets close to the angle/aspect in question but turns retrograde or direct before reaching 0.0. Non-exact transits can still make stuff happen, don't get me wrong. My car getting totaled happened during a non-exact transit from Pluto to my Mercury and I thought I was out of the woods because the transit had "passed"—it was within 20 minutes of being exact, though, so that was apparently enough, and it was a learning experience, to say the least. My friend is moving today (hey girl!) caused in part to a non-exact Uranus trine to her Mercury. It stationed (appeared to stop) close enough and it became clear the move had to happen. But the vast majority of major life developments happen with transits that are within minutes of being exact (not degrees—minutes).

Now, *exact* hits: how many times will the transit to this angle/point happen? This is very important to consider, because it tells you how much of this same energy you'll be dealing with, and for how long: if it repeats, it's worth paying attention to. Most of the time, Mercury, Venus, and Mars hit a point once and it's done, so it's a blip. If those go retrograde over that point, then it is a 3x transit, so worth noting and anticipating increased activity. A friend of mine had Mars stationing in very close aspect to his sun (so hitting his sun 3x) a couple weeks ago and got a bad case of COVID, meaning he did not bounce back, and as Mars has slowly picked up speed, he has slowly gotten better. I'm not going to tell him that to his face, though, because he'd be upset if he knew there were sky reasons he got really sick (and yes, if you're wondering, he's Mars-ruled).

It is possible for Saturn to hit a point once and that's it, but everything further out will hit a given point at least 3 times, if not 5, which is why they're really important to note. People who don't know astrology will have these frenetic stress periods (Saturn or Uranus transits) or down-in-the-dumps sadnesses (Neptune) or catastrophic upsets (Pluto) during near/exact transits and then the energy will back off and they will feel relieved that it is over, only to have it return weeks or months later, much to their extreme dismay. They don't know why, but you do. And that's why I love astrology: it might be annoying, but it also gives a very good explanation of what, why, and for how long. Caveat: you might not like the "how long" bit AT ALL.

Also very important: stationing (appearing to stop) planets in very, very close or exact aspect to something in your chart. One time I had Neptune stationing conjunct my Mars and I really (overly dramatically) thought I was dying in an emotional sense. I avoid rereading journal entries from that time because it was me at my most pathetic. It felt like the sky was elbowing me in the face continually for several months. You *can* use your stationing bad transit as a catch-all excuse, which I don't recommend because it sounds crazy to the layperson ("I'm sad because Neptune is on my Mars!" "Sure, Jan.") or you can have the awareness that you *might* feel like shit during that time so you probably would not want to run a marathon. I both did sound like a crazy person and did not run a marathon.

Hints on finding your active transits: you can use an app for *this* because it will give you a list of transits, usually, which gives you a ballpark to work from. Look at the long transits that are in effect for weeks to months. THEN use an ephemeris and math OR my method of laziness OR ask an astrologer who's intelligent (ask them "do you account for precession when you determine exact transits?" If they say yes, then you're good. If they say "huh?" keep moving).

*When I was learning astrology, I had an active Pluto transit, and my app told me it was over 9 months before it actually ended, so I thought for 9 months that something was wrong with me because I should feel better and I didn't, and Pluto shit kept happening. I'm still mad about that. And I think it makes people more willing to dismiss astrology as bullshit if their app is wrong, which is why I’m vehemently anti-app.