How to be an astrology ninja

I work with return charts a lot, and if you want to get good at astrology, I highly recommend using them (but only if you have an EXACT birth time for whoever you're reading for, and please remember to use the location where the person currently lives if it's different from where they were born). First, because they're extra charts to read, and the more charts you read, the better you get. Second, because they're highly informative.

Solar returns, or the chart for the return of the sun to the degree and minute where it was when you were born, work for everyone. Lunar returns do, too. When I'm consulting with someone and they're looking for a good time period to do specific things, I look at transits and then start hunting through lunar returns for the *thing* they would like to do or have happen. But hey, guess what? If your rising sign is NOT Leo or Cancer (meaning your solar/lunar returns are gospel), you can do a planetary return for your chart-ruling planet*, which will give you more information about the vibe of the times for you. I really recommend these, because your ruling planet's energy is one you are naturally more sensitive to.

I've pulled return charts for anything you can possibly return. I'm Mars-ruled and my Mars charts are ALWAYS relevant, but Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter I feel more tepid about for myself (I have a strong Saturn, so it is not on the list). Your chart-ruling planet = you, so the returns are personal and comprehensive. The return charts for that list I just gave you can also be used as returns about topical areas, if the planet in question is not your chart ruler: Mercury returns are about Mercury things (communication, siblings, and day-to-day work). Venus returns are about love and money. Mars is about action and initiative. Jupiter returns are about expansion, beliefs, and discovery. Saturn returns are about career and life goals. How do you know which planetary energies you are most sensitive to? Experience. Every one of my Venus returns I look at, I'm like "meh." Mercury returns I can get on board with, but it's more of a mental "yeah, that is the stuff that happened in that time period" which is a typical reaction for someone who is not Mercury-ruled. Etc.

The charts are valid until the planet in question completes a lap around your chart and returns to its natal degree and minute, and then you get a new chart and around you go again. Except for one very important note: if the planet in question hits its own natal degree and minute, goes retrograde back over that degree and minute, and then goes forward again: then you get three return charts, each valid for that much-shorter interval of time. It's rare that this happens, but it does happen. I mention it because it was something I missed once time with a friend of mine (not a client) where there was a sudden burst of events that connected to a thrice-returning Mercury.

When you are looking at return charts, here are the things that should scream at you:  1. any planets on an angle 2. really, really close aspects between any planets. 3. planets or planet clusters at the beginning of any house (remember: houses go counter-clockwise) because planets at the beginning of houses in return charts tend to express quite clearly 4. by layering your birth chart over the return chart, any of your natal planets that are on an angle on the return chart or that are conjunct (next to) return chart planets. Everything I just said probably sounds complicated and like it might break your brain, and at first, it might. But getting good at these will turn you into a chart-reading ninja if you care to be one of those. (Doing this is how I got really good. After I pushed through headaches and tossed the books I list below across the room out of frustration.)

Let's say you or someone you are reading for wants to move, and they're Venus-ruled. You generate a Venus return chart and Saturn's on the IC. Well, now you know that if they DO move, it's going to be a huge undertaking and a pain in the ass, and I might also inquire about the health of relatives, because there might be a sick family member they'll have to care for at some point during the return period. Not always, but it's common.

This is complicated, but being a *good* astrologer means doing the extra credit. Full disclosure to make the degree of difficulty more fun: I generate both precessed and non-precessed returns, meaning charts that DO account for the motion of the galaxy and charts that do not, so I will work with *two* returns of the same planet (and I have to generate the precessed chart manually, by which I mean scrolling until I get the planet in the exact degree and minute and second and noting the time, which is a bitch). The non-precessed charts tend to discuss the actual events that happen, and the non-precessed ones speak more to the vibes of the times, but both work. And if you have butthurt about how complicated this seems, please remember that people used to generate charts BY HAND and by doing math to figure out house size. I thank god for computers every day.

XO,J

Resources:astro.com will do solar and lunar returns.astroseek.com will generate charts for returns of anything to anything, but please make sure your location and time zone are correct or you will spend a lot of time reading something irrelevant.I use iPhemeris  (it does solar and lunar returns, and I can make planets move through time to generate precessed returns)Book on how to read solar returns which can also be applied to any other planetary return, though you will quickly lose your mind if you use it for lunar returns.Cycles of Destiny by Ronald Davison also has a chapter on return charts that is super useful but the rest of the book *will* break your brain.

*For Pisces you'd use Jupiter, Aquarius would use Saturn, and Scorpio would use Mars