How to take a vacation

The thing about using astrology to plan your life is that if you use it, you can get pretty good results, but you can also get paralyzed with indecision because there is never the exact perfect time to do anything. There's often the appropriate time, and you should settle for that (in my humble opinion). Don't let astrology talk you out of doing something you want to do if you really feel deep down that it's the right move for you. So the following is a list of considerations for optimizing your precious vacation days. Please understand that you're never going to have everything 100% perfect, but you can usually pinpoint a decent time to be away. Cool? Cool.

Learn to check your lunar returns (astro.com will generate lunar returns for you). When people ask me about timing of anything, I look at lunar returns to get a good ballpark. I don't care what the topic is. First, you pick a topic, then you look for the lunar return in which you appear to be doing the topic in question (Caveat: I don't always find *the thing.*). Vacations are mostly a 5th house endeavor.

Bonus move for people reading this who were already working with lunar returns: layer your natal chart outside your lunar return and note if any of your natal planets fall at the beginning of houses, because those *will* express. Use the Placidus system, also. If I just said gibberish, ask me to do it for you.

Lunar returns.

• For vacations/time off, you are going to want to see 5th house GOOD planets: sun, moon, Venus, Jupiter, or any of these in the 1st house. Note: if you change locations east or west, you're going to want to generate a lunar return for that location, also. Sometimes your local lunar return looks like you're traveling and your lunar return for your vacation location looks like you're relaxing. This is ideal!

• Conversely, if Saturn is in the 5th house of your lunar return or on the ascendant, your ability to loosen up and relax is going to be close to nothing.

• If your vacation is somewhere close to where you live, look for nice stuff in the 3rd house, which is local travel. If it's far, look for nice stuff in the 9th.

• If you're the type who likes camping/nature/hiking, look for stuff in the 6th house more than the 5th house.

• If you just want to lie on a beach somewhere, 5th house all the way.

• If there's a ton of stuff in your 10th house, you're going to be working on that vacation. So avoid taking time off when it looks like you're hard at work. That's silly.

• Jupiter on an angle is also decent. Usually you're in a good mood with that going on.

Transits.

• If Saturn is transiting your sun (conjunction, opposition, square), or in your 1st or 5th house, don't assume a vacation will be as refreshing as you hope it will be. If you're burnt out and exhausted and need to get away, do that, but be realistic about how much you're really capable of unwinding, because it's reduced. I know someone who kept going on vacation with Saturn through the 5th and I don't think any fun was had at all. But he kept trying!

• Picking a time that Jupiter is making a nice aspect to your sun or moon is also ideal. The same is true for Venus, but that influence lasts a day. Avoid too many fruity beach drinks, though, because both of them have a more-is-more influence. Or just make peace with the idea that you're coming home fat.

• Do not expect to have a fun time if Venus is retrograde on your ascendant (personal experience talking). Leo risings: please take note for summer 2023.

• Active Neptune transits are a good time to take a vacation, just don't expect everything to go to (your) plan.

• If the transiting north node of the moon is in your 5th house, take all the vacations. ALL OF THEM.

😎,J