A solar return is the chart cast for the moment the Sun comes back to the exact degree it held when you were born. It happens once a year, on your birthday or within a day of it, and astrologers read it as a map of the year until your next birthday. A solar return reading interprets that chart, often together with the transits of the slow planets to your birth chart.
When is your solar return?
The Sun comes back to the same degree once a year, but the calendar year does not match the Sun's cycle exactly, so the moment shifts by some hours from one year to the next and can fall the day before or after your birthday. It is calculated to the minute from the position of the Sun at your birth, which is why it needs your birth time.
What does a solar return chart show?
| Part of the chart | What it says about the year |
|---|---|
| Solar return Ascendant | The tone of the year and how you meet it |
| House of the Sun | The area of life where your attention goes |
| The Moon | Your emotional needs and what changes in daily life |
| Planets near the angles | The themes that stand out most |
| Aspects to the Sun | Support or tension around your goals |
Does the place matter?
Yes. The return happens at the same moment everywhere, but the Ascendant and the houses depend on where the chart is cast. Some astrologers cast it for the place where you spend your birthday, others for your birthplace. Our report uses your birthplace, the same place as your birth chart.
Do you need your birth time?
Yes, for the full chart. The exact degree of your Sun depends on your birth time, and the Ascendant and houses of the solar return need it too. Without a time, a report can still read the planets of the year and leaves out the houses. See do you need your exact birth time?
Solar return or transits: which shows the year ahead better?
They answer different questions. The solar return is one snapshot of the year as a whole. Transits show when things move: the dates each slow planet reaches a point of your birth chart. Many astrologers read both together.
Our year ahead report does both: your solar return chart, plus the transits of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Chiron to your birth chart for the next 12 months, with the date each one peaks and a month-by-month calendar. It is a PDF of about 20 pages for $9.90, paid once with no account, with the first pages free before you pay and a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Astrology is for reflection and self-understanding. Read a solar return as a set of themes for the year, not a forecast to base medical, legal or money decisions on.