“I quit high school on my birthday. It was my senior year and I didn’t see the point. This was 1962, and I was ready to make music.”
–Barry White
Every year near your birthday the sun returns to the same degree of your natal sun. The chart of this moment is called the solar return chart. Considering the slight inconsistency of actual time versus measured time (our calendar) this is not necessarily exactly on your birthday. It could be the day before, the day after, but it is very close.
The solar return chart is a snapshot of the energy present at the exact moment of your sun’s anniversary. Your sun position is representative of your most personal purpose so it is no surprise that the chart of the return of this event has great personal significance. It’s like a map of the energies effecting your sun for the next year, a map of aspects and house placements that remain significant till the next birthday when you acquire a new set.
When calculating the solar return chart it is important to note where you will be when your astrological birthday occurs. While the planetary positions won’t differ, a significant change of location definitely affects the rising sign and resultant house positions. There can be a definite difference between solar return charts when planets conjunct angles or significantly switch houses. Personally I’d prefer a year without Pluto on the seventh house cusp but I’m not actually willing to take a trip to avoid it. On some level, I suppose, I feel like I ought to take things as they come. It’s an interesting proposition, though, when you’re considering travel independent of astrological events.
Do you check your solar return chart? Have you ever considered traveling to change it?
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I always check my solar return and don’t think travel affects it.
Not sure if I am in the minority here or not. It has just never made sense to me, a person can trick the universe like that.
Would you read the chart the same way you’d read your natal chart? Would you compare to your natal chart at all, or is it a stand-alone?
my solar return chart for 2011 has me nervous.
stellium in 12th house (venus, mercury, jupiter, mars)
grand cross with 2/5/8/11th houses (moon, saturn, pluto, uranus).
sun conjunct ASC! that’s a funny one…trine 8th house pluto
there is NO WAY that traveling on that day will help me escape this!
My 2011 has Pluto in the 7th. Tra la la! And Sun in the 8th ::runs and hides::
last sr I had pluto conj mc and I had to stop working.
this sr I have pluto conj dc EEK
Hmmmm. I just looked at mine for 2011… I have Pluto, Venus & the North Node all conjunt my DC. Pluto actually falls in the 7th. Venus & NN fall in the 6th. But they’re all having a party together! Hoo boy. Wonder what THAT’s gonna do!
But I agree with Elsa above… I don’t think you can trick the Universe by travelling to change your SR. Too easy.
I’ve always wondered about this… the effect of your location on your chart.
I get Elsa’s point about tricking the universe, though sometimes I wonder if the universe is tricking us… pushing us to be in certain locations for our solar return, lol. Just a thought.
I was reading up some chinese philosophy stuff, and there was a line, something like: “Destiny is made up of three things, the heavens, the earth and man”.
The heavens: the alignment of the stars on the day you were born
The earth: Your environment (hence the feng shui stuff)
Man: What you do
Though I do think your environment plays a huge role… I really wonder if turning your bed a certain way and sleeping facing certain directions is going to cause much change in your destiny… 🙂
I have been looking at mine. For 2011 I have neptune in the 7th. Being a Sag. any reason to travel I would experiment with travel to see if I saw a difference. It seems to make sense that it would help.
I have a year coming up with pluto conjunct moon on the mc. Also one with saturn conjunct moon in the 12th. Sounds scary.
I did not like mine for 2011. Cancer rising, pluto on my dc , scorp moon in the 5th, neptune and chiron in my 8th house. The good I guess is jupiter and uranus in the 9th (hopefully I will start school) and mars in leo in my 1st house. Hmm hope I don’t lose someone next year…maybe I am going to feel I am loosing someone.
I am such a newbie , so I will watch it over 2011…I do much prefer my transits for my birthday:) but I have loads of Aries so…
Should you compare it to natals? Like synastry?
I’ve never really followed my solar returns. I did get a reading for mine this year, though. *grins* Still a bit fuzzy on what it all means, but on the lookout for correlations.
And it would never occur to me to travel to “improve” my solar return. I’m like Elsa in that respect, I don’t think you can “trick” the universe like that.
People do swear by the travel thing and they may be in the majority, I don’t know. I just think of a little speck on earth thinking they are commanding Jupiter and can’t get it to sync up.
I like the solar return charts… and about changing the place we are to spend the birthday, i see it as valid, and not as tricking the universe… be cause our natal chart will always prevail, we dont get a new chart, we get our moment in that chart… its just like meeting charts like those we do when we 1st see our date, or business event, etc… we normally take it as a influence that will affect the relation somehow.
each choice we do, affect our lives in someway, so would be to pass the birthday in a complete different place than the usual, a place were our energies changes. Environment has its life, just like ppl in our life. If ppl affect us, so does an environment.
Thats my point of view… every astrologer has its own, and diversity made astrology huge as it is. 🙂
place wHere*
I consult solar return charts religiously. I’m of the thought that wherever you *usually* are, as in home, is where your chart should be cast. If I go to Tahiti the day before my birthday, I am surely fooling myself if I think that action will somehow change the circumstances I will face for the following year.
I just had my solar return done last week. It was done to my birthplace, which is 40 miles from where I currently live, and not enough to change it anyway. I don’t think one can “manipulate” the energies this way, but different strokes for different folks, I guess.
My solar return this year is on 12/27 at 12:27pm EST – I’m going to go with it!
I once took a transatlantic flight on my birthday, I wonder what longitude and latitudes I should have chosen if I were to chose the new place, LOL. Especially if I had been traveling on a jetplane at 700 km per hour..?
I am, as you all know, freaking out about the damn 6th house stellium (esp. Uranus) in the 6th for 2011. If I could, I would travel for that.
Really, I think the traveling thing is more to try to choose where you’d like to have the problem. I’d rather move all of that energy into the 7th house (since this is me we’re talking about, it’d probably do far less damage there!), but apparently in order to do that I’d have to fly to Hawaii. I wish.
hmmmm a capricorn 12th house stellium with jupiter and uranus is Pieces…. I am just going to stay in bed. Talk about avoiding.
Jen how did you figure out that Hawaii would make a difference?
I think freaking out is a waste of energy. Often times the things we fear never actually happen. And, sometimes things which we consider “disastrous” end up benefiting us. You have to choose whether you’re going to try (possibly in vain) to control, or if you’re going to trust that the universe is conspiring to bring you blessings. You can’t be in both camps at the same time. I really believe that even if you move to try to “adjust” your solar return, the energies of the solar return that occurred where you were born will prevail. Just my opinion.
My solar chart is pretty interesting, especially compared to the transits my natal chart is getting hit with… I can really see the correlation between them.
My thoughts on traveling to manipulate a better solar return chart is that it doesn’t make sense if it’s just a short trip over your birthday, the only way it would make sense to me is if you were to actually stay at that location for the duration of the entire year. I’m not an astrologer, this is just MHO.
I travel just to travel.
Anyone do this?
Hm..
Lolo, yup! its always on my mind. Always.
uh what if you move to a new place?
lately I’ve been moving every six months. when my solar return happens, it might be completely different… and i’m not trying to trick the universe.
so far mine seems to have held true for the one location i was in on my birthday and my subsequent move to another.
Solar Chart for the coming year has the Sun on the 7th house cusp. I have Pisces on the Asc, with Neptune conj. Chiron in the 12th. Moon is in the 5th in Leo. Uranus and Jupiter are conj. in the 1st. Mars is conj Venus on the 8th house cusp. Pluto is in the 10th.
Last year I was two time zones away from home for the week that included my birthday. I found that the home chart was much more in tune with actual events.