Lottery Solar Returns

Solar Returns are charts cast for the exact moment the transiting Sun returns to its natal position, which occurs either on the birthday, the day before, or the day after. It should be set for the location of the current residence. A Solar Return freezes the transits in place to show where the most important activity will be in the coming year. A theory sometimes suggested by astrologers hoping to help a client with a difficult outlook is that they might travel to a different location that would improve the chart on that day. I have not found this to work unless the person remains at that location for the year.

The Solar Return can be progressed to any date in the upcoming year. Solar Fire software, which was used to cast all the charts in this book, advances the chart one degree per day, but many accomplished astrologers progress it in other ways that they’ve found works for them. Experiment with different methods and use the one that works best for you. Unless you’re using computer software, which greatly simplifies the work, you will need to use a Table of Houses to locate the progressed Midheaven degree at the latitude for your current residence in order to find the other house cusps. If you plan to move, or your return indicates that you will, use the latitude of the new location to relocate the return chart.

When comparing solar returns, some astrologers read the two charts side by side. Others put the natal planets on the inner wheel, and the Solar Return planets on the outer wheel, which puts natal house cusps on the outside wheel. It’s easy to lose track of the Solar Return angles and cusps that way. Some astrologers prefer the reverse. They place the Solar Return wheel inside, and the natal planets outside. Most of us know our natal chart the way we know our own baby’s face. But it feels like reading the chart in reverse, with too many ways to omit something important or just get confused if Mercury is retrograde. In a horary chart, we’d call it a stricture in judgment. I recommend using the method that works for you, as long as you get the answers right.

In these return charts, the natal planets are on the inside, and the Solar Return planets are on the outside. The angles and house cusps belong to the solar return chart, clearly defining the return houses. This method freezes the transits around the natal, which feels natural, and eliminates the confusion of trying to read the charts in reverse. It was the method taught by Marion March and Joan McEvers in the fourth volume of their excellent The Only Way To Learn… series, The Only Way to Learn About Tomorrow: Current Trends, (1988; ACS Publications), however these Solar Returns will not be delineated in the traditional way. That’s not what this book is about, so only the lottery-winning method of reading the charts will be covered. Surprise: the Sun isn’t always the most important planet in the return.

Eclipses and New Moons trigger the aspects of the Solar Return. An eclipse or New Moon that occurs on the date of the Solar Return indicates a very important event to take place in the coming year according to the planets, houses and aspects it makes:

• In the natal chart.
• In the Solar Return chart.
• In the progressed return chart.

Of course, most people hope, but don’t know, that they will win the lottery until it actually happens. The purpose of this book is to show you how to see in advance when the time to play is ripe. We have the benefit of hindsight, which is 20/20, so we can learn by example. We can calculate Solar Returns years in advance provided we continue to live in the same place for which the chart is calculated. Therefore, we can see how an eclipse that occurs a week or two before the birthday triggers winning planets in a return that hasn’t yet taken place. We can do the same in a return that’s progressed possibly months down the road. For example, let’s say we see a total Solar Eclipse will conjunct our natal Ascendant or Midheaven next year. We can then check the progressed Solar Return that will be in effect at the time of the eclipse. Maybe that eclipse falls into the 2^nd house of money conjunct Jupiter, and Jupiter rules the 8^th house of lotteries in the return chart. Or maybe the eclipse conjuncts Uranus in the return, which is at the cusp of the 11^th house, in trine to the chart ruler. Or maybe it conjuncts a Prenatal Eclipse, Vertex, Chiron or Transpluto. If so, we need to look deeper into that return chart. What we should do after that is:

• Look for the next set of eclipses to see if they trigger the Solar Return.
• Look for New Moons that fall onto an angle, into a winning house, or aspect a winning planet in the return.
• Progress the Solar Return to a date any of those things occur, and check the chart again.
• Keep narrowing down the time frame. Crosscheck the aspects with any or all of your other charts.

Watch how the eclipses and lunations trigger each of the Solar Returns and progressed Solar Returns that hadn’t even taken place yet.