Once a year, around the time of your birthday, the Sun returns to the same degree of the Zodiac as it was on the day that you were born. In Astrology we call this your Solar Return.

In fact, it may or may not be exactly on your birthday each year, so for example you may have been born on June 22nd and your actual Solar Return this year could be on June 23rd. So although it's pretty close, your Solar Return and your birthday may not always be the same. Although the Sun has returned to precisely the same degree, the remaining planets have moved on and so most of your chart will be very different, with other planets now being in a different relationship to the Sun. 

So while the Sun might have returned to it's position at the time of your birth, your Solar Return will never be exactly the same as your birth chart. Unless you live within a 50 mile radius of where you were born, it is very likely that for most of us, the location will vary too. So you can see that, although the Sun has returned to the same degree as your birth, practically everything else will be different.

So what does a Solar Return tell you? A Solar Return is like a 'snapshot' that gives you a sense of the coming year. Some people like to use Solar Returns every year to get a sense of the year ahead. This might sound similar to having a twelve month forecast for the coming year, but there are some important differences. While both techniques are ways that astrologers can look at what the trends are for the next 12 months, they are gathering information from different sources and both can be valuable.

A 12 month Forecast is looking at the current position of planets and how, over the next 12 months, they will interact with your birth chart by 'transiting' (passing through) the houses of your chart and making significant contact points with your birth planets. You can pick any date throughout the year and draw up a transit chart from there onwards.

Your Solar Return is, in a sense, more personal. It is looking at the birth position of your vital life-force energy (the Sun), which is indicating one of the main expressions of your Soul Path (how you are manifesting your life purpose), and relating that to the current planetary positions. Because it's starting point is always the natal position of the Sun, it is using the condition of your own prana - the life-force energy that you were born with - to determine the main ways that your Soul light is currently being expressed in the world, and how you are doing in terms of how well you are progressing, or aligning with what you came here to do.

Solar Returns can be cumulative in the sense that they can be used to gauge your progress (or not) from year to year. It's possible to have a Solar Return report every year, and to see what is changing and how your energy is responding to it. For example you may be able to see where there were obstacles last year, that are now lifting, or if you still feel like you just can't get ahead, you may be able to see why.

Whereas a 12-month forecast tells you more about the conditions around you, in terms of the situations or circumstances, your Solar Return says much more about you and your ability to flow your energy. It is much more of an indicator of your progress along your personal path.

Astrologer Mary Fortier Shea spent over 40 years studying Solar Returns and making them more useful for Western Astrologers by incorporating them into a Tropical Zodiac*. (In the past most Solar Returns were based on the sidereal zodiac which is mainly used in India, although some Western Astrologers do use it).

So where a forecast (transit) may have a sense of building up to something, which then peaks and is completed, your Solar Return can show you what is to be built up, and continues to be built upon, over your lifetime, year after year, as you use your prana (or life-force energy) to express your soul purpose.

Your Solar Return can be useful in terms of measuring your physical or material accomplishments, and can also be used to see where you have recurring psychological and emotional patterns that you are working on healing and clearing so that you may align more fully with your Soul's Purpose.